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Re: Regarding Muktinath Tour

From the Bhakti List Archives

SUNDAR RANGANATHAN • February 9, 2001 


Dear Shri Srihari Raghavan,

Nice to see your message and your plan to visit Muktinath with your parents. 
  I have been to Muktinath once in May 1995 with my wife and the journey was 
very comfortable without any problem.  My parents  who are old (father - 75 
and mother - 68) had been to Muktinath thrice.

One has to  travel in Nepal from Kathmandu to Pokra and then to Jomsom by 
regular  air service.  The travel from Pokra to Jomsom is a difficult one as 
it lasts only 20 to 25   minutes, but the small aircraft can be operated 
only in the morning between 6.30 to 7.30 a.m. and no other time of the day 
or night in view of very heavy wind factor due to the mountain peak.

There are no roads at Jomsom and as such, you can only walk or go by pony.  
Good lodges/food is available at Jomsom. From Jomsom to reach  Muktinath, 
you have to go hiking/trucking on the mountainous route and it takes about 
8-9 hours, but the pathway is excellent and scenic. Lot of  international 
tourists hike on this route and they also tent/stay not far from  the 
Muktinath temple which is around 13,000 ft. above see level.  You do not 
need to carry any foodstuff while trucking as a lot of small restaurants are 
there on the route  for the purpose of foreign tourists and you also get 
vegetarian food.  Water enroute is good and drinkable.

You have to stay one night in Muktinath near the temple  where lodges are 
available at reasonable price.  You also have to take bath at 108  fountain 
heads located  inside the temple where cold Kantaki river water flows.

The priest in the temple on request allows you to do the aradhana of the 
many,  very old shaligrama vigrahams.  You are really blessed and feel very 
happy on reaching the temple, take cold bath and do the aradhana at that 
level of over 12,000 ft high.  You really feel the God.

There is a helicopter service available from Pokra, they need minimum of 13 
to 15 passengers joined together to go economically,   otherwise to hire an 
independent helicopter is very expensive. If the weather permits, the 
helicopter takes 30 minutes journey in the morning and allows the pilgrims 
to do puja for about 2/3 hours and return on the same day to Pokra.

Since my parents have travelled without much problem thrice by pony/walk 
from Jomsom,  you can take your parents as the pathway is excellent on the  
mountainous route.

Napali Tourist Office will give you many inf. If you are in  India Nepal 
tourism Travel Agency will also make all the arrangements

Hope this clarifies and if you need any further information, please do not 
hesitate to write to me.

With love,

Ranganatha Dasan
>From: Srihari Raghavan 
>To: bhakti-list@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: Regarding Muktinath Tour
>Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2001 06:45:51 -0800 (PST)
>
>Dear all,
>   Adiyen is a new member of this group. My name's
>Srihari Raghavan and I am a graduate student at
>Virginia Tech. Namaskarams to all.
>   God willing, I am planning take my parents to
>Muktinath this summer, when I go to India. As my
>parents are somewhat old (56 - 60 yrs), I would like
>to make it a comfortable trip for them. I would like
>some details regarding the same. If anybody has gone
>to Muktinath, can you please guide me regarding this?
>
>   1. Is Muktinath, the place identified as Sri
>Salagrama in Nalayira Divya prabandam?
>   2. I am planning the trip during Jun-Jul. Is the
>shrine open at this time?
>   3. I heard that there are helicopter services
>available. Can you pl. give me some more details?
>   4. I am planning to visit only Muktinath this time
>(due to time constraints and due to my parents age),
>so is there any tour operators offering only Muktinath
>trip?
>   5. Trekking is almost impossible for my parents, but
>for a few days it might be alright.
>
>If anyone can suggest some tour operators or
>experiences, it would be a great help for me.
>
>Adiyen
>Srihari Raghavan
>
>
>
>
>
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>

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