Blessings from the Masters at Tarkeshwar

Guru Grace at Tarkeshwar

 
On the auspicious occasion of Shivratri, with Guruji’s blessings, few sadhakas from Sadhana Sangama, Delhi visited the Tapo Bhoomi of Baba, Tarkeshwar.  Swami Rama in his famous book “Living with Himalayan Masters” describes Tarkeshwar as follows:

"I know many calm and quiet places in the lap of the Himalayas where one can live and meditate without being disturbed. Whenever I get tired I think of recharging myself by going to the Himalayas for a short period. One of my favorite places for such a retreat is in the district of Garhwal, twelve miles north of Landsdowne, where at the height of 6,500 feet there is a small Shiva temple surrounded by thick fir trees.”

The Sadhakas were warmly welcomed by Mr. Tittu Bhai, Manager of the Ashram near the Temple in Tarakeshwar. The temple & the residential place were neatly arranged for the Shivratri Occasion. At 6500 feet, it’s quite a task arranging all the basic amenities for any visitor. However Tittu Bhai, who was long associated with Swami Hariharananda (fondly called as ‘Laughing Swami’) meticulously took care of all that is required for a comfortable stay. 

We reached at around 5:00 in the evening on Saturday, 9th March, 2013. The weather was cold with chilly winds greeting us. Initially it was a welcome relief for us from the heat of Delhi but later on we had to take protection from the cold. After tea and a small break, we joined the other devotees (around 100 people were there staying at the Ashram for Shivratri) in the evening Aarti at 7 pm. We came back from the temple around 8.30 pm, had our dinner and retired for the day.

View of Tarkeshwar Temple from our room

Are they meditating?!

Kund (bathing tank) near Tarkeshwar Temple

Sunday, 10th March was Shivratri day and we had already decided to spend the night in the temple. We were blessed to meet Shri Venkateshwaran, direct disciple of Swami Rama from Kerala and also relatives of Baba, Mr. J.P. Dabral, along with his niece and Mama ji, who were from Delhi. They were camping there for Shivratri and during the day we exchanged our experiences with each other. We had lunch and rested for a while and around 4.30 pm we started trekking to Sidh Baba’s place (As refered in "Living with Himalayan Master", Siddh Baba saved Swami Rama's life when he fell down from the Hills in Tarakeshwar) led by Mr. Dabral & his Mama ji. We reached Sidh Baba’s place and meditated for a while in group and sang some Bhajans and Mr. Dabral shot a few photos of our group at that place. We returned in the evening to the room, freshened up and attended the evening’s Aarti.

Siddh Baba's place

 Shivratri decoration at Tarkeshwar Temple

Trees surrounding Tarkeshwar Temple

After dinner, around 10.15 pm we left to the temple for meditation. We started our Sadhana with the sankalpa that we are here on behalf of all those sadhakas who could not make it on this day to Tarakeshwar and dedicated our trip to them. We chanted Maha Mrtyunjaya Mantra, played Maha Rudram and Chamakam, listened to the Meaning of this Mantra from our Guruji’s audio recording, chanted other bheejakshara mantras given by Guruji, and 108 Gayathri mantras on various deities including Shiva, Durga, Hanuman, Lakshmi, Subramanya, Ganapathi, Suryadev. We finished our japa and meditation and left the temple around 5 am in the morning and slept away the entire morning (woke up at 10.55 am).

Beautiful view of Tarkeshvar Temple entrance

Mother Nature

The entire day on Monday, 11th March was spent in a relaxed way so as to prepare for that night’s Sadhana. Towards evening there were mixed feelings amongst us as to whether we can sit through the night consecutively for the second day as well. At last, a consensus was arrived at that we will leave it to Tarakeshwar Mahadev and resolved to sit through the night.

At around 11 pm we entered the temple and sat for meditation listening to our Guruji’s audio recording of Guided Meditation on Lord Mrityunjaya. All of us could feel the presence of the energy of Himalayan Masters and we were all sucked in by that energy. None of us felt like opening our eyes and our posture was stabilized in stillness without effort on our part. Around 1 pm, we came out of meditation and started doing the Abhisheka for Tarakeshwar Mahadev. It went on till 3.30 am. Mahadev was glowing in the light of the oil lamps and we offered prasada that we prepared (upma and rava kesari). Again we sat to chant some Gayathri Mantras and we concluded chanting at 4.55 AM. and we did the Aarti at 5:00 in the morning (Tuesday, 12th March).

All of us in the group felt a unique thing that is, we distinctly heard OM nadha (sound of "OM") gradually merging with the silence. This happened repeatedly after completion of each Gayatri Mantra.

Tarakeshwar Mahadev

Tarakeshwar Mahadev

Tarakeshwar Mahadev & Subramanya

Tarakeshwar Mahadev at the time of Aarti

We moved out of the temple around 6.15 am after winding up and cleaning the temple to the room. Surprisingly none of us felt any tiredness or had sleepy feeling. All of us were fresh, had breakfast and left Tarakeshwar for Delhi around 11 am and reached Delhi by 7:00 in the evening.

Dawn in Tarkeshwar

Mystique Beauty

Shri Venkateshwaran, direct disciple of Swami Rama

Mamaji (Swami Rama's relative)

J.P. Dabral Ji (Swami Rama's relative)

We learnt that Pradosha (9th March), Shivratri (10th March) and Ammavasya (11th March) followed successively and to spent the three nights at such a powerful place is a blessing. We are fortunate to share the blessings with all of you.

Friends, the reason of sharing this trip report is not merely to list down our experience over there, but rather to emphasize the presence of Grace completely for all the Sadhakas & able aspirants. It is the GRACE that WORKS. It is our duty to continue our Sadhana and do selfless service with love if that Grace has to work through us. Therefore, Together let us work for invoking that GRACE. Swami Rama describes in his book "Sadhana: The Essence of Spiritual Life",

"He (the guru) wants nothing, for what He is doing is His duty, the purpose of his life. If He guides you, He is not obliging you, He is doing his work. He cannot live without doing doing His duty. Genuine Gurus cannot live without selflessness, for selfless love, is the very basis of their enlightenment. They radiate life and light from the unknown corners of the world. The world does not know them, and they do not want recognition". 

With the blessings of the Guru Parampara, let us try and maintain a balance between the internal and external worlds and let's not get caught by the rigidity of the external observances, which are actually non essentials.

   

Baba bless all.

- 'Bansuri'