Kashi, One of the abodes of Lord Shiva. So.. I planned my Kashi trip, the flight got cancelled, I replanned it, and there was too much fog and I couldn’t fly once again. I stayed persistent on my thoughts of reaching Kashi ( Benaras ) no matter what and finally it happened, I landed in Varanasi. Kashi, Varanasi and Benaras are the three names of this ancient city. 

My experience of Kashi maybe can be written in some 300 pages. But I will keep it short for now.

From what I recall there was a temple in Kashi every 10 steps. The people.. ohh super intense, intensity can be of all kinds, spiritual intensity or simply intense in anything and everything that they do, which is sometimes a bit intimidating. 

I could speak their language and they thought I was one of their own, well I am one of their own. From the people, to the lovely Hindi, to the simplicity, to the madness, to the lovely Ganges flowing and needless to mention the Sunrise and the Sunsets which we take for granted. Kashi is magical.

The burning Ghat, ‘Manikarnika Ghat’. This is a cremation ground on the banks of river Ganges where the bodies of people are burnt day and night. It is said that if you die in Kashi your soul gets liberated from the cycles of Birth and Death. I had some very powerful experiences meditating at this Ghat. Somehow the fear of seeing a dead body or a dead person just vanished from my being when I saw the bodies melting into the fires. My thoughts about Life and Death were certainly impacted on spending time at this place. 

The Kashi Vishwanath temple, one of the Jyotirlingas was indescribable to visit and imbibe. A Jyotirlinga is a form where Lord Shiva is worshipped. In India we have 12 Jyotirlingas. I have been to a couple and wish to visit them all. 

Bathing in river Ganges was like being in the presence of a powerful reverberating water body, this again is almost like a dream. The river unfortunately can be very dirty with almost everything going in it. But my spiritual roots of knowing the godliness of the river did not stop me from drinking the water, swimming in the river, praying to the river and even accompanying a lady saint to take a dip in the river ending up dipping in with her fully clothed. 

I have heard stories like your Karma goes on a fast forward when you are in Kashi and this has to be true, from so many incidents that happened there with me and around me, all the time happening. 

My first Tuk Tuk ride in Kashi was in January when the temperature dips to a nice 10 degrees. It was a rather fresh morning and I left the stay area with shoes and socks warmly clothed for a temple visit. I shared the Tuk Tuk with an elderly man who sat there with no shoes, I asked him are you not freezing, you don’t have any shoes on. I assumed he must have lost his shoes. He looked at me smiled and said I am in the Land of Shiva how dare I wear shoes. I have so many such stories…. There should be a Kashi part 2,3..

more to come.

Sadhguru: ” Living in Kashi means that you are not oriented towards your family, some other pleasure, or the same emotional stuff. You are oriented towards your inner wellbeing.”

Sadhguru:  “There was a time in this country when people believed that if you just enter this city you will be liberated, because it was such a powerful space. Above all, the heart of the city was Vishwanath. The temple was destroyed a long time ago, but it is supposed to have been consecrated by Adiyogi himself.”

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev – Kashi – A Tower of Light and Shiva’s Luminous City