My first trip to Vaishnodevi was unimpressive. Climbing was hard, and it only served to highlight how badly out of shape I was, while my in-laws managed to cope so much better. Further, I hadn’t quite realized that the cave experience wouldn’t be the same as I had imagined, since the original cave was only opened at certain times a year, and that we only entered a newly created tunnel, one far easier to access, and hence more manageable with the crowds that thronged the mountain shrine. The resulting experience at the shrine, for barely a fraction of a second, hardly compared to what I had expected / imagined / heard about. So, for me, Vaishnodevi was like any other temple, nothing to write home about, something that was reflected (though not explicitly mentioned) in the blog post I wrote then.
There is something about mountains that inspires devotion. Maybe it is the thought that they reach out to the skies, and are our connection to the heavens. Yet, the temples we build, are but specks against the backdrop of mighty mountains such as these..... We saw this small temple with the Dhauladhar Ranges in the background, from the top of the Kangra Fort. It was a beautiful sight, a lot more impressive than my camera managed to capture, and it reinforced the thought of how small we were, and how insignificant, as compared to these mountains, which have stood here for centuries. Yet, it was deeply spiritual. No wonder someone wanted to build a shrine here! This post is part of Skywatch Friday . For more beautiful skies from around the world, visit the Skywatch Page.