Varanasi , Wed, 03 Aug 2011 ANI
Varanasi, Aug 3 (ANI): Varanasi, the temple city in Uttar Pradesh,
boasts of a unique bank, where devotees deposit their prayers
dedicated to Lord Shiva.
The 'banking' temple close to the banks of River Ganga was set up in
2002 and it accepts deposits in form of handwritten chants Om Namah
Shivaya.Devotees believe they would be blessed by this exercise of
depositing the handwritten Panchakshari Mantra (devotional hymn
dedicated to Lord Shiva).Rajendra Trivedi, a devotee said there is no
fee for opening an account and paper is provided to the devotees by
the bank.
"You just need to take a notebook and become a member of this
religious bank. There is no fee to open an account; one has to merely
write Panchakshari Mantra innumerable times. The difference between
the two banks is that unlike the commercial bank it is not money
oriented and does not take any deposit to open account. Here prayers
and belief in Lord Shiva are accumulated. Well, there is no tax on
anything," Trivedi added.Over the years millions of such handwritten
papers have been deposited and these have been bundled and kept in
shelves at the bank.
"I have been associated with this bank for the past one year and over
this period I have been writing the chants. This makes one feel at
peace and receive blessings of Lord Shiva protecting from all evils,"
said Ankur Pandey, another devotee.
According to Hindu scriptures Shiva Purana and Dashavatara (ten
incarnations of Lord Vishnu), during the churning of the ocean known
as Samundra Manthan, poison emerged out. The venom was deadly for the
entire mankind and divine entities were distraught, unaware how to
destroy it.At this juncture, Lord Shiva took a precarious step of
drinking the venom to save his devotees.He drank the poison but did
not swallow it. He allowed it to remain in his throat, which turned
his throat blue and the monsoon showers lent him immense relief. Hence
Lord Shiva is referred as Neelakantha. (ANI)
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