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My name is Vipramukhya Swami. Once upon a time (March, 2001) I traveled to the Kali-Gandaki River to see the home of the Salagram Silas. The Salagram Silas are small, black stones from the Kali-Gandaki River bed. The Vedic scriptures describe that once Srimati Tulasi devi cursed Krishna (the Supreme Personality of Godhead) to become a stone, and since then He has manifested Himself as the Salagram Sila. Therefore devotees worship the Salagram Silas as deities of Krishna. A Salagram is always considered an installed deity. Anyone who dies within a 2 mile radius of a Salagram Sila goes to Vaikuntha (the spiritual world).
Want to see a photo of the over 300 Salagrams I brought back from the Kali-Gandaki River?
During my trip I kept a Pilgrim's Diary, which was posted regularly on http://chakra.org.
Click here to read CHAKRA's coverage of my trip to the Kali-Gandaki River.
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That's me on the bridge. The Kali-Gandaki is below. |
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This is the Kali-Gandaki River in the Himalayas. It is located about 9800 feet above sea level. There are no roads to get here. You can't take a bus or drive a car here. You can walk (5 days) or take a small prop-plane to Jomsom. Then you have to walk along the river. Salagram Silas can be found among the river stones. |
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| The Muktinath temple is at the base of the Himalayan peaks and is as high as you can go without actually scaling the mountain itself. |
Here I am holding snowballs outside the Muktinath Temple in the Himalayas, Nepal, 12,700 feet above sea level. |
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These are my deities. Many of the Salagram Silas pictured here were found at the Kali-Gandaki River during our 2001 trip. There are 288 Salagram Silas in this picture (including 216 "pebble" Salagrams in a small container). When there are more than 100 Salagram Silas in one place, that place becomes a Holy Dham, or holy place of pilgrimage. Most of these Salagrams have now been given away. Click here to see the altar as it is now. |
