With butterflies in stomach at
4:00 am we gathered in huge numbers at Alandi on 10th July’15. It was a once in
a year opportunity to indulge our self in sacred walk named “Waari”
It sure is a 180 degree
contradiction that, In the era of newspapers flooded with news of robbery,
murders for mere 500 Rs, abduction and rapes…. More than million individuals
gather together with the ultimate goal of seeping joy of devotional walk… helping
each other without any materialistic expectations… referring every other soul
as “Maauli”…
Waari,
Worlds biggest pilgrimage
witnessed by Maharashtra from last 800 years.
The palkhi of Sant Tukaram
starts from Dehu, while Sant Dynaneshwar’s palkhi starts from Alandi and the
two reach Pandharpur on ekadashi.
Lacs of pilgrims known as
"warkaris" take this spiritual walk of about 23 days from Dehu,
alandi to Pandharpur.
With the saffron coloured
triangular 'paatakas'(flags) in hands and tulsi leaves on their heads the
pilgrims presented a perfect picture of the Bhakti tradition of Maharshtra.
The pilgrims follow the
tradition of carrying the paduka (sandals) of the sants(sant Dhnyaneshwar and
Sant Tukaram) in a palkhi.
During the Wari there are some
events such as Ringan and Dhava that marks the uniqueness of Vari tradition.
During the Ringan a sacred horse
called as ‘Maulincha Ashva’, which is believed to be the soul of the saint
whose idol is being carried in the Palki, Dhava is another kind of race where
everyone wins and it is held to commemorate the same way Saint Tukaram caught
the view of Pandharpur Temple and started running in sheer exhilaration.
Its been theoretical knowledge that
I had about the phenomena called "Waari"...
Its said that "Knowing is
just a knowledge.... Doing is Wisdom"…
All I knew about this holy walk
was only limited to my knowledge level.... I haven’t experienced it till then.
But from last two years now, I make
sure I do not loose opportunity to participate this unexplainable pilgrimage
from Aaalandi to Shivaji nagar.
"Unexplainable" for
many reasons...
Because Its hard to explain,
>> how anyone can attain
such level of Devotion & Commitment to complete this arduous journey of
about 200+ KM on foot to Pandharpur.
Its hard to explain,
>> What is that motivation
which makes each "waarkari" to leave his/her everyday work for almost
a month.
Its hard to explain
>>The miraculous nature of
this sacred walk which is still the same after eight hundred years...
And its hard to explain how this
addiction is spread among 10 lac individuals with same intensity...
All these questions have always
created a mystic and mysterious fog around this tradition.
The walk of 15+ km gave me a
chance to be a part of that aura... it gave a chance to ride on the wave of joy
in ocean of devotees.
There was another reason which
compelled me.... Photography.
I started imagining unlimited
moments of joy and emotions that can be captured through my lens.
From the moment we reached Dehu,
it was all magical....
Thousands and thousands of
pilgrims walking towards Pune...
Many of them had different
playing instruments like veenas, mridungas, dholkis and chiplis.
Everyone seemed to be hypnotized
and happy to be part of that ocean of joy... anand sagar.
More than 40 ‘Palkhis’
(palanquins) form a major part of the procession during the pilgrimage.
The pilgrims follow the
tradition of carrying the paduka (footwear) of the saints in a palanquin.
Unshakable faith, innocent love
towards god and concrete determination is needed to complete this entire
journey...
Through out the walk there were
hundreds of members distributing free food, water bottles, fruits to
warkaris...
There were many housing societies(apartments)
on the way which made an excellent arrangement for entire lunch free of cost...
There were REQUESTS being made
on loud speaker for pilgrims ("Mauli") to have lunch...
One of the person which we meet
was standing out side of his apartment, he literally dragged me to have some
lunch...
He said "Mauli... I will be
very glad if you have lunch in our apartment"....
He was requesting from the
bottom of his heart and the devotion with which he was requesting was clearly
visible on his face... It was simply overwhelming... This for me was
"spirituality".
That person and many others who
were distributing food, water were actual Saints...
I believe this entire travel of
200 KM once will be enough to enrich us with teachings of lifetime...
Attending the fragment of Waari,
I was expecting to get answers
but in turn this experience succeeded to make me much more introvert and has
thickened the mystic fog around this tradition.
For us who are part of everyday
rat race, all this is not only unbelievable but also an eye opener...
No doubt I will dive in this
ocean of joy every year to explore more...
I urge each one of you to experience this....
I urge each one of you to experience this....
