My first blog.       starting with a travelog of recent visit to Amarnath ( a little long though, read it at leisure )......  Photos link in the end.

Thought of going to amarnath had come on the earlier trek two months back, coming back from  "Vellangiri" mountain trek,  near coimbatore. LIke some decisions of mine, a very instant and unchangable sankalpa to visit the amarnath .  After came to know as a pleasant surprise that my guru "sri sri ravishankar" is the chairman of the amarnath shrine board for this year.  Convinced my cousin Prakash, and another trekking partner sridhar, to experience it.

 According to history , the cave in modern ages was re-discovered by a muslim sheperd grazing his sheeps, wonderstuck at a unusual formation of ice.   As slowly people started trickling in,  thanks to the militancy, wanting to ban the Hindu yatris in their "kingdom",  like a self goal it boomerang to bringing more & more fanatic hindus responding to the "ban call", and suddenly visiting the cave become more than a pilgrimage.  Now lakhs of yatris visit the cave, each year the yatra getting more popular.  Last year according to official estimates 6.2Lakh  people had visited in 40days.

Basically its a 45 KM walk over ups and down hills with altitude variation from 7000 -14000 ft, covered in three days. 

As I was approaching the cave ( about 200 ft width, 130 foot height approx ),  was just thinking what was the cause of this ice formation,  i thought of four options  a ) pure natural formation b ) sneaky suspicion of the lingam being man made  c ) work of some siddha or other powerful beings who are beyond our comprehension d )  the  omnipresent , supreme energy which is basis of all the things manifesting itself in this form. 

At the entrance of cave, why suddenly like blessings, water should get sprinkled from the top of the cave 130 ft above,  from nowhere, on my head not once, not twice, but thrice?.  How come only two doves (supposed to be eternal beings embodied in dove ) just came out their small hideout, just roamed for few minutes as if giving darshan, and then went inside.  First why only there are two doves living so high up?  Sudden powerful positive vibrations/sensation in the body nearing the lingam, similar to the one had Isha's Dhyana lingam, and other high energy places.    And no such similar ice formation nearby the lingam.  And the power to attract lakhs of people, where the queues only comparable to tirupathi balaji, confirmed me overruling the cause the former two (a,b) mentioned above. Regarding later two options no way for us to understand, so it doesn’t matter.

One important thing to note is the Hindu-Muslim unity.  The entire yatra would not be possible without the fellow brothers support of carrying the yatris luggage’s, sometimes the yatris themselves on palki ,  guiding the horses, pitching tents,  selling puja items,.....and also some of them visiting the ice lingam.    In the process they also make lots of money and actually looking forward to this yatra throughout the year.

Another unique things in this yatra are the langar ( free food ) prepared and offered fondly by the sevaks of so many shiv mandalis, who had pitched tents for the entire 40 duration of yatra, offering mouth watering, stomach filling, satvik & pure delicacies ( including jelabi, dosa, paratha, lots of chats, masala chai, milk,kheer,halwa...... ) , to the yatris.  Actually it was bit troublesome for us, to pay and eat after the yatra in srinagar, after eating free food for many days.  Against the general notion of people who receive free, can't be choosers, here we will go around to each langar and checking before deciding on the gracing their langar, with our presence.

There are many remarks that more than 70 people had died, and authorities are not doing anything. After being there, would say a "big hats off" to the army personnel for both being strict & very friendly,  controlling the crowd, maintaining security all along the route. Although life is always a journey from imperfection to bit lesser imperfection. It can be done bit bitter.    Any mountain needs to be respected, and the rules to be followed.  If you don't do those, then nature being very caring & beautiful can be very impartial, ruthless & cruel.  Most of them without any practice, preparation, & adequate clothing  eating too much in langars, smoking, some of them taking even 6 months child, or old adults,..... are invitations to one of the lieutenants of shiva (Lord Yama). Maybe some people come there to die only !!!

 3-4 feet of mountain path becoming 4 lanes one which one lane for horse face within kissing distance to your face, and on another side of you horses backside facing you within same distance.  Happily sandwiched between the two horse lanes with lots of slush and horse dung adding to the flavor.

Getting lost from the fellow friends (remember cell phones don't work there)  , and miraculously meeting them on next day.

Getting to know all the different layers of mine, and understanding which is more powerful.  Body getting tired and wanting to stop, but the mind pushing it further towards the destination.  Mind wanting to stop and eat the delicacies in between the trek, and intellect saying no ( as it will affect the trek ). 


Some questions still remains, why the body gets tired only after seeing the destination, not till then??Why the last stretch is always tough??,  if you think of longer route, how come the short route becomes very easy??, what makes the people who can’t walk few stairs in the city, to come to this huge mountain ??….

Feeling of reaching the destination ahead of other yatris, is not even comparable to 40% pay hike .

Getting to know the power of miraculous word "jai gurudev" when in trouble of finding place to stay, and getting transportation on the first two days.

Deciding shesnag ( a very beautiful lake along the route) was the most beautiful place except our AOL ashram though.

Managed to do kriya ( except two days though) throughout 9 days in airplane, sumo, bus,tent,....

Singing bhajans and attending arathis in the langars  “ sometimes to get food ;)-  “

Lots of opportunities to feel grateful,  “you get a toilet when required, and that it has a latch and that its works”,  “very nice weather” ,  "when your tent mates or not smoking nor snoring", "the horse few cms away from you, does'nt have the urge to do anything nasty", .........

Resisting the temptations from people who are ready to carry your luggage, carry you on horse, or in palki, ( for money ) though, helicopter ride back to basecamp,…  and like a good trekker completed the yatra throughout on foot.