Trip to Gangotri

A memorable visit of Gangotri

After a night stay and a good breakfast of Paratha-Sabji at HNB Guest House Srinagar (UK) on 20 November 2024, we departed at 8.30 AM and reached Uttarkashi by 2 PM. The PWD Guest House was closed and the caretaker was not available, therefore, we took a round of the city and had Darshana of Uttarkashi Vishwanath Shiv Temple and temple of Ma Annapurna. The pujari at the Uttarkashi Vishvanath Temple tried to explain that Linga of the temple is original and one of the biggest and is slanting. One young Pujari sat in the premise of the temple to perform ritual on demand happened to be an Acharya, did his MA in Sanskrit but opted for this profession. We went to Ganeshpura a nearby place where Swami Preamanand Sarasvati of Shivanand Ashram has established an Ashram on the bank of river Ganga. Swami welcomed us and offered to stay in the Ashram which we couldn't deny though Mr. Negi from PWD Guest House had confirmed our reservation. The place was 5 kms away from Uttarkashi and enroute to Gangotri and we had planned to leave for Gangotri very early in the morning next day, we accepted the loving offer. We joined the evening prayers where few foreigners were present. There were books of translated prayers in English made available to them. I don't know their tour model but many of them come in Himalayas, buy Indian clothes, find a place in one of the ashrams, stay and eat whatever is served, participate in the morning and evening prayers and do their touring of interests. They may be coming in groups but live scattered as per the availability of accomodation in ashrams and manage their tours and travel in coordination with each other. However, their love for the Indian spirituality, prayers and practices are sometimes more than the Indians. We did enjoy the prayers and the dinner of the Ashram. The Swamiji took special care, made a rasam soup and sweet dish available to us. He arranged for a glass of milk and place a cup full with freshly made Chyavanpras in our room. Next day morning before Lakshmi got ready I had attended the morning prayers and enjoyed a cup of tea. We started from the Ashram at 7 AM and reached Harshil by 9.30 AM. My wife has a picture memory and I have a sound memory, therefore, she immediately recollected the places of our first visit to Harshil and take me to the Post Office where heroine Mandakini (Ganga) of Raj Kapoor's blockbuster movie Ram Teri Ganga Maili (1985) used to come to find a letter from her Hero Rajiv Kapoor (Naren). Set up in a rented house in 1960, built of wood and local materials, the post office was featured in several key movies. There were Apple trees without Apple as the season got over. The shops were closed but one tea stall was open. I tried to feel taste of the watery tea but my wife served it to an ox standing besides. Two more oxen joined him. The vender was drunk. We stopped at Kedareshwar temple at 10.30 AM which is half in water and half above the ground. We bought some Rajma and apple from a shop in Dharali. Harshil is famous for pahari ivory rajma, greenish royal apple and potatoes. We reached Gangotri at 11.15 AM. The valley approaching Harshil and from Harshil to Gangotri is scenic and beautiful surrounded by mountains and forests. It is thrilling experience to travel through the curvy roads. Barring few cuts on the mountains the roads are not made national highways like Badrinath route, and that way the beauty of the valley hasn't been disturbed.  

The shops and houses in Gangotri were closed but we could see few tourists. We went to the Gangotri temple premise, had darshana from outside, took prasad from a bottle kept out side, took pictures and sat on the bank of River Bhagirathi to enjoy the nature. All know the story of King Bhagirath who invited river Ganga from the heaven for salvation of his thousand step brothers. Gomukh is about 19 kms away from where the river originate. It suggests how much of the glaciers has been melted over the centuries. 

It was scenic view in a sunny day where the river was flowing softly in the calm of mountains. I saw a small stone mobile Shivlinga at the edge of the river, took it and use it for worshiping using water of Ganga. My wife followed me. She offered the water 11 times and to her surprise, received coins of ₹11 from the river Ganga where she sat. She tasted the fresh ice. Both of us used the moments for meditation. 

We got up to return but my wife took me to the other side of the river towards Surya Kund the place I had seen in past but forgot. We enjoyed the flow, fall and sound of water in the valley. As usual we took some pictures, videos and departed at 12.45 PM. On return, we stopped at Bhairav temple of Bhairoghati but it was closed. We took our lunch at Dharashu paying ₹60 for a plate of Rajma and Rice. I bought one radish @₹10 to rich my salad. We purchased sweet karela and semi as taste of mountains and returned Uttarkashi. 

That evening of Shri Shivanand Ashram became vibrant with the visit of few local school girls in the prayer. They were so accurate in their pronunciation, rhythm and melody of the music and with speed that they could finish prayers, hanumanchalisa, some path of Ramcharitmanas and some verses of Sarasvati Rahasya Upanishad in one go of singing in 60 minutes. They made the prayer room vibrant and energetic. 

Swamiji Premanand Sarasvati (84) was a nationalist participated in the freedom movement with his father and cried when Gandhiji was killed. He is BSc (Agr) but life took him to renunciation. He walked by foot from Rishikesh to Uttarkashi and settled in 1964. It took him 5-6 decades to reach to the state of an Ashram establishment. He was still sharing happy moments of his past when there was no electricity and thick chapati made of his hands added with salt giving him more happiness than the modern life of different facilities. He is working for the Divine Life Mission of community upliftment and helping the deprived of Ganeshpura. He gifted us Bhagwad Gita, Life mission Picture book of Swami Chinmayanand and 1 kg box of Chyavanpras. 

Next day morning, we departed the Ashram after the breakfast and with one stop on the way at Adra Kheda, bought some pulses and Rishikesh in the afternoon. We visited Lakshman Jhula which is undergoing repairs and came to Chotivala restaurant travelling a big round of a circular route of 45 minutes in a car to have our lunch at 2.30 PM. Rishikesh has one road bridge to the east end for the four wheelers, therefore, it takes extra time to reach to the places and ashram at the west end. The market near Lakshman Jhula is losing it viability in absence of customers as the repairs of Jhula is taking longer time than expected. People are awaiting when the glass Jhula as promised will be completed and open for public. 

Chotiwala's Thali is expensive costing ₹415 but one persons can't eat all therefore sharing makes it economical. After a thali lunch of Chotiwala, we took a room in Parmarth Niketan Ashran, placed our luggage and joined the evening Sandhya Aarti of River Ganga. The booking can be done online and if rooms are available one may get it from the reception on arrival. It costs only ₹500/bed. The canteen of the ashram is open to all, very economical as the fix thali costs only ₹100. There are other varieties available at very reasonable price. As we had late lunch therefore enjoyed mung dal halwa as sweet dish of the Ashram in dinner and concluded our trip to Himalayas. 

Punamchand 

3 December 2024

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Inner Voice

Inner Voice

The visible world, the existence, is the Mother Nature, manifestation as Shakti of the power of the Almighty whom different religions have given different name.

Nature is basically three qualities: सत्व-रजस-तमस of which the whole creation is made of. Humans being part of nature carry these three qualities. However, all are not equal in nature as one of the qualities dominate in the mind of each individual. Some are dominated by सत्व, some by रजस and some by तमस.

सत्व dominated people are good by heart, carry fear or live for God and his creation; their thrust is more for knowledge and therefore they gain peace and happiness. रजस dominated people are vibrant, active, try to dominate the surroundings with their ego, use force and receive unhappiness and sorrow as end results. तमस dominated people are depressed,  curse others for their depression and live in darkness. There is fourth class which is mixture of रजस and तमस carry both the qualified of रजस dominated lot and तमस dominated lot. The Indian classification of Varna by inner quality and action (गुण कर्म विभाग) is a replica of this theory in practice; divided the humans in four categories (ब्राह्मण, क्षत्रिय, शुद्र, वैश्य respectively) and assign them work suitable to their nature. Unfortunately, it was converted into a rigid system of inequality by birth and became a stigma on Hinduism. In reality, each individual carries three qualities mentioned above and is dominated by one of them and accordingly he/she likes/chooses his/her profession.

To make the play further complex, the nature injected six impurities/enemies (षडरिपु); lust, anger, greed, affection, pride, envy (काम, क्रोध, लोभ, मोह, मद, मत्सर) in our mind; added two puppies called attachment and hatred (राग-द्वैष) and therefore we are witnessing the whole drama of selfish actions in the name of creed, race, caste, etc. Multiplicity is another quality of Mother Nature and therefore each individual tries to multiply his/her existence, tries to encroach upon the territories of others. Somehow some equilibrium is maintained for our survival otherwise we would have been destroyed.

Each individual carries three bodies: the physical, the subtle and the causal. Subtle means mainly the mind, intellect, memory and ego. Our present life is governed by the subtle in which the mind is the major. Interestingly, the mind is made of सत्व, therefore, large majority of humans are good irrespective of their faith. But as the mind carries impurities mentioned above, each individual is running after the worldly matters to fulfill his/her desires.

But the whole play is performed on the screen of Atma/Soul/Prana/life energy; therefore, the inner voice is always present. Mind is made of सत्व, therefore, it listens the inner mind voice and acts. But while chasing the desires, the impurities multiply and make hard covering over the mind and therefore, the mind loses its hearing capacity. The inner voice always sounds but either the mind covered with the impurities can’t hear or avoid to hear.

The chakra of triangle to walk righteous path is fixed in each heart for movement/action. It carries edges, therefore, when it moves wrong, there is hurt inside. But as the individual multiplies his/her wrongs, the chakra triangle loses its edges and the shape becomes a circle. An individual can listen the inner voice more when he/she chakra triangle is intact, but as soon as it loses the edges and becomes a circle, he/she loses hearing capacity and make him/her a liability over the mankind.

Punamchand 

1 December 2024

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Accidental gain from Badrinath

 Accidental gain from Badrinath 

The kapat of the temple of Badrinath (UK) were closed on 17th November 2024 when we were in Haridwar. Our original plan was to spend one day in Haridwar, two days in Uttarkashi and two days in Rishikesh touching Devprayag. But while taking dinner on 17th, we changed our programme and decided to visit Panchprayag and replan the visit as we travelled. On 18th, we made halts at Devprayag, Karnaprayag, Nandprayag and reached Joshimath by evening. We visited Jyotir Math the northern peeth of Atharvaveda established by Adi Guru Shankaracharya by appointing his disciple Todakacharya as its first head. There is a cave in which we could see the two Shivlingas made of crystal brought from Badrinath and one ancient Shivlinga. The main hall of the Peeth has one side the seat of Shankaracharya and opposite to it the crystal Shriyantra in the shape of Shivlinga four feet above and four feet underground. The side walls have idols of 64 yoginis covering the walls. The present Jagadguru comes occasionally at the time of opening and closing of Kapat of Badrinath Temple and to attend to other events organised at the Peeth. He stays mostly in Varanasi otherwise. We visited the Narsimha temple. Lucky we were that we got a room and dinner service at NTPC Guest House. Next day morning, there was no water flow in the taps as we forgot to keep the bucket full with water as the water pipes get chalked in mountains in winter. The campus was empty and the service staff was to come at 7 AM. Considering the travel schedule, we somehow managed our daily routine using jug water and water bottles available and departed for Badrinath at 6 AM. 

We reached at Hanumanchatti at 7 AM and stopped for Darshana. One security man came out of the tent hearing the sound of the car and told us to return unless have a written permission of the authority to move forward. I requested him to allow to travel to visit the Badrinath temple from outside and also argued that had we not stopped for darshana of Hanumanchatti the road was open and we would have travelled ahead when he was in his room. He allowed us and we reached Badrinath at 7.20 AM. It was empty town with all shops closed and no humans except few individuals seen at the hot water stream near the temple. 

In the absence of the rush of the pilgrims we could enjoy the nature, the flow of river Alaknanda, the temple premises very well. We had no plan to take bath in the Tapta Kunda located in the courtyard but somehow when we went there it has attracted me. I didn’t carry a towel and changing clothes as there was no plan to take bath and the car was parked away. But the attraction of the natural hot water pool containing sulphur was pulling me in. In absence of rush for the bath, I took bath for an hour in that sulphuric hot water as my wife also went for a bath in the women pool. I allowed the inner garment to dry on its own, put on same clothes and moved forward towards Mana, the first village of India facing China border. It was empty village except the sound of couple of starlings. We visited Bhim pul, Saraswati Dhara, Pandavas route to heaven, Vyas cave and Ganesh cave where the epic of Mahabharata composed and returned. We halted at Vishnuprayag and Rudraprayag to conclude our visit of five Prayags and reached Srinagar (UK) in the evening where we got a room in HNB University guest house. 

I shall write the details of our journey to Uttarkashi and Gangotri later but the intention of this article is to narrate  how an accidental change in our tour programme pulled us to the Tapta Kunda of Badrinath which has resolved my health problem I was facing for 55 years. 

When I was 9 years old, my back was injured by the forceful jump of opponent players when I was touching the border line while playing kabaddi in the street of my chawl. After a pain for a fortnight, I forgot the incident but as I grew older the fracture was fused through sacralisation of L5-S1 vertebrae with the hip bone. It had restricted my mobility and weaken my left side of the body. 

When we returned home after the trip of Badrinath, it gave me a great surprise. My left hip fused with the vertebrae for 55 years suddenly got relieved, the neck was relived from the tension and with the removal of inflammation in the spine the irritation of mind has gone. Isn’t it an accidental gain out of a visit of a famous temple whose doors were closed?

Jai ho Badri Vishal ki😊🙏🙏🙏

Punamchand 

30 November 2024

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The Lost Gold

 Lost Gold 

There is a couple in their nineties. The man narrated a story of their past, a story of ‘lost gold’. 

The couple went to attend a marriage. The lady in rush or in pressure of silky garments dropped ornaments weighing 12 tolas. They came to know after some hours and the mood of joy changed into a state of sorrow. Wife was crying and husband dropped a letter before his house deity that he wouldn’t accept the gold even if it was returned by somebody. 

Luckily, the gold was found out by a poor unemployed man who came next day and handed it over to the family. But the husband was determined to not to accept it. They debated for whole night and as the husband was adamant, they finally decided to offer it to the Guru of the man who found out the gold. The man was follower of BAPS Seaminarayan. They all went to offer the gold to Pramukh Swami. As he was getting ready to pick up flight for London his access was denied initially. But when Dr. Swami came to know that the visitors have come to offer gold, they were allowed to meet. They dedicated the gold to him but he advised it to do so before the Shriji. Two idols (Swami-Narayan) were brought immediately to whom they offered the gold, of which half was kept and half was returned as offerings. Look at the nature of the husband, he sold it to the market and from the money received, he organised a lunch party of his society of 160 families, narrated the whole story of the lost gold and paid respect to the man who returned the gold by giving him a silver memento of Sidi Saiyyid’s jali. 

My wife asked me a question, who became the real beneficiaries of the lost gold? Neither the family who lost it, nor the person who found it. The BAPS and the Society were the real beneficiaries who received the lost gold and the delicious lunch respectively. The story proceeds further. 

The man who returned the gold was unemployed after closure of Calico Textiles Mill. He went as volunteer to serve water in the Katha of Morari Bapu organised by Karasanbhai Patel of Nirma. The man came in the eyes of Karsanbhai and luckily for him he was from the same village of Karsanbhai. He was appointed in the store section and later promoted to supervise the purchases of the company. The company gave him flat near law garden Ahmedabad and granted scholarships for the education of his daughter. He visited USA couple of times and live happily these days. 

The husband who denied accepting the gold was making will of individuals free of cost, and by chance he made a will of a Marvadi Sheth of a tree garden in Kolkata who invited the couple in a marriage event of the family. The Marvadi Sheth gifted a gold necklace of 25 tolas to his wife. The lost gold doubled and returned though another hand. But the story moves further. The husband was a sleeping partner is a travel business which went in losses. One day, the wife of his partner raised the issue of some losses in the business. He immediately gave away those 25 tolas of necklace to her. But how long one can held an unlawful collect. They return the necklace after three years when the couple returned from the USA. 

Good acts always pay back. 

Punamchand 

28 September 2024

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Met a gorgeous Lady

 Met a gorgeous Lady

I met a gorgeous lady in Delhi this week. When she introduced herself as Ms. Shashi Uban Tripathi (IFS:1970), I couldn’t catch her surname. When I asked her again she replied with a broad smile on her face. ‘Uban is my surname from my father and Tripathi is a surname from my husband’. Uban was their native place located in North West Frontier Province. Her father was a Captain in Indian Army and was posted in Delhi at the time of partition of India. Her grandmother was living in Ravalpindi. When she was to move to Delhi as Pakistan was formed, she denied by saying राजाओ का बँटवारा होता है, प्रजा का बँटवारा नहीं होता। However, the family somehow convinced her to come to Delhi as her daughter in law was expecting a delivery of her first baby (Ms. Shashi). She came but was saying that she would return to Ravalpindi after three four months. She couldn’t because the situation worsen thereafter. 

Whomsoever the migrants one meets, their love and attachment to their native land and love to the people of that land are visible on their face and expressions. Many of them don’t carry the hatred of partition instead remember the days of loving relationships of both the communities. Destiny had scattered their lives. The act of violences by some anti socials and misguided youths hurt both the communities badly resulting in killings of one million people and displacement of 15 million. They couldn’t forget, the warmth of relations as well a the unfortunate partition. However, life has to move forward. 

Ms. Shashi was born in the year of Partition of India. After her graduation, she joined IFS:1970 and served in the External Affairs Ministry and abroad as Ambassador & High Commissioner to Poland, Zimbabwe and Canada. Her husband Manilal Tripathi was also from IFS:1970 had served on various capacities as diplomat of India. Ms. Shashi served as Member of UPSC post retirement. 

She was sharing anecdotes. It was Indian PMs visit to Moscow in 1979. He was accompanied by the MFA Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Mr. Gujaral was the Ambassador. The couple was serving as First Secretary in the Indian Embassy of Moscow. The Embassy had prepared the toast speech of H’ble PM in English. But when Mr. Vajpayee came to know that the USSR President Brezhnev was going to toast in Russian, he proposed that our PM would toast in Hindi. But who would translate? There was no facility of translator and the officers and staff were carrying english background. Finally, Mr. Vajpayee himself translated the speech and gave dictation to Ms. Shashi who wrote it down on a paper neatly. PM Morarjibhai read the toast speech in Hindi. What a coincidence it was that the three men present in the event Morarjibhai, Vajpayee and Gujaral became the PM of India. 

At 76, she carries childlike innocence and her face lights up with her smile. She is a diplomat in action, very courteous, speaks precisely, reads carefully, writes neatly and verifying before sending the note to another hand. I read somewhere that neat handwriting is a sign of organization and discipline. Furthermore, people who write neatly tend to be reliable and dedicated. They are conscientious and take a pride in their work. They have a strong work ethic and are meticulous about following instructions and procedures. I could mark all these qualities present in Ms. Shashi Uban Tripathi. Our salutes to her.🙏🙏🙏

Punamchand 

13 November 2024

New Delhi

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Spirituality is a quest

Spirituality is a quest 

Search of knowledge is the basic instinct of humans living on the earth including India. Who is He behind the play/creation was the quest and in realising Him (knowing the truth), man used his available five senses of perception and ultimately surrendered when failed to realise. It was beginning of the prayers. All our practices and rituals of religions are mainly aimed at realisation of the true self. If atom-quantum-photon is the basic element behind the creation of the visible world, consciousness is us is the basic element of the universal power of the Purusha/God. All mantras, suktas are payers to pray the Shakti of the Shaktiman and all the japs, tirthatans, meditation, yoga, etc, are means to realise Shakti and Her Shaktiman. The five senses of perception when are outward, run after the world-bhog for getting happiness. But when fail, revert inward and make the mind powerful which connects itself with the soul/individual consciousness and the smaller I further deeper get connected with the universal real I in Samadhi. Knowledge of the real true self (the eternal- सनातन) is the quest.

As all humans are not equal intellectually, therefore, they interpret the pathways differently and therefore there are many practices and orthodoxies across the Indic and other religions. 

Spirituality/peace/happiness is the inner most thrust of the mankind, therefore humans will continue running after it knowingly or unknowingly.

Punamchand 

29 October 2024

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Indian Spirituality, a search for thyself

 Indian Spirituality, a search for thyself

Many Indian myths are symbolic and therefore carry multiple interpretations. Let some people call them imaginary or some call them rich thoughts of ancient Indian minds but even if they are imaginary, are useful in the research of modern science on theory of creation.

A mechanical diploma holder clerk (Einstein) had changed the vision of the scientific world with his thoughts in the beginning of 20th century and within a century modern physics has uncovered many mysteries of creation with the theories of Big Bang, black holes and strings. Physicists have identified four fundamental forces (gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear, weak nuclear) and 12 building blocks made of 6 quarks (up, down, top, bottom, charm, strange) and 6 leptons (electron, electron neutrino, muon, muon neutrino, tau, tau neutrino) along with gluon, photon, z boson and higgs boson. The photons released by the Big Bang are makers of our universe/s of galaxies, stars, planets and satellites but what was before Big Bang, what is dark matter and dark energy are yet to be proved with evidences. The biologists are simultaneously working and have discovered DNA, RNA and mRNA. But the beginning is yet to be made on the ‘origin of thought’, whether it is a product of physics or beyond. Some of the scientists have started addressing consciousness but are unclear whether it is an outcome of the permutations and combinations of physical particles or something independent to them.

Ancient Indian thoughts hv described the un-manifested Supreme with his manifestation through Power (शक्ति) in form of creation as visible world/s. It is imagined as a play out of ecstasy (KSD). The consciousness is taking different forms as solid, emaciated, dream states through reflection. The dream state is further classified as ignorance (जाग्रत-स्वप्न-सुषुप्ति) as reflected consciousness through which a yogi transcends crossing the voids and realises the true self, the master or creator of the creation. They hv also claimed space travel with subtle body and narrated multiverses they had visualised. As human eyes have limitations, Galileo initiated the efforts to see the world using telescope and now we see it using JWST.

Spirituality in India therefore is a search of the reality by the Indians worshiping different forms of Gods and Goddesses through idols and rituals but are aimed at either to pay respects to the fundamental forces of creation or realising thyself.

Once we free our minds from the imaginations of human forms of Krishna-Kali-Radha, Shiv-Shakti and interpret them as un-manifested and manifested power of creator/creation, we may feel amazed with the glory.

Our heart-mind is the field to create joy or sorrow ourselves. Whatever we see is the world is the reflection of our mind on the mirror of consciousness. It’s a choice of an individual to select the spectacles (thoughts) through which he/she sees and interprets the visible world.

It was a thought of Einstein that discovered relativity. Quantum mechanics has taken another leap. Let’s admire the thoughts/myths of the ancient sages and enjoy them by linking with modern science; but not at the cost of human dignity, equality, liberty and justice. 

Punamchand

21 October 2024

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