Puranic stories refer to gods and deities as if they are people, but they are ways to point out the ways of forces of this universe in a relatable way. This story is a way to say that when a person deserves liberation, Lord Kaal Bhairav comes and cuts off the ego (representative of the Brahma / the mind that creates the ego), and that the Lord will go to any extent to do this job (pointing to his feature of "protection"). The story serves as an example of getting liberated via penance - somebody who sinned and underwent severe penance and finally realizing that he is Shiva (Shivoham) (pointing to his feature of "liberation")

The Sankrit word "Kaal" ordinarily refers to death, but since time brings eventual death to everything, the word Kaal also means time in Sanskrit language.

What is a Bhairav?

Features of Kaal Bhairav.

The original story of Lord Kaal Bhairav indicates that his primary features are that of "protection", "liberation" and "anger".

Adi Shankaracharya, the revered Indian vedic scholar and teacher of 700 AD, who was himself regarded as an enlightened sage, has written numerous odes and poems to describe Hindu Gods. His work "Kaal Bhairav Ashtakam" describes Lord Kaal Bhairav - as:

• Indushekhar ( मिन्दुशेखरं ): Having the moon on his forehead (refers to his protection feature)
• Neelakantha ( नीलकण्ठ ): Having the blue throat due to halahala poison (refers to his protection feature)
• Trilochanam ( त्रिलोचनम् ): Having three eyes (reference to his primary feature as a liberator)
• Tandava-priyam ( ताण्डवप्रियं ): Who loves the Tandava Dance (refers to his anger)
• Tvadharm-marg-nashakam ( त्वधर्ममार्गनाशनं ): Destroyer of paths averse to eternal dharma (refers to his anger)
• Karma-pash-mochakam ( कर्मपाशमोचकं ): Destroyer of karmas of devotees (reference to his primary feature as a liberator)
• Ashta-siddhi-dayakam ( अष्टसिद्धिदायकं ): Just like Hanuman Ji, he grants siddhis to devotees (reference to his primary feature as a liberator)

The features not mentioned here are: 1. Teacher - he is the source of all teachings in the Tantra way of worship - his verbal discussions with Maa Shakti are the literal texts of Tantra way of attaining liberation. 2. Fearlessness - the word Bhairav in itself

Perhaps the most important Bhairav temple to visit in India. Varanasi also has the Kashi Vishwanath Jyotirlinga - being located in North India with easy access, it attracts massive crowds, with an average waiting of 5-7 hours for general line and 2 hours even with the Rs. 500/- VIP pass. Since it is said that before visiting Vishwanath one must pay obeiscence to Lord Kaal Bhairav, the Kaal Bhairav temple in Kashi typically has VERY LONG QUEUES with an average waiting time of 3 hours across the very narrow lanes of Varanasi.

Due to Ujjain also having the Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga, again this Kaal Bhairav temple gets a lot of crowd. It is not necessary not to go here before Mahakaleshwar - lots of people offering taxi to take to Kaal Bhairav mandir at the jyotirlinga.