Do spiritual sojourns to far-away places prove to be a reclining break to balance the hectic work-life schedule in the metros? As Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, founder Isha Foundation says, there is no such thing as work-life balance – it is all life. The balance has to be within you.
Away from the concrete jungles, a recent tour to Khajuraho, Bageshwar Dham and Bheem Kund in Madhya Pradesh and holy cities of Mathura-Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh was just the perfect breather that one often needs to refresh the overloaded mind and body. The freshness of Yamuna that flows along these twin towns, the sounds of bells and chanting, greeting each other with ‘Radhe Radhe’, the fragrance of freshly made pedhas and the creamy taste of freshly churned lassi... everything packed with flavour and freshness...
Mathura where Krishna was born to Devaki and Vasudev, the gallies of Gokul where he played, the ghats of Yamuna where he stole the attires of Gopis, the fort of Kauns – while visiting these places through the narrow, filthy lanes one cannot escape the inviting smells of milk, curds, butter and ghee.
One may wonder what is the takeaway that one carries back home after such yatras... do we carry home a mixed feeling of breathing the air that once our sages and seers breathed, blended with the peculiar scent of the ancient rocks and stones and experiencing the invisible existence of the living deities that still hand around to bless those living in today’s commercial, transactional world.
The most astounding among all was the visit to the Bheem Kund, an incredible ancient water body that transports one to the Mahabharat era... with stories weaved around the creation of this mesmerising place that gives you a queer feeling of some unknown fear of its immeasurable depth, the inviting crystal clear blue water and the slippery stairs that take you down, probably to ‘pataal’ as is believed. In Madhya Pradesh, at Bundelkhand region, 77 km from Chattarpur, this cave water body has attracted scientists from across the world. There has been much research from Western scientists and divers who went down to find out the source of this blue water but couldn’t.
Also known as Neelkund, because of the bluish water, a story from the Mahabharat links it with the Pandavas. When the five brothers along with wife Draupadi fainted while wandering in the jungles, the strongest of them Bhim hit the ground with his ‘gada’ creating a creator that brought water out of the earth. The water is clean, transparent and sweet to taste.
Vrindavan is known for monkeys who are habitual of snatching away the spectacles. They jump on the devotees and take away their spectacles. However, they throw the spectacles as soon as a tetra pack of Fruity is offered to them. This is a barter system, give fruity, get back your spectacles.
Another place was Jatashankar Dham in Bijawar where many throng to have a bath in holy water falling from a Gaumukh (cow’s mouth). It has running water from the mouth of a symbolic ‘Nandi’, Shiva’s vehicle bull. The water, believed to be flowing from the hair of Shiva, has medicinal properties and people take bottlefuls with them and bathe their near and dear ones.
This yatra also had a special purpose – to soak in the celebrations of Guru Poornima Mahotsava at Bageshwar Dham at Gadha, Chattarpur, where lakhs of devotees had thronged to seek the blessings of Bageshwar Balaji – the duo (Shiva and Hanuman) living under a single roof. The place is just few km away from Khajuraho temple complex. Speaking of Khajuraho temples gives you pain in the heart, to see the dismantled structures put together in recent years with whatever was left by the invaders – the empty garbha gruhas, mismatching stones arranged in whichever way possible, the broken idols and moortys, disfigured figurines on the walls that stood mute while atrocities were showered on them by the non-Hindu invaders...
The Central government takes care of this UNESCO heritage site, and one must appreciate the lawns and gardens here more than the restored temples. Only one or two temples have a living deity, which is worshipped. One is the Matangeshwar temple, just outside the UNESCO complex. He is supposed to be the protector of Khajuraho, and the Shivlinga looks tall, elegant and magnificent. Another temple I liked is that of fully carved Varaha in blackish-grey granite. It seems to be less damaged than the other temples.
The other explorations here are a volcano site, a waterfall, diamond mines at Panna... The food is awesome, people-friendly, god-fearing and pious. Printed sarees and dupattas of bamboo buti are the speciality of Khajuraho and the prices seem to be very low. At Vrindavan, most of the shops were adorned with brightly coloured small attires of Krishna Kanha apart from the colourful cotton dupattas with kantha stitch and mirrors seen hanging at all stores. The Mathura’s popular sweets – pedha, lassi, rabdi, ras-malai, kesar-badam milk, ghevar are few things one must try to bring back the sweet memories of these holy towns that allows time-travel and peek into the history that they once lived.
