Vaishno Devi
The Vaishno Devi Mandir Temple is located in a cave in northern India. The cave is located on Vaishno Hill at an altitude of 1.7 km above the sea point. The structure is considered the holiest place in India and is dedicated to the feminine principle, an expression of the Mother Goddess known as Mata Rani or Vaishnavi. Here she appears in three guises: Maha Kali, Maha Lakshmi and Maha Saraswati.
Kali the Almighty protects her followers from the fear of death. In the manifestation of Maha Lakshmi, her devotees are blessed with wealth and prosperity. Maha Saraswati helps to see the difference between good and bad, make the right decision and find your way in life. All three gods are worshipped in this temple at the same time, and the combination of all these three qualities in a single Shakti allows you to be revered by your pilgrims.
The best time to visit the Vaishno Devi temple is March-July, the rest of the time it is very cold and the road is covered with snow. About ten thousand pilgrims come to the temple during the Navaratri celebration. In October and November, on the day of the full moon, the queue of pilgrims stretches for 4 kilometers.
The journey to the Vaishno Devi Mandir temple begins from the city of Katri, where you need to register for a fee - take a Yatra Party pass to present it on the way to Bang Gang. Tourists are allowed to proceed only if they have this pass. Since the road ends from Katri, tourists and pilgrims make a difficult ascent of about 13 km to the Vaishno Devi Temple on foot.
There are hundreds of monkeys on the way. Before visiting the cave, tourists need to take cleansing in the spring. The pilgrims bathe completely in the souls intended for this purpose. No more than fifteen people can enter the middle of the cave together, due to the small height of the cave in the middle, it will not be possible to stand at full height, it is necessary to bend down. It is forbidden to take any objects, phones, cameras, or even water inside. The flame is constantly burning in the Vaishno Devi Mandir temple, it never goes out here.
At the exit from the cave, they give bags of sugar, in which they hide a lucky coin with the symbol of the temple.