Patal Bhuvaneshwar

Patal Bhuvaneshwar is a temple unique in its own glory! I haven't visited the temple, only watched about it in the Programme- 'Devbhumi Kumaon' on Doordarshan.

It is situated in Pitthoragarh district of Uttarakhand. The uniqueness lies in the fact that the temple is actually a cave, around 90 feet below the ground level, that is, we have to go down through many stairs to reach the mandir. And also, the road downwards has many ups and downs, that is, the temple has many floors. That is the reason it is called Patal Bhuvaneshwar. The narrow tunnel has forms of almost all Gods and Goddesses known to us. It is said to be the the abode of 33 koti Gods and Godesses.

It is situated in the meeting place of the three rivers-  Ramganga, Sarayu and Gupt Ganga.

There is a story about Patal Bhuvaneshwar in Skanda Puran. This puran  also refers to this place a sacred one, a must visit for the devotees.

The Govt website on Uttarakhand Tourism has a detailed description of the cave here:-
Visit to Patal Bhuvaneshwar


Do try to visit this unique abode of the divine :)

Om Namah Shivaya!

Bharatshree Peetham- Sarveshwar Mandir

Bharatshree Peetham- Sarveshwar Mandir is situated in Vasant Kunj, Delhi. In last few years I went there many times. Today I am sharing some photo of the temple.

This mandir has idols of the Adhrdhnaarishwar roop of Mahadev, Radha Krishna, Vishnu Lashmi, Narsimha Lakshmi, Shri Ram Darbaar, Ma Aadi Shakti, Ganeshji,

It also has the photographs of Balaj and Adi Shankaracharya,

Whenever I used to go to Vasant Kunj for some work, I visited the temple. I enjoyed the quiet ambience of the temple. It is made of white marble.


There are also photos of the Nine forms of Ma Aadi Shakti, as well as of Dasha Mahavidya in the walls of the main mandir.

Do visit the temple if you go to Vasant Kunj sometime :).

Jai Shri Krishna.

Visit to Sai Mandir, B T Road

Some years back we went to Sai Mandir situated on B T Road, Sodepur. Today I am sharing the pictures of the temple.

It is a nice and quiet place. This is the main gate on B T Road.

From here the temple can be seen. Sai Baba's advice- Shraddha and Saburi are written on the entrance of the main building.

Inside there is the idol of Sai Baba. When we went there the morning aarati was over.

The temple has beautiful decoration with colourful artificial flowers, which look like real :)

The garden is maintained properly.

Just outside the temple there is this 75 ft tall GTS minar. A note from the PWD tells us that it was made on 1831, for the purpose of some geographical calculations by Trigonometry under the leadership of Gen. George Everest.

We had a nice morning trip :)

Yamunotri

Travel XP channel has a series named Divine Destinations. Last week they took us to Yamunotri which is the origin of Yamuna river.

The actual Yamunitri glacier is a bit higher, very few people are able to visit it. So mostly people offer their prayers to Yamunotri temple which is situated at the foot of the hill.

They started their journey from Hanunaan Chati. Bhairon Nath mandir is situated in the route to main mandir which is also considered auspicious to visit before visiting the main temple. There is a Surya Kund which is a hot spring. It is auspicious to visit the kund along with Yamunotri temple. Devotees make prasaad in the kund by boiling rice and potato in the hot water. Then the anchor took us to Yamunotri mandir :)

The programme also covered the legends of Asit Muni, of Yam- Yami (Yamuna), Suryadev- Sandhya and Chhaya and some more stories like it is said that Lord Shiva bathed in Yamuna during his sad phase after Sati's death.

Yamuna is very important river in Krishna avataar's life as most of His leelas took place around this river. Some devotees consider Yamuna as more pious than Ganga because baby Krishna's feet touched the waters of Yamuna river when Vasudev was crossing the river to go to Nand's place to keep his son there for safety. Yamuna is also considered a wife of Krishna according to some legends. Kalindi is another name of Yamuna.

Beautiful picturesque nature spontaneously evokes devotion in our hearts. That is the reason why the temples in the higher mountains are frequented by earnest devotees :).

Jai Ma Yamunotri!

'Desert Diary' Series- Featuring Kiradu Temples of Barmer District

There is a series which is aired sometimes on DD Bharati with the name- 'Desert Diary'. It has a nice format, that is- a lady visits many places of  Rajasthan and writes about them in her diary. It is through her eyes that we see the state :)

I have watched only one episode of it and loved it. 

Today I am writing about the places covered in that episode.

It was based on the forts and temples of Barmer district. We were taken to very old Kiradu temples, which are in ruins now. It has temples of Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma and Ganesha. Scenes of Krishna leela and also various incidents from Shri Ram's life are depicted on the walls. Someshwara temple, which is of Lord Shiva, is the most famous of all these temples, it is the best preserved temple till now.

The episode also told us about the myth or history related to the place, how the villagers annoyed a sage and he cursed the village, as it seems, may be that is the reason why the place is less populated till now. 

I really liked the concept of the series, sharing the visits of the anchor through her diary :), so thought to write about it today :)


A coincidence :) - Recently an episode of 'Strictly Street'- a programne  on Travel XP, also featured Barmer and I enjoyed the episode as the host Rohan Patole went to the same places which were covered in Desert Diary :).

A visit to Chittaranjan Park, Delhi

A few months back, we went to Chittaranjan Park. I enjoyed the visit, as always :). We had a darshan of Ma Kali, Mahadev, and Radha Krishna idols at the three temples.

A handicrafts fair was also going on in the premises.

I was quite excited to notice that a garden and fountain in the temple premises were inaugurated by Mrs Anita Pfaff, daughter of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

We also visited Market I and bought some bengali articles. And yes, we bought some Bengali books and magazines :)

We took lunch in the canteen of the C R Park mandir. Food and ambiance - both are our favourite.

It was a nice day J

Jai Shri Krishna.

Visit to C. R. Park Kali Mandir

Dear Friends, We went to Chittaranjan Park Kalibari during Holi and enjoyed the trip a lot! It was a blissful one! I can't describe the feeling I went through while staying in the guest house of the mandir. It is a Kali Mandir, which also has a 'Shiv Ling' and a Radhe-Krishna Mandir in it. I have tried to include all the pictures in this post so that you can get an idea about the madir and the area around it. The first picture under this post is of the Temple itself, then we have the Shivlinga and the Idol of Kali Mata. The walls have so many sculptures on them. We have Shiv- Durga, Shri Chaitanya, 'the Swaragarohan of Yudhishthira'- to name few. I have included all thes pics here. And there was one photo where Shri Ramkrishna and Sadara Devi can be ssen sitting in front of the idol of Kali Mata - I loved the pic and clicked a photo of it. The last picture is of a magazine which I brought from C R Park having the cover story of Shri Chaitanya, as it has such a nice painting of Him, I decided to click that one too:). The highlight of the trip was a Satyanarayan Puja we attended at the evening before Holi. I was filled with Bliss while attending it. The picture is at the top of this post. Very nice ambience in the courtyard of the temple... We also attended the Evening Aarti of Kali Mandir, Shiv Mandir and the Radhe-Krishna Mandir- those moments were also very very Divine! A Blessed trip indeed!

Jai Shri Krishna!

Visiting the Hanumaanji Temple in Karol Bagh

Dear Friends, we went to the famous Hanumaanji temple near Karol Bagh recently. I really liked the temple. It has the world's highest statue of hanumaanji in it, which can be seen from the nearby locality as well as from the Metro route. The views is really amazing! The Statue has Shri Ram along with Sita Mata inside the chest of hanumaanji, which looks so Divine, as you can find out from the pictures in the internet!! The temple is a small one but it has 'puja sthal' for different gods as well. I Loved the ambience of the temple, it is very very simple, quite, without any frivolous activity. Though you can have the 'darshan' of the Hanumaanji idol from the outside only, inside there are some other deities as well- Shivji, Mata Vaishno Devi and Ganga Maiya.

Visiting the temple was really a Wonderful experience :) 

Do visit this serene temple sometime :)

 Jai Bajrangbali!