A Visit to A Place of Worship
India is a land of religion. Every Indian believes in God. The Hindus worship Gods and Godesses. There are holy places in every part of this country.
Varanasi, also known as Banaras, is a very holy city. It is an old city. It is a city devoted to the worship of Lord Shiva. Vishwanath temple is the most famous temple of the city.
In the month of February last we visited Varanasi. My mother is a religious woman. She expressed her wish to have a dip in the holy Ganga and worship Vishwanathji on the Shivratri Day. Feather agreed. They took me also with them. We reached Banaras early in the morning.
When we were on the Railway Platform some Pandas came. But father would not take their help. He is a graduate of the Banaras Hindu Univerisity and knows well the ways of the Pandas. He hired a tonga and drove to a Dharamshala. We put our luggage there in a room and walked to the Dashaswamedh Ghat. We took our dip in the holy Ganga, and changed our dress in the hut of a Panda. We took some flowers and threw them into the holy water. We gave some charity to the poor beggars who sat in a line along the road.
Then we went into the Vishwanath Temple. It is a very grand temple. We worshipped in the temple and came out to see its locality. I was pained to learn that the original temple was destroyed by the Moghul Emperor Aurangzeb and a mosque was built at its site. The father took us to the Birla Mandir and showed us the Manikanika Ghat.
The beauty of the city standing on the right bank of the Ganga increases in the night. The temple bells ring for the evening worship. The city glitters with lights. There is an atmosphere of religious peace every-where. There may be a corruption in the city but in the eye of a pilgrim, Banaras is the holiest place in the world. This is why every Hindu wishes to die in this city of Lord Shiva.
