|
Dear Mike It was just in April last, two months ago, a group of nine people, that is including me, visited the Mata Vaishnodebi shrine in Jammu Kashmir. I regret not having taken the helicopter trip. But as I understand it is not possible to do the visit in half-an-hour even by travelling in a helicopter as the helipad is five miles away from the shrine. It is a complex of a number of shrines; we visited the main cave only. In any case, nobody told me about the existence of any Shiva lingam in any of these shrines or the temples. Our trip was arranged entirely by a relation of mine. My wife made the journey from Katra to the temple on foot while I was forced to travel on a contraption carried by four porters as my well-wishers were not sure I could make it the preferred way – on foot! (Actually I cheated by giving up the trap for a few miles and the porters had trouble finding me). I confess we entered the shrine as special visitors, but not as VIPs. I am not a religious man; so I would not comment on that aspect. But my companions were content after the Darshan. Possibly the Goddess realised that I was not a devotee; at the sanctum I was pushed out! Our group (reduced to five now) also visited Tirupatty in Andhra Pradesh. Again I confess we made special arrangements and we made our trip without much hassle. The point I want to make is this. I visited some other famous religious places also in course of my last visit to India. While I believe there is room for improvement in these places, at the same time I find the trustees of these charitable places have done whatever is possible for the devotees’ comfort. If I were in their position I do not think I could have done better. One must bear in mind that these charities get lot of money and the board of trustees is usually composed of efficient hands. They all have websites and one can get information about communication, hotel accommodation, darshan facilities etc through the usual sources (tour operators, friends and relatives etc) I just give an example. The road from the foothills to the shrine of Mata Vaishnodebi is good enough for cars to ply. But it is not allowed. If the journey is made easier, the thrill of the darshan would be absent besides the religious experience which is important to most of the pilgrims. To me it was certainly an adventure. For most others, it could be as serious a matter as wanting the Mata’s blessings for the gift of a son. Regards |
_______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
