The himalayan grinder.

Mukthinath in Nepal is a divya desam .That is ,ancient Tamil vaishnavaite saints like Periya aazhwar and Thirumangai aazhwar in 9 th cent AD have sung verses in praise of the presiding deity Narayana.Sri Ramanujar the foremost acharya belonging to 11 th centAD has also visited the temple of Narayana\Vishnu at Mukthinath.The lore behind this temple is mentioned in detail in Vishnu purana.

This temple is situated at a height of 12,300 feet in the Himalayas.Mukthinath is a sacred place not only to Vaishnavaites but also to Tibetan Buddhists.It is also considered as one of the 51 shakthi peetams.Padma sambhava the founder of Tibetan Buddhism is said to have stopped and meditated at this place on his way to Tibet.
This temple is a svayambu that is, it rose of its own accord and is said to enshrine Narayana in saligram form .Saligrama are naturally rounded pebbles found in abundance in Khali gandaki a river that is downstream.These stones have some unique designs that are similar to the sacred symbols of Vaishnavites.They are greatly revered and are found in each and every house hold and in Vishnu temples .No puja can be offered without first worshipping these sacred religious symbols.

The temple is encircled with 108 spouts of water that is said to represent the sacred waters of all pushkarnis of all the holy temples like Tirupati, Sri Rangam and so on .The belief is that a bath in these waters would cleanse one of all accumulated karma's.

People from here, Tamilnadu normally undertake pilgrimages after retirement.And those who vow to complete the circuit of visiting all 106 divya desams [generally vaishnavaites] have also to visit Mukthinath.

Senior citizens who return from visiting this place are a shaken lot.The helicopter that ferried pilgrims to this temple from Pokhra a nearby town are no longer allowed to ply.Instead every one whether old and infirm, male or female, handicapped and suffering from various ailments as one tends to at this age like ortho, heart and BP problems are forced to make a arduous trip first on a jeep over a rocky bumpy road for several excruciating miles and then switch to pillion ride on monstrous motor bikes ,when the trail narrows further upwards.They are forced to cling on to the young locals driving these mechanical beasts so fast and recklessly that according to my family doc who also made this trip recounted with horror this terrible ride that rattled him to the bone though he admitted of being a dare devil in his younger days ,flying off on the roads of Chennai at high speed on his motor bike.So one can imagine the plight of less adventurous persons.
Women well past 60 ,who have never worn anything but sarees all their life are forced to wear salwar kameez to enable them to sit like gents behind these men manning these macho machines , lest they fall off and hold on to them for dear life all the way to a steep incline leading to the temple and thence forward climb hundreds of steps to reach their destination.

The once pleasant trip on a helicopter to a scenic religious spot has become a torture to all those devotees whether Vaishnavites or Saivaites or Buddhists,wanting to pay their obeisance to the respective deities enshrined in there.

Now why should old people who can afford the helicopter ride be arm twisted to undertake such an ardous journey that is fit only for young and sturdy mountaineers?Why this cruelty towards devotees?Can't the Nepali govt relax these bizarre mode of conveyance and restore the copter service?Or at least provide a choice between the two.

Is it fair that in order to provide employment to locals, to subject the old and infirm to such tortures?Is it a ploy of the govt to dampen religious fervour?

May i suggest to that govt, that since its heart bleeds for poor locals and has there fore done away with the copter service and introduced this mad nerve wracking mountain racing on bikes with devotees perched precariously on the pillions,also create a few thousand more jobs by doing away with helidropping at the base camps of Mt Everest and making it mandatory for all those able bodied dollar rich adventure sports seeking climbers creating a traffic jam of sorts enroute to Mt Everest to ride on jeeps and motorbikes driven by locals ,all the way from Kathmandu to the base camp or to the top of Everest itself?

The tales of the terrifying jeep and motorbike rides has successfully deterred me [as well as many others] from making this pilgrimage.Unless the copter service is resumed there is no way that i'll be visiting this sacred place in this janmam.

'Krishna nee begene' baaro'......is a kannada devotional song meaning,

'O' Krishna come swiftly to the rescue of thy devotees.

The Mukhthinath temple.
The 108 water spouts .
Idol of Padma sambhava at Mukthinath.
The helipad at Mukthinath.The easy ride is a thing of past.Below.Pony ride.Though slow ,prefferable to mountain motor bike racing. Photo on top left.Sri Mukthinath Narayanan.