Let's start this blog by enchanting the divine words "Jai Mata Di". Everyone visitng, Mata vaishno devi temple, repeatedly keeps on enchanting these divine words. Mata Vaishno devi temple is present on the mighty Trikuta mountains in Katra , located in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Goddess Vaishnavi is commonly called as "Matarani" or "Maa", this is not just because of respect or devotion towards the Goddess but this is due to the fact that, when you will yourself visit the place, you will feel that you have came to visit and meet your mother and she welcomes all her children with open arms. It is strongly believed that no one can come here without Mata's wish. 

In punjabi language, there is an old saying- "Mata chithiyan  pandiye", which means Mata sends invitation to her chosen ones to visit her place. Visiting Mata Vaishno Devi temple is not just a pilgrimage or a journey, It is a divine experience which one can feel only after visiting there. No words can describe the feeling which one will experience there.   As most of you would be knowing the story of mata vaishno devi temple, during treta yug there was a mata devotee Pandit Shridhar, who organised bhandara at his house, at the command of divine power. He had no resources to procure groceries for the public feast. He prayed to Goddess Vaishnavi to help him in the difficult situation so that no one goes unsatisfied without having food at the bhandara. On the humble request of devotee, Mata appeared in the hut of Pandit Shridhar and helped him to organise the feast for all villagers and brahmins coming in the bhandara.  One of the guest who came there was Bhairon Nath, who demanded an animal meal and alcohol. Mata Vaishno Devi got angry and refused to provide the animal meal to him, he felt insulted on this and tried to catch hold of the Goddess. But the Goddess vaishnavi escaped from there and reached the trikuta mountain where she spent 9 months in a cave (Garbhjoon) which is now known as "Adhkuwari". When Bhairon Nath reached there to catch Vaishnavi then Matarani fought with him in Mahakali avatar and finally ended his life span. The place where Mata Vaishnavi ended the life of Bhairon Nath is presently known as "Bhawan" or the "Holy cave". It is also said that after his death , Bhairo Nath realised his mistake and asked for forgiveness from Matarani. On his humble request, Mata gave salvation to him and also blessed him with a boon that every person visiting Mata Vaishno Devi temple will also visits Bhairon Nath temple which will be located  near to bhavan (2kms approx). If we think about it, we will realise that Matarani nurtures each and every child like a mother. She helps her children who are in trouble (like she helped Pandit Shridhar), she punishes those who indulge in wrong or inhuman activities (like she punished Bhairo Nath),  and also forgives the child who realises his mistake and ask for salvation.

To visit this divine destination one has to first reach Katra, located in union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The nearest railway station is Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra railway station. The nearest airport is Jammu Tawi, which is 47 km approx from the pilgrimage. Katra is very well connected by railway network from some major cities. Infact, Katra railway station is one of the most clean, beautiful and modern railway stations of India, which has almost all the facilities and traits, that an ideal station should have. Besides, buses also run on frequent intervals from New Delhi to Katra.

Since roads are also in good condition, so taking your own car or taxi is also a good idea. it would would be definitely on a costlier side but the picturesque views that you will experience during the journey is worth every penny that you spend.

If you wish to take a taxi from jammu, then you will easily get one, from the prepaid counter located just outside Jammu railway station, which is very reliable safe and effective too.

If you wish to explore any nearby hill station then you can take a prepaid taxi from jammu and visit Patnitop where you will experience snow from December uptill April every year. After paying a half day visit to Patnitop, you can reach Katra by evening. This is exactly what we did during our visit, we got down at Jammu Tawi railway station, from there we booked prepaid taxi for a day that took us to Patnitop, we experienced mesmerizing snowfall, got a cable car ride to reach a beautiful view point and enjoyed various snow adventure activities and after that we reached Katra by night, where our hotel was already booked, we rested there for night and started our journey to climb the mighty mountains to reach the Bhavan in the morning.

One way fare from  Katra to Sanjichhat or Sanjhichat to Katra is Rs.1045 per person and fare for Katra-Sanjichhat-katra is Rs.2090 per passenger, so there are all sorts of services which you can avail, if you are not in ease to climb uphill on foot.

The track starts from Darshini Darwaza (it is said that at this point Mata met Pandit Shridhar), Where the yatra parchi checked. "Yatra Parchi" is essential for every visitor which can be taken free of cost from one of the many counters in Katra, one of which is located near Katra bus stand, for those coming by train, one counter is available at the railway station as well. One of the easiest way is to take online yatra parchi from the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine board website www.maavaishnodevi.org, where you have to create a user of yours by filling simple details and then entering the yatra date. this would help you to avoid standing in queues at the yatra parchi counters. Now coming back to yatra, once your yatra parchi is checked by the officials at the darshini darwaza then you can proceed for the yatra track.  

                

Now as you proceed, the first remarkable. that comes in your way is a small rivulet known as  "Ban- Ganga". It is believed that during Mata's stay in the cave, Shri Hanuman ji guarded the entrance of the cave, once he felt thirsty and asked for water from Matarani, on the request of Hanuman ji, Mata Vaishnavi shot an arrow on the surface from where the river appeared, it is said that this river is Ganga and as the river arrived from the shot of an arrow (ban), so it was named as Ban-Ganga. It is believed that the yatra should start after taking a dip in the holy water. After proceeding from here the next place which arrive on the way is "Charan Paduka mandir". As the name suggest Charan Paduka means the "footprint", this is the place where footprints of Matarani are engroved on a rock. It is believed that after  escaping from Pandit Shridhar 's place, Mata reached this place, stopped for a while and looked back to ensure that Bhairon Nath was not coming after her. Due to this , her foot marks got appeared on this place. So it is very holy place and a must visit. Going further, you would see a number of souvenier shops, massage centres, restaurants, juice centres, photograph points, etc, on both sides of the track. We would suggest you to go slow, enjoy the beauty of this place, whenever you feel tired take a break, have some juice or lime water or just enjoy the picturesque views of the valley and then again start with the track. there are a number of benches to take rest, the washroom facilities are also very well taken care of, drinking water is also available at various points. So Mata Vaishno Devi shrine board has taken care of all the required facilities enroute.

Further, you will reach the most prominent place "Adhkuwari", which also marks halfway of the track, nearly  6kms from starting point. This is the place where Matarani stayed and meditated inside the holy cave known as "Garbhjoon" for long  nine months, before she ended life span of Bhairon Nath.The holy cave is also known as Garbhjoon because the cave is in the shape of "womb" of the mother where she stayed for long 9 months (exactly the period, the child resides in the mother's womb). It is said that any person who passes from this gufa (garbhjoon) gets rid of all the sins and his soul becomes pious again. If you are availing helicopter facility then you will be dropped at yet another important place known as "Sanjhichat", which is a small plateau located nearly 2 kilometres from Bhavan. From there you can take a pony or walk for 2 kilometres to reach the main Bhavan.

Now after crossing all these major landmarks, yatris finally reach the "Bhawan", which enhouses the holy gufa. this is the place where goddess came to her divine form, and ended the life of Bhairo Nath by detaching his head from the body with her sword. Here the yatris get darshan of Matarani in pindi form. The holy pindis, represent mata in her three forms i.e. Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati. It is strongly believed that anyone who visit the Mata Vaishno Devi temple and pray wholeheartedly gets everything wished by him.

The divine experience that you will get here takes you to some other world and your soul gets filled with devotion and satisfaction.The pilgrimage of Mata Vaishno Devi is said to be incomplete without visiting Bhairo Nath temple. Bhairo Nath temple is located at a distance of 2 kms approx from Bhawan and this is actually the place where the head of Bhairo Nath was dropped when it got detached from the body by the sword of Matarani. As discussed earlier, Mata had herself gave this boon to Bhairo Nath that every devotee of Goddess has to visit his temple. This is actually an example that Matarani forgives even the most sinful people, if they feel guilty about their wrongdoings and ask for forgiveness with a clean heart. the track towards the Bhairon Nath temple is steep so you can hire a pony if you feel it difficult to walk uphill, nowadays, cable car service has also been started from Bhawan to Bhairo Nath temple.  Mata Vaishno Devi shrine board has actually done a commendable job in providing good facilities to all the yatris like cable car service from Bhawan to Bhairo Nath temple, taxi facility from Adhkuwari to Bhawan, food, water, washroom facilities, benches and sheds everywhere, a number of hotels with rooms and dormitories, restaurants, hospitals, clinics, and lot more facilities to ease the journey of yatris. 

We have tried to explain each and every aspect related to Mata Vaishno Devi yatra. We hope that it would help you whenever you plan your first journey to Mata Vaishno Devi temple. We genuinely felt the divinity of the place and anyone visiting there will feel the same. for any other queries please mail us at chasingdreamzz1131@gmail.com. May (Goddess) Matarani bless you all with health, wealth and happiness. Thanks alot for reading.