Seeing my mouth open looking at the extremely beautiful beauty, someone called from behind, "Isn't it beautiful?", I too, without looking back, said, "Without any doubt." When the person behind asked, “Have you come here for the first time?”, I turned towards him and said with full friendliness, “This is the first time, you understand that I am a complete beginner”. The way I am attracted towards the mountains, it proves that in my previous life I was not attracted to the mountains.
After my answer, both of them made museum hands and shared their names with each other. He introduced himself as "the son of the head Pandit ji of Yumnotri temple and is going to the temple after Kapat to lend a hand to his glory", we belong to the Unial family which includes the privilege of worshiping as per the rituals in the temple Received”. My introduction was even shorter than the car, "I'm the secretary, it's nice to come here and request".
Even though he was wearing a pant and shirt, for me he was still Pandit ji. Pandit ji told a lot of history of Yumnotri and mentioned its Pandits. Of course Pandit ji had shared a lot of information with me but I can remember only a few things that this temple is the origin place of river Yamuna, its destination is 3291 miles. This temple is situated behind the Bandarpoonch mountain, earlier the journey here started from Hanumanchatti but later after reaching Jankichatti road the journey was only 6 km. See, there are 2 hot water ponds here, the first is Surya Kund and the second is Gauri Kund.
Suddenly there was a waterfall amidst the talks and information and our mood became engrossed in itself, that is a different matter, we were the only ones involved in this because for Pandit ji it was a daily glimpse. Once I was watching this scene and Pandit ji was saying that let's go ahead and will become even bigger.
And lured by the big waterfall, I started walking. Greedy Ghost happened 15 minutes later when the real big shock came. Here we sat, sat, knew about Pandit ji from the nearby shop. The shop boy jerked and touched Pandit ji's feet and greeted him. On the orders of Pandit ji, within a few minutes we both had 2 cups of hot tea in our hands. Himalayas, tea, and waterfall, what more is needed in the light.
Pandit ji's request was rejected by the shop boy when he paid for the tea. 3 Lively and cheerful smiles laughed together.
The glory and beauty of some more waterfalls showed us our destination. 250 m. And, after speaking, Pandit ji showed the temple by pointing with his hand. After joining his hands, I also paid my respects and proceeded towards the temple with folded hands. At 5:30 in the evening we went to the temple area from where Pandit ji once again asked me to leave with folded hands but this time I took my hand back and my next action surprised him. He started laughing when I touched his feet and said “Live long, stay happy”.
The hot spring has now been closed for cleaning so I only have 15 minutes to myself to lap it up. Out of 15 minutes, one minute was spent in taking off the clothes and the third minute was in the midst of the steam rising from the hot water.
Looking at the darkness falling outside, I thought about Panditji and said, “He is a good person”. Of course, that Pandit Ji was for me the whole way and I was 'Bhai Ji' for him. “Brother, come out, I have to clean”, someone called from the darkness and I didn't waste a minute in coming out and getting into the style of my clothes.
As per Pandit ji's advice, I got a room nearby for Rs 100, where I kept my luggage and entered Yumnotri temple. It was the time of Aarti, bells were ringing, mantras were also being recited in Sanskrit, Pandit ji was seen standing near the statue of Yamuna Mata. Everyone was singing the aarti loudly. The atmosphere created there wanted to engulf everyone within itself.
After Aarti, I had food at a nearby dhaba and in view of the increasing cold, I quickly came to my room. The emptiness of the room reminded me of where I came from and under what circumstances. Suddenly with lightning speed I remembered my home, my family, and those people who left their bodies just a few days ago. And I cried, I cried and cried a lot. As soon as sleep fell upon the moist eyes, the tears rolled down the cheeks and dried. #Tears of 100 rupees.
As quickly as sleep had engulfed me at night, it released me as quickly in the morning. Only sleep had freed me, not thoughts. He was released only from night and not from day. #release_from_self
As soon as I took my face out from the white quilt, the cold hands of the Himalayas caressed my dry cheeks. As soon as I opened my eyes, another tear flowed out as if even the eyes had no destination. First I looked at the ceiling, then at the colorless walls, then at the land of my mind which was covered with unnecessary thoughts like unlimited weeds, I always think about it but never took up the solution to make it fertile.
After getting up from the bed, I first brushed my teeth and then looked at the dirt spreading in my mind. While tying the laces of my shoes, I started thinking, “I can clean my body only by urinating because I do not have the courage to clean my mind.”
I attended the morning aarti with a black bag and a black mind, thinking that someday I would meet the white light. My eyes were searching for Pandit ji amidst the bells, who I could not see anywhere in the morning.
At 8 o'clock, I folded my hands once again and started back towards home. I didn't know whether the mountain behind the temple could be climbed or not, but I wanted to go there, I wanted to be there, even if I had to pay someone to accompany me.
The return journey on foot remained calm, while the waterfalls appeared silent for some reason. Stopped at the tea boy's shop and expressed his thoughts to the tea boy. As soon as he heard my thought, he said, “Hey brother, if you had told me yesterday, I would have taken you upstairs”. Her curiosity filled me with greed, without thinking much I immediately said, “Can we go today?” , I am sorry brother, now it is difficult for 1 week because my brother has gone down this morning itself and he will come only after a week.
After paying him for a cup of tea, I could only say that “Bhai ji, we will go next time”, he also happily said, “For sure Bhai ji”. Saying 'Jai Maa Yumnotri' I left from there for the next time.
At Jankichatti, like me, some passengers were waiting for the bus going to Dehradun and among those few people, I met a special person. His name was probably 'Ravinder', he is a resident of Dehradun and the most important thing is that he has been traveling continuously since completing his college studies, now his age is 48 years. He told that he is married and has two children. Thanking Mahadev, he said, “My wife does a job and also takes care of the children, of course I do not take money from home but I do not earn either, I manage my living by working for 2-4 days here and there”.
Even before the bus arrived, I started getting interested in what this person said, as if he was my own. Both sat together in the bus till Dehradun. He further said, “Under pressure from my family, I had to get married for which I had no intention. I worked for a few years and also took care of all the responsibilities of the family, but spirituality gradually took me under its grip. After leaving my job, I kept roaming in the Himalayas indiscriminately, my hair and beard have grown, now along with my family members, even outsiders have started calling me crazy and considering me crazy, even the children do not come near me.
I don't even move around, I start staying wherever I go. Like right now I am going home from Yumnotri after 15 days, to tell the truth I am not home, I don't know where I am going. I am going anywhere because I don't feel at ease here either. Because of this self-satisfaction, I have to wander from here to there and let me tell you one thing Rohit Bhai, 'I will reach there soon'.
After landing at Dehradun in the evening, I paid my respects to this wonderful person whom people have now started calling mad, of course, he looks like a mad person from his appearance. Soon I got a bus to Delhi from here.
Sitting in the bus, I started doing my usual work of “thinking”, started thinking about my journey, Pandit ji, tea boy, Yumnotri temple, Rs 100. The room, the snow covered mountains, the waterfalls, and finally the mad man, out of all these, for some unknown reason, that mad man made of flesh and blood impressed me a lot. I remembered the words said by the mad man at the end before his eyes closed, “Why doesn't anyone want to accept me the way I am, why does everyone want to change me according to their own.” Nature has made me a little crazy and even a little courageous because I did not consider it appropriate to hand over the remote of my life to someone else.
The next day i.e. on 10th May, I reached my home where the heat had increased and everyone's mind had calmed down. It felt good to see this change taking place in everyone's self. So here I would like to end this travel article and pray for the good health and peace of all the people I met in my journey. Rs 2558 on this golden journey.
Disclaimer: I have also posted the content (text and photos) posted in this blog in Hindi language on my Hindi blog www.himalayanwomb.blogspot.com. The English version of the same Hindi blog on Hive has been posted here with the help of Google Translate.
[//]:# (!pinmapple 30.99990 lat 78.46114 long Trekking to Yamunotri, finally saw the goddess (Part 02) d3scr)