Around Puri

The temple at Konarak is on the shores of the Bay of Bengal, bathed in the rays of the rising sun, is a monumental representation of the Sun God and Surya's chariot. The chariot has 24 wheels which are decorated with symbolic designs and it is led by a team of six horses. It was built in the 13th century and is one of India's most famous Brahman sanctuaries.

Konark is very famous for the Sun Temple and other attractions. The ride was beautiful. The nature was captivating. As we reached the Sun Temple area, I felt very tired and sat in one place. Rao and Nirmala walked around to see all the sculptures. My memory of all this from 1974 was poor. Still, I did not strain myself too much. Instead, I offered and took photos of other tourists who wanted a family or group pictures of themselves.

We did purchase something there, but I forgot what. I know we looked at some bangles. We bought fresh fruits.
By the way, when I think of jewelry, One of my nieces Susmita has a website, a must see click here. It is beautiful.

While returning, the deal with the auto was to take us to 3 more temples on the way. But looks like they were all closed either that day or at that hour. I am sure the driver knew about this and did not mention it to us. So, we were at the hotel early. Walked out after resting a little and had dinner.

The final train journey and the longest of them all was on the 28th. We bought some food at the same restaurant that we ate our meals and they neatly packed it for us. Nirmala wasn't too hungry after seeing the food when we opened it on the train.

Again, we met some nice people on the train. With two, we exchanged addreses. One was an IT professional Rajagopalan who still communicates via e-mail with me occasionally and the other was a saree vendor A. Suryanarayana Murthy from Venkatagiri, Nellore District. They got off at their destinations and we reached Tirupathi in the early hours of Feb 28th. Glad to be home!!!!!

Varanasi to Puri

I had visited Puri in 1974 when my sister was working as a professor in Cuttack. It was with my mother, younger sister and my son who was two years old then. The memories were very pleasant.

On the train, as usual, we had delays, fellow travelers of all ages. There was a delay of more than an hour departing. The way we booked, we had to go to Howrah and board the next train to Puri. By the time we reached Howrah, the connecting train had left. We walked all over that station, trying to find a solution. We received lot of advice on the train to Howrah. One person was actually a railway employee. The alternatives were, we could go to Bhuvaneswar and take a bus from there. We could take a train to Cuttack and go to Puri from there. It was total confusion for us. To add to this, we found out that our ticket could not be used on other trains, even though it was not our fault. Now the negotiator inside of me said 'don't give up'. I found a railway porter who helped us in contacting the right person of the railway department and Rao got our tickets validated and we were able to board a train to Puri after a long wait and talk and explanation. We got the paper work in our hand and hence reached Puri with no problem. Anything is possible in spite of the red tape.Sri Jagannath must have loved us!!!! I don't think we paid much attention to our food and sleep with bigger challenges leading our lives.

We got accommodation for two days at Nilachal Yatri Nivas on Grand Avenue and is a unit of Shri Jagannath Temple Administration.. The room had one double bed for 250 rupees per night and the extra bed cot us 100 rupees. The hot water was available. Actually, there are two buildings there. The first one was very fancy and expensive. But the one in the interior was decent enough for us and the cost us reasonable. The young men at the reception desk were very helpful The Temple was not too far. Good food was available in nearby restaurants.
The first darsan was on the 26th. There was a lot of crowd and less discipline. We could not see much of the idol. The next dy, we were met by a guide who disappointed us again with the quality of his services. This time we spent only 90 rupees. I don't think we will ever learn a lesson!!! The next day, we decided to visit the other places like Sun Temple, Konark sculptures etc. I talked to an Auto rickshaw driver whom our hotel employees approved and made the arrangements.

The Jagannath Rath yatra (Jatra) is very famous. It is celebrated all over the world, but the one in Puri should be witnessed.
Ratha Yatra, the Festival of Chariots of Lord Jagannatha is celebrated every year at Puri, per vedic lunar calendar, it is celebrated on the 2nd day of the waxing moon in the month of Aashadha. The presiding deities of the main temple, Lord Jagannatha, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra, with the celestial wheel Sudarshana are taken out from the temple in an elaborate ritual procession to their respective chariots. The huge, colorfully decorated chariots, are drawn by hundreds and thousands of devotees on the The Grand Street, the grand avenue to the Gundicha temple, some two miles away. After a stay for seven days, the deities return to their abode. We just visited the location where all this would happen. This year the festival was on June 25th, I think.
Also, I vaguely remember we climbing up a steep set of stairs to see Narasimha Statue at the back of the Jagannath Temple. The website gives details of this temple.

The next day

We were fast asleep and we did not know when Rao returned after the Rudram chanting. What we gathered later on was that there were 12 people who were supposed to recite. Some of them chewed on some 'bhang'

Is it like Marijuana? IT IS THAT.

"The traditional harvest and preparation of bhang occurs during the celebrations of Holi in March and Vaisakhi in April, hence associated with Lord Shiva. It has now become synonymous with Holi, to the point where consuming bhang at that time is standard practice".

This was first time to my shock, I heard this. It is legal!!! Anyway, since the priests were whacky, Rao lead the whole program - he was really blessed, I thought. What a custom? Two of the brahmin priest still looked dopey all day the next day. I lost all respect. Am I wrong?
We visited local Temples, had fresh milk and yogurt in the roadside stalls, did some shopping (no sarees this time). Over all we enjoyed two extra days relaxing and sometimes doing nothing. We had a long journey to Puri (Jagannath) ahead of us.

We departed Varanasi station on 25th to arrive at Puri on 26th. More adventures on this train journey. We were glad that our yatra was coming to a culmination soon.

Varanasi and the Manikarnika Ghat

It is a city which liberates soul from human body to ultimate. Death in Kashi is Liberation. In fact the extension of this belief could be visualised in the early concept of ‘ Pancha Trirtha’ symbolically identified with the human body - it is explicitly equated with the fire elements (Panch Tattva) of which body is composed of.

Ghats of Varanasi are natural supplement to the concept of divinity.

Someone told me that our yatra would be complete with the Abhishekam at Rameswaram with Ganga water from Varanasi and bringing the sands from Rameswaram and mix it in Ganga. I wrote about that Abhishekam in my older posts. I carefully brought the sands in a small bag. Mentioned this to the priest Sivakumar and he said that it should be done only in Manikarnika ghat.
There was a young man who was trying to get some business from us since our arrival trying to talk us into hiring him for a local tour of the Temples etc. We had met him and used his services in our previous visit. So, this time, we did not want to yield to that. Now he was appointed by the priest to take us to the specified location to take a dip and mix the sand. He came with us in the auto rickshaw and then we walked through the narrow and very dirty streets. Took a boat to go near the bathing area. You can see open sewer flowing into the river. I started feeling very uncomfortable about my dip in that ghat. In addition, this is where (near by) the cremation etc is done. Anyway, we had a dip. The waters were clean and there were others enjoying the dip. I had to hold Nirmala firmly and push her into the waters, for her to be completely wet. Rao and I together took the 3 immersions. All this was done fully clothed. We returned to the boat, wiped ourselves with the towels and returned to the banks.
It was Sivarathri day. After our return to the choultry, Rao spoke with the priest about the evening darsan, pooja etc. Well, they were are going to meet in a certain part of a certain temple and recite Rudram all night. Here it goes again. Women are not allowed. Nirmala and I were tired anyway. We decided to stay in the room. I sang bhajans and Nirmala listened. In the afternoon, there was a street parade sponsored by local businesses. It can be compared to a Halloween costume parade. There was an old man (beggar? homeless?) sitting on the one side of that road and people were throwing lots of food on him. He was evidently high with something. I have never seen anything like that anywhere in my life.
Nirmala and I went to bed after our devotional sessions. I will write about Rao's all night Rudram experience in my next post.

P.S. I was soooo worried about infections and contaminations after the dip in the ghat. Believe it or not, that ganga water must be so medicinal, none of us got even cold. No wonder it is called a sacred river.

To Varanasi

Our goal while planning this yatra was to be in Varanasi on the 23rd, which was Sivarathri. Also, this year, in 2009, as it was a Monday, a special day for Shiva, it was even more auspicious. This train trip was very trying. It was several hours late. No food, no sleep, very tired and not in good moods. The only comfort was that our accommodation, darsan timings etc. were all pre-planned. Also, if you remember, this was our second visit to Varanasi. We vaguely remembered the small lanes and we had no problem reaching the choultry near Hanuman Ghat owned by our priest's family. After freshening up, we went to the Temple for darsan. The next day being Shivarathri, we were concerned about the crowds. The priest Shivakumar agreed. We had darsan of Annapoorna and Visalakshi also. We had meals at the same facility, very simple ones and rested. They provided two beds and a mattress which Rao used on the floor. We paid extra money for that.

Naimish to Ayodhya

Just to let you know that I have added some photos to my previous post. Please go back to see them, if interested.

Now we are ready to leave for Ayodhya to see Rama Janmabhoomi, Hanuman Temple and Kanak Mahal. We did not make any reservations for accommodations. But we called our priest contact in Varanasi and he suggested we try Birla Yatra place after we got down in Ayodhya.
Pradeep dropped us off at the railway station. We took an auto rickshaw and without any problem reached the Yatra place. As a certified Hindi speaker, i was allowed by my companions to go to the reception desk and find a room. The first person I met in the corridor told me that there was a wedding party there and hence no room is available. But, I did not give up. Tried using my negotiating skills and the manager gladly provided a wonderful room with two double beds and excellent amenities for 320 rupees per night. There was maid service. Paid extra money for an extra blanket. We took an auto to visit the important places. The Babri Masjid that was demolished, the new site for Rama janmabhoomi, the blue print of the site, a small museum etc were seen

We saw a cow doing pradakshinams with her head bent and she was circling around a square area. The security was very heavy. One of the officers told us that that cow goes round and round that area 108 times twice a day. There was lot of dust around due to construction. We had to walk a lot and went through security twice. By now, we were expert walkers.

While walking through that area, I had a vision of Hanuman in his pure white fur. It was like a photo of Hanuman. Finally, I found that photo in one of the shops and the vision stopped. Now I have it framed.

Naimisharanyam and some photos

Naimishararanya is about 90 km from Lucknow, on the banks of the river Gomathi.
I remember this name from the stories that we hear in Hindu poojas and vratas. This was where many Rishis lived in vedic times. The great sage Vedavyasa included. Rohit made sure, I carried my camera. The road was not very smooth. The 90 km felt longer. The Naimish area was very peaceful. Not a forest anymore. We walked around a lot. Rohit remembered the camera, took lots of candid pictures of that trip. There was no restriction for photo taking. There were many small huts, temples and small ponds. We saw Chakra kund, Vyasa Peetham, Seetha kund, and Dadheechi kund and more. Please click here to see more details.
Nirmala was looking for a particular Vaishnava kshetram., could not remember the exact name for a while. Finally, the most common name of Balaji mandir, took us there.
Naimisharanya was the place where Veda Vyasa taught the Vedas and Puranas to his disciples. Lomaharshana, the disciple of Veda Vyasa narrated the Puranas to the sages here. Shaunaka where Suta Goswami narrated the Bhagavata Purana. Adi Shankaracharya spent time in Naimisharanya and the famous blind bhakti poet Surdas lived here. This place is charged with spiritual energy. I wished we could spend a night in that area to receive the vibes. Just a car tour is not enough.
A friend of ours Dwarakanath from Tirupathi mentioned that it is of great punyam to recite Bhagavadgeetha in Naimish. Rao and I could read very fast. Nirmala said that she would just listen to us. I read all the 18 chapters while traveling in the Taxi as soon as we entered the forest, I started reading. I looked at Rao and he was snoring. Nirmala said that he dozed off a few minutes ago. But lucky for him, he was able to sit under a huge tree in Naimish and finish the missed chapters.
No money was collected at any place in that area. It was voluntary donation on our part. There was lot of road construction pending.
Rohit decided to take a different route for our return trip hoping it to be more comfortable and short. But, what he did not know was the tons of road repairs that were going on and being a high way, we had to pay some tolls also. It took us longer and experienced lots of bumps on the road. But it was fun.
Rohit was very pleased with the amount that I paid him. Remeber, he was our photographer too.!!!!!
By the way, Naimisharanya is also a Shakti Peetha and has a famous ancient Lalita (Devi) Temple. Rao was thrilled with this.