The char dham yatra is also the journey into the heavens
Hindu Temples | July 28, 2010Located in the state of uttaranchal Pradesh and lying in the misty height of the garwal Himalayas. . This place has altitudes of ten thousand feet.
This place is known to be one of the most accessible yatra in India. . There is always a long line of vehicles that are waiting for their turn climbing their way up into the Himalayas.
This place lies on the way to the yamunotri. This place is the first destination and the river yamuna, almost accompanies the yatris or the pilgrims all the way up to her source at the very beautiful rawaal ghats. ..
The altitude and sights from here are just amazing. By now you would have started getting accustomed to the thin atmosphere. Later on; this path you will be able to see the gangotri which is the next dham that comes on this trail. This place is surrounded by the river bhagirat and is also surrounded by large rugged mountains. . The old forests here in the deodar region lie here as well. .. Once you reach kedarnath and walk amongst the clouds, you can then pay your homage to the lord Vishnu at the badrinath dham as well.
According to legends the lord Vishnu mediates by the banks of the river alaknanda. The foreground here is quite colorful and goes all the way like this to the peak.
The yamunotri peak is high up in the cleft of the western face of the banderpoonch. The journey along the river Ramona is quite picturesque. The goddess yanmuna to whom the river is dedicated to is represented by a black worship stone.
The goddess Ganga is also worshiped and well renowned. One great structure here is the divya shila which is a dark rock giving out hot water which is teaming out of the spring.
This area is said to be most holy. A lot of people come here and offer puja and offering to the gods who they actually cam to pay homage to during the journey.
The champasar glacier is the original source of the river which lies near the saptarishi kund. This place is a one mile trek that lies about one kilo meter above the famous shrine.
This place is about fourteen thousand feet above sea level. . An average yatri who hasn’t had any climbing experience cannot reach these heights. .
According the earlier legends, the god of the sun, surya dev got married to sandhya who was the daughter of vishwakarma. These had two children; yama and yamuna. Sandhya could not bear the fierce heat of the sun and therefore she created a clone of herself which is chayya. She then left the house of surya dev.
One the child yama tried to strike chayya with his leg. Chaya in rage cursed the child by saying that his leg will rot and fall off.
Listen to this, surya dev, was surprised at how angry a mother could get with her child and the severity of the punishment was too harsh. So to punish her, he pulled her hair. On doing this chayya reveled that she is not their true moth and the wife off surya but a clone. .
Yamuna came down from heaven and tried hard to save her brother from the curse. And in the end she even succeeded. The yamuna valley is also said to be very scenic and beautiful.
It is famously believed that if you bath in the waters of the yamunotri, you will be protected from an intimately death and also, you will reach moksha once you die.
The hot spring that is located at the divya shila is the blessing from the father surya dev to his daughter.
A small offereing of rice and potatoes are offered to the surya kund . The temple in turn gives it to the devotees as a Prasad. A lot of pilgrims carry the water from this river back home and offer it whenever there is a festival or an occasion that is related to lord Krishna.
Yamuna is said to be one of Krishna’s eight queens. Even local kings contributed to the setting up of this beautiful temple.
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One thing about these four dhams that amaze me is their geographical uniqueness..As you drive your way to yamunotri you will notice emerald green stream make its way between the two steep lush green hills, the roads that lead to badrinath are surronded by dark black rock cliff and crystal clear white water flows adjacent to the road reflecting the color of lord Vithoba worshiped here, and when you are trekking your way up to the kedarnath i would say do not carry a water bottle in the rucksack rather drink directly form the natural waterfalls and springs as you will find them at every quarter mile.
I had been for the yatra 3 years back and i would say one should go atleast once in lifetime to experience the spirituality and explore the beauty of this majestic pilgrim. On reaching Yamunotri i was filled with joy and happiness of reaching temple after trekking my way up the steep slopes, at gangotri after bathing in holy ganga i experienced divinity and purity, once inside the walls of age old kedarnath temple i felt disconnected to the worlds desire, hardships and experience tranquility like never before and at Badrinath temple it was like one big celebration..
If you are looking for spirituality with hint of adventure i would suggest you should trek up the Gau Mukh or mouth of ganga, the glacier and origin of the river ganga. The trek is 17 kms north to the gangotri and may take upto 2 days for a round trip. But if god would have want to make replica of the path that leads to heaven than it would be just like trek leading to gau mukh
@Jhon: I went on the journey to the char dham and trekking my way up the steep hills of yamunotri and never ending misty hills of kedarnath had a toll on me.The place is so Serene and beautiful i do wish to again, and if possible will try to trek to gau mukh..thanks for the info…