Monday, 07 November 2022 | Vinod Chamoli | New Tehri
Have experienced great peace & divinity of goddess Mahakali: Saraswati Giri
A young lady from Germany who first visited India nearly three decades ago has been spending her time in spiritual practices and worshipping goddess Mahakali in the forests of Kalishila for about 26 years now. Having taken up Sanyas years ago, Saraswati Giri states that she has experienced incomparable peace and the divine power of goddess Mahakali.
A young German lady named Tanya first visited India when she was 20 years old. During her first visit she visited temples and met ascetics before returning to Germany. She visited India again after some time and was deeply attracted by the culture here. After returning to Germany for the second time, Tanya decided to come to India for good. Leaving her university studies midway and without informing her parents, she departed for India with the intention of living here. After arriving in India, she reached Kalimath. After praying for some days in Kalimath she travelled to Kalishila where she met Swami Barkha Giri. Here she was inspired to worship the goddess Mahakali. The Swami initiated her into Sanyas, after which she was named Saraswati Giri. She states that one of the reasons behind her attraction for goddess Mahakali is that she had read the biographies of Ramakrishna Paramhans and Swami Shivanand during her childhood which had instilled in her an interest in worshipping the goddess.
Kalishila is accessed after a steep climb of about six kilometres from the renowned Shaktipeeth of Kalimath in Rudraprayag district. This forested area lacks electricity connection and is far from the crowd of humans. It is here that Saraswati Giri has been practicing devotion to Mahakali for the past 26 years. Her guru Swami Barkha Giri who had also initiated her into the worship of goddess Mahakali passed away a few years ago. She has continued to live in a shack at Kalishila while carrying on with her spiritual practice. Fluent in Hindi and habituated to chanting various Stotras and prayers in Sanskrit, Saraswati Giri says that she has experienced great peace and the divine power of the goddess while undertaking her religious practices here. It is pertinent to mention here that it is believed that goddess Mahakali had appeared as a 12 year old girl at the place now known as Kalishila in response to prayers for slaying very powerful demons Shubh and Nishumbh.
