“Pilgrimage” –something people undertake at the dusk of life, when they have completed all their liabilities and hope that even if they didn’t survive the journey, they would attain Nirvana as they were on their way to God. While it does sound surprising on my travelogue, answering the queries of my curious colleagues during a recent lunch conversation prompted me to write about my experiences as a pilgrim.
A few years ago, while sipping tea at a friend’s place on a cold January morning in Ahmedabad, we were talking of temples randomly and I wondered whether I would really want spend my old age making arduous pilgrimages or enjoying the hard earned luxuries of life. There are no age limits to pilgrimages. Why not do this now, when health is on the good side, the journey would be less painful and there would be enough energy to enjoy the overall experience. In that contemplation, I resolved to visit the char dhams (pilgrimage places for Hindus) before I reached the age of 35.
My friend pondered over this idea and suggested bringing it to action immediately by visiting the Dwarkadheesh temple while I was in Ahmedabad. The peak season was over and there would be no rush. She had been there recently with her family and from her experience, she vouched that travel from Ahmedabad to Dwarka was pretty easy and safe. An overnight bus would take me to Dwarka, I could do the darshan on the same day and return back at night. It definitely sounded like a plan. That night at 10 p.m, I was at the Ahmedabad bus stand waiting for what was just the beginning of the pilgrim’s progress across the temples of India.
Dwarkadheesh , Gujarat- The bus dropped me at the Dwarka bus stand at 6 in the morning. Exactly as my friend had mentioned, there were a number of travel agent’s shops at the bus stand itself who were booking for the 2 p.m trip to 6 temples around Dwarka including the Bet Dwarka or Dwarka isle where Lord Krishna is said to have resided with his family. I immediately booked myself on one of these tours. The next thing was to find a place to freshen up before I visited the temple. My friend had prepared me for this well. Just as she had said, a couple of people approached me for staying at their ‘hotel’ each of which was probably 100-200 meters from the bus stand. I realized that most of these ‘hotels’ were like dharamshalas. They were surprisingly clean and extremely cheap. A nice hot cup of tea and hot water for bathing, were immediately made available. I could have stayed there for the whole day for just Rs.300. However as everything was going by the plan there was no need to stay. So by 9:00 a.m, I was ready to start my Dwarka exploration.
The Dwarkadheesh temple was about 400 meters from where I was staying. I only had to cross a lane and there I was standing in front of the temple. The Sankranti season having just gotten over, the temple was quite empty. The lack of a crowd was so unexpected for me that for a few minutes I doubted if I was actually the famous Dwarkadheesh temple. After confirming from a couple of shop owners, I was satisfied that it was the right place. The temple does not allow leather bags, cameras, mobiles etc so I had to leave everything outside. The good part was that there was a dedicated place to deposit all this and collect a token. The temple was quite huge from inside and very clean. They were preparing for the morning Aarti so I sat down right in front of the deity waiting for the darshan.
The whole ritual of the Aarti was a very interesting experience. After waiting for about 15 minutes, the door to the temple opened and we got a view of the deity in his fancy clothes. The cheers from the devotees at the sight of the Lord was exciting. Within a few minutes, the temple doors were closed again. People waited peacefully for another 5-10 minutes before the door opened a second time. And now the deity was adorned with ornaments! Again the cheers rang all over. This ritual of dressing up the Lord went on for a few more times till the final Aarti began. The experience of watching the Aarti from such close quarters was enchanting.
I then went to the ghat behind the temple which offered a beautiful view of the confluence of the river Gomati into the Arabian sea. As there was no crowd, I could enjoy the view and complete some of the rituals peacefully.
By noon, I was done with my temple visit. If you want to take Prasad back home with you, you can buy it from one of the shops outside. There were quite a few ‘bhojanalayas’ in the lane that I had traversed between the bus stand and the temple. I ventured into one of those and was served a sumptuous Gujarati thaali. The shrikhand was the highlight of the meal. By the time I finished my lunch, it was time to get on to the 4 hour tour to the temples in and around Dwarka. It was a group tour in a mini bus with approximately 20 of us alongwith a guide. The co-passengers were very helpful. We all looked after each other and made sure no one was left behind. The high point of this tour was the visit to Bhet Dwarka. It was an isle in the middle of the sea. The way the place was maintained, it looked like Lord Krishna was still living there. You can make donations at Bhet Dwarka of a minimum amount of Rs.51/- Only if you make a donation, you get Prasad commensurate to the donated amount.
The tour ended at around 6:30 p.m and we were dropped back to the Dwarka bus stand. After a good dinner, I started on my journey back to Ahmedabad. One of the richest memories that I carried back from the temple was the fact that the darshan and the queue was the same for all devotees. And there was no payment required to be made for darshan.
Badrinath, Uttarakhand: A couple of years later, I got the opportunity to visit the Badrinath temple alongwith my parents. People who had recently visited the temple advised us that the place was really cold even during the month of June and we should carry enough woolens with us. Unfortunately the first week of June when we made the trip turned out to be the hottest period even in Badrinath. We had booked a Toyota Innova for the journey from Dehradun to Badrinath. The entire stretch was hilly terrain. It is recommended to take trained drivers who are used to driving on the hills instead of driving to Badrinath oneself. Remarkably there are good roads carved out on the otherwise dry and rocky mountains. We could see remnants of glaciers on our way. Thankfully we had booked ourselves at the Sarovar Portico in Badrinath. After an exhaustive drive in the summer heat, the suite in the hotel was a very pleasant respite. The view of the hills from the room was breathtaking. We had reached the hotel around noon and after lunch there was ample time for darshan at the temple.
The temple was a kilometer from the spot where the car dropped us. For those who are old or physically challenged, there are human carriers available who carry people on cane seats on their backs or on a palki. The Badrinath temple was a quite a contrast to the Dwarkadheesh. The temple was probably half the size and the audience, nearly double. Of course, we were visiting during peak season as well. The first thing that struck me at the temple was the price list for different poojas. One would get the darshan according to the Pooja one paid for. So there was a general queue of people who were not paying for any Pooja. They could only get a glimpse of the deity from outside the main temple for a few seconds after standing for a long time in the queue. If you had paid for a Pooja, you would get the privilege of entering the main temple. The time one was allowed inside was dependant on what Pooja was going on. So one of the ceremonies in the evening was for Rs 250 each for which we got to enter the main temple and view the deity for a few seconds. In the morning there was a ceremony worth Rs.2500 for two people, for which we got to sit inside for 30 minutes. So we eventually ended up paying Rs.6000 for the four of us to make our visit to the temple worthwhile.
As we came out of the temple, the sheer force of the Alaknanda river struck us. It is mesmerizing to watch the wild waters. Other than the temple, the hot water spring and Brahma Kapal also hold great religious importance. After completing certain other rituals we started on our way back post lunch. The Prasad at the temple is not distributed immediately after the Pooja. It normally has to be collected in the afternoon on showing the receipt. But due to certain road constraints, you can depart from the city only before 12 noon, else you would get stranded for hours waiting for the gate to open. So if you really want to collect the Prasad after the elaborate morning Pooja, please plan for one more day of stay in the city. It is preferable to leave your mobile phones in the hotel as most of the networks don’t work there. Else you will have to leave your stuff at one of the shops where you buy the pooja samagri.
Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu: For each of the char dhams and some other famous religious places it is said that no matter how much you plan, you will get to visit only when the God/Goddess wants you to. And when it is the right time then even without a plan you will make it. Just like my sudden Dwarka visit, one evening in early 2008, I got a call from my cousin that they were travelling to Madurai, Rameshwaram and Kanyakumari on a 4 day bus tour from Bangalore. She asked me if I was game and on 2 days later I was on the late night bus to Madurai with them. Now that I look back, it was quite a hectic trip. We were in the bus on all four days and would only get to sleep in the hotels.
On day 2 we reached the Rameshwaram temple. I must say of all the 4 dhaams, I found the Rameshwaram temple visit the most enjoyable one. The temple is huge. It is cave like and because of the sheer size of the temple, the crowd does not appear intimidating. There are 22 wells in the temple and it is recommended that one should bathe with the waters of each of these wells before the final darshan. To make it easier the priests just take people to each of these wells and before they realize, splash comes a small bucket (the size of a large mug) full of water. After 22 such water splashes, we finally got into the queue to view the deity. The queue was well managed and everybody got their few seconds in front of the lord. As with most temples down south, it was dark inside the inner temple and I could hardly make out the form inside. This whole activity of going to each well and the final darshan takes about 30 minutes. The temple closes in the afternoon. Tour operators would typically be cognizant of that and plan your itinerary accordingly. However, if you are on your own, do find out the afternoon closure timings before you visit the temple.
After the darshan, we visited the famous corridors of Rameshwaram temple. The corridors are on the back side of the temple and practically have no crowd. Having spent some time relaxing at the temple, we immediately proceeded towards Kanyakumari. On the way to Kanyakumari, there are lots of stories shared by the tour operators. For instance they showed us a very small temple which had two corals floating in a tub of water. The legend shared was that these were the stones that Nal and Neel used to make the bridge across the sea when Lord Ram and the vanar sena went to Lanka to get Sita!
Jagannath Puri, Orissa- Last year, I planned to complete my Char dham yatra by making a visit to the final one, Jagannath Puri. It was supposed to be not so crowded after the Rath Yatra in July and I planned a trip post Diwali in November. Unlike all the other three dhams which were probably the only attraction in the city, Puri had other attractions too like the beaches, Konark temple and Chilika lake. The first thing that struck me at Puri was the unemployment of the youth and their resorting to mechanisms like stopping cabs and claiming a self levied tax. Imagine they have formal Associations of the Unemployed Youth! Anyways, I was glad that we had booked ourselves in a good hotel and not taken a “we’ll figure out when we reach there” approach. The city was dirty and the one thing which was a blessing was the cottage in the hotel.
Having reached the city in the afternoon, we planned to make a visit to the temple in the evening itself. The auto dropped us about 500 meters away from the temple. The whole road to the temple is a commercial market. Again shoes, mobile phones, leather goods etc are not allowed in the temple and there is no organized place to keep them as well. You have to entrust one of the shops outside the temple which of course do not give you any receipt. The temple was huge and yet it was brimming with the crowd. The architecture was beautiful and I really wanted to spend a few minutes to observe it, but there was just no space to stand still and do that. We kept moving with the crowd and finally reached the main temple for the darshan. The Jagannath Puri temple has the childhood depiction of Lord Krishna, his sister Subhadra and brother Balram. The deities are colorful and very beautiful. The inner temple was brightly lit with a broad entrance. Even amidst the massive crowd, each of the deities were clearly visible. That one minute sight was worth the visit! We were pushed out of the temple alongwith the crowd.
Everything at the Puri temple comes with a price. Even the charnamrit which is water and free for all was being selectively distributed. Everyone wanted to sell something to us or collect a payment. There was fresh hot food like rice and dal or kheer being served as Prasad (it has to be purchased of course). But it is something that needs to be consumed immediately and cannot be carried back. It was delicious and even though flanked by the crowd from all sides, I didn’t mind having it then and there. By the way, there are no spoons provided ( it is to be eaten by hand) and if you try to get a spoon, people get offended as they feel you have no reverence and are considering it as something dirty.
With Jagannath Puri, I completed my char dham yatra as per my resolution. Being in 4 different directions in the country, each of these temples also made me experience life in different parts of India. The architecture, the cultural nuances, the rituals, even the way the darshan is organized are all so different yet one thing which runs common is the devotion. There is definitely something divine about these places, which I felt when I was in front of the deity at each of these temples. Only that one minute makes all the difference. The other external ambience is all irrelevant. It does hurt to see the monetization of these temples which should be the house of God and create the same experience for all devotees. I wish there was a central governing body overlooking arrangements in these temples and built in systems to make them more accessible, clean and a complete experience worth remembering. For now I am glad I made that resolution on that cold January morning 6 years back. With the way they currently are, by the time I am 60 years old, people would probably be doing online darshans and E-teerth yatras!
No comments:
Post a Comment