Toshali Sands

Tarvelogue: Baleshwar - A Tranquility of Marine Drive
Summer is at its peak. Dehi is reeling under the heat wave as the Mercury rises. Everyone waits with bated breath for the Monsoon to cast its spell on the prevailing weather. In this month of May I decided to take a break from my busy schedule to fresehen up, Since a longtime, I had not visited any Holy Place, I was thinking to do so, this time, Suddenly PURI, the place of Lord Jagannath and one of the four DHAMS (Holy places of Hindus) comes to mind. This beautiful place is located in the eastern part of India on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. I planned my schedule and boarded the Puri bound train ‘Purushottam Express’ at New Delhi.

Checked in one of the hotels of the ‘Sri Khetra’ (Puri), the holy land facing the ‘Mahodadhi’ - The Ocean. After freshening up, I went to ‘Sri Mandir, the temple of Lord Jagannath (affectionately called), Lord Balabhadra and Lord Subhadra to offer prayers. I was lucky enough to be there at the Prasad ceremony in the temple. I took ‘Mahaprasad’ (Lord Jagannath’s Prasad) in ‘Anand Bazaar’ a place where rich and the poor sit together to have the divine Prasad with utmost satisfaction. I visited two-three more temples before returning to my hotel. Took some rest and they went to the famous Puri beach in front of my place of stay in the evening. Oh! What a feeling! The cool breeze, the roars of the sea, the waves and tides and more importantly the congregation people of different casts, creeds and religious form different parts of the word gave me the respite from the scorching heat and pollution of the Walled city. New Delhi. Got up early in the morning to take a rate glimpse of the rising Sun leaving the water bed and awakening creatures of the nature. I took a sacred bath n the sea and prepared myself to visit the other important places like ‘Sri Loknath temple’, Mausima temple. ‘Sri Gndicha temple , the Sankaracharya Pith, ‘Sri Chaitanya Math’, ‘the Ramkrishna Mission’, the ‘Bedi Hanuman temple’, ‘Sonar Gourang temple’, The ‘Mahalaxmi temple’ and ‘Athranala’ etc. I left on the previous day.

On the verge of leaving Puri to Bhubaneswar, I was keen to visit ‘Sri Baleshwar temple ‘ which is located at a distance of 15 km. on the Marine Drive from Puri to Konark on the bank for the ‘Liakhai’ river. The age old divine shrine of Lord Shiva at Baleshwar is a unique symbol of history and mythology. The significant temple of ‘Tretaya’ period has withstood different times and generation. ‘Maha Shivaratri’ is the most famous among the celebrated festivals here. The splendour of ‘Sri Baleswhar’ temple lies in the surrounding lush forest by the sides of the Bay of Bengal. The roars of the ocean constantly break the silence of the forest. Besides its holistic importance, it’s popular among the tourists as a rare Picnic Spot. I offered prayers to Lord Mahadev and Goddess Partcti. Also I did not waste my time by taking photographs of these beautiful landscapes around the temple. I came to know about a saint who settled here after touring different Holy places of India. The saint did not speak for twelve long years and thus was called as “Mauni Baba’ by the devotee. He has just started speaking recently after attaining ‘Completeness’ (Siddhi). I met him and took his blessings. At the fag end of my tour, this place gave me the much needed inner satisfaction. I was searching for. I was grateful to the Almighty for making my tour a complete and successful one I was on my way to Bhubaneswar to catch the train to New Delhi and was thinking…”Completing the tour without visiting ‘Sri Baleswhwar’ temple would have been a great blunder.”