Some Images of Rishikesh and my time there...

It was a blissful surrounding here at the DevPrayaag ... Once I reached there, I forgot all the worries of the world and was immersed in the bliss of the Himalayas...

One finds many types of people on the way to various pilgrim places enroute in Himalayas. This Pilgrim here has been staying at this place for number of years and is come down from the higher regions of Himalayas in the winter

Sunrise at the Vashisth Gufa(Cave) which is on the banks of the Holy River Ganges. It was exhilerating to sit on those stones and just watch the sun rise behind those lush green hills.


Vashisth Gufa 28 KMs away from the Rishikesh where Vashistha Muni (Sage) did meditations. These idols are centuries old and when one sits within that confines of the Cave one can really feel the presence of Sage very powerful vibrations.

A huge Lord Shiva image on the way to Dev Prayaag from Rishikesh. Pls notice the other huge Shivalinga which on the side under whose canopy there is the temple of Lord Shiva. You can imagine the height of the Shiva Statue by the size of My driver standing in the front and my car in the back ground

A Bathing ritual at Dev Prayaag...

The simple devotions of the village folks make me wonder why we all go ourselves tying up in knots trying to find the bliss that comes so easily to these village folks. They on the Sundays or special holy days come all the way from their villages far flung in the mountains to revere the holiest of the rivers Ganges on foot traveling sometimes 10-15 miles in mountains to have a simple bath in freezing cold water and pray to this life giving river which is considered the holiest of all the rivers in India.

The Simplicity of devotion in the country folks...A Bathing ritual at Dev Prayaag...

My attention was drawn to them because of their cries, while I was on the confluence of River Bhagirathi and Alaknanda at this holy place called Dev Prayaag from where the river takes its famous name Holy Ganges to travel 2000 miles to reach the far corner of India at Ganga Sagar to meet the Sea. I looked towards the sound of cries to find that the women folks were holding one of the women while she was taking a dip in the river. The River was flowing with freezing cold water and pleasant noise so typical of waterfalls and of this river even when its in plains. Her face was in deep reverence and she was shaking her head side to side like a woman possessed. I thought that it might be a reaction to the cold water but I find the women holding her hands in deep devotion and their face full of reverence, which did tell me that it has nothing to do with cold water. This comes from within, although it may be a reflex action of the cold water hitting the body but above all the thought behind the immersion of ones own body to cleanse is a pure thought and spiritual in nature.

The serenity of Devprayaag....

I walked away from their private moments of devotion and started to do my prayers and my own cleansing process. Here at this Ghat I have a friend who lives in the only cave on this confluence. He is does aarti every day on this confluence and in the cave he has a dhuni (Fire of logs) and devotes his time in, I think, contemplation of Shiva. He always calls me when I am in Chennai and requests me to come over. This time he offered me tea on the fire and also offered me a Rudraksha Mala (Beads of Rudraksha is a very powerful as its specially provides the bearer with power and wealth) and then agreed to perform Puja for me. I have always offered the money to this yogi for the aarti at this confluence for the whole year, which he does every time in the evening.

I finally went to the river and took a very refreshing bath listening to the flowing water and sat on a stone jutting out to the river. Sat in meditation for some time looking at the river coming from the side of Kedarnath and Badrinath. I have always loved performing puja at Kedarnath, which was the last time I was there an enlightening moment. I thought of my feelings at that time and I sat in meditation looking inward to relive the moment of the ecstasy that I got there. The river flowed without much turbulence at the surface but deep within I was able to feel its power, which was surging forward. In moments of reflection I have always thought of how it would be like to flow with that force. Slowly I came out of my deep reflection and the priest was calling me for the puja. While sitting there I thought of my friends, relatives and brothers and father mother.. and wished them all happiness and great times ahead in life.

Whenever I sit on the banks of river I find myself full of love and also sure of the well being of all my surrounding. This feeling of love for all increases manifolds at these places and gives me so much confidence that I feel like I can actually make all of them happy. Is it true.. I feel it some times from deep within that it is so. Because when I touch deep within I find the part of soul, which is part of the same universal consciousness that is the source of all joy and manifestations. I think in those times of bliss that I am capable of manifesting happiness all around. I am grateful to The Lord Shiva for filling me with these thoughts and feelings of love…

Om Namah Shivaya
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One evening at the Vishwanath Temple in the Shivananda Ashram..

I was sitting in the Vishwanath Mandir at Shivananda Ashram meditating on the Lord Krishna. There were few swamis going about cleaning the place as the aarti has just finished. Some of them were cleaning the utensils, which were used to keep the prasaad, and a very young devotee was sweeping the floor. Suddenly the hall’s silence was broken with shattering of glass as one of the swami’s dropped the bottle containing the oil for the lamps. I opened my eyes to find few of the shards of the bottle lying at my feet and the boy sweeping the floor gently swept it away. As my meditation was broken, I opened my eyes to see the Krishna eyes smiling in all this silent commotion and I started thinking how the life at the ashram is so peace full within the life’s chaos. The ashram is full of the divine joy, which usually comes from the vibrations of devotion. In 1943, the Vishwanath Mandir was consecrated in the Shivananda Ashram. From that time onwards thousands and thousands of devotees devotion has made this icon of focus for all meditations and devotions a very powerful source of bliss radiating out from it. This 67 years old icon of peace in the form of Lord Vishwanath has its internal teja (The spiritual power) pulsating in his divine smile. And for the people like me who are on the look out for a short cut to achieve a life of bliss, which many thousands of devotees find after a life of tapa and asceticism.

One evening at the Vishwanath Temple in the Shivananda Ashram..

Sitting there in dhyaan, in the front of the Idol while on my left side a very powerful Shiva’s statue in sitting posture beckoned my attention. I find a young priest paying his obeisance with prostrating in front of it and then going on one side to meditate. I look at him and find him full of peace and his eyes fixed to the radiating face of Krishna while he prepared himself to sit comfortably in lotus asana and start his daily routine of meditation. The wind out side was blowing its coldness through the chinks in the window and I shivered. The light outside was slowly fading into darkness and the light from the garbh griha (the sanctum sanctorum) was making it presence felt more strongly. Slowly all these things started fading away from my thoughts and I started feeling the goose pimples that usually spring up when ever I am on the way of touching that internal switch of the soul. My spine become erect and slowly I find with e3ach of my breath, the sphere of light started rising slowly to my heart chakra and then it started expanding. I find my self slowly drawn within and then break free like a flying bird outside the ashram. I find my self, hovering around the confluence of Dev Prayaag and the winding river Ganges calling me to merge within it. I take a sudden swoop down and plunge deep into the night stillness and very cold water… All the surrounding lights submerged in the flowing river and I was totally blinded slowly I saw a light emerging at the far end and I saw the beautiful face of Krishna radiating with joy. Things slowly came back into focus and I find my self thrilled with joy and a sense of internal bliss while I saw that the devotee sitting in my front is gathering his books of chants and is drawing his shawl around him in preparation of getting up to go back to his room to sleep.

I also left the place walking around the statue of Shankaracharya, which is installed in the Vishwanath temple. What a true yogi he was, who attained his smaadhi at the age of 32 in Kedarnath after traversing the width and breadth of India at such an young age. A true beacon of light of Hindutva who at the time of deep depression in the Hindu Sanskrit came to the land and made its real self known to the thousands of devotees with his sheer perseverance, devotion and hard work. I remember some one saying that he was a great yogi and above all a great trekker who traveled all the Dhams on foot and revived many of the great places in its present glory.

Om Namah Shivaya

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One Evening on the banks of River Ganges....

Sitting on the banks of Holy River Ganges, my mind this time was full of doubts. I have been through lot of worries, which I had left for the will of God to take care, while I kept up to my work. Slowly things started falling in the place but I had doubts of things like even if I had not left it to Him, then would it have been solved in the way it has or not. So many choices any one of those would have worked fine I guess. But what is it, which makes things finally fall in place. My faith, divine interventions or just plain luck. With these doubts, my thought was searching for the clarity, which I guess, I did realize at the end.

What happens when one leaves the results to the God is that whole universe conspires to make things happen with the best choice. As the deepest desires and well being of a person actually comes from within the soul, the gateway to the paramatman. Once one leaves it to that gateway, it actually manifest things in the way its more conducive to the health of the soul.... Contd.

One Evening on the banks of River Ganges....

Slowly the lights started fading away on the banks and I see a floating plate made out of leaves with a flickering lamp and flowers as the offering to Ganges come to the place where I was sitting and in it I saw the solution of my predicament. The faith and devotion does have its manifestation qualities. As the lamp flowed away riding out on the faith of devotee, I felt a deep sense of calm.

In the night, while sleeping I saw a vision of me flying high with some one in white robes to the dawn of another day. A new day came up and gently woke me up with rays of sunrise from the windows opening out to the Holy Ganges. In Guru nivas of Shiva Nanda Ashram I did find a new day with lots of love and feeling of belongingness.

In the night, while sleeping I saw a vision of me flying high with some one in white robes to the dawn of another day. A new day came up and gently woke me up with rays of sunrise from the windows opening out to the Holy Ganges. In Guru nivas of Shiva Nanda Ashram I did find a new day with lots of love and feeling of belongingness.

Om Namah Shivaya

Virtual