16th-july-2010: Now we started preparing for our second phase of yatra to Mata Vaishno Devi. Since we had met Divine Father- Baba Bholenath we thought to pay our homage to Divine Mother also. Mata Vaishno Devi cave is one of the holiest Hindu Shrine dedicated to Shakti. It is one of the most revered place in northern India. It is second most visited religious shrine in India, after Tirumala Venketeshwara Devsthanam at Tirupati in south India. Mata Vaishnao Devi Cave (Also known as Darbar/ Bhawan) is situated at an altitude of 5,300 feet on the trikut hill of Shivalik Range of the Himalaya under district Udhampur. Jammu to Katra is 46 km to be covered by motor and rest 14 km to Bhawan on foot or pony. A rail link is under construction from Udhampur to Katra and to be completed by December this year.
Since Daddy was not feeling well, so he agreed to take rest at Saraswati Dham & rest of us (Nine) boarded in the bus for Katra at 6.30 pm. Myself and Ranjan had visited this Darbar earlier also but for the rest members it was first trip. We started trekking from Katra at 9.30 pm and our target was to reach Bhawan by 2.00 am. There were a number of security posts, stalls and “Vishram Sthal” in the route. A new short-cut route has been made from Indraprashtha (a place before Ardh umara) to Darbar. Now a days a battery operated vehicles ply to carry old and sick persons.
17th-july-2010: Instead of 2.00 am, we all gathered at Bhawan by 5.00 am. We had to keep our leather items like shoes, belts, mobiles, cameras and other metal items in a cloak room. Since Darshan remain closed for pilgrims from 6.00 am to 8.00 due to Aarti, so we made fast, took bath and went for darshan. There was no long queue, so we got opportunity for darshan before 6.00 am.
After Mata ka Darshan we took breakfast and started to negotiate 6 km steep climb to Bhairavnath. It is said that without darshan of Baba Bhairavnath, yatra of Mata Vaishno Devi is incomplete. Anyhow we got darshan of Bhairavnath by 10.00 am and climb down to Katra by 5.00 pm and Jammu by 7.30 pm.
