Kasi Trip - March 2007

Among the mukthi sthalams Kasi is considered the holiest due to the combination of so many rare factors – Lord Vishwanatha, Goddesses Annapoorni, Visalkshi and River Ganges. In the Hindu tradition, it is strongly believed that people who give up their body in Kasi attains Moksha.

Planning

I have heard my father mentioning that he wishes to go to Kasi in his lifetime and I recorded this wish in the corner of my mind but waiting for right opportunity to do that. In 2007 the time came with HIS blessing to take my parents (77 & 72) to Kasi. It was during my trip to India that I decided to go to India alone and already planned to go to Chidambaram, Thiruvannamalai & Kanchipuram. I included Kasi in this trip and booked my tickets and my parents as well to do this. Blame it on my ignorance on how a Kasi trip should be planned – I made ticket bookings that would let us stay in Kasi only for 4 days. It is later realized after talking with friends that a minimum of 7 days are required to do all the darshans and Pithru rituals in and around Kasi. It was too late to change our ticket as my international trip is also would be impacted. So we decided to stick to the original plan and do as much as possible.

This is how we spent our days:

Day1 : Arrive Varanasi, Saptharishi Puja, Annapoorni & Visalakshi darshans
Day2: Triveni Sangam (Allahabad) - for pithru tharpanams
Day3: Pindam offerings in Ganges; leave for Gaya
Day4: Tharpanam rituals and Vishnupadham kovil darshan; return to Varanasi
Day5: Kalabairavar and fly back to Delhi/Madras

Lesson 1: Allot at least 7 days in Kasi if planning for tharpanams etc.

Travel

We took a 6.30AM flight to Delhi and got a connecting flight to Varanasi and landed at 12.45PM. Amazing – within 6 hours we set our feet on the holiest land. This is the moment I was waiting and my joy was in abundance. In March, Varanasi weather was just right. Got out of the airport and found a pre-paid taxi service in the airport itself. We paid Rs 350 to go to Sankara Mutt in Hanuman Ghat. The mutt manager was expecting us and food was ready. I must mention about the road conditions etc here – not in the complaining tone – only from the fact finding aspect. The road from the airport to main city is reasonably good. The moment we entered into the city and proceeded further to the ghats the road condition worsened. At most places there are not roads at all. The roads in which the city thrives are something similar to gravel road with bumps that can’t be explained. If you travel 100 feet in those road, your head will hit the roof of the car 200 times – no kidding. At one point, I thought that cars can’t go anymore – but the driver didn’t seem to bother – he drove his old Ambassador through all those lanes and finally halted at an intersection of two small roads/lanes.

Kasi Sankara Mutt

I was expecting a big building for Sanakara mutt. When I got down, I couldn’t even see where the mutt is. I was told that I need to walk into one of those lanes, filled with cow dungs, stagnant waters, trash spilled, houseflies, mosquito everywhere – not a pretty scene. This whole frame put us all down on the quality of the stay.

The mutt was probably built during pre-independence time and it still looks that way - very poor infrastructure, hygiene etc. Only the people who visit would complain – not them. The local folks are just fine. All are Tamil speaking Brahmins. When we went inside the mutt office, the wall has great, rare pictures of Mahaperiyavaa – great to see those big rare photos. We were shown our room.

We went inside and put our luggages into the room that was assigned to us – large but very old room with two wooden benches and one woolen blanket – no pillows. When we entered there was no power and the entire room was dark. The room had no closets, no shelves. The condition of the bathroom was very bad. We right then decided to find a better place to stay. I went to Mutt Manager’s house which is 2-3 doors away from the mutt. He asked us to take a dip in the Ganges and come back for lunch. We were surprised that the Ganges is so close by. Still we needed someone to accompany us to navigate us etc. He pointed hand to a direction and said “it is right here – you don’t need anyone – just go”. We got the message and we started walking.

Kasi Lanes
Kasi's narrow lanes are world popular. They are extremely narrow and extremely dirty. Very steep steps everywhere leading to Ganges. In every 100 feet there will be a Shiva Temple/huge lingams and anyone can do abishekam on their own. Literally in every 100 feet.



Scary part of those lanes is when big bulls, cows, buffalos come in the opposite direction. When they come in that lane you need to either stick like a lizard on the side of the wall and let those animals go. While they cross you, you can’t escape its body rubbing against you – meaning be ready for anything! Other option is to go back the lane till an intersection – if you’re scared. Initially we went back but then got the hang of these animal friends and learnt to move on. We had to take several steep steps down to get to Ganges.




There is a funny saying in Hindi about Kasi. I couldn't remember the Hindi version. But it goes like this

If one can get used to sadhus, cow/cow-dungs, widows, narrow lanes, then he will be fine in Kasi

Please note that the above picture is not one or two dirty/narrow streets in Kasi, this is how the entire varansi is made of near the Ganges. Once people move away from the banks, then roads get little better.

Lesson 2: Kasi cows are just like your brother or sister, they simply co-exist in the society.

Ganges



The sight of the Ganges was quite surprising. I was expecting the Ganges to be flowing fast and large in size but it was very short in the width. Also it did not appear deep, although in reality it is too deep. So we got down to the river. My parents are quite old and my job is to assist them one by one in taking bath. So they prayer River Ganges and took a dip- the steps are very slippery and it was a challenge holding them. The color of the water was close to yellow – attributing to all the impurities the local people add to Ganges. It is Her kindness to take all those impurities and still bless us with purity in body, mind and soul. Finally it was my turn to take the dip. While returning back, I got some water in my sombu for my daily puja. Got back to the mutt and I started my puja in front of the sannidhi within the mutt. This is the place where even our Acharyas have spent time in sitting, meditating. I was able to see Lord Shiva, ambal, Adi Shankara vigrahams. The feeling of doing abhishekam to my Shivalingams using Holy Ganges was beyond words. It made me think how fortunate these local people living in Kasi to take bath in Ganges daily!

The next day as part of my father's tharpanam rituals, I accompanied in the boat ride in offering pindams in the Ganges. The ride was one of the finest. We went to all the 14 or so ghats. It is the finest scene to see. Lots of temples, lots and lots of Shiva lingams every step you walk. In the Harichandra Ghat, you can see dead bodies being cremated constantly. It is shocking to see it in front of your eyes.

The common site is to see hundreds of people bathing, lots of boat rides, washing clothes, sadhus sitting on the banks of Ganges, body cremating etc.

Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa & Kasi



It is believed that once Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa traveled in the boat, he was unable to put his feet on the ground in Kasi as he sees Shiva Lingam every where - to HIS eyes. His eyes were filled with tears and went to samadhi frequently. When he approached Harichandra Ghat, he suddenly went to "samadhi" stage and He saw Lord Vishwanathar chanting Rama Japam five times in the dead person's ears!


Now it is lunch time – time was already 3 or 4PM. My father & I went to kitchen crossing some constructions and practically risking a lot for their ages. The conditions of those rooms were very bad – mainly from the hygiene standpoint. Houseflies are everywhere sitting on the food that we are going to eat. The consolation was the food was very well made – very tasty. I was later told that brinjal in Kasi is very famous and I tasted that too.

During that lunch time itself we decided to move out of that place. We expressed our concerns to the mutt manager. He told the history behind those rooms. In fact Maha Periyavaa was very against providing comforts within the room such as benches to sleep on, fans etc. After so much effort, they managed to get His approval. Periyaval's thought was to give importance of the divinity of the place, darshan, rituals and not to distract such people by giving extra comforts. Mutt manager helped us to get into a decent hotel – 10 mts from the mutt.

Lesson 3: It is a shame to realize how much our current lifestyle has spoiled our attitude and made us inflexible to conditions. Look at the divinity beyond these small inconveniences and one would realize that these – what we call “inconveniences” - are nothing but kind of tapas that help us to focus only on the darshan of the Lord and nothing else. I am writing this from my experience.

My parents took this opportunity to rest a little before the darshan of Kashi Viswanathar. They took a nap, got some coffee and left the hotel around 5-6PM. It took at least 15-20 mts of bumpiest auto ride ever. We were assigned one guide from the mutt to accompany us. Auto stopped at one point from where autos are not allowed. From that point, it is quite a long walk through narrow lanes to go to the temple. The guide was rushing us and my parents are old and they couldn’t cope-up with the speed – helpless.

Dundi Ganapathy

After a good 15 mts of such walk, we first went to Dundi Ganapathi temple – very small temple but very famous Ganapathi. The statue will have lots of holes in His body. We prayed Lord Vigneshwar to be with us during this entire trip. Once again, thanks to North Indian custom – we touched the Ganapathi statue and pray. The vigraham will be very different – completely smeared with Orange Kumkum – they call it sindhoor.

I have enclosed a picture that looks like Ganapathy.



Goddess Annapoorna



Then we went to Loganayaki Goddess Annapoorni temple. Ambal is seated and carrying a spoon on one hand and carrying a vessel on the other hand. Here is where She blesses the entire world with food and wealth etc. Lord Shiva comes on Deepawali day to beg her food – teaching us that we should pray Her for our daily food and thank her before we eat – “Annapoorne sadha poorne …”. We prayer Her to bless us with food and prayer Her kindness, love and affection to all of us in granting our wishes. Like Vaariyar swamigal says “if one mother in one birth itself is too kind, then think about Devi - the mother of all mothers for birth after birth”. She is always kind to us.

Lord Kasi Vishwanathar Temple

We were already getting kind of late for Vishwanathar temple. So we hurried to Lord Vishwanathar temple. This is probably my most exciting hour of my life. This is the time I was waiting to happen – finally it is happening. We were taken through few metal detectors and physical search by cops at the entrance of the temple. The entrance of the temple is not like any of our South Indian temples – no grand gopurams or great paintings etc. Before you realize that you are inside a temple, you are already inside Lord Vishwanathar temple. This is a small temple – made in marble. We moved to a place that has 4 entrances at the center is a big square shaped brass/copper border – inside which is the holy abode of Lord Vishwanathar lingam. This whole square is filled with water, vilva leaves, rudraksha and the we did prokshanam of that water in our head , touched the lingam and were asked to quickly move out by the pundas (priests) there.

Waiting

We stepped out of that sannidhi and waited outside in the small praharam. I must tell about the praharam. We were sitting on the floor and something touched my my back and I looked back and there are hundreds of small shiva lingams in a row. Then I started walking around the temple and you could see lingams everywhere in the temple - once again, this is the first time I am seeing so many lingams.

In the meanwhile, the guide took some money from me to give it to one of the seven pundas to let us watch the saptharishi puja sitting close to the sannidhi. The plan was to let me stand and watch the puja while my parents sit on the bench. That time, I also asked the guide to check with them to see if I could get a rudraksha mala. I did not know the outcome of their chat. We were told to wait for some more time to start the puja. There came one punda and he gave me a big rudraksha mala to me, which was worn by Lord Vishwanathar himself. I got goose-bumps when I received it. I received it with utmost bakthi and put it inside a bag as the mala was cut when he gave it to me and the beads starting rolling on the floor.

Setup

I was expecting huge crowd to come and witness the Saptharishi Puja but found only 20 or so folks. I was surprised. It was 7.25PM – they put one bench on which my parents and I were seated. Before us 4-5 people were sitting on the floor. It was odd to sit on the bench when Lord Vishwanathar is on the floor level. However, I was not allowed to standup as another punda already did a perfect job of collecting money from another guy who was going to stand and witness. So my bribe didn’t help! Apparently not all pundas are equally powered!! So I was sitting on the bench.

Saptharishi Puja



All seven pundas assembled there – they looked very fresh – probably just took their bath – vibuthi smeared all on their foreheads, big rudraksha malas around their necks, clean white dhotis etc. They started emptying the water from the lingam and wiped the whole place. All the preparations started for the puja. Soon they started chanting Sama Vedam. This is my first time listening to Sama Vedam. Once they started the abhishekam, I started Shri Rudram – it was an enchanting experience to chant Sri Rudram in front of Kasi Vishwanathar. All the abhishekams were over. Then they started the alankara. They brought the five-headed snake crown for the Lord. Unlike the ones we see in south or in most places, each head of the snake will be at different levels and looking at different sides. Once it is set on the top of the lingham, the whole thing is decorated with flowers. The way pundas decorate the lingham with flower is a divine art. They decorate it in such a way that not one flower falls off and yet you could see the lingham to some extent. Between 8.15 PM and 8.30 PM is the time for deeparathanai. This is an out of the world experience for anyone to witness. All the seven pundas will ring seven bells at the same time, their hands are extremely synchronized the they chant the sama veda in the same pitch, the deepams are lifted and lowered – all at the same stroke. When they all take the deepam closer to the lingham, it appears like the snakes are moving! This not happened once – almost every time I look closer. We always wonder at several army parades on how the soldiers synchronize their steps and hand marches – pundas are lot more synchronized. All the devotees sitting there are completely mesmerized – if anyone wants to experience the “oneness”, this is probably the only place for that. The way the priests gets excited are little scary at times – it looked like they forgot their bodies and deep into a different state – a Samadhi state except that the hands are mouth are doing synchronized actions. The sound from those bells is deafening – makes you not to think of anything other than Lord Parameswaran. There is an absolute silence from the devotees. At one point, I just turned back for something and saw lots of people standing right behind us – not even a small sound from them. Devotees are standing in all 4 entrances to witness this outstanding puja to Parameswaran. It is our bhagyam that we were able to witness Parameswaran in Kasi. This day happened to be my father’s birthday (as per English Calendar). He got an opportunity to touch and pray Lord Vishwanathar and witness the finest outstanding “Saptharishi Puja” – is there anything else one need in his lifetime? Lesson: Without HIS blessing we can’t even put a foot forward. If we have HIS darshan, He will take us closer to Him. Our trip is one fine example.

Post-Puja ceremony

Finally at the stroke of 8.30PM, the entire puja was over. The moments after the puja was over, people started to get out. Immediately all those pundas are standing everywhere you turn. Each guy carries a plate of sandanam and smears it in your forehead and asks for money. Our guide warned us on this and advised to pay to only one punda. I remembered that – so I paid for one guy. When I turned back and before I could realize anything, I have one more layer of sandanam from another punda and I go paying that guy. I managed to pull my parents and my father was stopped by one more punda and my father opened his purse and took out a Rs 50 bill and he put it inside to search for lower denomination (!) and the punda got mad and he demanded Rs 50 – and we were left with no option other than paying. By the time you are out, your forehead is buried under all sandanams and you look like one from Pazhani.

On our way back, we went to Kasi Visalakshmi temple. This is one of the Sakthi peetams. Ambal is in a standing pose – very nicely dressed and smeared with Sindhur. We prayer Her whole heartedly and thanked Her and Him for bringing us here to have their darshans.

It was already 9.30PM or so when we were done with all the darshans and we went straight back to the hotel room.

Lord Kalabairavar

Next day, my parents went to Kalabairavar temple for darshan. Without Kalabairavar’s approval none can enter or leave Kasi. Due to my diarrhea, I was unable to get His darshan, which simply means that I have at least one more visit to Kasi!

My tapas was over at that time – it was a tapas for several months/years to get His darshan. To me, agnana makes us to look at material inconveniences rather than divinity and gnana makes us see the divinity and the infinity beyond personal discomforts. This is probably why our Gurukkal said that Kasi trips are typically suggested for elders who have learned to practice tolerance for situations and look at divine things. At young age, one tends to be bothered by all the discomforts around the trip/place.

Om Nama Shivaya