Mata Vaishno | A darshan

Jai Mata Di!

It started with a wishful thought : -

'I want a darshan of Ma Vaishno Devi'..
It feels like just that thought will suffice to eventually have darshan of mata rani!
A 7 boys club just made up their minds to go to Vaishno devi!..

We started off on a friday night, 5th day of December 2008, for Jammu from Delhi.
On the cab that we hired to reach the railway station, it was exhilarating to hear a bhakti song on Ma Vaishno on radio-out of nowhere!. It was gratifying.. Nothing could've made it more clear that it was Her calling that we were obeying.. "Chalo bulawa aaya hai..!!"... :D

We woke up to a cold saturday morning with the Uddhampur-Delhi express stopping at stops in Punjab.

Foggy stations..hot tea.. !.. We reached Jammu Tawi station at 12:30.


Katra is situated at the foot of the Trikoot - the mountain abode of Ma Vaishno. It is 45 kms from Jammu. Frequent buses & cabs to Katra are available right outside Jammu Tawi station.

We reached Katra in about 90 minutes. In Katra, we checked into a dormitory in one of the inns of 'Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board' - Niharika - and freshened up.

A 13 km climb up the Trikoot brings you to Bhavan - the holy cave of Mata Vaishno. We started to climb at 18:15.
At Bhavan, we took a super quick bath in the numbing cold waters of Baan ganga(at 22:45!) and proceeded for darshan!..

A golden lion, almost alive, greets you at the entrance..
Bells ringing.. 'Jai mata di' in the awareness.. suddenly, walking inside the tunnel, I have darshan of Mata Rani!.. My right hand covers my mouth out of reflex! I'm in utter awe!!.. With hands joined, I say 'Jai Mata Di!' and place my forehead on the marble!.. :)

As I walk out, I hear waters gushing beside the steps.. Outside the cave, a sense of relief floods my being.. It's stilling!..

I promptly take notice of 'Charnamrit', flowing out of 3 marble lion heads, to my left. I cup my palm and sip the waters 3 times and sprinkle some on my head and face!.. I feel good.. I feel loved & blessed! :).. I walk out happy and take prasad..
Within a while, I had darshan again ! The guy checking tickets had missed to keep ours, so we could chance another darshan!

After a visit to Bhairon ghati & Bhairon nath, darshan is said to be complete!

~ Jai Mata Di ~