Road To Divinity

BADRINATH

 Jai Badrivishal!

Badrinath is the abode of lord Narayana. It has a very ancient history. It is a common belief that many of the vedic hymns and the major portion of the Upanishads were sung first at this spot.The whole land beyond nandprayag is known as Badri Vishal Kshetra. The great sages, Nara and Narayana are said to be meditating here even today.The Mahabharata mentions that these sages took a human birth as Krishna and Arjuna for the benefit of mankind.It also mentions that Krishna visited Arjuna in Badrikaasharam and lived with him for considerable period of time during their exile. It is no wonder therefore that every hindu considers a visit to Badrinath as a means of liberation from this life of transmigration.

Badrinath is situated at an altitude of 10,244 feet amidst the snowy and magnificent valley between two mountains known as Nara and Narayana. The temple is situated on the right bank of Alaknanda on the Narayana mountain.The idol of the lord here is present as 'Saligram' (type of stone) seated naturally in padmasana. This is the only idol of Vishnu in this yogic pose.A short distance below the temple is the hot water spring known as the 'Tapta kund' fed by a sulphur spring which is said to be the abode of agni, the god of fire. The water temperature here is very high, near boiling. The Alaknanda flows swiftly just below the kund with its icy cold waters. From the temple, a path goes to the village of 'Mana' which is the last village on the Indian side. The Badrinath temple opens only for 6 months in summer from May to the beginning of November. This time the dwar opened on 18th of May and I left for Badrinath on 22nd of May. 

I made my first trip to Badrinath recently. It was really one of the most thrilling trips of my life till now and I intend to go there many more times. My journey started from Solan with 9 other friends of mine ............................

 Karun Sharma (Kanu)  

 

Prabhdeep Singh Bajwa (Raja) 
 

Rohit Gautam (John) 

 
 

Vishvakant Sharma (Vishu)

 

Ghanshayam (Ghanu) 

 

Vicky  

 

 Anu

 

 Jagriti Kapoor (Abu) 

 

Yashika Thakur(Yashi) 

Our first halt was at Rishikesh. We reached Rishikesh at around 1 after midnight and directly went to a Gurudawara where we booked rooms. As we were hungry we went to the langar hall where only 10 of us were having langar with 4 other Sikh sewadars to serve us in the wee hours of the morning. I'am really greatful to them as we were starving to death. After having our dinner we rushed to our rooms and slept quite peacefully, as all of us were tired. We woke up early in the morning at around 7. After finishing our morning routine, we went to the gurudwara to pay our respects. After bowing in the gurudwara we again went to the langar hall to have (parsada) breakfast. 

With our tummies full we went out to explore Rishikesh town. Being sunday, the town was overcrowded. Rishikesh is famous for its ashrams and also the Laxman Jhula.It atttracts not only Indian devotees but is an attraction for the foreigners who are interested in Hinduism.People also arrive here to triumph over the white waters of the Ganges and this is precisely why we were there.After parking our cars in the parking lot of the Laxman Jhula, we went to book ourselves for riding the Ganges at around 8:45 AM. The man who had to organize our expedition asked us to report for the rafting at 9:30 AM and told us to roam around meanwhile. All of us then went down to the Laxman Jhula and clicked some photographs there. After crossing the jhula we entred the temple dedicated to lord Shiva on the left bank of  the Ganges. The temple was 14 storey high and had 108 deities with almost half  of them being different forms of lord Shiva. The temple too had many shops which were selling spiritual goods like Rudraksh mala's, rings, small sculptures of Gods,stones and many other things. After this stint we all scattered and decided to meet at the office of the rafting organizer. I, Yashi and Karun went to a restaurant to have something.  Yashi was starving of hunger and I and Karun were irritated by scorching heat of the sun.Yashi placed an order for a gobhi prantha and we ordered sweet lassi. The order was served within minutes and after tasting the prantha we decided to order one for each one of us. The pranthas were so tasty that we lost track of time. While we were eating Karun's phone rang, it was Vishu telling us to hurry up as our vehicle which would transport us to Shivpuri from where the rafting had to start, was waiting. We hurried up and finished our pranthas and lassi and ran towards the Laxman Jhula. God knows how come a foreigner with his bullet entered the Laxman Jhula and we were stuck behind him. The foreigner was riding his bike on a jam packed jhula where leave aside riding a bike , walking was also difficult. Half way through the jhula Kanu's phone again rang and this time it was Abu telling us to come fast and Kanu told her about the foreigner. We tried our best but couldn't make it in time. When we finally reached there the rest of the group was staring at us in such a manner that they made us feel as if we were the biggest sinners in this world.  later kanu made me realize that they were humiliated by the driver as he forced them out of the vehicle because of us, but all was fine once we apologized for the same. As most of the vehicles had gone to the Badri - Kedar yatra there was shortage of vehicles and the Sunday rush worsened the situation further. 

We had to wait for about 2 hours right there in the office as no one knew that when will the vehicle  come. It was hot and during this period of waiting clouds gathered and it started drizzling, but as they say barking dogs seldom bite the thunderous clouds vanished as soon as they appeared. At around 12:30 our vehicle came, it was a Mahindra pickup,with a raft on the top.We all climbed up into the back side (dalla) except Raja who sat in the front with the driver. Shivpuri was 16 kms from Rishikesh and it took around half an hour to cover this distance but felt like it took  15 mins as we were excited and were also singing songs. On reaching Shivpuri we brought down the raft and our guide Manoj asked us to lift the raft towards The Ganges and 'goodness gracious me' the raft may seem to be light but it is not, it's quite heavy. Including us their were about 12 - 15 more rafts all waiting for white water adventure. We were provided with life jackets and oars. In the meanwhile the raft was being filled up with air. The raft has six different air chambers and all are to be filled up appropriately. While the raft was being prepared our crash course in white water rafting started.

The first question that Manoj asked was " How many of you have done rafting before?"and we all knew that only Yashi had experienced white water rafting in The Beas at Manali, so she raised her hand. The second question he shot at us was " How many of you know swimming?" Being from a hill state none of us knew swimming except Kanu who was not confident about his swimming and raised his hand hesitantly."It is a group effort to pass through the white waters of The Ganges" Manoj told us. He briefed us on the dangers involved and gave us five commands namely - all forward, all backward, stop, right forward left backward and right backward left forward. Once the crash course was done we all jumped into the raft after washing our feet as the sand in our feet could damage the raft. Manoj splashed The Ganges water on us using his oar and after raising the slogan 'JAI GANGA MAIA' we started rowing. We were checked by Manoj for our response for the five commands and we responded quite resonably despite the fact that it was our first time. 

The first rapid we approached was ' Return to sender', it was just a start and the rapid was mild as compared to the other rapids that were to come later. Manoj had already told us not to shout as it would be hard to hear the commands of the guide and this is what happened at the first rapid. The excitement of white water rafting took the better of Abu and she shouted at the top of her voice and Manoj mistakingly called  her as Bhagirati  and said "Bhagirati madam yahan aage se gaadi bhi jaati hai in case you are afraid ye to kuch bhi nahi tha asli cheez to abhi aani hai". I guess he must have heard us calling Abu by her real name Jagriti and could only remember 'riti-riti' and thus called her Bhagirati. Jumping in John decided to call her Bhagirati from then on.The second rapid 'Roller Coaster' was the largest one with huge rapids, Bhagirati as Abu was called  by then didn't panic and made it through like rest of us. The second one was really awesome and best of the seven rapids. Manoj our guide was quite impressed seeing our enthusiasm told us that it didn't seem like its your first time," Keep going you are doing great." The next rapid was 'Golf Course' it was milder than the previous one but was good, as the toughest one was behind us, by that time all of us had settled and were enjoying to the fullest. Anu and Yashi were not rowing. For the next two rapids Manoj told Yashi to go 'High Side'. It is the position when you lie down on your chest at the front of the raft with your face right into the rapids, and as she told us later it was really fun, all the water coming right on to you. The next two rapids were named ' Club House' and ' Initiation'. They were mild rapids. Initiating through the 'Initiation' Manoj asked us to jump into the water for body surfing. Seeing Karun and me jump into the water Vishu followed and then rest of them followed except Ghanu and Vicky. We  (body surfed) floated for about 2 kms in The Ganges and were pulled up into the raft as now it was time for Cliff Jumping. On reaching the bank ,6 of us(except Raja, Vicky, Ghanu, John) went to the cliff to jump which was about 15 - 20 feet high. At first it looked scary, Karun was the first one to jump followed by Vishu and I was the third one to jump. The fourth turn was of one of the ladies, except Abu none stepped forward and it took her time to gather her guts. Yashi and Anu were not ready for it. While Abu was making her mind Karun again went up to cheer the disinterested lot but they again asked Kanu to take the plunge and he did jump of the cliff again. But this could only motivate Abu who was off to go and thus she jumped. Being the only lady to dive I aptly called her 'Our lady with balls'. 

 Despite all the effort , none of the jumps could motivate Yashi and Anu to test the waters. Cliff jumping was fun and we rushed to our rafts and headed towards the Laxman Jhula and experienced two more rapids 'Double Trouble' and 'Hilton'. On reaching Laxman Jhula we satiated our hunger in the market around Laxman Jhula and left around 4 PM.

We left Rishikesh and went towards our destination Badrinath which was about 295 kms from Rishikesh.

Our first halt was for tea at Devprayag, the confluence of  TheAlaknanda with The Bhagirathi which comes from Gangotri and is about 90 kms from Rishikesh.The next station Srinagar, which was 35 kms from Devprayag, from there we went to Rudraprayag which was another 35 kms from Srinagar and the time  then was around 8:00 PM and we knew that we wouldn't be allowed to cross the barrier after 8:00 PM as one is not allowed to drive to Badrinath at night due to hill terrain and heavy traffic. Luckily, we were able to cross the Rudraprayag barrier at 8:10 PM.Rudraprayag is another major confluence where The Alaknanda and The Mandkini coming from Kedarnath meet. We decided to head towards Joshimath as Raja told us that the next barrier was at Joshimath which was around 115 kms from Rudraprayag but he was  to be proved wrong later. At Gauchar Distt. Chamoli , around 9:30 PM, we were stopped by Uttranchal Police.Like us, many other devotees were also stranded. The Inspector who was drunk told us that he wouldn't allow us to continue our journey until day break. His junior ,a havaldar, advised us to book a room for ourselves so we  rented a dormitory in an Uttranchal Tourism hotel. After we showed the policemen, the slip from the hotel, did they let our vehicles cross the barrier. We parked our vehicles in the hotel and kept our stuff there. It was dinner time so we went to the only dhaba that was open at 11:00 PM. After dinner it was gossip time and we slept at around midnight. Before we bade goodnight to each other we decided to leave early in the morning at around 4:00 AM. All of us were so tired after the rafting stint that we woke up at 6:00 AM except Kanu. Poor fellow, woke up at 2:30 AM, took his bath and was ready to leave, as when he woke up there was no electricity and he thought that it was time to go. At night, we were attacked by mosquitoes as cooler had stopped working . All of us pleaded Kanu who was all dressed up and ready to go , to go downstairs and ask the hotel staff to put on the generator. Thanks Kanu at least your effort didn't go in vain. We all slept off, including Kanu.

 After completing our daily morning routine and having tea we left Gauchar.

Karun and I decided to go empty stomach till Badrinath. We started for Badrinath which was 135 kms, at 7:00 AM from Gauchar. We reached another confluence after covering 35 kms, Karanprayag the confluence of The Alaknanda and The Pindar river coming from Pindar glacier. Another 32 kms and we reach Chamoli  and about 18 kms from Chamoli is Pepalkoti . 32 kms from Pepalkoti is the famous town of Joshimath where we reached at around 10:30 AM. Joshimath is one of the maths established by Sri Adishankaracharya. The distance of about 40 kms from Joshimath is one way and when we reached there the movement of the traffic was from the other side. Movement of vehicles from our side was to begin at 11:30 AM and the line we were a part of was several kilometer long. There were street vendors all around selling wares-shilajit, tea, water, fruit salad, CD's etc. We killed our time by discussing previous day rafting experience and came to know that Raja and John didn't enjoy the expedition, anyhow it was fun for rest of us. At 11:30 we were allowed to move, the road from Joshimath goes down to the Alaknanda and then climbs up to a small village of Pandukeswar. (It is said that the father of Pandavs, Pandu spent his last days here) This place has a beautiful temple called Yogadhyan Badri and this is the temple in which the idol is placed and worshiped during the winter months.Again we were stranded here  for an hour, for the very same reason.It is only 24 kms from Pandukeshwar to Badrinath and the actual climb starts here and by the time you reach Badrinath you find that a whole new climate awaits you. We reached Badrinath at 2:15 PM. All of us excited started moving towards the temple premises, where we took bath at 'Tapt Kund'. The water here was boiling and we had some problem taking bath with it. 

Then we took 'Prasad' which was to be offered at sanctum - sanctorum, and we also joined a kilometer long line of devotees at around 3:30PM and after 5 hours we were able to have a glimpse of    ' BADRI NARAYAN'.In these five hours, what I realized was that ours was the youngest group among all devotees. As the dawn approched the cold gripped the valley and as all of us were clad in T - shirts, we were shivering. While waiting for the darshan I met two people ahead of me in the queue , Ram Prasad Tiwari (65) and his elder brother Krishan Prasad Tiwari (70), from Sitapur,Lucknow. They were on their char(4) Dham yatra and Badrinath was the last one of the four. They were coming from Kedarnath and shared their experiences till then, with us. They told us that the water from Gangotri is to be offered at Rameshwaram and the 'Charri' which one gets at Jagannath Puri is to be offered at Badrinath. Another fact they shared with us was that the head priest of Badrinath has to be from Kerala and the head priest of Rameshwaram has to be from Gharwal. These rules were laid down by Sri Adishankaracharya,

which are followed till date. The thought behind this was that there would be a constant cultural exchange between north and south.(What progressive vision!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and today we are fighting over territories) They also told us that  some zealots destroyed the ancient temple and threw the idol into The Alakananda river. It was Sri Adi Shankaracharya,who discovered the image in the Alakananda from the pool known as Narad Kund and installed it in the Garud Gupha near the hot water spring known as Tapta Kund. It remained here for about seven centuries. Then at the insistence of the great Vaishnava saint called Varadarajacharya, the then ruler of Garhwal made a temple at the spot where the present temple stands and had the idol installed therein. When we were at the main gate there was this huge bell which had been placed at a height and only Kanu and I were able to ring it taking advantage of our height.Vishu who was behind us also rang the bell and i really don't know what advantage he had. When the bell rang it echoed for almost a minute. I was in the front followed by Abu,Yashi, Karun,Anu, Vishu, Vicky, Ghanu, John and Raja. I knew that we had to catch a glimpse of the 'Saligram' so as abu was following me I and Abu had the Darshan. Yashi in the meanwhile was lost in the crowd and asked me "Sudhanshu tu hi prasad chadha de". I pursuaded her to offer it herself as she too had undertaken a long journey to reach there. Thus, Yashi offered prayers. All of us came out and later Kanu told me    " Yarr pata hi nahi chala darshan kis ke karnein thee". 

We came back to Badrinath market and went to our cars to bring some more clothes, meanwhile Raja and Jhon were given the responsibility to find accomodation, which was not available due to heavy rush and we decided to stay in our cars and doze off there.Then we all had dinner half of us ate Gujrati thalis and half ate punjabi thalis. Then we went to do a bit of shopping. When we came back to our cars, we put on our car heaters, but none of us could  fully relax. At 4 in the morning I woke them up and we started our journey back.At Pandukeshwar, again there was a barrier, so we freshened up there, the ladies were all sleeping. We had our morning tea there. The policeman there asked for' Chai - Pani' to lift the barricade as it was 5:45 AM but we refused to bribe him. We left at 6:00 AM. Next halt was at some distance from Rudraprayag where we had aloo pranthas. From there we decided to head towards Haridwar and at around 4:00 PM we reached there. We went to har- ki- paudi to bathe and spent two hours thereb enjoying The Ganges water again, away from all the rivers that we had seen on our way. Later, we had Cholla-Bhatura's. At 7:00PM in the evening, we continued our journey to Chandigarh where we dropped John. John boarded the bus from there to Bilaspur And we left to Solan and reached there at around 3 in the morning. It was a journey of 23 hours from Badrinath to Solan. 

While narrating my trip I delve deep in the divine bliss and feel that.

Leech aptly said: 

" A journey of thousand miles 

                             begins with a single step". 

CHEERS TO ALL

Love,

Buks