Shivratri 2025 with kriya yoga at mankameshwar mahadev, prayagraj to discover the anchor of life, completed by darshan of Swami Vishwananda at vrindavan.
- Mar 15
- 10 min read
Updated: Mar 16
Shivratri 2025 with kriya yoga at mankameshwar mahadev, prayagraj to discover the anchor of life, completed by darshan of Swami Vishwananda at vrindavan.
The intuition:
The intuition to be in prayagraj for shivratri in Feb 2025 came sometime in January, as i registered for kriya yoga camp. This coincided with the maha kumbh, which happens once in 144 years. This would be my second trip to mahakumbh. 9 plus 6, 15 days, two trips to mahakumbh just happened, by the grace of gurus and lord Shiva.
A vision of being at the sangam, during shivratri, with Chants of har har Mahadev & shambhoo, the arti done with musical instruments, flashed through one of the days in January, while i was deep in meditation.
I have realised, after kriya yoga, that the importance is of just being there. Its not about the rituals, the pujas, the temples. Everything is within. The sheer vibrations of a place at the specific time and enough to transform the inner self, provided, one is ready to recieve!
Kriya yoga at prayagraj:
The amazing experience of kriya yoga camp in my first kumbh trip, at prayagraj is given here.
Shivratri 2024:
Last year, i was in Kashi for maha shivtrari with my buddy Sudarshan. Here is the link of our out of the world experience. We were at the atma veereshwar mandir praying the entire night!
A blessing;
I never knew that that this intuitive trip, would be a profound experience which will lead me into an insight and an activity, i had never considered before.
Content monk joins:
My dear friend Sanjeev Sarma joined me for shivratri, which was totally unplanned. He just asked me, is there any accommodation. And i already had a room with two beds! This was as if it was destined.
Being the last snan at kumbh and the fact that mela was ending soon after, we were expecting lot of rush on that day. And we did see a sea of humanity at the samgam! But everything in order, despite the chaos!
Most of the naga sadhus were gone by the time of shivratri. Sanjeev captured a few, anyways!
Picture credits:
The pictures in this blog for the kumbh are all taken by Sanjeev, the content monk, an expert storyteller and ghost writer for books and blogs. You can get in touch with him on +91 86550 03103 For any assignments for you brands. He is a gem of a person and a dear buddy.
The holy dip:
We took the holy dip right at the samgam spot, by taking turns. As before, the chanting, meditation, dips, geting used to the cold water slowly, brought back memories of the first trip. I missed the company of parveen, anindya, james, Tanushree, skandababa, guruji, acharyas and so many fellow kriyavans this time.
Nothing is complete without a hot chai!
To feed us, goti soda with jaljeera, cucumber and chana bhel was good!
As one of us held to our clothes, the other one took the dip. The the marker was pillar number 50 which was easy to locate. It was easy to get lost in the vast sea of humans with the ground barely visible. Luckily "old monk" (my modified version for Sanjeev, which indicates the maturity in his personality) was there to help. (It's another point that we both share the same passion since our graduation days!)
Sacred thread:
This person had the most amazing collection. We got a few to give near and dear ones at home!
Nag vasuki mandir:
Taking the holy dip at the sangam, took darshan of nag vasuki mandir. It is said that nag vasuki rested here after the samudra manthan.
Did kriya yoga in the temple premises. As i performed the bow, i am sure, i must have raised curious eye brows. My eyes were closed, so i would not know!
Kumbh is one of the 4 places, where the nectar drops fell, after samudramanthan was done by devas and asuras.
Along with the nectar, many other divine objects and brings emerged, Laxmi, airawat the celestial elephant, being some of them.
Going inwards, the meru parvat is the spine, the breath is the nag vasuki, with each inhale and exhale, the pranas are moving clockwise and anticlockwise, up and down, cleaning the system and throwing out toxins upwards, hence neelkantha, the one with the blue throat. The devas and asuras are your chitta vrittis, the tamsik and rajasik, which are always at work . What remains on completion of kriya is pure nectar, when chitta becomes clear. Various siddhis or powers emerge as 64 yoginis bless you, unimaginable riches come as ashta laxmis bless you, and 10 maha vidyas are revealed. The best part is, one has no use of these powers for their own self. They are automatically used for the good for everyone's life, by adding value, keeping ego aside.
This is the short metaphorical meaning of samudramanthan in context of kriya yoga.
From the shiv manaspuja and nirvanashatakam, it is clear that Shiva is formless, eternal, always free, and is within you!
Kriya at temples:
Now a days, instead of just meditating or chanting, i do kriya yoga at temples when I go for dharshan. The vibrations of the place, coupled with powerful practice of kriya yoga, creates an tsumani of subtle transformation within. This is my personal experience. You can try it too.
Falahar:
I decided to be on a fruits only diet and water for a day. Bought some fruits from the local market. Was feeling very light and energetic.
Intuition:
Till the afternoon of shivratri, i was not sure, where to go for the midnight darshan. I found the nishit kal Puja has to be done around midnight. Noted the timing.
Intuitively, i decided on being in the mankameshwar temple. My cousin alpana, my friend Sanjeev and myself, got the best ride in town, a noisy tum tum, which rattled every bone in my body, and proceeded ahead. Luckily there was not much traffic on the roads and we could reach the temple on time.
Ramayana reference:
In ramayana times, the sangam may have been near this spot. The creation of this temple was done by lord Rama, as sitaji after taking bath could not find a Shiva temple to pray! Being here, was like being back in time, thousands of years back, in the presence of shiv lingam, consecrated by lord Rama himself.
Shivratri:
At midnight, swaying to the loud drum beats, chanting Har Har Mahadev" till the throat was hoarse, in the swelling crowds, balancing the flower basket, at "mankameshwar" mahadev at prayagraj, seeking blessings to fulfill ones greatest desire by realising that you are already 'mukt', 'free'. There is no where to go. Nothing to seek. Only to realise that you are 'shivoham, shivoham', playing your roles and having experiences of your choice!
Kriya at midnight:
After the dhol, arti, the pushing, and counter pushing, the crowds subsiding, i found a spot to practise kriya yoga
Darshan:
Here, after the kriya, it was time to take darshan of lord Shiva. Intuitively, the following came to my mind.
Insight:
The only material desire left is to add value to others lives. This is the only blessing sought from mankameshwar mahadev to make me, my friends, family & organization a medium to add tremendous value consistently to everyone's life, by our thoughts, words and actions.
Debt clearing:
Next to mankameshwar mahadev was the temple of runmukteshwar, or the god of clearing debts. Naturally, one thinks of financial debts as its a word association.
I thought came to my mind. That when you have someone who can take all possible debts, asking only for clearing financial debts is stupid. Instead of that, i prayed for cleaning, clearing, eliminating, burning, the karmic debts for me and everyone connected with me. If you are reading this blog, you were also a part of the prayer.
We are all connected at the soul level, then at the mind level, then at the energy level and then at the physical level. So even if you were not there with me, the prayers have reached your soul, as I prayed to mahadev.
Runmukteshwar blesses you with being free of debt (of karmas) , while mankameshwar fulfills your desire to add tremendous value to everyone's life, from the sands of sangam in prayagraj.
Midnight clarity:
As i came back to the room late night, i recalled reading that
Ramkrishna paramhansa was attached to food. He always used to ask his wife. What is cooking? While eating, He used to appreciate the food. His wife shardadevi used to wonder, why a paramhans like ramkrishna is attached to food. He told her, the day you serve me food, and i look away, i will leave my body in next 3 days.. And it happened! He used the food as a medium to be attached to the material world. You need an anchor, once you are liberated. Food was his anchor. A profound insight.
Here is a funny video by Swami chimnayananda.
Ramkrishna was a sanyasi. Being in business, I am "attached" to adding value to others life. This is now my life's purpose. I am no longer atteched to roles, desires of the roles and their outcome. I remain fully committed to action. The day this attachement drops, I will leave my body. It has nothing to hold on to. It's a fact. It's a long time ahead. But, one day it will happen, when i am confident that the organization has leaders to carry this vision of value addition ahead.
Living forever:
A guru/leader lives in his teachings. The teachings live in the disciples/followers. Hence the guru/leader lives in the followers and over a period of time, makes them gurus/leaders. This is living eternally for gurus and leaders!
It is quite different from what bryan johnson is doing by reversing the physical ageing process! He wants to live longer, that is fine, the question is, what for?
This reminds me a blog written in similar topic earlier on value addition. Here is the link. That time, it was more at the mind level. Now it's deep within. Soaked and imbibed.
As i returned to Mumbai, a vision of turnkey society self redevelopment with financer emerged in its own. I met the right people, the right opportunities showed up. All aligned to giving extra area to the residents. This Novel model is a game changer.
The more the sales, the more the value a business adds to everyone's life. This unique model, is the start of creating a foundation of a long term sustainable organization.
Changing the dna:
The resolve to meet atleast 3 people every day, generate inquires, is no longer a sales role, i play. It's a part of the larger mission.
Dharma artha kaama moksha:
I also realised that to follow dharma freely or do eternal duties, you need to have artha or financial freedom, which needs desires linked to roles (kaama) leaving you free of greed and fear, one has to be free as given in nirvanashatakam (moksha). Another interpretation of freedom in the context of dharma, artha, kaama, moksha? Possibly!
Mini Kumbh pot as a precious gift:
To invoke the presence of eternal kumbh at home, in a miniature form, to people close to me, i am gifting a small kumbh brass pot with kumbh Sand and gangajal from sangam. There were many, who could not go to the kumbh, and their wish remains unfulfilled in this lifetime as the next mahakumbh will be after 144 years.
The presence of this charged water in the home temple, is blessed to enhance health wealth and happiness for the family, as it comes energised from the samgam.
The thought to gift this mini kumbh was there in the first visit. The resolve to make it happen, became stronger in the second visit.
This was followed by a darshan at Vrindavan.
Darshan
Darshan is when guruji places his hand on your head and looks in your eyes for around 10 seconds. He looks through your soul. A transformative experience. Every time, he has given darshan, there were significant changes in my life. Darshan can go for as long as ten hours, without a break for guruji.
People give him things to bless. I gave him a very small photo of our family temple with lord Ganesh on one side and laxmikeshav on the other side. He blessed this photograph with lot of love. This picture is always in my wallet. So in this form, gurujis blessings are always with me.
He only speaks to a few. He asked me where this temple was. I told ratnagiri. He said he will come on a pilgrimage there soon...
A short and significant conversation.
Meeting shefaliji:
Shefaliji takes care of the management of the ashram. Her energy knows no bounds! A rare combination of devotion and discipline.
Meeting swamini and swamiji:
There after, i met swamini vishaMohini, a realised soul, who came to our house last year, took her blessings and met Swami Aniruddha, whom i had met earlier in Mumbai a few years back. Some disciples were being initiated. Swaminiji asked me. Are you not getting initiated? I replied. Not now. After a while, i realised my soul is blessed for many incarnations, to have the blessings of so many divine beings. I don't have the urge to get initiated. Maybe i was earlier, maybe i will be in the future!
The air is filled with high energy here. I will go to local temples tomorrow early morning.
Right now, right here, is the living guru, what else is needed?
Guruji is a paramhans, the highest level in yoga. He is at the same level of kriya yoga guruji paramhamsa pragyananda. When a paramhamsa blesses, the cosmic blessings flow through. Just being near them is enough.
With the immense project of loka kalyanam via redevelopment, all the blessings are coming on its own.
Arti in the ashram temple.
The tempo was built smoothly and slowly. Here is a video!
Nirguna and saguna
Shiv ratri is the prayer to nirguna rupa and Vrindavan is the sagun rupa of the same consciousness. I am in a different zone now. This is like sugar, which gives sweetness and mithai which makes having sugar interesting!
Maybe only some bhang can bring me to my senses! 😀 But that is out of question. Who needs external intoxication?
Kriya on the banks of Yamunaji:
After morning arti at radhe Vallabh mandir, proceeded for Kriya yoga by the banks of Yamuna river. This is one of the rare occasions to be emotional in kriya. A divine experience, with a nearby auto rickshaw playing radhe shyam bhajans! Kriya yoga in nature, garden, rivers, mountains is a completely different experience than doing it Indoors.
Divya drishti:
As i got a e rickshaw to take me back to the hotel, my specs were snatched by a monkey in a second, chewed a bit for a minute and traded for fruits in 10 mins!
I can see again! This is called "divya drishti". And with this vision, i am heading back to Mumbai, after just 18 hours in Vrindavan, which felt like 18 days. Completely action packed with very less sleep!
Treasures:
I bring back with me, divine love of guruji, blessings of Yamunaji and grace of radhe shyam.
Blessing:
Blessings you with grace of mankameshwar for being a medium for tremendous value addition to everyone's life, while clearing your karmic debts with lord runmukteshwars blessings. As Shiva blesses you with the unseen, unheard, untouched, unspoken, eternal truth, lord Krishna blesses you with everything visible, changing, riches, full life. Together, they make your life truly blessed!
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