Ganga Dasahara Vrat/Gosaikunda Snan Samapti

Importance of Ganga Dasahara
The importance of Jestha Shukla Pratipada tithi is very high. On this tithi, in the Vedic period, Bhagirathi brought Ganga to earth. Before this, the holy Ganga used to flow only in the heavens, but after this, it is believed that the descent of the Ganga took place in the earth.

What are done today?
Thus, on the date of the arrival of Ganga, people plant basil seeds and start a series of holy baths. This series of baths is called Dashara bath. These series of holy baths, which last for 10 days from Pratipada to Ekadashi, are believed to destroy a kind of sin every day. This is called the Dasahara bath because one gets rid of ten types of sins in ten days.

The sin of taking an object without being allowed to do so, committing the crime, committing adultery, speaking harsh words, telling lies, slandering, blaspheming, wanting to usurp the property of others, wanting to harm others, and being stubborn without any reason. There is a classical belief that if you go to Triveni (A combination of three rivers) or any river and take a bath, your sins will be destroyed.

Gosainkunda Bathing ritual 

ॐ अस्य श्री भगवान नीलकंठ सदा-शिव-स्तोत्र मंत्रस्य श्री ब्रह्मा ऋषिः, अनुष्ठुप छन्दः,
 श्री नीलकंठ सदाशिवो देवता, ब्रह्म बीजं, पार्वती शक्तिः, मम समस्त पाप क्षयार्थंक्षे म-स्थै-आर्यु-आरोग्य-अभिवृद्धयर्थं
 मोक्षादि-चतुर्वर्ग-साधनार्थं च श्री नीलकंठ-सदाशिव-प्रसाद-सिद्धयर्थे जपे विनियोगः।

For The Neelakanta Sadhashiva Mantra Prayer, the Sage Is Brahma, the Meter Is Anushtup,
The God Addressed Is Neelakanta Sadhashiva, the Seed Is Brahma, the Power Is Parvati
And For Complete Destruction of All My Sins, For Enhancement of Pleasant Life and Stability of Life. Span And Health, For Getting The Four Things Dharma, Prosperity, Desires And Salvation, I Am Chanting This Mantra.

Neelkantha and the formation of Gosaikunda
Neelkantha, the one who has a blue throat, I begin from here today, and this is a splendid story. Lord Shiva swallowed the Halahal poison which appeared during the Samudra Manthan, Nilkantha in the desperation of the poison went straight to holy Gosaikunda Lake in the mountains and slept there under the cold water.

At an altitude over 4380 meters above sea level, Gosainkunda (Gosain means Lord and Kunda is a holy pond) is believed to have been created by the Trisul of Lord Shiva.

To get the elixir from the ocean, the Samundra Manthan or the churning process was on its go, a lot of things came out of the ocean which included gold, silvers, gems, goddesses Luxmi, Dhawantari, and many more. Among all those, deadly Halahal poison was one among them, this was so deadly that it perished everyone who came into contact with it. Gods and demons were asphyxiated because of the effect, sooner Bramhma and Vishnu asked for help from Lord Shiva.

Upon the consumption of this poison, Lord Shiva started turning blue, alarmed by the rapidly spreading poison into Lord Shiva's body Goddesses Parwati entered Shiva's throat in the form of Mahavidya and controlled the spreading of poison confining its effect only to his throat.Hence, Neelkantha connotes that we need to control all our negative thoughts and keep working towards achieving our goals.

Gosainkunda, a place that must be visited once in a lifetime, has a tradition of taking a holy dip every year with thousands of devotees, this starts from today. The number of devotees bathing in the holy shrine of Rasuwa, Gosainkunda, concludes today.

There is a religious belief that bathing, giving alms, and offering Tarpan in Gosainkunda will assist ancestors to liberate and achieve salvation. These holy dips will also assist to get rid of the sins committed for life and fulfill their desires.

Suyog Dhakal