A Journey or travel is a zeal and passion for almost each and every individual. Every year I take a long break for set out on a trip. I always have 2 companions with me pertaining to my beloved wife and my maternal aunt. We three people are very fervent, joyful to live the life to the fullest in every situation. Basically we prefer to set out by train, as it is connected to every hook and corner of our perennial India. Very thanks to Indian Railway from bottom of my heart in this regard. My latest memorable journey was about the Jyotirlingam Darshan. As we all know that there are 12 Jyotirlingams in India, we decided to have a glimpse the three of them.

On February 12, 2011 we took the Rajdhani Express for Holy Varanasi or Kashi (The Bode of Lord Shiva) after just breaking the dawn from our native Guwahati City. It was second journey to Kashi. After having lot of chatting with other passengers we reached our destination at around 1 o' clock midnight. We took an auto straight to Hotel Gautam situated at Ram Katora. After having had a short sleep, we preceded to Dashamedh Ghat on the bank of Divine River Ganges just the Sun rose from the east for taking a holy dip. Than we moved to Kashi Viswanath Temple to oblate our heartfelt prayer and have a glimpse of the Jyotirlinga. It was a Saturday then, therefore there was very rush of the pilgrims there. As Lord Mahadev is the Guru of Shanidev. It totally purified and wipe out our soul and fatigue (which all people have get in their life-struggle) respectively. After offering our heartfelt prayer to Lord Mahadev, we moved to famous Sankat Mochan Temple and Durga Maa Temple. It is widely believed that Lord Hanuman still lives in this Temple, as he is immortal. Sankat Mochan temple was built by Swami Tulsidas during the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar. In Varanasi one can witness the Bharat Mata Statue (the one and only in entire India). The next day i.e. 14/2/11, we embarked upon Okha express to another holy city Dwaraka or Dwarikapuri (The work-place of Lord Shree Krishna) via Ahmadabad. We had a short stay at Ahmadabad. There we also visited the divine ISCON Temple and Vaishno Mata Shrine (it is a dummy of original Vaishno Temple, located at Trikoot Parvat, Jammu). The special facet of this temple is that one who is physically or mentally unable to go through the Trikoot Parvat, he or she may take the divine zeal by visiting this temple). We also had a glimpse of Amul factory and Tata Nano Plant at Anand and Sanand respectively from the running train. We disembarked from the train just Sun rise was about to grab the melancholy of dawn at Okha Mandi with a spiritual feeling of "Kanhaiya". The breeze of Arabian Sea entirely jerked our body and mind when we step our feet in the land of Dwaraka. Then we took a passenger bus with other devotees to Dwaraka, which is nearly 8 kilometers away from Okha. The Sun was kept rising as the bus kept it pace to Krishna's Dominion. It was an awesome feeling for all the fellow devotees as the fresh and cool airs stroke our body with his love and affection. After reaching Dwaraka, We kept our luggage at a hotel and then took a Tanga of a nice gentleman. He is popularly known as Tulsidas there. He took us for the sight seeing of the Dwaraka City lying on the bank of Arabian Sea. We were in the seventh heaven as we capitalizing the beauty of sea and nature. After that we proceeded to Dwaraka Temple. The city Dwaraka was built by Lord Krishna and lord Balram, when Krishna got to knew that He can't conquer King Jarasandha, who was father-in-law of Kansa. Jarasandha was blessed that he will only be killed by Bheemsen. As Krishna knew the fact he ran away from the Mathura to get rid of Jarasandha's tyranny along with other Yadava's. That's why he is also known as Ranchod (means one who eschew fight). This temple was built by Pradumnya, son of lord Krishna. The main temple is submerged beneath the Arabian Sea. At Dwaraka Lord Krishna installed his Royal Court.

There is a popular story pertaining to Dwaraka. Once Lord Krishna had decided to observe the Rajasuya Yagna by inducting Sage Durvasa. For that, Krishna and Rukmini took Durvasa in a palanquin to Dwaraka alone. But in the mid- ride Rukmini got thirsted. She then pleaded to her husband to kindly quench her thirst which nearly about to take her life. After heard her dying request Krishna pressed his thumb of the right foot to the soil, water came out and it quench Rukmini's thirst. When Durbasaji saw the entire incident, he got infuriated and cursed both Krishna and Rukmini fell apart for 1 year because they didn't have sought permission from him to take the water. Also the entire water of Dwaraka became salty and not potable from then due to the curse of great sage. Till today the residents of Dwaraka carry water from Jam Nagar for drinking purpose. Rukmini Maa had to go for 1 year severe penchant to get rid of the Durvasa's* curse of separation. There is a Rukmini Mata Temple in the mid-way of Okha-Dwaraka road and it is the only Rukmini Temple around the globe as far as my knowledge is concerned. Just following our prayer to his holiness, we boarded on a conducted tour bus for Nageswar Jyotirlingam situated at Daruka Ban and Vet-Dwaraka (situated at an island in Arabian Sea). In Nageswar Jyotirlingam it is believed that Lord Shiva and Maa Parvati exist there along with. The Jyotirlinga is taking care by T-series group of industries. It is believed that one who nodded his/her head before the Nageswar Lingam, he/she never be got effected by snake's poison and biting. A Pond (Talab) is situated near the Nageswar Temple, which is famous for Arjuna's arrogance eliminated by Krishna. We had also a glimpse of stone preserved in a temple there. The stone is marked by Jai Shri Ram which is still now floating in water. It is depicted as one of the stone when Nal-Neel is used to make the Ram Setu over the Sea to reach the Demon king Ravana's Lanka. Vet-Dwaraka name comes from "meeting at Dwaraka". Krishna's childhood friend Sudama once visited this place to meet his Sakha (Pal) to get rid of the severe misery he suffered during that days. From then it is known as Vet-Dwaraka. Vet-Dwaraka is the land of Lord Krishna's Royal Palace where his holiness lived with his wives. The house is still now exist but in a debilitated state. One will see a giant Mosque and a Shiva Temple from the boat while crossing the bay of Arabian Sea to Vet-Dwaraka. It is a nice dummy of Unity is Diversity of India. After experiencing the zeal of Dwaraka and Nageswar Jyotirlingam, we moved to Somnath City to have a glimpse of Somnath Jyotirlingam (The first among all Jyotirlingam). This city is also known as Prabhash Kshetra. After offering prayers before the Somnath Jyotirlingam, we set out to Gir National sanctuary, the habitat of Asiatic Lion only in India and probably Asia.

In the fore-mentioned places, we took complete veg meals from Paneer Handi to pure Gujarati Thali. I fall in love with Dhokla and Rajasthani meals. After concluding our Jyotirlingam tour, we took the Rajdhani Express Down for Guwahati back from New Delhi. We also watched an ICC World Cup Match at Feroze Shah Kotla stadium between South Africa and West Indies. There was a memorable incident happened with us. The CNN IBN News Channel took us a short interview while we were queued up for entering the stadium. As such interview was never took place with us before in whole life. Probably it was a divine blessing!

Last but not least on behalf of my 2 companion, I like to pen down that this journey still gives us a lot of peace, knowledge and enthusiasm. We are highly spiritually enlightened too during the entire trip. Hail our beloved India!

About Author / Additional Info:
I am a resident of Guwahati, Assam. Me and my wife are like to write some articles based on our practical experiences which we amass through interacting with peoples and events from every walk of life.