Vaishno Devi Yatra March 2017 ( Day 4 - Part 4 )

        

Vaishno Devi Yatra March 2017 ( Day 4 - Part  4 )

  

श्रीराम राम रामेति रमे रामे मनोरमे ।

सहस्रनाम तत्तुल्यं रामनाम वरानने ॥

Friday, 03 March 2017  

On Day 4, we had plans to visit two more famous temples in Jammu. We became busy early in the morning  in packing our things and moving the baggage to the lobby. We greeted  our friends ‘‘Hare Krishna’. The Lord’s name was reverberating in the dining area also. A line was already formed to pick the items of one’s choice. Hot and crispy vadas,

                                          

                                         

                                              ( Hot  Crispy Vadas )

tasty sambar, chutney, paratha, curds,  pickles, bread, butter,  jam and suji kheer were available on the table.. We finished our breakfast with a strong cup of coffee. We thanked the staff and the management of Ginger Hotel for providing wholesome food and rendering good  service towards customer satisfaction.  Ginger is an Indian Hotel chain, established by Roots Corporation Limited, and a part of the TATA Group, a new brand under a category called "Smart Basics Hotels" . Nestled in the midst of KATRA town against TRIKUTA mountains, the hotel provides for a comfortable stay.

                                                                                                                             

                                        

                                         Farewell  to ‘Ginger’ Hotel

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

By 9:00 am the luggage was loaded in the vans and we started proceeding towards Jammu (55 Km) to visit the famous Raghunathji Mandir in the city. We recited Lalitha Sahasranama Stotra first and then sang bhajans.  Once again we crossed  the four tunnels .

As we are penning this part of the yatra, our PM Narendra Modiji had opened India’s  longest road tunnel (10.9Km) on Jammu -Srinagar Highway. This had happened recently on 2nd April, after our visit and when we came to know of this news, it made us proud of our country !!

11:30 am - We had to park the vehicles about a kilometer before the Raghunath Ji temple due to traffic restrictions. As we walked towards the temple, we chanted  ‘Hare Rama, Hare Krishna’ songs led by our guide Mr. Madhavananda Das.

                                      Sri Raghunath Ji Mandir                               

                                               

       

                 

Entrance to The Main Shrine                    Raghunath Mandir Complex

                                

Raghunathji  Mandir is located in the busy market area. The temple consists of a complex of  

seven Hindu Shrines, each with its own shikara. It is one of the largest temple complexes in North India.  We left our handbags and mobile phones in the cloak room as there is a tight

security check. The front yard is large and the main shrine is about 50 feet from the entrance.The presiding deity is Sri Rama along with Sita Mata and Lakshmana. We offered our prayers to the deities, did parikrama in the inner prakaram first. We then went around the outer prakaram as six more shrines are located there.. These shrines house various gods and there are beautiful murals painted depicting popular scenes from the epics Ramayana, Mahabharata and Puranas. The art works on the walls are superb..

These shrines also have 12 lakh and 25 thousand Shaligrams enshrined on the floors and walls. These shaligrams were obtained from the Gandaki river, in Nepal.

All the spires of the shrines are covered with gold.

There are also huge statues of Sri Anjaneya and Vaishnavi Mata. We saw, in one room, idols of Sri Ganesha in different stages starting from childhood to a massive Ganapati Pappa. We performed abhishekam with milk for a huge 7 feet high Shiv Linga, a black and shining marble idol.. We were really fortunate to have darshan as we watched the glow from inside the idol when ‘ aarati ’ was being performed.

The time seemed to fly fast as Mr. Das was reminding  us about catching the train to Amritsar, leaving at 14.30 hours.. We literally ran from one shrine to the other. It becomes necessary to express our plight here as the priests  were demanding money from each one of us and holding us to perform puja in front of every deity.

Raghunathji  Mandir was in the news in 2002. It was attacked by terrorists twice which resulted in casualties. The security stands tightened today to protect the heritage and religious norms and to ensure safety to the pilgrims.

After collecting our mobiles and hand bags we rushed back to the place where the vans were parked. It was nearing 1 pm when we reached Ganapati Hotel for lunch. We had ‘thali’

meals.--Roti, dal, sabji, Jeera rice, raita, papad, kala jamun and sweet lassi. The food was tasty though slightly spicy and thank God, the service was quick. The dinner packets for the night were also collected from the same hotel.

We reached Jammu -Tawi railway  station by 2 pm. Transporting the luggage from the parking area to Platform 1 posed a big ordeal. But it was solved with the help of  trolleys and porters. We boarded the train number 18110 (Jat Muri Rou Express) at 2:30 pm.

We had berths in 3 Tier AC coaches. Everyone took rest for a couple of hours. Our dinner packets were distributed in the train. We spent time chatting with our  fellow passengers.The train went past Hira Nagar, Kathua,, Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Dhariwal ( famous for woollen garments) and reached Amritsar  station at 7:20 pm (207 Km). The  same train  goes up to Tatanagar (2026 Kms in 38 hours). We walked out of the station and loaded our

baggage in the vans. We moved through the peak traffic as we  proceeded towards ORBION Hotel, a member of the FAB group for our stay.

We got the rooms allotted. Day 4 was a day of travel and we had time to visit only Raghunathji temple. We missed Ranbireshwar Temple in Jammu, though it was scheduled in the itinerary due to shortage of time..  Ranbireshwar temple is one of the biggest and ancient Shiva Temples in Jammu City.  We thanked God  for reaching Amritsar safely and retired to bed thinking of next day’s programme in the City of Golden Temple(s).

Natarajans.   

 

( continued in Day 5,  Part 5 )