Visit to Holy and Rare Rishikesh in India

Rishikesh is an ancient and famous spot of pilgrimage for the Hindus in the State of Uttaranchal in India. Most of the Hindus make sure to visit this holy place at least once in their life time. I have visited this holy place four times and have enjoyed it all the times. Rishikesh is full of holy temples and is the starting point of the famous four dhams pilgrimage of Hindus.

Rishikesh is only around 12 miles away from the city of Haridwar. The rickshaws and the hired cars and the taxis are easily available from Haridwar and hardly take around half an hour to reach Rishikesh. Rishikesh can be entered through the famous bridge of Laxman Jhoolla. It is said that Laxmanji, younger brother of Lord Ram, had performed long tap here to get himself free of the major sin committed by him due to killing of Indrajit, son of King Ravan, who was a Brahmin. That is why the bridge of Rishikesh is named as Laxman Jhoola. This bridge was made of wood originally and was converted in to steel structures in the year 1889. There are many places to visit at Rishikesh like Swargaashram, Gita mandir, Parmarth Ashram, Ved Niketan, and the ashram of famous yoga guru Shri Mahesh Yogi. We started with the visit of Swargaashram. This ashram was established by the famous Kali Kamli wale Baba to provide the facilities to the pilgrims. It is situated just at the bank of holy River Ganga. It also provides nice, clean double rooms for stay to all the pilgrims at very nominal rates of around Rs.50 ($1) per day. The standard vegetarian food is also served free of cost to all the pilgrims here at the ashram. We have stayed at this ashram for seven days during one of our visits to Rishikesh. The nature lovers and the people who like to get involved in the activities like Dhyana, meditation, and the Samadhi would certainly love to stay here for few days. Gita Bhavan is the next spot to be visited at Rishikesh. This is the place where thousands of holy and religious books are published. The regular lectures on Gita, Veda, and the Hindu religion are also held here on regular basis.

The famous Shivaananda ashram is the next place to visit. The two Rivers Chandrabhaga and Ganga meet here at this point. The pilgrims take a holy bath here to wash their sins of the entire life. The famous Raghunathji temple and the Rishikund are also worth seen places at this ashram. The ancient Bharat temple comes in the way to the ghat, which is situated inside the stone fort. This fort is around 40 feet high and covers the temple from all the directions. The famous temple of Lord Pitambeshwar Mahadev is the next spot that attracts thousands of pilgrims. The Lord Shiva Lingam here is decorated with yellow golden color pitambar. There are thousands and thousands of temples at Rishikesh and visiting all of them is certainly out of question. Hence, it would be better to visit these few most vital temples only as the time would be limiting.

There are many dharmashalas available almost in each and every ashram. Such establishments provide the nice and clean double rooms at very reasonable rates of around Rs.50 ($1) per day. The meals are provided free of cost to all the pilgrims at all these ashrams. The nonvegetarian food items and the alcoholic drinks are not allowed inside the city limit of Rishikesh. It is advisable to visit Rishikesh during the winter months from November to March. If you would like to stay at any dharmashalas at Rishikesh, you will need to book it well in advance by writing a letter to their management. The stay of around three days can be sufficient for the tourists at Rishikesh to enjoy all such spots at Rishikesh.

I would recommend all my AC friends and relatives to visit Rishikesh during their next visit to India and would also suggest staying at Swargaashram for few days to enjoy the real spiritual and divine life at the bank of holy River Ganga.