Our Bolero Neo was chosen for this trip. All basic check-up was done before we took the start. Tyre pressure, oil, and DEF. We discussed a couple of times and set up destinations in the Google Maps list. We thought we would cover Mahakaleshwar, Maheshwar, and Narmadalay Ashram as additional destinations. Basically, we wanted to visit places we either missed or couldn't do the visit in detail while in the parikrama.
Again the idea was to keep this road trip a yatra. Keep it simple, low profile, introspect, meet interesting people, and experience the vibes of wherever we visit. We decided to do Shiv Mahimna Stotram as part of this Yatra. I decided to conduct "Parayan" or chanting once daily. We agreed to continue the Parayan (chanting) of Narmadashtakam as this was technically part of the Parikrama.
Day 1
We started at 7:30 a.m. from Vasai where the Kelkar family is currently staying. The car was The plan was to do a direct trip to Omkareshwar on the same day. Around 590 kms.
On the way, we decided to visit Trimbakeshwar Jyotirlinga near Nashik. We traveled around 35 km, took "donation" darshan passes, and spent an hour in the queue but couldn't hold ourselves more. We left after the Kalash Darshan, as we were getting late for our journey to Maheshwar. Commercialization without building a good ecosystem for the visitors is becoming a negative trend in many temples. I sent a tweet to the authorities, and press and wrote my negative review on the temple's Google profile. On the way, we had lunch or Vegetable curry and Poli at the Dindori Swami Samarth Math. The Swami Samarth Math has a nice clean atmosphere and basic lunch arrangements. We chose to be simple as per the principle and had our Prasad there.
Since it was a bit late, we decided to settle at Maheshwar as the same looked achievable. We then moved towards Maheshwar which is 60km before Omkareshwar. This is a heritage Narmada Ghat built by Punyashlok Ahilya Bai Holkar. We wanted to relook at this place and be there on the way. On the way, we chanted Shiv Mahimna. There was a healthy discussion about Pushpadanta and Maitri gave Sanskrit Vyakaran insights.
We reached at around 11 a.m. and stayed at Hotel Maheshwar Darshan. The people are good and also the rooms are fine. But the service is basic. We found that their restaurant was destroyed almost completely due to drastic floods from the Narmada waters during this rainy season. The owner Hemant Jain was seen as concerned about the poor who lost everything on this floor more than himself.
We recalibrated our plan due to the weekend and Monday. These being peak days, we decided to postpone Mahakaleshwar for Tuesday for quicker darshan.
Day 2
We started at 7:30 a.m. from Maheshwar for Omkareshwar. On the way, we had nice typical MP-style Kachori and Poha.
At Omkareshwar, we took a dedicated boat for our boating around the Mandhata mountain and also the Omkareshwar Darshan. This is the mountain on which Omkareshwar temple is situated. It is like an island amidst the Narmada River. As parikrama-vasi, we couldn't cross the Maa Narmada, according to the ritual. But this time there was no restriction. It was 11:30 a.m. by now. The temple is closed from 12:30pm to 1pm for the Bhog or meals for Omkareshwar Maharaj Shivji.
We witnessed two crossing skywalks to the mountain to reach the other side.
The boat first went around the Mandhata mountain. We could witness the Sangam of Kuveri and Narmada near the dam. The boatsman halted the boat for near the Sangam. One of the parts of the Mandhata is also known as Om Parvat. We had a nice short peaceful meditation while a few were enjoying photo sessions.
On the other side of the dam, we saw the latest huge 108ft Shankaracharya idol on the top of the mountain.
On the other side of the river was the large idol of Vishwaroopa Darshan which Krishna displayed during his discussion with Arjun in the war of Mahabharata called the Bhagwadgeeta.
The Omkareshwar Darshan which was the core activity for this trip happened with a lot of tapas or penance being Sunday. We again had to go for the donation Darshan by paying Rs. 500 per person. I explained to myself that paying money is using the earlier tapas to earn it to reduce the current hard work. Even after the payment, it was tough of war all to get into the temple. We were discussing the wrong choice of day for this darshan schedule. We also discussed whether still it is worth it? In my opinion, yes it is worth it. It is a place with the positive vibrations of many who did the tapas and accomplished in the past. This is a symbol of our culture and will continue to unite all Hindus across the world and hence can disregard the Yatra. In the end, these are the places that make you emotionally motivated to seek the ultimate truth.
We planned to come back to Maheshwar for that day's stay. On the way back we visit the auspicious Shreemant Bajirao Peshwa's Samadhi Sthan at Rawer Khedi right on the bank of the river Narmada. It was a fundamental but strong infrastructure as old as the year 1740. This place falls on the parikrama way but we had missed it during our parikrama program. It is a really peaceful and inspiring place and worth the experience for the Seekers.
While finishing, we bought the Narmadeshwar Shivling which was found in the bed of the Narmada river. These stones stay in the bed of the river and get shaped like a natural Shivling for many many years. This phenomenon is predominantly seen around this area of 50 km of Bakawan as per what we were given to understand.
From there, we moved to Bakawan. This is a place where every home works on making Shivlings from the stones from the Narmada River. It has become an industry that not only sells locally but also exports these products internationally. Almost all new temples are known to have Shivlings from this place. Here most Shivlings are now crafted through a process as per our discussion with a few shopkeepers. The "shivlings" as it is are getting rare as time passes. They also make the bottom bases and many other related products which the people coming there may ask for.
It was evening 7pm when we reached this place. We bought a few Shivlings and pendants made of tiny Shivlings from various shops for gifting to our friends.
We finally reached back to Maheshwar after dinner in a restaurant on the way by 10:30pm.
Day 3
As per the plan, we had to see around Maheshwar that day. Although we had seen the fort, the ghat (river bank), and the Rajarajeshwar temple built by Punyashlok Ahilya Bai, we had missed Sahasra Dhara which was to be seen amidst the river around 3 km inside preferably by boat. We also wanted to show Maitri this place as the character of Ahilya Bai may be inspiring for her.
We started at around 9am from the hotel towards the bank of the river. There is a structured boat ride available for the yatris with a fixed rate from the association of the boatsman there on the bank. We took a dedicated one for five of us and went to Sahara Dhara. It is basically a place where huge stones divide the flow of the river is thousands of small streams in a small patch. This is visible when the water is not very high. We enjoyed the vibes of this place. Did a round of meditation at this place and left for the Maheshwar again.
While the ladies were shopping, we along with Maitri went around the fort and the temple. Really inspiring and detailed work was done everywhere by the bold lady ruler at that time. Padmanabh Kelkar ji is a civil engineer. He explained the level of detail, symmetry, and labor that would have gone into making this heritage site so many years before. We had a peaceful time at Rajarajeshwar temple.
We left Maheshwar at around 2 p.m. to reach Ujjain to witness Shri Mahakaleshwar. The car makes life simple as far as flexibility is concerned. We had zero dependency on the public transport. We had our lunch in a simple typical truck driver pure veg dhaba. Very nice food there with a basic ambiance. We were discussing that sometimes the basic food items happen to be great in such places. The spread in such places is lesser but they master certain regular items. We had simple Daal Bati, buttermilk, roti, and sabji here.
This evening we had booked at the Iskcon temple premises guesthouse. Clean place to stay with Adhyatmik vibes and a pleasant ambiance. We booked it online on their website. The rooms were really nice and the ecosystem had vegetarian food options inside. The biggest attraction is the Iskcon temple which is two minutes from this guesthouse. This is recommended if you are coming to Ujjain for the yatra for sure as a stay option.
We reached this place at around 6:15 p.m. While the plan was to go to the Mahakaleshwar in the morning the next day, we were told by a few people to try the darshan in the evening. Even on the internet, we found the evening as a better time for a smaller crowd. One more advantage of the evening darshan plan was the new enlightened corridor built around the temple. The corridor was a big attraction after PM Modi Ji inaugurated the same sometime before.
We decided to take a crack at this hack 😀. We changed and dressed freshly for this most awaited time. We found Ujjain to be a sorted city with bright streetlights. Initially, we were worried about taking the car near the temple. I remembered the situation when I visited this temple a couple of years ago. But, adversely to the assumption, we were advised to take the car as the new corridor has a lot of parking available. One thing which we could have done is carry the mobile phones for a couple of nice photos but we decided to leave it all in the car as found that they were not allowed in the temple.
Day 4
Ujjain is a Malwa heritage city based on the banks of the Khsipra River, with a lot of temples and things to see. Ujjain being on the line of cancer has a lot of significance from an astrological standpoint.
The Jantar Mantarbin Ujjain was on top of Maitri's list. This is a classical observatory. We saw various scientific explanations and working models of the Indian watch system based on the sun called "Surya Ghati". It was amazing to see how these watches work, how timezones work, and many more things in around an hour. We got a nice
internal guide who explained things very systematically in proper Hindi.
internal guide who explained things very systematically in proper Hindi.
We also decided to visit the Sandipani Ashram in Ujjain. Shri Krishna and Balram are told to have been learning at this Sandipani Rishi's Gurukulam. Gurukulam is the traditional Bharatiya School that existed for centuries. The education was evolved and used to cover 360-degree character building with 14 vidyas and 64 Kalas. The Sandipani Gurukulam has depicted the learning model nicely through lively paintings. The visit to this place can inspire parents and teachers to educate the students in the right direction.
In Indore, we rested at the Iskcon guesthouse during the afternoon. After the Mahakaleshwar and the Omkareshwar Darshan, we decided to treat ourselves to the Indore delicacies. The Shreemaya Celebrity was an apt joint referred by a close Indore associate.
The squad was planning for an overnight journey to be back home. There was a bit of natural homesickness grabbing us all. We started off with a typical night drive. Three of us were driving and hence there was a bit of confidence that we would make it back home the next day morning.
Conclusion
On the way back, we felt accomplished with more than 1200 km of yatra, the spiritual journey. The journey was actually for only 4 days but was filled with fulfillment like we enjoyed for years in this Yatra. We were thinking about the experiences both good and not so good, being teachers for life. We agreed that boredom is a virtual thing that is picked by the human ego from one generation to another, but it really doesn't exist. We were fresh upright and ready after this Teerth Yatra to face the world and do our assigned roles without getting attached to the outcomes of the same. An observer in us came strong and encompassed the observed i.e., the mind the body!! Narmade Har !!
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