Jain Digest 2003 01 Vol 22 No 1

Author(s): Federation of JAINA
Publisher: USA Federation of JAINA

Page 9

A Passage to the Gods: Siddhachalam to Shikharji
The evening before boarding the plane at JFK airport in New York, my wife Sarla and I visited the Siddhachalam temple to seek blessings for a successful pilgrimage with an intensive itinerary put together by the JAINA Pilgrimage Committee. There are 120 sacred sites associated with the 24 Jain Tirthankars. The location of 21 sites is not clearly known or extinct. This pilgrimage covered 91 out of the possible 99 sites.
Forty-seven yatris gathered at Siddhartha Hotel on January 18, 2003 in a fog-ridden New Delhi amidst the coldest winter of the last 40 years. This was truly an International Sangh comprising of American, Canadian and one U.K. citizen. In the afternoon, the yatra started with a warm welcome as well as a send off arranged by the Delhi Jain Samaj (DJS).
On second day we took a 100 Km. bus trip from Delhi to Hastinapur, the site of 12 sacred events of Lord Shantinath, Kunthunath and Arnathas well as the legendary capital of the Mahabharata epic. The Jambu Dvipa shrine is very inspiring. Rekhaben Gandhi doing varsitapa laid a brick in the huge replica of Astapada Mountain under construction. After an overnight stay at the Hotel in Meerut and a visit to a local temple, we traveled 165 Km. to Aligarh where a new pilgrimage complex inspired by Shri Kanjiswami was nearing completion. After an overnight stay at the Agra Palace hotel, the Tuesday trip included Shouryapuri, the birthplace of Lord Neminath and the famous Taj Mahal On Wednesday, we reached Ratnapuri and we saw the site of Dharamnath Swami.
On January 23rd, the sixth day, we went to Ayodhya, the sites of 19 Kalyanaks, the most after Shikharji; as well as the Janma bhoomi of Bhagwan Rama. These sacred sites are associated with Tirthankars Adinath, Ajitnath, Abhinandanswami, Sumatinath and Anantnath. After visiting the Adinath temple, some of us chose to skip lunch to visit the other four sites by auto rickshaw which are managed by the Adinath Temple trust, as well as the Ram Janma Bhoomi.
After overnight at the Taj Ganges Hotel in Varanasi, we went to Bhelpur, the birth place of Lord Parshwanath. The next stop of Bhadaini is the birth place of Lord Suparswanath on the river Ganges and that location is called Jain Ghat. We visited Parswanath Vidyapeeth associated with the Benaras Hindu University which has produced over 150 publications and 60 scholars of Jainism. We met the two graduates who were the recent recipient of JAINA scholarships funded by 2001 JAINA yatris. Then we went to Chandrapuri and Sinhpuri, the sites of Chandaprabhu and Sreyansnathswami kalyanaks. Late in the evening we drove to Sarnath and visited the Digambara temple.
Naresh Jain
In the evening we boarded our train onward to Gomoh and then by bus to Rujuvalika where Lord Mahavir attained kevalgyan under the Shal tree on a river bank.
On January 26th, we rented a doli, put a tricolor flag on it and started the pahad yatra of Shikharji at 4:30 A. M. We went to all tonks (holy spots) including the remote Chandaprabhu tonk and the steep as well the highest Parswanath tonk. I heard someone asking why our Tirthankars came to Shikharji for Nirvana in such remote and steep hills. I looked around and the peaceful and blissful air gave the answer. Next morning we visited the temples of Shikharji, witnessed the regional poverty and questioned the wisdom of pumping wealth in to the temples instead of compassion activities. We drove to the train station and left for Bhagalpur.
On Tuesday, January 28th, we visited Champapuri associated with Vasupujyaswami, the only site of all five kalyanaks of a Tirthankar. After night at the Lachhwad Dharamshala, we visited the Tirthankar Mahavir Vidya Mandir, a school adopted and created by the efforts of 2001 JAINA Yatra Sangh and operated by Veerayatan. In the afternoon we climbed the hills of nearby Ksatriyakund, the site of Janma and Diksha Chyavana of Lord Mahavir.
On Thursday, January 30th, we made a trip to the remote village of Kakandi, the site of four sacred events of Suvidhinathji. In the afternoon, we visited the temples of Guniyaji and the famous Jalmandir of Pawapuri, the site of lord Mahavir's Nirvana. The view around the sunset was breathtaking. Late that evening we reached the temple of Kundalpur and then went to Veerayatan in Rajgiri for a three night stay.
On Friday, we climbed the fifth hill of Rajgiri, visited local temples by tongas and enjoyed the modern buildings and museum of Veerayatan. Rajgiri is a pilgrimage place for Jains, Hindus and Buddhists and is reverently mentioned in Ramayana as well as in Mahabharata. In the afternoon we visited the ruins of Nalanda, an ancient 5th century University. Invaded, destroyed and rebuilt several times, we saw the remains of the main Stupa, stair cases, dorms, rooms and terraces. It is believed that this is the only area where both Mahavir and Buddha spent quite some time, even though they did not meet each other.
On Saturday we went by bus to Bodhgaya. Here Prince Siddharth attained enlightenment under a Peepal Tree and became the Buddha. We visited the beautiful Mahabodhi Temple, the successor of the original Bodhi Tree, the footprints of Buddha, the stupas, the Thai Temple with gold lacquered tiles, a monastery, as well as the 80 feet high statue of Lord Buddha in Dhyana Mudra. (continued on Page 25) JAIN DIGEST. Spring 2003/7