My Personal Blog - Sarada Ramani

  One of the most Powerful temples in Jammu City is this Mahakali temple.  Our cab driver was citing an incident to narrative the Power of the Goddess.   During the 1971  war Pakistan war planes were going to target the bridge across the Tawi River which would mean that the city of Jammu would be totally cut off from rest of the country.   The city people prayed to Maa to save their city.  While the war planes were flying over  the city looking to bomb the bridges all they could see was only river water and no bridge but saw a lady in red saree walking with a lamp in her hand along the banks.  So it seems the planes flew back without targeting the city.   Hearing this we wanted to go and seek the blessings of Maa  Kali.   The temple is situated within the Bahu Fort and hence derives its name Bawe wali (meaning the resident of Bahu fort) Mata Temple.   The devotees are made to walk through  shopping lanes to reach the Fort entrance and through which you enter and at the end of the lawn

  After having the darshan of Maa Vaishno Devi, the next day we undertook our travel to visit Shiv Khori  a famous cave shrines of Hindus devoted to lord Shiva, situated in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir in India  located in the village sangar.  This is about 80 kms from Katra.  From Jammu it is about 140 kms.  This place is well connected with buses.  But many tourists come here by tourist cabs and buses. In all these places we had visited, we found that we need to climb up and down steep mountains cross small streams of water/river and when we are near the temple, go through narrow caves to have the darshan of the God or Goddess.  This temple is no exception to the above statement.   In fact all the private and tourist vehicles halt outside the town and you need to take small share autos to reach the temple entrance.  From  the temple entrance to the Cave wherein Lord Shiva is, it is through mountains.   Khori  means cave (Guffa) and  Shiv Khori  thus denotes Shiva's cav

Ma Vaishno Devi  a most revered Temple in North India which is visited by thousand so devotees everyday and it is like our Tirupathi temple for the North Indians.  We always believe that Unless Lord Balaji desires to see us, however much you try you cannot go to Tirupati, the North Indians also believe that The Call of Maa is essential to visit her which is called  Maan Aap Bulandi - which means that The Mother Herself Calls!  What a divine experience you have when you are in this cave temple. As you read through the History given below you will understand that Vaishno Devi Maata is an manifestation of Maa Kali, Lakshmi and Saraswathy who was sent to the earth to give blessings to the human beings before she gets united with Maha Vishnu.   The temple which is called Bhawan is located on Trikuta Mountain and Katra is the town which is at the foothills of this mountain.  The Trikuta Mountain is a single mountain but has 3 peaks and hence the name Trikuta.   Same way the Vaishno Devi Ma i

Nau Devi Temple is really a powerful Temple tucked into a prinsitine  surroundings.  It is about 6 kms from katra.  This is also a cave temple. You need to go down about 100 steps to enter the tiny cave.  In some places you have to be  crawl on your fours to reach the sanctum sanctorum.   The Goddessess are in the form of 9 “pind” (stone murthis) which are incarnations of Goddess Durga namely  Shailaputri Devi,  Bharmachirini,  Chandraghanta,  Kushmanda,  Skanda mata,  Katyayani,  Maha Kali,  Maha Gauri Siddhidatri.   There are two caves here, one housing a Shiva Linga and the other the Nau Devis. #naudevitemplekatra #jammutemples #katratemples  

Panchtarni   is the place you want to reach earliest if you are taking the Helicopter service to Amarnath. It is believed that Shiva when he was taking Parvati to a inaccessible location to share the Devarashiyam of Immortality left  each of his accompaniments that adorned him at one one place.  In here he is believed to have left behind the 5 elements before proceeding to Amarnath Cave. In the Baltal route - you start your walking/trekking or taking a horse or a dholi from Baltal.   But if you are taking an Helicopter your starting point is Neelgrath. The helicopter drops you at Panchtarni   From here to Amarnath you need to cover a distance of 6kms.  Not everyone is lucky to have the blessings of Bhole Nath that you climb down the Helicopter and go to Amarnath Cave have the darshan of Ice ling come back and take the Helicopter and fly down to Sonmarg all on the same day.  So this is an essential base camp for those that need a stay. The whole area is under the control of Para militar