Uttrakhand- the thapobhumi- visit to Haridwar

Haridwar, the city of great religious significance is one of the holy places for hindus.  It is believed that Devas and yakshas had their darsan from lord Maha Vishnu at Haridwar. An amzing experience is in Haridwar at the time of Kumbha mela, which is a festival conducted every 12 years. Ardh kumbha mela is conducted every 6 years. For both these events,millions of  believers assemble for pooja held at the shores of river Gangesand they take dip in the river to clean oneself from all sins.Places to visit are Brahm Kund, subhash ghat, gaughat Kushavart ghat, sharavan nath ghat, Bhim Goda Tank, Sapta sarovar, Mansa devi & chand Devi temples, Kanhal , and Dasheswara Mahadeva temple. There are many more temples to visit.Aarti of each temple is different according to the practices of each Mandir.
Usually pilgrims are very paricular to start pilgrimage from Haridwar to seek blessings from Lord Shiva from Badrinath and Kedaranath. Haridwar is with so many ashram and Dharmasalas.

I wished to start  my religious tour to holy shrines of  Himalayas in this year, although I  had to postpone my visit to Badri Nath and Kedara Nath to next tear due to very bad weather. More over,  visit in next year will be with Dr. Gairola of Sreenagar, whose presence will be really worthy from the spiritual perspective.
I reached Haridwar on an intense rainy day. As directed by my beloved friend Dr. Latha Gairola, I reported to the office of Santhi Kunch ashram at 6 am. I left my suit case in the designated room and rushed to the temple on the banks of river ganges. I waited until the poojari could finish his morning rituals at the temple. He guided me to offer the farewell rituals of my dad. After finishing those rituals guided by poojari of  the temple on the banks of river Ganga, I took snan in ganga, offered pooja in the temple, gave bhiksha to all of those sitting on queues on both sides of the foot path, received prasad and returned to ashram.

After my visit to Haridwar, I proceeded to Irishikesh. It was a trip in rain. Before I reached Irishikesh, the driver took me to several temples. I got paid service from a tourist guide who explained everything to me.

I reached the Haridwar railway station at 5 pm to board Hemkunt expres to Jammu Tawi. Early morning at 4 30 the train reache dJAmmu. I was given a ride to Dr. Aarti 's house.