A deeply soul-satisfying pilgrimage to Varanasi.  Last week of December 2008 was the foggiest period in the year. Our train to Benares was eight hours late. Instead of the scheduled 7 a m , it reached at around 3.15 pm in the afternoon. Almost the entire day was rendered waste. At the railway station, my friend Pathakji was there to receive us along with his friend in a brand new Spark. All of us managed to accommodate ourselves in the rather cramped quarters and left the imposing station building decorated with temple like Gopurams on both  sides.

We were to stay in an average three star hotel. It was fairly basic, clean and conveniently located.

In the evening evening we went to the Sankat Mochan  temple. It is an ancient Hanuman temple where Tulsidas is supposed to have written part of his Ramcharitmanas. We reached there around 7 p m on a cycle rickshaw. We had to leave our mobiles/cameras etc outside the temple in a locker. Inside the temple was very organised. Prasad counter for different types of prasadas. Shoe points etc. There is a huge banyan tree with a lot of monkeys. This is the famous tree below which Tulsidasji is supposed to have composed part of his works. The main temple is quite plain in appearance but very strong on sanctity. The main deity is quite an ancient idol and inspires both reverence and awe. We attended the Aarati and offered our prasad. All in all, it was a good experience. We repeated this trip the next morning at 5.30 am. It was cool. On our way back we saw the Durga Chandi temple. This is also one of the ancient temples of Varanasi. We offered our obeisances.

At night we were driven to the Famous ancient Maha Mrityunjaya temple inside the old city. Motoring through the crowded markets and narrow lanes was an amazing experience. We met the Panditji in this temple who performed a small pooja and Sankalpam. We were asked to come to Bhishma Chandi Mandir in the morning for the abhishekam.

Next day, we rose early. Looking for local breakfast (Kachori) we went to a famous eating joint “Jhullan Prasad” near the Kutchery(Court) Complex. SInce it was yet to start serving, we decided to go for a  Pooja at the Bhishma Chandi mandir. This is also a  very old temple located in the Cantonment area. The panditji there showed us the both the chandi and the chandesh temples and we got the pooja (rudrabhishekam) done very peacefully. Again, a deeply satisfying experience.

By 11 am we were back to Jhullan Prasad for a late Breakfast (or early lunch). We had the greatest meal of the trip. The Kachoris & the Sabzi were out of this world. We left for Sarnath immediately thereafter.