Ten divine days in Dev Bhoomi with the BVT Group

It was one of the most beautiful experiences in my life to be with people of similar wave lengths in the tour of my recent Chardham Yatra.It was said that a successful tour to this blessed place fully depends  on the grace of  Nature (God) and not on one’s efficiency or capability. It is definitely  rang true as far as our trip was concerned.

 Before we left Bangalore on 20^th October, there was great apprehension as  heavy rains lashed the valley area, creating landslides and massive power breakdowns at Uttarakhand.I had been getting calls after calls from all parts of the world from my close relatives  and friends, urging me  to avoid the trip  and to look after  my health. When I enquired  with the trip leader Swami Udit Chaitanyaji, he on the other hand instilled  great hope and trust and gave me such positive encouragement and  strength to go ahead with my decision. I subsequently started my full medical checkup and appropriate Covid tests for the travel. Results of all tests undertaken further strengthened my decision and seemed like an encouraging signal from the supreme power.  Everything worked out well then. Special credit should go to the food arrangements by the teams, which was way beyond my imagination. Homely hot and steaming food was served by our own cook nourished us throughout our travel.

Soon enough it was D day. We all assembled at New Delhi Airport as planned on October 20th. Waiting buses took us all the way to Haridwar by late evening. Although it was a long and tiring journey across different terrains, we did not experience any major problems as we were enjoying the beautiful valleys and unexplainable beauty of Nature. As I had not much knowledge of Indian trekking conditions, I kept comparing with those I had seen in my travels through Germany and Africa. But I must confess that I found the beauty in our country was superior although some infrastructures were not as good. Though I did notice all through the journey major development projects such as widening of roads and straightening of sharp bends. These appeared to be managed by very professional engineering groups and seemed to be of international standards. Once all of these are completed, I am sure these valleys will be a major tourist spiritual destination in India. And once, the cleaning and removal of all debris and stones are given priority for a smooth driving expereince, this will truly be commendable effort.

After the overnight stay at Haridwar, we started our journey to the first phase to Yamunotri about 10,800 feet above. The travel on the  narrow and zigzag single road, where horses, dolleys and walking pilgrims are crowded just cannot be explained in words. Although, many including my wife went by Dolleys, where people were carried on wooden beds, I just could not appreciate this system. I  preferred to travel on horseback by  which frankly was more painful and risky. All along I was praying and meditating, which helped me to climb up without any hurdles. While my horse stopped for water, some young people from Gujarat, came and commenting that I resembled PM Modi and wanted to take photographs with me. I agreed with a condition that it should not be put in social media, which they accepted. Although, this was the first phase of our journey and gave a lot of pain in my legs and joints, the excitement of the journey, did not allow me to focus on anything but the travel experience. After a good darshan of the temple, we started descending and arrived  back  at our hotel for a hot, homely lunch. It was pretty cold and after the usual satsang in the evening, we took  some much needed rest to get ready for the next day trip.

As early as 5 in the morning we started our second phase to Gangotri, at an altitude of 11,270 feet in our buses. Even though the journey was equally difficult, we could reach the temple comfortably by evening. With the help of the Government staff, we visited a rest house and temple complex on our way; where we had a sumptuous breakfast and proceeded to Gangotri temple by evening. Here, the goddess Ganga starts to flow and is known as River Bhagirathi. It was a good darshan of the temple and we returned to the hotel for preparing for the next stage of our trip.It was a comfortable stay in the hotel. In this Himalayan valley, the glaciers looked very beautiful and all other scenes looked amazing to me, beyond expectation. I fell in love with the valley.

Our next day’s journey was considered as a tougher one as Kedarnath was the tallest among all the chardhams at an altitude of 3,584 M. Some people ventured to go by walk and some others preferred horses and many senior citizens preferred helicopter services. The previous day was very bad and the area was covered under thick snow and no tourists were allowed. So we could fly only late after the place was cleared off and the helicopter services started. There was unusual rush noticed at the helipad, in spite of three regular helicopter companies’ services allowed to fly every half hour. Fortunately, most of us could travel although rather late. Snowfall started as soon as we reached the temple area. In a short span of half an hour, the entire area became covered with snow. The blowing wind from the helicopter running every minute in that open space made it difficult to stay. The temperature was going down and became impossible for us to stay longer. Many people were stranded and suffered for oxygen in that height. We all were separated from couples because helicopter ran on weights. Because of continuous snow falls, the helicopter could not fly its usual beats. But miraculously, in a short time, the sky cleared for a while and the helicopter agains started picking up pilgrims. Our group just reached the temple and had a darshan from outside (as the temple was closed and would open after an hour). Just then, we got a call asking us to reach the helipad as they were closing the day. With great difficulty, we started running to catch the first flight. My wife had managed to make it as the last passenger of the previous flight. I was held up with another 25 people of our group. After 5.30 PM, the pilots are not allowed to take the helicopter due to restrictions and safety factors. There was no other means to reach back the hotel. For a moment, the clouds disappeared and the last helicopter, called out for sick and people with emergency needs. One seat was vacant and I requested for it as my wife had gone ahead and the room key unfortunately was with me .There again I was fortunate to be accommodated and reached the helipad base. But to my dismay, the taxis and people who had accompanied us had left. I was alone in this unknown desolate place. My Bombay experience in similar situations helped me to chase strangers for a lift and look for bus to the base camp wherefrom all transport buses ply. Still I was about 2 km away from our residence. I went to the police station and requested for help to reach our hotel. They were kind and helpful; but none were ready to drive the short distance. There again another jeep guy came and I jumped in, meanwhile another three people too came. I was praising that guy saying he was looking handsome and looked like Hindi film actor Akshay Kumar, which he liked and agreed to take me. Thus my hectic day ended well. He dropped me at the hotel comfortably. It was indeed a memorable experience. Many of the people with us had big challenges in communication and we had to help them by translation, getting tea and snacks, etc. I felt happy that my Bombay days came in handy; where I grew up in such difficult situations! Tired and exhausted, I slept in the cold weather. A short time after I slept, came a call from our volunteer for some medicine as a lady from the group was suffering, struggling severely for breadth and a tablet from my first aid box was required urgently. In that sleepy mood, without electricity after a long search for an hour I could get one, which helped the lady to emerge from the crises. It was one of the happiest moments of the trip. I really appreciated the volunteers who provided dedicated services without any rest or sleep. I found they travelled by train, perhaps for a good rest and sleep! God bless them all in abundance!

The fourth and the last visit the next day was to the Krishna temple at Badrinath. As usual, all of us got ready to start the trip as early as 4.30 in the morning. Due to non-availability of Diesel in the petrol stations, our trip got delayed for a few hours. With some help from the government, we could manage to get the fuel filled in for all nine buses. However, the journey re-started with good sunshine. Because of this, the trip to the temple was kept for the afternoon. We proceeded to go to the last Indian ManaTibetan village at the China border. It is said that Lord Krishna left his physical body after the Kurukshetra war here and that and the verbal dialogue between Uddhav and Lord  Krishna took place at this place. The epic Mahabharathas written by Vyasa Bhagavan in that cave nearby was therefore called as Vyasa Guha. There are many temples such as the famous Saraswathi and Hanuman temples visited by many from the group. As I was not able to walk that distance, I avoided and rested in the bus along with some inmates. However, my wife went half way and came back after a small fall in that hill. After we all came back, we went to the beautiful Badrinath temple. By then the climate started changing to darkness and the temperature dropped down to 2 degrees. We were very fortunate that the hot spring Tapta Kund, which was closed because of Covid, re-opened from that day. We took bath in that hot spring, where the water temperature was nearly 80 degrees, very hot, whereas the outside temperature was about 1 to 2 degrees  cold. I held onto all my wife’s clothes till she finished her bath and after that I went for my dip in this hot spring. It is said that this water has various minerals and salts, which cure many physical illness. I can’t fully explain the medicinal values and reasons; but it reduced my tiredness and back and knee pains considerably. So my wife too experienced similar relief. I don’t want to court any controversy on this. Suffice to say, we all had the good Darshan of Lord Krishna in Badri and we all felt marvellous.There is a saying that Lord Krishna stayed  at Badri. After this hectic journey, we are very much satisfied that  our life’s dream of the impossible task of completing the ChardhamYatra was realised. The words of Swami Chinmayandji haunted my ears as always: There is nothing Impossible in life. Go with the attitude of I’mpossible” Yes this is the mantra; I continue in my life and made possible of my dreams in most situations.

A lot of experiences and  lessons were  gathered in this unusual trip. The simplicity, hard work of the Pahadi people amazed me. Only six months are available for them to earn for all the years’ bread for  nearly six to eight members of the family. The moment we enter the Haridwar, I felt I was in a mesmerized world. The calm and Divinity have to be experienced to be believed  and words just can’t do justice to this divine experience. I never felt like this this anywhere else  in my life. Yes to some extent, I did perceive this when  I visited an Old Russian Church in Switzerland.
Although I visited Boston at minus 20 degree, we never experience this severe cold; but in Kedar and Badri everything was out  in the open place. How I survived this freezing temperature is a miracle known  only to me.The Ganga gives water throughout the area and supplying to everyone free without any differences between them. That is  the reason she is considered as Mother Ganga. One would wonder how Bhagavan Sankaracharya walked all the way from Kerala to Kedarnath and established the Math there! The beautiful places such as Dehra Dun, Mussourie, Gupta Kashi, Rudra Prayag, Deva Prayag and rivers like Alakananda, Mandakini, Saraswathi and much more are Nature’s gift to us. Let us preserve it. 

Even though we do not respect nature as human beings, they know how to gift us generously without discrimination. My only prayer is that we should not destroy  Mother Nature, which otherwise could be catastrophic to the world and  for our future generations!!!!! 
 
Our greatest Rishis such as Vyasa Muni, Vasishta Muni and others made their valuable contributions to this world by doing tapasya and meditations in this Himalayan valley and gave us the vedas, Puranas and Itihasas. These are the foundational basics of our great Indian culture. When we preserve them and respect them, we learn how to cherish our  history  and pay homage to the divine gifts of Nature and God. 

THIS IS ONLY A NUT SHELL OF THE TEN DAYS TRAVELOGUE AND DOES NOT REFELECT ON INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE