More photos added on 3rd November
2016
The idols worshiped at Badrinath
Winter abode for Badrinath
idol
People / Swamis / yogis
who stay over in Badrinath during winters
The spiritual supermarket
based on Mahavatar babaji’s name in Badrinath
The
chardham circuit in the Himalaya is open for six months from May to November and
closed during winters
Please
refer below link
For
commercial reasons the government of Uttarakahand is promoting the winter
Chardham yatra
There
is a lot of misconception regarding this, people think that the main idols of
temples are shifted to their winter abode, but this is not so.
There
is also a lot of misconception regarding the People / Swamis / yogis who stay
over in the chardham’s during winters when the respective chardham towns are
abandoned, they are considered to be special and highly elevated spiritually
again this is not so
This
article is based on my own personal experiences and the first-hand information
that I have collected as I travelled to these places and stayed there for a
long period of time
This
article is about Badrinath and is the last in the series of four articles
Badrinath
|
bell of the temple |
Me outside the temple
The small building before the temple is where the
chief priest stays
Top view of temple
In
the Garbha gruha (sanctum sanctorum) of the Badrinath temple apart from the
main idol of Badri narayan (Badrinath meaning husband of Badri {Lakshmi}) of shaligram stone which is Swayambhu, (Sanskrit: स्वयम्भू) means "self-manifested" or which was created by
its own accord (by the way this ancient idol is khandit meaning broken, yet it
is still worshiped) there are the idols of Udhav, Narayan , Nar, Kuber, Garuda
and Narad. (all these idols face east)
Idols at the temple
Old photo of the idols before someone donated gold
and diamonds and remade the interior
one gokulashtami everyone was outside the sanctum
sanctorum celebrating the birthday of Lord Sri Krishna, I was almost alone in
the temple and the main idol which is usually covered up was fully open I spent
hours looking at the meditating Vishnu, this old photo shows the idol without
any cover
Outside
facing the Garbha gruha (sanctum sanctorum) from left side clockwise there are
these small temples of—Lakshmi who is Vishnu’s consort (the chief priest of the
temple had told me that the lord Vishnu is known by the name Badrinath meaning
husband of Badri because in Sanatan Dharam women are so very respected that the
name of the wife is taken first, like we always say Sita Ram.
Then
there are small temples of Vishnu swarrop,Adi Shankarachary’s statue,
Nar-Narayan, Hanuman, Ganta dev (the kul dev of the bhotiya tribe who stay at
mana village) then the place to perform Yagna (Vedic fire ceremony) and again a
Hanuman temple
Adi shankaracharyas statue in the temple premises
Below
are photos of the Narad kund the story goes that when Adi Shankaracharya re-established
the Badrinath temple (the Chinese had taken over the temple and thrown away the
main idol and were carrying out animal God worship)
Adi
Shankaracharya recovered the main idol from Narad Kund and established
procedures to be carried out for worship.
After
the Badrinath temple was re-established Sanatan Dharam once again flourished.
Winter abode for Badrinath idol
During
winters when the temple is closed for six months the idol of Lakshmi is taken
inside next to her husband and the idol's of Udhav and Kuber are moved to Yogdhyan temple in
Pandukeshwar ( Yog Badri one of the panch Badri temples). It is on the
Joshimath—Badrinath route situated very near govindghat the place from where
treks to valley of flowers and hemkund sahib start
Unlike
the belief the main idol is not shifted to Joshimath or anywhere else
|
Yog badri temple at Pandukeshwar |
The official
web site of the temple http://badarikedar.org/
states that “the devotees can perform the winter puja, darshan & abhishek
of Lord Badrinath at Pandukeshwar/ Narsingh Temple Gaddi Sthal, Joshimath with
same rituals & traditions as performed at Shri Badrinath Temple” ….this is
not so, they have just added Narsingh Temple at Joshimath because there is a dispute
between people of Joshimath and Pandukeshwar to attract pilgrims since it is
their source of income, here the same rituals go on throughout the year and
nothing is shifted from Badrinath to Joshimath
Also
read about the eternal lamp which keeps burning for six months (click on link
below)
People who stay in Badrinath during winters
Apart
from the security personnel of the Indo Tibetan border police some swamis and
yogis stay over during winters they require a special permission from the
Government.
Now
the Government has become strict in giving permission as initially many people
used to take permission and then come down to lower altitudes during peak
winter.
Regarding
others who stay I know a few of them they are very well equipped having more
than enough food stock, insulated places to stay , generators even a battery to
start the generator so that they do not have to crank start, some even keep
their assistants with them. When required they use the communication equipment
of the security forces who always help them.
I do
not find them special in any way as they are just surviving in a harsh cold
environment like many people do
Below
is a photo of a mouse he also stays over during winters in Badrinath collecting
his food well in advance before the winter sets in, so you see nothing so
special in staying in a very cold environment in winter it is only a matter of
survival
A
three day trek from Badrinath takes you to Satopanth lake, this is believed to
be the last journey of the Pandavas currently no one stays at Satopanth during
winters, there are a few babas, Sadhus who stay there during summers only
Satopanth lake
Years
back I was impressed when I met these people who stay back during winters as I spent
more and more time in and around Badrinath I got to know the real picture, have
always seen these people do frequent rounds at the bank’s ATM to check their
ever increasing bank balances, got first-hand information of the people who
were cheated by them, once they have your telephone number they keep on calling
you for money, below I have written about two such persons.
Of
course I have met a few people who stay in remote places they never accept any
money from anyone and spent their time doing their spiritually practices.
The spiritual supermarket based on Mahavatar babaji’s
name
The world first heard about Babaji courtesy
Paramahansa Yogananda's book “Autobiography of a Yogi” and Sri Yukteswar Giri’s
book “The Holy Science”.
Ever
since Mahavatar babaji has become a big name in the spiritual supermarket.
Please
read this article (click on the link below)
There
are those who claim to be his disciples and they all use the word “direct disciple”
Many
such people are found around Badrinath
There
was one baba he stayed high up near charan pakuka (on the way to
Neelkanth) he also claimed to be in direct touch with Babaji. He had a huge box;
he claimed that his physical body would be in this box and his spirit would
travel to meet Babaji. The last time he called me was in November of 2012 when
he was collecting funds to spread Babajis message of a possibe destruction of the
coastal regions in December 2012 (The 2012 end of the world phenomenon) Below
is the photo of the box which is still lying at Badrinath in the same cottage,
nothing heard about him.
Another baba stayed in Badrinath continuously for more than sixteen years. He kept
silence for all these year’s even then he kept two mobile phones with him,
completely money minded he claims that he is in touch with Mahavatar babaji on
a daily basis and has made a huge fortune. Below is his photoshopped image with
a tiger but he does not realize that tigers are not found at very high
altitudes he should have used the image of a snow leopard instead.
His guru claims that he was in school with Motilal Nehru (father of Jawaharlal Nehru) who was born in 1861, he has made a red colour timber cottage which is the centre of attraction in Badrinath and also has a cave high up on the Narayan parvat (mountain). People are impressed to see someone living so high up on a mountain, few know his real story, by the way this cave was raided twice by forest department over various allegations; I will not write more about them or anyother person I met but hope people awaken and are not impressed with such babas like I was and ended up losing my time and money.
Visiting Badrinath in winters
All
the chardhams in Uttarakhand are abandoned in winter, the temples sealed.
But
there are a few people who visit these places in winter, some do it to
experience the peace and tranquility and absorb the spiritual vibrations when
no one is around others do it as an expedition as one has to travel over snow
covered roads.
Special
permission IS required to visit Badrinath.
There
is a motorable road right up to Badrinath, but again this trip should not be
attempted without a local guide.
Feel
free to ask me any further questions and I recommend staying over for a few
days in each dham. I always travel after monsoons when there is no rush and
rates are less
Badrinath temple in future will be shifted
There
is an ancient Narasimha temple in joshimath on the way to Badrinath a famous
feature of the ancient black stone idol of Narasimha is that its left wrist is
getting thinner by the day.
Legend
has it that when the wrist breaks off, there the current Badri vishal temple at
Badrinath will become inaccessible and new temple will be bhavishya badri.
In
the early morning puja this wrist is shown to the people and then covered up
throughout the day
The new
temple is called Bhavishya (future) Badri, it is located at a elevation of 2744
m 15kms drive from Joshimath to tapovan
then another 4kms to saldhar then 6kms trek to bhavishya badri
Swayambhu
(self-manifested or that which are created by their own accord ) idols are currently
in the process of formation at the temple
Below photos of the bhavishya badri temple and self-manifested
idols which are currently in the process of formation at the temple
|
photo clicked November 2009 |
Below are 2 photos I clicked in October 2016
you can compare them with the above photo clicked in 2009
|
photo clicked October 2016 |
|
photo clicked October 2016 |
It is
predicted in the scriptures that when the good age comes that is when man will
be closer to god than the present day badrinath will be covered in snow
And
hence cannot be accessed
How I
interpret this is there are 2 parvats in badrinath Nar {human}and Narayan {god}
They both will be merged symbolizing union of god and man This may happen
because cracks formed in the neelkhant parvat which is in-between the nar and
narayan parvats. Scientist have predicted that snow accumulates in the cracks
in neelkhant and an earthquake can cause an avalanche to flood the entire
valley of badrinath hence the valley will come in its original form water / ice
{himalaya—kingdom of ice} and man also in his original form {much closer to god}
however this is my personal thought.
Very old photo taken in 1882 of the trekking route
from Joshimath to Badrinath, the motor able road was constructed after the Indo
China war
I will
write another blog about various places in and around Badrnath