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The holy cave lies
nestled in the folds of the mighty Trikuta
mountain fifty kilometers from Jammu,
the winter capital of the State of Jammu
and Kashmir in India. Jammu is connected
with the rest of the country by rail,
road and air. From Jammu one has to travel
by road up to Katra which is the base
camp for the pilgrimage to the holy Shrine.
From Katra onwards the pilgrim has to
trek on foot for a distance of twelve
kilometers to reach the holy Shrine.
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Katra
at Night
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Enroute
the pilgrim crosses Banganga, Charan Paduka, Adhkwari
and Sanji Chhat before he reaches the holy cave.
Banganga is a small perennial stream and is considered
holy by the pilgrims.
According to the legend,
this
stream owes its existence
to the Goddess. It is believed
that while crossing this ravine on her way to
the holy cave on the mountain, the langoors accompanying
the Goddess felt thirsty.
However, there was no sign of water any where.
Therefore, the Goddess shot an arrow in to the
ground. The arrow went deep in to the bowels of
the earth and smashed its way to an aquifer of
crystal clear water, which jetted out of the earth
through the path bored by the arrow. The langoors
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Faith
Moves Mountains
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accompanying
the Goddess quenched their thirst. The Goddess
also drank some water and the party proceeded
ahead. This stream of water has been flowing continuously
since then. It is known as Banganga which is a
combination of two words- BAN and GANGA. Ban means
an arrow and commemorates the legend that the
stream gushed out after the earth had been struck
by an arrow shot by the Goddess. The word Ganga
denotes the purity and the holiness of the water
in the stream.
Charan Paduka is a small promontory about one
and a half kilometers beyond Banganga. According
to the legend the Goddess halted here briefly
to catch Her breath and to see if She was being
pursued by Bhairo Nath. While She stood here Her
feet were imprinted on the rock on which She was
standing.
Adhkwari
is a corruption of the word ADH KWARI which
means the eternal virgin and epitomises the
fact that Mata Vaishno Devi Ji is the eternal
virgin.
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People
resting at Adh Kwari
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Adhkwari
is the name of the place where the Goddess performed
Tapasya for nine months before She finally left
for Bhawan and the holy cave. Mata performed
her Tapasya at Adhkwari in a very narow cave
which is known as GARABH JOON. According to
the legend, when Mata reached Adhkwari She discovered
a narrow cave which was hidden by a dense over
growth of bushes and shrubs. She thought it
was an excellent place for performing Tapasya
because the likelihood of its being discovered
by Bhairo Nath was quite remote . Therefore,
She entered the cave and went into deep meditation.
She remained in this state of meditation for
nine long months. Meanwhile, Bhairo Nath who
was looking for Her with ferocious doggedness
finally discovered the cave and entered it.
When Mata realised that Bhairo Nath had not
only discovered the cave but also entered it,
she smashed another way out of the cave with
Her Trishul and swiftly left for the holy cave
at Bhawan. Since Mata remained in this cave
for nine months and also because of the fact
that this cave is extremely narrow and very
difficult to crawl through it is equated with
the womb of the mother through which every child
wriggles out at the time of its birth. Therefore,
the cave is called Garabh Joon. The word GARABH
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GarabhJoon
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means
the womb in which a child is conceived and the
word Joon is a corruption of the word YONI or
the female genetalia through which a child comes
out while taking birth. The Hindus believe that
in its journey of transmigration, the soul has
to take birth eighty four lakh times or pass
through eighty four lakh yonis, before it becomes
eligible to take birth as a human being. MOKSHA
can be achieved by the soul only in its human
form. If, however, a human being commits a heinous
sin then the soul again falls to the bottom
of the evolutionary ladder and must once again
embark on that long journey of eighty four lakh
births before it can once again assume the form
of a human being. The belief is that if a person
crawls through Garabh Joon he literally washes
away all his past sins and thus escapes the
horrifying prospect of falling to the bottom
of the evolutionary ladder and losing the chance
of attaining Moksha in this life.
There is no religious connection attached with
Sanji Chhat. It is relevant only due to the
fact that the uphill journey to the holy Shrine
ceases at Sanji Chhat and the track evens out
there after. On way to Sanji Chhat, the pilgrim
has to negotiate the tough climb of HATHI MATHA
which is so named because the climb in this
stretch resembles in steepness the fore head
of the elephant. The word Hathi means an elephant
and the word Matha means the forehead.
Two and a half kilometers beyond Sanji Chhat
is located the holy cave which contains the
holiest of the holy PINDIS manifesting Mata
in Her three forms of MAHA KALI, MAHA LAKSHMI
VAISHNO and MAHA SARASWATI. Each form represents
a particular attribute. Thus Maha Kali represents
TAM GUNA, Maha Lakshmi Vaishno represents RAJ
GUNA, and Maha Saraswati represents SATVA GUNA.
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