NorthIndia Pilgrimage with Swami Vishwananda, 10th - 12th Day

Paartha writes: 

Sunday, 1st May 2014

Today we left earlier because we had a long way ahead of us. We drove few hours until we reached Bala Sundari Temple. Bala Sundari is the child form of Vaishno Devi (whom we visited on the first day on the mountain). The story of the temple goes like this that a local shopkeeper, Lala Ram das, buys salt in the city of Saharanpur and brings it to his village. There he begins to sell the salt. However, despite him taking out salt from the bag, the salt never finishes but always remains the same quantity. After few days he has a dream in which Vaishno Devi in the form of a child comes to him and tells him, that he brought her to this place in his salt bag and that She is there present in the form of a Pindi (Rock). She instructs him to build a temple for Her there. He replies, that he does not have enough money to even think of building a temple. She assures him by saying, that She also spoke to the local king in his dream and that he would finance the project. She also says, that his descendants (family) would always be looking after Her as priests. Soon thereafter he meets the king and together they construct the temple for Bala Sundari. 

When we arrived, our whole group was invited to sit down in the managers office. We were served Masala Chai (tea) which we all greatly appreciated. Afterwards the priest showed us the temple. Guruji and few of us got to sit right at the Pindi to worship Ma. When we were told the story of the temple, Guruji reminded us of “Notre Dame des trois epines” in France: “Mother Mary appeared to this man, a farmer, and told him to do prayers there (and build a chapel). He was scared to go and tell the priest. So the third time that Mother Mary appeared when he did not listen, his bag of flour, he could not lift it at all, it was so heavy, and also this flour would never finish. Also another saint, the “Curee d’Ars”, he also had a relic of a saint and he put it in the bag of flower during the war and then distributed the flour (which never finished) to the people.”

Guruji and Pramod also narrated similar incidents of another saint: “Jalaram Baba would feed thousands also. When the food was finished he would cover the pot with a cloth and food would be there. Also one of his disciples wanted to go on a pilgrimage to the holy three rivers, Ganga, Sarasvati & Yamuna. But then he said to him to wait, and in the night he had a dream where three beautiful ladies entered his room, each with a pot of water which they gave to him. When he woke up, the ladies were not there but the pots were there. So Ganga, Yamuna & Saraswati came and gave him their waters. And these pots are since then ever full.” 

After Darshan we were invited for a Bhandara (feast) in the temple. We were told that in this temple they feed 4.000 persons daily. We sat down and were served a very tasty meal. During the Bhandara the Indian devotees took a lot of pictures of us. It must have been the first time that Europeans have visited this temple, at least such a big group. It’s funny on this trip cause instead of us “tourists” making photos of Indians, the local people are constantly making photos of us. Very often it happens that they ask me or someone else to pose with them. During the Bhandara they also handed me their small children and took photos.

After a wonderful meal we continued our journey towards the temple of Shakumbhari Devi.

The history of Her is that there once was a powerful demon called “Durgam” who mastered all the vedas and received a boon from Brahma that he could not be defeated in battle, not even by the gods. He went around and destroyed everything and also imprisoned Indra which led to a great drought on earth since it would not rain anymore. The rishis and gods invoked Ma and when She appeared, having hundreds of eyes on her body, told her what had happened. Looking at them with compassion through Her hundreds of eyes, She was so touched by their story that She cried for 9 days. Her tears flooded the earth and everything became green and all the crops started growing again. After that She got the name Shakumbari Devi. After reestablishing the balance on earth, She asked what else She could do for them. They told Her about the demon. She then went and fought with the demon and killed him. Since then She is also known as “Durga”.

This is all described in the Durga Sapt Shati in the last chapter called Murti Rehasya. She is described as having a blue complexion, eyes like the lotus flower, a navel slightly below the normal place with three curves and the breasts of a virgin. She carries a lotus in Her hands which is thronged by bees. In Her other hand She carries arrows, in another a bow, and yet another flowers, roots and vegetables.

On the way there we crossed the river Yamuna and drove partly over grawel roads. We arrived at the place which was pretty much in the middle of nowhere. It was not a very clean place from the outside. 

We then had Darshan of Ma Shakumbhari. You can see Her (in orange) very small next to Guruji’s head). There are 5 deities present there: From left to right:  Veema Devi, a Devi whos name I don’t know, Ganesha, Shakumbhari Devi, and another Devi that I don’t know. 

After Darshan we drove further to Saharanpur where we stayed for the night. On the way Guruji said how excited he was to go to Kurukshetra the next day. Especially for visiting the place where Krishna gave the Bhagavad Gita to Krishna. 

Monday, 11th day:

On our way to Bhadrakali Temple in Kurukshetra we stopped at a gas station. Right next to it was an ashram. We went in there and enquired about the Guru lineage. We were told that the Guru with name “Atamram Nand Guru” living in this ashram was 113 years old, born in Pakistan in 1901. He was in the police force and took sannyas in 1930. 1936 his Guru died and in 1938 he went to do tapas for 90 days during which he drank just 250ml of milk and one spoon of ghee every day. He is an ayurvedic teacher and cures all ailments by producing his own medicines. Since he had the habit of going to rest at noon and only coming out at 4pm we were not able to meet him. However, Guruji received some clothes and a picture of him from one of his monks. It was a very simple ashram but very beautiful. We were told that 45 people lived there. The monk told us, that the secret of the Guru’s old age was to get up at 3am and do yoga from 4am until 7am. We received some Prasad and then drove further towards Kurukshetra. 

In the bus I read the story of the Bhadrakali temple we were going to visit. It is the left ankle of Sati that had fallen there. I will give a shortened version of the story: Once a certain Vrishala King wanted children and therefore undertook a human sacrifice to Bhadrakali. However, the victim escaped and ran off in the forest. The kings attendants followed him and found a young man, Vishnudatta, son of a saintly Vaishnava priest. They captured him. As they were going to cut his head with the magical, tooth-edged sword, Bhadrakali Herself came out of Her murthi, with a blazing body, Her eyes red in anger, and with a hideous laughter killed those who were going to perform the sacrifice with the same sword in order to save Vishnudatta. Vishnudatta, witnessing all this, was unmoved. For him it did not matter whether he would be sacrificed to Kali or would be spared, since he was totally surrendered to God. 

Guruji then said: 

“It’s a great blessing to really go to this place also and spend some time there. In the story that Paartha was just telling, this is the famous story that shows the greatness of a devotee. The one who is surrendered to the lotus feet of the Lord fears nothing in life, even in death. Because the Lord is taking care and shelters everyone. So the story also shows, you see, people do sacrifices, but they don’t sacrifice their animal qualities. And this is what Bhadrakali wants, this animal quality that is inside of you. When this animal quality is offered to Her, She destroys it, and makes one a pure devotee, so that one can attain the feet of the Lord by Her grace. Not to forget that all the Devis that we have been visiting, they are just one Devi Durga, which is the sister of Maha Vishnu Himself. So Parvati is none other than the sister of Maha Vishnu. And Her aim is always to bring the devotee to a higher degree of spirituality, which means makes one achieve the lotus feet of Lord Narayana. And that’s what Krishna Himself in the Gita talks about to Arjun. You know very well that Arjun did not want to fight in the war and Krishna said well, you are a warrior, you have to fight, even if your family is in front of you, the duty of a warrior is to fight, because the opponent is the enemy. And there he gave the Gita, which is divided in 18 chapters of how one has to live life. And Kurukshetra stands for life itself. The Shrimad Bhagavatam is one of the most essential teachings of all, because it is compromising the vedas, the puranas and everything. So it is the fullness of the veda itself. So in the Gita there are 700 verses where Krishna explains to Arjun about the essence of life, and why one is incarnated and what one has to do to achieve that state of fulfilling ones life purpose. It is always amazing to look at, that all the pilgrimages that we do, at the end, either we go to Brindavan, or we go to Udupi, it’s always “Krishna shamarana astu” (not sure if I spelled this correctly), it’s always like you surrender the whole punya, all the good things that one receives into the pilgrimage at the lotus feet of Lord Krishna, which is none other than Narayana Himself. When we were planning it we did not even realize it, but it takes its own plan in that way, that we are ending this pilgrimage also by “Krishna Arpan”, we are offering it to Krishna, because it’s all from Him and it all goes back to Him.”  

After receiving Darshan of Bhadrakali, we noticed hundreds of smaller and larger horse statues, especially near the lotus pond. The reason for this is, that Krishna and the Pandavas promised to give their horses to this temple (to Bhadrakali) if they should win the war. They did win the war and then donated their horses there. The pond itself is about 8 meters deep. It is said that the ankle of Sati is in there. Guruji also mentioned that Krishna and Balaram had their Mundan (hair shaving ceremony) done here. 

Bhadra Kali

Lotuspond

(Today Ratnadevi mentioned, that living in Vrindavan, she always had a hard time to explain why in Bhakti Marga we also worship Ma besides Krishna. This temple is a nice example/symbol for this coexistence/tolerance that Guruji teaches, since even Krishna Himself went there to pray together with the Pandavas to Kali Mata.)

We arrived only about an hour later in Kurukshetra. There we were greeted by a huge statue of Krishna and Arjun in the chariot. 

Our first stop was Jyotisar, the place where Krishna revealed the Gita to Arjuna. 

There was a big water pond at which we sat for some time in meditation with Guruji and enjoyed the peace of the place. 

The very place of the Gita revelation was actually beneath this Banyan tree: 

We also visited Brahmasarovar. While Brahma was engaged with the act of creation, he felt exhausted. In order to obtain more Shakti or power, he performed a yagna to Shiva at this place. That is why Kurukshetra is considered to be a sacred spot and all who would be killed in battle there would directly reach Heaven. 

There is also a huge statue of Krishna and Arjun in their chariot. 

 There we sat down in the grass and Guruji gave another short sat sang:

“If you don’t realize yourself, life is useless. Whatever you can do in life, if you don’t achieve one step, you can’t advance. You see the simple things of the Gita that Krishna said, is to realize your Self, this is the aim, the goal why you have incarnated, and if you don’t realize yourself in this life, life becomes very useless. And also to be born and to get to know about spirituality, the good karma you have done in previous lives, the merit you have done you are receiving now in this life. But it’s not just about that, you can’t take it for granted. Because until you don’t achieve God, you don’t achieve the Lord, still it’s a learning, ongoing process. That’s why it’s said one has to watch oneself in ones actions, one has to watch oneself in ones thoughts and with what thought we are doing the action, if it is centered towards God consciousness or not. If whatever we do is for sense pleasure or just idle like this, it doesn’t make sense. What you have to be aware is whatever you do, you are doing for God. And that only the Lord will be pleased and will reveal Himself to you when your mind, your body and your intellect, everything is centered only towards Him. As Krishna is saying to Arjun, even in war, when you are doing your duty, but yet still it’s an action, but if a kshatrya dies into the war, there is no karma created, because they go directly to heaven, directly to Vaikuntha. So in that context Krishna is revealing in a very simple way, not complicated, that it’s very easy to realize one Self. 

The only thing you have to do is to awake bhakti inside, just have devotion for God and let everything. Because everything goes by itself normally, you don’t need to really force things to happen, only when you let it go by itself then everything takes its place, how God wants it, not how you want it. He has placed you somewhere, He has put intelligence, knowledge inside of you, he has guided you to certain things, because your dharma is there, otherwise it would never be like this. How many people I have met, doctors who have said “oh I have been a doctor all these years, now I want to stop being a doctor”, but what has guided them there was their dharma. So it’s time to move and change and what is the dharma to accept, in the moment, to accept whatever God gave you, and wherever you are guided to. And the moment you learn to accept this reality, now the reality, then God can give you more to the next step. So, but also be detached from it, cause if you become tense you attach to things. But when you are relaxed you are not attached, you are free to let go of it. That’s why, when you see, good moments when they happen in people’s lives, they forgot very quickly about it. But when something bad happens in one’s life, they hang on it so much, they are attached so much in it, why? Because they carry it, because they hang on the fear, they hang on the sadness, they hang on…. They are not relaxed about it. When your body is not relaxed, when your mind is not relaxed about certain things, you hang on it and become slave to it. But whereas when you are relaxed you can let it flow. So the same thing in spirituality, the same thing in life itself. If you are relaxed, everything is guided. Then you know deeply inside God is guiding me. So, it’s that, the Gita. So, we go…?”

That same evening Muktaananda, Pramod, Sunny (who came together with Ramana from Varanasi) and me sat in Guruji’s room where he spoke again a bit more about Kurukshetra. I wrote it down, however I missed the first few sentences, so here’s first what I remember, and then the transcript of what he said.

He began talking of the point where Krishna asked the Pandavas and the Kauravas, whether they wanted him (Krishna) or his army. The Kauravas chose the army, the Pandavas, knowing Krishna to be an avatar of Narayana, chose Krishna:

“….there are 72.000 Nadis. So the army represents that in the body. At the end one comes face to face to God, Narayan. As long as the mind is full with all the pride, the ego, eccentric and all these things the mind will always fight. But inside the Kururkshetra, the body, there is also the good part into it, if they are not mingled, diluted, with this negative things, they stay separate. But if they get changed by the negative qualities, they get polluted. The mind pollutes the body, the body pollutes the person and everything there is swept out, only Narayana is left. As much as one tries to fight Him, He is the one which will win. 

He did not say everything this man when he was talking right now. The head of the grandson of Bhima was put up (over the battlefield) yes, but when they asked him, what did you see, (when the war was going on), who was fighting? You know what he said? “It was only the Sudarshan Chakra”. No Pandavas, no Kurus, not anybody. It was only the Sudarshana Chakra. That’s what he said also (to Krishna) “You are the one who does and you are the one who undoes”…” 

Tuesday, 12th day:

It is Tuesday today and tomorrow very early morning we will be driving by bus to Delhi for our flights back to Europe. Yesterday evening Muktananda and I were talking about this pilgrimage. He mentioned that in all these pilgrimage places, God or Goddess, in one form or the other, has given a promise of a certain blessing to each and every one visiting the place, although we are not aware of it.

I have no clue of all the blessings that we have received on this pilgrimage. However, we all do have one blessing: That is our Guru, because it is only due to Him that we are undertaking such pilgrimages, visiting all these holy sites, and receiving countless blessings. Where would we be without Him? I can’t consider myself enlightened, but I can say that without Him I would not be nowhere near the (the awareness of) Light.

Thank you all for accompanying us on this pilgrimage by reading these lines and by your love and affection. You all were in Guruji’s heart when he was praying at the holy sites, and you all participate in the many blessings.

Jay Guru Dev!

Jay Sri Krishna!

Jay Mata Di

Thus ends of Paartha’s report about the pilgrimage to the 9 Goddesses. With his detailed, spirited description of the journey, the information about the pilgrimage sites, the transcriptions of the Satsangs of Swami we were able to travel along when reading his reports, to receive at each Holy place the blessing also, like he says at the end of his report, that we were in Guruji’s heart when he was praying. A very warm and hearty „Thank you“ for your labour to write for us, underway in the hot bus over bumpy roads, when making a rest, at the feet of Guruji during the satsangs, in the evening before going to sleep. As someone told me: For me it is the greatest gift, that I may read these reports and in this way be present with Guruji at these holy sites. 

North India Pilgrimage with Swami Vishwananda, Day 10

Paartha writes:

Saturday, May 31st

The next day we left around noon since Swami gave an interview in the morning to a filmmaker who is working on a documentary about Bhakti. During the bus ride Swami told us the story of the Pandavas in exile:

“During one year of the Pandavas exile they had to be incognito. So they were in exile. Why were they in exile? They lost the game of dice. During that time they also lost their whole property, everything. Of course Draupadi was very angry even with her husbands, because they could not protect her. This was the moment when the Kauravas tried to remove the clothes from her, and in that moment she called on Krishna, and he covered her with endless clothes. 

It so happened that they were sent back to their palace but with one condition, that they had to be 12 years in exile, but one year they should live completely incognito, no one should know about them. So they came here to this place (Palace of King Virat) where we are going. Bhim became the cook, another one of them became the person who looked after the horses, he was very good, Yudhishtira became the advisor of the king, Arjun became the dancer, he was dressed like a woman for one year and was called Brihannala. He was a very good dancer. During this year, King Virat was the only one who knew that these were the Pandavas, and he gave them willingly a place, but he did not tell anybody. During this year, the kingdom flourished, became great, this kingdom for which nobody even cared about before, nobody even bothered about, you know it was always the last one probably, but during that year it flourished so nicely, but nobody knew why. In Kauravas place, Shakuni was very wise. Shakuni is the uncle of the Kauravas, and he was an excellent man, his mind was superfast. Krishna also said, one person that I am scared of is Shakuni, because he knows always ahead my plan. But, one person that Shakuni was always scared of, was Krishna. Specially when Krishna would say to Shakuni: “mamajiii” (uncle), Shakuni would get scared and would say “Yadhavji, don’t call me mama”. Why? Because Krishna killed his own uncle, Kansa. And of course nobody wants to be in Kansas place. So every time Krishna would purposely call Shakuni mama, so mama would get super scared. So, in this place here, this is where the Pandavs were. So Shakuni said yes I know they are there, but I don’t know how they are there. So they went there and tried to find out who is who. So they said to King Virat “for sure the Pandavas are hiding in your palace, tell us”. And the king said “No, if the Pandavas were here I would consider myself great, but they are not here”. Then after that the Kauravas said that they would fight his army if he doesn’t let them look but Virat said “no, this is my kingdom, even if they were here, they’d be under my protection. I will not allow you to search or ask anybody any questions”. He was a just king and the Pandavas of course respected that. 

So the rule was like this, that until the last day (of exile) till the sun set, nobody should even recognize them. So when it reached that time, the Kauravas were attacking the kingdom of Virat Raj. The Kauravas divided their army, surrounded the place. So Arjun, dressed as a woman, went with the prince only, the young prince who was fourteen years old at that time, Arjun took him, cause all the other men were on the other side. When they started attacking they came from both sides. 

So Arjun took the prince only to go there. The time was ready to attack. The prince shot an arrow (but upon seeing the enemy army), but the prince got scared. Arjun would say to him “fight!”. But then he looked at Arjun and said “You are an eunuch, what do you know about fighting? You don’t know the art of fighting. But Arjuna said “I am telling you, fight,fight!”, revealing his identity as Arjuna. But the prince could not fight, so Arjuna took over and put the Kaurava army to sleep with a special weapon (astra sammohana) he had obtained, thus gaining time (Bhishma did have a counter weapon but did not use it since he wanted the war to end). They went in the forest nearby, where before while being incognito, all the Pandavas had hidden their weapons in the forest. So Devi (Maya) hid with her maya the weapons. So it was time now. When Arjun went there, Devi gave back the weapons to Arjun. Arjun took his time until sunset. When the last ray of sun disappeared, Arjun came, this time in normal clothes, and he started fighting with the Kauravas to protect King Virajs place. Then after that battle they installed the Shiv ling. This was to say “thank you” to Devi to hide their weapons and to be grateful for the one year of incognito. Krishna asked them to put that Shiva Ling there. 

In this garden (where we are at the moment) Draupadi used to meet Krishna and the Pandavas whenever they asked to meet. You know how they asked to meet? There is a certain Laddhu, which is Peysanka Laddhu . So whenever Bhim made Peysanka Laddhu and sent it as Prasad to everybody, they knew that they had to meet there. The King did not even like Peysanka Laddhu, but on the day they had to meet, Peysanka Laddhu would be on the tray.”

When we arrived at the site of the Shiva Lingam it was 46°C hot, the A/C of the car not really functioning. We quickly went inside the temple since there it was at least a little bit cooler. As you can see on the picture, it is slightly thinner at the bottom. The priest explained us, that this is because when the Pandavas installed it, it was Bhim who put it there, and since he was too strong, he “squeezed” it a bit as he was holding it. 

Below the temple there were two ponds, one which was inside the building and was used by Draupadi to take her bath, the other one outside which was used by her husbands. However, when we were there the boys of the village had taken over. 

The priest said that the water of this pond, which is only 5-6 feet in depth, never finished since it was built. That town therefore never had any water problems, whereas in the surrounding area there is always a scarcity of water. 

The next temple we went to was Kalika temple. It is believed that a few hairs of Sati fell in this place. (However, the “official” place where Satis hair has fallen is Dakshineshwar Temple in Calcutta where Sri Ramakrishna used to worship.)

The story of this Kalika temple goes back to a king with name Jai Singh who had placed an idol of Kali there. Once during Navaratri as the ladies of the temple were chanting, one young lady entered the palace and began singing together with the other women. She was of exquisite beauty and her voice was the most melodious. After the singing was over, the woman said to the king “I am happy, ask me for a boon”. The king said that he wanted to marry her. On this the Goddess got angry and cursed the king saying: “You have become agnostic and proud due to your kingdom. Both you and your kingdom will get destroyed!” Saying so, the Goddess disappeared. The idol of Kalika began entering into the earth. A saint who lived behind the palace implored the Goddess to stay there for the benefit of mankind. She stopped entering the earth and only Her head remained above the surface. In this way She is still present there today and worshipped there. The king was later killed in battle and the town got deserted for some time before it was rebuilt later. 

One can wonder why She would treat this king in such a “harsh” way, but whenever the Goddess or a Saints speak out a curse to someone, it is always a blessing in disguise. As humans our perception is limited and we see only what is happening to us on this physical level, which is nothing compared to the evolution and learning of the spiritual soul that we actually are, throughout different incarnations over centuries and milleniums and beyond. 

Blurry picture of Kali Pindi (you can see Her at the bottom, with a crown on and golden eyes) since it is often not allowed to take pictures of the original deities.

 We bought some Prasad and Sarees to offer to Kali and walked down the steps to have Her darshan. When we entered the Sanctum we saw Her glorious form of a Pindi. It was a love filled atmosphere and we were able to remain several minutes in front of Her, worshipping and praying to Her. It felt as if She was very happy to see Guruji and us visiting Her there. After Darshan Guruji stood there a while praying. After circumbulation a priestess (?) gave me the Prasad for our group and blessed some of us. 

Guruji praying in Kali Temple

The remaining day we had free to do some shopping and watching a Hollywood movie (X-Men) in Hindi language. Not sure what amused the Indians in the cinema more, watching the movie, or the fact, that 40 Europeans (Goras) watched a movie in which they did not even understand one word…

North India Pilgrimage with Swami Vishwananda, Day 9

Paartha writes: 

Day 9, Friday, May 30th 2014 

On Friday morning we left Naino Devi to continue our pilgrimage towards Mansa Devi Temle and Chandigath. Just as it started getting very hot when the sun came out, the sound of thunder filled the air, and within few minutes rain started pouring down, making the temperature very pleasant.

On our way, we stopped in Anandpur Sahib (Holy City of bliss), the “birthplace” of Sikhism as it is known to the world today. 

The Guru Dwara (“Door to God/Guru”, a Sikh Temple) looked very impressive and beautiful. At the entrance, those who did not wear a turban (everyone in our group…) had to put on a small scarf to cover their heads. This is the only requirement to enter into a Guru Dwara. 

We walked up the steps and finally entered inside and did parikrama (circumbulation) of the Guru Grant Sahib (the holy book of the Sikhs), the holiest spot of the temple. Around the Guru Grant Sahib sat one man who was reading from it, while three other men were singing kirtan. Present inside were also Guru Gobindhs weapons which he used in his fight against the moguls, including the sword which was given to him by Jwala Mata. Then we sat down for about 10 minutes. The atmosphere in there was very peaceful and awe inspiring. Gurpreet then told us more about the history of Sikh religion, and this temple in particular. 

He told us that the founder of Sikhism is Guru Nanak Dev. During the 17^th century the moguls began invading India from the north west. Subsequently they also tried to force their religion on the Sikhs. Guru Teg Bahadur and three of his closest devotees resisted conversion and were tortured and killed. 

After a lot of suffering of the Sikh people, the next Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, went on a pilgrimage to Jwala Devi (Divine Mother in the form of a flame, see last report). There he received Darshan of Jwala Mata and was instructed by Her that the time had come to take up arms to defend Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism) against the invaders. She handed him a sword and instructed him to found a new warrior class within Sikhism. 

Short after, Guru Gobind Singh’s children were captured. They were summoned in front of the Mogul. Proudly they walked in and said that they were never going to give up their faith. Subsequently they were buried alive. While being buried, they were told, that all they had to do was to accept Islam as the only true religion. But they remained steadfast, including the youngest child, a 4 year old boy, and were killed.

When he came back from Jwala Devi, he assembled all his warriors, and he asked for a volunteer who would give his head for their cause. Eventually one man came forth. He took him in his tent and came back out, holding his head in the hand and showing it to everybody. He announced that he needed another volunteer. Again one man came, and this time he came back out with two chopped heads in his hand. This repeated itself until he had five heads. When he went back into his tent, after a few minutes he came back out, and along with him the five men, their heads back on their necks as if nothing had happened. These five men became the leaders of five groups of warriors. They are  considered “Panj Piaras”, the five beloved disciples of the Guru. Together they managed to stop the conversion of Hinduism to Islam and protect the Hindu and Sikh traditions. 

 Sikhs, in their own language (Punjabi), are called Khalsa. Guru Gobind Singh, in order to identify the Sikhs instructed them to keep five things starting with the letter “K”: Kes (long Hair), Kanga (small comb to keep hair tidy), Kada (bracelet, symbolizing courage), Kirpan (Sword to protect the weak), Kacha (long undergarment symbolizing chastity). 

Guruji said, that all the ten Gurus of Sikhism (Guru Gobind Singh was the last) were re-incarnations of the first one, Guru Nanak. Guru Gobind Singh then instructed the Sikhs that the only thing that the Sikhs would worship after him would be the Guru Granth, their holy book. That is why in Sikh temples one doesn’t find any images of deities, not even the picture of the Guru. 

Outside the temple is the Akal Takht (a long spear) which is the symbol of the Sikhs. 

On our way out, it was interesting to note that there were not only the usual shop stalls with devotional items, but also many stalls with knifes and swords, since it is every Sikhs duty to defend their nation and protect the weak. 

We continued our bus journey and finally arrived at Mansa Devi Temple. Mansa Devi is especially known for fulfilling ones wishes (Mansa = wish) and for liberating ones ancestors. The head of Sati has fallen at this spot.

The whole history of the temple and of Mansa Devi is quite long and connected to a saint with name Zart Karu. In those days, Janmejaya was conducting a great snake “Sarpa satra”, a sacrifice that would destroy all living snakes. Janmejay bore a deep grudge against the serpents for having killed his father Parikshit by a snake bite (after the curse of a sage). This led to a dramatic decrease of the snake population in the world and they were threatened to get extinct. On enquiry of the Gods, Brahma spoke to them, saying, that only if a saint with name Zart Karu, who was the only remaining descendant of the snake race, would beget a son, their race would be spared, cause only Zart Karus son would be able to stop the snake sacrifice on earth. The snake king Vasuki promised, that he would give his sister’s hand to Zart Karu so that she could bear a son from him. 

Zart Karu at that time was roaming the earth in spiritual pursuits. He did severe tapasya (penance) in order to gain spiritual power and insight. One day he came across a tree on which he saw with his spiritual eye, some ancestors hanging invertedly from the branch of the tree over a ditch, threatening to fall into it any moment. He immediately felt pity for them and said, that he would spend the fruits of his entire spiritual merits/powers in order to save them. He enquired who they were and they said that they are the ancestors of the snake race and that due to nobody being there on earth to care for their welfare, they were doomed. They said that no spiritual powers would help them, only if their Vansh-Parampara (family lineage) would be upheld, they could be spared from their fate of falling into hell. They said that there was only one in the whole family-heritance and he was also useless since he had become a famous Sadhu with name Zart Karu who was greedy after spiritual practice. They said to him, that if he were to meet Zart Karu, he should tell him about their condition and ask for help. On hearing this, Zart Karu became sad and with choking voice he said to them: “You are my fathers & forefathers. I am your begotten son Zart Karu.” He agreed on getting married and have a son, under the condition, that he would not have to take the burden of feeding her unto himself. 

The snake king Vasuki himself gave his sister to Zart Karu and agreed to look after her even after marriage. They got married and Vasuki’s sister eventually bore a divine child who was named Astik. He was brought up in the court of snake king Vasuki with great care and concern. He finally convinced Janmejaya to abolish the snake sacrifice and peace was established. So in that sense Vasuki’s sister fulfilled the wish of the snakes and therefore became famous as Mansa Devi, fulfiller of wishes.

 Darshan of Mansa Devi over Guruji’s shoulder…

 After visiting the main temple of Mansa Devi and having Darshan of Her, we walked a little bit further up and visited another temple which was built there. Guruji was very impressed by the beauty of it. Around it were big trees. One of them was a bilva tree, famous for its three leaved leafs that are dear to Lord Shiva. We then sat there a while near the temple and rested.

Once we got into the bus we continued our journey towards Chandigath. In the outskirts of Chandigath there is a place called “Chandi Mandir” where we stopped with our bus. It was already getting dark. We got out of the bus and first had to cross the railway line. Right behind it was the temple of Chandi (Kali). It is in this place that, when Chandi was fighting the demon Mahishasur, got so in rage, that She could not be stopped by anyone, Shiva Shankar lied down in Her pathway to stop Her.

 When She saw Him lying there, She was so surprised, that She stuck Her tongue out in surprise and calmed down. In some narrations it is said the Shiva lay there as a baby, and when She saw the baby, Her motherly feelings were awakened so She calmed down, took the baby in Her arms and suckled it at Her breast. 

Since then Ma Chandi is there in the form of a Pindi. When the Pandavas were in exile, there was one year that they had to live completely incognito as per the agreement of the game of dice. During this time they discovered the hidden image of Chandi Devi in the forest and began to worship it and performing tapasya. Ma Chandi was pleased with them and granted them the boon of victory and presented them with weapons. The pujarini (priestess) gave to each one of the group a lot of Prasad and then we walked back to the bus. 

North India Pilgrimage with Swami Vishwananda, Day 8, Satsang

May 28th, Satsang:

Paartha writes: 

After dinner (when I was already in bed) Guruji gave another satsang which I transcribed from the video recording the next day in the bus, as good as I could understand, so again forgive any possible mistakes:  

Guruji: “Today you had a lovely Darshan of Bhagalmukhi Devi and yesterday you had lovely Darshan of Jwala Devi. And you know in Jwala you have the 7 flames, each one is one of the Shaktis, each represents one of the Kundalini (centers) inside the body. That’s why the two last flames that were down in the kund, they were more brighter, burning more strongly. All the Jyotis, the three lights, the light which is the Kali light, the triangle, this represents the heart chakra, down the throat chakra and the left one, medium size, nex to the big one, is the Ajna, and the upper one the Sahasrana, the crown chakra. 

All the other places where Devis is, there is just Swaroop, the form of Her, and the pindas are part of Her, but also a form, whereas the Jwala mukhi it is Herself, the fire is Herself. 

Today we went to Baghlamukhi. When you read about Her she seems very fearsome, but in reality She is not. In the mind of people when you were reading you had another image of the temple, you thought oh my goodness she is wild and destructive, but when you went there we saw, the energy of the temple is not so. She is in one way annihilator of the negative qualities inside, She creates the balance. Some people thought oh my god,  she changes good in bad etc, no, what She wants is that one masters both sides. In every sadhana you do, you go through such stages where both qualities are present, and both qualities you have to rise above them. Krishna said to Uddhava “Don’t waste your time on good and don’t waste your time on bad, they are just passing, they don’t stay, and they will not lead you anywhere” Bhagalamukhi stands for that, master and rise above, not only the good, and not only the bad. But the tendency of man is to hang only on the good, but yet they suppress the bad inside of them. But you have both qualities inside of you. It’s just that you have to control it. If you control it, then you go above it. That’s why very often there is certain things that arise which you don’t want to see, in yourself, I am not talking about anybody else. You put it away and suppress it and put it inside yourself, not knowing where, yet it is there. That’s why in life there is a circle that repeats itself. The fact that similar experiences happen is due to that pattern, that you have not risen above it. Once you rise above it, it will stop haunting and bothering you. That’s what Bhagalamukhi stands for. Of course today we had lovely Darshan of Naino Devi. And you know it’s funny, again, like in the other temples, until now all the Darshans were wonderful. There was not one Darshan that you could do that was not nice. Today, to go to Bhagalamukhi was also very important. 

Because we are doing the Navadurga, nine Goddesses, but the nine Goddesses, they need one Mahavidya at least. There are ten Mahavidyas symbolizing the ten directions which the Shaktis look after (the 8 directions plus up and down = 10). These are the Mahavidyas. And also Naino Devi it was also really, really nice to be there."

Q: In all temples there is a big tree, why?

Guruji: Very often it was a saint who was doing tapasya (penance) there or the Pinda was located under the tree. These trees are mostly sacred trees, like the tree in Naino Devi is a Pipal Tree. The priest said that the Pipal tree is very sacred because it energizes your prayer. Pipal represents the prayer of Brahma. In the Pipal is also the birthplace of Adishesh. He was born inside the Pipal tree. That is why this tree is also dear to Lakshmi Narayan, that’s why there was also a Lakshmi Narayan temple inside. Of course you have also other trees, all deities are linked to some sort of tree (plant). 

Q: You said that when we go for Darshan if we have full trust we don’t ask anything because Mother knows what we need, and on the other hand you said that if God appears in front of you, be prepared what you ask for, so in this moment you have to ask for something or…?

Guruji: No it’s not that you have to ask for something, but being human, humans always have a demand. For example today we went to Chintpurni and one man was asking Gurdeep if I can tell about the future. Well I can tell him about his past and his future also but I am not there for that. This is the mentality of people going to the temple, they go to temple because there is an aim behind it. Most of the people. But the simple people they would go to the temple because they have this relationship and devotion, they will not need to ask anything. And also, if She appeared, it’s not that you have to ask, She knows it, but She will test you, what you want, you want an object with a limitation, or you want something which is beyond limitation, She will give you that choice. 

That’s why when Krishna appeared to Surdass (Surdass was blind) and gave him his eyes, he was able to see everything, but he did not look at anything except Krishna. Krishna said “What do you want?” And Surdass said: “Lord I have seen you, now take back these eyes”. This is the test that God puts to the person. Somebody who is not fully sundered they will fail it. They will get everything else but they will loose the most important. So He gives you the choice between the world and Himself. 

Q: Today when were offering Devis eyes, what does it symbolize? 

Guruji: Naino Devi Temple is the place where the eyes of Sati fell. 

Sri Naino Devi

Q: (I did not understand…)

Guruji: Everything is important and everything is not important. You see you have both into it. As you have eyes to see, it’s important, otherwise you would be blind. Use these eyes, cause you are looking at something good for once. And if you are looking at something good it means it brings also good things to you. Because from eyes to eyes there is always rays that flow through. These rays bring a lot of things also to you, that’s why they tell you look at the eyes (of Devi). 

Guruji then ended the satsang and everyone went to bed.

However, there was one nice thing which he said already on one of the first days: He said that he got the book “Call of the 9 Goddesses” (describing the Pilgrimage that we are doing now) already as a young boy and since then dreamed of undertaking this pilgrimage. He said that now this has finally come true, after 30 years… He also expressed the wish of repeating it with another group some time in the future.

Jay Mata Di!