Badrinath Visit - That Mysterious Saint

[Guest guest]

Badrinath is situated in the Indian Himalaya, at about 3,133 mtrs. above sea-level. It lies in the north Indian state of Uttarakhand, and is one of the Char Dham. The journey to Badrinath, most likely from Haridwar - Rishikesh, is through Rudra Prayag. From Rudra Prayag the road to Badrinath is a single way route distance is 155 Kms, passing through mountains with snow - covered peaks.

The RudraPrayag should be considered as a base station to visit all 4 great holy places i.e. Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri (Gomukh Origin of Ganga), Yamanotri (Origin of Yamuna) . Rudraprayag is well connected to Rishikesh, Dehradun, Uttarkashi etc.

There are 5 Badris in uttranchal, the main badri is called BadirNath or Badri Vishal, the remaining 4 badris are -

 

 

Yogadyan Badri - Located at Pandukeshwar (1920 m) just 24 km short of Badrinath on Haridwar – Badrinath highway.

 

2. Bhavishya Badri : Located at Subain near Tapovan about 17 km east of Joshi Math, Traditionally it is believed that a day will come in future when the present route to Badrinath will be inaccessible and Lord Badrinath will be worshipped here. Thus the name "Bhavishya Badri" which literally means the Badri of the future.

 

 

Briddha Badri : Located at 7 km before Joshi Math, on the main road from RishiKesh – RudraPrayag – Joshi Math, When Badri Vishal temple was ruined by Baudhist's in Bauddha period, This Badri Vishal's pujs was performed here, Shankaracharya himself did puja here, before exploring the Badri Vishal at Badrinath.

 

 

Aadi Badri : Located at 16 KM from KarnPrayag which is some 70 KM before Joshi Math towards Ranikhet. It's believed that Lord Sun gifted kavach and kundal to Karna here during mahabharat age, There is a Karna temple also in Karna Prayag.

 

Aadi Badri temples were supposed to be built during Gupta Period, There is a cluster of 16 temples out of them 7 are most ancient.

 

In the Karna Prayag there is one ancient Kaal Bhairav temple dedicated to Kaleshwar and interestingly, close to the city there is one mountain named as MahaMritunjaya Parvat. Aaadi Badri is board at Karna Prayag at the confluence of Alaknanda and Panari rivers, near the bridge, while on the way to Badrinath

 

Although Badrinath is located in the north end of India, almost in the India – China border, the head priest, or Rawal, is traditionally from the far south of India, in Kerala. This tradition was begun by Adi Shankara. The Rawal is assisted by local pandits of village Dimmer of garhwal.

 

This is the Tapta Kunda where water is available at 30 – 35 Degree celsius which is a great life savior to saints and visitors, it's a nature made water source. The visitor is advised to have a dip before going to main Badri Vishal temple, here I met one mysterious saint, He had enchanting face and crispy voice and very sweet innocent smile, when I reached there before having a dip, I wanted to meet some siddha or evolved saints but there was none, however the beauty of Badrinath, is no one w'd ask u even for a rupee unlike rest of the India, there are beggars but they will not ask anything, self content is the natural feeling prevalent there whereas in the Kedarnath it's just opposite.

 

So, the mysterious saint directly came to me, and asked why i m not taking a dip, I said I will do, just thinking of it, then he suggested me to not to jump into the kunda rather to enter into Kunda slowly so that body can adjust the difference of temperature. I asked his name he said something, but i have absolutely forgotten what was his name.

 

When i asked him about my wish to see and meet siddhas, he questioned me back – "Kyo GuruMantra mil gaya hai na" i .e. "You got the Gurumantra?", Yes, I got , I replied to him. "Then, u sit here and chant ur gurumantra or meditate on Lord Narayan (Badrinath), don't go behind any one, the more you will run after people the more you will get confused, always remember, If god wants, he will come to you, why you are still confused".

 

 

I was smiling, totally agreed to him. His voice was like spellcasting, he said further "You are curious, You wish to realize something here, so, no problem, tomorrow morning onwards your doubt will be over". I didn't take him seriously. Any ways, I was bit interested in him, I said – "ok, no problem", I knew morning has to happen. To wanted to speak to him more, so, I asked – "Where you live?", He said – "I live in the temple only", still I didn't take him seriously, I thought may be he is someone from the priest's team.

 

He continued – "Come tomorrow morning at 5 am in the main temple, you can see me there, Aarti begins there at 5 am". I got agreed. He then said – "every one whom u see here doing a sadhana is a siddha, but they are siddhas for themselves, otherwise, this Nanga Baba ("Nacked Baba") is also a siddha, ask him any thing to understand what is a siddha". He had so much command on his voice, that Nanga baba started looking at him and at me too, but I was not interested in Nanga Baba.

 

Then he turned back to leave the place, took 2 or 3 steps, again said me that he lives in the temple and I can see him tomorrow. I forgot everything in the night as it was so cold, even my fingers lost sensation, I stayed in a place managed by Raval (Chief Priest, Nambudiri from Kerla).

 

After the dip i went to Badri Vishaal temple, it was closed, so what to do, i asked my friend to chant mantras in the threshold of the temple, he got ready, we both sat there for 40 – 45 minutes chanting our mantras, it was such a sweet experience, I saw the lord vishnu in my vision, it was like he is coming out of the doors and standing before me, he had 4 arms with Shankhs, chakra, padma, what is noticable is, i didn't see him in the human form, it was an idol like this coming in my vision, I enjoyed watching him.

 

I think i spoken about the incident to Sunil Nair in the night, I was tremendously angry in his aide Srinadh who intentionally presented a shloka of Valmiki Ramayaan in distorted form, a stupid approach for getting negative audience.

 

Next morning, I woke up around 6.00 am, Badrinath is a place where life is still, the morning and evening pujas are main activities. I went to Tapta Kunda to have a dip, upon reaching there, I recalled this mysterious saint, he was not there.

 

Ok, as he said "He lives in the temple only, I thought i can meet him in the temple, as a priest or as a saint he should be available there till the end of the morning session of Puja that lasts around 8:30 am. I took the dip and went to temple, there are several idols, eacch and every idol was attended by some team member of the Raval's team.

 

The queue was not so long, in just 10 minutes, my turn came to have the darshan of lord, OH, what i see is the same Idol was there that i saw yesterday when the doors were closed, but this was not the main idol, this idol is placed in a side, the main idol is a ShaliGram, a small idol of lord Vishnu or Narayan or Badrinath.

 

Now, I m greedy, I wanted to goto main central place of the temple to do pranam, it's not allowed, may be there is some special permit or fee is charged for this, I being a simple person, was not possible for me to go there and moreover, nobody wanted to go there, only one person, looking very rich, could go there, when my turn came, i directly went to raval or somebody from his family, i mean the person that was heading the Puja that time and asked him to allow me to main central place, He said it's prohibited, I asked but I wish to go there, without, asking a second qustion, he permitted me to go and do pranam, i went, chanted my mantra and prayed the God to clean my mind, clean my sins and give me his love and blessings.

 

In all the great temples of India I got opportunity to goto main central portion (Garbha Griha) where chief priest sits, first time it happened in Sharda Temple of my place, Rewa.

Now, I wanted to see the mysterious saint, he was not there, look wise he was completely different from the crowd s well as from all the priests, he couldn't be part of that team, and as no body missed out the puja, he was also not supposed to leave the Aarti session in between, I again tried to search for him, but he was not there.

 

Who he was, who said – "I live in the temple, come to temple at 5 am when my Aarti begins", was he God (Vishnu) himself or some Deity sent by him? How somebody can live in the temple ?

Now, doubts were over as he said to happen by the next morning, only 100's of the questions remained, Who he was ..... ? who he was, to suggest to not to go behind anybody, any saint present there, and instructed to do mantra jaap sitting there and if God wants he w'd come to me.whatever he was, thinking about him, makes me happy instantly. I still feel so much happiness, I cant express, This trip of Oct - 2007 still echoes in mind...