We had a very blessed pilgrimage to Badrinath. Everything went without a hitch, thanks to Keshava's detailed planning. The weather even cooperated—it was beautiful the entire week. Our group was wonderfully harmonious, bonded deeply, and were so loving and giving to each other at every step.

The pilgrimage had the extra added bonus of being comprised of half Indians and half Westerners. Everyone commented on how much this added to the group experience as a whole.

Eight Westerners arrived early in the week. Vidura and Daya took them to Chhatarpur Temple and the beautiful grounds and museum of Gandhi Smriti, where Gandhi lived off and on and where he was shot and died, one day. Daya and I took them shopping another day so they would have Indian clothes to wear while here. We also had a lovely satsang with Swamiji.  He was so happy to see everyone.

More people arrived and by Wednesday we were all busy decorating for Swamiji’s anniversary, then singing and doing many projects to help make it as beautiful as could be. You have read accounts about it, so I won’t go further except to say it was truly a blessing to see him so magnetic and radiant. A very blessed event.

The Indians knew the lore and were completely excited and thrilled to be going to this holy pilgrimage spot that we Westerners probably will never completely understand on the same level of intensity; and we were able to bring them Ananda, with many oldtimers along.    

In India we have four major pilgrimage sites (dhams). Every Indian has been brought up that you have to have these trips in your lifetime. Badrinath is one of the most difficult, the most inaccessible, pilgrimages of all. It's not easy to reach there.

Badrinath also has the most confluences of rivers (prayags). Where two rivers meet is very spiritual; they have powers of purification. There are four prayags en route to Badrinath.

A major highlight on the way up the mountains to Badrinath was our stop at Devprayag, where two rivers meet to form the beginning of the Ganga.

Devprayag

We bathed at the sacred confluence of the Alakananda (which originates above Badrinath) and the Bhagarathi (which originates in Gangotri) and made flower offerings there. Our hotel was just above the river, and from our rooms we could hear the rushing Ganga all night long.

Shishir bathing where the Alakananda and Bhagarathi Rivers meet

The long, winding, rather difficult road up to Badrinath follows the Alakananda River all the way. The late monsoon rains had almost ruined the roads, and at times it was tough going. Several times we had to stop while workers pushed some monstrous boulder off the cliff with a plow, or dynamited the rock walls to make the road wider.

Bound for Badrinath, encountering one of many stops for road work

We had originally hired two buses to go up the mountain but then realized with the awful road conditions that jeeps or Qualises were the better choice. And they were—smaller, better able to maneuver the arduous roads, with drivers who knew the roads extremely well and room for only 4 or 5 in each car. People bonded immediately with each other and their drivers, and we were able to have cars available each day to take people where they wanted to go in their free time.  

Many of the pilgrims seemed very inspired to be experiencing "community" with Ananda for the first time (if only for one week), chanting and meditating mornings and evenings together, and having deep experiences daily with spiritual family. Having other long-time Ananda members helped to make this a deeply inspiring Ananda experience for the newer Indian pilgrims.


Opening satsang, Badrinath

Badrinath Temple

In Badrinath, our highlights included the 4:00 am morning puja with the stone deity "Lord Badrinarayan", which looks like Babaji in meditation. He was pulled from the river by Adi Shankaracharya around 1,200 years ago and re-installed in the Badrinath Temple.

All of us were there for puja, when the gods are given a bath. Their night clothes are taken off and fresh ones are put on. But Keshava even had it arranged that those of us who wanted to go for a dip in the hot springs earlier at 3:00 am could do so. Four of us did this. You let go of everything. You wash all your inner self in the springs, and you are powerfully ready to meet your god in the temple. I felt like a child prepared for purification.

After the ritual, you walk three times around the temple outside (parikrama). All those mountain peaks, like Neelkanth—I felt I was with the gods or my Krishna. The sun was just about to rise. It left you with the peace of being. It had been pretty loud at the puja, but afterward the parikrama felt more at peace.

The mountains in India are hard to describe except that they are formidable, powerful, HIGH, and glorious. You feel different up there somehow.  It was hard to leave because you feel—or think you feel—the depth of the Masters guiding you each step.

Neelkanth, 19,500' (5,943.6 metres)

We met the rawal (priest) who performs puja 4 times a day in the temple.

The Badrinath Temple rawal

There is an ancient spot near Badrinath Temple where people pray for departed loved ones. Our pilgrims did this and also recited the astral ascension prayer.

Pilgrim placing ashes of a loved one in the Ganga

Another highlight was the visit to the village of Mana. Mana is an incredible place with deep blessings.

Trail to Badrinath from Mana

There we meditated in Byasa's cave, where he dictated the epic Mahabharata while Ganesh wrote it down with one of his tusks (after his feather pen broke).

Outside Byasa's cave, Mana

Also in Mana is the awesome, roaring source of the Saraswati River (which goes underground almost as soon as she appears), and the Stairway to Heaven, where the Pandava brothers walked as they gave up their bodies on the way to heaven.

The Stairway to Heaven FELT like a stairway to the heavenly realms. Vidura and I walked up by ourselves, although one isn’t ever by himself because people go past you, sit awhile at one of the stone benches along the way, then you pass them, say hello, offer each other some candies, and go along, each group passing the other all the way up the road.  It’s serene though and makes one introspect and bathe in the wonder that nature on such a grand level, can give one.

Sangeeta at the confluence of the Saraswati and Mandakini
Rivers, Stairway to Heaven in background, Mana

In Badrinath we also visited Baksawale Baba, the sadhu Mahavir (tour guide) met a few years ago whose guru is Babaji.

Another quite amazing happening was the success of each person to get up the mountain that led us to Bakswale Baba, the Kriya yogi who spends time with Babaji in their astral bodies. A number of our pilgrims, even some in their late 60s and 70s, all made it—AND Vidura, who climbed the entire way holding on to the hand of Surendra (about 70). Everyone thought Vidura was the hero, waiting patiently while our friend moved along at snail pace—only to find out afterwards that Vidura had a high fever and was very grateful to have Surendra to hold onto himself!!  

The Baba says Babaji came to him in 2003 and told him to come to Badrinath. He's been living there in silence year-round since then, even in the winter when almost all others go back down the mountain. He apparently keeps his body in a metal box, goes into samadhi, and goes off to be with Babaji in spirit. At first he was writing things down on a tablet to converse with us.

Jaya displaying one of Baksawale Baba's messages, Badrinath

But then he said Babaji told him to give us a discourse, so he began to chant and speak (the most in 15 years, one disciple told us). He had a childlike sweetness about him, wept with devotion whenever he mentioned Babaji's name, and praised Swami Kriyananda and his kriyaban disciples again and again.

Baksawale Baba in conversation

I had to put him "on a shelf" similar to what Swamiji had to do with many events that he first read about in the Autobiography of a Yogi. He is to be regarded with some respect, living at that high an altitude all year round when only five or so babas live there, with 17’ of snow covering his modest hut for months of the year. But for this story, what impressed me was the determination by our group to get to his home even enduring the relatively high altitude (over 10,000') and going even higher on foot some 500-700' more up a winding and sometimes very steep trail.  

On our way down the mountains we stopped in Joshimath, where Adi Shankaracharya had a cave, found enlightenment under a 2,400-year-old mulberry tree, and re-organized the whole Swami order. Swamiji believes that either Master or Sri Yukteswar was Adi Shankaracharya in a previous life.

Wayne and Elizabeth at the tree of Adi Shankaracharya's enlightenment, Joshimath

Another rather joyful thing we did: we had been learning the Hindi words to "Lord I Am Thine" in the choir and actually sang it in the concert on the 12th. So we were able to sing that during our meditations and by the side of the roads while traveling. 

In addition, some of us had been wanting to learn "O God Beautiful" in Hindi and this seemed like the perfect time to do so. We found out that only one of the Indians knew it in Hindi and maybe 3 knew it in English.  Wayne had learned it so he, Sangeeta and I went through each line and after changing some words here and there, not only learned it ourselves but taught it to everyone at one evening satsang and some that followed.  

And the 3rd song we learned on the trip was "Channels"[in which singers are divided into 6 sdifferent parts, each thanking God for being a unique way of being divine channels of his creation]! Each car took a part: Arati had the rivers; I had the birds, Nalini the stars, Daya the flowers, Jaya and Sadhanad Devi the trees, Elizabeth and Wayne the mountains, and so on.  

Back down the road from Badrinath

Our hotel in Badrinath across the field

We enjoyed a very nice moment at Keshabananda's ashram in Haridwar, where some of Lahiri Mahasaya's ashes are. We unexpectedly met a direct disciple of Keshabananda, who received Kriya initiation when he was 12 years old and Keshabananda 108 years old. (He told us that Keshabananda lived until he was 112.) Isn't it interesting that Master was a disciple of a disciple of Lahiri, and so was this man! He has met Swamiji, lives near the airport in Delhi, and had come to the Mahasamadhi at the Bristol Hotel in March 2004.

Lahiri Mahasaya's ashes, Keshabananda Ashram, Haridwar

Other pilgrims also visited Ananda Moyee Ma's ashram and Samadhi Mandir in Haridwar before meeting at the train station.

Awaiting the return train to Rishikesh from Haridwar

Vaishista Gufa cave entry, not far from another cave where
Swamiji secluded after his SRF ouster, near Rishikesh

Kriya Yoga Ashram temple (where Swamiji spoke at its 2007 opening and dedication), Rishikesh

We spent the last night in Rishikesh, at the Great Ganga Hotel, which overlooks the Ganga. Because of all the rain this year, the Ganga is the widest anyone of us had ever seen it in Rishikesh, with the water almost at the top of all the ghats/steps on either side.

View across the swollen Ganga from Sivananda kutir, Rishikesh

Some people went to the evening arati before dinner, then we had our closing satsang. The satsang was very deep and moving. We ended it with a round of "Channels" that Durga made possible. This was also a highlight of the trip!

At our final satsang, we had everyone stand up and perform "Channels" for those few who didn’t sing. What a hoot that was! Nearly everyone singing, laughing, so joyful I can hardly believe it. They were real troupers, and at our fnal circle talked about how they realized now what Swamiji was talking about when he said community was the way to live.

One man said: "I was outside on my balcony one morning and looked to my left and there was Jaya! I looked to my right and there was Wayne, etc. Eating, meditating, visiting saints, walking up mountains and even eating beside the road—all together. I had no idea how magnificent this would be."

On the last night of the pilgrimage, people spoke of their personal experiences. Everybody thanked Keshava. Although Durga and Vidura had themselves been pilgrimage leaders for many years, they said they had never seen something so beautifully organized.

Keshava did an outstanding job of organizing it all. He really did. And then lost his voice the first day out! But he hung in there always and was the rock, truly, that everyone relied on throughout the entire trip.

Another beautiful thing people observed was that the pilgrimage included some people who were 70-plus, and although Keshava is a fast walker, he was the last one at the end, gently giving energy to people ahead of him as if there were nothing else in the world that he had to do. I have never seen anybody taking care of a group that way. We Indians tune into love and care.

What I liked the best about the pilgrimage was that it was made so easy. Each and every detail was taken care of to make sure it was smooth and we were made comfortable. Keshava had basically done it with heart. Several Indians said to me, "You know, looking at you touching his feet, we feel like doing the same thing because he has made this trip possible for us."

We are so grateful for the protection and inspiration that God and our great gurus provided us while traveling, and for your prayers and blessings as well.

Badrinath's memories and vibrations remain far past the pilgrimage's close

We will do more of these pilgrimages. One is planned for the Mahasamadhi and Kriyaban weekends with trips to Kolkata and Puri beforehand, Babaji’s cave in the middle and Rishikesh at the end. If any of you would like to come with us on any leg of it, it really would be our joy. We hope to encourage Indians, again, to join us so you will also have the opportunity to learn about and meditate with some of our newer and extremely joyful and delightful pilgrims.

In India we are taught that if you go to these sacred sites, you have to do a lot of tapasya and not think about the body. Even though many people have it in their heart to make a pilgrimage, they do not attempt it because they think it's only for certain people. But this trip was made very simple for us. I really wish people could go on these trips so they would see they are not as difficult as we thought. It is tapasya to go and visit, yes . . . but all these hardships we were led to believe are there need not be there. Badrinath is not so inaccessible. And the blessings you have! The soil was so rich with spiritual vibrations. You just close your eyes and see your guru in your mind.

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