Centre of meditation and spirituality – Almora

Centre of meditation and spirituality– Almora

Almora the centre of meditation and spirituality is important place in the series of Kumaon mountain. Kumaon visit could not have been completed without visiting Almora. It is a very quiet and mesmerizing place. It is so quiet and serene that you want to get soaked in its beauty and forgets everything. Being situated  1642 metres above sea level  is the reason of  good weather all round the year.  It is a good place from tourism and religious prespective.

According to natives three things are very famous here – i.e  “MAAL”  “ BAAL”  and “ PATAL”

“MAAL” is the beauty of girls means girls are very beautiful  here.

“BAAL”   is the  name of sweet dish , world famous Dessert  

“PATAL” is the huge rock cut out from mountains , earlier street houses are made from it

Dushehra  festival  is world famous. Here competition of best effigy is organised  every  year, many groups of people participate in it and a procession is taken out in markets and the best will be honoured.  Last year Central Home Minister Sh. Kiren  rijiju does the honour.

A view of Dussehra
Photo by Google

Ganganath mandir-  Located at a distance of around 3 to 4 kms from Almora is novel  in itself . It has been said that daughter of Diwan joshi, King of Almora is romantically involved with the Prince of state Roti ( Ganga nath doti is the only blessed child of Nepal vaibhav chand, given boon by Lord shiva). After acquiring knowledge from his guru Gorkhnanth, he headed  to almora in disguise of seer , renouncing  kingship. Body of  Ganga nath ji is blessed with  divine clothing presented by Guru Gorakhnath  and powers by  Peeth bhai goril, because of which he remain safe from ill powers . As  Joshi diwan got to know about  Bhana ganga nath love affair,  he plan out of his murder. They execute their plan on the day of holi. He sever his head by decieving him and killed all of the three, before dying varna cursed them that, that particular part of mountain will become barren and loose all the greenery. After getting spooked from curse they place them there as God.

Temple of Gangnath Ji

Nanda Devi Mandir-  Nanda is another name of Goddess  Parvati, temple is located in a busy market of Almora and is famous among devotees . Children used to play in the temple verandha and quite a busy place in evening because of its location.

Nanda Devi Temple entry Gate

Nanda Devi Temple

Chitai golu devta mandir- Situated at a distance of 10 km from Almora also known as “god of justice” it is believed that people disappointed from everywhere come here with  wishes writtern on paper and Devta  fulfill their wishes. As you enter the temple you will notice innumerable wish letter tied to the bell. There is folklore behind it. It is belived that King jhal of katyuri clan has seven  queens . All the seven queens were childless and the king used to be very worried and restless . One day the king was on his way to hunting where he met the queen kalinka ( Quueen kalinka  was believed to be the embodiment of the goddess). King jal roy was attracted to the queen and married her 

After sometime the queen got pregnant. Looking this all the seven queens got  jealous . All the queens and midwife chalked out a conspiracy. When the Queen  Kalinka  delivered the child, they replaced the child with crushing stone. The child was put in a bamboo basket and was thrown in the river.

The floating child was caught by the fisherman. They brought him up when the child grew 8 years old, he insisted his father to move to the capital champavat. The boy asked his father to provide him a horse, his father asked him how would he go to champavat. The father took it as a joke and provide him with a wooden horse but the child was god indeed and he came to champavat on that wooden horse where at a pond all the seven queens were taking bath. The child went there to got his horse to drink water . Seeing this all the queens started laughing at him and said, “ ohh! Foolish child does the wooden horse ever drink water?” The child immediately replied  that if Queen Kalinka can deliver a crushing stone than why the wooden horse can not drink water . All the Queens got surprised hearing this. Soon this news spreaded in the whole kingdom. The hapinness return to the king and all the seven Queens were punished and the little Golu was incarnated as the King 

Since than he was treated as the god of justice. Slowly the news of his verdicts started spreading. After his leaving abode as and when any injustice was done to anybody a letter  pertaining to the grievance was hanged in his temple and a quick resolution of the grievance was  done. Therefore not only in kumau but in the whole world the diety is considered as a granter of wish.

Me at Chitai Golu Devta Temple

Jageshwar dham:-  Situated 35 kms from Almora. The ancient temples of Jageshwar dham is known for natural beauty and providing spiritual path for centuries. About 250 temples are situated in the area out of which 225 are situated at one place. It is one of the 12 Jyotilingas and the atmosphere here are peaceful  and clam 

Jageshwar Dham

Vradh jageshwar:- Situated 5 kms away from Jageshwar Dham. It is said that god is present there and here the atmosphere is  peaceful, attractive and the breeze and beautiful  landscape will not let you return.

Vradh Jageshwar Temple

Kasar devi mandir:- This temple belong to 2nd century. Swami vivekanand came here in 1890 for meditation. Apart from him many saints from the western countries came here and stayed. This temple came into light between 1960- 70 for the Hippie Revolution. The view here is wonderul and you will feel as if you have come above the hills.

Kasar Devi Temple

Sunset at Temple

Doli Dana Mandir:-  This temple is about 3-4 kms before Almora. To reach the temple. One needs to to trekking and climb 111 stairs. The place is very pleasant and here the scenes at sun rise and sunsets are wonderful. There is a big field ground near the temple where you can spend the whole day and enjoy the Army firing range, which is nearby.

Doli Dana Temple

Sunset at Temple

Swami Vivekananad and Almora:- It is said that Swami Vivekanand had a very good relations with Almora, He came here twice, stayed for many days and did Meditation. First time in 1890 during his stay he got enlightenment at Kakri Ghat under a Peepal tree. In Almora Swami ji lived as a guest of Late Sh. Badrishah ji in Khanjali Mohalla. On 11th may 1897 he addressed a public meeting in Ghansali Bazar. In his address he said “ Almora is a land of our ancestors’s dream. This the land where I have been imagining to live since my childhood. I want to stablish an Himalyan centre and I succedd in making you ubderstand that why I have selected this place for all round religious education as the principal center “

He further said that the commendable memories are associated with these hills and mountains. If the himalyas are excluded from the religious history of india, the existence will come to an end. So a centre is needed here and he hopes that he will establish it one day.

It is worth notable that the disciples of Swami Turiyanand and Swami Shivanand got established  as an institution , “ BRIGHT AND CORNER”  now it is known as Rama krishna kutir 

That is enough for today. We shall take you to some other destination. Be with us, don’t go anywhere 

Your friend 

Hitesh Sharma