RISHIKESH

About 24 miles from Haridwar is Rishikesh.,which leads to Gangotri,Kedarnath, and Badrinath. Rishikesh is famous for BHARATJI'S temple.which is said to be established by Sri Shankaracharya. Rishikesh is full of sadhus.The forest university of Swami Shivanandaji and his divine life mission are quite famous.The modern town of Rishikesh has undergone lot's of changes. earlier we never used to see even bread[29 yrs ago]. Now u get everything under the sun.place to be seen  are Lakshman joola, over the river Ganga, Ramjoola, all these places are haunted by Monkeys, who are always on the move and make the place lively. watching them is great fun.  Swami Dayanand Ashram is roughly 3 kms from Ramjoola., near Andhra ashram. This Ashram is very neat and clean. The Ashram invariably has lot of camps from various Sadhus, who take classes of Vedanta . Also there are various camps for sanskrit studies, yoga etc which are usefull for mankind.The Ashram over looking the Himalayas are a beautiful site to be seen from ASHRAM benches. The GANGA flows with great force making gurgling noises' with lot's of big waves. The temple at the Ashram is Dakshinamoorthy, who reveals remaing silent teaching Brahmavidya to students who are intested to know Atman. There is serenity of peace and tranquility while you are at this temple.  It' to be noted that  i am visiting Rishikesh after a gap of 15 yrs. Ganga arthi at Paramarth sadan is vey beautiful sight, which nobody caan forget. Every day ther is Ganga arathi. Ganga IN uttaranchal ais worshipped as LIVING GODESS.

HARIDWAR OR HARADWAR-----

HARIDWAR OR HARADWAR[VAISHNAVITES CALL IT HARIDWAR' FOR SHAIVAITES IT'S HARDWAR] This sacred place is roughly 230 kms from Delhi-Dehradun  Road.It's better to go by RAJDHANI IF U ARE A BOMBAY MAN. DEHRADUN    express TAKES  2 days to reach Haridwar. From DELHI , better to catch interstate buses from Kashmiri-gate. autos charges 50 rupees. Buses charges only 160 rupees for Rishikesh. we were cheated by a private bus as we went opp to Newdelhi stn. THE bus journey was horrible He charged us 450 rupees  each, and it took 10 HRS . WE STARTED FROM DELHI AT 10 A.M AND REACHED RISHIKESH AT 7.30 p.m.    here i shall talk about Haradwar. It's said that Lord Shiva placed  the falling Ganges on his head at Gangadwara, so that people could be protected. This is the sacred river Ganga. PEOPLE approach her with a pure mind and pay respects to mother Ganges. THIS encient  CITY OF HARDWAR is situated on the bank of the Ganges at the foot of the SHIWALIK RANGES. The river Ganges moves for about 200 miles in the mountains and gushes out at this place into open plains.The famous legend of Bhagiradha is asociated with  Ganga..On account of KAPILA MUNI'S curse , the anccestors of Bhagiratha were burnt here. For their  salvation, he brought down Ganga. In order to lessen the force of the river, lord SHIVA held her in his matted hair..Thereafter she was lead by BHAGHIRATHA to liberate his ancestors.Ganga  asked Bhagiratha "please show me the way i shall flow now" It was BHAGIRATHA who laid down the for the river perhaps with his engineering skill and brought river Ganga to the place where she flows now. Haradwar is known as the place where sage Kapila lived who burnt THE SONS OF SAGARA.  who were in search of their sacrificial horse stolen by Indra AND TIED UP BY HIM AT  the hermitage of KAPILA.Taking sage Kapila to be thief , the sons of sagara prepared to attack him..kAPILA CAME TO KNOW OF THEIR RESOLVE AND BURNT THEM.Subsequently Bhagiratha brought down the Ganga and liberated them from their sins. The abode of sage KAPILA is still ponted out at a place called KAPILASTHANA.Near the harki pairi isthe gangadwara temple where it washes of the pada of VISHNU, THE IMPRINT OF LORD VISHNU  is shown on a stone wall.  Nearly 10 mts from HARI KI PAIRI  is the famous MANASA DEVI MANDIR. here   it's on a big mountain wherein ropeways are reaching the temple premises. there is also a walkway which is very hard and long tedious journey.     well I SHALL COV ER  RISHIKESH in my next blog.

REAL LOVE

GOPIS  SAID"SOME LOVE IN RETURN THOSE WHO LOVE THEM. WHILE OTHERS DO JUST REVERSE.[TO LOVE EVEN THOSE WHO DO NOT LOVE THEM].OTHERS DO NOT LOVE EITHER. TELL US LORD WHAT'S LOVE.KRISHNA REPLIED. THEY WHO LOVE ONE ANOTHER FOR MUTUAL BENEFIT RELLY LOVE THEIR OWN SELF AND NONE OTHER. THEIR ACTION IS SOLELY OF SELFISH INTEREST.NEITHER GOODWILL NOR VIRTUE PLAYS A PART THERE.THEY WHO ACTUALLY LOVE EVEN THOSE WHO DO NOT LOVE THEM ARECOMPASSIONATE AND LOVING LIKE ONE'S OWN PARENT.THERE IS A BLAMELESS VIRTUE  AS WELL AS GOODWILL OPERATING THERE.PLEASE UNDERSTAND THESE  MY DEAR GOPIS.SOME INDEED DO NOT LOVE EVEN THOSE WHO LOVE THEM.THEY ARE EITHER SAGES REVELLING IN THEIR OWN SELF[having no knowledge of external world.]OR THOSE  WHO HAVE REALIZED THEIR AMBITION[THREFORE FREE FROMALL CRAVING OF ENJOYMENTS THOUGH CONSCIOUS OF EXTERNAL OBJECTS] OR DULLHEADS[WHO ARE INCAPABLE OF APPRECIATION OF OODNESS DONE TO THEM] OR UNGREATFUL PEOPLE [WHO BEAR  ENEMITY TO THEIR OWN BENEFACTORS THAT ARE AS GOOD AS THEIR PARENTS. THOUGH CONSCIOUS OF THEIR SERVICES.] [RAS LEELA-32-BOOK TEN BHAVATHAM -VERSE 16,17, 18]