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The literary meaning of Darshan
is to see but in here it means paying visit and homage to the deity.
Before going for the Darshan of Goddess one
has to bath is must There are various bathing places made for the purpose.
There is also arrangement at ‘Charanganga’ the stream which comes out of
the holy cave. People can use this water for bathing. At Ban Ganga just
3 kms from Katra,a check point is there where the verification of tokens takes
in. Here at the pilgrims sit down as per the serial number on the slip
given to their group and wait for their turn to have
Darshan of Goddess. Refreshment facilities are reasonably
accessible here. Taking a holy dip in Ban Ganga and refreshment there at,
a pilgrim get a refresh enthusiasm and starts further journey. There are two
routes from here to the holy shrine. One is short but tedious journey route-
i.e. stairs/steps, and the other being the long but easy and happy one which
can be easily followed. It is observed that the maximum pilgrims follow this
route due to its being untiring and inspiring journey. As it is already
discussed that pilgrims keep singing and chanting ‘"Jai Mata ki !",
"Sherawali!" "Jyetamwali!", "Mata teri sadahi jai!"etc, and proceed further
singing different Bhajans and Keerthans(devotional songs) toward the shrine
filled with the thoughts of the "Darshan" of Mataji it is a simple way to
ignore the exhaustion during the resoluted journey and pilgrims have to
plumb the hill to reach to the Shrine. How
ever, there are many means of transportation like pony and palanquin for
the weak and disabled persons to visit the hermitage.. It is to be noted
that the pilgrims are not allowed to carry any sort of leather item, cigarettes
or any other intoxicants during visiting the shrine. In the main entrance
of the cave, there is a huge stone lying which is called Bhairav’s body who had
been beheaded by the Mother Goddess Vaishnodevi . While going to have
Darshan of Goddess, one has to lie down on this stone and enter the cave, which
is about 18 meters long. The pilgrims tender their offerings coconut its
at the entrance of the cave and then they can obtain the same on the other end
of the cave which is newly built exit by producing the slip given to them.
About two decades ago, the path way up hill use to be very difficult for
the pilgrims to walk. People use to remove their footwear and walk barefooted
traveling about ". Thus, proceeding further, comes Charanpaduka, and
from here about 3.5 kms there is a place known as "Adeekumari".
Here some pilgrims take rest. Then people reach Garbhagupha and Hatheematha
respectively. Hatheematha is considered to be the most difficult to
climb amongst all other places enroute to Vaishnodevi.
The elevation of the hill from ‘Adeekumari’ is like a face of an elephant,
which is very steep and makes it difficult for the pilgrims to traverse. Thus,
is the name ‘Hateematha’ become popular. Sanjheechat is situated about 2
kms away from here that a small pathway leads to
Bhairav Mandir. Generally, people don't go to ‘Sanjheechat’ from
‘Hatheematha, but they follow the new path through ‘Delhiwali Chabeel’ and thus
move to Mataji’s Mandir. This is because the Darshan of
Bhairav is fixed to have at the time of return journey. Before the
Darshan of Matajee, it is seen that 2-3 taps from where the chilled and
sweet water keeps on coming out. Arriving here, people bathe and renew
themselves forgot the entire fatigue. Before making the new entrance, people
used to lay down or bend and go for Darshan. But now a days, this problem
is not there. One need to just bend before going for the Darshan of presiding
deities-Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati.
Due to a heavy in flow of devotees, the Yatra
is continued round the clock- forgetting the nights’ rest of the earlier days.
With many fold increase in the number of pilgrims, unending queues, the
pilgrims are sent out within no time. They hardly get a glimpse of Goddess and
are pushed out so that the other devotees in queue also get a chance to take
Darshan. However, the temple is opened around the clock as the
longing people do crave for a glimpse of the Goddess for life time. And it is
need les to say that every thing is available there for worship at any time of
the day. By the way, its worth to say that, only 20000 visitors are allowed for
Darshan in a day. Overcrowd during vacation are very awesome and tiring.
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