Benares

These days the bed time stories are all about my childhood "Jatras". Jatra is a Gujarati word which means a trip to religious places. In Bengali, Jatra is a popular folk theatre form. Jatra comes from the word Yatra which means a journey. As a child, we went for a lot of Jatras with my Grandmother Bai and the entire family. Every Jatra is clearly etched in my mind as a soulful experience without a fancy resort,Tibetan chants and a spa. Our context of travel was oneness and being one with God or a journey towards becoming one with God. Never had these fancy words in my vocabulary then nor this 'holier than thou' attitude. They were the only vacations I had as there was no luxury of Nani Ghar or Mamar Baadi. Nani is the maternal grandmother and Mama is the mother's brother. Both these relations are very close. Most married women used to travel to their parents house with their children during vacations. People did not marry in the same city or town and for a married girl her mother's house or 'Maayka' was the most favoured destination. I mean it still is for most of them. The married daughter is treated like royalty and is pampered at her Maayka by her parents, brothers and Bhabhis. This is a typical Indian scenario is played out with various degrees of pampering. My Grandmom Bai had been fortunate to have her parents in the same town. My Mom had her brother in Jharia. In fact, all our relatives lived in Jharia in the same lane for years, a few houses away. This includes my Nani's maayka and my Bai's maayka.

When I am sharing the story of Benares which was always our first stop for the jatra, I am completely transported there. The Ambassador  car with ten or eleven of us. The 'Bistara' which was the bedding which contained all our Gudris and a few blankets and small pillows. My Dad got an inflatable pillow. It was so uncomfortable. The Swaminarayan temple in Kashi is very close to the banks of Ganga. We reached by sunset. My Grandma would go to ask for rooms for us Bhakt jan. 'Bhakt' means devotee and 'jan' means people.

Those days, at all the Swaminarayan temples, there were Bhagats. Bhagats used to be young boys who stayed in the temples and studied in the Gurukul. Gurukul is school run by the Swaminarayan sect. Their entire cost of living and education was the temple's responsibilty. After their education and securing a job, the Bhagats moved to Grihasthashram. Grihasth was someone married with a family. They got married and settled down with their families. They learnt Karma yog, Bhakti yog and Gyan yog in the temples living along with the Sadhus or Swamis. The Bhagats were young boys whose parents were followers of Swaminarayan panth. In some cases, they were orphans or their parents were of weak financial backgrounds. Bhagat also referred to men who were going to become Sant. They had a waiting period where they lived with the Sants and practiced the temple austere life and education. They were again given a choice if they really want to leave their families and join the Sant way of life. After much consideration, they were taken in to become a Sant only if the person chose to devote his life to it. And they still had freedom to leave the sect, whenever they wish too. 

Next day was always about going for Ganga Snaan. Bai, my grandmother, went to the temple for Mangala Arti. The early morning before the dawn is most auspicious time of the day. God is woken up with prayers and Arti.  It used to be cold, but my Bai never missed the Mangala arti, as we all slept right through it. She would come to room with hot tea for all of us at 6.30 am. Mom and Aunt would open the biscuit, bread or thepla packets which they had carried and six hungry kids would eat happily. Then it was time for Ganga Snaan. Carrying our clothes in one bag, we would all trot down to the Ghaat from the back door of the temple. That was a short cut through a by lane with shops selling hot milk and colourful bangles and Puja Samagri..stuff needed for the Puja. The big long flat steps led to the Ganga river. We walked praying Om Namah Shivaay. The clothes were kept on the steps leading to the banks. All of us would walk to the river. Hai took the dip first and we all followed. We would not use soap in the river water. Prayers were said together as we stood shivering and yet enjoying the cold waters of Ganga. Bai knew the full Mantra to be said while bathing. We only managed to say "Om Gange Namah". Then we offered Aragh to the Sun God or Surya Bhagwan. God was not some entity or higher being. We saw him everyday in the Surya / Sun. We faced the sun and said "Shri Suryaay Namah" seven times after bathing. Did we know meanings or history? Not at all. All we had was complete trust in Bai and our belief that what she said was real and true. Strange, but even now three decades later, all of it is  real and true. After coming out of the water, we wore fresh clothes in small rooms made for women to change on the banks of the river. Then we got a "Sankalp" done with the Panditji. There were lot of Pandits on the steps who promised to help you with prayers, darshan of various temples and various Puja rituals. Benares  or Kashi is the most auspicious land in India. They say one's death should be in Kashi to achieve Nirvana. Sankalp was a short prayer the Pandit did with your name while you held little Gangajal in the palm of your right hand. After the Shlok, we just dropped the water on the earth in front of us. Sankalp is like a resolution but has a much vaster meaning and impact than the English word. Return walk to the temple involved doing Darshan at all the small temples enroute without entering any shrine. We would stop at the Doodh waala who sold hot milk. He had two huge Kadhaais of boiling milk which was sweetened with sugar. The milk was cooked in coal and wood fire for hours. It was served in Kullar with a dash of Malaai or cream. It tasted divine but too hot for our tongues. They would cool the milk and make it frothy by pouring it from one tumbler or jug to another by making a high water fall like movement. Rejuvenation was this. Not the synthetic spas I have grown fond of nowadays.

Next was going to the Kashi Vishwanath Mandir. The mosque next door with all the stories of the invaders of India was always scary. The temple was crowded in the main shrine and empty elsewhere.  Finally got to see the shrine live on TV in 2014 and all the memories came rushing back. We did the evening Ganga Arti once during our stay. Had to come back to the Swaminarayan temple at Kashi. The temple would close doors in the night. We had to be back in the temple for the Shayan arti and dinner. Shayan arti means the Arti when we put the God to sleep. The God seems so close as he is human like the rest of us. Shawls of different colours were draped and all flowers and jewellery was removed for the night. Water in silver jugs was kept in all the shrines for God to drink in case they are thirsty. This time the temple lights were slowly put off. In the Swaminarayan temples, one prayer said after the Arti