gateway for the Gods...Haridwar.!!!!

over the centuries the holy city has transformed from a primodial home to the Gods to a favourite haunt of salvation seekers.Faith ,slugging off urban malice.curling up on a sticky mat for that perfect asana.communing with strangers.Haridwar one of the oldest living cities, is benovelent enough to accept everyone,every reason within its fold.
But not when it began.All there was to it was a curse and ashes.legend has it that an incensed sage Kapila had cursed the ancestors of prince Bhagirath and turned them into ash.The prince then sat in penance to redeem the souls of his forefathers and when the Gods decided to forgive,the river Ganga trickled from the matted locks of Lord Shiva and its holy water resuscicated the 60,000 sons of king Sagar.that moment Haridwar acquired the serenity that makes it one of seven holiest cities in the country.and Chandi Devi temple is sacred for Shiva devout for it was here that the heart and navel of Goddess Sati had fallen.so is Daksha Mahadeva temple,the site where king Daksha performed yagna but didn`t invite Lord Shiva. Irate ganas(followers)of LordShiva killed who was later brought to life by the Lotd himself.
The god trail in Haridwar is incomplete without a visit Sapta(seven) Ashram and Sapta sarovar where the ganga splits into seven little rivers.and sure there is a story behind it.once upon a time seven sages were in deep meditation here ,but the river Ganga had to move further. she could not disturbed the sages,so she splits into 7 tributaries and meandered on.........
Pious or agnostic when evening comes to Har Ki Pauri,the sacred ghat at the stroke of 7 ,hundreds of lamps are lit,the enirtire place acquires an amber hue and the chanting of mantras add to surreal glow.thousands of lamps float in the serene waters of Ganga...

Haridwar is forever saintly.............

Joy Ganga

Sri Gomukh.....the place where the sacred Ganga actually emerges into the world.of all the places on earth it is the holiest.it is celebrated in innumerable songs by the great rishis-it is surrounded by high,snow- clad peaks.it stands close to heaven and is occuied by the gods.over it is an extensive pateau.on it grows a wide variety of divine flowers,making it into a lovely garden.
In the mind of one standing near Gomukh,under the high,dazzling,snow covered peaks of the Himalaya,and watching the things all round him with eyes wide open in wonder, there can be no room at all, atleast for that duration, for common worldly thoughts,surrows or memories of past experiences.that is, the mind then reaches a state of concentration,devoid of all distracting thoughts.it is then steeped in ineffable joy at the sight of the snow divinely beautiful in its own right, and led forward into astate of samadhi beyond all doubts and fancies.This experience is common to all,without any distinction of the learned and the ignorant,the pious and the impious,the one who knows the truth and the one who does not.

land of legends...............

There is a wonderful legend that relates how the deity of Sri Jagannath at Puri came to be enshrined. centuries ago ,King Indradyumna is said to have dreamtof Vishnu`s presence some wherein te vicinity of the cityof Puri.he dispatched few savantsin search of divine presence.one of them Vidyapati,lost his way in the forest and rested as the guest of Savar chief Visyavasu whose beautiful daughter Lolita he married.Vidyapati discovered that come hailor thunderstorm,every morning Visyavasu went to worship a mysterious object.he was convinced that this was the divine object he had been sent to locate.oneday he took off with the object,believed to be sacred relics of Lord Krsna,and returned to Puri.infact his father-in-law Visyavasu was none other than thedescendant of Jara Savar who had unwillingly killed Lord Krsna and had preserved his relics,passing them on to his descendant.

King Indradyumna meanwhile had another dream in which he was instructed to carve an image of the deity from a huge lot afloat at sea.it was located,but it would not budge until visyavasu,befriended by the king,came and touched it.Viswakarma,the sculptor-architect of the Gods,himself undertook the task of making the iage on condition that he would not be disturbed.but the queen grew impatient and oneday pushed open the door.instantly ,the divine sculptor disapeared leaving the image incomplete.and that is why to this day,the image of Lord Jugganat (KRSNA) remains without arms.the relics were interned in the image.It was much later that the images of Lord Krsna`s brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra were installed along with the main deity..............

In the charing continuation of the tradition ,even today,the descendants of Vidyapati and loita,known as the Daitapatis ,are among te premier priests at the temple.

Finding the way...Himalayas

A visit to holy places as an act of merit,and death at the spot as passport to the realms of gods.today ppl may deride all that is said about such things as the ravings of fools.yet even they cannot deny the natural attractions of the surrounding landscapes of the Himalayas.The snow-clad peaks shining like silver or gold in the sunshine and the noise of avalanches resembling the bursts of cannons convert religion into wonderland,and fill the hearts of theists and atheists with astonishment and admiration.ur heart will dance with joy at the divine splendour all around it.ur mind will be intoxicated with the glory of God.God himself shines here as this mass of spotless snow,as lakes and springs,as these tall peaks and these powerfull cold blasts and these crystaline streams.
All u see is God.The Himalayas are God,theentire earth is God.everything exists in Him.everything shines because of His brightness.all beauty is His.u will enjoy the natural beauty of that divine region,realising His presence everywhere,whether in the snow or mountains.Inaccessible to man and animal they are sweetly,perpetually singing hymns to God,they do nothing else.The silent grandeur,the enourmous extent and the unshakeble firmness of the mountain,and the divine beauty and fragrance of the flowers that fascinate even birds and beasts- these are ,themselves,hymns to God.the music of course ,is not vocal.silent music those unheard.
here all sence of duality dissapear,u will feel one with great Himalayas,the world itself.in that union u feel the fullness of divine joy.
That oneness is Truth,the blissfull Truth.Oh Himalaya!

Drops from the Locks of God

Ganga bursts out of the glacier and with long-drawn shout,falls to the earth,and then off she goes,impetous,head over heels......

From icy Gaumukh ,the source of one of the world`s most celebrated rivers it began a remarkable journey down the Himalays,past the great cities of Allabad,Varanasi and Patna to Gangasagar, where the river meets the sea.where the past and the future,mythic imagination and hard reality come together.
The glacier at Gaumukh is receding.Is it due to global warming or,as the Brahmavaivarta Purana foretells,is the Ganga going underground,having taken here share of sins,to await the next golden age?

Has the demon Taraka taken over the earth again or will the Tehri dam really bring succour to the lives of millions?

The dolphin is Ganga`s cow,Ganga is our mother!
The dolphin isGanga`s bloom,don`t kill it,you won`t find another!

Aloneness!!!

Life is full of little deaths. Relationships ending, jobs changing, every single out-breath is a little death in a way. In every departure there is a gap of aloneness, where existence is naked and alive. Be wise enough to feel the gap with an open heart. This is how to invite the new.

"You cannot escape death and you cannot escape aloneness. Try as you will -- try, but all efforts fail. Nobody has ever succeeded in avoiding aloneness, because aloneness is your being. When you are avoiding aloneness you are avoiding yourself -- how can you avoid yourself? How can you escape from yourself? In trying to escape, you miss -- you miss the beauty of being alone. In fact, you start thinking of yourself as lonely because you have missed the beauty of aloneness."

Mother Ganga Is Blocked

Its so sorry that our mother river is blocked at Tehri Dam for six months.Bhagirathi river is blocked and no water will reach at Devprayag for next six months.whats a sorry and grave state for all those millions who love the mother.now there will be widrespread march against it soon.how could we will define Ganga without the main water of Bhagirathi....situation is very grave.
In India , the Ganga is considered the most sacred of all rivers.from Gaumukh, its glacial source, to Devprayag where it is joined by the Alaknanda river, it is known as the Bhagirathi.At Devprayag it assumes its original name, Ganga.from time immemorial, myths and legends have been woven around this sacred river.Centuries ago,the Bhagirathi originated from the snout of the Gangotri glacier which has since receded from itsearlier place of origin by 18 km.Comparatively, the Bhagirathi carries less water than the Alaknanda,but it is still considered to be the mythological source of the Ganga...............
Pt.Jawaharlal Nehru,-The tale of ganga,from its origin till its meeting the sea,from the ancient to the modern times,is the stoty of India`s culture and civilization.
The Ganga is the means of livelihood for about one- third population of the country
O pure mother Ganga,O Yamuna, O Godabari, O Saraswati, O Narmada,Sindu and Cauvery, all give ur blessings,do appear in these waters so that i can cleanse myself.
The summery of this prayer all the rivers are invaluable and the Ganga is the basic symbol of all rivers and waters of India.
From time immemorial ,the Ganga has been the river of India`s faith,reverence and worship, of divine blessings, and benefaction.
Abdul Fazl ,in his Ain-i-Akbari writes that emeror Akbar prefered drinking the waters of the Ganga.

Renunciate................

Even after renouncing wealth,home,relatives,wife,and children, one can`t easily renounce the lust for name and fame,nor can one easily purify the ego and direct his emotions toward self realisation.
Cultivation of a new mind is a necessary step for Enlightenment.mere Renunciation brings unhappiness and frustration.

Renunciation without being aware of the purpose of life create problems for the Renunciates and for the people of the world who look examples from them.the ppl of the world think that Renunciates are the best examples to be followed.
But there are many house holders who r far superior to Renunciates.The inner condition is more important than the external way of living.

Autumn

The Indian poet Kalidas, echoing the emotions of the pilgrims, wrote: "When the water of the Ganges and the water of the Yamuna mingle, it appears as though diamonds and sapphires were woven together in a string; as though a flock of white swans had suddenly run into another flock of black swans; as though a garland of white lotus buds were interspersed with blue lotuses; as though streaks of lightning had merged into a sheet of darkness; as though a clear blue sky was spotted with wooly clouds of autumn.

will u not weep !!!!!

Once the great king Vikramditya taking a walk alongside the river bank and he was accompanied by the then great poet Kalidas of his court.after hearing the sounds of the river Vikramaditya asked Kalidas-why the sound of the river is like someone weeping.Then Kalidas explained my dear lord If u r a daughter of mighty mountain and going far away from ur father`s place to marry the saline ocean and never have any chance or hope of returning to ur father`s place will u not weep, will u not weep.....