April 2024, Ashta Vinayak Yatra

 

Once Mahadev’s darshan was over the next concern was how to reach Mumbai. The original plan was for Bablu to drop us at Pune station which was around 3 hours’ drive away. We boarded the vehicle and instructed Bablu to take us to the nearest good restaurant where we can get some good tasty fast food.   After a hearty meal which was a lunch cum snacks cum dinner, we headed towards Pimpri station. Jagruti was sure that we would get a vehicle which would take us till Dadar. We fixed a vehicle on per seat rate basis from outside Pimpri station. The Ertiga driver took a halt for filling CNG for the vehicle. After fueling the vehicle we headed towards the Pune Mumbai expressway. As the most elderly person of the group I got the privilege of sitting next to the driver, but to my surprise I found that this seat did not have the mandatory seat belt. My surprise turned to mild horror when I realized that the driver took the road sign of “speed limit 100 KMPH” quite literally. What I witne...

Our next destination was Shivneri Fort, the birth place of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The fort is located at the top of the hill at an height of around 3500 feet. From the base one has to climb around 450 steps to reach the top. The distance from the base to top and back to base along with the sight-seeing at the top works out to around 4 kilo meters.   I am not sure about the other group members, but as a trek I found it a bit challenging, especially without proper footwear and that too in the scorching April heat. I was thankful for the dark glasses and the cotton hat which I had taken along. By the time we returned to base I was exhausted and was thankful to get back to the comfort of our air-conditioned vehicle.   We decided to skip lunch and visit Bhima Shankar Shiv temple, one of the 12 Jyotirlinga. Our idea was to have lunch after having Mahadev’s darshan. However HE had HIS own plans for us, HE wanted to ensure that we remember this trip for a long long time! We...

27 th April 2024, Saturday In terms of the itinerary originally scheduled, we felt today was probably the most relaxed day with only 2 of the remaining Ashta Vinayak temples to cover in addition to whatever additional “bonus” destinations we could manage. Atleast that was what we had in mind, but what actually happened today was in total contrast to what we expected! Following our practice of getting up early with an alarm we got up at 4 AM, had a good shower, had tea at the local Tea shop and got ready for the travel. Today being Sankashti a special day dedicated to Lord Ganesha we wanted to reach and cover the temple visits before the crowds started. Also, in terms of distance to be traveled the remaining 2 temples were at quite a distance with respect to our lodgings. We had planned in such a way that we would check out of the rooms with our luggage, cover the temples and other outings for the day and leave for Mumbai directly after the last temple darshan. Accordingly, we ch...

After enjoying the beautiful surrounding we proceeded towards the last of the Ashta Vinayak temples in our list –the Girijatmaj Temple in Lenyadri. Carved into the rocky cliffs of the Sahyadri mountains, this temple showcases the brilliance of ancient Indian cave architecture. "Girijatmaj" translates to "son of the mountain," signifying Ganesha's association with Parvati, the daughter of the mountain god Himavan. We had a good exercise climbing the steep staircases cut in the rocks. Locals warned us to be on the lookout for monkeys on the way to the temple. These monkeys would snatch prasad or any other eatables visible through transparent plastic covers. All of us had decided in advance that when visiting the last of the Ashta Vinayak temples on our list we would purchase prasad and offer the same to the Lord and take it home to Mumbai. After hearing the locals’ warning, we decided to have all the prasad placed in an opaque back pack so that nothing would v...

By now, the cool air conditioning of our car felt like a welcome sanctuary. We'd conquered two out of the four Ashta Vinayak temples on our list for the day, with some exciting bonus stops at Sangameshwar Mahadev and Jejuri Khandoba temple.   Our next destination was Siddhivinayak Temple in Siddhatek. This temple sits perched on a hilltop, overlooking the Bhima River. Its name comes from "Siddhi," meaning supernatural powers, which Lord Vishnu is said to bless devotees with here. We reached the temple by 2:30 pm, but the scorching sun made the heat at Mayureshwar feel like a gentle breeze in comparison. Thankfully, the temple itself was nearly empty, likely due to the heat. We enjoyed a peaceful darshan and made a quick retreat back to our air-conditioned car for the long drive to Ranjangaon.   By 5 pm, we arrived at the Mahaganapati Temple, where Lord Ganesha is worshipped in his grand form as "Mahaganapati," the "great Ganesha." The towering st...