Is it an ancient temple or just cave rock formations?
Synopsis
Discovery of a Cave Temple in remote hills of Western Australia
I was wandering in the hills of Ex-Mouth when I was stopped in my tracks by a snake. An eagle (Garuda) came to my rescue and led me to a cave. I went into a state of trance when I entered the cave and noticed God Vishnu and Goddess Laxmi along with Ganesh in its central chamber. A personal experience, I will never forget.
On 9th of August 2005, I was wandering in the Hills of Exmouth in Western Australia. It is a small tourist town along the Indian Ocean about twelve Hundred kilometres north of Perth. A few kilometres south of Exmouth is a huge array of hills and caves. A large part of these hills has been designated as a National Park. I was wandering in one of such parks when I stopped in my track. There was a snake about one meter long lying perpendicular on my path and unaware of me was stirring slowly. I was in a state of shock and stooped moving when I saw a huge eagle with wing span of about two meters swoop down on the snake, carried it in its claws and flew to the other side of the hills. As I was watching this in disbelief, the eagle turned around to the hills on my left and dropped the snake on one of the small hills and flew away. I scanned the hills for where the snake had fallen and noticed there were a number of caves on that hill. I started gazing one of these caves which seemed to attract me more than usual. I decided to go and explore the cave.
I picked up my camera, hiked for about ten minutes and reached the entrance of the cave. The cave had a tilted oval shape entrance big enough for a few people to stand there. My heart was racing with fear and anticipation as I peeped inside the cave. I noticed that the walls of the cave was made of a red colour porous stone with many holes. I stepped inside the cave, it was very dark. I could barely see anything except that the cave was about ten meters deep and its deep end was a large chamber slightly bigger on the left side. I felt very calm and secure despite fear of the snake and a serenity descended on me. I waited for my eyes to adjust to the darkness of the cave and then noticed that in the centre of the chamber what seemed like a mound of stones was something shining vaguely. I took a few more steps inside but could not see anything else in the pitch darkness except a soft but very small light coming from an object on top of the centre mound.
I turned my camera on so that I could see in the darkness. As the camera focused on the darkness and intensified the image on its screen, I saw a large stone with two sections and another larger but less shiny stone next to it. The faint light I had noticed in the centre was coming from the two section stone. As I moved the camera to the two sectioned stone, I noticed it was brighter than the other stones around it. Then a shock hit me. I was seeing in each section of the two section stone, some kind of a self-illuminating figure. As the figures came in focus, I saw a familiar deity figure and the words “This is Laxmi” came out of my mouth. I was seeing what looked like a natural, self-illuminating Murti of Laxmi on the right section of the stone. I noticed another figure on the left section of the stone and before I could clearly see what it is, the words “This must be Vishnu” came from my mouth. Then I focused on the second less shiny stone and the words “Ganesh” came out of my mouth.
I turned off the Camera and was now watching the Murtis directly as I could see them in their own dim light. I do not how for how long I was standing there and watching but a feeling of total peace and serenity and oneness with everything engulfed me and I became unaware of my surroundings. Waking out of my trance, I got reminded of the snake on these hills and quickly walked back and came out of the cave.
As I descended the hills looking back towards the cave every now and then, I noticed a face on the side of the hill. It was also perhaps a natural formation of stones but looked like a Dwaarpal (temple guard) of the temple that I had just visited. The feeling of peace and serenity left me as I descended the hills and returned back to Exmouth. For many days I kept thinking about the cave, Had I seen a natural stone formation on this side of the Indian ocean or had I seen an ancient temple which is in ruins now, I do now know.
