All of us have witnessed the Kasi yatra that was performed as a ritual during our marriages which was more of fun and enjoyment and we all went through it in a lighter vein in expectation of a bigger reward at the end of the show! As time passes by and years roll on, we are at cross roads many times, unable to take decisions and stand confused recounting all that we have done in the past? Did we do the right thing or not is a common question that challenges all individuals in its own way and its a related theory, always!
my good friend Varanasi Srinivasan who used to work for the American Embassy in New Delhi and presently in Washington D C is the son of(Late) Kasi Vishwanatha Sastrigal who is also known as Swamimalai Vishwanatha Sastrigal often used to highlight the living in Varanasi and advise me the importance of doing Pitru Karma in Varanasi and the adjoining holy centres in Allahabad and Gaya.
At the back of my mind, these words lay cemented and there was an urge within me to go to these places and do the karma rituals as prescribed in our shahstras. You may call it a blessing when my wife agreed to this idea and got enthused with this programme. I decided to take my mother who is 82 years old along with us and she readily agreed despite her age and limitations! The power of Kashi is so enormous that it infuses energy into any body willing to undertake the journey.
We decided to undertake this trip and chalked out our itenery. As per ritual rules, we went to Rameshwaram on the 29th october, 2009 by Rameshwaram Express and reached the destination on the 30th early morning. A very heavy downpour greeted us. We checked into Sringeri Sankara Mutt where the Manager one Mr Narayanan helped us do the sankalpam. After this we had the holy bath at the Sea and collected sand from the sea shore and came back to the temple to have Bath in all the 22 sacred wells situated right inside the premises of the temple. The amazing fact is that all these wells are natural springs. The tastes of the water drawn from these wells are totally different! Followed by this ritual of taking holy bath, we performed srardham involving 5 priests. At the end of the rituals, we are directed to make 3 Sand Lingams representing Sethu Madhavan, Bindu Madhavan and Veni Madhavan. After the Puja, we immerse the lingams of sethu and Bindu Madhavan and carefully store the sand representng Veni Madhavan in a plastic box for continuing the rituals. We had a nice Darshan of the Lord in his Lingam form which is one of the 12 Jyothirlingams and considered Swayambu ! We boarded the evening train from Rameshwaram and reached Chennai the next morning. Our flight tickets to Delhi and Varanasi were booked in advance for the 3rd November, 2009. The early morning flight from Chennai took us to our final destination @1.30pm. There was a person with a car to receive us at the airport and it was comfortable to reach the house of Varanasi Krishna murthy ganapadigal in the after noon. As the whole family was known to me since the past 45 years through my friend Srinivasan, we had the fortune of staying with the family!
Sri Ramana son of Sri Krishnamurthy ganapadigal took us on a boat ride on the ganges to see Ganga Aarthi which was performed with so much of devotion and religious fervour! The entire programme was for about an hour during which time, atleast 50 boats joined us with tourists and pilgrims from other ghats in the hly city of Varanasi. The joyous event of Ganga Aarthi left a deep impression in our hears and minds for ever! We also had the opportunity to visit Kashi Vishwanathar temple where we performed Ganga abhishekam to the Lingam with our own hands! We were in ecstasy to find ourselves blessed and closer to the Lord with this ritual. Incidentaly, this Lingam is one of the 12 jyothirlingams and considered very sacred. A visit to Anna poorni Matha temple increased our joy which knew no bounds.
Kachouri and paani poori of Benares is something that is not to be missed and so we decided to have a go at these in one of the reputed shops. The taste of Kachouri and Paani Poori was fantastic and more so as it was the water from the holy ganges!
4th november, 2009:we got ready to go to allahabad to take bath in the Triveni Sangam. We started at around 7 am from Varanasi and reached Allahabad at around 10am. There is a Sankara Mutt established by the Kanchi peetam to help pilgrims who arrive here to perform religious rituals. After the Sankalpam, we proceeded to Ganges from where a boat was hired and took us to the sangam whcih is considered to be very holy as there is a union of 3 rivers, the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswathi. The color of the 2 rivers that of ganga and Yamuna are green and brown in color which merge and one can spot patches of green water and brown water in the river. the third river is Saraswathi which is invisible and is said to be flowing as under current along with Ganga and Yamuna. There are wooden platforms built and the pilgrims are helped to alight from the boat and get down from the platform to take the holy dip in the Sangam!We immersed the sand brought from Rameshwaram in the sangam and took a Holy dip. Hundreds of pilgrims take this holy dip and there is always crowd that can be compared to that of Dadar station in Mumbai.
After this holy dip, you get back to the house of Sri.and perform Srardham for your fore-fathers and ancestors by invoking the blessings from agni, the god of fire. the rital goes on till about 3pm and you are ready to crash the moment you drive back to Kashi and reach home.
We were asked to be ready at 6.30 am the next day for doing sankalpam and rituals associated with our Pitru Karma. Pandit Krishnamurthy Ganapadigal had invited about 40 veda-purohitas from all over Benares to recite all the 4 vedas and the entire atmosphere was filled with Veda-goshams which lifted your soul to sublime levels of happiness! We have never heard or seen so many pundits reciting Vedas and offerring diving blessings to my family in our life time!
The Homam- Srardham followed this ritual and gave us immense happiness and pleasure. Ofcourse, I had breathing problems associated with the smoke that forms a part of this ritual but then, when you think about the noble deed that you are doing to our fore-fathers and ancestors, these problems appear trivial?
We had to travel to 5 ghats by boat and perform Srardham by offerring Rice balls also called Pindam Pradhanam. The interesting aspect is that as we travel, our ardhanginis are made to cook these Rice right on the boat and it wll be ready as soon as we reach the next ghat where we are supposed to take bath and offer it.
the rituals ended with a grand thanks giving to Goddess ganga and its called Ganga Pooja!
The mother river is worshipped and thanked for the existence of human race and their protection by her ever copious flow. I was gently reminded of the song "Ram teri ganga meyli ho gayi, paapiyon ke paap dhote dhote"! how true and what magnanimity the holy mother Ganga has?
On the 4th day, 6th November, 2009 you get ready to go to Gaya which is in the state of Bihar and is about 260kms from Varanasi by road. The highways are good and one can drive at a god speed. we reached Bodh Gaya which is about 15 kms from Gaya where we had booked a hotel to stay overnight. the next morning, we drove to Gaya where again a south Indian Brahmin Priest was present to guid us in our ritual performance. We went to the Phalguni river side and started our rituals of a Gaya Srardham. Gaya srardham assumes great importance in a man's life since this is the only place where you can offer food not only to your ancestors but also to any one and everyone who have left their foot-prints in making of your life! This is the most sacred place where even your pets are remembered with love and dedication and food offerred to them! it is said that the persons to whom you offer food from your heart with sincerity, descend themselves to take the offerrings with their own hand and leave their blessings for ever. When the priest explains the tatparya of this ritual while you are performing, there are great moments of tears jerking from the eyes and sometimes flows when you understand the importance of your deed that you are performing to help enable your ancestors achieve Moksha loka and invoke their blessings!
The offerrings of rice balls are placed at the feet of Lord Maha Vishnu in the temple premises which is popularly known as Vishnu Padam.
There is a place in Gaya called akshaya vatam meaning "Ever Green Tree" which is said to be exisitant from the Ramayana Yugam. Sita Devi is supposed to have blessed this tree as this pupil tree was the only one which stood as a witness to Sita devi when she narated as to how Dasaratha had come and eaten from her hand when Rama and Lakshman had gone to arrange for articles to perform Srardham for Dasaratha into the jungles! Mythology says that during those times, people used to descend in their original form to accept the offerrings made to them during Srardham! The journey back to Varanasi was little tiring and we reached around 8.30 pm.
The final day was the conclusion of this holy yatra. We had to perform a Dhampathi Puja to conclude our holy trip and followed by a grand Samaradhanai- a feast for as many as 25 people!
The trip to Kasi is considered complete only with the Darshan and visit to the temples of Kala Bhairav from where Kasi charadu is procured and tied in the wrist. Chozhi amman, Kasi Visalakshi, Sankata vimochana Hanuman, Bindu Madhavar are the temples of importance and a must.
Our flight to Delhi was at 3.15pm and we had to take the connecting flight to chennai at 9.15 pm.
The Kasi yatra would stand complete with the Abhishekam of ganga water on Lord ramanatha swamy at Rameshwaram. We boarded the train to Rameshwaram on the 10th and reached on the 11th early morning. We stayed at hotel T T D C which was quite a comfortable room with basic facilities. As we queued up to have a darshan of the lord and perform abhishekam, a stranger who was right behind us and reciting rudra Prasna in sanskrit turned ut to be a scholar teaching in a sanskrit college in Varanasi! It appeared that Lord Kashi Vishwanath himself had sent a representative to Rameshwaram to be with us and guide us through the rituals. We were in ecstasy when the Abhishekam was performed with Sri Madan Mohan Mishra ji reciting Rudra Prasna right from behind and into our ears. the joy was heavenly and left our eyes moist with no words to express! After the Pooja, a lady with her children from Karnataka wanted to perform a Dhampati pooja and honoured us by elevating our status to that of Blessers! We were very happy and elated with this incident. We visited some important temples nearby and travelled upto Dhanushkoti which was totally submerged in the devastating cyclong that happened in 1964 and washed away the Pamban bridge too! The receded water and the remains of structures including that of the old Rameshwaram station which emerged after being submerged for several years gave a testimony to the devastating cyclone that brought fury and consumed scores of lives. we boarded a train back to chennai the same evening and returned on the 12th.
As per rituals, we had a grand samaradhanai on the 14th at home and did ganga Pooja followed by a regular "elai Potta saappadu"- feast which was well attended by about 20 people!
We announced our entry into the normal world of Loukikam-this material world!
Heart of hearts, there is an inner urge to be besides the Holy mother-ganges and are eagerly looking for an opportunity to visit Varanasi at the soonest!
Hara Hara Maha Dev!!
"Anna poorne sada Poorne sankara Prana Vallabhe
gyana varagya sidhyartham biksham dehita Parvati
mata cha parvati devi pita devo Maheshwarah
Bandhavam siva bhaktam cha swadesho bhuvanatrayam"
