Process of closing Kedarnath portals for winters begins
The process of closing the doors of Kedarnath for the winter season has started. The doors will be closed for six months of winter at exactly eight o’clock in the morning on Saturday. Devasthanam Board has started the work of decorating Baba’s Utsav Doli. The process of closing the doors of the temple will be started from 4 am in the morning. Now for the coming six months, devotees will be able to worship at the Omkareshwar temple, the winter seat.
After sitting in the high Himalayas for six months, the gates of Kedarnath will now be closed for the winter. Chief priest said that Kedarnath Dham will be closed for winter at exactly eight o’clock in the morning on Saturday. Devasthanam Board has started the work of decorating Bhole Baba’s Utsav Doli. It will reach Fata-Rampur for night stay. On the second day i.e. on November 7, it reached Vishwanath temple Guptkashi. On November 8, the Doli will be seated in Ukhimath. All the devotees will be able to offer prayers to Lord Shiva here for the coming six months.
Today PM Modi offered prayers
A day before the closure of the doors of Kedarnath Dham, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today offered prayers to Baba Kedar. Prime Minister Modi worshiped for about 18 minutes. The PM also unveiled a 12 feet tall statue of Adi Shankaracharya.
Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister evoked the great spiritual rishi tradition of India and expressed his indescribable joy on coming to Kedarnath Dham. Recalling his interaction with soldiers at Nowshera yesterday, he said yesterday, on Diwali, he took the feelings of 130 crore Indians to soldiers, today, on Govardhan Puja, he said that I was on the land of soldiers and in the divine presence of Baba Kedar. The Prime Minister quoted a verse from Ramcharitmanas- ‘अबिगत अकथ अपार, नेति-नेति नित निगम कह’ meaning some experiences are so supernatural, so infinite that they cannot be expressed in words. He said this is how he feels under the shelter of Baba Kedarnath.
The Prime Minister said that new facilities like shelters, facilitation centres will ease the lives of priests and devotees and allow them to fully immerse in the divine experience of the pilgrimage. Recalling the Kedarnath floods in 2013, the Prime Minister noted that damage caused by the floods years ago was unimaginable. He said “people who used to come here used to think that will this our Kedar Dham stand up again? But my inner voice was saying that it will stand with more pride than ever before.” The Prime Minister said due to the grace of Lord Kedar and inspiration of Adi Shankaracharya and his experience of managing the aftermath of the Bhuj Earthquake, he could be of help in those difficult times. He struck a personal note and said that it is a blessing that he could serve the place which nurtured him earlier in his life. He thanked all the workers, priests, Rawal families of the priests, officials and the Chief Minister for relentlessly pursuing the development works at the Dham. I said he kept monitoring the work through drones and other technologies. He said that “this combination of modernity with the eternal on this ancient land, these development works are the result of the natural grace of Lord Shankar.”
Gates of Gangotri Dham closed for winter
Today, the doors of Gangotri Dham were closed at 11.45 pm on the occasion of Annakoot. After this Mother Ganga’s Doli left for Mukhwa after rituals. On the other hand, the doors of Yamunotri Dham will be on the occasion of Bhai Dooj tomorrow at 12.15 pm.
