Vaishno Devi Yatra

View of Inner shrine where the Godessess are in the form of pindis









Electric car facility from adhkuwari i.e after 6 kms trek









Geeta mandir in the route







New route inside the cave .









New route for trekking.






Marble idol of goddess besides the entrance of the cave.










Adhkuwari cave.

The 3 goddess in the form of pindis.

people coming out of adhkuwari.

View of Bhawan (Main Shrine)

Ban Ganga

Vaishno Devi Yatra 2008

Hiring a Tata Sumo we started from Srinagar on 13th July at 10.30 am and decided to have a darshan of VAISHNO DEVI. We reached Katra by 6.30 pm. It’s a 12.5 km trek from Katra. A Katra we obtained a group registration slip from the office of Shrine Board which was essential to be allowed to cross a check point at BanGanga, from where the trek starts. We wanted to perform yatra during the night as all of us wanted to walk till the Shrine, popularly known as Bhawan. Its is easier to perform the yatra in the evening as its very hot in the morning. The Shrine is open 24 x 7. At Katra one can get accommodation in the form of rooms as well as dormitory and cloak rooms, these facilities are provided by the Shrine board. One can also book a hotel as there are large numbers of hotels according to one’s budget. After freshening up we went to a restaurant to have our dinner. Vaishno Devi is one of the foremost pilgrimage destinations in India, hence one can have all sorts of facilities such as ATMs, Internet, Railway Reservation etc. One can also avail Helicopter, Doli, Horses for trekking.

History of the Shrine: Like with most old Shrines, it is not possible to ascertain when exactly the pilgrimage to the Holy Shrine started. A geological study of the Holy Cave has indicated its age to be nearly a million years. Vedic literature gives no reference to the worship of any female deity, although the mountain Trikuta does find its mention in Rigveda, the oldest of the four Vedas The practice of worshipping Shakti, largely started in the Puranic period.
The first mention of the Mother Goddess is in the epic Mahabharat. When the armies of Pandavs and Kaurvas were arrayed in the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Arjun, the chief warrior of Pandavs upon advice of Sri Krishna; meditated upon the Mother Goddess and sought Her blessings for victory. This is when Arjun addresses the Mother Goddess as ‘Jambookatak Chityaishu Nityam Sannihitalaye’, which means ‘you who always dwell in the temple on the slope of the mountain in Jamboo’ (probably referring to the present day Jammu).
It is also generally believed that the Pandavs were the first to build the temples at Kol Kandoli and Bhawan in reverence and gratitude for the Mother Goddess. On a mountain, just adjacent to the Trikuta Mountain and overlooking the Holy Cave are five stone structures, which are believed to be the rock symbols of the five Pandavs.
Perhaps the oldest reference of the visit of a historical figure to the Holy Cave is that of Guru Gobind Singh who is said to have gone there via Purmandal. The old foot track to the Holy Cave passed through this well-known pilgrimage centre.
Some traditions believe this Shrine to be the holiest of all Shaktipeeths (a place where the Mother Goddess, the Eternal Energy has Her abode) since the skull of Mata Sati fell here. Others believe that her right arm had fallen here. But some scriptures do not agree with it. They do agree that at a place called Gandarbal in Kashmir, the right arm of Sati had fallen. Nevertheless, in the Holy Cave of Shri Mata Vaishno Deviji, one does find stone remains of a human hand, popularly known as Varad Hast (the hand that grants boons and blessings).

Altitude and distance from Katra of various important places during the trek:

1)Ban Ganga(2800 ft) 1 km.

2)Charan Paduka (3380 ft) 2.5 km

3)Adhkuwari (4800 ft) 6 km

4)Himkoti (5120 ft) 8.5 km

5)Sanjichatt(6200 ft) 9.5 kms

6)Bhawan (5200 ft) 13 kms

7)Bhairav (6619 ft) 14.5 kms

During winter the temperature ranges from 15 degrees to -3 degrees and upper part of the route is snow clad.
It is advisable to carry less luggage while trekking, one needs a rain coat and a wind cheater. Generally we don’t have problem with the cold weather because the heat produced by our body is so much that we start sweating profusely. But as we gain altitude its very cool the moment we stop at some place for some time to take rest. Its advisable to have a pair of gloves and woolen clothing. We need not worry about carrying these essentials if we engage a pitthoo (porter), he would carry our things and will be with us through out the journey, giving us valuable information. They would charge very less (I paid Rs.300 during my first visit this was my second visit to Vaishno Devi), we would have their identity card with us, so we need not worry about these people cheating us.

Coming back to our journey we started trekking at 11 pm, first check point was a BanGanga. Here devotees take a bath and start trekking. One can hire Horses here. The route was immensely beautiful with various stall on both sided of the road, one can buy puja items, photos, cassettes, c.ds, get whole body massage, find dhabas for food as well as fruit juices on either side of the road.
We could see several groups of devotees during our journey, some were singing melodious bhajans with dholaks while some were continuously chanting JAI MAATA DI, the atmosphere was reverbrating with holy chants and was electrifying, this instills confidence and spirit in the others too and they forget the pain of trekking and joyfully participate in it. Our confidence doubles, when we see small children, barely 3 years old trekking. We were awestruck to see couples undertaking this trek with new born babies in their hands.

We were slowly but surely gaining altitude and within 1 hour we were surprised to see that we ascended such a height that we could see the whole of Katra.
Through out the journey we can get cool drinks, tea/coffee. Our faith in Mata was the source of our strength, though it is a very tiresome trek continuous chant of, JAI MATA DI and company of friends ultimately takes us to our destination. During this journey we come to know that we have a huge reservoir of energy if we challenge ourselves beyond a threshold. We can tap into this energy only after stretching us to a point beyond which we feel its impossible to put one more step. Our faith on the lord and our anxiety to have a darshan make it possible to reach our destination. This is true both physically as well as spiritually. The realization that we came alone in this world, we meet many people, we select a company of friends and well wishers, but still its our journey and we have to perform it our ownselves and ultimately we go out of this world alone. In the meantime we may have many people encouraging us as well as discouraging us and tempting us, but if we are sure of our goal in life, we overcome all the challenges and reach our destination with the knowledge that its only the God who is our source of energy, our friend and our guru who is with us constantly. It is said, ‘Faith has the power to move mountains’, we humans can easily trek with this faith in our heart. After a certain time and distance the mind and body gets disconnected, legs walk on their own our mind functions on its own. After some more time even mind stops chattering and we start enjoying our own company and bliss comes down and fills our entire being. This is a very beautiful experience. The time just flew away with our discussions on various topics and we finally reached the Shrine after 4 hours of trekking at 3 am.

Our excitement was increasing as 3 of my friends were here for the first time. We were rejoicing on successful completion of the trek and went into the Darshan Queue after buying puja material and Prasad. As I knew beforehand that we were not allowed, Cameras, mobiles, pens, leather items, medicines, comb in this queue I asked my friends to leave all these at a cloak room.
We have to walk a long distance in the queue too, though each and every part of our body was demanding rest (it was 3 am in the morning) our spirit was taking us forward and doesn’t let us rest before the Darshan. We could see the old route into the cave, where people had to crawl to get into the main cave. Now we have a new route, were one can just walk into the main cave. Just before the cave there is a marble idol of the Mother Goddess. Inside the cave the path is well illuminated. Atlast we had the darshan of the Goddess in the form of 3 stones (pindis). These pindis were decorated with red cloth with beautiful embroidery and with Crowns. We prayed for ourselves as well all our family and friends, touched the place with our forehead and thanked Devi for giving us an opportunity to have a darshan. The speciality of this place is that we can have a darshan of trinity of Goddesses i.e Maha Kali, Maha Laxmi and Maha Saraswathi all at one place and hence this place is considered most powerful among 18 sakthipeethas. We had a view of the water fall in the cave and drank some water from it as its considered that this water washes the feet of the Goddess.

Its considered that this entire creation comes from the womb of this mother, who is the power of Eswara. One can have the glimpse of Eswara only when the Mother withdraws her Powerful Maya. Hence we prayed the Mother to lead us on the right path, to lead us from darkness to light and bestow on us a glimpse of Eswara.

We were recharged on having hot halwa as Prasad of the Mother. We requested for some more and were granted more Prasad, which was very delicious. The moment we came out of the shrine we were caught by hunger and body pains and hence went to a restaurant and had some idlie and wadas. As fatigue was overcoming us and we were feeling sleepy we decided to resume our journey down hill as we didn’t want to succumb to these feelings before reaching our room at Katra. 2 of my friends had knee pains and hence decided to go by horse, rest of us started walking. This time after adhkuwari we took the route of steps to climb down at a faster rate. With single minded concentration we climbed down the steps and reached our room in just 2 hours, where we took rest for 3 hours and then took a bus to reach Jammu by 2 pm.

This brings us to an end of a very memorable trip of Amarnath and Vaishno Devi.
I promise to post you details of my other trips undertaken in the recent years and thank you for your company during trip.

With Love
A.Gopi Kishan

My trip to Srinagar

Dear friends I am back as promised to take you on an exciting journey of the famous Dal lake in Srinagar.
We started from Baltal after successful completion of our Amarnath Yatra to our next destination Srinagar. It a very beautiful City situated on besides river Jhelum. Srinagar is the capital city of the state of Jammu and kashmir. Its about 250 kms from Baltal. We stopped at the beautiful Nishat Gardens to freshen up and then left for the famous Dal Lake. Here we were amazed to see a number of house boats in the lake. It appeared as a different town altogether. I couldnt believe my eyes to see so many floating house boats. We had a choice as the people took us by a small boat to reach the actual house boat. We could select a house boat of our choice, it had a la star hotel facilities. Luckily it was offseason hence we got house boat at a reasonable rate. We were awestruck to see the posh interiors of the house boat. Especially after an ardous trip to Amarnath we were enjoying the luxury at a house boat. I would personally recommend young couple to have this experience atleast once in a life time. In the evening one boatman came and agreed to take us on a tour of Dal Lake, he took us to various spots in the lake, the best ones being the garden in the middle of the lake, floating handicrafts shops and industry, floating vegetables garden, Lotus and water Lillies pond etc.It was amazing to see various vendors coming on small boats and offering a variety of goods and eatables to us. We then went to main market in Srinagar and bought some gifts for our kith and kin back home.
Next morning we got up early and decided to have a darshan of Adishankara temple situated on a hill top in Srinagar. We took autorickshaws to take us there. The cold breeze and mist was already weaving a spell of magic in the route. It is said that the great guru and exponent of Advaita Vedanta Sri.AdiShankara came to this place and defeated many scholars in a debate and proved the supremacy of our Vedas and Upanishads. He is credited with being the first scholar to enter this seat of Wisdom from the southern gate. Goddess Saraswathi is said to have presided over this debate among the scholars. The temple has exotic archetecture and a huge ShivLinga is places in the main temple. There is a small room, place where AdiShankara meditated. We had an ariel view of the city of Srinagar. This hill had a wide variety of trees. After spiritually recharging ourselves we came back to our House boat . We decided to bid farewell to this dreamland and hired a vehicle to take us to Ma Vaishno Devi.
I shall be back with details of that trip soon. thanks for being with me. Awaiting your response.
A.Gopi Kishan



Our Team at House Boat.







Taking a tour of Dal Lake.






A Park in the midst of Dal Lake.












An enchanting view from our boat.
















A Colony of House boats.














Lotus pond in the Dal Lake.
















Nothing better than having a cup of coffee in the morning.
















Inner view of our house boat.











Bye bye srinagar.

Amarnath Yatra

Jai Amarnathji (View of Shivling 2008)

Our group of friends

Gopi,Madhu,Rajesh,Govind and Ramki (left to right)

I wish to share my experience with the readers. The plan to undertake the Amarnath Yatra popped up suddenly when 3 of my close friends Mr.S.Madhusudhanarao, Mr.G.S.Ramakrishna and Mr.D.Govindarajulu and me had a family get together. The moment this suggestion came up, there was no looking back and all of us very enthusiastic. Sri G.S.Ramakrishna registered all our names for yatra the very next day. One can register online through the J&K Bank and can get online register slips. Another friend Sri M.Rajesh Kumar, who works with Punjab National Bank also joined us. He had already been to Amarnath thrice. His presence gave us tremendous confidence. The railway reservations were made immediately and everything fell in place as if it were a divine plan. When I go down the memory lane I still feel as if I have woken up from a dream. The Sankalpa had full blessings of the Almighty.

At last the scheduled date of our journey i.e., 06-07-08 arrived and we had made all the necessary preparations to undertake this long journey. We bought warm clothes and had first aid kit ready with us along with cold cream etc.,

D/06-07-08 (Sunday)
We started from Simhachalam railway station at 6.30 am by Samata Express bound to Delhi. I wish to express my gratitude to Sri P.Padmakara Rao, friend of Ramakrishna who brought us our breakfast at Vizianagaram and Sri BVR Sanyasi Raju, a friend of mine, who brought us dinner at Mahasamund. Our journey to Delhi was joyful and we got along well as a team. We reached H.Nizamuddin railway station on 07-07-08 at 6pm where we boarded another train, which took us to New Delhi railway station.

D/07-07-08 (Monday)
We boarded Sampark Kranthi Express at 8.30 pm which took us to Jammu on 08-07-08 at 6 am.

D/08-07-08 (Tuesday)
On enquring at Jammu we came to know that this year the yatra convoy started from Bhagavathi Nagar. Jammu city was under curfew for the past 8 days. But we had no difficulty, as yatris were allowed free movement. On reaching Bhagavathi Nagar, we had to wait at a Shiva temple for a few hours as the gates of base camp opened at 2.30 pm. We thank God for providing us with shelter as well as free food. Once got into the base camp we came to know that we could that A.C. accommodation by paying Rs.600/- extra, as it was very hot in Jammu, we immediately agreed. The Authorities took us to J&K Tourism Centre from our camp by a military truck. This J&K Tourism Centre happens to be very close to the famous Raghunath Temple. After freshening up we went to see Shri Raghunath Temple situated in the heart of Jammu. This temple is heavily guarded by CRPF. The main deity Sri Raghunath with Sita mata and Lakshmanji is situated in the center and is surrounded by two level compounds which housed various Gods & Goddesses connected with the epic Ramayana, Dasavatarams, Vaishnodevi, near 1 crore Sivalingas etc.,. The inner walls of the main temple are covered with Gold sheets on three sides. At the temple we can have a glimpse of the magnificent 6 feet Shivaling made of transparent pure crystal. The site of Shivling was awesome. One can view through Shivling. This temple has cloakroom facility and visitors are not allowed to take mobiles, cameras etc., inside, one can deposit one’s possessions in the locker of the cloakroom. We came out of the temple spiritually recharged and heavenly bliss. We wanted to look at the shops near the temple, as we needed to buy our trekking shoes. These shoes cost us Rs.140/- each, but were very useful in the days to come. We were moved on hearing the plight of shopkeepers, who was suffering loses due to imposition of the curfew. They treated us royally and were very helpful. We had very good food at night slept well.

D/09-07-08 (Wednesday)
We woke up early in the morning and got ready by 3.30am to reach our base camp by 4.30am. Here, our convoy started at 5 am. Our first destination was to reach Pahalgam base camp by the evening. Enroute Pahalgam, we went through an enchanting journey via Tawi River, Udhampur, Kud (famous for variety of sweets), Patnitop (famous for skiing in winter), Chenab river (which goes to Pakistan), Baglihar Dam, Jawahar Tunnel (2.75kms long, which connects Jammu with Kashmir valley), which was fully guarded by CRPF. We stopped at Bhandaras enroute for breakfast and lunch. One must appreciate the selfless service being done at these bhandaras, which are put up people by various parts of the country. These people serve food with love and lots encouragement to the yatris.
Once we passed through the Jawahar Tunnel, we had the first glimpse of the magnificent Kashmir valley. The picturesque locations are just mind-blowing and we quickly realized why Kashmir is the crown of mother India. The huge mountains, coniferous trees, the meadows, the rivulets, the greenery, the agricultural fields and glaciers, we were spellbound at this visual treat. All of us were clicking our cameras like mad and wishing to capture the nature at its very best. Alas, cameras being cameras, we could not capture the expansion of our consciousness and the spirit of the nature as it was on a huge canvass. One has to go there to get ones fill of the bounties of mother earth. If the creation is so immensely beautiful and indescribable then how can we describe the beauty and the projection of the creator? We can just drown ourselves in his bliss and be happy that he gave us the opportunity and strength to view his magnificent creation.

(Photo: View of Pahalgam with Lidder River)

With all these joy in our bosom we reached Pahalgam. Yet another beautiful place situated on the banks of river Lidder and surrounded by mighty mountains. This was our first base camp from where yatris start yatra to Amarnath Cave. At Pahalgam we booked our tent for Rs.150/- and were provided with an electric lamp, blankets and razois etc.,. We also had hot water and toilet facilities at this base camp, which housed around 1000 tents. This was my first time in my life that I slept in a tent. It was thrilling and I just could not sleep. We had a very huge bhandara here and could get a wide variety of eatables. We met a person from Vijayawada at Bhandara and he fed us with idly, vada, dosa etc., milk with badam and kesar as well as different varieties of sweets were available for free to the yatris. All the people had just one name on their lips “JAI BHOLE”.

(Our tent at pahalgam)

(we start trekking)

(Photo: View of scenic valley at Pahalgam)

D/10-07-08 (Thursday)
Chanting the name of the Lord Shiva we started at 7 am from Pahalgam to Chandanwari (16kms away-9500ft above sea level.). We boarded a tata sumo and engaged 4 pittoos to carry our luggage. Enroute we had a feeling that we were watching a yashraj film as Pahalgam look like Switzerland in India. The Lidder River flows through the lush green valley with glaciers around and beautiful pine & deodar trees, overcoming all the obstacles teaching us the power of continuous effort and resilience in the face of hurdles to reach our goal. At 9 am our trekking started from Chandanwari-a place where Lord Shiva is said to have left the Chandan (Sandalwood paste) enroute Amarnath Cave where he narrated the secret and sacred story of being immortal to Goddess Parvathi.

(Photo: We start trekking at Chandanwadi)

Our first challenge was to climb up to Pissu Top (11,500ft above sea level), which is a 3km steep trek along the hill. It is said that to be first to reach for darshan of Lord Shiva, there was a war between devatas and rakshasas, Devatas could kill the rakshas in such large number that the heap of their dead bodies has resulted in this high mountain. This symbolically represents our challenge to cast away our evil tendencies, thoughts and vasanas as a prerequisite to our spiritual journey. Pissu Top is a steep hill with narrow and slippery path. We reached there by 11 am. There was a huge bhandara with a varieties of sweets, jeera rice, chats, noodles etc. Cool drinks as well as juices were distributed for free. There was an orchestra and bhangada dance were organized. Dancing there rejuvenated our spirits. After freshening up we started for our next destination Seshnag Lake.



(Photo: Water gushing through glaciers)

(Photo: Water flowing out of Seshnag Lake)

This route again was filled with nature’s beauty. The huge mountains shining in gold colour resembled the hoods of the legendary snake Seshnag. Crossing the waterfalls, glaciers, valleys we reached to a point where we had our first view of Lake Seshnag. We were enthralled to see the calm lake with pure water from glaciers. The lake was greenish blue in colour and stood between three mighty glaciers. The snow capped mountains, clouds and the water this combination left us spell bound. The stillness of the lake had a soothing effect on our minds. This took us to a contemplative state. In order to achieve any spiritual accomplishment having left our evil vasanas, we need an undisturbed and tranquil mind to contemplate on the highest truth. Only a still mind can get absorbed into the consciousness and take us to our Sahaja state (samadhi).

(Photos: View of snow capped mountains from our tents at Seshnag)




Seshnag-a mountain which derives its name from its seven peaks, resembling the heads of the mythical snake.
We reached the camp at Seshnag (12,200ft above sea level) by 5 pm. After settling ourselves in a tent we made telephone calls to our kith & kin via a satellite phone provided by CRPF. The weather there was very cold as we were close to glaciers. We had a magnificent view of snow capped mountains even at 7 pm, as the sun was setting and rays were falling on the mountain tops. Fully exhausted we slept early to rise at 5 am the next day.

D/11-07-08 (Friday) After taking breakfast & tea at a bhandara we started our trekking at 7 am from Seshnag to Panchatarani (12kms). The route was full of magnificent valleys and snow capped mountains. Enroute we reached Mahagunas Top (Ganesh Top) which was 14,800ft above the sea level, as the weather was good we didn’t have any problem with oxygen etc.,. This was the highest peak for entire yatra. We were very proud to see a CRPF camp at that altitude. A special mention of our gratitude towards CRPF would not be out of place as the personnel were posted at these high altitudes where temperature at time reaches below –5 degrees. Our CRPF Jawans were specifically posted to ensure the safety of yatris throughout the route of 36 kms. One gets immense sense of security and confidence upon seeing these people at these unknown and lonely places.


(Photo: Between Mahagunas and Panchtarni)

At Mahagunas, it is said that the Lord Shiva left Sri Ganesh while taking Parvathi to Amarnath Cave. This journey symbolically represents our struggle to transcend the three- Sattva, Rajas & Tamo gunas in our spiritual journey to experience self realization as Atma or Brahman is beyond three gunas, kala, and avasthas.
From Ganesh Top we descended to a place known as Poshpatri where we refreshed ourselves at a bhandara. From Poshpatri we started for Panchatarani (12,000ft above sea level). This is a place where 5 rivers meet and its just 6 kms away from the Holy Cave. We reached Panchatarani at 12 noon. Panchatarani is a picturesque place which gives us a glimpse of all in one package deal. We can view glaciers, rivers, meadows and valleys all at one place. Here we had to face cold winds hence cold creams or Vaseline are very useful for protection of skin. Glucose & dry fruits were very useful here because at times one gets the feeling of nausea, fever and headache etc., but by divine grace none of us as well as most of the yatris had any health related problems.

As this place is very near to the Holy Cave, we decided to continue our journey. We started from Panchatarani at 12.30 pm, it was raining and the route was very narrow and slippery. At times the road was just 2 feet wide and we had to trek very carefully.

(Photo: We trek on glaciers, View of Amarnath valley and tent accomodation)

One has to climb to higher altitude through the valley before the steep descent starts and then as we approach the Holy Cave we had to walk on glaciers. Walking on snow was very thrilling and exciting. We reached the Holy Place (13,500fr above the sea level) at 2.30 pm and hired a tent which was one km away from the cave. It was cozy and we could get hot water. The first thing that surprised us was the helicopter facility. For every 10 mins there was a chopper carrying yatris from Baltal. We took bath and wore new cloths. We decided to have a darshan of Lord Amarnath. This year the authorities decided against allowing mobile, cameras inside the cave, hence we had to deposit these at a shop.

(Photo: View of holy cave)

One has to climb around 380 steps to enter the Holy Cave. The cave is a huge one and we were lucky enough to have a glimpse of the legendary white pigeons. The atmosphere around the cave was very cool and our hearts were thumping with excitement, thrill and divine fervor as we approached a Shivling with the chant of OM NAMAH SHIVAYAH and JAI BHOLE NATH. The ice lingam was 3ft high and was conical in shape. This lingam was 15ft high at the start of yatra but due to more than 2 lakh devotees visiting Amarnath the lingam gradually melted. We prayed to lord Shiva and thanked him for taking care of us during the entire trip and showing his form at Amarnath. We were equally blessed to have a glimpse of Mother Parvathi in the form of another ice lingam in the cave. There was another lingam which represented Lord Ganesh. The site of our heavenly Father & Mother (Shiva & Parvathi) transported us into yet another world of supreme bliss. We started singing whatever hymns we knew and requested for an opportunity of Punar Darshan. The prasad distributed there recharged our body, mind and soul. We forgot all the pains we went through during the arduous trek and we were joyful in the holy presence. As the number of yatris was less we had a second darshan immediately. Here something glorious happened, it started raining and there was sunshine in the opposite direction, we could see a beautiful rainbow which extended from the holy cave to the glacier opposite it. Our heart danced with joy the rainbow reminded us of transcending the Shat Chakras and union with Lord Shiva. Fully satisfied and recharged we descended from the cave to our tent, where we slept peacefully during the night after having our free dinner at a Bhandara.

D/12-07-08 (Saturday)
As the weather conditions are highly unpredictable at Amarnath, we decided to start for the base camp at Baltal. We started at 7 am and hired horses to take us to Baltal. This is 16 kms journey and in a different route. The route to Baltal is full of steep rises and falls. The road is slippery and very narrow. At some places we had to climb down from our horses and walk as it was dangerous. But, even this route is fully protected by CRPF. 3 kms away from the holy cave is a place called Sangam where 3 rivers meet. Some yatris take bath at this place and proceed for darshan. We could only get an arial view of Sangam as we were trekking atop a huge mountain. Here again we had an indescribable joy as we were passing through clouds. We were passing through two huge mountains and river was gushing through the valley and glaciers. Even this place was like paradise on earth. Finally, after 3 hours of trekking, we reached the base camp of Baltal at 10.30 am.
In a nutshell, this Amarnath Yatra represents both physical and symbolic journey-Physical in the sense, we had the darshan of Lord Amarnath and symbolic in the sense, in our quest of immortality (amaratva) and finding our true self we have to transcend all physical, emotional, mental stresses and strains. Facing all these challenges enroute with a firm resolve and single pointed orientation towards the goal of self realization. There would be temporary failures and distractions, but our resolve should be such that we overcome all these with and every increasing enthusiasm and spirit with a smile on lips and chant of Lord’s name to have a glimpse of the lord within us, our immortal self. Jai Amarnath!!
Baltal is the place, from where there is helicopter facility to the cave and all transport facilities to Srinagar (100kms). There is a huge base camp at Baltal and some yatris prefer this route to the holy cave as one can have the Darshan of the Cave and return back to Baltal on the same day. We hired a tata sumo to Srinagar. Enroute, we stopped briefly at Sonamarg, which is enchanting and mind blowing place. It is situated on the banks of River Indus and is on Srinagar-Leh-Kargil highway. It has a military camp. The route taking us to Srinagar abounds with bounties of nature and River Indus (Which flows to Pakistan and famous for Indus Valley Civilisation) followed us. We reached Srinagar the capital of Jammu and Kashmir, situated on Jhelum river, at 2 pm.

Having shared with you my Amarnath Yatra experience I shall get back to you about Srinagar and Vaisno Devi Yatra in the second part.

Yours truly,
A.Gopi Kishan