In October 2018 I finally had an opportunity to make a trip to Badrinath together with a friend Matteo Ornati.
On the way we stopped at Rishi Vasishtha’s cave and at Devoprayag:
Rishi Vasishtha’s cave
Vasishtha (Sanskrit: वसिष्ठ, IAST: vasiṣṭha) is one of the oldest and most revered Vedic rishis.[1][2] He is one of the Saptarishis (seven great Rishis) of India. Vasishtha is credited as the chief author of Mandala 7 of Rigveda.[3] Vasishtha and his family are mentioned in Rigvedic verse 10.167.4, other Rigvedic mandalas and in many Vedic texts.[6][7][8] His ideas have been influential and he was called as the first sage of the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy by Adi Shankara.
Devoprayag
It is one of the Panch Prayag (five confluences) of Alaknanda River where Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers meet and take the name Ganga.
Devoprayag
At Badrinath
Badrinath or Badrinarayan Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu which is situated in the town of Badrinath in Uttarakhand, India. The temple and town form one of the four Char Dham and Chota Char Dham pilgrimage sites. The temple is also one of the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to Vishnu, who is worshipped as Badrinath—holy shrines for Vaishnavites. It is open for six months every year (between the end of April and the beginning of November), because of extreme weather conditions in the Himalayan region. The temple is located in Garhwal hill tracks in Chamoli district along the banks of Alaknanda River at an elevation of 3,133 m (10,279 ft) above the mean sea level. It is one of the most visited pilgrimage centers of India, having recorded 1,060,000 visits.
On the way back we visited the seat of Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath – this is the place where Guru Dev had his ahsram.
Jyotirmath ashram – seat of the Shankaracharya
Jyotirmath is the uttarāmnāya matha or northern monastery, one of the four cardinal institutions established by Adi Shankara, the others being those at Shringeri, Puri and Dwarka. Their heads are titled “Shankaracharya“. According to the tradition initiated by Adi Shankara, this matha is in charge of the Atharvaveda. Jyotirmath is close to the pilgrimage town of Badrinath.
