Pilgrimage to Mindhal Mata

Taruna Dubey
In this Karma and Devo Bhumi, everybody is encircled around Karma. In Kalyuga, mental pressure depresses mind and the only solution is the spiritual pathway where all of our questions are being answered. Everything is embedded in you but the need is to explore the layers of knowledge that are possessed in you to know the ultimate truth i.e. God. God and His Shakti (Power) is all around which is running and managing this universe. The Shakti as such cannot be expressed in words as everybody feels and experiences it differently that too limitless. One of the Divine Shaktis bestowed upon this Devo Bhumi is Mindhal Mata that is gaining momentum in the contemporary era as the people are experiencing varied miracles out of that. The experiences are even more and countless in the spiritual journey to Machail Mata. The time to express that has come and it should be announced to the whole periphery. The pious places with pure chastity are there and those who visit experience this piousness and chastity. Every year lot of devotees get the blessings of Machail Mata and the origin of this Mata is said to be from Mindhal Mata Dham, Pangi in Himachal Pradesh. Mindhal Mata Dham is located at 32 11″30″ N and 33 13’’60’’E and it is 2,439 m above sea level. According to 2001 census, the population of Pangi was near about nineteen thousand people. Thanks to the Divine that we are part of this Devo Bhumi.
The pious temple of Kali Maa is said to be in Satayuga and the feeling of maternal love is being experienced by the devotees performing darshnas. The story for the origin of the same could be narrated as this. There was one old pious woman of Pangi Dham in Mindhal who was a true devotee of Kali Mata and had a blissful dream of Maha Kali Maa. The Matarani instructed her in the dream that she has incarnated as svarupa (image) of Kali Mata in the form of deity (shila) in her kitchen. The old woman named Ghungti was from Bhatt family and was having seven sons. Each day a small deity emerged in her kitchen’s chullha but she let it down with cradle. She repeated the same activity for next six days. Ultimately and subsequently, on the seventh day of successive dreaming, what she experienced was that Maha Kali Mata manifested about 7 feet long deity in the kitchen.
She got worried while seeing such manifestation and also was more shivered, tensed seeming to be inexpressible about what really had happened. She had pierced a long needle through her cheeks and that needle is there in the temple till now. Then she straightway went to her farming land where her son and daughter in law were working. She uttered the whole incident to them which was to her quite surprising in nature but the family members made fun out of that and expressed that she had gone mad. The next surprising issue that happened was that Shri Kali Mata also went along with the old women and then cursed them while listening to them.
Shri Matarani cursed her by saying that all of her seven sons who are working in the farm will get transformed into stone and that area also got one bane that if somebody is having seven sons then all of them will die away. During farming, only one buffalo and two persons were employed. Then Gungti, started weeping in front of Goddess and pleaded for forgiveness and Goddess in return gratified the old women by saying that whosoever will come for my darshna will feel happy and relieved.
The pious, tranquil and splendid temple of Kali Maa is said to be in Satayug and the feeling of maternal love is experienced by the devotees performing Darshnas today even. Mindhal yatra has also been started from Jammu and Kashmir to Pangi Dham in the month of June through Kishtwar- Kalad route. It will help to promote integration of cultures of both states. It had been started in 2003 from Kyun temple (Jammu & Kashmir) of Chandi Mata to Mindhal Mata in Pangi (Himachal Pradesh) by Tirth Ram Manhas. The yatra stays at various places in between where the local people greet yatris with every possible love, care and feedings. All those going for the spiritual journey experience spirituality and go on introspecting themselves with the Almighty’s grace everyday in yatra. The yatra commences on 10th of June and gets completed on 15th of June every year. The route through which yatra has to go though is in worse condition but in spite of that nobody has fear of it. The road is in bad condition but Goddess power can be empirically seen as well as felt there. Inspite of everything, those pilgrims who go for yatra enjoy the purity and divine grace.
The crux of the theme is that there is no difference between the internal and the external yatra provided the aim and the route should be straightforward and without any egoism. The approach from both ways should be right and virtuous. The aspirants of the same must visit the spiritual place and come up with experiences with the incessant blessing of the Divine Maa who in Herself is so curious to call you up and have Her Darshnas.
Jai Chandi Maa
(The author is Assistant Professor at Udhampur Campus, University of Jammu in the Department of Economics.)

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