It is said that once you do the holy pilgrim of amarnath you don’t have another birth they say it’s a door to moksh. But if you ask me the journey itself is a heavenly journey and once you reach the cave and see the shivling by your eyes after some 3 days climb in the cold weather and mountains you are undoubtedly gonna get emotional and cry for your achievement.

I am a person who believes in enjoying life in all situations and that’s why I have also gone ahead and made a wish list of things I wana do before I die. That list has lots of places to visit and one of the top places included amarnath yatra and kailash mansarovar. One of my close friend gautam has been visiting amarnath since 9 yrs now and I had heard loads of things about the same from him on various of our our meets at babulnath temple in Mumbai which is again a shiv ji’s famous temple. He fueled my wish all the more to visit amarnath and in my heart I always wanted to go there with him. Finally I told him to book the tickets this time but was still not sure if I would be able to go due to number of reasons.

Only when I boarded the train on 8^th july was I sure that finally I am going there.

Coming straight to the point where we started our yatra. It is a place called chandanwadi where we reach from pehelgham (the most beautiful place in india) from chandanwadi the 3 km to pissu top which is thrilling as its narrow and its tiring as well. The climb once done gives a view of the same river that flows in pehelgham it’s a breath taking view (hold your breath as all the journey till the cave is breath taking). Later from pissu top the next destination joji baal where the climb is ok you could enjoy the view around there later from jojibaal the next spot is directly shesnag where you have to hault for a night.

The spot is named sheshnaag because there is an immensely beautiful lake named sheshnaag there and its because of the same lake that we freeze with cold even after taking 2 to 3 warm blankets at night in the tents. But the lake is no less beautiful then any coral reeve beaches you see abroad. A thing worth mentioning is the efforts all the people who put up their BHANDARA’s and TENT’s put in your service. The bhandhara’s serve the yummiest kheer and rajma chaval (or may be I find them yummy as they are my favourites) and the tent guys also help.

NOTE – please don’t expect 5 star facilities in terms of toilets because your in the mountains not some holiday destination abroad. Mentioning this as heard many people crib on my way.

Next day the 1^st spot from sheshnaag is bawaltop and then is ganeshtop. They both are tedious climb but the destinations are near to each other so you can comfort urself saying “bus aa gaya”( hehehe). Also ganeshtop is the highest place in this yatra.

From ganeshtop there is major climb down for posh patri which is no less then 5 star hotel as you get almost every variety of food there from pizza to aloo chat to barbeque. After poshpatri is panch tarni where was our 2^nd night hault that place is called panch tarni as at that point 5 rivers meet and submerge in the ganga.

The 3^rd day I was very excited as it was the final 6 kms to the cave to get the darshan of the shiv ling the last 6 kms is a mix of climb and normal walk but the mere excitement of getting the darshan would make you climb it quickly or easily. After reaching a point 1 km away from the cave one of my friend was not well so we hired a tent there and decided to spend the night there and take the darshan early morning. Finally D DAY came and I reached the cave after a queue of 1 hour.

A few moments before I entered the cave I saw a pair of pigeons (there’s a very old story behind the 2 pigeons also in the history of the cave), that moment onwards I started feeling the aura of the whole place, its really not easy to put it in words but its still heavenly and when you see the shivling after a long wait and a 4 day journey you will undoubtedly get emotional and cry. The place really does give you the belief the MAHADEV has taken you under his shelter and that you have passed his test of all the hardships and strivings and finally he is here to take care of you. The Shivling on the day of my darshan was 12feet tall and it’s a sad thing that we can’t touch it anymore because of the precautionary measures taken by the government but none the less it is still worth all the pain and hardships people take to reach the cave.

On my way heard a lot of people saying “mahadev kahan chup ke baith gaye” due to tiredness but some how I feel that if you think about it positively mahadev himself will give you the strength to reach the cave. The sense of reaching the cave all by myself without any help is something only possible with the blessings of “baba barfani” (another name of amarnath shivling).

JAI BHOLE!

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