The Himalayas, the mind-blowing marvel …!

Goddess Mahalakshmi became a bhir tree to protect Lord Narayana who was doing penance from rain and fog!

We reached the Badrinath temple which is at an awesome height of 11,000 ft. after a difficult journey of five days. We reached there at about 7 p.m. on a Friday evening during Navarathri period. When the long journey, hunger, fatigue and other things led to a very low sugar level resulting in giddiness, I became very anxious about whether I would be able to have the darshan of Badrinath, who was just 50 ft. away. Most of the people who accompanied me in this trip were older to me. My grandmother was 88, my mother was 61. When they were all able to withstand the travails of the journey, the fact that I, much younger to them, couldn’t withstand made me feel very low. At Kedarnath, when many swooned, I was able to remain very energetic. But now … I felt totally nonplussed.

I was determined to have the darshan of Badrinath. Sugar candy is given as prasadam at the temple. I got a packet from one of the devotees there. After eating four or five candies and drinking water, I felt a little better. Then, we resumed climbing. We reached the temple prahara. The colorful temple stood majestically with shining snow hills in the background. We all wondered whether it was the Heaven where the God ruled. When we entered the mandap, devotees were reciting Vishnu Sahasranamam in mass prayer. After crossing the mandap, the beautiful sight of Badrinath, made of Saligram stone, portrayed along with His consort Lakshmi and also with Ganesh, Narnarayan, Garuda and Hanuman engulfed us.

A note about the temple:

Arundhathi, wife of sage Vasishta asked the sage to explain the importance of Sri Badrinath and also the benefits one got through His darshan. To this, the sage answered, “Whoever has the darshan of Badrinath, he attains moksha, sanctified by his devotion, irrespective of his sins. It is not easy to have the darshan of Badrinath. He, who prays to Him throughout his life only gets His darshan.”