Krishna Balaram Mandir - Vrindavan

  Our first stop during the Vrindavan Parikrama, rather our starting point for the Parikrama was the Krishna Balaram Mandir.  Walking along the streets of Vrindavan is surreal! To think that the very spot my foot was touching might have once been touched by Krishna's feet was a very profound thought. While the mind was busy in these thoughts, my senses were totally tied up with sights, sounds and smell of the narrow streets. The whole town looks so festive and full of life, all the time!

  Amidst the chaos and crowds, stands the Krishna Balaram Mandir! What struck me the moment I stepped inside was how clean and organized it was! It was wonderful to see so many Indians and non Indian devotees in the premisis, so engrossed in devotion and service.  It's hard to overlook the magic of Krishna when you are here!

     The Samadhi of Shree Prabhupada, housed in this temple is peaceful and beautiful. The dieties of Radha Krishna, Balaram, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu are beautiful. As you walk through the temple, the Krishna leela paintings on the magnificent walls make you feel like you are walking back in time,

I have heard and participated in Hare Krishna Mahamantra chantings in many places, but the chanting that goes on here is different from all of them! It seems as though the Mahamantra itself is dancing to  its own chanting! Very difficult to explain this effect! The chanting goes on 24 hours a day and is a blissful experience to witness it and even more blissful to stay and participate!

Delhi To Vrindavan

At some point or the other, we have all been told this… No pain, no gain! As cliché as it may sound, I am going to say it anyway!  No pain, no gain, indeed!

Well, Krishna started his Leelas right off the bat the minute we got off  the flight at Delhi airport. Our driver who was supposed to pick us up at the airport didn’t show up! Being the only “somewhat” Hindi speaker in the group, I called up the driver after getting his phone number from the travel agent. Ever heard those riddles about how a mute person would communicate with a blind person? Well I had to draw on my prior knowledge from all of those riddles to carry on this conversation! Our first conversation laden with my south Indian Hindi and his Punjabi mixed Hindi was quite a showdown. If you ever ate pasta with a side of Tomato chutney or Chapattis with sambhar, you would sort of understand how that went!

I found out that our van was parked 3 miles away from the airport and we had to get there using local transportation! When you travel with 3 senior citizens and 2 kids, you can’t really be a backpacker! On the contrary, you pack like you are headed to the middle of a desert with no oasis! We finally made it to the van with all our luggage! How did we do that? I will leave that to your imagination!

We finally met our driver, Mr. Chatur Singh smiling ear to ear showing off his ruby reds! Well in this part of the world, the staple food is not rice or wheat as one would think, it’s paan. Most smiles don’t reveal pearly whites, they reveal ruby reds! My first impression of this whole package was not great! But one thing I noticed written on the van, gave me some cheer, especially here at Delhi! “The driver of this van respects women”

                 With all due respect to the capital of the great nation, the traffic at Delhi is painful and that’s the mildest way to describe it. As we were waiting in the endless traffic jams, I couldn’t help wondering if attaining Paramapadam would be quicker! Our Chatur ji finally lost patience and decided we would avoid most main roads and high ways. He seemed to know every short cut in this place. He duly stopped at a  Haldirams restaurant and advised us to equip ourselves with “Chatpati” candy to combat all motion sickness!  Now, there was nothing to stop us! We almost entirely traveled on side roads with a lot of potholes. With Chatur and Chatpati on our side, we took off!  Chatur, kept reassuring me , “Sir ji, Chatur aapke saath hai!”

 Krishna, What are you doing? Are you trying to give us a taste of how it was when you danced on the hoods of Kalia? 

In the lap of Kedarnath

Many times in my experience, Ignorance has indeed bliss! Not knowing what was ahead, both of us decided to trek our way to Bholenath in Kedarnath, while the kids and the rest of the family took the chopper. I expected the climb to be somewhat like the trek at Tirupathi. I have climbed tirupathi hill many times and I was quite confident I would do this, no issues! But little did I realize that this is the house of Mahadev. He even made mother Parvathi do penance here for 80 thousand years. What are we mere humans? 

When we started the trek it looked so easy, we were like, whats all the fuss about! The first couple of hours we were quite enthusiastic. Chanting, whistling, taking pictures, and just trotting along. After this point it slowly started sinking in that this may not be as easy as it is in our minds. Slowly the panting started. My legs started becoming heavy. Only as we continued, I got a taste of the imposing nature of the Himalayas! By about midway, I completely stopped paying attention to the sights around me. I was only focused on myself. I was focused on how tired I was, how hard I am breathing, how thirsty I am, how I am going to curl into the bed when as soon as I see one! At one point, it became impossible to keep one more step and I was in tears. The Himalayas is a tough task master. I realized I had 2 options,either spend my energy in feeling sorry for myself or  use it to for climbing. Luckily, I chose the latter. Slowly, my tears , my complaints everything was exhausted. Only thing in my mind was Jaya Jaya Shankara Hara Hara Shankara, one step, next step, one more step, next step! 

  We started the trek early in the morning, in the hope that we would reach before night fall.  However, at my pace, that didn't happen.  The sun seemed to be in a some sort of a hurry that day! Much sooner than I was prepared for, it became pitch dark and completely foggy. There was hardly any visibility. I couldn't even see few inches ahead of me, one wrong step and I would be in paataal and in no time, the mighty Ganga would whisk me away! Only the  divine mother Bhavani could make this successful for me. It's only her grace that could get us through. I was made to understand that true strength is in unconditional surrender. Perhaps this is the main point of this whole experience for me! When I look back at this day, I have no idea how I did it. It was really the divine mother who took me in her fold and guided me.

 When we reached base camp, my energy was totally depleted and actually gave up on me. That's when, I met this wonderful Sherpa brother. He was God sent indeed! He carried my bag for me from that point. He grabbed my hand and all he said was "chalo didi". That's all I remember, the next thing I know, I was in front of our guest house. I truly do not know how that happened! Could angels be for real? I asked his name. He said it was Kamal. Kamal? Lotus? He was really a lotus in the rough. A lotus from the hand of my divine mother Bhavani!

When we entered the guest house, we saw the rest of the party including the kids were still here. They couldn't not go back to Guptakashi in the chopper after darshan because it got too foggy. The room was so terrible, there was no bathroom. Kids were not well and were stuck here for the night. It was raining outside and rain was icy cold! The room was freezing. I hadn't expected this! How could Mahadev make it so hard? Why??

 The plan was the rest of the party would take the 5.30 am chopper back to Sersi and the two of us would get darshan and go back down either on pony or trek down. At this point, I was not even interested in the darshan. All I wanted to do was get back down to my cozy guestroom in Guptakashi. Somehow we got through the night. Might have shut my eyes for about 30 minutes. I just remember waiting for the morning.

 Finally it was time to leave the room. We headed to the temple. What was in front of me is not possible to describe. The snow clad Kedarnath mountain and the beautiful temple decorated by fresh sun kissed Himalayan flowers at its base was pure magic, like it came out of a fairy tale.

As we walked towards the temple, the sun started rising. It was breath taking to see the transformation of Kedarnath peak to golden right at sunrise!

Kedarnath peak before and after Sunrise...

 I burst into tears. It felt like I know this place. The house of the emperor of the three worlds. No more anger, just greatfulness for being able to see this sight. The mountain was literally glittering. even though this kedarnath mountain is so tall, it is not visible until you get here to this spot. There was a Sadhu ji and he said aao maiyya,Bhola baba kisi kisi ko hi darshan deta hai! I had goose bumps! We went inside and had wonderful darshan of the lingam. This Shiv looks rugged just like the trek, nothing like the sweet one in Rameshwaram. He adapts so easily. We did a abhishek with our own hands and applied ghee all over him. It was an amazing experience. Finally panditji pushed me on him and I gave him a tight hug. It made all the trekking totally worth it. 

When we came back to the guest house we were happy to see that the rest of the party got their boarding passes for the helicopter. Thank you Mahadev! I didn't want to take the pony back down because most of them were wounded by their saddle belts and bleeding from their bellies. My whole body was hurting so I couldn't imagine trekking again . So we went to each aviation office and tried to get tickets. They were totally full , not a single ticket! We were running around like crazy trying to get tickets. Finally I gave up. I said Bolenath, if this is your wish, so be it. We will just trek back.We started walking. Suddenly out of nowhere this guy come running to us and says, madam ye lo tickets, paise do. Apparently there were exactly 2 tickets. He held our hands and whisked us into the chopper.  As I ran behind him, my eyes were on the golden peak. I left a piece of my heart on it. Suddenly everything became so easy! Pure grace! When we came back down to the comfort of our hotel room in GuptaKashi, I found out that it was Bhima Ekadashi on the day we trekked. What?!! we had been so nauseous during the trek, that we hadn't eaten anything that day!  This Ekadashi also called Nirjala Ekadashi/Rudra Ekadashi.  It was the only day Bhima observed fast. I had goose bumps when I found out, because the Kedarnath lingam was established by none other than Bhima! There are also a deities for the Pandavas and Krishna in the Kedarnath temple! This coincidence humbled me and made me see that we are mere actors in a grand play! Kedarnath Maharaj brought me closer to my Krishna! Har Har Mahadev!

Badri Vishal ki jai!

The drive to Badrikashram was breathtaking! The roads were extremely narrow. Most of the time we were driving at the edge of the road. Kudos to Indian drivers. They have a special knack of getting a van through where only a bike can fit! I have no idea how they do it. Our 8 lives were in 2 hands. Able hands of our driver Mr. Chatur Singh.  He has such a mischievous smile and outgoing personality. He told me few times, sir, jab tak aap mere saath hain, safe hain, baaki bhagvan me haath mein!

That's right. He calls me sir. I guess Sir is madam with bonus respect in North India :)). The view of the mountains was simply breathtaking. The air in Himalayas along the road to Badrikashram has a herbal aroma in it. So many kinds of trees and plants. No two trees have the same shade of green. I have not seen so many shades of green in my life. So many kinds of trees, so many colorful flowers and so many kinds of fruits. This dev bhoomi is probably like a kalpataru to seekers. That is why they seem to be so attached to this place. I saw so many sadhus walking barefoot..wonder where they will halt when it gets dark. They don't seem to care about all that. They just seem to keep walking without a care. Badrish is taking care of them and they are completely aware of it!

In many places we were driving right through water falls. Alaknanda was our constant companion. She is the authority in this place. This is her home and one who comes here should respect that. It is up to her to let you go all the way up to Badrinarayan or swallow you. She was very merciful towards us. She caused no roadblocks, no land slides, no wait time, she let us go all the way through with no inconvenience what so ever. The sun was shining bright and sun rays were bouncing off of the waters, making little rainbows on the windows of our van. Very thankful to nature for showering her grace on us!

We stopped on the way at joshimath. There is a lovely temple for Lord Lakshmi Narasimhan here. Very sweetly smiling Narasimhar. This is one of the 108 divya deshams. I was pleasantly surprised to see paasurams in Tamil in this Temple this high up in Himalayas. This Lord has given darshan to Periyalwar. It was humbling to see this Lord who has given darshan to such mahaans. How did these saints make it here in the mountains 4000 years ago? Here we have all comforts and still complain!

 A new grand temple is being g constructed here next to the tiny temple. The Lord will be moved here once construction is complete. We had the good fortune of donating to the temple. I urge all of you to donate few thousand rupees towards this effort. Not everyday one gets a chance to donate towards construction of a divya desham temple🙏

 By the time we reached badrikashram it was 5.30 pm. My eagerness to go see the Lord was increasing by the minute. We dropped all our stuff and  ran to the temple. There is a short trek to the temple, it is very miniscule compared to the trek in Kedar. The first sight of the temple was out of the world. Decorated by colorful lights the temple was glittering. One has to cross a small bridge over Alaknanda to reach the temple. She reminds you that she has been kind enough to allow you to get here. After thanking her, we entered the temple. I had the good fortune of reading Vishnusahasranam while standing in the line. The moment I came face to face with Badrish was absolutely magical!

 He is completely covered from head to toe with golden and diamond ornaments. His crown is bigger than even him. He looks royal and looks completely in control of the mountains and Alaknanda . One can get a glimpse of why Alaknanda rises and falls and dives and roars and does all sorts of antics for him. He is that majestic. We got lots of sweet sugar candy prasad as soon as we see him. He seems to shower his sweetness on devotees who have had their background checked by Alaknanda. Seems like a speacial tie up these two have!

 Side note to those who visit Badrinarayan , as soon as you reach, rush to the ticket counter and buy your tokens for the next morning 4.30 am nirmalya darshan. Tickets go fast. We were lucky to get the last few tickets. Next morning we woke up at 2 am, got ready and reached the temple at around 3.30. When we waited outside, we were greeted by Badrinarayan suprabhatam. It is very pleasant on the ears. Next they played  vishnusahasranam by ms.subbalakshmi. How great is she? Her voice wakes up the Lord this high up in the mountains!

 One by one they announced our names and called us inside and allowed us to be seated in front of the Lord while they performed Maha Abhishek. The Lord looks stunning in his original saligram form with no clothes on his body. He has a green glowing complexion. He is in his four armed formed seated in padmasan. Two hands are on his lap in meditative posture. He has matted locks and they falls freely on his chiseled shoulders. His chest is broad, waist is perfectly slender and the naval in the center captured and held everyone's attention the whole time. He was wearing his janevu across his chest. Wow. He is absolutely handsome in the true sense of the word! Didn't expect he would be like this under all those jewels. He is in yogic samadhi!

 When the priest did sankalpam saying "jambu dveepe bharatha khande meroh uttare paarshve nara narayana parvatayor madhye Badrinarayana sanidhau aham", it hit me that I am actually here this deep in the mountains in front of Badrinarayan. It is a moment frozen in my memory. I hope  I remember this moment when I breathe my last. We feasted our eyes on the Lord for the next two hours. Slowly he was decked with jewellery until he was transformed from his yogic self to the emperor of the mountains. When one sits in front of him, every thought flies out of the mind effortlessly and the mind calms completely. My wish is everyone reading this should be blessed with the good fortune of being here at least once in this lifetime!  Prayers!

 Badri Vishal ki Jai!

Rameshwaram Sojourn

                     

 Finally it was time to go to Ramanatha Swamy temple. What a lovely name for Lord Shiva. Ramanatha Swamy, the Natha of Rama. This Lord is so generous, that  if someone loves him, he is ready to dissolve himself into the devotee, whether it is his name or half of his body. Before going to the temple, we decided to take a dip in the sea. There was some confusion in my mind if I should chant the name of Rama or Shiva, so I decided to chant both. Bhakthi is so flexible. Sometimes when people say things like, Bhakthi is not my path, it is just not my cup of tea, I wonder what they are thinking. If you don’t like tea, go have coffee , no? Who is stopping you? There are so many flavors here, choose what you like! It was a wonderful experience for the kids as well. A guide appeared out of nowhere and introduced himself as Munisamy and insisted we take bath in the 22 different wells within the temple. After much cajoling, we finally gave in and I am so glad we did. It is said the after killing Ravana, Lord Rama incurred the sin of killing a Shiva Bhaktha. Inorder to cleanse himself he created 108 wells out of which 22 are within the temple. While one goes to Kashi to gain punyam, one goes to Rameshwaram to lose all paapam. When you bathe in the 22 wells, you are absolved of all your sins by the grace of Lord Shiva. As we went to each well, our guide drew a small bucket of water from each well and poured it on our heads. He told us to chant Om Namah Shivaya as he poured the water on our heads. Lord Shiv here probably wants us devotees to also experience the joy of abhishekam. It was a very surreal experience. The water in all the wells, although fed by the same sea, tasted slightly different, some sweet, some salty and some, way too salty. Each well has a name and is said to have the ability to grant your wishes. Our guide kept insisting on asking Ramanatha swamy for whatever we want by chanting om Namah Shivaya.  But standing in that place and chanting Om Namah Shivay and receiving the blessed water was itself such a rewarding and moving experience, that there wasn’t any necessity to ask for more rewards. You do chores to get a reward, but in the kingdom of Mahadev, you get rewards for getting rewards!

 When we got to the 5^th well, our guide informed us that this was the most important well. He said this well was named Sethu Madhava Theertham. Excuse me, I am sorry, but what is Madhav doing here? How did you make your way in here, my dear Krishna? You cannot tolerate it if people turn towards other Gods, even if it is just for a day, can you?! Did you build the Sethu? No! Rama built the sethu and dug the wells and Shiva maintains them, but you coolly walk away with the title Sethu Madhava? Nice!This is so Krishna!

                       

    After the lovely baths, we decided to do Mahabhishek of Lord Shiva. As we did the sankalpam to do Abhishek, the poojariji chanted Rudram. Oh my goodness! Rudram is so mesmerizing. I loved it every sound in it, it filled the whole place with such divine vibrations. Finally it was time to go see Ramanatha Swamy. After seeing the huge Nandi, I prepared to go inside and see a colossal Lingam, the one that Mother Sita made with her own lotus hands. But when I went inside and came face to face with him, I was blown away. He is so tiny. Completely unexpected. The much celebrated Ramanatha swamy is so tiny and so cute. Cute and Shiva don’t belong in one sentence, but this is an exception. The Ramanatha Swamy has not only dissolved his name into the name of Rama, but he has also dissolved a part of his personality into that of Sita. He looks so sweet and so “Nalina”. There is not a good English word for “Nalina”. The closest I can think of is gentle. He is really Nalina Ramanatha swamy. When I read the words, outside the temple, “Arul Migu Ramanatha Swamy” (most gracious Lord of Rama), I didn’t understand. But when I went inside and saw this sweet form, I understood why that title Arul migu! Om Namah Shivay!