It used to be that the only way to journey to the cave temple of Vaishnav Devi was by foot or pony.

Ardent devotees trekked up a steep 12 kilometer (equivalent to 7.5 miles) mountain path with their personal belongings as well as prasad for the Goddess.

This walk would have been very difficult for Shree Maa, so fortunately there is a modern day alternative — a helicopter!

A most dedicated devotee, Sanjay, made convenient arrangements for us all to get to the top of the mountain within minutes.

After Shree Maa, Swamiji, and Swami Ramkripaluji were comfortably seated inside the helicopter, the rest of us packed in.

We all eagerly awaited this exciting journey. As the helicopter lifted, I noticed the breath-taking landscape. I was peaceful with the recognition that this location, this mountain, is a beautiful and most befitting home for the Goddess.

The helicopter delivered us to our final destination, close to the Vaishnav Devi Temple, in just a few short minutes. I know some of us (me) wished it would have taken longer to grant us additional time to enjoy the lovely scenery.

The city itself looks like a small town which is built into the side of the Himalayan Mountains. It has many stairs and winding paths in which we enjoyed our walks.

Due to a recent knee injury, Shree Maa was not able to walk up and down all of the paths and stairs. Luckily she didn’t have to! Sanjay to the rescue again!

This time our thoughtful Sanjay arranged for a small palki to be constructed for Shree Maa. A palki is a raised platform with a comfortable seat. It has poles to each side so we could carry her from place to place. She was in heaven — and so were we!

It is a tradition when on pilgrimage to Vaishnav Devi to continuously call out “Jai Mata Di!” which means Victory to Mother. Led by Ramya Maa, we continually chanted “Jai Mata Di!” while carrying Shree Maa through the streets of this quaint village.

Both to ourselves and to onlookers, it seemed like the Divine Mother herself, accompanied by shouts of Victory to Mother, had come to Vaishnav Devi.

We arrived at the temple in the evening, just in time for Arati.

The first thing I noticed upon entering the temple was that the main murti of Vaishnav Devi is a rock with three protrusions.

These three rocks represent the same three Goddesses as the front row of the Devi Mandir’s Cosmic Altar – Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati.

As the Arati began at the temple we were pleased that it involved many stotrams and a few songs with which we are very familiar from our own worship in the Devi Mandir. They chanted stotrams from the Chandi, like the Devya Kavacham, Argala Stotram, Kilakam and others. We eagerly chanted along with them.

Swamiji later explained to me that if you learn to chant in our tradition, you will be able to chant with anyone. I definitely saw this to be true. We had no problem modifying our chanting to match that of the Pujaris leading the program.

One of the songs they sang was the Mahishasura Mardini Stotram, which is one of Shree Maa’s favorite songs. She was so delighted to hear the singing that she forgot about her knee injury and spontaneously stood up and began to dance! Obviously the Goddess was quite pleased with their Arati worship.

Though everyone was delighted to see Shree Maa’s dancing, the temple personnel asked her to sit down in accord with the rules of their program. Shree Maa understood and respectively sat down.

After Arati the head priest came over to greet Shree Maa and Swamiji. He was a very aged and kind man.

He showed us the various murtis of the temple and explained about the cave temple of Vaishnav Devi.

Everyone was filled with so much loving devotion that I could hardly wait for an opportunity to worship here.

Stay tuned for the morning worship and chanting!

Jai Maa! Jai Swamiji!