Meditation Camp at BrahmaKumaris, Mt. Abu – Day 6

Travel Experience | Ricky | October 6, 2009 at 3:27 am

Today being my last day here at Brahmakumaris I was a little excited and a bit too nervous too, as I would be back home tomorrow boarding my night train Ranakpur express from Abu road station. We were supposed to visit all major famous destinations of Mount Abu including the oldest Jain temples that were built up centuries ago. The first we started in the morning was meditation class and then spend some time in solidarity at Baba’s room. All of us were ready by 7:00 am in the morning, all refreshed and raring to go, our Scorpio driver came right on time and we arranged our luggage inside the vehicle.

As we drew outside the main gate of BK I looked back upon the memories, the first time I entered these gates of peace and happiness. It was seriously a blessing to be here, as we were godly children, baba loved us and he got us the teachings, to love everyone around. The first we headed was at Behru Tarak which was located at a distance of 68 kilometers from Brahmakumaris, it was a beautiful jain temple situated amidst the mountain with the whole area enveloped with peaceful environment and lovely breeze passing by, as it was early morning we felt very nice because the sun was still rising and we didn’t get tired while on travel. At the temple we had quick breakfast of steaming hot moong (grain) to go with Khakras (made out of wheat chappatis), it was all very delicious with lovely tea and coffee. All the places were lined up to visit so we didn’t waste much time here and headed towards Meerpur that, is located at a distance of 28 kilometers, the temple was built up in the 12th century and is around 1356 years old but believe me, it was rock solid even in the 21st century, the carvings inside were really beautiful and the serenity of the place made it more beautiful, the name of the god was, “Bhidbhanjan Parswanath”, we went inside to seek god’s blessings and praised the people who made this beautiful temple. There were no houses or people around the place, the temple must have seen so many generations come and go. On our way ahead, we came across Sartanpura Hanumanji also known by the name Panchmukhi, the god having 5 faces; it was beautiful temple with traditional designs situated along the path.

We were a kind of exploring the place so we didn’t actually fix the places we would go so whatever came across we went to see it and our driver being a local here knew every nook and corner of the place that actually benefited us. Ahead at 17 kilometers, we reached Diyanaji Tirth Dham also known by the name Jeevit Mahavir, the place was serene and calm especially not because they were at mountains but due to the people who have maintained that peaceful environment here and there were hardly any human dwellings around the place. The name of the place was Ker, and tribal people still live here in their natural dwellings. As the state of Rajasthan was declared draught hit there was no farming so people had started earning money by doing road maintenance work, it was really a sad sight to see herds of cattle, goats and camels being taken to Gujarat for grazing due to lack of rains here in the state. Later on our way to pawapuri which was located at a distance of 21 kms from ker, I noticed there were lots of green butterflies moving around the place, I think they were enjoying the cool green atmosphere outside.

The place Pawapuri was also famously known by the name Jeev Maitri Dham, the temple is spread over 300 acres of land having different gardens and lawns, as soon as we entered the temple I could see circular gardens having beautiful varieties of plants and flowers, the place was peaceful and inviting as we could feel the breeze passing by. We took a ride of golf cart taking us around the temple area to show cattle houses, the residential arrangements by the temples, the children garden, etc. the temple has 10 gods, the main one being Sankheshwar Parswanath and 4 goddesses. It had 5 beautiful gardens for children named as “BalVatika” and a number of cow shelter homes named with different villages names. They have over 5,200 cows in the temple area itself. The architectural design of the temple was huge, made out of Bonxipad stone it is also commonly known by the name Lal Pathar specially being brought from Jodhpur, the work of the temple is on since 14 years on and still it is going on to make it more beautiful, donations keep pouring in and they keep developing the place. While on our round in golf cart, I saw Goenka Dharmshala (residential arrangements by temple authorities). After having our delicious lunch here, we headed for Jeerawala temple which is very famous and old, now they are planning to revamp the temple, so the model piece had been kept there for viewing, it was looking very beautiful and charming, we rested here for nearly 2 hours as they had good resting arrangements.

After having a quick nap we were all set to move towards our way to Mount Abu road station, on our way we decided to visit Dantani Tirth, which is said to be 1000 years old, although the structure is new they have maintained the sanctity of the place, the Muslim rulers of olden times had invaded the place so they had hidden the statues of the god to avoid from getting destroyed, now no one knows where they were hidden. Today, they have put up new statues and structures, it’s been 25 years now, the new structure is in existence, the place has over 80 Gods. The caretaker of the temple arranged for us steaming hot tea with a taste of ginger powder that was very refreshing. Back in no time we were set sailing for our ride home, reached station well before 1 hour of the actual time, we ate the most famous Rabri (sweet item made of milk), the taste was simple mind blowing, I cannot let go off that taste still yet! The next morning we were back to our city and I could see myself a little relaxed then earlier even after seeing the hectic schedule, I got a little irritated with the atmosphere, seeing bumper to bumper traffic, men fighting on roads, poverty around the place, etc. but this is the way life moves on and so do we!