The Goddess at Vajreshwari is very famous on the western front and is one of the 52 shaktipeeths across India. Shaktipeeths are places where the primal Goddess has manifested herself. The Goddess of Kolhapur is another shaktipeeth very famous in Maharashtra. The Vajreshwari Devi temple is built in the shape of a fort. The Maratha king of Peshwa regime built it after winning over the Portuguese onslaught on the western front. The main diety i.e. Vajreshwari devi is accompanied by Renuka devi (mother of the great Parashurama and wife of the great Rishi Jamadagni) and Kali devi.
You get transport (including ST busses) from Thane/Vasai/Virar to Vajreshwari.
The Tansa river(serving as the major water supply for most of Mumbai) flows near by. I was expecting a large flow, but this time of the year, it was very thin.
Just near Vajreshwari is a village called Akloli where the famous Siddha-Avadhoot-Mahatma Nityananda Baba spent atleast 3 decades of his later life. His disciple Muktananda Baba created a beautiful ashram to aid spiritual aspirants. Currently the ashram/mission is headed by the vibrant Gurumayi (Muktananda Baba's disciple) - Swamini Chidvilasananda.
Nityananda Baba's Samadhi sthal is just besides the Bimeshwar Mahadev (Shiva) temple which houses the 3 Hot Water kundas where there is continous hot sulphur water flowing out. Taking a dip in this holy water is considered very beneficial for the body. It's a very famous destination now.
Muktananda Baba's Samadhi is within the ashram premisis and is open to outsiders only on weekends from 10-11am. The vibrations pull spiritual aspirants time and again to this place. The temple of Nityananda Baba within the ashram is open for outsiders for most of the time.
Basic accommodation is available outside the ashram but needs to be pre-booked. There's food and accommodation available at Sadhak Bhavan outside the ashram. On day-2 we missed our lunch there since we couldn't book it before 9am in the morning. The dinner is pretty early at around 5:30-6:30pm lately.
There are infinite paths to attain the infinite. Each soul choses its own unique way. The wise souls set out a platform for structured progressive development too. It's very important to find your appetite and choose the path for youself. And 'whatever you do', like Swami Sivanandji says, 'you are on THE PATH'. It's only us who see a Good and a Bad, a Right against a Wrong, the ONE who is ONE with the ONE doesn't see any distinction.
Can't help the gyan pat :)
There was one incident our dear Nandu(chyk sevak) once spoke of Nityananda Baba. The Baba was wanting to travel and boarded a train. The ticket checking officials checked with HIM and got him out of the train. He was seated on the platform. The train couldn't move out of the station. The motor-man/engineers were struggling to get it back on line. Incidentally someone who knew the Baba saw this and asked the officials to let HIM travel in the same train. As soon as he boarded it, the train started off.
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