Introduction
Diwali is short for Deepavalli (Deep meaning diya and valli meaning a garland). It is celebrated on the darkest night of the year where both the luminaries the sun and moon are not able to emit any energy. This is such a difficult time in terms of energies that our ancestors created a festival of lights to make sure we get some energy.
 
This ancient Hindu festival is celebrated in autumn (northern hemisphere) every year. The night of Deepavali coincides with the darkest, new moon night of the Hindu lunar month of Ashvin and the start of Kartika. In the Gregorian calendar, Deepavali falls between mid-October and mid-November.

The "victory of good over evil" refers to the light of higher knowledge dispelling all ignorance. Ignorance masks one's true nature, not as the body, but as the unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality. With this awakening comes compassion and the awareness of the oneness of all things, and knowledge overcomes ignorance. Diwali is the celebration of this inner light over spiritual darkness, knowledge over ignorance, right over wrong, good over evil.
 
It is a unique festival, our ancestors prescribed it in a fashion where it recreates and celebrates all the Tattvas to give special benefits to the practitioners especially bringing them closer to the attainment of the Goddess. Five elements earth, water, fire, air and ether (earth with all the foods and other purchases, water through the holy baths, fire through the diyas, air through the crackers and ether through the puja) & Five senses (eyes through the diyas, ears through the crackers and mantras, skin through the baths, nose through the scented oils and mouth through all the flavours and feasts) are visibly enthralled over the Five days of the Diwali puja that fulfils the aspirants material desires.
 
It is a five-day festival, starting with Dhanteras, followed by Naraka Chaturdasi on second day, Deepavali on the third day, Diwali Padva dedicated to wife–husband relationship on the fourth day and festivities end with Bhau-beej dedicated to sister–brother bond on the fifth day.

FIVE DAY DIWALI PUJA
Diwali is a 5 day festival and not a 1 or two day celebration. I have described each of these days in great detail below.
 
Day 1- DHANTERAS
Dhantrayodashi or Dhanwantari Triodasi falls 2 days before Diwali on the thirteenth lunar day of Krishna Paksha in the Hindu month of Kartik (October/November) and starts off the five day festival. Purchases of clothes, new utensil and new assets are considered especially auspicious on Dhanteras. In the olden days this practice was instituted so that all communities would have enough resources to celebrate Diwali.
 
A very interesting story about Dhanteras Festival says that once the sixteen year old son of King Hima, was doomed to die by a snake-bite on the fourth day of his marriage as per his horoscope. On that particular fourth day of his marriage his young wife did not allow him to sleep. She laid all the ornaments and lots of gold and silver coins in a big heap at the entrance of her husband's boudoir and lighted innumerable lamps all over the place. And she went on telling stories and singing songs.
 
When Yama, the god of Death arrived there in the guise of a Serpent his eyes got blinded by that dazzle of those brilliant lights and he could not enter the Prince's chamber. So he climbed on top of the heap of the ornaments and coins and sat there whole night listening to the melodious songs. In the morning he quietly went away. Thus the young wife saved her husband from the clutches of death. Since then this day of Dhanteras came to be known as the day of "Yamadeepdaan" and lamps are kept burning throughout the night in reverential adoration to Yam, the god of Death.
 
According to another popular legend, when the gods and demons churned the cosmic ocean of milk for Amrit or nectar, Maha Lakshmi and Dhanavantri (the physician of the gods and an incarnation of Vishnu) emerged carrying a jar of the elixir on the day of Dhanteras. Thus this day marks the birthday of Lakshmi, return of Lakshmi as Maha Lakshmi – the Goddess of Wealth and Prosperity, and the birthday of Dhanvantari – the God of Health and Healing.
 
On this day at sunset, bathe and offer a lighted deeya near a Tulsi plant with Prasad to Yamaraj, the Lord of Death. This practice is believed to protect the family from untimely death. Cows are offered veneration as they are supposed to be the incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi so please take out some food for cows.

Special offering of lightly pound dry coriander seeds with jaggery and offer as Naivedya to the Goddess Lakshmi. This evening Laskshmi, Kuber, Yam, & Dhanvantri- Puja is done.
 
On Dhanteras night, diyas (lamps) should be kept burning all through the night.
 
Day 2- NARAK CHATURDASHI
Kali Chaudas or Chotti Diwali happens 1 day before Diwali Triodasi falls 2 days before Diwali on the thirteenth lunar day of Krishna Paksha in the Hindu month of Kartik (October/November).
 
There are several legends behind Chhoti Diwali, the story of Naraka chaturdashi goes that the demon king Narakasur ruler of Pragjyotishpur (a province to the South of Nepal) after defeating Lord Indra had snatched away the magnificent earrings of Aditi, the Mother Goddess (the ruler of Suraloka and a relative of Satyabhama, Lord Krishna's wife) and imprisoned sixteen thousand daughters of the gods and saints in his harem.
 
On coming to know about this, Satyabhama was enraged by Narakasura's malevolence towards women, and she appealed to Krishna to give her the golden chance to destroy Narakasura. The legend also says that Narakasura was given a curse that he would be killed by a woman. Krishna granted Satyabhama a boon to fight with Narakasura. With Krishna as the charioteer, Satyabhama entered the battle field. During the war, Krishna swooned for a while, a preordained divinely act adopted to empower Satyabhama to kill the demon. After Narakasura was beheaded, the imprisoned women were released, and Krishna accepted to marry them.
 
So on the day previous to Narakachaturdashi, Lord Krishna's divine intervention led to the killing of the demon, Narakasura and liberation of the imprisoned damsels as well as recovery of the precious earrings of Aditi. As a symbol of that victory Lord Krishna smeared his forehead with the demon king's blood. Krishna returned home in the very early morning of the Narakachaturdashi day. The womenfolk massaged scented oil to his body and gave him a good bath to wash away the filth from his body. Since then the custom of taking bath before sunrise on this day has become a traditional practice.
 
It is interesting to note that Bhudevi, mother of the slain Narakasura, declared that his death should not be a day of mourning but an occasion to celebrate and rejoice.
 
In some regions of India, Kali Chaudas is the day allotted to the worship of Mahakali or Shakti and is believed that on this day Kali killed the asura (demon) Narakasura. Hence also referred to as Naraka-Chaturdashi, Kali Chaudas is day to abolish laziness and evil.
 
A special feature on this day is the celebration of Hanuman Jayanti. According to some Hindu Calendars or panchangs the birthday of Hanuman falls on the fourteenth day (chaturdashi) in the dark fortnight of the month of Ashvin while according to others it falls on the full moon day in the bright fortnight of Chaitra. This day is therefore also celebrated as Hanuman Jayanti, where He was said to have been born at sunrise.
 
Usually priests bathe the idol of Hanuman and smear it with oil and sindhoor. According to legend, Sita was applying sindhoor when Hanumanji asked the reason. She replied it would ensure a long life for her husband. Soon enough Hanuman smeared his entire body with sindhoor for Rama's immortality.
 
This day special bathing rituals such as a fragrant oil bath are important. Traditional early baths with oil and "Uptan" (paste) of gram flour and fragrant powders are a `must'. So preferably take oil massage and bathe using sandalwood paste or scented oils before sunrise this day.
 
This evening puja of Kalbhairav, Kali and Hanuman are done.
 
Day 3- DIWALI
The day of Lakshmi-Puja falls on the darkest night of Amavasya. The strains of joyous sounds of bells and drums float from the temples as man is invoking Goddess Laxmi in a wondrous holy "pouring-in" of his heart. All of a sudden that impenetrable darkness is pierced by innumerable rays of light for just a moment and the next moment a blaze of light descends down to earth from heaven as golden-footed Deep-Lakshmi alights on earth in all her celestial glory amidst chantings of Vedic hymns.
 
A sublime light of knowledge dawns upon humanity and this self enlightenment is expressed through the twinkling lamps that illuminate the palaces of the wealthy as well as the lowly abodes of the poor. It is believed that on this day Lakshmi walks through the green fields and loiters through the bye-lanes and showers her blessings on man for plenty and prosperity.
 
Diwali has many legends associated with it the main ones are the story of King Rama's return to Ayodhya after he defeated Ravana and his welcome by and celebration of the joyous people of Ayodhya, the day that Lord Krishna/ Kaali defeated the demon Narakasura and Krishna in his Vaman avatar vanquishing king Bali to pataal and freeing Goddess Lakshmi.
 
So the celebration of this festival as Lakshmi Puja can be attributed to the legend of King Bali. Once there was a great demon king Bali who wanted to become the owner of all three Bali Loka (Earth, Sky and Patal) as he given a boon by the Lord Vishnu to have unlimited power. He had become the most powerful king on Earth, by conquering every bit of space. In his arrogance he believed that nothing could hamper his wealth. There was only poverty all over the world as all the wealth (Lakshmi) was detained by the king Bali. He would create a show of charity, by hurling insults and humiliation at all those went to seek alms from him. In order to strip him off his arrogance, to save all the three Loka and free Lakshmi from his prison, Lord Vishnu went to his kingdom under the guise of a beggar (in his Vamana avatar, 5th incarnation).
 
The king granted Lord Vishnu in the guise of a beggar everything he could cover in three steps, Vishnu covered the entire heaven with his first step, entire earth with his second and shattered the vain pride of the king. Bali, then offered the Lord his head to place his third step upon, which led to him receiving spiritual enlightenment. Thus Diwali was celebrated as a day when Lakshmi was released from the clutches of Bali. A festival that preaches the message of eliminating greed is the source of attaining spiritual knowledge.
 
Lakshmi is believed to roam the earth on Diwali night. On the evening of Diwali, usually it’s a custom to leave doors and windows of your home open to welcome Lakshmi, and place diya lights on their windowsills and balcony ledges to invite her. It is extremely important to keep the house clean and pure on Diwali. It is believed that Goddess Lakshmi likes cleanliness, and she will visit the cleanest house first. Small earthenware lamps filled with oil are lighted and placed in rows along the parapets of temples and houses. Diyas are also set adrift on rivers and streams.
 
Lakshmi Puja consists of a combined puja of five deities: Ganesha is worshiped at the beginning of every auspicious act as Vighnaharta; Goddess Lakshmi is worshiped in her three forms - Mahalakshmi (the goddess of wealth and money), Mahasaraswati (the goddess of books and learning), and Mahakali; Kuber (the treasurer of the gods) is also worshiped and Maha Vishnu (as Krishna, as Vaman, as Ram and as Narayan the consort of Mahalakshmi).
 
Day 4 - VISHWAKARMA PUJA
Govardhan Puja, Gudi Padwa or Bali Prati Pada, falls 1 day after Diwali on the 1st lunar day of Shukla Paksha in the Hindu month of Kartik (October/November) marking the 4th day of the five day festival.
 
This day also marks the coronation of King Vikramaditya and Vikaram-Samvat was started from this Padwa day. The day after Diwali, is therefore celebrated as the first day of the Vikram Samvat or the Hindu New Year.
 
Gudi Padwa is symbolic of love and devotion between the wife and husband. The husbands give thoughtful gifts, or elaborate ones to respective spouses, in a manner similar to anniversaries elsewhere in the world. Newly-married daughters with their husbands are invited for special meals and given presents. In olden days brothers went to fetch their sisters from their in-laws home for this important day.
 
As per Vishnu-Puran the people of Gokul used to celebrate a festival in honour of Lord Indra and worshiped him after the end of every monsoon season but one particular year the young Krishna stopped them from offering prayers to Lord Indra who in terrific anger sent a deluge to submerge Gokul. People were afraid that the downpour was a result of their neglect of Indra. But Krishna assured them that no harm would befall them. He lifted Mount Govardhan with his little finger and sheltered men and beasts from the rain. This gave him the epithet Govardhandhari. After this, Indra accepted the supremacy of Krishna.
 
Govardhan puja is performed on this day as well, as Krishna saved Gokul by lifting up the Govardhan Mountain on his little finger and holding it over the people as an umbrella. Govardhan is a small hillock in Braj, near Mathura. Govardhana Parbat is just like peacock shape which can be described as; Radha Kunda and Syama Kunda makes the eyes, Dan Ghati makes the neck, Mukharavinda makes the mouth and Punchari makes back as well as tail feathers. It is considered that the height of this mountain is decreasing day by day (a seed of mustard daily) because of the curse of Pulastya Muni.
 
Once, in the Satya Yug, the Pulastya Muni went to the Dronacala (the king of mountains) and requested for his son named Govardhana. The king was very depressed and appealed the Muni that he cannot bear the disconnection from his son. Finally his son was sent with Muni under the circumstances that if he would put down, he would stay there.
 
On the way the Muni had put him down while passing through the Braja Mandala in order to reply the nature’s call. After coming back he found he cannot move the Govardhana from that place. Then he got angry and cursed the Govardhana to get reduce in size slowly. It was around 64 miles long and 40 miles wide, 16 miles high and now remains only of 80 ft.
 
People worship Govardhan Mountain in the belief that they would be protected by this mountain ever and they would always get the source of living. They make cow dung heap and worship by offering Kheer, Batashe, garland, sweet and delicious foods with immense enthusiasm. They prepare Naivedya of the Chappan Bhog (means 56 food items) or 108 food items in order to offer to lord during puja.
 
Following from the story of King Bali and Lord Vishnu in his Vaman avatar, the day following the Amavasya is "Kartik Shuddh Padwa". It is only on this day that the King Bali who was sent to Paatal Lok by Lord Vishnu in his Vaman Avatar, would come out of Pathal Loka and rule Bhulok as per the boon given by Lord Vishnu. Thus this is the day one day of the year when Kang Bali rules. Hence, it is also known as "Bali Padyami".
 
This day is also celebrated as Vishwakarma Jayanti. Vishwakarma, as legend has it was a mythical architect to the Gods, and was the chief engineer of kingdoms like Dwarka of Krishna, Lanka of Kubera, and the Swarg, or Heaven of Indra. He is the patron God of architects and engineers.
 
This morning puja of Govardhan, Krishna, Vishwakarma are done.
 
Day 5-BHAI DOOJ
Two days after Diwali on the second lunar day of Shukla Paksha in the Hindu month of Kartik (October/November), the last day of Diwali, the fifth day is celebrated as Bhai dooj. The name itself denotes the day of the festival i.e it falls on Dooj, the second day after the new moon.
 
The festival of Diwali is not complete without "Bhaiyya-Duj" also called "Bhav--Bij" in the Marathi, "Bhai Phota" to the Bengalees and in Nepal its "Bhai-Tika". It celebrates the sister-brother loving relationship, in a spirit similar to Raksha Bandhan but with different rituals. The day ritually emphasizes the love and lifelong bond between siblings.
 
Many moons ago, in the Vedic era, Yama (Yamraj, the Lord of death) visited his sister Yamuna on this day. Yamuna put an auspicious mark on his forehead for his welfare. He gave his sister a Vardhan (a boon) that whosoever visits their sisters on this day shall be liberated from all sins. They will achieve Moksha or final emancipation. So, the day is also called ‘Yama Dwitiya’.
 
Another version is after killing Narakasur, Lord Krishna, went to his sister Subhadra who welcomed him in the traditional way by showing him a light and putting on his forehead a tilak of her sisterly protection. Another myth behind this begins as when Bhagawaan Mahavir found nirvana, his brother Raja Nandivardhan was distressed because he missed him and was comforted by his sister Sudarshana.
 
So traditionally brothers and sisters should fast till they have done puja. If you have no brothers special puja is done for Chandra, the moon, praying to the Lord as your brother.
The tilak should be done with this mantra:
 
Bhratus tabaa grajaataaham, Bhunksa bhaktamidam shuvam
Preetaye yama raajasya Yamunaah Visheshatah
 भ्ृतूस तबा ग्रजाताहां, भुंकसा भक्तामीड़म शुवाँ
प्रीताए याम राजस्य यमुनाह विशेषत
 
After the tilak usually it’s a tradition for brothers to have a meal prepared by sisters. Traditionally this meal is known as ‘Bhagini Hastha Bhojanam’ which means ‘having a meal prepared by sister’.
 
Worship of Lord Yamaraj and his mythical record keeper Chithragupta and taking a holy dip in river Yamuna is considered highly pious on this day.
  
For any other questions or clarifications please feel free to contact me at [email protected].

 So and  as soon as I called, I had called for the address only, Swamy ji I got scolded for not informing him earlier about my travel plans. I said I would see him in a few hours once I got to the hotel. I got scolded some more “ Kyun beta pura mutt hai na beta seedha idhar aao”.   He sent me the address and in a few minutes called to check how far I had reached where I hadn’t even left yet so my surreal encounter with the Goddess and her glory were cut short and I immediately left. Like a parent, he followed my progress on the road. He actually talked to the police on the check-post to tell him to open the barrier. Then he was standing on the gate for 15 mins till we found our way to the Mutt. One story that has followed me for many years is one of Ram Krishna Paramhansa waiting on the door excitedly for Vivekanand. It is totally true Guru awaits the student just as much as the student awaits the guru. My day was just something else. It was as always an amazingly timed arrival it was a three day guru festival being celebrated at the mutt for the previous Shankaracharya. I was a little anxious, I dont mind sleeping on the floor or eating whatever but what does give me a little anxiousness is the departure from technology and bandwidth. The first thing that Swamy ji gave me on arrival can you guess was the wi fi password. Unbelievable !! I was sent to visit the temples of Virupaksha Swamy and Goddess Abhiraami.

20th Aug 2016
After sawan has finished in the north it continues in the south right up to Amavasya so do my chronicals. I feel kind of blessed that I am able to celebrate the Shravan maas for 45 days instead of the stipulated 30 days popularly celebrated in either the north or south of the country. Given that I am currently in the southern part of the country it applies absolutely. So here is the plan to extend Shravan start on Guru Purnima and after a month has passed you can travel southwards as soon as you cross the Deccan plateau the calculation changes. :-)
 
Anyways I woke up this morning with a resolve to complete  the record of the mystical journey I have had so far. But the first thing to do was to call Shankaracharya Swamy Vidyaranya because I am only here to spend time at the mutt after the chanced meeting at Aurangabad and then subsequently in Delhi. I had to wrap up and leave immediately on his insistence, but before I left. I read a beautiful story of Himvan and Adi Shakti.

Himvan the father of Parvathi prayed to the Goddess for a long time. The goddess blessed him many times with many shaktis that manifested as daughters for Himvan. All these daughters turned into rivers to help elevate mankind including Ganga. How is it possible to have Adi Shakti manifest Herself? So he fathered many rivers (smaller shakties) and then as his tapasya grew he fathered Ganga. He continued his sadhna and finally the Goddess gave him darshan. Adi Shakti agreed to come in his household as a daughter. When the Goddess asked him what he wanted Himvan replied Bhakti and Gyaan so he would be able to take care of Adi Shakti properly. This story really moved me.

For many years since I left the corporate circle I have been praying to the Goddess for Gyan. My mind falls so short and I am enable to comprehend the magnitude and spance of Shakti.  I have no reason to complain She is a very generous and giving teacher but I am not a capable student. Over the last year or so I am constantly aware of how my faith falls so short and my practice falls even shorter with this construct even if I was to see shakti I will only end up creating a faux pas.
 
Like I remember about 4 years ago I traveled to a place called Dharamasthala one of my dear friends Naveen had taken me there. It’s a beautiful shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva the beauty of that place is that 100 Km radius of the temple the Law of the land doesn't apply. There are no courts or police. While they exist, they are redundant because all the people in that land are bound my the judgement decreed by the temple pontiff. Its considered that his word is the word of Lord Shiva Himself and everyone is obliged to follow.

Naveen’s whole family has been paying respect to the temple there for generations. So we were able to see the Pontiff. I had just started compiling books and those of you who are with me for over 3 years will remember the long A4 sized white books. These I carried everywhere including Dharamasthala, Naveen didn’t know how to introduce me so he showed that book saying she has compiled this and is very spiritually inclined. He patiently went through the book and asked I if had Hanuman Sahasranaam in it. Then he said you must verify the source of each chant. He said I have a library of ancient scriptures. I cut him short and said great then if we have access to it I can sit in the library and do it myself. He got really irritated I couldn’t understand why and he immediately dismissed me saying so be it. Open the library for them.  Naveen was so angry at me, he said why did you have to interject he would have instructed someone to find all the chants and find the differences and tell you. For a long time now I have been feeling stupid. I don’t know how to conduct myself with the pontiff how will I ever learn to conduct myself with the Gods. This question has plagued me for years now. I don’t crave Darshan or seek it or ask for it because of this realization.
 
So long meandering story, over the last months I have realized there is no point asking for asking only for gyan or knowledge because no matter how much knowledge if I don’t have the right feelings or rather that’s a poor translation right bhava. If I don’t have the right bhava then how could gyan doing the best of pujas or following the rituals help because they will be absolutely meaningless with that. It was written in the story of Himvan and Adi Shakti that as soon as Himvan asked for the two boons of Bhakti and Gyan to be able to serve the Goddess she was extremely pleased with Himvan and retold the Devi Geeta to him.
 
So this morning waking up to realizing my two demands on the Goddess are indeed dear to her made my morning very beautiful with tears of joy and I kept repeating Shree Mata .. shree maata, mother the Goddess, Adi shakti is indeed benevolent she accords the devotees with both the bhakti and gyan to be able to serve her.
 
It was a beautiful morning.

After the exhausting and awesome darshan of Padharpur. My friend called and said there may be a chance that we can go to Tirupati. Now, I am not for missing that for anything. So here was the plan, get back to Hyderabad and then leave the same night for Tirupati by car which is about a 9 hour car journey.
 
There were some temples at Solapur that we did in the morning and made our way to Hyderabad. One of the temples that I had wanted to visit was on the outskirts of Hyderabad was Chilkur Balaji, owing to a vow that I had to complete.

My introduction with this temple was made in 1998-99, I was applying for a Masters in Germany, and my Visa had been rejected two times. I was sharing my woes with my friend Madhusudan, complaining that if the visa gets rejected the third time I won’t be able to ever go to Germany. I was visiting Hyderabad at the time to attend Madhu's wedding. He suggested that there is a small temple at the outskirts of Hyderabad which is also called visa temple because of the number of Visas that get granted to the devotees there. Me and temples have an old love affair. In all the madness and after a lot of trouble to my friend, I was able to get a car to myself to go to the temple.
 
I did 11 pradakshinas, came back and applied for the visa, I did do my Masters in Germany. A few years later when I came back, I did my 108 pradakshinas at the temple. I remember it was not easy, very time consuming and my feet were burning and I couldn’t walk for a few days without wincing afterwards.
 
3 years ago, my brother had applied for a Work Permit in Ireland. He had done his MD and he was eligible for a specialist visa. However the Irish Govt. was not very favorable to offering specialists visas. They entertained doctors but not specialists. However my brother found out that this is the case after having submitted the application. He started fretting a little and getting anxious with the thought that if the work permit would not come through he would have to lose a year. At this same time I was going to make a trip to Tirupati, vie. Hyderabad. So I asked him, if he would like me to pray for his work permit. My condition was that if it is granted he would have to himself come and do his 108 because it was going to be too hard for me to do them. He of-course agreed and I went to the Chilkur Balaji Temple I remember with Jaya.
 
A few weeks later his work permit came. Mom and dad went to do puja but no one had done 108 parikramas since then. This was weighing heavy on all our minds and I wanted to get them done in the interim till my brother can make his way to the temple himself.
 
So since I landed in Hyderabad I had been wanting to go to the Balaji Temple at Chilkur. The temple on the banks of Osman Sagar is one of the oldest in Hyderabad.
 
A story goes that, a devotee who used to visit Tirupati every year could not do so on one occasion owing to serious ill health. Lord Venkateshwara appeared in his dream and said, "I am right here in the nearby forest. You don't have to worry." The devotee at once went to the place indicated by the Lord in the dream and saw a molehill there, which he dug up. Accidentally, the axe struck Lord Balaji's idol (covered by the molehill) below the chin and on the chest. Surprisingly blood started flowing profusely from the "wounds", flooding the ground and turning it scarlet. The devotee could not believe his eyes. He could not believe his ears when he heard a voice from the air saying, "Flood the molehill with cow's milk." When the devotee did so, a Swayambhu idol of Lord Balaji accompanied by Sridevi and Bhoodevi (a rare combination) was found, and this idol was installed with the due rites and a temple built for it. Sri Balaji Venkateshwara, the Pratyaksha Daiva in Kaliyuga, is thus available at Chilkur to shower blessings on His devotees who for any reason are unable to go to Tirupati.
 
Unlike the Balaji temple at Tirupati though this temple has no hundi and neither accepts any money from devotees. This is one of the special Temples in India with no green channel or privileges for VIP's. This temple is also privately managed and governed and has stayed out of government control.
 
The unique feature of this idol is that lotus flowers are held in three hands and the fourth hand is in a position towards the lotus feet which signifies the doctrine of Saranagathi.

During a visit the devotee goes through the usual rituals of prayer, including 11 circumambulations of the inner shrine, and makes a vow. The 11 circumambulations represent the secret of creation — 11 means "1 soul and 1 body" — uniting both with devotion and full determination to fulfill wish, dedicate on the lord; there is no second, everything is god. Once the wish is fulfilled devotees then walk 108 times around the sanctum sanctorum. In the 108 circumambulations, 1 represents the Existence, Almighty, God (Paramathma, Balaji in the minds of the devotee), 0 represents Creation (Illusionary World, Jagath) and 8 represents the time Human Body takes to come to this universe-8 months (Jivatma).
 
So I wanted to get to the Chilkur temple and do the 108 parikramas before leaving Hyderabad a good thing in retrospect because I am not going to be able to go back to Hyderabad and am flying out from Bangalore. The problem was the paucity of time, we had to travel 350 Kms to Hyderabad and then 3-4 hours for 108 parikramas and then a 9 hours journey to Tirupati to get there in the morning.
 
We started at 1:30 amazingly we reached Chilkur Balaji temple at 6:30 and covered 350 Kms in only 5 hrs without any special toll roads. When I entered the temple there was literally no one. I started doing the parikramas really fast. Then the aarti started and even the few people walking stopped. I couldn’t believe I was able to finish the parikramas in one hour fifteen minutes as opposed to the four hours last time. I was able to maintain a wonderful pace and my feet were blistered but I was able to do it.
 
The rare darshan of the aarti, I was able to get the bhog and when I entered the temple it was absolutely empty, so I could stand there for half an hour. I have never seen that temple so empty and it was also Purnima that day. I had been fasting for Satyanarayan puja. The Satyanarayan puja took specially long this purnima at home so when I finished my parikramas and called home to find out they had also just finished the puja.
 
Narayan is really hard to please but it seems like he is slowly according me with a little grace these days.
 
I was able to meet my friend at 8 pm to start our journey to Tirupati. With some more Narayan adventures to follow.

After the arduous adventure at Tulja Bhawani which entailed a fast and standing in line for hours, I was actually looking forward to going to Pandharpur. It was a Tuesday, a working day after a long weekend. I was really looking forward to an empty temple and an easy darshan provided I was able to reached there early enough. I got in around 6am after a 2 hour drive.
 
The view of the Bhima river also called Chandrabhaga because of its crescent moon shape, from the bridge getting into the city was magnificent. The plethora of people bathing almost reminded me of Varanasi. The river and the colours of India merging together is indeed an awesome sight always, there is something very pious and surreal about it, a tradition being followed from the times gone by. It’s my favourite scene to watch and capture, the one of nature and man coming together in their very natural states. This is how it should be!
 
You can always tell the presiding deity of the space by the vibe of the city. This was definitely Vishnu, Krishna, Narayan. There is a certain discipline and grace around the devotees of Vishnu. Egos are a little more obvious. I suppose Daksha in them is too deep rooted. From the shop keeper to everyone I asked for directions of, since both Swamy and the driver were inept at Hindi they were for sure Krishna bhaktas.
 
It didn’t register with me how popular Pandarpur as a destination was till I entered the small city. No bigger than the city of Mathura or Vrindavan it attracts about a million during the yatra time in June and July. I suppose the spill over pilgrims were enough to make my heart sink. This is probably the only Krishna temple where all devotees who come may touch the feet of the Panduranga idol. This is quite a rare opportunity and I didn’t want to miss it. Dreading the lines as I walked in guard explained that only people who have online booking can go in for special darshan the rest of the crowd has to make their way to the line. Something I could have done, had I anticipated this- J next time. Mukha darshan, where you can see the deity from a distance popular in Maharashtra temples was available without any line. I gathered my courage and made my way to the beginning of the line.
 
The line started almost at the river about 1 km from the temple . There is an over-bridge that has been built across the entire city for the line. Right opposite the temple is a nine floor building to manage the crowd. When I went at 6 o’clock on a working day 3 floors had been opened. You keep going round and round in circle in a very small space, after a point you lose track and can’t tell if the people in the line next to you have been standing there before you or if they came after. This entire building has no fans and is naturally ventilated, this was an intermittent relief whenever the draft of air came in. The other big relief was Swamy who kept the crowds at bay behind me.
 
I didn’t realise phones were not allowed. When I gathered that they weren’t I was too far into the line and couldn’t do anything about it. I quietly stuffed it in the folds of my skirts belt hoping they would not frisk very fervently. I walked through the security gate with the heart in my mouth. Panduranga and the 11 Vishnu Sahasranaams saved me. It was my first experience of 6 hour line. I can assure you I was so grateful to God that I know how to chant because otherwise its so boring to stand endlessly in a line. I have to however fall back on all the chants I have committed to memory because I hadn’t carried a book.
 
Pandarpur gets its name a merchant, Pundalik, who received Krishna in this town. The presiding daities of the city are "Vithoba", "Pāndurang", and "Pandharinath" are all names of  Vittal, a form of Lord Krishna. Krishna in turn an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Rakhumaai or Rukmini is also there as Viththal's consort in the temple.
 
The saga of Pundalik is one of the most important legends about Vithoba. Pundalik was a devoted son to his parents Janudev and Satyavati, who lived in a forest called Dandirvan. But after his wedding, Pundalik begins ill-treating his parents. Tired of their son’s misbehaviour and ill treatment, the elderly couple decided to leave for Kashi.
However, the elderly couple were not destined to escape their suffering so easily. Pundalik and his wife decide to join them on pilgrimage and their ill treatment continues. While the youthful son and his wife ride on horseback, the frail old couple walk in bad weather. Pundalik even continued to make his old parents work and every evening, when the party camps for the night, he made his parents to groom the horses and do other jobs.
 
On the way to Kashi, the group reaches the ashram (hermitage) of a pious and venerable sage, Kukkutswami. Exhausted, the family decides to spend a few days there. That night, when all were asleep, Pundalik by chance is awake and sees a remarkable vision. Just before dawn, a group of beautiful young women, dressed in soiled clothes, enter the ashram; they clean the floor, fetch water and wash the venerable sage’s clothes. After finishing their chores, they go to the prayer-room. When they reappear after prayer, their clothes are spotlessly clean. Then, they vanish as inexplicably as they had appeared.
 
Pundalik is not moved to raise an alarm, but feels a deep sense of peace witnessing the scene. It remains on his mind the whole day and he resolves to remain awake the next night, and confirm it was not merely a dream. This time, however, Pundalik is very curious. He approaches the beautiful women. The women tell him that they are the Ganga (Ganges), Yamuna and other holy rivers of India—revered for their holiness. Pilgrims wish to take a dip in their holy waters to wash away their sins, which in fact are soiling their clothes.Then, the women say: "But O Pundalik, you, with your ill-treatment of your parents, are the greatest sinner of them all!"
 
Pundalik is utterly shocked and his has a complete transformation of consciousness . He realizes his misdeeds, becomes entirely devoted to his parents and ensures their comfort, even risking his own.
 
Impressed by Pundalik's devotion to his parents, Lord Visnu plans to visit Pundalik. So, He leaves Vaikuntha (His abode) for Pundalik’s ashram. Vishnu knocks at Pundalik’s door, when he is busy serving his parents food. Pundalik does realize God is at his door. But such was his devotion to his parents, he wants to complete his duties and only then attend the visitor. Then, Pundalik does something strange but out of real devotion. He throws a brick outside for God to stand on and wait for him until he finishes attending to his parents. It is the first day of monsoon so it is wet and muddy outside. If Lord Vishnu stands upon a brick his feet will remain clean and dry.
 
Seeing this act, Visnu is extremely impressed and the ever-loving God waits for his devotee. When Pundalik comes out, he begs for pardon but far from being displeased, Vishnu is taken over by Pundalik's love for his parents and grants a boon. Pundalik requests Visnu to stay back on Earth and bless all his true devotees. He agrees to take the form of Vithoba, or God who stood upon a brick, and a temple comes up there.
 
While it was a long wait the actual audience with Panduranga was very very beautiful and leisurely. There was no pushing, no pulling, not like the sea of devotees at Tirumala. Inspite of the long line I was able to touch Vitthal’s feet and I even was given a rose from his turban. This I suppose is not the norm. Once the darshan is over most people rush out but I was able to sit there for a good half an hour reciting my chants to Narayan. There was no memory of the hours of wait after touching Lords feet.
 
About 1 hour from the Vitthal temple was Akluj a small town with Akalai Devi temple. It was a beautiful small temple I was able to visit that morning still.
 
By the time I got back to the hotel it was 3pm and I crashed for a good 15 hrs. The hotel, the driver and Swamy were pretty concerned but I had no strength to even get out of the room and show my face to anyone.

Last year I got really lucky thanks to Angela and Gaurav who invited me to a live performance by Mahesh Kale. He recently was awarded the National award in classical music. I was very touched by two performances dedicated to Vitthal, Panduranga. I am sharing them here with you all just the get a feel of the sounds in the space there.

Tulja Bhawani is considered the 2 of the 51 Shakti Peeths in India and is the and is one of the three and a half shakti peeths in Maharashtra. These 3 1/2 are mentioned in Devi Geeta as told to Himavan (father of parvathi who was a great devotee of the Godess) by the Adi shakti. These places are
 
I was very curious about the three and a half, it turns out that the Goddess resides in her three forms and one samyukta or combined form.

There is no need to confuse the Shakti form with the Brahma Prakriti. Gyan Shakti will help you penetrate the Brahma Maya. Resources , Lakshmi or money constitutes strength or shakti in this Brahma Prakriti and Kriya or yog or sadhna will help you get Brahma Gyan. It is also believed three and a half are the coils of the Kundilini and it unfolds with one conquering each plane of Shakti.
 
I do keep meandering dont I, my apologies. So I was able to take my first step being able to invoke the Goddess at Tulja Bhawani. The other main Hingula temple,  Hinglaj bhavani temple is now in Pakistan this is the other one in my knowledge.

It was a wonderful day, that started really early as anyone who has ever travelled with me would know. Reached the temple on a Shravan Triyodashi and Monday. Som Pradosh is considered very auspicious. Monday is really dear to lord Shiva and Pradosh is considered the marriage tithi for Lord Shiva and Parvathi. Usually such a fast and Rudra Abhishek are considered very auspicious. I entered the temple at dawn and the sun was about to rise. The pandit who was with us (Swamy and me .. yes he still was with me) lead us to this beautiful room where there was continually water flowing like an entire room to wash up. Interestingly after we emerged santified he lead us to a room which housed the long ques to do the darshan of the Goddess. Someone in there directed us to a space which was mukha darshana.
 
So in Maharashtra when temples are really crowded there are two kinds of darshan the full darshan or the Mukha darshana. Usually the lines are very very long for full darshana and given that it was a somvati pradosh during shravan and a national holiday you all cant even imagine the lines. But since I wasnt so aware of all of this  when someone directed us to mukha darshan we turned there it turned out that inside the temple the Goddess and Lord shiva’s temples face each other. So when you go for mukha darshan you are indeed at Shivalaya. Being so close to a Shivalaya in such a powerful space on a Shravan Somvar was just too much I was standing there hoping I can get someone to help me do rudra abhishek somehow. Language barrier et all when I reached inside the Pandit ji agreed to do the Rudra abhishek for me. Before we started another gentleman joined us. We did an amazing rudra Abhishek with all the limitations of the purohit, I am sure it was their best performance of the day.
 
I just took a chance and asked the pandit ji if he would be able to do a rudra abhishek in pradosh kaal as well. Pradosh kaal is usually between 5 PM and 7 PM. He agreed and said we will do the Tulja bhawani abhishek after. Nothing could have been a better coincedence. He also told us that the individual who was sitting and doing the abhishek with us was the political representetive of the region and was going to go right after the abhishek to file his nomination.
 
So we finished at about 8 am free to do what we wanted till about 4:30. After languishing in the temple parisar and ofcourse I got beautiful symbolic green and yellow bangles took in the variety of kauri shankhs and green sarees dear to the Goddess. 

At about 9 am we made our way to another temple about 40 Kms off Tulja bhawani, this temple in a small town called Barshi. The temple Bhagvant Temple at is dedicated to Shri Vishnu. The uniqueness of this temple is that, this is the only temple of Shri Vishnu all over India having Shri Vishnu’s name as BHAGAVANT built in the 12 th Centuary. The idol of main deity Shri Bhagvant is in black stone having SHANKH, CHAKRA and GADA is in the hands and picture of devotee king Ambrish below the right hand. Shri Laxmi is on the back of Bhagvant idol. Shivlinga is there on the forehead and marks of Footsteps of Bhrigu Rishi on the chest of the deity.
 
Since it was not a special day we had beautiful darshan of Narayan and we also did pada puja (offering prayers to the feet of the lord). I struck some scores with Vishnu Sahasranaam and then we made our way to back around noon. It was not enough time to go back to the Hotel and then return for the Pradosh Kaal puja and it seemed like a long wait in the temple. Anyways for those of you who know me know that I would prefer nothing more than being in a temple. So at 12:30 we reached Tulja Bhawani, I got greedy after 6 or 7 sahasranaams at about 2’o clock I thought let me make my way to the Devi darshan I haven’t done that at all so far. Surely in 3 hours I will be free and ready for my Abhishek. The line was long and after 3 hours we were still about an hour away from darshan when the Pandit ji called. At about 5:30 we started our Rudra Abhishek and finished at 6:15 Pm. Then we entered the line for the Abhishek of the Goddess.
 
You know what was the real surprise in the morning when we wanted to do devi Abhishek with the pandit ji outside he lead us to the entry of the Shivalaya and now in the evening it was obvious to us the entry for that puja was no where close to where we had gone it. When the Pandit came out to give us prasaad, he was amazed himself, he said no one gets to do this kind of darshan Shravan, Somwar, Shiv Abhishek, Pradosh Kaal and the Bhawani Abhishek. Aashcharya first time ever.
 
I spent almost all day from 6 am to 9pm except the 2 hrs that I was away spent the whole day in the Mandir Parisar I lost count of the number of Lalitha Sahasranaams offered I am sure it was over 21.

Last two days of my trip have been crazy surreal thought I would share with you ...
Some of you may know the state of Andhrapradesh has been bifurcated to Seema Andhra and Telangana. Hyderabad is in Telangana and Tirupati the is in Seema Andhra. There are some really awesome spaces in telangana as well. Still untouched and very cool I had a brush with 2 yesterday. We went to a place called Yadagirigutta. Its a temple dedicated to Lord Narsingha the fierce form of Vishnu. Its reverence is like of Tirupati in Seema Andhra. The Telangana government wants to develop the temple as the Tirupati of Telangana. Its about 60 Kms north of Hyderabad. Everything is under construction in terms of roads and the infrastructure..
 
We reached there about 4:30 took an auto from the parking to the temple. Took a puja ticket for 6:30, those of you who know me and temples would know that I started my series of sahasranaams and the long lines of people disappeared in my Ganesh, Vishnu, Lakshmi Narsingha chants. We partook in the pooja came out the other side everything uneventful till we started our journey back in the auto. The driver on the way told us that the government has closed the main shrine for devotees to carry out renovation in the premises. So the temple that we visited is indeed in the same complex but not the main temple. It was a little disappointing but I consoled myself thinking that the whole kshetra is usually charged with the energy of the temple so it doesn’t matter what we did or didn’t do.
 
On the way back it was around 7:30 I saw a set of lights going up a rocky hill as is the topography of the space much like Kishkindha for those of you who have ever been to Hampi. I suggested we take a detour since we still had a little time. It was an absolutely isolated km to the base of the steps that climbed up the steep rocky hillock. It was after sun down, about 8 by the time we reached up. There was only one person there his name Swamy is it a coincidence. He told us this was a very special shrine and only those people who are special get to come here. This was the sleeping abode of the Lord of the Yadagirigutta temple which was visible from the hillock. The lord comes in at about 10.30 or 11pm when the other temple closes. The temple was inside a rock cave, we were already over whelmed to have found it and be there. Considering we didn’t get any darshan in the original temple it was surreal that we had reached the Lords sleeping abode to see him. Swamy made us climb and go up to the jungles on top of the temple where it is believed many ascetics still meditate. There were bananas, oranges and mangoes growing out of nowhere on the rocky hill. It is believed there are also 7 ponds of fresh water of which only 2 are visible. There was also a tree with sacred markings of Om, Chakra and Trishul on a rock face. It was a treacherous climb up bare foot. But very amazing that this man would show us the way to all these secrets at night with no one else around. He told us many stories including how the ground shakes when the Lord arrives in the temple at night. There was a small drizzle hardly noticeable and beautiful breeze blowing I insisted we spend the night there we compromised to staying there till about midnight.
 
I started Vishnu Sahasranaam and saw Swamy gather sticks and light a fire. He made upama on wood fire and we ate alone on top of the hill in the temple. I continued to do chanting intermittently. At around 10 I started the Lakshmi Narsingh sahasranaam when I finished at about 10.30 Swamy suggested I close my eyes and lie down. An old guard had arrived by then and My friend was busy chatting him up for the temple lore. I closed my eyes and lay down for a bit .. Somewhere through that in my half sleep half awake state I felt the whole ground move and shake violently and I saw a blood red image which can only be described as the chakra or the discus of the lord. It had embellishments of very auspicious signs and it kept going round. I knew in my head it was chakra and I saw it for a very long time. My friend woke me up and I got up with my head tied in knots and I couldn’t move at all felt like an electric current of great voltage was flowing through me. It settled in a few and we started making our way down. I had by then already decided that I was going to a few temples around Sholapur the next day. I suggested Swamy come with me to visit these temples since I was going alone. He said he needs the Lord to direct his movements. We were halfway down the steps when he called out to say he changed his mind and that he was indeed going to accompany me for the next few days to the temples.
 
He came down and we made our way to Hyderabad.