My recent pilgrimage to Tiruvannamalai etc.

Sai Ram. My friend Gopikrishna and myself returned from Hampi / Hospet (see the write up below this blog for an account of that) on the morning of 27th September, 2009 and left the same evening by Charminar Express to Chennai. Kotamraju Srivinvas, another good friend and Sai devotee also joined us for this pilgrimage. We were heading to Tiruvannamalai, made famous by the sojourn of Bhagawan Ramana Maharshi. We did some bhajans, Sri Vishnu Sahasranama Stotram and Sri Lalitha Sahasra Nama Stotram etc. My friends were singing aloud and I joined silently. We were joined by a lady sitting opposite (a fellow traveler), who seemed to know them by heart, probably since she is reciting them daily. I silently bowed to the Divine Mother in her.

We reached Chennai on the morning of 28th September. We were received at the train by the driver of Sri Satyanarayana, a childhood friend of Srinivas. We went to the house of Sri Satyanarayana in Tiruvanmiyur and were given a very warm reception by his family members. I knew Sri Satyanarayana's father and mother earlier in Hyderabad but did not meet him. I learnt that he was in Malaysia on his business work.

We freshened up, had a good breakfast so kindly prepared and served by the ladies and left for Pondicheri (Puducheri) via the East Coast Road, a beautiful highway. I traveled many times of course on that road when I was going on official work to Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, a few kilometers after Mahabalipuram. On the way, the driver showed us a nice Vishnu Temple, where we offered prayers. We reached Pondy as it is popularly called around 2 pm. We visited the Aurobindo Ashram where we paid our respects to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. I felt good vibrations when I visited the hall, that had the furniture used by them.

Gopikrishna had a friend in that city and he (Dr. R P Raya) and his wife came to meet us and requested us to pay a short visit to their house near by. We went there and were treated very kindly by the couple and their two sons. He is a Professor and Head of Department in Management Studies at the Pondicheri University. My best wishes to them.

We took leave of them and proceeded to Tiruvannamalai. On the way, we saw a beautiful mandir for Anjaneya Swamy (Hanuman). We reached Sri Ramana Ashram, Tiruvannamalai around 8 PM. We were given a good room in the Extension wing of the Ashram just across the road. We freshened up and had a light dinner with Shri Alan Jacob and Shri Ramesh Chivukula, our friends on Facebook, who were there at the Ashram.

On 29th September, we woke up early, had a bath and left for the Giri Valam (pradakshina, circumambulation around the Arunachala Hill) by about 4:45 AM. We chose to go bare-foot keeping the sanctity of the place and the tradition in view. By the grace of Sri Ramana and Sri Arunachala, we could complete the pradakshina, have darshan of Sri Arunachala and Sri Apeethakuchambika (Goddess Parvathi) in the Arunachala temple and returned to the Ashram. We had prasad (free lunch) served in the Ashram and meditated for some time and had satsang with our friends.

Next day (30th September), we had a simple breakfast in the Ashram and went, again barefoot to Skandashram and Virupaksha Cave about 1.5 km uphill. Sri Ramana did his tapas for many years there before settling at the present Ashram. We had very good mystical experiences on the way and at Skandasram. My restless mind found a new peace without any effort and I felt the grace.

In the afternoon, we visited Sri Seshadri Swami Ashram and the Ashram of Sri Yogi Ram Suratkumar near by. We found the vibrations very good in all these places. We left Tiruvannamalai at around 5 PM to Chennai in the same car, so kindly sent by Sri Satyanaryana, friend of Srinivas. On the way, Sri Karunakaran, the driver of the car showed us two beautiful temples, one of Adi Parashakti at Mel Maravathur and the temple of Sri Ram at Madhurantakam. We had a light dinner at a good wayside restaurant and reached the home of Sri Satyanarayana at around 10:30 PM. We had a good night's rest at their home.

On 1st October, we visited Nanganallur and had darshan of Sri Anjaneyaswamy (40 feet high idol) and then Srinivas and myself went to the temple of Shirdi Sai Baba at Mylapore. The temple was heavily crowded because it was a Thursday. However, we could sit in one corner comfortably (I got a chair by Sai's grace). Gopikrishna visited some other places and joined us there. We went back to the home of Sri Satyanarayana and took leave of his mother, his wife and his nephew etc. and left for Chennai Central Railway Station. We boarded Charminar Express and reached Secunderabad / Hyderabad.

All in all, it was a wonderul pilgrimage and my wish of visiting Tiruvannamalai pending for the last decade or so was fulfilled. I hope to visit again, Guru permitting.

Photos of this pilgrimage can be seen by clicking (or copy and paste in the bowser) the following link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=117104&id=673629269&l=472246a6ab

I will share details of our pilgrimage to Shegaon etc. in another blog.

My recent pilgrimage to Hampi

Sai Ram. I am sharing with all of you, my online friends, details of my recent pilgrimages to some holy places in Hampi (near Hospet), Pondicheri, Tiruvannamalai, Shegaon, Karanja and Nagpur etc. I am starting with my pilgrimage to Hampi. I will share with you the travelogues to Tiruvannamalai and Shegaon etc. later. I will also share the photo links, so that you too can enjoy the visual pleasure of seeing these places.

My friend Shri P. Gopi Krishna came on vacation from Delhi and we took that opportunity to visit a few holy places. We left Kacheguda Station (Hyderabad) by Kacheguda - Yeshwantpur Express with slip coaches to Vasco (via Hospet, Hubli etc.) on 23rd September, 2009 at 21:15 hours. We reached Hospet Railway station on 24th early morning and took an auto-rickshaw to Hampi and reached Sri Hampi Virupaksha Vidyaranya Matham, behind the Virupaksha temple, Hampi by about 8 AM. We bowed to Swamiji and went to the nearby Tungabhadra (Pampa) river for taking bath. We returned to the Matham, dressed and went out to the main temple street, where we could get some good idlis. I took the idlis with sugar as my stomach is intolerant to chillies. I also had tea. We bought some bananas for offering to the Gods in Matham and we also fed bananas to two young calves near the temple. In the process of eating the bananas, they licked my shirt, leaving some stains, which could not be washed away but the calves were so cute that I did not feel any anger towards them and in fact felt love to them!

We went back to the Matham and Sri Swamiji was busy with Puja. We waited for Him to finish Puja and in between, I showed my friend the Samadhis of earlier Swamijis and the place where Sri Paramacharya of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham did Tapas for nearly six months and where He was visited by Smt. Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India.

At lunch time, we were served simple but good food by the priests and archakas attached to the Matham. Swamiji took care of my food restrictions by instructing them to serve bland and sweet items only.

We took some rest after lunch and then left for seeing nearby places after taking permission from Swamiji. My friend was impressed so much by the natural beauty and silence of the place that he was repeatedly mentioning that he would like to visit that place and stay for at least a week! I told them that he is most welcome any time.

We went first to Sri Kodanda Rama Swamy's temple at Chakra Teertha. We asked for directions to Sri Sugreeva Guha and went further. On the way, we saw some old temples and the whole place was so beautiful and so serene. We saw the Guha (cave) and saw the marks on the stones left by the golden ornaments wrapped in a saree that Sri Sita dropped when She was being abducted by Ravana, and which were discovered by the monkeys of Kishkindha. As the monkeys could not lift the ornaments, they dragged the bundle into the cave and that left permanent marks on the stones.

We were exploring that area when we came across a sign board and we took the path pointed by that sign board and came to a wonderful spot that was new to me too (I visited Hampi several times in the last decade but did not notice that board, may be because I did not visit that area often and because some renovation works are going on in recent times). The Brindvanam (Samadhi) of Sri Raghunandana Teertha was located near the bank of the river and the place was so quiet and peaceful that both of us spent a few blissful minutes there.

We returned to the Kodanda Rama temple and saw Sri Suryanarayana Swamy temple behind, the Yantroddharaka Anjaneya Swamy temple on a small hillock and Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple in a small cave a little higher. We came back to Sri Kodanda Rama temple and got the Archana performed in our names. We returned to the Math and had darshan of Lord Virupaksha, Goddess Pampa Devi, and Goddess Bhuvaneshwari. We returned to the Math and had a light dinner.

We took bath in the matham itself next day morning (25th September) and went to the river to explore the possibility of crossing it but found the motor boat moored on the other side. We waited for a few minutes and had idlis for breakfast in a different place but found that the quality was so so. We found the motor boat still on the other side and people were mentioning that it may not ply because of the heavy flow in the river. We then hired an autorickshaw for sightseeing around the ancient monuments and palaces of the Vijayanagar Empire. We returned for lunch to the matham.

Swamiji gave some good time to my friend Gopi Krishna. We went to the temple again and had darshan of the God and Goddesses. We returned to the Matham for dinner. My friend was engrossed in some discussions with Swamiji and I retired to bed.

At our request Swamiji arranged for an autorickshaw to pick us up from the Matham, take us to the Malyavantha Raghunatha Temple, show us the Museum, take us to the Sai Baba temple on the way to Hospet, take us to the Tungabhadra Dam and finally drop us at the Hospet Railway Station.

We found Akhanda Parayan of Sri Tulsidas ji's Ramacharitha Manas going on at Sri Malyavantha Raghunatha temple. We also visited Goddess Lakshmi's temple a little behind the main temple and Lord Hanuman's mandir outside the gate. We found the atmosphere there very serene and divine. The vibrations at the Akhanda Parayan were very strong.

We found the Sai Baba mandir (Stupam) a little off the road on the way to Hospet very enchanting. The construction work is still going on but whatever has been built already is very beautiful. The pujari there is a telugu speaking person and he told us that we are welcome to visit and stay there if so desired. We thanked him and left for the TB Dam as it is popularly called.

We found the Tungabhadra river in good flow and about 12 gates of the dam were open. Thanks to a phone call from Swamiji, we were taken good care by Sri Vijaykumar, Security officer of the TB Dam. Our thanks to him and to Swamiji.

We had lunch at Shanbag Fast foods, a popular place in Hospet and reached Railway Station, Hospet, in good time. The train (Amaravati Express) came in time and we got in. We spent good time in satsang through the 5 hours of waiting and linking to Yaswantpur - Kacheguda train at Guntakal Railway Station. We reached Kacheguda at about 5:30 AM on 27th September.

We left Hyderabad the same evening to Chennai by Charminar Express and were joined by another friend Srinivasa Rao Kotamraju (Srinivas). More about that in a separate blog.

Photos of Hampi and near by temples can be found at the following link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/svswamy

My pilgrimage to Ganagapur and Akkalkot

Sai Ram. On the morning of 29th January, my friend Arjun phoned me and started discussing the presence of our Guru, Sankaracharya of Hampi Virupaksha Vidyaranya Peetham in Ganagapur on the next day and whether we could go to Ganagapur and see Him. Since a few days earlier, we were discussing the possibility of making a pilgrimage to Ganagapur and Akkalkot, I agreed. So, in the matter of a few hours, he arranged to get two tickets reserved in a bus leaving in the night for Gulbarga and from there Ganagapur is just 40 kms.

We left Hyderabad at 0:30 hours of 30th January and reached Gulbarga by 05:30 hours. We transfered to another bus going to Afzalpur etc. and got down at Chowdapur X roads, from where Ganagapur is about 7 km. We normally don't get a bus there and we normally go by an autorickshaw (a three wheeler) which carries about 8 people, in rather cramped conditions. The driver of the auto was waiting for other passengers since we were the only two. The first of several nice mystical experiences started then, apart from the sudden fixing of the program. A bus came but I missed reading the board and later was regretting that it was going to Ganagapur. Within a few minutes another bus came and the auto driver himself volunteered the information that the bus would go Ganagapur and asked us to take it! Thus we reached Ganagapur earlier than expected and in relative comfort.

We went to the usual lodge where we stay and were warmly greeted by the caretaker and were given a good room. We established contact with our Guruji Hampi Swamiji and He asked us to come to a house near the temple, where He was camping. So, we hurried up and took bath in the room itself instead of going to the river as is our usual practice. We reached the place where Swamiji was staying and were asked by Him to go to the temple and finish our puja (worship) and return by about 11 AM (it was just 08:30 AM then). We went to the temple and had one of the best darshans and could get the Paduka Puja in a nice, leisurely manner. We then went to the river and just washed our hands and feet and sprinkled the river water on our head as a mark of respect to the river Goddess. The river was flowing at a higher level than usual and the water was not clear. Thus we were much better off by taking the bath in our room and that was another instance of Guru's grace.

We finished the circumambulation to the Cluster Fig Tree (Audumbar tree) located at the river bank (that tree has a sacred history in Sri Guru Charitra) and also paid our respects to Lord Dattatreya at the Sangam. We also visited the Siva temple there and went back to our Guru's place. He went to another house for a few minutes (calling Guru to the house and worshipping His feet is a practice in many Hindu houses). Then He was going to the temple and called us to accompany Him for another darshan. We went inside and could see Him enter the innermost room where the Nirguna Padukas of Sri Nrisimha Saraswati Swami are kept.

Nrisimha Saraswati Swami is the second incarnation of Lord Dattatreya and made Ganagapur, a very holy place by staying there for nearly 30 years. When leaving that place, He left His Padukas (Sandals) for worship. No other visitor is allowed to enter that innermost room and touch the padukas (holy sandals) except the temple priests. But Hampi Sankaracharya is given this honor because Sri Nrisimha Saraswati Swami took sanyas from Sri Krishna Saraswati, a disciple of Sri Vidyaranya Bharati Swami, the founder of Vijayanagar Empire, who was also the head of Sringeri Sarada Peetham. The present Swamiji is the 46th in that lineage.

We returned along with the Swamiji after He finished His worship and we had lunch in a Priest's house where Swamiji took His Bhiksha. A Sanyasi is not allowed to cook food for Himself and has to depend on alms and unlike many other societies where begging is looked down upon, Hinduism accepts begging for alms from monks and sanyasis and they are treated with great honor.

When we left for Ganagapur, my friend was not sure of accompanying me to Akkalkot since he was informed by Swamiji that He was alone and was looking forward to the company of my friend, from Ganagapur to Hyderabad. Though I wanted his company, I was mentally prepared to go alone to Akkalkot from Ganagapur. Thus I packed a bigger bag with more clothes. When we met our Guruji, He asked my friend to accompany me to Akkalkot since another couple, both disciples of Swamiji were going with Him to Hyderabad. Thus, I was not required to go alone and I was very happy. Since my friend did not pack enough clothes we decided to go to Akkalkot, have darshan of Swami Samartha and return to Gulbarga by bus or train and then try to catch another bus to Hyderabad.

We left Ganagapur at 4 PM and reached Akkalkot by 7 PM. We went to the Vatavriksha mandir of Swami Samartha, an incarnation of Lord Dattatreya. We washed our hands and feet and had a nice darshan of the Swami's idol there. We came out and reached the Akkalkot Bus Station by about 8 PM. We were rather surprised to know that no bus is available for Ganagapur and some one suggested that we take a train. They told that the train is at 10 PM and the railway station is 12 km away. Fortunately an autorickshaw driver was willing to take us there. Since there was enough time, we thought we will have a light dinner and went to a nearby restaurant. I have many restrictions about what I can eat but by the grace of Guru, I got good items in the restaurant.

When we went back to the autorickshaw, we saw that we were the only two passengers and again we were wondering whether he will go or not. But the autodriver assured us that he stays near the station and thus he waited for a few minutes and then left. The road was desolate and hardly any traffic was seen. When we reached the Akkalkot Road Railway Station, the whole area was in darkness because of a power cut. Only a few emergency lights and the signals were on by means of a generator. The auto driver was asking us to pay only twenty rupees, what we would have paid if we were two of the ten passengers! We were struck by his honesty and felt that again it is Guru who was arranging all these things. We paid him a bonus of another ten rupees. We had to wait for about an hour and then the train came. We got seats (rather hard wooden benches) and could manage to sit for the 2 hours it took to cover the distance of 78 km. We could get nice hot tea at a station in between. We reached Gulbarga by 0:30 hrs of 31st January.

We took an autorichshaw and reached the Bus Station a few minutes later. Again, we got a shock when we were told that there is no bus starting from Gulbarga and one bus will come from Bijapur and if we are lucky we will get seats (the Gulbarga station has no control and no quota). We were praying to Guru to continue to take care of us. When the bus came, we were glad that seats were there and we could settle in. We left Gulbarga by 01:30 hrs and reached Hyderabad by about 6 AM.

We thus had a very satisfying pilgrimage and felt the grace of Guru all through. Sai Ram.

My tour to Polavaram, Annavaram etc.

Sai Ram. I am sharing my experiences in the month of October 2008, when I visited Polavaram, Pithapuram etc., in the company of three friends.

 

8^th October 2008

 

We (myself, my friend Paritala Gopi Krishna from ILO, New Delhi, Kotamraju Srinivas, a great Sai devotee and Gopi Krishna’s nephew – sorry for not remembering his name) left Hyderabad by APSRTC bus to Vijayawada. I went by public transport (City bus run by APSRTC) to Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station, Imlibun. It started raining and I had to walk a few yards in that rain. I got drenched but did not mind. The other three came by an auto and were getting late. The bus driver and conductor of the Vijayawada bus were gracious enough to wait since they also knew the problems of Hyderabad traffic and esp. since the seats were already reserved. The nephew of Gopi Krishna, an young man who is in his final year of engineering degree did not have a reservation. But the friendly conductor and driver agreed to let him board if he is willing to adjust and sit somewhere and if needed, behind the driver’s seat (on full payment of course). It was a peak season for travels because of the many holidays for Vijayadasami (Dusserah).

 

Well, any way we were on our way and the nephew got a seat after all, and that too near us only because of a no-show by some one else. We stopped at some Dhaba (road side restaurant) near Suryapet. We did not fancy the food being served inside, esp. as all of us are strict vegetarians. We had some fruits and biscuits with us, which we shared. We reached Vijayawada around midnight and took an auto to go to the house of Shri Appalaraju, a friend of Gopi Krishna. He gave us reed mats to spread out and sleep on the second floor of his house. The stair case was very narrow and it was difficult to negotiate. But we had a good sleep and in the morning finished our ablutions.

 

9^th October 2008

 

He gave us tea and he also arranged for a taxi (cab) to take us on our travels. We had good breakfast in a tiffin center (a self-service breakfast centre) near his house and set off. We reached Polavaram and went to the house of a man, popularly called as Babu garu. He is a householder and has set up a sort of temple in the first floor of his house. It was 9^th October and Vijayadasami as per the lunar calendar. There was a puja in his temple to Sri Lalitha / Durga, the Divine Mother. Then there was a mini homam followed by Purna Ahuti (Sacrificial offering to the Fire). I was not getting impressed by his looks or learning etc., but kept silent and was praying to my Guru Sai, whose idol was also there and of course, I paid my respects to the idols and photos of various Gods and Goddesses there (Dattatreya + Venkateswara in one idol, an interesting sight), Durga etc. Then suddenly, I sort of heard the inner voice (probably prompted by Guru) asking me to feel His presence every where and be open (stop being hyper critical). Immediately, I relaxed and then found that the man was quite sincere after all. I bowed to the Guru in him.

 

We were requested to take ‘Prasadam’ (lunch) and we accepted. I could not eat most of the items that they served because of my GERD, but could take some sweet, some dal (lentils) with rice and butter milk.

 

After lunch, we took his leave and left to Samalkot, where the temple of Kumara Arama (Siva), one of the Pancha Aramas (5 main Siva temples) of Andhra Pradesh is located. It is a rather old temple and we had good darshan. We then proceeded to Drakshaaramam and had darshan of Siva and Manikeshwari there. Drakshaaramam is famous as a Siva Aramam and also as a Shaktisthal or Shakti Peetham, one of the 18 main temples of Goddess Sati.

 

After that, we reached Kakinada, were met at a Restaurant by Shri Raju a friend of Gopi Krishna and after dinner were provided with accommodation for the night in his house. We also met Sri Sasidhar, a technocrat who gave up his job in the IT sector and who studied Sanskrit and Vedas etc. and who agreed to meet us at Sri Raju’s house. We also met another friend and his wife who were friends of Gopi Krishna in Delhi and who now settled down in Kakinada.

 

10^th October 2008

 

We were served nice coffee (Gopi Krishna does not take coffee, but the others including me took) and were served hot IDLI by the wonderful lady of the house (unfortunately I did not get her name). We had nice satsang with Sri Sasidhar for a couple of hours. We tool leave of them and started off for Pithapuram, which is a few miles away.

 

Once we reached Pithapuram, we visited the temple of Kukkuteswara Swamy (Siva), Puruhootika Devi (Shakti) and Dattatreya (the Combined aspect of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva). We also went to the new temple for Dattatreya, Who took birth as Sripada Sri Vallabha in Pithapuram a few hundreds of years earlier. Near that temple, we met Sri Nirgun Baba (Gopal Baba), a holy man whom Gopi Krishna wanted to meet. We spent a few minutes there. We could not visit the Kunti Madhava Swamy Temple and another Datta temple built by the devotees of Sri Ganapathi Satchidananda Swamy of Mysore Datta Peetham in Pithapuram.

 

We left Pithapuram and reached Annavaram, the famous abode of Sri Veera Venkata Satyanarayana Swamy, an aspect of Vishnu. Satya means Truth. Narayana and Vishnu refer to the all pervading eternal God, Who is Truth. It is a very famous temple of Andhra Pradesh and there was heavy crowd. Thanks to an acquaintance of Gopi Krishna, we got VIP darshan and could come out in quick time. I was feeling a little guilty at this VIP treatment since many other devotees were waiting for hours, but that is God’s will. I too used to wait like that in some temples at other times. We also visited the temple of Siva, Sri Rama etc. in the same complex.

 

We left that place and drove back to Vijayawada and reached the city by evening. Another friend of Gopi Krishna was waiting for him and we (myself, Gopi Krishna and that man) went to his house to visit his ailing wife. Spent some time there and we (Gopi Krishna and myself) returned to the house of Sri Appalaraju.

 

11^th October 2008

 

Myself and the other friend Kotamraju Srinivas were debating and decided that we will finish breakfast and go to the Bus Station at Vijayawada as our attempts to get train reservations did not succeed due to the holiday rush. Gopikrishna and his nephew were to get down at Warangal and hence decided to take their chances in the Inter City Express between Guntur and Secunderabad in the evening. My friend Gopi Krishna had some other work – he had to meet a Swamiji  of Bihar School of Yoga, Vijayawada branch and then inspect a land for sale along with him and a few friends with the future plans of setting up an Ashram in future. He also wanted to visit a Siva temple and the Kanaka Durga temple, which is of course the main temple of Vijayawada (Vijaya Watika). We (myself and Srinivas) were in a dilemma since we were worried about the prospect of standing in the crowded train till Secunderabad. We decided, albeit reluctantly to take leave of Gopi Krishna in the morning itself and go to the Bus Station, where the prospects of our getting a bus were much better. Thinking all these things, we went to have our breakfast. Now the whole drama or fun started.

 

As we were returning, again a voice started in the mind (yes, you are thinking I am eccentric and you are right!). The Mother (Kanaka Durga, the presiding Deity of Vijayawada) was asking me: Having come this far, will you go without seeing me? And the voice was insistent and I was reduced to tears at the love of the Divine Mother. I composed myself and asked my friend Srinivas whether he had any urgent work at Secunderabad / Hyderabad (twin cities) and if not, whether we can go even late in the night so that we will reach Hyderabad in the morning of next day at the latest. He agreed since he did not have any such urgent mission at Hyderabad that evening.

 

So, we revised our plans and told Gopi Krishna that we were joining him. He too was very happy esp. when I told him about my experience (voices in the head). A friend of his brought a SUV and we went in that to the Ashram of Swamiji (Jnana Chaitanya ji) and picked him up. Together we went to the Siva Kshetram, a few kilometers further on the road to Amaravati. The land was also adjacent to the temple and we found the area very peaceful. We went to the temple and we found the vibrations very soothing and very powerful esp. in one particular place. We dropped the Swamiji at his Ashram and he asked us to have the darshan of Kanaka Durga and come back for lunch at his place. We returned to Vijayawada and got down at the Prakasam Barrage as the owner of that vehicle had urgent personal work.

 

Though there was heavy rush at the temple and our vehicles were not being allowed up the hill, we managed to go up in a vehicle kindly arranged by the temple administration thanks to a cousin of Gopi Krishna pulling a few strings (The Divine Mother was actually arranging all this as you will see in a while). When we went to the hill top, the temple was closed because the Hundi (offer boxes) were opened and the cash and coins etc. were being counted and recorded (the temple is administered by the endowments department and the money is properly accounted). So, we had to wait and as it was hot and humid, I was getting dehydrated due to excessive sweating and was getting weakened and was getting cramps. The Divine Mother knew of course my plight and kindly arranged for us to sit in a place under a fan and  where Vedic Chants are carried out thus ensuring that we get proper rest and the vibrations will heal me.

 

After a few minutes, we got a wonderful darshan of the Goddess from very close distance and we were thrilled. I was really touched by the kindness of the Goddess. We came down the hill and took an auto and went to the ashram of Swamiji. A simple lunch was arranged and though I could not eat many of the items I had enough to fill my stomach. We took leave of the Swamiji and went to the house of Shri Appalaraju and took leave of his family members (he was having his siesta). We went to the railway station and were waiting the arrival of the train from Guntur. As already mentioned, there is no reservation and we have to take our chances. The platform was heavily crowded and we were wondering whether we will be able to board the train, let along get seats. However, after the temple visit, my faith in the Mother was renewed so much that I made a bold statement that the same Mother who gave us such a wonderful darshan in that crowd will also ensure that we get seats in the crowded train!

 

The train came and we boarded but did not find any empty seats in that bogie. Since the train is vestibuled, we started going into the next carriage through the train and in the third or fourth bogie, we did get seats! Thus the mother fulfilled Her mission. I was reminded of the experience of Paramahamsa Yogananda when he was young at Brindavan (read Autobiography of a Yogi by Shri Paramahamsa Yogananda).

 

Gopi Krishna and his nephew got down at Warangal and myself and Srinivas reached Secunderabad / Hyderabad safely. We parted at the railway station with the happy experiences.

 

It was a very satisfying pilgrimage and I felt blessed that the Guru was with me and was guiding me. Sai Ram.

My pilgrimage to Bhadrachalam

Sai Ram. At the request of a friend, I am sharing with the readers my experiences of a recent pilgrimage to Bhadrachalam. If you feel it is rather long, my apologies but I want you to get a feel of the whole tour. Sai Ram. 

15th November 2008

We (myself, my wife Sarala, my friend Arjun, his wife Shobha Rani and his brother Nageshwara Rao) set off in my friend’s Ford Fiesta. We left his house in Old Bowenpally area of Secunderabad around 8:30 AM.  My friend, who is 62, was driving. Though I used to drive a car earlier, I gave up driving around 6 or 7 years ago. Though I took the wheel of his car for a few minutes a couple of years ago, in general we were either going by his car with himself or his son or a driver at the wheel and if there were more people, we were borrowing a bigger vehicle or hiring or traveling by train. Thus, though he is about 2 years elder to me, he had to drive the total distance in this case too.

 

Bhadrachalam is about 325 kilometers (200+ miles) from Hyderabad/Secunderabad. One can go by road as we did or take a train and get down at Bhadrachalam Road railway station and travel by road about 35 km (22 miles). The best route to take by road is this:

 

Hyderabad – Suryapet – Khammam – Kothagudem – Paloncha – Bhadrachalam

 

We took the NH9 (National Highway) to Vijayawada. A few kilometers into the journey, we had a flat tyre, but luckily for us, we were still in the outskirts of the city and hence we could get it fixed by a mechanic at a petrol station (gas station for those of you in US). By the way, the vehicle runs on diesel, not petrol. And the National Highway is not all that broad at many places and the traffic is not all that ruly. So, the average speed will be about 50 to 65 kmph (35 or 40 mph!) and the journey was expected to take about 8 to 10 hours. We left the city by about 9:30 AM.

 

While we carried some eatables and water with us, we still had to stop for a belated breakfast and also to give my friend some rest. So, we were looking for a decent place. We did not find any decent looking restaurant till a little before Suryapet, which is 140 km (90 miles) from Hyderabad. A few kilometers before that town, we found a place, Hotel Vivera, which doubles up as a Udipi Restaurant (Tiffin Section) and after 11:30 AM as a Punjabi Restaurant! There are some roadside Dhabas but the hygiene is somewhat suspect and the dhabas serve mixed fare (vegetarian and non-vegetarian), thus we were not keen on them (we are vegetarians).

 

After having dosa (a batter of rice and lentils sprit was late and nothing else was available) and tea/coffee, we set off again. We stopped again after passing Khammam around 1:30 PM. Oh, yes, we need to take a left turn at Suryapet to go to Khammam and since the road signs are less than perfect and the car is not equipped with a navigation system, we had to ask at a few places by slowing down and or stopping. All these affect your time to reach your destination. That is India for you. Now days, some mobile phones are equipped with Navigation systems and some cars are being fitted with such systems.

 

We stopped by the roadside, put the parking lights (flashers) on and we went into a small field adjacent. We spread out mats (earlier the mats were being made out of reeds, but now plastic is being used) and spread out the fare of rice, puris (wheat pancakes fried in oil). I took only curd rice (rice mixed with curd / yoghurt) since the other rice preparation was spicy and hence not suited for me (I have GERD and cannot take spicy food).

 

We left after a break of half an hour or so at 2:15 PM. We reached Bhadrachalam around 5 PM. We asked my friend’s cousin, who works and stays there to book two rooms for us. So, we phoned him when we reached and he gave us directions to a place (Ravisai Hotel), which is very near the temple. However, we found that the two decent rooms are upstairs and the staircase was not all that friendly. The rooms at the ground floor were not good at all. When we asked him (all over phone, we did not meet him as it turns out) to try some other place, he was expressing some difficulty and asked us to wait. We waited a few minutes and then my friend and his brother set out to find some place on their own. They were successful and hence we went there, which was a big room with a divider wall in between. The room had only one double bed and so others had to sleep on floor! However, on weekends (Saturday and Sunday), the hotels are heavily booked and thus one has to settle for what one can get, unless the rooms are booked in advance.

 

Well, we settled into the room, got freshened up and went to the temple for darshan. It was raining at that time and hence we had to use an autorickshaw (a three wheeled motorized contraption with a top but the sides are open. And we had to adjust three in the rear and three in the front, including the driver, which is illegal, but these things are common in many places. We got somewhat drenched, which was good but because we did not take bath, which is the normal custom when we visit a temple (purification of the body is the first step in the long and arduous journey for purification of the mind and in a hot country like India, it is physically soothing and relaxing). In this case, we felt that the God is cleansing us with rain water and thus felt happy. We had to buy the ticket for darshan since the que for free darshan was a little more. We paid ten rupees each (about 20 cents in US currency) and we were happier when we realized that we were a few feet closer to the inner temple that way. We also found that if we buy ticket for 100 rupees a couple will be allowed and a short puja will also be done, and thus we get closer still to the inner temple, which is beyond bounds to us because we are not in the traditional dress and we are not considered pure enough to touch the idols of Lord Rama, Sita and Lakshmana etc. Any way, we were happy to get this darshan and after a few minutes (due to the rain, the crowd was somewhat less it appeared), we were ushered out. We took the teertham (sacred water) etc., and then went around the temple. There is a separate temple within the same compound to Goddess Lakshmi, the Divine Consort of Sri Vishnu, of whom Sri Rama was an Avatar, an incarnation. We went there and also to the museum where the ornaments that were prepared about 400 years ago by Sri Bhakta Ramadasu, the Tehsildar of that area, who was a great devotee of Sri Rama and who was imprisoned by Tanisha, the Muslim ruler of Golconda, under whose jurisdiction that area fell at that time. When Sri Ramadasu could not pay the money spent for the renovation of the temple, it is said that Sri Rama and Sri Lakshmana went in disguise to the Tanisha and paid the money and got the devotee released.

 

We also visited the other Gods and Goddesses and Alwars (Sri Vaishnava Saints) in the temple complex and returned to the hotel room. We finished dinner and went to sleep.

16th November 2008

We left early in the morning by the car to Kunavaram and from there to Ramagiri, where a temple of Sri Rama is located atop a small hillock. But we did not visit that temple due to lack of time and went to the motorized launches which can accommodate about 100 people. Our program for that day was to take the boat ride in the river Godavari upto Papi Kondalu, a group of hills about 40 km away. There was a stop in between at a place called Perantalapalli where an Ashram built by a Sadhu (Sri Balananda Swami, a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa) was the place to be visited. A few yards away from the river bank, up a slippery slope, we went and got refreshed by washing our feet and hands from the sparkling clear water from a brook that is perennial. The water was very sweet because of its passing over several rocks. The atmosphere inside and outside the Ashram is very serene. I sat down in the Siva Temple of the Ashram for a few minutes of meditation and my usually restless mind felt very peaceful there and I felt a lot of energy going through the body, esp. the upper half into the hands and palms.

 

From that place, the launch took us a few more miles and then stopped at a place, where lunch was served. Rice, a few curries etc. and a sweet (pasta) were the main items and I had to stick to that sweet, plain rice and curd. Since all the travelers were Indians and that too mostly from Andhra Pradesh, there was no problem with that sort of food. North Indians and foreigners would find it difficult to eat that sort of food, unless they are habituated. It is better to carry your own food and water for the day with you and enjoy the scenic beauty of the river and the hills between which the river flows.

 

After lunch, the launch started back the return journey and reached the starting spot by about 5 PM. It was already getting dark and hence we left back for Bhadrachalam without a visit to the temple there. If we had a younger professional driver, we would have spent a few more hours and visited the temple. Night driving is difficult for my friend because of the glare from the oncoming vehicles and the absence of a road divider.

 

17^th November:

 

As per our original plan, we were scheduled to return to Hyderabad, but we postponed our return journey by a day. We went to the main temple again and got the puja performed by paying the 100 rupees ticket. One advantage is that we were able to see the God from very close quarters and received Harathi, a camphor flame offered to the Deities and then to us as a blessing from them.

 

We then saw another temple for Shri Ganesha and Shri Anjaneya (this particular temple is for Abhaya Anjaneya, Abhaya meaning without fear and He is fearless and He also makes us fearless when we worship Him. This temple is about a kilometer or a mile at the most. From there we went to Parnashala, about 35 km (22 miles) from Bhadrachalam. That place is supposed to be where Sri Rama, Sita and Sri Lakshmana stayed during their Vanavas (stay in forest) and from where Ravana abducted Sri Sita. The whole place was a thick forest in Ramayan time but sadly it is all inhabited now and even that particular place is not afforested. Though I did get some good vibrations there because of my deep faith, at the ego level, that place is disappointing.

 

We returned to Bhadrachalam and had our lunch at a fairly decent restaurant (Bhavani Hotel on the main road near the Bus Station. The hotel has a few rooms also and it may be worthwhile to check it out next time.

 

After lunch we went back to our place of stay and took rest for a while. In the evening, we went to a Siva temple near the Rama Temple and paid our respects to Sri Siva there. The temple was crowded because of the devotees who came to light oil lamps, this being Kartik month as per the lunar calendar and being Monday, a day dear to Sri Siva.

 

From Siva temple, we again went to Sri Rama’s temple and had a darshan again.

 

We left Bhadrachalam on the morning of 18^th November and returned to Hyderabad by about 5 PM in the evening, the return journey taking more time because of heavy traffic in the last 30 or 40 miles.

 

All in all it was a spiritually uplifting pilgrimage. Sri Rama willing, we will go again.     

Swamy