At 4 o’clock in the morning we got out of the  taxi or might be said the taxi driver left us the place out of the car at a point nearer to the entrance of joji-la-pass on Srinagar- Leh highway. We left Leh yesterday afternoon and from there we are coming here by a hired taxi. When you got down the sky is full of stars the moon of 13th day before full moon is covering its body in the lap of the hill, the lights of the camp of Amarnath pilgrimage at Baltal can be seen below. Myself and my wife were standing on the highway with two suitcases in our hand. wondering how to get from here to Baltal camp or Sonemarg, at that time I could see a light coming from the side of jojila pass.

The car stopped after raising my hand and I requested the driver to take us and he agreed to take us to Baltal camp. It seemed to me like an angel sent by God. Arriving at Baltal, first we went to inside of pilgrim’s camp and found pity conditions of fresh room and latrine, we decided not to stay there but to go Sonemarg for better staying although it was 15 kilometres far from here towards Shrinagar. Moreover the number of passengers in the camp is very low because almost everyone had left the Camp after visiting Amarnath cave. Amarnath Darshan will be closed after full moon, the day after tomorrow. After waiting for a while one taxi coming from Sonemarg vacating its passengers nearer to us. I approached the taxi driver to take us to Sonemarg  and he was agreed. We came from Baltal to Sonemarg .

In the meantime while we waiting for a taxi to come Sonemarg I finished an important task. I found one horse owner who had two horses and approached him for making arrangements for tomorrow’s up and down journey to visit Amarnath cave and he was agreed. He will accompanied us to visit Amarnath Cave and returned to Sonemarg after ‘darshan’ of Ice Lingam. Knowing the actual position of the road from him I was assured that there was no landslide on the road or there is no possibility of such danger because of the rocky mountain. I asked him to meet us at Sonemarg  with our phone number and I also took his phone number for communication. Arriving at Sonemarg I found a place in a hotel next to the tourist bungalow of the Jammu and Kashmir tourism department. Arrangements of the hotel were good, so we decided to stay there after checking the condition of the room. The first thing to do after entering the room with our luggage  was to take a good bath in hot water because we felt very tired due to cold and waking up at last night for the journey we covered from Leh last night. Fatigue was gone after bathing in hot water.

At 9:30 o’clock in the morning the owner of horses came and discussion had with him in presence of the hotel manager about journey to be undertaken for visiting of Amarnath cave tomorrow. We shall leave from here at 4:30 a.m. in the morning and after visiting Amarnath cave we would return back here and after returning here we  would pay the owner of horses a total sum of rupees 3600/- for two horses. I was sure of going but there is no guarantee until we return back tomorrow after seeing ice lingam at Amarnath, but the only hope was that since the number of pilgrimage were almost negligible the horse owner  would surely come. Of course everything  was by the grace of lord Amarnath. We had been receiving blessings from the unseen of that eternal radiant man in every event since dawn. We went to the market and bought two sticks for two of us because those sticks would be the hope of our journey on tomorrow. We felt asleep for an hour after lunch because we did not sleep on yesterday night.

In the afternoon we walked to the Indus river bridge on the way to Baltal, east of  Sonemarg. After standing on the bridge for a while and watching the setting sun beautiful scene, we returned to the market place in the evening. Shops were full of stocks of local handicrafts and warm clothings. After returning from the market we took our dinner and went to bed because we had to get up tomorrow early in the morning and after completing bath before 4.00 o’clock. Excitement in the mind which would go over only after visiting of ice lingam at Amarnath, the latent desire of our mind. That much awaited precious moment would be tomorrow morning.                                      

The next day before 4:30 o’clock in the morning we were ready and the horseman came with scheduled time with two horses. we went out wearing monkey cap, muffler, Sweater, wollen garments, gloves etc. Although it was in the month of July,  but we felt severe cold in the dawn. We took dry food, raisins, logenzes, chewing gum, water bottle, first aid in a bag on the back. We reached Baltal at 5 o’clock in the morning. The height of Baltal  was 9120 ft. There our horsemen waited for a while for other horse riders who would go on the road so that we could go together. We could see two helicopters standing on the helipad. Helicopter passengers lined up outside the barbed wire fence of the helipad. Helicopter service will start shortly after 6:30 p.m. and it would take 10 minutes to go upto Pancho Tarani, five kilometres from Amarnath cave. The morning sky was clear. Only eastern side of the surrounding hill, a glow of aurora light was seen slowly through the pine, fir and birch trees.

Our journey started at 5:45 a.m. with chorus of ‘Joy Baba Amarnath’s joy’. Our mountaineering path was to South East of Baltal. Position of Amarnath cave was to South-east corner. The first two kilometres of the mountaineering road upto Domail was good. Thereafter hills on the left side, river Amarganga on the right side and between hills and river our path was very steep. Occasionally the river currents freeze, there are current flowing through the ice floor. Somewhere again a huge hole in the ice. On the other side of the river, pine, fir trees stood proudly. My wife was sitting on a horse, holding the horse’s briddle. By the side, my horse was going slowly as I fond of trecking on this dangerous, beautiful mountaineering path which had wild beauty. I was going to see the wild mountain beauty on both sides of the trecking path with a bag on my back and holding the stick on my hand. In every 10 minutes gap the helicopter was flying with passengers, but the sound of the helicopter was disturbing calm and quiet feeling of the circumstances. The road was become narrow two to three feet somewhere. We wear slowly crossing that places. About 4 km from Domeil and 1 km before Barari Marg, we reached the highest point of this route and thereafter descending to the bottom.

On the way we did not see any passengers from the opposite direction but from time to time we met army personnel and Jammu and Kashmir police team. In this way they were patrolling for the safety of the passengers. On our way a few passengers like us were going. There were so many slopes in one place that you could not get down on horseback. My wife had to get off her horse and walked down the slope with a stick. After 4 km of Barari Marg, we crossed the Sangam at the foot of Sant Singh top, at an altitude of 13600 feet, i.e. 11 km from Baltal. The river Amarganga was far below the confluence. After going one km from Sangam it was seen that another path had joined from the right side. This route was a conventional ‘Darshan path’ i.e,  Pahelgaon, Chandan badi, Bayuzan or Wabzan, Sheshnag,  Mahagunas paas,  Panchatarani Sangam, a total of 44 km road from Pahelgaum. Amarnath cave was 4 km from here. In other words the road from Pahelgaum to Amarnath cave was 48 kilometres which took 4 to 5 days to complete the tour, whereas you could return to Baltal after visiting Amarnath cave in only day and the road is only 14 km long. From here there is conventional path towards Amarnath cave. In that junction point we met one staff of Medinipur post office, a resident of Kharagpur town, travelling lover, Mr Pradeep Dutta, who was known to me and his companions, who came from Pahelgaum and will return to Baltal.  The number of passengers on road was not very high because no one was willing to take the risk of the last days Darshan i.e, today, except for a few pilgrims like us. We fixed this day or our intention was to visit Sudhalinga on the full moon day. We heard that on the full moon day the Ice lingam would be the highest size in height. Almost the entire path from Sangam was became muddy due to melting ice with soil, grabbles and sand.  We crossed the pool over the Amarganga river.  There was ice on the Amar Ganga river. We crossed the pool and  walked very slowly on the left side of the river with the weight on the stick.  After a while we saw the ever desired Amarnath cave on the hill to the left and passing some distance we saw that there were scattered tents, all of which seemed to be closed. Most of the temporary stores had gone, those who had not yet gone, had all their belongings tied up and they might be living a little later. We went to one makeshift Store and left our backpacks.  There we purchased some dried offerings, mainly dates and raisins for offering to God.  Of course the respect of the heart was the greatest offering.  Our horsemen going first because he was our guide for visiting Sudhalingam. Then we had to cross 150 steps. At the steps of the stairs and at the top of the cave army soldiers standing with automatic fire arms in their hand to protect pilgrims from any militant subbotage. We had to go up the stairs on the left side of the cave and went down on the right side. The thought of visiting Sudha lingam inside the cave had inspired me and encouraged my wife also. I was slowly getting up to keep pace with her. Finally the hundred fifty steps of the stairs were completed. Inside the enclosure with the railing in front, we saw one seven and half feet high ice cubit. Such a large size ice lingam was not commonly seen but we were lucky to see that. To the right of Amarnath sudha lingam there were two more ice lingam shaped statues. In the middle little one was called Ganesh and the last one on the right was called Parvati. They were smaller in height than Amarnath ice lingam. The cave was at 13500 feet height, 50 feet long, 60 feet wide and 45 feet height. To the left of the cave was the solid, bright, slightly bluish colour of Amarnath ice lingam. By ringing the bell in front, pilgrims were informing Amarnath that despite hundreds of obstacles they had come to pay homage from the core of their heart to him, forgetting the hardships of the journey. The two feet high round Yoni Peeth was about 8 feet size which in front of Amarnath Icelingam, where we were standing.  There was not much of crowd, might be 20 or 25 pilgrims. The soldiers were not restricting or pushing away the visiting pilgrims. There was no need to control the pilgrims crowd. Standing in front of that Ice Lingam, I was forgetting everything, only I was  looking that Ice Lingam. Next to Ice lingam there was a steel rod wrapped in silver foil, blessed by Hara Parvati. While standing in front of Amarnath I remembered the myth of Amarnath.                        

One day Devarshi Narad, the son of Brahma, went to Kailash peak and saw mother Parvati sitting alone. Narad said to mother Parvati “only Mahadev in the three tired world knows the main secret of the creation of the universe. Did not he tell you that story?  whoever heard that story will attain immortality”.  Telling this Narad went away to ‘Vishnu lok’, God Vishnu’s residence. When Shiva returned to Kailash, mother Parvati begged Shiva to speak her that immortal story. Shiva said “immortal story are secret.  If you want to hear that immortal story you have to go to a secret place and listen so that no one but you can hear and know”.  Parvati wanted to know about the secret place where she would hear immortal story. Shiva said “there is a wonderful cave in the Himalayas which no one in the three-tier world knows about it. If one sits there and speaks, no one else can hear or know”.  Parvati agreed to go there. Shiva and Parvati both came to that cave. Before saying immortal story Shiva reminded Parvati “let her not fall asleep while listening to immortal story. when she falls asleep shiva will stop telling story. Parvati has to give sign by saying ‘hun’ for not sleeping and confirm her listening”.  Mahadev closes his eyes and began to speak of the immortality of the original mystery of the creation of the ‘Naradiya Sukta’ of Rigveda. Days go by, nights go by, months go by, finally one day after speaking immortal story in complete, Mahadev open his eyes and saw mother Parvati asleep and unconscious. He wondered who had heard the story and made response by saying ‘hun’ for so long. At last he saw a ‘Sukh Pakhi’ in one corner of the cave, who heard the story and confirm by saying ‘hun’. Mahadev became angry and chased the Sukh Pakhi with his trident to kill him because he had broken his faith. Frightened, the Sukh Pakhi began to flee over the mountains, forest and rivers and the angry Mahadev ran after him with his trident. This bird was the lilac of the sphere. After Radha Krishna descended to earth, in absence of Shri Krishna, shuk Pakhi came to this cave one day while trying in search of lord Krishna. when Shiva was telling to mother Parvathi about immortality, Shuk Pakhi imitated mother Parvathi’s voice and responded by saying ‘hun’. The Sukh Pakhi flew in fear and reached the ashrama of Vyasdeva on the banks of the river Saraswati at Badrikashram. At that time, Batika devi, wife of Vyasdeva, bathed in the river Saraswati and raised a hymn after bowing to the sun.  With the gap in his mouth this Shuk Pakhi enter her body through her throat in a subtle way. Mahadev was happy to see this bird because of his desire to acquire knowledge and endurance, blessed Batika Devi and said ” this Shuk pakhi that has entered your body will be born as your son, and this Shuk Pakhi has attained immortality by hearing the  immortal story from my mouth”. Needless to say this Sukh Pakhi was born as Shri Sukhdev, the son of Vyas Dev and Batikadevi after a long pregnancy of 12 years. He left the family after brought fourth from the womb.  After the battle of kurukshetra, under the curse of Kalkidev, Abhimanyu’s son recited the nectar of ‘hari katha’ to the dying traveller Parikshit, for seven days on the banks of the Ganges which is the only recourse of Koliyuga’s family men and this is called ‘Shrimadbhagwat’, the essence of the scriptures. The cave in which Mahadev sat and spoke Immortal  story is the immortal shrine of today where mrityunjay Mahadev lives forever.                

In ancient times the Kashmir valley was a land of  monsters. The great Saint Kashyap performed austerities on Devi Mahamaya, destroyed all the demons with her blessings, cut the hard hill of Baramulla and brought water to the valley.  People from different places came and settled here to make the valley smooth and prosperous. The valley was named after Kashyap was Kashyapmar which became ultimately known as Kashmir.  The great Saint Kashyap surrendered the rule of Kashmir to Nagraj Takshak and return to Ayodhya.  After a long time, one day the great Saint Bhrigu came here with a God gifted stick and told Takshak about Amarnath cave and Ice Lingam “if one travels on the the fourth day of white side of moon in the month of Shravan with this stick in his hand and visit the Sudha Lingam of Amarnath on the day of Shravani full moon, one will attain immortality”. This Devdanda is the stick of Amarnath Yatra – representative of Hara Parvati. A large stick wrapped in a sheet of silver is called ‘Devdanda’. No one knows the age of the stick. According to many, it is from the time of Sri Ramachandra in the Treta yuga and according to many, more than thirteen hundred years ago from today, Acharya Shankar and his disciple Mandan Mishra went to Amarnath cave with this Stick. This cane is currently owned by the Dasanami Akhara in Srinagar. However the journey of Amarnath started from the time of the great Saint Bhrigu. After a while everyone forgot about Amarnath Yatra and the cave. Acharya Shankar resumed his journey to Amarnath. The journey was interrupted during the Muslim reign in Kashmir.  What happened next was that in the 18th century, Akram Butt Mallick, a nomadic Gurjar Muslim came one day to graze his sheep at Amarnath. Akram Butt’s house was in Batkot village of Pahelgaon tehsil. When one day one of his sheep did not return at the end of the day, Akram Butt came to Amarnath cave to find it and discovered the iceberg and talked about the cave and the Ice Lingam among the local peoples. From then on, Amarnath cave and Ice Lingam were publicized. From Akram Butt, the descendants of Akram Butt of the Gurjar community still worship the Amarnath cave and Ice Lingam. Then in 1819 pandit Hardas Tiku, resumed this journey with the money saved throughout his life.  After Hardas Tiku, the Kashmir Government funding for the trip.  Now a days on the fourth day of white side of moon in the month of Shravan, Dasanami religion monk from Srinagar, worshipped the Stick and left with procession and reached Pahelgaon on the ninth day via Pampur, Anantnag, Marton and Ice-mokam. After staying here for three days, the procession of ‘Chharidanda’  started journey on the 12th day and takes night halt on the way at Chandhanwadi, Sheshnag and Panchatarani.  Finally it reaches at Amarnath cave on the full moon day which is called ‘Guru Purnima’. After staying and worshipping Devdanda there, the priests returned after one month on the day after full moon which is called ‘Rakhi Purnima’ and came to Pahelgaon. There after bathing that God gifted stick in Leeder river and worshipping, it is kept in a big size closed lidded box and take it to Shrinagar by motor car. Within one year this box is not open. During the one year that close lidded box is being worshipped at Srinagar by the Dasanami religion monks. Next year on the fourth day of white side of moon in the month of shravan that box is again opened.            

In ancient times the Kashmir valley was a land of  monsters. The great Saint Kashyap performed austerities on Devi Mahamaya, destroyed all the demons with her blessings, cut the hard hill of Baramulla and brought water to the valley.  People from different places came and settled here to make the valley smooth and prosperous. The valley was named after Kashyap was Kashyapmar which became ultimately known as Kashmir.  The great Saint Kashyap surrendered the rule of Kashmir to Nagraj Takshak and return to Ayodhya.  After a long time, one day the great Saint Bhrigu came here with a God gifted stick and told Takshak about Amarnath cave and Ice Lingam “if one travels on the the fourth day of white side of moon in the month of Shravan with the stick in his hand and visit the Sudha Lingam of Amarnath on the day of Shravani full moon, one will attain immortality”. This Devdanda is the stick of Amarnath Yatra – representative of Hara Parvati. A large stick wrapped in a sheet of silver is called ‘Devdanda’. No one knows the age of the stick. According to many it is from the time of Sri Ramachandra in the treta yuga and according to many more than thirteen hundred years ago from today, Acharya Shankar and Mandan Mishra went to Amarnath cave with Stick. This cane is currently owned by the Dasanami Akhara in Srinagar. However the journey of Amarnath started from the time of the great Saint Bhrigu. After a while everyone forgot about Amarnath Yatra and the cave. Acharya Shankar resumed his journey to Amarnath. The journey was interrupted during the Muslim reign in Kashmir.  What happened next was that in the 18th century, Akram Butt Mallick, a nomadic Gurjar Muslim came oneday to graze his sheep at Amarnath. Akram Butt’s house was in Batkot village of Pahelgaon tehsil. When one day one of his sheep did not return at the end of the day Akram Butt came to Amarnath cave to find it and discovered the iceberg and talked about the cave and the ice fall among the local peoples. From then on, Amarnath cave and Ice Lingam were publicized. From Akram Butt, the descendants of Akram Butt of the Gurjar community still worship the Amarnath cave and Ice Lingam. Then in  1819 pandit Hardas Tiku, resumed this journey with the money saved throughout his life.  

After Hardas Tiku, the Kashmir Government funding for the trip.  Now a days on the fourth day of white side of moon in the month of Shravan, Dasanami religion monk from Srinagar, worshipped the Stick and left with procession and reached Pahelgaon on the ninth day via Pampur, Anantnag, Marton and Ice-mokam. After staying here for three days, the procession of ‘Chharidanda’  started journey on the 12th day and takes night halt on the way at Chandhanwadi, Sheshnag and Panchatarani.  Finally it reaches at Amarnath cave on the full moon day which is called ‘Guru Purnima’. After staying and worshipping Devdanda there, the priests returned after one month on the day after full moon which is called ‘Rakhi Purnima’ and came to Pahelgaon. There after bathing that God gifted stick in Leeder river and worshipping, it is kept in a big size closed lidded box and take it to Shrinagar by motor car. Within one year this box is not open. During the one year that close lidded box is being worshipped at Srinagar by the Dasanami religion monks. Next year on the fourth day of white side of moon in the month of shravan that box is again opened.       

Regarding Amarnath Ice lingam and description of Amarnath Yatra was referred in ‘Ain-e-akbari’ written by Abul Fazal during Akbar’s reign. In the year 1890, Swami Vivekanand while traveling throughout India by foot came here alone and made penance three days at Amarnath cave and got euthanasia blessings from Lord Amarnath. His colleague Swami Abhedananda came here in the month of August in 1922, while he was travelling Tibet and Kashmir. Standing in front of the Ice Lingam, thinking of ice Lingam, God gifted stick, priest and myth of this cave, my heart was thrilled. I tried to feel the old incidents and thought that by the blessings of superpower, we came here and see that cave and Ice Lingam. Thinking of that Shuk Pakhi, I kept my eyes on the upper tier of Sudha Lingam and found one pigeon, ‘Shuk Pakhi’  of the past. Sometimes it flies from left to right side but did not fly outside of the cave. In this cold region how the pigeon is getting food and survive, that is a miracle. After a while it seemed to me that this Shuk Pakhi turn to pigeon was an eternal Bird.                       

 When we had decided to come here, my father-in-law who is above 80 years of age, expressed his anxiousness for coming here in an inaccessible and dangerous way, but the blessings of God Shiva and mother Parvati, departed soul of my parents, myself and my wife came here and see the Ice Lingam with our open eyes.  Thinking about all  struggles faced by us in the past, I could not check my tears with joy and happy. Then we handed over the dry fruits which we took for offering to God to the priest who touched that packet with Ice Lingam and Devdanda and returned to us.  After staying about ten minutes in front of the Sudha Lingam, we turned to left side and saw two small sizes of Ice cube which is called images of Ganesh and mother Parvati. We bowed down to them. Thereafter we took some dry fruits from the packet which priest returned, as we were observing fasting from the dawn. On the coming way we did not take a cup of tea, cold drinks or any solid food except drinking water. Before descending down we once again saw the Ice Lingam, God blessed Stick and cave. In our life time we could not come here again.  Today’s Darshan will be the absolute path of life. Gradually we were descending the stairs with happy and joy and thought that in the year 1897 when Swamy Vivekananda came here in second time with sister Nivedita and told her “I have enjoyed it so much. I thought the Ice Lingam was Shiva himself. I never enjoyed any religious places so much”. It is true that whoever did not come here he could not feel the enjoyment of one’s feeling. After descending, it felt to us to have a cup of hot tea or coffee, but there was no such shop because that day was the last day and everyone closed their shops. Then we came to the shops where we kept our bags and purchased dry fruits for offering to god. We took our bags and purchased one CD for Shiva stotram and photo album for reminiscent. Now time was 11:30 o’clock in mid day and it will take 4 hours to reach Sonemarg.  On returning way both of us rode on the back of horse so that we could go speedily. At about 3:30 o’clock in the afternoon we reached Sonemarg and gladly paid the horse owner for his contracted amount.  In our hotel room we called for warm water and kept our feet with warm water bucket for half an hour. In the late afternoon we went to market for purchasing souvenir for my granddaughter and by phone we called my sons and grandfather for safely visiting Amarnath cave  and returned back.  At night we had sound sleep as because all anxieties were over.  Tomorrow morning we shall start for Srinagar for onward visit to Khir-Bhavani and Vaishnodevi.