The Secrets of the Hanseshwari Temple

HANSESHWARI does not resemble any one of the ten images of Kali exactly in looks or any other familiar images of primordial Goddess. Basically though there are similarities but she is full of unprecedented newness. Just seeing her beauty enchanting the whole world seems to be a living homely mother.

Significance :

The image of the divine mother is an unprecedented image of Kali. She is with three eyes and four hands. In the upper left hand, there is a falchion, in the lower left hand there is a refuted human head, the upper right hand indicates offering boon and assurance of safety and the lower right hand indicates giving divine grace relating to final emancipation. She is seated folding her left leg and the right is hanging at a little distance from the chest of Lord Shiva. The base-altar is decorated with engravings of petals of lotus first one thousand and then eight sequentially. On the surface of the altar, there are five triangles and inside the triangles, the great Lord Shiva is lying in yoga-sleep. From the heart of Lord Shiva, a full-blown lotus has come out and on it the divine mother HANSESHWARI is seated. At the back of the divine mother there is the wishing-tree like an open umbrella. The pattern of the base-altar is also full of unprecedented beauty. The base-altar is a seat having five human skulls inside it along with other things necessary, which is called ‘Panchamundi Asana’ and identically it is ‘Kaliyantra’ in form (spiritual diagram). The base-altar and Lord Shiva are made is shone and the idol the divine mother is made of Nim wood (margosa wood) i.e. wooden idol. Except the night of Kalipuja, the divine mother always appears in such calm, gracious and life-appeasing form of a homely mother. Only at the night of illuminating Kalipuja, she appears with lolling tongue, frightful open teeth, unkempt hair, undressed dreadful Kali

Hansa + Iswari = HANSESHWARI. According to the Upanishada, Hansa means the sun or knowledge. So she, who is the light eternal, the knowledge eternal, that very she is HANSESHWARI.

Hansa i.e. the Supreme Being or God is the pure soul, He is existent everywhere equally. He is existent in every created being as the witness. He is one on whose behalf priest worships. He is reachable only when pure knowledge is awakened. He is self-manifested. Even being absolute Brahman, he is manifested as created being and the universe, existent in every created being as the power of spiritual perception. He is one and omnipresent, existent as the created being both of water and land. He is visible all around, He is primordial, and He is the truth, venerable to all.

Construction :

On the same plane of the central room, the fountain in the vestibule signifies the self-flowing eternal delight of the ascetic during his course of spiritual practice. 

Of the thirteen pinnacles of beautiful temple, four at a time according to gradual height are displayed with excellent skill, which indicates the different upward states of an ascetic during his roaming through the way of renunciation, and the highest pinnacle constructed on the central room serially signifies signifies the Agnya or knowledge Chakra i.e. (Third eye chakra). On the top of the highest pinnacle there is a ‘Shyama Yantra’ (a designed metal piece used by the ascetics during spiritual practice) inside which there is the symbol of the sun surrounded by eight petals of lotus indicating the Sahasrara just after Agnya Chakra – the enlightened firmament which is called ‘Abangmanasagocharam’ (which words cannot express, mind cannot realize, eyes cannot see).  

There are twelve Shlivalingas made of black stone existent in the twelve rooms each at the base-point of the pinnacles. Now, these twelve Shivalingas, the Shiva as Brahman without any primordial quality lying as a dead body on the altar in the central room and the white Shivalinga on the third floor, in total fourteen Shivas are the fourteen doors of emancipation as mentioned in the scripture. Now as in the gradual high levels of spiritual practice, the ascetic from the muchness of worldly manifestations, proceeding towards the oneness through fineness stops at the final realization ‘Ekamebadvitiyam’ (one, not two), similarly this has been clearly manifested by the gradual high floors being shrunk in area i.e. the first floor is smaller than that of the ground, the second is smaller than the first, by this way the highest floor has turned into a small room with four open doors i.e. Agnya or Jnana Chakra, reaching there the ascetic perceives his true self i.e. he gets self-realization and after this there is the final situation ‘Abangmanasagocharam’. However, the inside construction of the beautiful temple is also very fine and the orderly placement of the gradual height is faultlessly manifested according to the Tantra philosophy. Except an ascetic of the Tantrist order, it is not possible to explain clearly the innumerable constructive feature of the inside parts. If it is literally represented, it remains incomprehensible. In a word, which is a matter of third eye view and realization, to see that with physical eyes or to understand or to make understand from bookish concept, none is possible. At the end, the height of the temple of the divine mother is 70 feet. Of the different features of the uncommonly beautiful temple, the extra-ordinary is this that along with the pinnacles the inside and outside of the temple, every part bears the sign of lotus because the spiritual way is full of lotus which is the symbol of knowledge and peace. This is the constructive significance beautified  HANSESHWARI temple, which is extra-ordinary in beauty, unique in the worldly expression of spiritual vision of the king of the ascetics, Tantra Philosopher Nrisinghadev Roy Mahashai that has no comparison anywhere.

Some other pictures of the HANSESHWARI temple :