bharatayatra: part 1 - Sri Lanka: Kataragama

Kataragama must definitely rank as one of the most important locations of convergence of spiritual thought, nter-religious understanding and the oneness of humanity. Early in the morning, at the 4.30 am prayers, the devotees congregate at the premises, and within the same sanctum, there are Sinhalese Hindu priests and Buddhist monks. Outside the sanctum, in adjacent temples within the same compound, there are Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu priests, Hindu monks from India, Sinhalese Muslim priests and Tamil Hindu priests from India.

Its an amazing confluence. There is an elephant that keeps going around inside the campus, amidst hundreds of devotees thronging the pathways. The elephant goes to each place, the Kataragama temple, the Ganesha temple, the Buddhist temple, the Bodhi tree, the Siddi Sunni Muslim temple and other temples adjacent. At each of these temples, the elephant offers prayers and receives blessings from the priests.

At dusk hours, the hundreds of pilgrims crowd around the elephant excitedly, and keep taking photographs incessantly. The flashlights keep going off endlessly at very close range, and yet, the sacred elephant does not get startled.

There are pilgrims of all religions, and yet there is silence, sanctity and serenity. They are all happy. Long queues have patient devotees lined up. There are no VIP queues or shorter queues on payment basis. Amazing.

The most fascinating aspect of the sanctum sanctorum at the Kataragama Devale (= Temple) is that the iconic human-like deity is not established in stone or other forms. The story is that Kartikeya came to a closure on his journey away from Kailasa, after moving through the Indian Subcontinent and reaching Kataragama. He is supposed to have established himself at Kataragama and very soon the place began to be recognised as the Dakshina Kailasa.

Shiva followed Kartikeya, as he had done so, to all his locations earlier. Upon arrival at Kataragama, Shiva is thought to have settled at Wedahitykanda, a hill-top location, the highest in a complex of seven hills overlooking the river, countryside and the southern coast line of Sri Lanka. Kartikeya also had his presence at Wedahitykanda, at a hillside enclave, on a ridge just below Shiva's location. To this day, as you would visit the hill-top temples, you would visit the Kartikeya swami temple first, and later climb to the peak, to the higher ridge, and seek blessings from Maheshwara at the temple. Its an amazingly beautiful location.

It is said that at this location, Kartikeya and Shiva merged into one formless spirit, both being actually deities without human-like form, and converged into one singular aspect. Wedahitykanda and Kataragama are thought to be astral and cosmic gateways that our knowledge systems cannot comprehend. It is through these cosmic gateways that the unified aspect of Shiva and Kartikeya traveled back to Kailasa.

Kataragama seemed like an impossible dream, considering the situation in Sri Lanka during the previous several years. The country is much more peaceful now and seems to be settling down and becoming increasingly productive. There are only so many finite aspects of an island nation that are crucial and essential for its well-being. The first, of course, is water, mainly freshwater for drinking, agriculture and irrigation purposes. The second - would be the need to be careful with the nation's finances and not have to spend it up on fighting each other inside the island. The third important fulcrum would be to ensure human oneness, in spite of all the strife.

These three aspects are the common issues that are paramount to Kataragama, I guess. It is at the fringe of the forests at Yala, and inside a crescent of Wedahitykanda (Yala National Park), Lunugamvehera National Park and Uda Walawe National Park. The river, also known locally as Menik Ganga, flows southwards to Kataragama from Weheragala reservoir near Galge, at the common edge of Yala National Park and Lunugamvehera National Park.

It would have been so much more relevant for one to focus on the catchments and watersheds at Weheragala. But, this was Kataragama, and the southern abode of Kartikeya, and it was not the land of Shiva, in his aspect of Gangadhaara. I am sure that there would be an amazing understanding of Shiva and Kartikeya and Ganesha at Kataragama. It is also in the mystery of Sella Kataragama that one may find answers, and also at Wedahitykanda. What are the secrets of Kataragama, Wedahitykanda and Sella Kataragama?

bharatayatra: part 1 - Sri Lanka: Kataragama, Tondeswaram, Muneeswaram

There are so many countless layers of events, stories and places within this bharatayatra. I cease to be amazed now. I am no longer surprised by the miracles. They happen, all the time. I do not question them anymore, and I have stopped speaking about them. One has to just desire an aspect of the journey to occur, and it begins to happen.

In June 2011, on Facebook, came a sudden request for friendship from 'Masterwalkers Travels', a Travel Agency in Sri Lanka. Without much thought or query, but only with acceptance, I agreed to the 'invite'. Instantly came the message from Lasanthi Gunasekara of Masterwalkers Travels, inviting me to visit Sri Lanka and travel on any itinerary, either their pre-set tour, or one that I would design. This was what I was waiting for. I needed a good contact group in Sri Lanka, who would be ready to improvise, and agree with me about the itinerary that I would like to develop.

I asked them if they could design an itinerary that would focus entirely on Kataragama without any visit to Colombo, Kandy or Anuradhapura as most tourists would like to do. I must say, in appreciation of Masterwalkers Travels, and Lasanthi Gunasekara, that they never hesitated or questioned or hassled me with options to visit other locations. The agreement was immediate, and there was no ridicule. They did not question as to why an Indian would travel within Sri Lanka, and would not want to be a tourist or shopper or beach-hound, but would just like to go to visit one temple at Kataragama. But, I guess, it was the magic of Kataragama, and the spiritual strength of that place that made it all happen.

Lasanthi Gunasekara and the team at Masterwalkers Travels maintained a hectic routine of communication, working with me on the itinerary. I kept changing details, adding requirements, asking for information and troubling them enormously. They did not know me, and I did not know them. Nobody introduced us to each other. The e-handshake just happened, with the blessings of Facebook, on one fine day in June 2011.

Another development happened during this communication. I was reading up on Kataragama, the temples, the deity, the pilgrimage and the knowledge systems that abound. There are fantastic websites, with hundreds or thousands of pages, and hundreds of links about Skanda-Murugan-Kartikeya and Kataragama at http://murugan.org/research and at http://www.kataragama.org These websites provide splendid guidance and are doing tremendous service.

I had wanted to search for information of locations mentioned in the Ramayana, and especially of locations that would refer to Shiva, Ravana and Rama. Similar to the Jyotirlinga Shiva temples or the Vaishnava Divya Desams in India, the "Pancha-Ishwara" (= five Shiva) temples in Sri Lanka are the oldest, most pre-eminent locations of spiritual thought and aspects of worship to Shiva.

Two locations were crucial to the journey to Kataragama. Tondeswaram, near Matara, which was the southernmost, and Muneeswaram, at Chilaw, south of Puttalam, on the western coast, north of Colombo, seemed like locations that I would be able to visit and add value to the bharatayatra.

Kataragama - many journeys before the first journey of the bharatayatra

Kataragama seemed like the ideal location to begin the yatra from. This is where Kartikeya Swami had come to stay at the conclusion of his journey across the Indian Subcontinent and later, entered Sri Lanka. It seemed very simple, when I thought about it. Except for one fact, that, Kataragama was in Sri Lanka, and one had to plan for international travel. There was one crucial factor, however. The Kataragama temple was to be the first location on the yatra.

I have been traveling, since 1979, by myself, with family, friends and colleagues. I seem to be traveling every month. I have stayed at some places for more than a month, and some, for nearly a year and more. But, this bharatayatra, beginning July 2011 was very different. The transition from my 49th to 50th year was to be marked by this bharatayatra.

Therefore, to start on the yatra in July, and to start from Kataragama in July 2011, seemed like placing the second most impossible aspect at the front, and making it to be the fulcrum of the entire bharatayatra. The first most impossible aspect, of course, would be the trips to Kailasa, Kongur, and Kashgar in China. Most of these travel corners were being determined in May and early June 2011.

There was one problem, though. I had earlier planned for travel to Ladakh and had purchased air tickets etc and was ready to journey in the first fortnight of July 2011. If I would go on the journey, it would make it very difficult for me to travel to Kataragama and Sri Lanka. Should I then postpone the journey to Sri Lanka? I did not want to do so.

I had faith in Shiva. I have faith in Shiva. Totally. I knew that he would make it happen. The journey to Kataragama would definitely happen.

But, what of the Ladakh trip? It dissolved by itself, suddenly. On one fine day, the Ladakh trip was not existant. I was free of the journey. There was one small bonus, though. One of the air tickets gave me an opportunity to visit and seek blessings of Adi Badri and Adi Kedar. It seemed like the perfect way to start the yatra.

The case of the accurate astrologer
I had planned the journey to Ladakh sometime early in March 2010. The tickets and other arrangements were completed quite early to pick up low cost fares. I had not made any plans to visit Kataragama in Sri Lanka and even the thought or intention had not come about. For some other reason, I had to meet an astrologer, a friend, of whom I knew about for some years. I had gone to him with a different question, an aspect that had been troubling me for some years. We met in March, after I had purchased the tickets for Ladakh. We discussed the question that I had wanted to ask him, and he also looked at the details on my horoscope by merely wanting to complete his professional scrutiny.

Off-hand, he mentioned that due to some movement in my thoughts and behaviour, and according to the locations of the stars and planets on my horoscope, I would travel out of the country in July 2011 for a short trip. I was perplexed. I was sure that I was to travel to Ladakh in July 2011. Was Ladakh going to be considered by astrologers as beyond India's borders? Did astrological calculations go skewed in the upper Himalayas? I asked my astrologer friend if he was sure of my travel out of India in July 2011 since I had already booked tickets for travel to Ladakh and I was to be part of a group.

He smiled, and replied that he was not concerned about the Ladakh journey. He was convinced that I would travel out of the country. I wondered about the conflict in the schedule. My astrologer friend reaffirmed that whatever may, but, I would surely travel out of the country. Soon, June turned to July, and the Ladakh trip disappeared. The tickets and plans for Sri Lanka got completed, and friends joined me in the journey, and Kartikeya allowed me to travel to Kataragama.



Journeys before the first journey
The journey to reach Kataragama had many other earlier journeys. Each one was a miracle. The journeys did not edist even as invitations or as an inclination before they happened, suddenly. There was the trip to Jamnagar, Nageshwar Jyotirlinga temple, Nageshwar areas, Dwarka temple, Okha, Okha-Bet Island, the Krishna Balarama temples at Okha Bet, driving through Porbandar, while visiting the Harsiddhi mata temple, and on to Somnath Jyotirlinga temple at Somnath, and later, the Ghatwad-Kodinar Rudreshwar Mahadev temple and the Balaji temple at Khorasa-Junagadh. I would never have been able to plan these journeys by myself, even if I would have wanted to.

There was that journey, one day, suddenly, to Tryambakeshwar Jyotirlinga temple. It just happened. Did not have ot plan for anything or any aspect of the journey. We rushed through the temple and I was able to offer the rudrabhishek (= sacred offering with liquids - water, milk, honey, curd etc - to the jyotirlinga) puja at the jyotirlinga despite misgivings and problems about the time-allocation for various rituals and devotees.

So, when does a pilgrimage actually happen, and get completed? I think, as in the Ashtavinayak yatra, there has to be a beginning point, a starting location, and one must return to the location to completely surrender with the diety for having allowed one to complete the yatra. In the Ashtavinayak yatra, it is known as 'Sankalp' (= oath of determination) to decide on a route, and to go ahead and actually be able to complete the journey. One has to return to the first temple though, and inform the priest that the journey was completed, and one would now break or terminate the 'sankalp' of having wanted to proceed on the yatra.


The magic of fellow yatris
The magic of fellow travelers or yatris is amazing. From nowhere, never failing, there have been friends joining me in the bharatayatra. Also, there are new friends who meet up in the various locations. The aspect of individuals becoming friends, and friends becoming fellow travelers is a tremendous feeling. Trip after trip, journey after journey, the wish becomes the desire, the desire becomes the plan, the plan picks up points of action, and the action turns into reality. The reality gets a bonus, and becomes twice the joy, when a friend comes along and joins in the trip.

The first yatra, to the Bhimashankar Jyotirlinga temple, a journey that happened out of nowhere, saw me meeting up with Neetin Desai, Amar Supate, Shivaji Aiwale and Pichika Dharmadath. I had not met Neetin Desai earlier, and our friendship has grown since then. They have helped me internalise the spiritual energy. The temple, the priests and the Sahyadri hill ranges are exhilirating. Early morning fog, and the possibility of trekking in the wildlife sanctuary, and the added ability to go around for birdwatching was vital to get me convinced to begin planning the bharatayatra.

The Bhimashankar Jyotirlinga Temple Shikaraa

Friends made during the yatra have stayed their course. Chaubeyji, the priest at the Adi Badri temple, retains contact and keeps track of my journeys in the mind and on land. We have discussed the story of Maharishi Veda Vyasa, and the possibility that the great sage may have written the Srimad Bhagavatam at Adi Badri in Haryana. For Chaubeyji, it does not seem like a possibility. For him, it is a certainty. He is absolutely sure that the Srimad Bhagavatam was written at the temple. When he explains it, and shows the various locations, you know that it could have certainly happened there. You can see it happen.

The call of the ancients - the reason for the yatra.

It was the awesome geographical span of the story that captured me. That, and the amazing precision of locations, events and places in the numerous stories that seemed never ending. One story went into another. One religion wove into another. Historical and pre-ancient time-spans seemed to enter mythology and mythical individuals, deities and demons were in and out of real events. How could one not be captivated by it all?

There was Valmiki, the sage, whose childhood had not been in an ashram, had never been taught the vedas, and had never led a saintly life. He had never travelled out of his forest, and he had never written a textual line, leave alone poetry. Yet, he is the fountainhead of the Ramayana, and he describes Rama's journey throughout the Indian Subcontinent and to battle with Ravana in Lanka. Not forgetting Rama's wedding in Mithila, how did Valmiki come up with so many people, events and places, in perfect rhythmic poetic lines, in a language that he had not learnt? And, the magic of it all, so many thousands of years later, the story is the top bestseller of all times.

There was Shiva, the dancing destroyer. One of the trinity. Deadly and yet benevolent. He kills his son, and brings him back to life, but with the head of an elephant. How does one even imagine such a concept? So many thousands of years later, can we think of an India or an Indian who does not understand Vigneshwara? Nobody would ever argue against the very concept. Its simply not done. But, once you have accepted Ganapati and before you know it, you are  swept and drowned into the hundreds of stories that have numerous tales about the lovable deity.

There was Vyasa, the supreme. Definitely, to be recognised as the best writer of all times, for his books are being read, interpreted, established as spiritual, cultural or religious schools of thought, and rewritten by countless students-sages-scholars through thousands of years. Who can better his mastery over words, characters, events and thought? His teachings have become the established way of choosing right over wrong. The Bhagavad Gita is always the first choice of reference for any teacher to examine, if one is going to teach ethical behaviour. Millions of people through many centuries would have picked up the Bhagavad Gita to choose their path ahead when in  grief and distress.

The ultimate attraction was Kartikeya. Shiva's son, Shanmukhananda. In a moment of disagreement with Shiva, the young Kartikeya leaves Kailasa and travels throughout the Indian Subcontinent. His journey is known to us through hundreds of stories in excellent detail, from the early years, of how he came to be Shanmukhananda to the stories that we do not know. He is the major deity to be uncovered in the Indus scripts of ancient Meluha. He leaves the region, and the Saraswathy River goes underground. What was the story? Towns and cities recounted by Vidura during his travels while the Kurukshetra war was being fought, are no longer present. Later, the journey of Kartikeya through Maharashtra, Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and finally to Kataragama in Sri Lanka, is tremendous. The precision cosmogeography of Kailasa and Kataragama at 81 deg. E Longitude is the most amazing aspect of spiritual knowledge possible in the Indian Subcontinent.