16,000 steps, 12 hours, benaras chat and more in a day.

Day two at varanasi. 23 dec 22.

The day started with a boat ride of the ghats of varanasi. Upstream to harishchandra ghat and then downstream with the river current!

Every inch of varanasi has its own history. Temples, saints, people, lanes, shops...which have been made, remade over and over again through thousands of years.

Our own house in brahmaghat, had its own history, when a idol of lord hanuman was found during its excavation of foundation during construction a hundred years ago...amazing! Our forefathers built a hanuman temple as a part of the house. The house is sold to now, but the temple is maintained by our family trust.

After having lunch of benaras kachoris and rabdi, the short solo walk to vishalakshi devi temple started. Our some family members were shopping and some sleeping in the hotel...I was out to accomplish what I had planned...

This temples is one of the shaktipeethas, where portions of devis body fell, as per our ancient history. The main idol is behind the idol that is seen from the front...an unusual arrangement...After meditating here, the next stop was telangwami math, which I was going to visit for the first time.

Telangswami, who was also called "living shiva", was a contemporary of ramakrishna.

On reaching the math, met a group of Russians...entered the basement, right under the place where swami used to sit. And was into shiv manas puja for some time. The peaceful feeling was amazing. The Russians were deep into meditation, as I left this place. Another amazing experience.

Next stop was bindu madhav temple...which is in a small building, where the idol was placed after it was demolished and a mosque was built by aurangzeb. The bindu madhav temple was the largest temple in this area in 1600s. Vishweshar temple was much smaller. I saw this temple by chance, as I waited for telang swami math to open by 4 pm. A few Google searches and I knew about the grand temple which stood there earlier, instead of the mosque. I decided to take darshan of bindu madhav. Lord tirupati balaji is avatar of bindu madhav. It gets lots of devotees from andhra and South of india. The original temple is one of the five made by madhvacharya, a Great soul, who disagreed on one aspect of adwaita and formed his own darshana/philosophy. He has a large following in the south of India.

A key point to note is that many have commented, agreed or disagreed with adi shankaracharya. The is the guiding light for all.

As I entered the temple, I met the chief trustee, murlidhar patwardhan. He is my nanis first cousin! I may have met him earlier in my school days, but I did not recollect...He was so happy to his grandson! A Long chat followed about family, history of kashi, how so many marathi families moved there with the peshwas...time just flew. it was time to leave for ganga arti now.

I make it a point to donate generousLy to our temples, priests, give tips the local rickshaw, taxi fellows, hotel staff, waiters etc. Not bargain with small shopkeeers. Today's strength is economic strength and intellectual sharpness not the strength of the sword or no of people in army. (Look no further than israel) In sanatana dharma, we dont have a compulsion of donating a certain percentage of our income like it is in abrahamic religions. It is out of own free will that we give for strengthening our own community.

I walked again all the way, covering many ghats...along the river...All of a sudden, a cow came running towards me, everyone, including me dodged her...maybe she was afraid is something and looked a bit disoriented...no one was hurt! In kashi, your awareness level must be high...to avoid being knocked down by cows, fooled by fake pandas, tempted to have bhang, to name a few!

Saw a few architecture students making drawings of the ghats, as a part of their assignment...was interesting to speak to them.

On the way, I passed through manikarnika ghat where dead bodies are cremated round the clock. We are all going to end like this...watched it for some time...This is one of the definite stages for us. When the body is no more. The rich, poor, young, old, men and women were being consumed by fire, many at a time...side by side..

The ashes of a select few from here are taken to the kashi vishwanath temple everyday morning for bahsma puja. My grand parents And their parents had this wish fulfilled many decades ago.

Evening was the time to attend ganga arti, another spectacular event. Here I had the privilege of helping an elderly person down the stairs of the ghats after the arti. I felt as if I was helping my father...(he passed away in 2020).

Nothing in kashi is complete without having chat at kashi chat bhandar! Eight of us, 34 dishes consumed in 40 minutes!

Darshan at kaal bahirav mandir followed. The master of time and death. And the gatekeeper of kashi.

Next stop, hotel and sleep. Next day to delhi!

Many followers of sanatan dharma have not been taught the in depth principles of awareness, acceptance and abundance, nirguna state and saguna bhakti, how they co exist. Most devotees are doing things, as a part of theIr family culture, or to get something or avoid something.

As my sound of inflternal aum becomes louder and louder, the mission for this is life is turning into creating a logical, fact based, easy, fun driven, question answer based system for the next generation to align them to this great culture, using the same tools. Mobile and social media.

Tools change over a period of time, but the goal remains the same.

The resolve has only become stronger with the grace of lord shiva.🙏🏼