A Pilgrimage to Vaishno Devi in J&K, India

The 'Vaisno Devi shrine' is a religious destination for many devotees in the North of India. Thousands and thousands of devotees visit the Shrine of the 'Vaisno Devi' to pay their obeisance to the Goddess. People go there to pray to Goddess Vaisno Devi and many go there once their wishes are fulfilled.

This summer, we also decided to visit Vaisno Devi. We started our journey to Vaishno Devi on 3rd June night, by train. We boarded an overnight train from New Delhi to Jammu. The Jammu city is just 500 Kms away from the New Delhi city. While on our way to railway station, we got struck in the heavy traffic jam. Somehow, we could reach the railway station, prior to 15 minutes of the scheduled departure of the train. The train departs at 8.45 p.m., however, we could reach around 8.30 p.m. on the platform. We were tense when we reached at the station. We boarded Air conditioned three tier compartment and had our dinner in the train, which was home cooked. Besides our family, one more family was travelling along with us. After having finished our dinner, we went to sleep on our respective berths.

We had a sound sleep, except for the fact that kids kept disturbing us off and on, even during night. We reached at Jammu railway station at 7.00 a.m. in the morning. From there, we proceeded to a place and base camp called 'Katra'. We reached at 'Katra' town at around 10.00 a.m. We had already booked our guest house. We refreshed ourselves and had our breakfast over there in the guest house. After 2-3 hours, around 1300 hours, we started our journey on the hilly terrain by foot to Vaishno Devi Shrine. We kept walking at a slow but steady pace, as it was an uphill journey. From Katra base camp, one is required to cover a distance 14 Kms upward zig-zag journey on hills. We reached at the mid way mark called 'Ardh Kunwari' at around 1730 hours. We had our lunch and snacks over there in a restaurant run by the Shrine Board. Till 'Ardh Kunwari', lots of kiosks and shops are on the way, so one can have soft drinks and lemon juice etc. After Ardh Kunwari, the roads are not so zig-zag. We noticed that many devotees, who were unable to walk a long journey were going on horses. We decided to complete our journey by foot only. We kept taking rest in between our long and tiring journey. The weather was very hot and we were sweating, while walking. By evening, it became a little bit cooler. After 6.00 p.m. in the evening, we were feeling very tired, but we had no other option, we had to complete our journey, there was no choice to leave the journey mid way.

We reached at the Vaishno Devi Shrine around 8.30 p.m. We had already booked a guest house of Shrine Board over there. We went to the guest house. We took some rest. Thereafter, we took hot water bath to re-charge and refresh ourselves. One is required to wear brand new clothes, while going to the Sanctum sanctorum. We also did like-wise, we were carrying new pair of under-garments and clothes with us. We put on our new clothes, before proceeding for paying our obeisance at the 'Vaisno Devi'. There was a long queue of devotees, who were waiting for their turn. They were chanting 'Jai Mata Di' which means Goddess is great. We also joined the long queue. It took us about an hour to reach our final destination. There are three stone structures of different Goddess, which people view and bow their heads in front of them.

Due to heavy rush, devotees are not allowed to stand at the sanctum sanctorum for a longer duration. The sanctum sanctorum is in a natural cave and water keeps dripping from the roof of the cave. One feels a sense of peace and calm while standing inside the sanctum sanctorum. Priests over there do not allow you to stay for more than 20-30 seconds for paying obeisance to the Goddess. Thereafter, you are asked to move ahead, so that others could reach that point. After paying our obeisance, we came out. We collected a coconut as a gift from the Goddess and we returned to our guest house for rest. After taking rest, next day we started our downward journey to 'Katra' from the Vaishno Devi Shrine. We reached Katra at around 1.00 p.m. We were dead tired, so we rested over there the entire day. The next day we proceeded from Katra to Jammu and from Jammu we took an overnight train and returned to New Delhi.

It was a great journey to a religious place, which provided us a change from our daily routine and an amount of satisfaction having paid our obeisance to the Great Goddess.