Maa Sharda, the spouse of renowned spiritual guru, Shri Ramakrishna Paramahansa had said about Kashi Vishwanath jyotirlinga that Shiva himself resides in the jyotirlinga of Kashi Vishwanath. The one who is fortunate enough to touch the jyotirlinga of Kashi Vishwanath is liberated by Shiva from the cycle of birth and death.
Ever since I heard this quote by Maa Sharda, I had a strong desire to do sparsh-darshana (to touch the lingam) of Kashi Vishwanath. Sparsh darshan at Kashi Vishwanath has become so rare that even MLAs and MPs are not able to get the darshana of Kashi Vishwanath.
Only during the little time window of Mangla aarti in the morning between 4:00 AM – 4:30 AM and at the same time in the evening between 4:00 PM – 4:30 PM, only those who are present near the garbha graha (sanctum-sanctorum) are fortunate enough to get the sparsh darshan of Baba Vishwanath.
Just after the lunar eclipse of September 2025, me and my 3 friends had embarked for Kashi at 2:30 AM in the night from the home of one of our friend in a nearby village in Kashi for us just to be in time to be near garbha graha during mangla aarti.
In about 1 hour we reached Kashi. But from the banks of the Ganges to Kashi Vishwanath temple, there was a more than 2 Km long line and it wasn’t possible for us to get sparsha-darshan if we had waited in this line.
There we met Dubey-ji, an acquaintance of one of our friends, who was waiting for us since 15 minutes and who took all 4 of us near the garbha graha in 15 minutes. In the way we were stopped by policemen, who were adamant on letting only Dubey-ji jump through the queue to be near garbha graha and even a physical altercation broke out between police and us. But eventually we persuaded the policemen to let us in as Baba Vishwanath had willed.
Once we went past the policemen, we were near garbha-graha and we had to wait just 10 more minutes to be inside garbha graha where I offered ganga jal and milk to Baba Vishwanath from my own hands and did sparsha of Baba Vishwanath jyotirlingam from both of my hands.
I had barely spent 10 seconds doing sparsha of Baba Vishwanth before temple security grabbed me by the collar and dragged me out of the garbha graha as I was obstructing the swelling crowd.
Once outside the garbhagraha and after we did darshan of all the deities inside the temple including Maa Annapurna, we again went past the garbha graha only to see it closed by now for visitors, realizing how fortunate I was to have done sparsha of Baba Vishwanath by my own hands in this lifetime.
I was reminded of the same by one of my friends, whose village is nearby Kashi Vishwanath, telling me that although he is a local, yet he got sparsha darshan only 15 years ago and in the coming time it will become almost impossible for a commoner like me to get sparsh darshan of Baba Vishwanath.
After that we went to the famous Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple in Varanasi to have darshan of Hanumanji Maharaj.
It was only because of Baba Vishwanath’s kindness which came in the form of Dubey-ji and my friends that I was able to have Sparsha Darhsan of Baba Vishwanath in this lifetime. Jai Baba Vishwanath. Namah Parvati Pataye, Har Har Mahadev !!
