HOLY TRIP TO BADRINATH AND KEDARNATH
With the blessings of my Revered, Respected and beloved Guruji, I am now elucidating my experiences in the “Land of Gods”, as UTTARANCHAL is commonly known. I am probably amongst the few to whom the almighty had given an opportunity to see him in his own land not once, not twice but thrice. I must say that I am extremely lucky and must be my poorva janma sukrutam to go to such places more than once.
The First time I had been to Badrinath was way back in 1978 alongwith my parents. I was in my teens at that time and I still remember the way I felt about the whole trip to Badrinath and back. The second time was in the year 2004 and now this is the third time in 2007. But this time my Guruji gave me an added blessing in giving me an opportunity to see Shri Kedareshwar in Kedarnath.
I have heard many people talking about the arduous journey to Maanasarovar and the great odds one has to face during that journey. Well, quite frankly, I had not been to Maanasarovar and it is only the hazy images that I could make out while listening to my Guruji, who had been there a year ago. But after visiting both Badri and Kedar, what I have felt is that the journey is not a bed of roses and one always has to depend on the mother nature to return safely.
With the blessings of my Revered, Respected and beloved Guruji, I am now elucidating my experiences in the “Land of Gods”, as UTTARANCHAL is commonly known. I am probably amongst the few to whom the almighty had given an opportunity to see him in his own land not once, not twice but thrice. I must say that I am extremely lucky and must be my poorva janma sukrutam to go to such places more than once.
The First time I had been to Badrinath was way back in 1978 alongwith my parents. I was in my teens at that time and I still remember the way I felt about the whole trip to Badrinath and back. The second time was in the year 2004 and now this is the third time in 2007. But this time my Guruji gave me an added blessing in giving me an opportunity to see Shri Kedareshwar in Kedarnath.
I have heard many people talking about the arduous journey to Maanasarovar and the great odds one has to face during that journey. Well, quite frankly, I had not been to Maanasarovar and it is only the hazy images that I could make out while listening to my Guruji, who had been there a year ago. But after visiting both Badri and Kedar, what I have felt is that the journey is not a bed of roses and one always has to depend on the mother nature to return safely.
Our journey started from Hyderabad which was upto Delhi. From Ghaziabad (Delhi) we took a Taxi and started our tour to Badrinath & Kedarnath. Our Taxi driver, Ajay was a young chap of 25 years of age and he was a marvellours driver and also a very good human being. At this age, generally, we see such qualities in a person. We went past Haridwar, Rishikesh and many Prayags including Nanda Prayag etc., before stopping at Joshi Math for Night Halt. Well, it was a sight to see and believe. Such huge magnitude of humanity was already in Joshi Math that it became extremely difficult to find a shelter for the night. Anyhow, a good soul asked us to stay in his hutment. His wife prepared Rotis and Sabji and we were again ready the next morning by 04.00 am in our Taxi. The gates at Joshi Math for Badrinath opened at 06.00 am and all the vehicles left in a queue and we continued our journey to Badrinath in the Serpentine road. The scenic beauty of the entire journey was exotic. It has to be seen to believe. The flora and fauna, all gave such pleasing effect to our eyes. I could not but thank the Almighty for his creation. On the left side there were the high rising cliffs and on the right side was the precipice about some thousand feet from where we could see the rivulets flowing in their full glory and the music was just enchanting. Suddenly all the vehicles stopped at a particular curve. I came out of our car and went to see what happened. A Scorpio Car hit the mountain cliff on the left side head on, and the driver was unable to bring back the vehicle on to the road. Within minutes a BSF Truck arrived at the spo. The well trained BSF personnel helped bring back the vehicle on to the road and the traffic once again started to move in a snails pace because of the ghat road.
During our entire journey, we noticed BSF outposts.
During our entire journey, we noticed BSF outposts.
