A visit to the sacred Kedarnath temple, led by Pujya Swamiji and Sadhviji, was a powerful and deeply transforming experience. Pujya Swamiji commended the efforts of the Government and said that just as they had been successful in getting Uttarakhand back on its feet, He urged the people of Garhwal to also get back on their feet and support these efforts to ensure that such tragedies are not repeated, lives are saved and the rich spiritual-cultural heritage of this sacred land is retained for all.
With hundreds of devotees lining up for darshan, one could still see signs of the devastation, as JCBs and volunteers continued to work to remove the rubble and boulders left behind from the disaster as light snow came falling from the sky.
With the grace of Bhagawan Kedarji and with Pujya Swamiji’s blessings, all devotees had the opportunity to sit and perform a sacred Abhishek puja of the divine deity in the mandir. For nearly a full half hour, we poured water, milk, ghee and honey, placed sacred sandalwood and rice on the divine natural Linga of Lord Shiva.
The first snowfall in many days occurred just during our puja, so that we had several extra divine hours in the sacred land, waiting for the weather to clear for the helicopters. The priests were so thankful for Pujya Swamiji’s blessings to bring much-needed snow onto the mountain.
During Pujya Swamiji’s visit He also meet with the SDM of Kedarnath and planned in detail with him and his team ways in which we could bring the sacred pilgrimage of Kedarnath on the world tourism map, while retaining the divine and deeply transformative nature of the pilgrimage. They discussed the challenges and obstacles as well as the solutions and plan of action. The local administration, priests and volunteers were incredibly inspired by His visit and were eager to work together to bring this divine vision to fruition.