MAHAKUMBH MELA 2013

I thought I would put writing about Rao's Manasa Sarovar yatra on hold for now. We have begun planning for our 2013 yatra now. The tickets to India and the train tickets to Varanasi are ready. I know it is not an easy trip this time. But I want to do it. Hope and pray that our health cooperates. The contact in Varanasi had agreed to help us with a vehicle and a guide. We have not discussed the cost yet.
All I know is it would be much less than the fancy (but comfortable) tents that are available near the Ghats. We are concerned about the road trip from Varanasi to Allahabad. The crowd would be extremely heavy and many will be traveling like us. We received lot of advice from many well wishers. But we decided to stay in Varanasi and explore the surrounding areas also.
This time, we are four people. Myself, Rao, Nirmala and Umamaheswaran. Uma is making the domestic train arrangements from Chennai. This is the first time for Uma to Varanasi area.

In December, we are visiting Temples between Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. Nirmala is in charge of those arrangements. In spite of her not so good health, she has been very prompt and thorough. That is a 12 day trip. We are visiting family and friends between the yatras. That includes Machilipatnam, Nellore, Kavali and Hyderabad and Chennai. We haven't decided on the exact dates yet.

This time it is a winter break from Cleveland for us. Last year, the winter was very mild. I expect it be normal or severe this time.

Manasa sarovar yatra continued...................

Aug 6, 2006 was a rest day for the group. The water was freezing - so not a real bath was taken. After breakfast, went for a walk.Lunch was good with rice, sambaar, eggplant (brinjal) and paappad. After the bhojan, they had a bhajan !!!! After Tea, read Srimad Bhagavadgita.

Rao was not a fan of Tea in those days. Looks like he switched to Bournvita. The meals appear to be great. For dinner they had pulav, curd chutney, roti and stuffed green pepper. Manohar, who roomed with Rao helped with the cooking. The other person that shared the room was Mahatma (his real name !!!), a lineage of Sri Paramahamsa Yogananda.

Aug 7th, 2006:

Woke up at 4 a.m. after upma and bournvita, started for Saga around 6:30 a.m. It was a caravan of four Toyotas, 4WD. Each driver drove at his own pace. Reached one peak - Lalung-La pass around 16665 altitude. Some other peaks were Gowrishankar, Shishapangma and Langtang. Because of the clouds, they were not visible. The Shishapangma region was water control and watch region. There was a Chinese check post again. The notice board there claimed that it was the 4th highest region, with 8000 meters and 8012 meters being the highest.

Four in the group started vomiting - could be the altitude or the driving.

Rested in a Hotel in Sa ge (Sa ga) at 14080 ft altitude by paying 500 Rs. extra.

On the way, there was a breach on the road (deep cut for the Jeeps). Checked around and made a small way up the stream. The area of Himalayas is full of water, melted snow/rain. The roads could be hard to keep. The Chinese govt. wasn't doing much in spite of the increase in the number of pilgrims.
By God's grace, felt confident. They heard that some previous groups could not do the Parikrama due to bad weather. Now it is for this group yet to see.

More from Rao's Mount Kailas yatra diary

Aug 4, 2006

The breakfast was available in both Indian and Western tastes.
Visited Pasupathinath and Bhuvaneswari Temples. Chanted Rudram and Sri Durga and Medha sukthams inside the Temples.
About Bhagavathi river: They do the last rites for a body on the banks of the river near the Bhagavathi Temple. He could see several dead bodies - some in preparation and some burning.

Mr. Bhatta gave a briefing on the tour as follows:

1. Diamox helps altitude sickness. But frequent urination will be the problem.
2. Take plenty of water
3. Go slow
4. Keep pace with the group, not to miss the route
5. Rajesh willbe able to decide who can do the Parikrama and who cannot
6. Hotel in Saga is Rs.500.00 per night
7. Chinese drivers are temperamental, be careful
8. Stay in line for Visa per your number
9. Starting around 4:30 a.m. on Aug 5th, wake up call is at 3:30 a.m.
10. Will not be taking bath for a few days. May be twice during the trip
11. Do not need much change of clothes
12. For help, Rajesh, 5 sherpas and Bhatta's wife.

Rao needed two photos for the Visa.
Woke up several times at night. The wake-up call was at 3:15 a.m, Tea at 4:30 a.m., started at 5:15 a.m.
Breakfast packages were given in the Bus.
The Bus developed some problem. No washer in the fuel line, no cover or cap on radiator.Khatmandu roads were fairly good. Reached Kodari/ border around 10:45 a.m. Problems with fuel line and poor roads delayed the yatra. Lunch at Kodari was good
Chinese immigration: I was the first one to go because of the USA passport. They process by groups. We fell behind a group of 72 , 15 km away from Jhangmu (??). The customs and passport recording was done there. Left Jhangmu by 4 p.m. and reached  Nylamu by 5:30 p.m.
There were three beds next to each other in the room. Dinner and Tea were good. But only one toilet and bath room for 16 people.
The next day was rest day for getting used to the altitude of 11660 ft.
Night temps also fell down to 55F-60F degrees

August 6th was the rest day. More in the next post. It is not easy to write someone else's experiences.

Mt.Kailas continued

The Southern Travels washed their hands off at Kathmandu and Heritage Travels took over the tourists.

To go to Kathmandu, you need a visa. No charge for the first 3 days. Also, (USA) Passport and an extra passport size photo.  Indian currency is not accepted at the Airport. Need to take another 3 day visa for returning from China/Tibet. He spent an equivalent of 130 Indian rupees for that.

The happy news is he visited Pasupathinath Temple for Aarati at 7 p.m. and, he chanted Rudram there.
Please click on Pasupathinath Temple above to see the link of photos which I got from the website.

Heritage Travels gave him a set of big 54 Rudraksha mala. I don't know whether each passenger got or not. In addition to that Rao bought a string of 108 panchamukha rudrakshas for 125 rupees. Set of 7 Eka mukha rudrakshas for 1500 rupees. He could immerse them in Manasa Sarovar. Why buy so many? He wrote in his diary - Eka mukha to wear. Small group in Puja and 108=1 for dhyanam. All this is quite mathematical to me.

He says the food was good and the hotel Royal Singi also was very good in Nepal.
Now the real yatra begins on August 4th, 2006, after breakfast.

Mt. Kailas and Manasa Sarovar yatra in 2006

After our first ever Yatra of 2006 to Chardham, I returned to the USA. But my husband Rao stayed back in Hyderabad with the family. Then, he suddenly decided to make the Manasa sarovar yatra, after shopping around, decided to use Southern Travels tour. Until today, I did not hear the details about his adventure directly from him. But now, I found a small note book where he jotted down bits and pieces of his trip. With his permission, I have decided to add it to my blog. Since it is not my first hand experience, the information may not be hundred percent accurate. I posted above some maps I found on the web.
He flew from Hyderabad to Delhi. There is an information desk, but no one was there. After waiting for 2 hours, someone came. The travel agency representative was supposed to meet and greet. The bus came after 10 a.m. Brunch at 11:15 a.m. Not much vegetarian food choice was available. He had a subway sandwich and Tea. I can't imagine him eating that Sandwich.  There was another Telugu family, but were aloof.
At the Sahara check-in, there was some confusion. The scale was incorrect, needed his Passport as further proof. This is just a beginning. I will continue Kathmandu etc. in the next post.

In case you are interested in the 12 Jyotir lingams

I have listed these Jyothir lingams only in the alphabetical order. I don't believe in the theory that one is superior to the other. We were blessed by all these Kshetras !!!

1. Bhimshankar (Maharashtra)

The legend of Shiva destroying the demon Tripurasura. Bhimashankar is located in the Sahyadri hills of Maharashtra, accessed from Pune

2. Grishnewar (Maharastra)

Located in the vicinity of the tourist town of Ellora, which has several rock cut monuments from the 1st millennium CE.

3. Kasi Viswanath (Uttar Pradesh)
Located in Benares/ Varanasi

Adi Sankaracharya, Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Swami Vivekananda, Goswami Tulsidas, Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Gurunanak have visited this site.

A visit to the temple and a bath in the river Ganga is one of many methods believed to lead one on a path to Moksha (liberation). There is also a tradition that one should give up at least one desire after a pilgrimage to the temple, and the pilgrimage would also include a visit to the temple at Rameswaram in South India, where people take the water samples of the Ganga to perform prayer at the temple and bring back the sand from near that temple (We did this ganga water and the sand).

4. Kedarnath (Uttarakhand)

The Northernmost of the Jyotirlingas. Kedarnath, nestled in the snow clad Himalayas. It is accessible only on foot, six months in a year.

5. Mahakaleswar (MP)

The Mahakaleshwar temple at Ujjain is located near a lake; it has five levels, one of which is underground.The temple itself is located in a spacious courtyard surrounded by massive walls. The shikhara is adorned with sculptural finery. Brass lamps light the way to the underground sanctum. It is believed that prasada offered here to the deity can be re-offered unlike all other shrines.

6. Mallikarjuna (Andhra Pradesh)

Located in Srisailam near Kurnool and Sri Aadi Sankaracharya composed his Sivanandalahiri here.

7. Nageswara (Gujarat)

Near Dwaraka. Two other sites in India, one near Audhgram near Purna in Andhra Pradesh and another near Almora in Uttar Pradesh also enshrine temples to Nageswara Jyotirlingam.

8. Omkareswar (MP)

Located on the Mandhata hill on the banks of the Narmada. The river Narmada branches into two and forms an island Mandhata or Shivapuri in the center. The shape of the island resembles that of the visual representation of the Omkara sound, Om. There are two temples here, one to Omkareshwar and one to Amareshwar.

9. Rameswaram (Tamil Nadu)

Six worship services are carried out each day, the first being at 5am. Special worship services are carried out every Friday.

Festivals: Rama's worship is commemorated in the month of Aani (June 15-July 15); two annual Bhrammotsavams are celebrated in Aadi and in Maasi. These are Tamil months.

There are 36 Theerthams in Rameswaram of which 22 are in the temple and these waters are said to possess medicinal properties. Bathing in these is considered to be of great significance. The Agni theertham refers to the ocean while the Koti theertham is located within the temple itself.

10. Somnath (Gujarat)

Located at Prabhas Patan in Saurashtra in Gujarat
Somnath is considered to be the first of the 12 Jyotirlingas of Shiva. It is situated on the south coast of Saurashtra.
Entrance to the town of Somnath is through the Junagadh Gate . There are also the remains of an ancient Sun temple at Somnath.

11. Trayambakeswar (Maharastra)

Tryambakeshwar located near at a distance of about 30 km from Nasik in Maharashtra. Tryambakeshwar is the source of the river Godavari. This is an ancient shrine, however the current structure is a result of the reconstruction efforts undertaken by the Peshwa Balaji Bajirao in mid 18th century.

The Shivalingam is seen in a depression on the floor of the sanctum; water constantly oozes out from the top of the Shivalingam.Usually, the Shivalingam is covered with a silver mask, and on festive occasions with a golden mask with five faces, each with a golden crown.

12. Vaidyanath (Jharkhand)

Vaidyanath is located at Deogarh in the Santal Parganas region of Bihar.
Some believe Vaidyanath near Parali in Andhra Pradesh to be the Vaidyanatha Jyotirlingam. Others claim that Kiragram in Punjab and Dabhoi in Gujarat are the Vaidyanatha Jyotirlinga temples.

In the temple complex are twenty two other temples. The Baijnath or Vaidyanath temple faces east. The top of the Shiva Lingam is slightly broken, the legend goes that it chipped away when Ravana tried to uproot it. Near the temple is the Sivaganga lake.

My Travels: Ratha Saptami 2012 - snow and patches of ice

My Travels: Ratha Saptami 2012 - snow and patches of ice

Ratha Saptami 2012 - snow and patches of ice

In front of our house - He is all ready for Ratha Saptami (రథ సప్తమి) - very prompt !!!!. May He protect our Mother Earth and us all.
 I don't have to make any travel arrangements for this one !!! He appears whether I ask or not !!! Let us pray to Him !!!!