The misadventurous pilgrimage to Muktinath - 5

The misadventurous pilgrimage to Muktinath - 10

Dr. Varanasi Ramabrahmam

The morning at Jomsom is very sunny and bright. We took photos of the Himalayas from our hotel. The sight is just intoxicating. Pleasant and calm experience we had. 

The hostess is rich. Her children are working in India and Khatmandu. She just is using her premisis as an accommodation cum restaurant. She is having a helper. Our guide rents a room in the hotel and doubles as a travel agent also. He does more than one job. He is the one who books tickets for the bus. He assured us guide at Kuntira receives us and will put us in our accommodation there. He gave the name and number of the guide there. 

Our bus starts at 10-30 in the morning to go to Khatmandu. And reaches Khatmandu at 4-30 in the morning next day. I first thought we will be staying for the night at Pokhara an important town/city. That area is called Pokhara valley. Our guide told us we will be getting down at Kuntira and not Pokhara further away and is nearer to Khatmandu. A guide will receive us and take us to the accommodation.

This hotel in which we stayed for night is just on the street where all buses stop. That is the last stop for the buses I think. Our Khatmandu agent told us our guide at Jomsom meets us as soon as we get down from the bus. Meanwhile the conductor of the bus phoned him and he replied that he is ready to receive us by the time we reached Jomsom. 

We bid good bye to our hostess but couldn't bid farewell to Jomsom so easily. Jomsom is on the banks of the Gandaki river. The Gandaki river originates somewhere in the Himalayas in the Annapurna range; and Muktinath mountain is part of them. 

It is completely warm and pleasant. We are total 5 passengers in the bus. The bus travelled on the bed of Gandaki river for 30 km. The Gandaki river is on our left and accompanied us for one third of the distance of our journey. The river valley on the left is very deep and water is meagre but the river is flowing as it is descending from heights. 

Now conductor of our bus asked do we have papers. I just said no. Then he said if at the checking point they ask us from where we are coming to tell the name of the place which we just passed. But our appearance can't fool them. He also said that we should be ready to pay money. I said yes. 

At the checking point the checking people didn't enter the bus. The conductor might have told them that no tourists are there in the bus. As the bus is a route bus, they, the check post people didn't care. Thus our tension is relieved. The bus reached that point around 12-30 in the afternoon. 

The route is full of ups and downs with sharp curves. The road is narrow. Most of the road is under construction. This is like that for 70 to 80 km. The driver is young and very efficient. I sat in the front seat and observed his very efficient driving. The driver of sumo is also equally efficient when we travelled from Birganj to Khatmandu on the same kind of road. Both the routes are scenic. 

By 4 pm we reached a place called Beni and the road is well laid from there. People started boarding the bus long before that and are traveling shorter distances. I wondered how they live and what is the livelihood.

Traffic and people increased from Beni. We reached Pokhara by 7 pm. 

We reached our Kuntira stop by 10-30 pm. Here also the conductor took the number of my guide at Kuntira and phoned him that we are coming. The guide said that he is waiting at the bus stop for us. 

Also as I told in the initial parts of this write-up, I took local Ncell connection and it has been very useful and helpful. It made possible that the two Khatmandu agents contact me and they inquired how we are and whether we faced any problems. I said we faced no problems and thanked their gesture. Also I am able to be in continuous touch with my sons in India and inform them of our journey, welfare and well-being.

The guide at Kuntira is ready for us and took us to the hotel where we have to stay for night. It just is a normal accommodation just beside the road. The guide who received owns it I think. Next day morning I could also see his shop cum travel agency.

We have a pleasant surprise and Lord's Grace is again fully in play for us once more more beautifully.

(To be continued)

The misadventurous pilgrimage to Muktinath - 11

Dr. Varanasi Ramabrahmam

We got up early at Kuntira. As I said the room is just passable for just staying one night for sleep. In the morning hot water was available and we refreshed and took bath and are ready by 7 am. We came down to have tea. We took black tea at the attached small sitting place. The weather is cool and pleasant. 

We still descended and reached the road. This road is from Khatmandu to Pokhara to Jomsom and also to Birganj and Bhairhava th border towns to Raxaul and Gorakhpur respectively. My wife observed lot of pooja article shops on the two sides of the road. 

Our guide is having a shop on the side of this highway.  We went to him and inquired any temple is is nearby. He said yes and the temple of Manokamana Devi is there on the mountain opposite us and in between Trisuli river is flowing. He said the temple is at a height of 4,372 feet above sea level on the mountain. And the Deity is a very famous and powerful Goddess. We felt like the Goddess has made this arrangement of breaking our journey right Infront of Her and thus gracing us and giving us an opportunity to have Her darshan. 

On our journey to Raxaul from Howrah Sagar Khandelwal helped us to reach Birganj and put us into the Sumo to Khatmandu. I wrote about this. His sister is also accompanying and asked to have a darshan if Manokamana Devi definitely. She is not having a clear idea and told it is near Khatmandu. We actually thought of it thinking it is around Khatmandu. We forgot about it as we are anxious about our journey to Muktinath and how to make the travel. 

And now we are right Infront of her temple made us experience the Grace of the Devi and we decided to go and have a darshan of Her. We thought of starting from Kuntira around 10-30 am when we don't know about the temple. Our guide said one can go by cable car and he is having the tickets with him. We immediately took the tickets and said we will pay after the return. He agreed. It costs to and fro  500 Indian rupees for each person.

We happily further descended and reached the cable car station. Every 5 minutes one car starts. Not many people are there. We reached the cable car in 15 minutes. I and my wife had one car exclusively for us unexpectedly. 6 more persons of a family are there and only 4 can be accommodated in addition to us. They preferred to go together. Thus we had the car exclusively for us. The climbing up in the car itself is another rejuvenating and beautiful sight seeing experience.

(To be concluded)

The misadventurous pilgrimage to Muktinath - 12

Dr. Varanasi Ramabrahmam

The ascent to the top of the mountain is a pleasant experience by itself. The view of the valley as the cable car ascends is full of beautiful scenery, sights, view of full of clouds, and nature. When we came earlier to Nepal in 2017, we ascended the Chandragiri hills near Khatmandu by a cable car like this. It was also a spectacle of beautiful valley full of greenery below.

Here the Trisuli river, mountain view, white clouds completely covering and then again mountainous scenery full of greenery - is an invigorating experience. The ascent was for 25 minutes. We got down and ascended another 300 steps to reach the temple. It was a mini town on the mountain around Manokamana Devi temple. Many eateries, shops of many a wear, pooja articles, and fruits are adorning the mountain. There is not much rush. Not many devotees are there. The temple is nice and we were in the queue for just 25 minutes before we had the Darshan of Manokamana Devi. Inside is cloth covered Devi, Durga idol and Kslabhairava idol are there. The priest there talked in Telugu asking us to take - bottu - Tilak - from him. 

We had a contented darshan gratefully feeling thankful for the Grace shown by the Manokamana Devi in making us break our journey at Kuntira, where She presided the mountain overlooking Trisuli river in the very deep valley.

The Manokamana Devi temple is a very famous, popular and powerful Shakti Peeth in Nepal. We prayed to her with full of devotion filled in our contented hearts. We worshipped her with our joyous hearts. The bliss and peace we experienced are serene.

Animal sacrifices take place there. We descended through cable car after spending 2 hours in the temple premises. We aging had a pleasant view of the valley below. 

We finished our transactions with the guide and he made us get into a bus to Bhairhava, the border town. The Trisuli river accompanied us to considerable distance and the road is good. We crossed Narayani river also. 

(To be concluded)

The misadventurous pilgrimage to Muktinath - 13

Dr. Varanasi Ramabrahmam

We got into the bus to Bhairhava at Kuntira at 10-30 am. We reached Bhairhava by 4-30 pm. We are then transferred to another bus to Sirouli the border town near border in Nepal. It is 15 km from Bhairhava. 

The development of Bhairhava is just visible. It might have taken place recently. Wide and long roads. New buildings. The town is shining with activities. The town is nice to watch. 

We reached Sirouli in half an hour. 

Rickshaws pulled by Nepalese are available. We engaged one for just 30 Rupees - Indian for a distance of 1.5 km. The border is crossed in the rickshaw without any checking or hassle. He dropped us at the bus stop. A bus to Gorakhpur is ready to start and we got into it.

We reached Gorakhpur by 7-30 pm. Our elder son booked a room for us in a hotel for 2 days. We reached Gorakhpur on 23rd February and we have reservation for train to Vijayawada on 25th morning in the train from Baroni to Earnakulam.

We took rest for that day and next day visited Goraknath temple. It is a vast area and the temple trust is headed by Swami Adityanath, current chief minister of Uttarpradesh.

Goraknath cult and temple have a ling tradition. Many Mahantas headed it. 

Lord Siva's Murti present there is very beautiful. Many small small temples are there for all principal Hindu deities. The math is maintained very neatly and many are visiting it. A fair takes place there annually from January 1st to February 29th. We roamed around it and bought some articles. In one shop any article is Rs. 10/- and we bought some there and some in other shops. They are all in winding up mood. Many giant wheels, swings, and such entertainment things are being dismantled and some are just functioning with few customers. The dismantled ones are being packed.

We then desired to visit Geetha press which publishes spiritual books at a very cheap rate. We went there and saw a book shop by them where not many books are there. The press is nearby but we aren't guided properly so we couldn't see it. Geetha press authorities also have a cloth shop and there cotton fabrics are available cheap rates. We bought some.

Next day we boarded the train and next day night reached Bhimavaram safely.

We gratefully remember the Grace showered on us by Lord Muktinath and Devi Manokamana for their vaatsalyam. We had a very filling pilgrimage to Muktinath and Kuntira with the help of the Divinity despite our innocence and ignorance.

We contentedly live praying to Muktinatha and Manokamana Devi for our life.