Ogo Amaar 'shivkhori' Poem by Auro Bhattacharya

[ Shivkhori is a long cave on top of mountains in Jammu. Saints used to worship deep inside these caves. One day a cowboy saw some saints at the entrance of the caves when he was trying to locate his lost cows. These saints were doing hawan & smoke was spiralling into the sky. Saints told the cowboy not to disclose this to the villagers in the valley. But the cowboy could not stop his curiosity & explained the episode to the village head. Now it is one of the famous pilgrimage places in Jammu]

Riding on a horse back by the side
of an un-named Mountain River,
in the chilly winter of mid December..
between the hills and the curves
sound of water flowing thru her veins.
I see plenty of fish playing around
free in her crystal water
no disturbance to their peace.
All Chanting Shiv mantra
& climbing the Rocky Mountains,
“Har Har bole har har Mahadev”

I am still riding..
aching all over but my Bahadur
white horse effortlessly
taking me up amidst the chanting
slogans around & sound of passing river.
More up and up, i am tired now
and my Bahadur tirelessly climbing
amaar Shivkhori.

Turn one, turn two and turn three,
more up..
Now i have reached to the first step
of rocky stairs of Shivkhori
Bahadur will leave me here.
I climbed the stairs upto mouth of the cave,
Krsna chiselled this Guffa for the mortals
the sacred holy guffa of all yugs
“Har Har bole har har Mahadev”

Dark inside, pigeons playing aimlessly
welcoming sparingly the pilgrims..
Kneeling down, passing through entrance
deep inside the serpentine Bhashmasur caves
i am to meet here my unknown god.

Ogo amaar Shivkhori.
I have reached the heaven on earth
a constellation of god & goddess inside.
Creation thru natural dripping of water
seeping out through the mountain cleavage..
and udders of Nandi.
What a heavenly feeling.. O my god!
Fangs of Sheshnag vividly welcoming
with his six heads.. Hanuman on his right.
Water drips dropp by dropp on Maha Shiv-linga
Maa Parbati, Five headed Ganesha,
Maha Saraswati, Maha kali, Gauri Kund..
all in their natural shapes and real forms.
What a divine feeling..
I am truly with my god today!

Mesmerised I feel my this birth is fulfilled.
Ogo amaar Shivkhori, my ultimate heaven.

Auro (Gurgaon 12.03.2011)

[ readers if any queries on meaning of some words; pls comment]