There is no ‘Ann Kshetra’ (free food facility) for the pilgrims going on the other side of the river Ganga along the Neeldhara stretch except for the Dakshin Kali temple unlike the thousands of ashrams (shelter places) which abound the holy city. Even local buses do not ply on this route.
A few years ago people dreaded to visit this forest area past Chandi ghat bridge leading to the Chilla forest range of Rajaji Tiger Reserve but thanks to this ardent devotee of Goddess Kali, Kailashanand Brahmchari, who has revived the sanctity of the historic temple Dakshin Kali peeth and has enlivened the place with the divine feminine power the place has become now a must visit to the pilgrims of the holy city who go to the legendary temples of Chandi Devi and Mansa Devi.
Navratras and Shravan month (monsoon season) are the special occasions when the seer engages himself in special worship of the deity and fasting observing complete silence. The Pioneer talks to this mystic saint to know about his wondrous life and near-death experiences of dare-devil Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage.
Clad in a loose unstitched saffron cloth draped around his body and knotted at the back of his neck, this young seer in 40’s seated on a sofa in a small room in Dakshin Kali peeth gets lost in ecstatic mood while talking to the visitors and reciting shloka from Indian scriptures.
His childlike simplicity and intermittent chuckles reminds one of 18thcentury Ram Krishan Paramhansa of Dakshineshwar whose life moved around the Goddess Kali.
When asked about his goal of life or the people under his tutelage, his answer is just the same, “Meri maiyee jaisa chahegi. Mein to uska sewak hun.”(I am in service to the Divine mother-Kali) My earthly mother wanted to hear religious discourse from me so after spending years in Varanasi studying scriptures, I made myself capable and recited Brahm vidya to her in the year 2005 and thus carried the wish of my mother to mingle with the service of divine mother by becoming a monk.”
Interestingly, thrice the seer was declared dead by the medical practitioners during his Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage when he was observing sadhna (religious practices) in ice-cold waters of the Mansarovar lake. With his yogic kriyas—khechri mudra (tongue swallowing technique) and Vajrauli technique during Jal Samadhi, he has been able to spend almost an hour where one is not allowed to stay for more than 2 minutes.
“During one of my pilgrimages to Kailash Mansarovar, I faced near death experience. Some of my senior administrative and police officials from Moradabad had joined our group. After 40 minutes of my stay in water with temperatures—8 degrees celsius telling mantras and ‘Devi stuti’ on rosary bead, DGP China asked to bring my ‘dead body’ out.
A team of doctors was called and I was declared dead after examination. Since I had been fasting for long, lot of acid had got accumulated in my stomach which came out in a blur, to the astonishment of the doctors that I was alive,” quips Kailashanand. The DGP and his 20 commandos had bowed down to his feet after the incident which the witnesses tell.
The seer has visited nine times to the lake and targets for 21 pilgrimages to the sacred mount.
Notably Kailashanand was honoured with the title “Mahamandaleshwar 1008” (the most coveted by the akhara seers) by the unanimous consent of all 13 akharas in the year 2013 on 14 February at Allahabad Kumbh mela. The seer had been secretary Ardh Kumbh for17 years and belongs to Agni akhara lineage.
He is running a ‘gurukul’ under the name Swami Gopalanand Sanskrit Ved Vidyalaya since 2007. A total of 70 students have passed out from this school of Vedic tradition and many of these are renowned scholars engaged in disseminating the ancient Indian knowledge. Students from across the country come to learn scriptures Devi Bhagwatam, Ramayana and Bhagwad Gita.
To the logical minds, he seems to be an ordinary seer engaged in practicing atrocities and religious rituals but to the emotionally sensitive beings, he is a living god with many mystical powers who has revived the tradition of Das Mahavidya yajna (sacrificial fire) after 500 years.
“During shravan month when he is observing silence and no one is allowed to touch him, a snake pair comes to the ashram. Once a big Ajgar was seen hanging from the door top, it stayed for a while where the student brahmchari was resting and later went away without even hissing,” tells one of the visitors, Rajni Sharma from Vishnu Garden.
A hard core patriot and vegetarian, the monk doesn’t feel like moving out of India where he would not get holy ganga water and cow’s milk.