திருச்சிற்றம்பலம்
DAY 1: Friday Night (31-07-09)
Delhi:
I reach the Delhi (my pick up point) around 7 pm. After having my dinner, I wait for the arrival of my bus. In the mean time I speak with my tour meets (17 members); all are from south India, Tamil, kannad and telgu. In that most of them speak Tamil. I meet one of the person(telgu) he visit 11 jothir lingam among 12, Kedharnath is the last in that (for me it is the 2nd jothir lingam next to rameshwaram) .My Bus came around 9.45 pm we all lift the luggage in to the bus. When the bus starts the A.C is not working, so we move our luggage to another bus and start around 10.30 after 30 mins journey the bus get break down, so they turn the bus to their place, again we move to the another bus and start the journey around 12 pm. My tour starts from here, L Let us see place by place.
DAY 2: Saturday (1-08-09)
Haridwar:
We reach Haridwar around 7.30am in the morning, we went to vishva sathbhavana ashram am and take bath over there and have our break fast and left the ashram am around 10 am.
Rishekesh:
We reach Rishekesh around 10.30 am, we went for sivanandha ashram am sivanandha ashram am, A beautiful ashram am constructed by sivanandhar, there we visit Sivan, perumal temple & sivanandhar Samadhi. Some Tamil people are staying there. Nice place to stay, after finishing our prayer they give sweet for us as a prasatham, next place is ram joovala
Ram joovala
Ram joovala is a hanging bridge, an excellent construction above the Ganga River, constructed by British people in 1924; this bridge is also called as sivanandha joovala. Length is 600 meter. They using spring for their construction when the wait apply over the bridge (a vehicle passed over there), you can feel the vibration of the bridge. Next place is rameshwaram temple
Rameshwaram temple
North rameshwaram, it is an excellent temple constructed by the panja pandava’s. Here the special is the lingam (Shiva) fully made by shaligramam (it was a stone you can get in kandigai river in Nepal, very power full stone). It is a very peace full place near to the Ganga River. Next place is lakshman joovala.
Lakshman joovala
After visiting rameshwaram temple we hire a jeep and move to Lakshman joovala. It is also a hanging bridge constructed near to ram joovala, but small when compare to ram joovala length is about 400 meter. Near to lakshman joovala 2 matha temples are there one temple is at the 12th floor and other is at 13th floor. Due to time constraint we didn’t see those temples. After visiting the Lakshman joovala, we move to Andhra ashram is and have our lunch, and make a move towards devaprayag
Devaprayag:
Prayag means sangamam (join) of two rivers. So many prayags are there out of that only five prayags are very important. Devaprayag is a Confluence of Allaganada and Bhagirathi. After the joining of these two rivers the river is named with the famous name GANGA. We stop the bus over there and worship Ganga matha and make a move to Srinagar
End of Day 2:
Srinagar is a small village there we spent our night after having the dinner. And eagerly waiting for the Tomorrow morning.
Import ants of Rishekesh
1.'N' numbers of ashram am was constructed over there, one day is not enough for rishekesh, so if u visit rishekesh spend 3-4 days at visit all the ashramams.
2. You can get a wonderful Rudhrakshamala over there (next to Nepal, in Rishekesh you can get a best Rudhraksh) you can get best spadigam and navarathna mala over there. Please check the product before you buy. So many duplicate are there in market, please buy the above things in uthrakand gov shop.
DAY 3: Sunday (2-08-09)
Srinagar:
We start at 5 am from the Srinagar guest house and make a move towards kedharnath. The thriller part start from here, It’s a very risk full journey, we want to travel in very steep mountain with continuous bends over there, and rivers in the other side of the road (very force). Next place is Rudhraprayag
Rudhraprayag:
Rudhraprayag is the second important prayag. We reach zero point (i.e., sangamam of two rivers) around 7am in the morning. Rudhraprayag is a Confluence of allaganadha from badhrinath and mandhahini from kedharnath. Here we visit a famous Shiva temple rudhraeshwar, after finishing the prayer we have our breakfast and make a move towards Rampur. We reach the guest house around 11 am. We keep all the things over there and went to the thriyuganaren temple.
Thriyuganaren Temple:
After we refresh our self we hire a jeep over there and start the journey to thriyuganaren temple, it is 20km far from the Rampur, it is also a risk journey only jeep can go over there, finally we reach over there at 12 pm. It is a Place Shiva parvathi marriage happen. The poojari said till from the day (marriage day) they are Maintains the fire in the yaga kundam. They are giving vipudhi (ash from the yaga kundam) as a prasadham, If that vipudhi is in Ur home, it avoid the -ve rays, evils, ghost, and black magic from Ur home. After worship the Lord Shiva and parvathi we move to the Rampur guest house via jeep and have our lunch and start moving to kedharnath.
Story of kedharnath:
Before starting the story I could like to say the story of kedharnath temple, because you want to know why it is called as a holy place among Hindu temples. Kedarnath is located in the Himalayas, about 3584m above sea level near the head of river Mandakini, and is flanked by breathtaking snow-capped peaks. KEDARA- its meaning Peak of a mountain. Among the twelve JyotirLingas of Lord Shiva, the one at Kedarnath is located in the snow-covered area of the Himalayas.
During the war between the Kauravas and Pandavas, their own kith and kin gor killed. In order to absolve themselves of this sin, the Pandavas went for a pilgrimage. But Lord Vishweshwara was away in Kailasa in the Himalayas. On learning this, the pandavas, left Kashi. They reached the Himalayas via Hardwar. They saw Lord Shiva from a distance. But Lord Shiva hid from them. Then Dharmaraj said: “Oh, Lord, You have hidden yourself from our sight because we have sinned. But, we will seek you out somehow. Only after we take your Darshan would our sins be washed away. This place, where you have hidden yourself will be known as Guptkashi and become a famous shrine.” From Guptakashi (Rudraprayag), the Pandavas went ahead they reached Gaurikund in the Himalayas valleys. They wandered there in search of Lord Shiva. While doing so Nakul and Sahadev found a he-buffalo. It was unique to look at. Then Bhemma went after the buffalo with his mace. The buffalo was clever and Bheema could not catch it. But Bheema managed to hit the buffalo with his mace. The buffalo had its face hidden in a crevice-in the earth. Bheema started to pull it by its tail. In this tug-of war, the face of the buffalo went straight to Nepal, leaving its hind part in Kedar. The face of the buffalo is known as Pashupatinath in Nepal. On this hind part of Mahesha, a glorious JyotirLinga appeared. Lord Shiva appeared from this great light. He appeared before the pandavas. By getting a Darshan of Lord Shiva, the pandavas were absolved of their sins. The Lord told the Pandavas, “From now on, I will remain here as a triangular shaped JyotirLinga. By taking a Darshan of Kedarnath, devotees would attain piety”. This temple is one among the 274 thevara padal Petra sthalam (Important temples for saivas). Sambanthar and sundharar sung the Kedareshwar from the kalahasthi (andhra).
Kedharnath:
The vehicle starts to climb the mountain and the Mandhahini River come together with us to show the route to kedharnath. After 2 hours journey from Rampur we reach the Gowrikund, from Gowrikund we want to climb very Steep Mountain for 14km to reach kedharnath. For climbing the mountain they are providing three choices one by walk (free of cost), second by horse (Rs 1,200 per head if u are less than 60 kg else Rs 1,315). Third is a very costly one by dolly (four people will carry you to the top of the hill if u are less than 60 the charge is Rs.3, 600 above 60 4,500 it depends on kg). Our guide advice we to take a journey in horse because you can’t suggest the climate change, suddenly heavy rain will come, so we choose a horse and start the journey. We enjoy the nature over there; even though fear is there we continue the journey by telling Shiva Nama and some thevara songs. After 3 1/2 hours journey we reach the top of Kedharnath, due to half season we didn't see snow fall but a very cool climate. Once we reach the kedharnath, immediately we went for aarathi dharsan, superb decoration, you need 1000's of eye to see such dharsan. Then we back to room take the dinner and cold sleep (two swatters and rug is not enough to control the cold the temp around 14 degree).
DAY 4: Monday (3-08-09)
Kedharnath:
The room boy wakes up with hot water at 4 am. Really I don’t want to take bath at 4 am. But my aim is to sing the thiruvenpavai and thirupalliyeluchi and kedharnath song by sambanthar and sundharar. So i didn't mind the cold, i take bath around 4 am and went to temple around 5am and start singing the songs. Everyone in the temple doing the pooja i was simple thinking about thirumular words " punniyam saivarku poo vundu neer vundu". but i didn’t have anything to worship my lord, what should i do, at that time one person give me a jug of water, i was really happy and pour those water over Shiva and worship him and came out. When i came outside one of my tour mate said he didn’t see the god. So please come with me, i thought that Siva is calling again. I visit once again lord Shiva and came back
Importance of the day:
Here i want to tell the importance of the day i visit Kedareshwar, This place is located in north so we start from north. This the month called "SARVAN" it is very auspicious month for them and it is very famous for lord Shiva worshippers, somvar is famous for lordshiva, according to hinduism somvar fasting is best among all. and it is a last somwar of the sarvan month. Ok letus come to our side, that month is "AADI" hope you know about the importance of 'aadi matham 18 am peruku', apart from that somvaram. The last but not least is a very big auspicious day for saivas is somvar prathosam. i dono how all these get joined together, everything is decide by god he want me to visit him at this auspicious day, Till i reach kedharnath i don't know about this.
special in Kedharnath:
1.AAdhi sankarar jeev Samadhi.
2.Bhrama kamalam(kind of lotus) pond. Special of this pond is, if u said Shiva namam Brahma kamalam will grow up from the pond else it won’t come out of the water.
Return From Kedharnath:
Finally the time came to leave from kedharnath, My heart ached to leave behind this valley of the gods. I felt their presence in every stride and swore that one day I would come back. we start around 11 am in the horse. While getting down from the kedharnath mountain i face so much difficulty because the mountain is so steep, the horses are getting down very fastly in the hairpin bends, some time the horses get slip while getting down at that time the horse boy will manage the horse, One horse boy will manage two horses, but the boy allocated to my horse he didn’t catch my horse, when i spoke to him he said don’t worry we had only two well trained horse(in their group) and you are sitting on one among them, so no need to fear it will automatically go without any pilot. Whatever he say, little bit fear in my heart, because very steep and height mountain and i was sitting in a very height horse. Finally lord Shiva help us in the safe journey and we reach the Gowrikund very safely. we said salaam to that horse and horse boy and leave the place immediately and make a move to Gowrikund.
Gowrikund:
Before Proceeding to Gowrikund i want to tell u about the story of Gowrikund, it is a tapas(thavam) place of lordess sakthi,one Rishi named brihu he get a kind from lord Shiva on seeing that sakthi choose a place to make a tapas to get a half part of the body from Shiva(arthanarishwarar). that place is called in the name of sakthi as Gowrikund. This temple is one among the thevara padal petra sthalam. sambanthar sung one song in Gowrikund. It's also a birth place of lord vinayaga(hope you know about the vinayagar story), Head-less Ganesha temple is there in Gaurikund,and Lord Shiva cut off Ganesha’s head with the trident and later replaced with the head of an elephant
Trip in Gowrikund:
We reach the Gowrikund around 1 pm,once we reach the Gowrikund. We went to one hot water pond(natural not artificial) near to the temple, we take a steam bath over there and got some what relief from the tiredness. Then we reach the Gowrikund temple and worship lord Shiva by sambanthar song and worship lordess Gowri also. finally we reach the Rampur guest house around 2 pm and have the lunch and go to sleep. we spend rest of the day and night in Rampur guest house, next day journey to Badhrinath.
DAY 5: Tuesday (4-08-09)
Rampur:
We start at 5 am from the Rampur guest house and make a move towards Badhrinath. The route towards badhrinath is also in mountain like kedharnath the only change is the river, here the allaganandha river will show the route to badhrinath. we want to travel 250 km, but the journey time is 12 hours. we have our breakfast on the way.
Karnaprayag:
Karnaprayag is the Third important prayag. Karnaprayag is a Confluence of allaganadha from badhrinath and Pindari from Pindari mountain.
Nandhaprayag:
Nandhaprayag is the Fourth important prayag. Nandhaprayag is a Confluence of allaganadha from badhrinath and Nandhagini from Nandhi hills.
VishnuPrayag:
VishnuPrayag is the Fifth important prayag. VishnuPrayag is a Confluence of allaganadha from badhrinath and Dhauliganga from Dhauli hils. After visiting all the prayag we make a move towards the josimath, the journey towards badhrinath start from here. Going to badhrinath is not an easy journey so many gates are there in b/w josimath and badhrinath. they allow the vehicles in the particular timings because it is a one way.
Josimath:
We reach the josimath around 1.30 pm, the gate to badhrinath will open around 2 pm , so we went to josimath narashimma moorthy temple(very famous temple because badhrinath permual will stay over here for 6 months(during winter)). After worship the narshima moorthy we came back to our bus, at that time the gate towards badhrinath was opened and our journey starts on the way we reach the hanuman chatti.
Hanuman chatti:
It is a very famous place towards badhrinath. panjapandavas get seernajivi hanuman dharsan in this place. panja pandavar start the journey to heaven (soorka rohini situated 44 km above badhrinath)at that time Bhima was conceited about his strength. so hanuman want to teach a lesson to bhima, so Hanuman laid there as an old monkey. Bheema say an old monkey lying before him in the path and shouted at the monkey to give way for him. But, the old monkey (Hanuman) told that since he is so weak, he could not able to move and told that if Bheema could move the tail, he can move it and go along with his way. Bheeman thought he can move the tail with his one hand, but he could not do that. Using his full strength, he tried, but he could not even move the tail for an inch. Finally, he realize his mistake then hanuman showed his original Roopam and explains him that there are brothers (since both are Vaayu Puthras). Bheema fell to the feet of Sri hanuman. Then Hanuman blessed the panja pandavas. In previous day the bus facility is available up to hanuman chatti, from here you want to walk up to badhrinath. Very risk full journey start from hanuman chatti to badhrinath (continuous land sliding, water falls from mountain block the road etc..) when we reach the hanuman chatti we heard the due to cloud blast a bridge had broken, we get shocked, but the running water is very less, so we cross that river without that bridge and reach the badhrinath very safe
Badhrinath:
We reach the badhrinath around 4 pm. We went to our guest house refresh our self’s and make a move to manna village
Maana village:
It is the last village in India - Tibet border, here we see the vinayagar cave and vyasar cave, Here vyasar written a very famous epic Mahabharatham with the help of vinayagar.
KesavPrayag:
KesavPrayag is also an important prayag. Two important rivers joining over here are allaganadha from badhrinath and Saraswathi river.
Origin of Saraswathi:
Then we see the origin point to saraswathi river(really awesome place). Except this place you can’t see the saraswathi river, because this is an underground river.
Story Of badhrinath temples:
Before starting the story i could like to say the story of badhrinath temple, because you want to know why it is called as a holy place. Badhrinath is called as Badrikashrama, No other spiritual place in India is called “ashrama” - a sanctuary for spiritual seekers. The whole land between Nandaprayag and Satopant is known as the Badri Vishal Kshetra. Badrinath is situated at an altitude of 10,244 feet amidst the snowy and magnificent valley between the two mountains known as Nara and Narayana where the great sages known by these names, meditated. The temple is situated on the right bank of the river Alakananda which is another name for Ganga. The idol of the Lord here is a saligrama (type of stone) seated naturally in padmasana (lotus pose). This is the only idol of Vishnu in this yogic pose.
Arrakam(giant) tortured the entire saint and rishes doing thapas in the earth all the rishes and saint tell their grievances to lord Vishnu. He said he will save him at a correct time. Here i want to say about the power of giant. He is son of lord suriyan(sun). his tapas towards his father and asked boons(varam) that he should not died in the earth. Sun said whoever born in the earth they want to die here, so this boon is not possible ask other than that. The clever giant asks he need 10,000 kavasam. If anyone tries to break one kavasam he wants to make 10,000 years of tapas. so consider for 10,000 kavasam i.e., 10,000 * 10,000 years. Lord Vishnu searches a proper place in the earth to kill the giant he visit badhrinath(old kedharnath). The current badhrinath is called as aadhi(old) kedharnath, Shiva and parvathi stayed over there. Lord Vishnu take a avatar of small child and start crying in front of the cave, Shiva advised parvathi not to take that child because, he was lord Vishnu if u take that child then u will be in trouble but, parvathi take that child into the cave and give him a food and make him to sleep. lord Shiva and parvathi went out of the cave when they came back lord Vishnu was doing tapas over there. So lord Shiva left this place to lord Vishnu and left the current kedharnath. There is an aadhi(old) kedharnath temple in badhrinath. Then lord Vishnu take an avatharam of nar-narayan. Narayan teach the Gnana to Narran. Both make one day tapas over there and ask that giant to come to badhrinath for fight. The famous of that place is, if u do tapas one day there it will be equal to 10,000 year tapas. so one will do tapas one day and other will fight with giant, the both Narran and narayanan break 9,999 kavas of giant, finally the giant escape from the place and hide behind the lord sun. Narran and Narayan ask the sun to surrender the giant. Lord suriyan said i can’t able to give him to you because he asked me shelter, so i can’t able to give him. Then Narran and Narayan reply that we will take arjunan(Narran) and krishnan(Narayan) avatar during the thoovapara yuga at that time u want to surrender the giant. suriyan accept that. The giant take the avatar of karnan with single kavasam and killed by arjunan and krishnan..Till from the day the nar and narayanan doing tapas in badhrinath. If u get a chance to visit badhrinath u can see two mountains over there, nar and Narayan mountain. Don’t forget to do japam over there.
Mahalakshmi change herself as a tree and give shelter to lord Vishnu during his tapas. so Vishnu said she had gain more power than Vishnu, so that this place is on the name of mahalakshmi, badhri(tree).
Badhrinath Temple:
We reach the temple around 6.45 pm and directly go for dharsan, due to half season no rush over there. after seeing the perumal, i visit the old kedharnath temple near to the badhrinath temple, again i back to badhrinath temple for aarathi dharsan it was around 7.25, and it is really good. Once the aarathi is completed they start doing palliyarai pooja, they remove all the ornaments from the statue and apply sandal over the body and the cover the statue with the rug(woolen bed sheet).Then we back to our hotel and take rest.
DAY 6: Wednesday(5-08-09)
Importance of the day
Before i start the story i will tell the importance of this day
1.Generally Wednesday is consider a birthday of perumal
2.Full Moon Day
3.Avani Avittam(very auspicious day, on the day only Brahmins change their poonal)
Badhrinath:
We wake around 5.30 am in the morning and went to Hot water springs of Taptakundam(were aadhi shankarar find the badhri statue) are seen on the banks of the Alaknanda at Badrinath. All pilgrims take bath here before visiting the Badhri vishal.This water is very hot(130 degree Fahrenheit) when compare to the Gowrikund hot water pond. After taking bath i went to old kedharnath temple and sing the thevaram songs over there and back to badhrinath temple. After visiting the badhrinath temple i went to a place called Brahma kapalam
Brahma Kapalam:
Lord Brahma originally had five heads to represent the five elements of Nature and Lord Siva also had five.Bhrama so Proud about his fifth face. so Siva gets angered and removed one of the heads of Brahma, which however, due to a curse by Brahma, got stuck to Siva's palm. Siva lost His lustre and charm due to "Brahmahathi Dosham" and went from one holy place to another to get rid of the sin. When He visited Badhrinath Lord badhri narayanan asked Goddess Parvathi Devi to offer Bhiksha to Siva and when She did it, Siva was partially relieved of the curse as the "Brahma Kapalam" (Brahma's skull) on His palm, got filled up, but it did not fall down. Lord narayanan then asked her to put bhiksha to Brahma kabal when it start to eat put some food down it will go down to take that food at that time kill the head then lord Shiva will release from that. parvathi did the same and lord Shiva was completely relieved of the curse. After worship the Brahma kapalam we make a move towards pipalkotti guest house
Journey towards pipalkotti:
when we reach hanuman chatti the problem starts with that broken bridge(already i stated it above). Due to rain, water is running very forcedly. So they stop the entire vehicle, we want to spend three hours over there and finally the start making temporary road with the help of JCB. Finally we reach the josimath at 7 pm. if we miss the 7 PM gate they won’t allow us to get down, luckily god saved us and we reach the pipalkotti guest house around 9 PM and had the dinner and back to sleep.
DAY 7: Thursday(6-08-09):
Haridwar:
We start around 4 AM from pipalkotti guest house and make a move towards haridwar. We reach haridwar around 3.30 pm we take a bath in ganga river and visit the Mansa Devi and chandi Devi temple, both temple are situated in the top of the hill, you can go to the temple via rope car. Height of chandi Devi temple is very high when compare to manasa Devi temple.
Ganga Aarathi:
We come down around 7 PM for ganga aarathi, it starts around 7.25 pm with ganga matha song. Thousands of people taking bath in the ganga river dharsan over that aarathi and light the deepam over the river ganga. It is very nice to see. After finishing the aarathi we visit ganga temple and some temple situated in the bank of ganga river and we make a move towards the vishva sathbhavana ashram am and have the dinner and start towards Delhi. We reach the Delhi around 4.30 AM in morning.
Tour End:
Finally the climax came, every one reach the Delhi with prasatham from all temples where ever we visit. After saying goodbye to all, we all left the places. My heart ached to leave behind that temple. I felt their presence in every stride and swore that one day I would come back. The Tour is really good we covered so many places in that tour. We had seen so many places.
Things to remember:
The above mentioned place except haridwar and Rishekesh all are open for six months only(i.e., from chitra poornima to next day of deepawali) so people(poojari in temple) over there try to get money from us. so please be aware of that. If u needs any help surely i will help u!
My Words:
The Hindu scriptures say that the life of a Hindu would be incomplete without making a visit to Kedharnath & Badrinath. Going to these yathra is not possible for all. If u did tapas and punniyam in your earlier birth you can see these places. Even so many rich person cants able to visit these places. According to Hindus those who visit these places in their life will attain mukthi. My humble request is try to visit those places, when you are youth, if u postponed such a nice trip to ur old age then u will face all kind of difficulties(cold, travel pain, stay etc…) over there. You will get the blessings of all gods.
ஓம் நமசிவய
ஓம் நமோ நாராயணாய
திருச்சிற்றம்பலம்
