Bharatpur (Balaji) Trip..

http://www.rajasthan.gov.in/Bharatpur.SHTM
Last weekend, we happened to visit a religious place 'Balaji' near(??) Bharatpur... infact 'bout 80 kms from there.. The location wus quite a confusion.., it wus supposed to be near Bharatpur but once we reached Bharatpur we had to travel 80 kms back & deep. It seemed like it was right on the back side of Sohna, or at most 50-60 kms from there if there was a straight road from there, but roads are just like life.. they are anything but straight.

From the preface, you can already guess that i'm more interested in the geography of the place than its religious relevance.. Well frankly I'm a believer, but I don't really believe in being part of stampedes & getting crushed to visit holy places. I am in love with God & his creativity.. the things that he has created never stop to amaze me, & above all the human life..

Something about the place 'Balaji'.. 'Balaji' is what people call younger Lord Hanuman, thats what I heard my dad tell me & since as a Kid I was always fascinated with Lord Hanuman I was pretty much interested in the trip.

Coming back to the Balaji, I just discovered via internet search, something very intriguing about balaji:

"One of the most interesting and popular centers of tantrik rites is at Balaji, near Bharatpur off the Jaipur-Agra highway. Exorcism is a way of life at Balaji, and people from far and near, who have been "possessed by spirits" flock to Balaji in large numbers."

Though.. thats not what we went for!!!! it was my dad's love for seeing an ancient lord hanuman temple that took us there.

Read more here:http://hinduism.about.com/library/weekly/extra/bl-tantratemples1.htm

More about temples:http://www.indiantemples.com/encwest1.html

Though, I wanted to make it more worthwhile & enriching by making a visit to Bharatpur wildlife sanctuary, Mathura, Vrindavan, Govardhan or even Agra... but Alas! my dad hardly likes my tiring ideas. So, we finally had to be content with a visit to the mathura (the disputed janambhoomi/Mosque site) & it was not much enjoyable either. The kind of security they had & the way they were frisking people one hardly felt like it was a visit to a temple or a sacred place.

Well.. infact it was another one of those moments when I felt that this world is truly becoming a mad-place. People do things they don't know why they wanna do? & after being die-hard materialistic souls.. they try to find spirituality by visiting places like these!! hmmmm let me not get into this.. i'll dig into it some other time..