Chp 3 Day 1: Start from Cedar Rapids, IA March 2, 2012

Cedar Rapids, Iowa is a tranquil, quaint little place close to Chicago, Minneapolis and St Louis. We were supposed to start for this trip on March 2, 2012 around 2pm. Our friend Kiran was supposed to arrive at noon to drop us the airport. The bags were getting packed upto the last minute and tremendous anxiety about weight restrictions made us check their weight using a puny handheld instrument. Suddenly as I straightened after closing the last zipper my back got locked (muscle pull..!). I had exactly 1.5 hours before we walk out of the door. Outside ice storm had started. I had to buy good walking slippers for both of us since it would be very hot in South India and Tirthankar was at work. Dousing in Bengay, I crawled into the car and started when my husband arrived from work and warned me of the extremely slippery road condition. He had to finish his last minute packing. Skidding and sliding most of the way I inched into the parking lot, of the mall, got a pair for T and another pair for Swami D and returned home to find Kiran already parked in the driveway. Kumar also had come to bid goodbye and drop off some last min essentials like antibacterial wipes.

We hastened excited pranams to Thakur (Sri Ramakrishna) and Ma (Sarada Devi), bundled into Kirans’s car and started off on our epic journey right on time.

Due to weather of course our flight was cancelled and we were booked into another flight to LHR (Heathrow) via Minneapolis. We would have one and a half hour in London to pick up our luggage, check it in and meet Maharaj and catch the flight to India. So we called him from Minneapolis to warn him that there might be a chance of us missing the flight and we will go to Vrindaban on our own if this so happened. We were getting heartbroken at the very thought of not being able to travel with Maharaj, the sole purpose of our trip. Our pilgrimage started with being in maharaj’s company and the thought of losing it at the very start was unbearable.

But of course Mother had to make this interesting otherwise it would be too  straightforward.. boring..! A lot of heartfelt sincere japa as piteous cries were directed to her. So she relented.. our aircraft arrived on time, with all our luggages intact and finally after checking in we found ourselves in the brand new terminal C with just our carryons.

We spotted Maharaj’s ochre garb in a distance sitting in the lounge his back to us. So we snuck up on him from behind from both sides vying with each other on who gets to do his/her pranams first..! Our sparkling sets of 32s (teethy grins) betrayed the tremendous joy and excitement. Maharaj was very happy to see us and we had our first trip-coffee together.

Very soon we were called to board and the seats were comfortable with maharaj occupying the window and Tirthankar getting to sit next to maharaj. The deal was I would get to seat next to Maharaj on the way back. I had loads of Advil (ibuprofen) and Bengay (muscle relaxant) on (which was forgotten for the moment in the excitement) which I did not want maharaj to know hoping I would become alright by the time I reached Delhi.

On the way we had quite a few discussions on various points but he wouldn’t let us record those. Yes, thankfully I carried the voice recorder along with my camera and extra memory sticks + battery charger of course..!    

 I wanted to record a smile from Maharaj at the commencement of the trip and here it is…

Maharaj is greeting anyone who gets to travel with us on this pilgrimage.

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Chp 2: Introduction

     Thus it all started with a desire... as one desire leads to another… pretty soon all the desires quilted into an astonishingly beautiful, almost unachievable wish.. to visit the pilgrimages of this sacred land with our spiritual guide. Yes, this impossible dream, the coveted desire of any initiated devotee of God, did come true… only by the grace of the ever gracious Guru (The Supreme Lord, manifesting as our spiritual guide in our earthly sojourn to lead us back to the Supreme Abode).

     Once the consent was obtained, next came the final sieving of the destinations which is an equally insurmountable task. As mentioned before, the whole subcontinent of India is holy. It maynot be an exaggeration to state that there is not a single region in India that does not have a place of pilgrimage associated with it. So, given this unique opportunity which maynot be presented ever again, which places should we actually visit?  My husband, Tirthankar, had never been to South India and myself when I was only 12 years old. Except for KanyaKumari I did not remember anything. Time available from work was a month.

     We will be using the term “maharaj” throughout this narration. In Ramakrishna family, the swamis are addressed reverentially as “Maharaj”. The tradition started with the Ramakrishna Mission (RKM) first president, Swami Brahmanandaji Maharaj, being addressed as “Raja Maharaj” or simply “Maharaj”.

     Again, true to his role, Swami Dayatmananda (Head of Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre, UK) himself suggested the places we should visit, when we should visit, how we should visit, all the minutest of details. So maharaj being aware of our complete blissful ignorance, himself took upon the task to chart out the itinerary, make arrangements of our lodgings, sightseeing, salient things to cover and yes, even transportation..! All these details will be forthcoming. So, here is an all renouncing monk, a free soul, going for his own time in his beloved motherland to be with his friends and family (fellow monks), once every four years maybe and here he gladly takes upon himself to carry us “babies” along with him. Mothers carry diaper bags, strollers, car seats, toys and God knows what for their little ones when she travels. This is well accepted because babies are helpless. Here we two are middle-aged couple tagging along with a free soul… If this hassle is not compassion I do not know what is..!

     So, maharaj chose the month of March, 2012 for this journey and we would visit Vrindaban, Belur Math, Dakshineshwar, Kanyakumari, Madurai, Rameshwaram, Chennai, Kanchipuram, Coimbatore, Ooty, Mysore Ponnampet, Bangalore and Ulsoor.

     Since this was one of kind experience for us, we decided to share with all and the method chosen was: “Come and join us for a pilgrimage to India in company of Swami Dayatmanandaji Maharaj”…!!!!
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Chapter 1: Background Information on India.

2012 Pilgrimage of India   

 India.... the little continent (subcontinent), that has it all... !

     India… the beautiful Mother...Her crown is the majestic snowcapped proud Himalayas, Her right arm holding the mysteries of the Thar desert, Her love ever flowing as the mighty Ganga, Her left arm.. the lush paddy fields like Her beautiful fingers dipping the blue waters from which She arose..at GangaSagar the place of sacred union of Ganga with the Sagar (Sea). Her feet is washed by the 3 giant Sagars: Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. And who indeed would be sitting at Her feet worshipping her with His heart's blood? .. but her bravest, the most glorious Son this world has ever seen.. Swami Vivekananda... at the southernmost tip of Her splendid form.

     India… the little place on earth, that holds in her bossom the most ancient of traditions & civilizations, Her splendor is exhibited in the riches of architectures, music, art, literature, culture, spices, jems, technology.. almost all aspects of all fields. Her history is a continuous living document. However, Her strength lies in the unique attribute of Her love of all…

     India… the loving Mother…Her love of all cultures, all religions, all learning.. nay Her love is symbolized by the Immortal tomb of Love, the Taj Mahal. In Her fertile land, all religions flourish in brotherly love.. She is not partial to any of Her children.. for Her Love’s basis is quintessence of all spirituality,.. the Sanatana Dharma.. the Eternal Religion..  Her spirituality were revelations perceived by the sages (seers, self-realized souls, Buddhas, ever free, saints, incarnations.. etc) as “Truth (God) is one, Sages call It by various names” (Ekam sat, Vipra Bahudha Vadanti.. the famous Sanskrit verse. The One Truth (God, Brahman,..the Imperishable. Unalterable, etc.) manifests in different forms (with various attributes) and with associated different names and thus a plethora of Gods, Goddesses and incarnations bear testimony to the One imperishable Truth. Thus, She teaches that all religions are different paths leading to the same goal. She calls all her children as “Amritasya Putrah:” “Children of Immortality”.

      India…Once upon a time, a mighty river named Indus (Indu) flowed from the Himalayas via the path which is now between India and Pakisthan. Most of the ancient civilizations were sprawled along both its banks. As the Persians, Arabs and other traders came, there arose a need to name Her existing children. This is very much like the Light giving Sun need to be named “SUN” after its and other planets’ discovery by the people of the earth. The most popular inference is that the Indus was mispronounced by the Persians as Hindus and thus from  Indus –> Hindus came the transition. And since any mass of people needed a religion “ism” to relate to: Hinduism was the term bestowed upon. In keeping with ancient tradition however, this Hinduism should actually have been named “VEDANTA”  where Vedas = Knowledge and Anta = End or quintessence. Thus Vedanta is the Essence of the highest Truths of any philosophy; in this case Sanatana Dharma….. the Eternal Religion.

     India.. the ever sacred land whose very dust was holy to the greatest of the Rishis of modern age: Swami Vivekananda; proclaimed that the backbone of India is Her spirituality. Time and Time again, for centuries, grateful sovereigns and children of the dust of India, extolled their beloved form of God in various epithets of temples which are nothing short of wonder as they stand the test of time through centuries with minimum maintenance. Millions of devotees offer their hearts’ prayers in these sanctified places. Over centuries, Incarnations, saints, sages and devotees have made these places, the places of pilgrimages.. These are scattered throughout India; all over.

     Main forms of God that are prevalently worshipped are The Devi (Mother) aspect, The Vishnu (protector) aspect and Shiva ( the annihilator (of ignorance)) aspect. Like all established religions of the world, pious Hindus also believe in pilgrimage as one of Human Birth’s must do austerity.2012 Pilgrimage Introduction
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