KASHI

1. Kashi : Banaras' Beauty

To be called the city of Banaras, it is the city of Mahadev, and there's a pure feeling of love which flows here. Everyone is having a heart of pure gold. Banaras is famous for its Ghats, devotion to Mahadev and Maha Aarti.
Let's find out, what this place has to tell us..

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BANARAS, ASSI GHAT

Ishvar Satya Hai
Satya Hii Shiv Hai
Shiv Hii Sundar Hai
Jaago Uth Kar Dekho
Jiivan Jyot Ujaagar Hai
(God is Truth, Truth is Shiva, Shiva is Beautiful Wake up and see, life's light is bright.)

The temple of Mahadev built at Assi Ghat is used to start it's morning with this devotional song. And only one voice used to wake up the whole Banaras and that was non other than our, Kashi.

Yes, she is a simple girl living in the Banaras city. Who is also a supreme devotee of Mahadev (Shiva) and a teacher by profession.

'Hey, this is Kashi's voice, it means it's four o'clock in the morning,' the priest also said getting up. Kashi usually comes to Mahadev's temple at four every morning. She herself used to clean this temple and perform aarti. The people of Banaras used to get up in the morning, only by the beautiful sound of her aarti.

Satyam Shivam Sundaram,
Satyam Shivam Sundaram,
Satyam Shivam Sundaram,
(God is Truth)
(Truth is Shiva)
(Shiva is Beautiful)
Satyam Shivam Sundaram....

After performing the prayer, Kashi forwarded the Aarti plate to everyone, the sun has also come out spreading its rays brightly. And the count of people started increasing. She came out of the temple after giving aarti to everyone.

She had just come out of the temple after performing Kashi Aarti when she met the Mahant of the temple (Priest) coming towards her. She bowed with folded hands and greeted him, 'Pranam Mahant ji.' Mahant ji blessed her and asked about her well-being. Kashi smiled and said, 'I'm good, Mahant ji".
'Is the aarti done ?' asked the priest.
'Yes, I was just going to home, it's getting late for the school.', Kashi said and Mahant ji gave her a big smile and went ahead after giving her blessings.

Kashi also exited through the Ghat and entered the streets of Banaras. There's always a huge hustle in the streets of Banaras, busy roads, chit chats of the people, devotees performing and more. You can never find silence here, sometimes even the night echoes with the names of Mahadev (Shiva).

Kashi stopped at a shop, and said to an old man sitting at the shop, 'Morning uncle, please pack Kachori and Jalebi quickly.'
(These are the names of some Indian dishes.)

'Hey Kashi daughter, you have come, we have already packed up your kachori and jalebi, just now and see, you also came, said the old man and handed over the bag to her. 'You know me very well..', saying this Kashi immediately left after passing him a sheepish smile.

After coming home, she took off her shoes in the courtyard and placed the flower brought from the temple in the vase. As soon as she went inside the house, her father Anand Tripathi was sitting there. Her Baba said without looking at her ' You came, Kashi'. Keeping the bag of Kashi Kachori and Jalebi on the table, she said, 'How do you know that it is me.'

He kept the newspaper on the table in front of the table and said, 'From the sound of your anklet which I have been making you wear since childhood'. Kashi placed the breakfast on the table and called her Baba (Father).

After having her breakfast, she herself left for the school and went to her baba ashram (Anand ji's friend Rajendra Pratap Sisodia ji's ashram (Orphanage), which he himself looked after, he used to look after this because of his friend's work load, his friend was from the royal families of Indore. He used to meet them once in a year, Kashi was more important to his. He used to treat her like his own daughter. He was the only one in his family, so he used to spend all his love on Kashi only.