A Spiritual Journey

Ashwin Sathyanarayanan English 10 Professor Stanley ain Essay That Once in a Life cartridge holder Chance It is a great feeling going to a designate where its a huge matter in virtuosos life. Revisiting Sacred found N. Scott Moma solar day had made a pilgrimage which his Kiowa ancestors. Momaday has express, There are certain villages, and towns mountains and plains that, having put one acrossn them, walked in them, lived in them, flush for a day, we keep forever in the perspicacitys eye. Just like how Momaday relived his ancestors trails, I had a chance as well. I was gold enough to be able to go on such a spiritual excursion that concourse would pay in thousands of dollars.The pilgrimage I would like to talk approximately is the one I took to a sacred city in India c t show up ensembleed Badrinath. I follow Hinduism, and in Hinduism at that place is a saying/belief that if we go on this enriching, and spiritual journey, we exit go to heaven after we pass. I have a g uru, like a living god, who I take heed to and look up to. He took me on this spiritual journey. This spiritual journey had started for me 7 years ago in 2005, around June I had leave San Francisco International Airport, and left(p) to my motherland India. I landed in impertinently Delhi, India to be exact. From there we drove to a city c exclusivelyed Kasi.The city of Kasi is know for its sacred river. My guru had told me that in Hindu mythology if you clean in the holy river of aggroup it will get rid of both your sins. We stayed the dark there and we went to the sacred river and bathed early in the morning around 5. Then we went to the tabernacle and did whatever prayer rituals that are performed after the bathing in the river. Later that day we took a bus from Kasi and drove into a city c altogethered Haridwar, one of the lovely cities in the foothills of the Himalayas. When we reached the city of Haridwar, my guru told us a little about the place before we got out of the bus.That is where I learned the myth being told that Haridwar is one of the four cities where amrit (the elixir of immortality) spilled from a pitcher which was being carried by a bird named Garuda. I was amazed by the fact, and my guru said, this is nothing wait and youll see more(prenominal) terrible things. He left me questionable that there were more amazing things than this. We got an auto (taxi) and went to the river because we heard that they do an extraordinary festive e precise night. This festive is known as Ganga aarti, and it happens at the river banks of the ganges (Har ki Pauri).At Har ki Pauri e real night at both banks of the river, passel are flooded, with an aarti in their hand. An aarti is a lamp lit by fire. later on the priests finishing chanting the mantras and envision the aarti to the gods, everyone lets the aarti down into the river and they pray what they want, and let the aarti go down stream. I was lucky enough to do that myself. We then went a ss to the hotel that we had check into into and left the side by side(p) day clog up on our tour. We then travelled to our next stanch Rishikesh, which is another city in the foothills of the Himalayas.We were in Rishikesh for no longer than 4 hours because we had to get to our sleep stop. During the four hours that we were there we went to a lot of ashrams (meditation center) and see many Saints. after the four hours had ended, we went cover charge to our bus and left to our night stop, which was called Nanda Prayag. Since it was night time and we were all tired from the really long day, we went to bed, dear I kept hearing the noise of the river really loud, and it sounded like it was save too constrictive. Next morning the noise of the river and the animals woke me up and the noise was serious so close that I had to go look how far it was.With all my curiosity when I went out to the balcony and I saw the virtually owing(p) view. I saw dickens of the around holy river s combine together, the combinations of the two rivers was just so distinct, the Alaknanda River and the Mandakini River confluence. At this place there was a tabernacle ashore of the river. by and by I went and bathed in the river I had gone to the synagogue and I had learned the history of this place, it was fascinating. Then we all left the temple to the bus and we left and arrived at our longest stay in our tour, Badrinath. Badrinath was literally the whole reason we went on this trip.It was known as one of the most holiest, and sacred places to be at. We arrived there later in the Afternoon. After we checked into our hotel, we went and explored the city. And while exploring the city we saw many beautiful temples, and all these select us to the main temple, the Badrinath Temple. We had to cross over a small walk bridge which went over the Alaknandha River, It went with such force, and if you sit in that water around-the-clock for more than x fifteen minutes, you will sur ely have a heart failure, because the water is that cold, and we are at an extreme altitude.And the most humourous thing about this cold river is after we crossed it we have to bathe before we enter the temple, even if we had bathed in the morning. When we went to the place we were supposed to bathe, we came to consider out that it was a hot spring and this hot spring was ten feet away from the extremely cold Alaknanda waters, ironic enough, I thought so. After we finished bathing there was a ritual which we had to perform. We had to get into check off new clothes and we had to give the clothes were wearing to the more unfortunate person people.So after we did that, we went into the main temple, it was enriched with beautiful colors and sculptures all made since the time the temple was created. We had gone in and while we were coming outside, we had ran into a very famous priest, and we all greeted him, and he invited us to come to his ashram, so we all went. There he told us ab out the main reason of this temple. This temple is only open during Spring, Summer and Fall. They closes the temple, right before we end gleam and enter Winter. The closing and opening of the temple is a huge ceremony.This is the most important ceremony to come to if you have major problems which need to be resolved. He told us that during the ceremony they do many poojas (rituals and prayers) and they have an extremely huge lamp and they fill it to the rim with oil and they light the lamp, and during the lighting of the lamp we all must(prenominal) pray for what we all want most. After they light it they close and seal the temple for six months through with(predicate) the harsh winters. The most amazing part is that even though it snows and rains, and harsh winds blow, the lamp never goes out. I was dull founded by this statement.It is said that it doesnt go out because of the bonds of all the prayers and wishes the people had made, it is so strong, that nothing can affect it. He continued by saying that after the six months pass, for the wish you made to come line up you, must come thorn for the opening ceremony of the temple. If indeed you do, you will see that the lamp that was lit is still lit and the glory of the light is just so divine. Since he had an urgent issue to deal with he left us in awe. My guru then told me, I told you I would show you something which is even more fascinating. I was speechless, and we left back to our hotel and slept.The next day my guru took us to the last village in India, Mana. My guru told me that this is the main source of the river Saraswathi, (the goddess of education) and he had told me that this river is so tricky and mischievous. My guru said that this river after 3 miles this river disappears, it is said that it runs underground and comes back up in a city more down south. After we saw where the main source had come from we saw this overtaking on the left and my guru had told me out of my whole family to go up because it was a very dangerous path/cave and he said I am the only one in the family that is very capable of going through it.As I went through this path I experienced the biggest fear of my life, snakes. They were literally everywhere. I had gone through this extreme passage and I got out of this tight hole and I could not believe my own eyes, there it was, The Great Wall of China. I had come back down the passage I went up but this time the snakes were all gone, there was none there anymore, which shocked me even more. I had come down and my guru said do not tell us what you saw.I was bursting in excitement and he made me hold it in. It was the hardest thing in life for me to hold in. After we left the village and started going back down on the bus, my guru called me and I went and sat next to him on the bus and he told me, now I want you to tell us all what happened. I had then told them that I went up this cave of snakes and saw the great wall, and on my way back not even o ne snake was there, everyone was in shock. That was the biggest mystery in my life till now.After we came back down we had left back to our ascendent destination New Delhi, India. On our way back though we went back in a pearly, I asked my guru why we didnt use the helicopter on the way up, and he said, you wouldnt have experienced all that you did now if you came on a helicopter. This was the sacred pilgrimage that all Indians must take at least once in your lifetime, according to Hindu mythology. I now have a dream to go back once again and revisit the same places and relive what did in 2005.