2nd October 2012

Dear Soul Mates ,

We got up at early morning 4.30 AM since we had to Aurangabad as soon as possible. My return train to Mumbai was from Nasik in midnight at 11.00 pm and Sandeep’s Train to Delhi was at 3.00 AM in the morning.  We decided to catch the first bus at 5.00 AM from Trimbakeshwar towards Nasik. We reached Nasik by 6.00 AM and got the bus to Aurangabad immediately. Now Aurangabad is around 200 kms from Nasik. It would take 5 hours to reach Aurangabad .And from Aurangabad Grishneshwar temple is around 35 kms . So It would take around one more hour to reach Grishneshwar from Aurangabad. So We would reach Grishneshwar at around One oclock afternoon. That was in my mind.

Nasik Grishneshwar Map

Nasik Aurangabad Highway :-

This Highway via Vaijapur is a double lane highway . Roads are in perfect condition and traffic is not too much . In fact early in the morning I didn’t find even any vehicles in front of my bus . Sandeep Jatdevta was busy looking out of the window seeing rural Maharashtra. The towns coming in between are Yeola and Vaijapur.

In the bus towards Aurangabad

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In this post, I will cover Legend of Trimbakeshwar, Trimbakeshwar Temple & Jyotirlinga,  Kushavarta pond and Nivruttinath Temple.

 Dear Divine Soul Mates,

After reaching down from Brahmagiri Mountain and Gangadwar in the last post the whole atmosphere in Trimbak became pleasant due to heavy downpour.It was still 7.30 PM and we had one and half hour to visit the  destinations remaining in Trimbakeshwar. As there are many destinations in Trimbakeshwar we decided to visit three important destinations among them. All of them are in circumference of one km.

First of all I will start with Trimbakeshwar Temple and Jyotilringa and story behind it.

Trimbakeshwar Jyotirlinga Temple Gate

Importance of the Trimbakeshwar

Legend wise it is the only Jyotirlinga among the twelve jyotirlingas, at the time of its manifestation all the Gods and Goddesses were present including Hindu Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh, Lord Ganesha , Parashakti Mahadevi and Thirty three crore devtas. Trimbakeshwar is also the place where a drop of nectar fell down during churning of ocean , hence a Kumbh Mela is held every twelve years in this place. And hence it is also place of salvation. It is the only place along with Ujjain where Jyotirlinga and Kumbha Mela both are present. It is only here where Pitrudosha , Karlsarpa dosha are removed by performing poojas like Karlsarpa Shanti Pooja, Narayan Nagbali  and Tripindi Shraadha.

Trimbakeshwar Jyotirlinga temple from Outside

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Dear Friends,

First of all  ” Happy Diwali ” to you and all your family members and May God Showers blessings and utmost happiness in your life.

After long time I am writing about my yatra to Kashi which I did it March 2011 .I had already written 2 posts on Varanasi. One was about Varanasi city and other was about Ganga River and Ghats of Ganga in Varanasi. But after that I was not able to write about this great city due to bad experience I  had about this holy city. But this was the best day where I can schedule  this post where the readers can  have the darshan of great Kashi Vishwanath Jyotirlinga , Maa Annapoorna, Shaktipeeth Visalakshi and Kotwal of Kashi Kaalbhairav. Before I go further I would just say that please be watchful in each and every lane of Varanasi because someone is always watching you. If you are not careful and your attention is distracted then I am sure that you are going to get robbed in those tiny paths and lanes. So always be aware and be careful.

In the lanes of Kashi one can find lot of shops of eateries , pooja materials , religious book shops , idol shops , Benaras Silk Saree shop as seen in the picture.

In the lanes of Varanasi near Kashi Vishwanath Temple Gate no. 2

We stayed three days in Varanasi, in which one day was idle because my wife Sonali was not feeling well. And remaining two days we visited temples and monuments of Kashi , Ganga and Ghats of Ganga. today we will visist the most important temples of Varansi for which we did this yatra. The first one being called King of all Jyotirlings Kashi Vishwanath, Lord of Universe.

As I was staying nearby the Kashi Vishwanath Temple I used to visit all these temples all the three days morning and evening whenever I used to get the time. These great  temples have a great historical and religious importance , I am going to describe in detail. (more…)

Bhimashankar Jyotirling is the most remote jyotirling among all the jyotirlings apart from Kedarnath. 

Nagfani Peak or Point

Finally after 6 hours of trek and walking and climbing around 10 km at around 4.30 PM we were on the top most part of the peak called Nagfani. Now those who visit Bhimashankar Temple via road also please go this  Nagfani Peak.Its  a must visit for people who want to see breath taking views. Also it /place where one will find wind blowing at tremendous speed. One will feel as if he/she is flying. If you throw any light things like paper , hankerchief etc.  it will not fall down in the valley it will come back to you , such is the force here. The peak also looks as the hood of the snake hence it is called Nagfani peak.

Nagfani Peak

Then we went towards Nagfani Peak to see the views. This is also called Nagfani point.

When we reached Nagfani point we saw some stunning views at all the three sides . Cold Wind was blowing and we were enjoying its fragrance .  Our all tiredness was gone . (more…)

Warning

If you don’t have experience in trekking , never try to start with this trek via Shidi Ghat. First complete  2 to 3 heavy treks and then try this one. Or else try this one by Ganapati  Ghat which starts 2 kms from Khandas.

Flashback

Dear Friends,

In the LAST POST, I travelled from Mumbai to Neral with Trek Expert and Pure Ghumakkar ( Avid traveller) Sandeep Jatdevta . From Neral, we headed we headed towards Kashele village in sharing auto and from Kashele to Khandas village via private car. Then from Khandas we started trekking towards Shidi Ghat to Bhimashankar jyotirling which is around 5 kms from Khandas via trek and walk. to reach Bhimashankar we have to climb three mountains. First we had already climbed and second one we started and some part of the second mountain had to be travelled via Shidi or Ladder Ghat .We both had just reached bottom of the Shidi Ghat and my stamina as well my body structure gave up. Now after walking and trekking for 5 kms and 2 hours I was completely exhausted. Again and again I was feeling lot of heat continuously perspiring and getting thirsty.

My Own Weight becoming a problem

In Ganeshotav Festival , for ten days I had lot of sweets and that was showing an increase already overweight body by 2 – 3 kilos . My weight was 87 kgs when I started the trek which is at least 10 kgs  more than person having height of 5 feet 10 inches.

The biggest obstacle which was coming was in form of my round belly which was protruding outside. The Trek was getting steeper and steeper . Now the angle of the mountain which I was climbing was around 70 – 80 degree and also the distance between the two steps where I was going to keep my feet was getting longer . I had to use all my four limbs to climb with lot of power to get up. My belly was the main barrier. I could not move my legs more than a particular angle upwards which was getting in my nerves due to my big belly. Apart from this I had a 4 to 5 kilo bag on my shoulders making my life more difficult. I was damn frustrated and and never thought that being overweight would give me such a huge problem. But this is nothing . Lets move forward to my travelogue .

Sandeep Jatdevta was already near the ladder and I had to still climb this steep and elevated path. Still there is lot of smile left on my face which will vanish eventually. Let see. My hands were fully brown due to sticking of red mud on my hands. Still the journey was going having some water every 10 minutes. Whenver any stream or waterfall would come in the way, I would pour water on my head and body for cooling , that much was the heat , but the same was not for Sandeep Jat . He was just trekking like a monkey jumping on the tree and this was his routine business.

BE Sure to carry enough water which would long for 5 hours. 

Myself trekking towards ladder or shidi

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Bhimakshankar Trekking via Shidi Ghat

“Trek to Bhimashankar is not a child’s play. Leave it to Professional Experts.” – Vishal Rathod

“Around 300 meters of this deadly trek are even more difficult than trekking Shrikhand Mahadev” – Sandeep Jatdevta

“Once I removed my T shirt and Once I changed my shorts in between to save my life. Twice Sandeep Jatdevta pulled me over to save my life.” – Vishal Rathod. 

How did it happen ?

It was in March 16th 2012 when this rigid, tough, simpleminded, straight forward but capricious and carefree person called Sandeep Jatdevta came in contact me with through a common friend Mukesh Bhalse and obvisously once again the credit goes to the platform called www.ghumakkar.com ( where we write posts regarding our travel). I was first very hesitant to speak with him because of the way he roams is very tough and then sometimes he purposely gets in  a very difficult situation unnecessarily and then write in his blog. But as soon as talks with him grew he became more and more close. The best thing I liked about him was simplicity and motto of enjoying life in each and every situation whatever may be.

Sandeep Jatdevta Panwar and Vishal Rathod

Before that I would like to tell you that nothing is common between us such as Education, Profession,Caste, Location, Financial Status,Mentality,Views about Religion, Way we travel,With whom we travel . My nature is very caring, sophisticated , planning oriented, procedural, does not like much fun and want perfection in everything whereas our Sandeep Jat is down to earth, Carefree ,free like a bird, happy in every situation and does not bother much. Each everything is different, except for we do everything by heart and soul rather than using our mind and we stand by what is true in any circumstances. Other common factor was passion for ghumakkari and never say never die attitude to do more and more travel.

Ok that was about us. Coming back Sandeep Jatdevta once helped me to do my Amarnath yatra which was tour of my life. While speaking on phone he once said that he wanted to visit Matheran via mini train . So I told why not visit Mumbai at my place  and then go to Matheran. And I know that he was wonderful trekker and had passion for doing trekking. So I told him why not trek to Bhimashankar along with visiting Matheran because for doing both we had to get down at Neral station. So after much efforts from my side Sandeep Jatdevta was convinced and decided to do a trip with me. His tickets were booked on 29 September 2012 in Golden Temple Mail which starts from Delhi in morning at 7.40 AM. He was supposed to reach next day at 5.00 AM. But few days before I came to know that the mini toy train to Matheran was going to start from 15 October ( In rainy season toy train is closed) . And Sandeep wanted to visit Matheran by mini toy train only. So trip to Matheran was cancelled.

So now our tour plan looked somewhat like this

30 September Sunday : –  Dadar to Neral. Neral to Khandas via Kashele .Trek to Bhimashankar. Stay at Bhimakshankar or Manchar.

1 October  Monday : – To Trimbakeshwar . Trek to Anjaneri Parvat. Birth place of Lord Hanuman . stay at Trimbakeshwar

2 October Tuesday :- Trimbakeshwar. Trek to Brahmagiri Mountain and back and roam in Nasik and back to Delhi and Mumbai respectively. (more…)

जय घृष्णेश्वर ज्योतिर्लिंग

मेरी पिछली पोस्ट में मैंने आपको अवगत कराया था औरंगाबाद तथा आसपास के दर्शनीय स्थलों से, और आइये अब मैं आपको लिए चलता हूँ औरंगाबाद के ही समीप स्थित घृष्णेश्वर ज्योतिर्लिंग मंदिर तथा एलोरा की प्रसिद्द गुफाओं के दर्शन कराने के लिए.

जय घृष्णेश्वर

अगले दिन सुबह जल्दी उठकर नहा धोकर हम निकल पड़े घृष्णेश्वर ज्योतिर्लिंग के दर्शन करने के लिए. समय था सुबह के लगभग आठ बजे का, ठण्ड का मौसम था, और जनवरी माह की यह एक ठंडी सुबह  थी.

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SOMNATH AND DEHOTSARG :- WHERE LORD KRISHNA LEFT HIS BODY & WENT TO GOLOKADHAM………………

JAY SOMNATH…………….

3rd January 2012, Tuesday.  :- Hi folks and fellow ghumakkars welcome once again on my Trip to Lord Somnath . Today I will cover places to visit in Somnath. It is said that Prabhas Khestra is the place of union between Lord Krishna ( Vishnu ) and Lord Shiva……Jay Somnath……..

Jay Somnath :- Somnath temple in the morning

SOMNATH , PRABHAS KSHETRA :- In Skanda Purana, there is a whole Khand describing importance of Prabhas Kshetra and Somnath Shivalinga. In that part Lord Shiva describes that Prabhas Kshetra was one of the supreme centres of pilgrimage and capable of liberating all types of sins. Lord Shiva has manifested himself in form of linga called Somnath. The whole world is originated from it and merges into it at time of deluge. Skanda purana also mentions that there are around 5 crore Shivalingas submerged in ocean around Prabhas kshetra.Jay Somnath………

3rd January 2012, Tuesday.  :-  I woke up early in the morning at 4.50 am to have a bath , because i wanted to have darshan of Shree Somnath early in the morning and wanted to see its massive abhishekh with panchamrut. After getting fresh and having bath, I along with my mother in law quickly rushed to Shree Somnath Temple. We reached on the gates at 5.45 am , gates still closed. When the gates opened at 6.00 am I rushed inside the temple to catch a place where i could see the abhishekh with straight view with no one in between and by god’s grace i found one.Jay Somnath………

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