Visit to Dronagiri – Abode of the Gods (June 18 -21)

|| Jai Shree Babaji || Jai Shri Baba Swami ||

Shree Mahavtar Babaji and Pandukhuli

The chain of events (this is a separate story by itself) over the past two months leading up to my visit to Babaji caves led me to believe that I was being called by Babaji to pay a visit to his abode. There was great anticipation that something magical was in store for us on this spiritual journey as we sat in the flight. A group of four led by Prem Parasji and including Deepak Tandon (who took the initiative to organize the trip), his close friend Ramesh Ganiga and self formed the eager foursome who were to go to the abode of the Gods where Mahavatar Babaji’s energy and presence is felt in every atom of nature. We flew down to Delhi from Mumbai and as we passed over Ajmer, I felt cold vibrations and goose pimples giving an indication that the Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chisty of Ajmer too was blessing us on this trip. All the travel arrangements from Delhi to Dronagiri in Uttaranchal were made by Deepak and Ramesh. Another proof that Babaji works in his own mysterious ways came to light when the taxi driver Rajan Soni, of Sheetal Tours and Travels accompanied us and turned out to be a devotee of Shirdi Sai Nath. Prem and I received a text message from a mutual friend as soon as we landed at New Delhi which read “In the limited time and space we all are in – I am wishing with lots of loving and kindness to all – a new consciousness full of love and joy – the new awakening which will bring about a paradigm shift in this world and in us. Let the higher energies bless us all. So….be….it…..” We had good weather in Delhi and left for Dronagiri at 11 am.

On the way up, Rajan used to keep telling us that this or the other would happen, we kept telling him that, rest assured nothing untoward would happen and we would reach well in time. Rajan Soni had a great collection of bhajans and we travelled throughout listening to some fabulous Sai bhajans which had great energy leading to a cooling of the crown chakra. Rajan told us we would waste about a couple of hours of travel time to pay the RTO tax by entering Ghaziabad. We told him have faith we won’t get any line or traffic and we should be out fast. We had to halt at Ghaziabad and enter the city to pay RTO tax – can you imagine you have to enter the city to pay tax – this tax should be on the highway, sheer waste of travel time as well as diesel! We finished this exercise in 45 minutes as there was not much traffic and no line! Our faith just kept getting stronger with the sensation that Babaji was ensuring that things went right for us! We stopped for a delicious lunch at Skylark dhabha on NH4 on the way to Moradabad. There was great energy, as one closed one’s eyes one could feel Babaji’s energy which was palpable as we were already in his aura. We passed Rampur which left us with another 160km to travel to Bheemtal. The entire stretch after leaving Delhi is so green and lush that it is amazing that a state so rich in natural resources can be so poor.

A small traffic incident occurred at around 4.15pm when a very young boy on a bicycle came bang in front of our car from the right, which made Rajan brake and move to the left, resulting in a motorcycle hitting us in the rear. We were moving very slowly and hence the accident was not too severe, we checked that the motorcycle rider was not hurt and moved on. As we passed the bicyclist, Ramesh and Rajan yelled out words of wisdom to the youth, and the boy just looked askance and smiled – it appeared that Babaji was testing us! Prem said “uski nazar dekho, kaun tumhe dekh raha hai pehchano”. We had tea at Bilaspur at around 5.15pm and then around 6.25pm we reached Haldwani and saw a board welcoming us to Devbhoomi (Land of the Gods). We could feel divinity in the air and in the surroundings.

Prem started singing Babaji’s bhajan which was composed by him, and we accompanied him in chorus, it was great fun and tremendous energy, we could feel ourselves being cleansed in the process. We had not booked any hotel thinking that as it was off season we would get a room easily. But we discounted the fact that it was the weekend, and people from surrounding areas flock to the hills on weekends. Rajan told us he would get us a room at Bheemtal which we reached around 8pm, as reaching Ranikhet at night would have been too risky. Prem kept saying we should go as far as possible, and stop at Garampani which was half way to Ranikhet, and keep trying hotels on the route to Ranikhet. We told the driver that he should not think negatively as we are sure we would get two rooms to stay. Ramesh called his office colleague who is a local, and he told us to go to Garampani just as Prem had said where we would get our rooms! The hotel owner called us shortly and told us that he had only two vacant rooms – we told him that is all we need, thank you! This happened at around 8.20 pm, we reached Hotel Shagun at Garampani at 9.10pm, checked in, had great dinner and retired for the night. After dinner at around 10.15pm Prem got his guitar out and started singing his composition. Deepak was in the room, and as Prem started singing, he went to call his friend but did not return. As Prem sang, I felt the same energy which I had been experiencing off and on over the last two months, but this time much stronger, as my body got covered in that energy field, my eyes closed in meditation and I asked Prem that I could feel the presence of Babaji, he said yes Babaji was in the room, I bowed my head and paid obeisance and prayed for enlightenment to Babaji. Prem continued singing with me softly accompanying him for about half an hour. At around 11pm we retired for the night anticipating a great day tomorrow. Prem told me he had sent the energy to the other room also, thus they too were blessed.

At 5am it was already bright and I sat down for meditation and prayed to Babaji for a great day, saying whatever has to happen will happen as per His wishes. At around 8am, we were all in the balcony taking photographs of the beautiful scenery and then after tea Prem told us all to sit down and he took out his guitar and started singing a bhajan in praise of Guruma. There was so much feeling in the bhajan that as I listened to the bhajan with eyes closed, tear drops started rolling down - he took us to a completely different level! After this we again went to the balcony and as we discussed spiritual matters we were being cleared and as our discussion became more animated, we could again feel Babaji’s energy, he was with us again in the morning. Prem made us stand in a circle and asked us to shut our eyes and meditate. He told us to relax and watch our breath. Prem then explained to us how the energies work. Prem gave Osho diksha to Deepak and Ramesh, and Deepak felt connected and the energy started flowing between the four of us, it was moving in ‘shunya’ a zero-like state. After we opened our eyes Ramesh said that he saw a flame in a golden ball of light in his heart – that was his soul.The experience of Deepak during the “Shunya” energy circle and post that during the bhajan was so divine that he could get not only Babaji’s energy but felt a “Shakti” which was present. We felt that we all four souls were bonded together and there was a “Shakti” which was blessing all of us.

By 9.15am we checked out and left for Ranikhet, as we were driving through Ranikhet I was praying for an ‘Om’ to be visible in the sky, and shortly there it was, as confirmed by the others. We were now on our way to Dwarahat and from there we were to move to Kukuchina. We could literally feel that we were in God’s country - we were travelling through hills with lots of twists and turns as we continually climbed up. On either side of the road were pine forests, lush green cover and a sight for sore city eyes. We were passing through real beautiful country, the atmosphere was divine and nature was with us as the Sun God kept smiling throughout. We passed Dwarahat at 12 noon and moved on to Dunagiri which we reached at around 1.30pm. We got off the car and climbed the 350 steps up to the temple. This is a four ‘Yuga’s’ (one Yuga is said to be an epoch within a cycle of four ages; a complete Yuga cycle from a high Golden Age of enlightenment to a Dark Age and back again is said to be caused by the solar system’s motion around another star) old temple and the presiding deity is Vaishnavi Devi and is called Dunagiri Mata. This is a shakti-peeth, where Bhairavi, the consort of Bhairav or Lord Shiva himself, turns into Vaishnavi Mata. We all went with our offerings and as we were doing the rounds of the temple, I placed my forehead on the wall of the temple just behind the deity and closed my eyes and prayed for “ek shunya stithi” and as I started praying my forehead went ice cold and I saw the vision of Nandi (white – just the head) coming towards me and then a three dimensional image of white clouds in a vibrant blue sky and the Nandi disappeared into the clouds, the clouds dissolved and only a white circle of light was left and I felt I was disappearing into it, I felt somebody standing behind me and I opened my eyes. Prem was smiling at me and told me he was watching my Kundalini energy as I prayed. After that we sat down and accompanied Prem to three bhajans he sang in praise of Mataji. There was so much energy and feeling in the bhajans, it was amazing – I never knew I could sing in tune to anything, but then I guess the energies always make you proficient at the right time. We all enjoyed the bhajans and again during the singing a few tears dropped from my eyes. As we got up, one of the temple attendants came and told us to have “Prasad” at the “bhandara”. Prem mentioned that on Saturday his wife prepares “aloo-puri” for him and that is exactly what was served as “prasad”. We were blessed, as after breakfast we had not had anything in between, it was around 2.15pm when we sat down and had excellent Prasad. It was so tasty that we had a second round and then after that we left for Kukuchina. A slight drizzle had started and the weather had now become very chilly with a cool breeze blowing across the mountains. We reached Kukuchina at around 2.45 pm and went to Joshi’s restaurant. As we got off from the car Prem said the caves are over there pointing east on the far side of the road, below which was a valley and beyond which was the base of the mountain. We asked for Joshiji and asked for his advice – by now the rains had become more persistent. Joshi told us to proceed to the caves which were exactly where Prem had said they were, and then climb up to Pandukhuli where it is believed that the Pandavas spent their one year incognito in exile. If Joshiji wanted he could have told us to stay in his cottage, but he was transparent and said if you have come so far then you must proceed today only and stay overnight at the Ashram as divinity was there and the experience would be unique. It was not a question of money but about service to Babaji.

There was discussion on whether to go to Pandukhuli first and then next morning, climb down to Babaji’s caves etc. At this point Rajan was refusing to come up and Prem was coaxing him to come, when a cat was about to cross his path but turned around and returned, Prem shouted ‘dekha woh billi laut ke chale gayi, ab tu aja’. That’s when his energy changed and he agreed to come with us. Just as we left an unknown person came out and Prem greeted him, and he said “pehchan gaye” and they started laughing and embraced each other. He stayed alone at a temple about two hours away up the mountain in the jungles and was a self realised soul. It was decided that we should have faith and go to the caves and climb up to Pandukhuli thereafter. We got clothes for a day out of our bags and into separate bags, pulled out windcheaters wore them and set out for the trek singing Babaji’s bhajan composed by Prem. After walking for about half a kilometer the rains stopped and the Sun God smiled at us. We could feel Babaji’s energy as we climbed up. Ramesh had a cholesterol issue and was walking slowly with the help of a stick. Prem gave his guitar to him and told him to climb with the guitar. Later, when we reached the top and Ramesh said he was not tired at all, Prem told him, why do you think I gave you the guitar to carry! After about an hour of trekking we reached Babaji’s caves. We were met by a couple who were coming down from the caves and we greeted each other and moved on. As we stepped onto the stairs leading to the cave Shree Shivakrupananda Swamiji’s subtle body came and blessed us. We went into the cave where matting was kept (it was wet), but we sat and paid obeisance by touching our forehead to the ground and then sat for meditation. Prem started singing the bhajan which had now been completely composed with new lines and sounded magnificent in the cave. We sang in chorus, with me making the mistake of singing first time with Prem, instead of singing second time in chorus due to my ignorance. We sat with our eyes closed and were completely encased in a cocoon of energy singing in praise of Mahavtar Babaji. After about an hour of singing and praying we wound up and found that the caretaker had come to lock the caves. Ramesh mentioned that he had an out of body experience and saw his physical body sitting in meditation from above. Prem said Ramesh’s soul came and hugged his soul like they had discovered each other after many births! It was exactly 5pm – and all of us were glowing with the energy and the experience. One could see in each one’s eyes that they had gone through something unique. We hugged each other in gratitude for making this journey happen with Babaji’s and Gurudev’s grace. The caretaker was waiting outside and we asked him how long it would take to reach Pandukhuli, he said about an hour and a half. Post Prem singing Babaji’s bhajan, Ramesh too sang Satya Sai baba’s favorite bhajan followed by one bhajan from Deepak on Devi Ma. These bhajan’s came out of the energy levels being felt by the individual soul. Deepak felt the presence of Babaji, Annai Mata and Lahiri Baba in the cave. Deepak’s soul was thanking them for calling him and showering abundant blessings on him and all present. Lahiri Baba was as usual with his merciful , smiling and sweet face. Babaji was as if looking at Deepak and smiling , Mataji was the one who connected with him and to whom he caught on. Deepak was pleading with her not to send him back and she along with Babaji were indicating that he will need to go since there were obligations of the mortal body to be fulfilled. Deepak was literally reminded of his daughter who had specifically asked him to come back from this trip. Babaji and Mataji finally made him happy by assuring him of their constant presence and connection with his soul. The realization of this was evidenced by him during our journey back to Delhi on Tuesday. We decided to come the next day and asked him if he could open the cave at around 7am for us, he said he would do so by 7 – 7.30am.

Nature was with us all the time, as the sun kept coming in and out of the clouds and the temperature becoming nice and pleasant as we climbed up. The climb to the caves was a cakewalk as compared to the climb up to Pandukhuli. This climb was at an almost consistent 60 degree angle on a narrow well used trail up the mountain. We were told to follow the power line and we would reach Pandukhuli, we kept climbing with very brief halts for rest. On the way up one could hear nature all around, the call of birds, the rustling of leaves in a cool breeze and the “whoosh” of the wind as it blew across the mountains. The energy levels were so high that one did not rest for too long and continued up, and the best part was Ramesh who had a cholesterol problem reached the top ahead of all of us! He said he did not feel tired at all – that was the biggest miracle. On reaching the top Prem and I sat down praying facing the Sun God. It was 6.30pm and the setting Sun was still bright. I was enveloped in Babaji’s energy field and was just taking his name over and over in my mind and I felt I saw Babaji’s image in the Sun. I thereafter sat and meditated and thanked all the presiding Guru’s and deities for a wonderful experience and for bringing us so far without any hardships. Prem was sitting for meditation on the ground when Lord Shiva appeared before him and gave him his blessings.

We then went upto the Ashram and registered our names for the night’s stay. The view from the top was divine and on the other side of the Ashram was thick jungle. We met an American who has been coming there for the past four years – a true seeker of Truth. We got talking and he said his name was Sunita, I said that’s a girl’s name, he then said zero, that’s when I realised he said “Shunyata” meaning zero – a name given to him by his Guru. So he called himself Shunya, and the person was very knowledgeable of Indian customs and mantras. When Prem was explaining to him about Osho, he said Osho – the O stands for shunya, so he is connected with Osho. When Prems and Shunyas eyes met, Shunya told Prem that there was a Shiva temple ten km away and he said that you can have a tremendous and unique experience of conversing with ‘sakshat’ Lord Shiva!!! He invited Prem to come along with him. It was great to see someone from so far and from a different culture to be so familiar with Indian culture and knowledgeable too. It got dark very fast and it also started to rain pretty heavily. We had a hot and delicious dinner served by Krishna and during dinner Prem told Krishna and his two associates to meditate along with Shunya for about five minutes. After dinner we chose a shack which had Shirdi Sai Nath and Shri Purnananda Guru’s photo on the walls with an image of Om in snow in the Himalayas to retire for the night. Here we lit a candle in front of Shirdi Sai Baba’s photo and did the Guru Avahan mantra before Prem took out his guitar and we all sat down in a meditative posture and then he started singing, he took us to a different plane with his bhajans and we just soaked in the divine atmosphere. The candle was crackling all the time indicating our purification. This is when the bhajan “Mahavtar Jai Shri Babaji, Nagaraj Jai Shri Babaji tere sharana aayen hum Babaji, tere sharana aayen hum Babaji, namah namah Shivaya, Om nama shivaya, namah namah Shivaya, Om namah Shivaya ” composed by Prem was blessed by Shri Mahavtar Babaji and now whenever while meditating you hum the tune you will find it echoing in your mind as the tune is now playing in the Universe. We then retired for the night as it had now become very misty and it was raining consistently.

I woke up at around 6am and sat for meditation, while the others woke up in turns, as it was still raining we decided to remain indoors. At 7.30am or so Ramesh and I were chatting with Shunya at the entrance to the Ashram and I mentioned to him that I was praying down at Dunagiri Devi temple for a zero condition and guess what I met “Shunyata” on top – maybe we were destined to meet. Krishna the caretaker gave us morning tea followed by a herbal preparation which was absolutely divine. It kept our hunger at bay till 2pm! Then we went back to our shack and we sat for meditation along with Shunya. Prem sang Babaji’s bhajan with great feeling and we again went into a high meditative state. After the meditation Shunya said that for the last four years he was listening to Babaji’s bhajans but had never heard such a wonderful and enlightening Babaji bhajan before.

At around 9am the mist started clearing up, and then Prem said we will go direct to Dunagiri and there is no point in going back to the caves. He said we will start at around noon and we should be down by 2pm. He also said that we will carry out a yagna for purification of our mind and bodies. He told the temple priest and he readily agreed. In the meanwhile we got fresh, took a bath with available water and got ready. By this time it was around 11.30am.

I will digress a bit and tell you Rajan Soni’s (our cab driver) story. On the way up, he kept telling us this or the other would happen and we kept telling him that Babaji is with us and nothing will happen. He was just doing his job based on his experience which was to keep warning us, but we were also sure that nothing untoward would happen. He kept running away from situations, he did not sit with us at Dunagiri temple while we sang bhajans, he was hesitant to come up, Prem cajoled and coaxed him into agreeing to climb up, he did not stay with us but chose to go to a different room. He also told me that he was proceeding alone slowly ahead to get the car ready, I told him that we were doing a yagna and he should not go, but he refused me, so I did not say anything. When we set up the Yagna, Prem asked for Rajan, I said he had gone, Prem said how can he go like that, he is here only. So he called out his name, and Rajan sauntered in to my complete surprise! Then all of us along with Shunya sat for the yagna. During the yagna, when my eyes were shut I felt I was floating, this happened off and on. While chanting the mantra for burning our karmas, the flame went off, and we had to repeatedly try to light it up, and ultimately it lit up, indicating that our previous bad karmas were destroyed. Prem had never conducted a yagna before and he did it with the pure feeling that the yagna should be successful and he was saying the mantras for the first time. It was a completely miraculous experience. Ramesh went into a trance while standing as the yagna started, Deepak then tapped him and asked him to sit for the yagna. The yagna went on till about 1.30pm after which we packed up and got ready to leave. We had lunch at around 2.30pm, that’s when I realised that none of us had taken a bite since morning, and it was the herbal mix which kept our stomach quiet. During lunch Krishna mentioned that tigers, leopards frequent the Ashram often but do not harm anyone. We were amazed, if we had known earlier perhaps we could have kept a vigil for a sighting! After lunch we started on our return trip to Dunagiri thanking everyone.

Trip down was uneventful, though we again kept experiencing the energy of Mahavtar Babaji and Gurudev all the way down the slope. The amazing thing was after such a heavy trek none of us was physically tired nor were there any muscle pains! By now Rajan had become a complete convert, and was so positive about everything, kept saying whatever will happen will happen with Babaji’s grace and so on. Rajan is a very good driver, solid and safe, never in a hurry, and never going beyond 90km per hour. He is a humorous character and great company and his bhajan collection and belief in the almighty was amazing. Babaji had chosen for us a person with similar feelings and we greatly enjoyed his company.

Our return trip was relatively uneventful except for the fact that we sang great bhajans in chorus and had a lot of fun and kept savoring the experience we all had gone through. While returning we were told in Ranikhet that the road through Bheemtal was closed due to a bridge being repaired, which forced us to go through Jim Corbett National Park. While going to Dronagiri Prem had said that we should go via Jim Corbett route, but that did not happen but on the way back that is exactly the route we were forced to take! This is where Rajan really came into form and said that I will show you a tiger on the road, and as we entered Jim Corbett National Park it was 8pm and we actually sighted a herd of deer and a wild boar crossed our path. The traffic on this road was very heavy due to the other road being closed, which could have scared the animals away - though we were lucky enough to see the deer and wild boar. After Jim Corbett National Park we stopped for the night at Jim Corbett Inn at Ramnagar. We had dinner and retired for the night.

In the morning around 7am after Prem had come out of the bath and was changing the lights went out for a few minutes, which is when I saw Prem’s golden aura pulsating in the dark. At 7.45am we left for Delhi listening to devotional songs. Prem invoked Osho and we felt his divine vibrations in the car. The energy in the car was very high as we were all singing devotional songs with Rajan joining in wholeheartedly. Along the entire stretch to Moradabad there is no dhabha or restaurant – the supposed badlands of Uttaranchal! We were quite hungry when Ramesh spotted a restaurant with the name Sai Nath Dhabha. We stopped there and the owner had such a peaceful look on his face, it was a blessing to eat there. There were photos of all Gurus and Gods on his wall, his food too was tasty. It was like divinity was following us. As we sat down Prem went into Samadhi for a short period of time. We had a filling brunch and left thereafter for paying the RTO tax at Moradabad around 11.30am. Music was playing in the car and as Lord Ram’s bhajan was playing we saw monkeys on the road, all of them went on the side, but one elegant one just stood there and stared at us as we passed by! Later Prem was talking to his wife and she was telling him that Lord Shiva had come to their house and as she said that I felt tremendous energy and a Shiva bhajan started playing in the car – the timing was so eerie that it could not be a co-incidence. Too many such events had occurred for us to believe that they were co-incidences! It was divinity and Babaji at play, we were sure!

On the way back we stopped at a place where the Ganga flows serenely. We took a boat ride in the Ganga and sent our offerings along with a lit lamp into the Ganga, blessed ourselves with Ganga water, offered prayers and returned to the car. We thereafter proceeded to the airport. We wanted copies of Rajan’s bhajan collection, but could not find a cyber café, he sweetly told us to take the CD’s and make copies and distribute them to our friends, as the same CD’s had been copied and taken by some of his overseas customers to as far as Peru in South America. At exactly 4.10pm Rajan dropped us off at the airport. As we got off we hugged him in turn, and as Prem hugged him, I could see his expression change and his eyes become moist, as were mine. A wonderful association with a wonderful human being, we promised to get in touch with him every time we toured the north!

The flight was delayed by half an hour and left at 6pm. We stopped at the book stall and I picked up a book on Guru Nanak and another Osho book explaining 112 different types of meditation. Guess what when we had left Mumbai for Delhi, Prem was explaining to Deepak and Ramesh about Osho’s book explaining different types of meditation! Another incident happened in the flight. Prem was praying to the Sun God from the window, when the person sitting next to me in the aisle seat tapped him to pull the shutter down as the sun was coming straight on his face. I thought to myself how can people voluntarily put away light from their lives. Prem looked at me and I indicated that he should pull the shutter down. You won’t believe what happened next, the aircraft took a slight turn, just enough so that the sun would not come through the main window but from the window which was just behind and Prem could continue with his prayers. I had a smile on my face as once you are one with nature as Prem is, there is no way that nature will not listen to you.

Deepak said the entire trip was perfectly arranged by Babaji with the divine inspiration of “Maa Shakti” ( Annai Maa ). There was not a moment which was spent without the divine presence. Everything was taken care to the “T” and it was successful as the end objective which Babaji had initiated this trip was also achieved. This trip marks the beginning of a new chapter in each one’s life and am sure , as time goes by we will be able to comprehend the events that occurred during the trip.

Photo of Mahavtar Babaji and Kriya Mata

We reached Mumbai uneventfully and started walking out humming Prem’s Babaji composition. We took each others’ farewell with parting hugs promising each other that we will do more such expeditions together.

Rajan Soni contact details for a great driving experience:
Rajan Soni - +919810776968, +919268517527 : Email : rajansoni2006@yahoo.com
Web Site: http://www.wemakeyourtour.com

Jai Mahavatar Babaji, Jai Lahiri Mahasayaji, Jai Shree Shivakrupanandaji, Jai Mataji, Jai Sai Nath, Jai Guruma.