It was another day of working. The surgeon was to go to his private hospital to attend his OPD. Before going to his clinic, he sat for his daily prayers. While sitting there, he had a vision of the banks of Devprayag which is famous for the joining of two rivers, the mighty ferocious Bhagirathi coming down from Gaumukh and the silently flowing Alaknanada descending from Badrinathji, the abode of lord Vishnu. There, he envisioned the traveller along with two other people bathing in the meeting of two sacred rivers, out of which one was known and the other was unknown.
The scene changes and another one is brought forward. A triangle is seen in the air with base on the opposite side and apex directing towards him. He watches the scene in detachment. Suddenly three forms clad in red clothes are seen there. A silent message informs him that they are the three primordial forces of creation by the name of Maha Kali, Maha Saraswati and Maha Lakshami forming a cosmic womb from where the whole world sprouts. Then all of a sudden from the background arises the great form of Kali in her usual ferocious mood with thunderous laughter as she leaps in the air and goes westward. He hears someone saying this is a sacred place! This is a sacred place!
Another scene unfolds in the form of a Shiv Lingam. His mind informs him that it is made up of crystal and its outer shape is not round and smooth but uneven. He perceives two marks on this natural lingam, one of a tripund and another of numeral three with a line which could be read as ancient Om. Not understanding the purpose of whole of the vision, he bows down to the Mother and comes out of his prayer room and starts preparing for the day ahead. Apart from Devprayag, no other place could be co-related by him.
Just then, he receives a call from the traveller, who informs him that he is going to Devprayag for a dip in the Ganges on the auspicious occasion of Makar Sankranti. He got surprised and relates the vision he had seen a few minutes back in his prayers about him. On hearing the whole vision he is informed by the traveller of the place where the three primordial shaktis are present together in a triangle and where a secret crystal Shiv Lingam is also located. Both of them felt uplifted and inspired by this divine play.
Boarding a night bus, the traveler along with another person leaves for the pilgrimage. In the cold winters, facing the ice winds they reache Srinagar in Uttrakhand state around 7.30am. He could see people huddled around burning logs of wood to keep themselves warm in these cold morning Himalyan winds. Since a long distance was lying ahead to be travelled so without any stop, they boarded another bus for the onward journey to Rudraprayag, a sacred place, where Mandakani coming from Kedarnath meets Alaknanada coming from Badrinath. From Rudraprayag the traveller hired a jeep to proceed further on his journey to Guptkashi at a distance of 45 km, a sacred place of Lord Shiva. By eleven they reached that place and went straight to the temple of Mahadev. There they took the first bath of Makar Samkranti and performed poojan of Ganesha, Nanadi, Bhirav and Mahadev. Seeking there blessings, the traveller proceeded on the next leg of journey to the sacred place of Kalimath about 12 kms. ahead on a diversion from the main road of Kedarnath whose snow covered ranges were clearly visible from there. One could see fresh snow falling there, while it was cloudy in Guptkashi. Strong icy winds were blowing and people were huddled together here and there enjoying the bonfires. One again sat in another taxi to proceed to Kalimath located at the banks of a clear inviting river about 6-7 feet deep there and where one could see the stones lying at the bottom and fish swimming in it. Coming to the gate of the whole temple area on the road itself on this side of the river one sounded the bell hanging there to announce to the Mother that one has come to bow down to her feet. Thus descending down around 20-30 'gober' smeared steps made out of stones, one crossed the small bridge over the river and again ascended a small path to reach into the very compound of the temple. There also one saw a few shops and all the shop keepers huddled together around another bonfire in front of the temple. One greeted them and enquired for the pujari of the temple who was known to the traveller. In a few minutes one met the pujari who performed poojan of Maha Kali, Maha Lakshami and Maha Saraswati. On enquiring about the crystal Shiva Lingam one was informed that it cannot be seen today but only at 5 am in the morning when he does its daily poojan.
Since the rest of the evening was free, the two strolled to locate another swayambhu (self-manifested) Shiva Lingam about 3.5 km away. Getting some general direction traveller proceeded in the direction. One reached the bridge and descended in to the valley below. One reached an ashram and was surprised to find a big mandap with different shapes of Yajna kundas built there. They were made as per the instructions of shastras. One discussed with the brahmchari there and when discussing the finer and deeper points of havan prakriya, he expressed his inability to answer them. His gurudev left his body in 2007. According to him the whole place is fully vibrant and devi visits it everyday.
There was another sangam (meeting) of two rivers there. One was Mandakini coming from Kedarnath and the other was coming from Madmaheshwar from the Ukhimath side. There was a small stone covered place with three shiva Lingam kept there under the shade of a few stones. One collected water from the river Mandakini and did their abhishek. When one bathed them one could see the formation of Devi on the shivlingam. One did three times and every time one could see the form in it. One bowed down to the Shakti and went and sat down by the river and repeated one's mantra. The co-traveller also went to do abhishek with milk, water etc and also could see the devi form there. Then he also sat by the river, did his jap and meditated. When the traveller meditated on the river Mandakini, he could hear the sound of bells, cymbals and some female chanting while meditating on the other river one could hear the sounds of damru. One thanked the Lord for this inspiration and after some time returned to the room in the dharmashala of Kalimath.
One had planned to trek during night to Kaalshila, up into the mountains, from where Maha Kali had descended into the temple to kill the demons. As one was keen to see the crystal Shiva Lingam, the traveller decided to stay put there for the night. When a room was taken, one realised that that one had not taken food since last night and felt very hungry. With great difficulty frugal food was arranged, with divine blessings! One retired to the room under the cover of two quilts, as it was very cold. The whole night was spent in warmth for which one was really grateful.
Getting up time and again during the night as not to miss the darshan of the crystal Shiva Lingam, finally it was 5 am. One heard the call of pujari and followed him to the temple of devi where the Shiva Lingam is kept covered up the whole time. He prepared for his poojan and one sat at the door of the sancto sanctorum eagerly awaiting the uncovering of it. The traveller understood that the pujari will show the Shiva Lingam in great detail. But there was only one deepak lite there and no other light. The whole atmosphere was divine and charged. First, the statue of the Mother was brought forward, put in a silver tray and her red cloth was removed and she was given a bath for which one was carrying the panchamrit which pujari happily accepted. Her cloth was given as a Prasad to the traveller and one was happily surprised by this divine kripa. A new golden cloth was used to cover Her after bath and Her sringaar (ornamentation) was done. The whole tray of Panchamrit with which Mother was bathed was given as a Prasad also.
The room was very small and there was hardly any space left after the pujari sat in front of the many yantras hung on a wooden cover. Suddenly he pulled the front side of the squarish structure and it opened like a door and inside one could see around two feet high natural Shiva Lingam. It was quite darkish in colour and one could not make out in that light as to its material. It was a natural and uncut crystal. The pujari busied himself to offer bel patra to it which were offered by to the pujari for poojan. Then a sacred bath with water, Panchamarit and water again was given. As the pujari was moving from one side to the other in front of the Shiva Lingam, the light of the deepak shone for a few seconds on the Shiva Lingam and one could see a tripund shinning on it. Just then the pujari moved and closed the door and announced the poojan was over. It took hardly 3-4 minutes! One was surprised as one had expected that Pujari would show the lingam in detail and give one some time. But the Pujari announced that this is a secret Shiva Lingam which is not shown and its special marks are also secret & sacred and hence could not be shown intentionally. The other person who was sitting with the traveller and was on his right side informed him that he had the opportunity of seeing the lingam from the side and as the light of the deepak shone for a second on the lingam, a trident was seen which could be interpreted as numeral three or the sign of Om. The Pujari confirmed that these both marks are there on the shiva Lingam. The whole poojan thing was finished in less than 15 minutes and one felt great to be given an opportunity by the Divine to have darshan of the Mother and Shiva who kindly displayed His two secret marks also. One sat by the fire in the dhooni and warmed oneself from the cold of the stone floor below, bowed to the pujari and offered him dakshina. One also collected ashes from the dhooni and took it along. One returned to the room to rest another hour before the day will light up and transportation will be available to proceed to Guptkashi for another bath in the temple of Mahadev.
At around 8 am a taxi was available and one reached Guptkashi in less than half an hour. One proceeded straight to the temple and performed necessary things and came back to the bus stand for a bus to Rudraprayag. From there one took a bus to Devprayag. It started raining and by the time one reached Devprayag around 2.30 pm. It was continuously drizzling. One went straight to the ghat at the banks of the prayag where a group of people were busy under shade with a pandit to perform shradh. One took off one’s clothes and took bath in the rain, in the very meeting of Alaknanada and Bhagirathi, the two different coloured and different swabhav holy rivers. Despite the winter season all the stairs were submerged in the water and many big fish could be seen there. One performed poojans and various pitr tarpans. One offered dakshina to the pandit there as one felt it is ones duty to give something to them even though one could do everything oneself also. After changing one proceeded to the Shiva temple and offered bilvpatra to the shiva Lingam there. Sri Raghunath temple was closed and so one proceeded back to the bus stand in rain to board a bus for Hardwar. Around 8.30 pm in the evening one reached Hardwar and took ones first proper food of the day. At 9:15 pm one boarded the night bus and reached home at 3 am!
Reflecting on the whole pilgrimage, one felt so happy for the envisioner, for the co-traveller and oneself who could co-relate the whole vision of the pilgrimage. Glory to Mother and Glory to Mahadev, Glory to Yogis and Glory to the Sidhas, Glory to the Divine and Glory to whole of the animate and inanimate world. May all be happy, may all achieve their spiritual goals.
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