Thank you!

I feel that completing the Navanu yatra is one of the greatest achievements of my life... and behind this personal success are lot of people. To fulfill my wish of embarking on Navanu, Naishadh not only gave me a lot of support but also gave me confidence and helped with even the smallest of obstacles (like creating navanu documentation to present to HR at work and creating a vidhi spreadsheet to keep track).

I could not forget to thank all my Cherry Hill Derasar friends who arranged an aarati-mangal divo at derasar and greeted me with Nariyel and a very thoughtful card. There was a small message from each family and they all divided each day of the week to pray to Dada and gave me strength. They also did 12 Logass Kausagg each day for my nirvigna yatra. I feel so special and lucky to have such a great friend circle in USA.

My many thanks to Pallaviaunty and Satishuncle from Cherry Hill Derasar. Aunty, you and uncle are amazing people. During my stay you not only called me a number of times to ask my shata and showed me your concerns, but also referred Sukan who was a great company while climbing. After my few days of stay at Palitana, I came to know about your way of helping people. It seemed that almost everyone I met at Palitana already knew you both and had the highest amount of respect for you. "Tusi ekdam great ho ji!".

I also thank all my family members, relatives and friends for calling me, visiting me at Palitana and posting comments on this blog. Special thanks goes to Premilamasi, Rameshmasa and Hemlatamasi who shared my 108th yatra experience with me.

Didi, Jiju and Neha: Thank you for your spiritual support... I thought of each of you during each Yatra. Didi, I always recalled our chauvhir chhath & 7 yatra when climbing gheti paag. Neha, the cap you gave me before I left provided me with shade during the hottest of yatras.

Last but not the least, I thank mom from the US who flew just for a week to India just to ask my shata. Infinite thanks to India mom who, in her Varshitap, stayed with me at Palitana. Without her, I wouldn't be have been able to complete my navanu in this short period of time. I love you Dad, you are the best. US dad, i know you were far but your mind and strength were always there for me.  I really loved the welcome back surprise at our house with all the uncles/aunties.  Vidhi and Neha- the decorations were incredible, I could barely recognize our home.

If, during my yatras or while writing on this blog, I have offended anyone or caused any harm : Mann, vachan, Kaya thi Michhami Dukkadam!

My Last yatra - 108th Yatra

I feel so lucky to have climbed my last yatra of Giriraj with my hubby, my parents, my caring mom-in-law and with premilamasi-Rameshmasa... We started to Jay Taleti around 5:15am from Bhuri Ba. After doing Chaitya Vandan at Taleti and darshan at Babu Derasar, I started climbing with all my family members around 5:50am. I was so excited and thrilled that today is my last yatra and bas dada mari aa jatra nirvigna purna karave! Myself and naish reached to Rampol around 7am and got ready and went for Dada’s darshan. Today US mom wanted to take the Ghee labh of dada. We started with Pakshal ghee boli and finally we got the labh of Flower Puja. In the meantime, naish and I went to Gheti Paag for his 2nd and my 109th yatra. This was an amazing experience as I was able to give a detailed explanation to naish about all my Gheti Paag yatras (like where I get tired, how I felt etc, etc…)

“Antar no anand and yatra patava ni khushi samati noti”… Naish was pretty fast in climbing up 2nd time. Today I was also going to finish my 9th Seva of Dada. We entered into Dada’s Ghabhara and harsh na ansu avi gaya.. Bas dada aje maro last day che. Kalthi pachha alag dunia ma chali jaish but this experience I will not forget in my life time.. Sidhhachal ni Dhun gata gata, dada ni puja kari and Phul chadhaviya. After that, we all (myself, naish, mom, my parents, Hemlatamasi, Premilamasi & Rameshamasa, my friend Hiral and Bittu- Parthavi) did Chaityavandan together.

As a part of the Navanu Vidhi, one time you should make the Pradakshina of dada in a Varghodo. We got lucky to get the ghee boli of whole Varghodo and wow! With all family members, masa-masi with Dhaja , Mom-dad with Bhagwan and mom-naish-myself in Rath.. danka sathe dada ni 3 pradakshina lidhi. At the end, they stop the Rath in front of Dada’s darbar and bring silver Pokhana. Me and mom did Rushabhdev prabhu’s pokhana. Ajana Anand ni Jay!!! I can’t ask for more than this …

Dada ni asim krupa ! Today I completed my navanu with the company of so many family members.. what more can I ask for?????????

ps- View the pics and video of Varghodo..

Mission Accomplished!!!

Hello everyone, On December 11th, I completed my 108th yatra! After that, I also went up and down one more time that day for a grand total of 109! I have been meaning to post this message for some time, but things have gotten very busy since I finished. We moved out of Palitana and I had so many new friends to say goodbye to. The most exciting part of my 108th yatra was sharing the experience... Naishadh, mom from the US, mom from India, dad from India, Premilamasi, Rameshmasa and Hemlatamasi all joined me for the last yatra. It was a great experience. Now, I am back home in Ahmadabad. When I returned last night, I was greeted with a surprise celebration in front of my house from close family. There was a dholi and family memebers greeted me and mom with gulal and we all did garba.. They carried me from the street to my house on their shoulders. This morning was my "parnu" with all the family and friends. Naishadh also surprised me today with celebratory trip to Kerala for which we are leaving tomorrow!!!! There is so much more to write and I am sure I have forgotten to mention things throughout this blog, but I will continue to add details as I recall them over the next couple of days while floating on a houseboat over the backwaters of Kerala.

Beautiful 6-Gau Feri

I started climbing today at 4:55am from Bhuri ba. Did Jay Taleti Chaityavandan and started climbing Jay Giriraj by saying Bhid Bhanjan Parshavnathay namah!!! Hinglag mata na darshan kariya and continued climbing with the happy thought that now only half is left! Padmavati maat ki jay.. em boli ne agal vadhi. I reached at Rampol around 6:20am and did Shantrunjay Aaradhna Kausagg while waiting outside Rampol. At 6:30am sharp Dada no Dwar khulio.. Everyone ran to meet dada.. I ran as well. Shantinath darshan kari ne, Kavad Yaksh ne naman kari dada na darbare dodi. After dada’s darshan, I went to Rayan Pagla and did Vashakshep puja there. I did pradkshina of Rayan Vruksh. After Pundrik Swami Dada’s darshan, I started climbing down towards Gheti paag. Gheti paag thi darshan , vasakshep puja and chaityavandan kari ne I stated climbing up for dada’s darshan. We (myself & sukan) started the 6 Gau pheri around 8am taking right from Rampol. I did darshan at first deri which was Devaki’s sons. After that started climbing down with few steps and walking. Next was dada’s pagla where dada’s pakshal water is coming. I did chaityavandan there with all sangh and continued climbing up and down.. Maharaj saheb was singing stutis and there was dholi so the whole environment was amazing.. climbing up and down I reached at Chandan Talavadi where infinite has gone to Moksha.. I did 12 logass kausagg chatta sui ne and took the water of chandan talavadi and ankhe lagadiyu. After that again started climbing up to the Bhadva dungar. This was toughest climbing. Steps were too high and walking was not straight either. There is Adinath bhagwan’s charan paduka. I did chaityavandhan there and did pradakshina as well. I started climbing down to the Sidhhavad after that. The down climbing was enough tougher. really high steps.. so we have to be very careful. When I reached at the gate of Bhadva dungar, there was sangh pujan with Rs. 10 prabhavana. After that I did darshan at the Sidhhavad Derasar and did pradakshina of Sidhhavad Tree. In riksha,I went to Aadpur where there is a huge Adeshwar bhagwan’s pratima. Did darshan and chaityavandan there. Take the Riksha again from there and got back to Bhuri ba at 11:35am. Today I finished the whole Giriraj Pradakshina! Ajana anand ni jay!!!

108 Sathiya - 108 Fal - 108 Naivaidh Anushsthan

One of the vidhi during navanu is doing 108 fruits – sweets – sathiya in front of dada. I was going to do this anushstahn today on Dec 4^th – wedding anniversary of my in-laws.  I was very excited. I asked my friend Hiral to join if she can. I took really big square patlo to do this anushsthan. Deenaunty who is in our group at Bhuri ba doing her 2^nd navanu, met me and asked if she can join and I was very happy that she came. We (myself & Hiral) did 3 Ghahulis (Nandavrat in square, one in Mango shape and one in Triangle shape) at the bottom and did 108 sathiyas above. I also made Darshan (Derasaar with Dhaja), Gyan (Sapado with Book) and Charitra (Ogho) and Deenaaunty made the Siddhshila. After that we made big sathiyo of all 108 sweets on top of the 108 sathiya. We put all the 108 fruits on the sidhhashila and around the ghahulis that we made. Everything at the end, turns out to be really cool! Lot of people came to see and they really praised and liked the creation! Thanks to Hiral and Deenaunty & Sukan. I really enjoyed doing this anushsthan with them. Bhav pan bi khub j utrkurt (amazing) ave when you do this kind of vidhi with 1 or 2 more people. Please view the pictures to get an idea about this anushsthan.

3-gau feri – Shetrunji Nadi nahine

“Shetrunji nadi nahyo nahi eno ele gayo avatar”- Whoever has not taken shower/bath using water of Shetrunji River, his/her Bhav/life has no value!!!

We sing this duha everyday while taking 9 khamasana of Shetrunjay during my navanu and today I was going to do 3 gau.. Dad was here and mom wanted to do so myself, mom & dad and Sukan, we took rickshaw and started towards Rohishala early morning at 5am. We took bath of shetrunji river water and wore puja clothes, took shetrunji river water in two bottles for dada’s pakshal and reached to Adinath dada’s pagla. Did chaityavandan there with mom & dad. I started climbing up from there to dada's tunk and mom-dad took rickshaw back to jay taleti. They were going to do pakshal from river water to babu derasar and I took one bottle to do the pakshal to dada. Climbing up from Rohishala is little tough and scary but it was still fun.

Dhhodh Gau Feri

Feri (Pradakshina) of Dada and Navtunk is consider as Dhhodh gau Feri. I reached Rampol around 6:15am before the gate opens. After dada’s darshan, I started climbing down to Gheti Paag.. Today I was in hurry as I wanted to do 2 yatras before I start Dhhodh Gau. Got back from Gheti Paag around 7:45am and completed all the vidhi –Chaityavandan. Making right from Rampol, I started my Dhhodh Gau Yatra. Today there were two sanghs who were going to do dhhodh gau. with Dhol and singing, all sadhu-sadhvi and sangh, were walking to complete the feri of dada and navtunk.. First deri is Devaki’s sons. After doing darshan there, I walked fast to join the group of people as I was little late. I did chaityavandan with sangh near Chaumukhji tunk and got back to dada’s darbar.. This was a small feri which took approximately an hour to finish but it was an awesome experience!!