Hrishikesh - Lord of senses

Calm mountains, lush green milieu comprising trees, medicinal herbal plants and a river flailing widely and your senses feel an impulse to experience a sense of peace and you are in a get-set-go mood for liberation or searching truth.

"Its Hrishikesh meaning lord of senses or Hrish ka ish" explains swamiji of Omkarnanda ashram the meaning of Hrishikesh over commonly spelt Rishikesh "Water, trees and mountains are part of nature and proximity to it means natural happiness number of time you see it in front of your eyes and that's for the reason it is a perfect destination for attainment of spiritual path. its a pilgrimage and spiritual place where spiritual seeker seeks highest good and absolute freedom staying for long time over pilgrimage that is of short duration" says swamiji of Divine life society that has strong presence here with hundreds of seekers enrolling themselves for different spiritual courses in ashram.

"Freedom, seclusion, no pollution, ganga and mountains pull many foreigners round the year who find peace in every nook and corner of this place. you wouldn't find this type of crowd in Hardwar where crowd keep city on toes all around the year," a point proved by Rajat Vishnoi of Chotiwala Restaurant who are into this business since 1958 and well known all over India for their vegetarian delicacies, "but slowly growing spiritual tourism has seen a growing menace of narco tourism that foreigners consume on bank of ganga, in restaurants and in place of their dwelling. It's not offensive to sentiments to sit on bank of holy river bikini clad but with charas and chillum that is assimilating the meaning that place stands for."

According to grapevine Government was considering a ropeway and a bridge to connect two banks of Ganga facilitating movement of crowd." it is a place from where journey to four dham in Himalayas begins, henceforth, more crowds. plans of government to provide better facilities are in cold bag and as cumulative effect of this lax attitude local unions of businessmen and transport operators are driving tourist on whatever price they decide upon." complaints Vishnoi a common statement. It's more of local unions that is involved in administration and governance of crowd.

"For last 20 years I have witnessed an intact infrastructure. What have mushroomed in this area are street side vendors, wine, drugs and meat sellers making scene chaotic. Lack of interest of Government is reflected in few unkempt toilets, poor streetlights, no guides and information centers," adds Gauri Shankar Mohta of Geeta Ashram located on foot of Muni koot Parvat starting point of Himalayas, "the plus of this place are many as you wouldn't find white waters (Hrishikesh is few of places in the world where river rafting is possible), presence of natural herbs and fresh breeze and history of penance undertook by great sages, natural white sand and rocky beaches, presence of many ashrams and interest of many spiritual ashrams worldwide that all makes it a world class destination for spiritual tourism. But one has to take infrastructure related problems seriously."

There is also a big room to build this place as destination for adventure sports. With presence of not-so-well managed and high priced river rafting, aquatic sports paragliding, parasailing could give a different experience.

"The strength of this place is its proximity to International airport. It is safe comparing to other destinations in India with friendly people. If poor infrastructure is a problem than it has its many plus effects too. Poor roads and costly rickshaws compel tourist to take a walk and narrow lanes with absence of bridge makes it zero level pollution place." says James Morrison from England who is setting up a spiritual counseling and holistic health center. This place could earn a million of foreign currency every year as there is very few stress relieving place in globe. And marketing this place as holistic health center would mean an unimaginable business that place could give as spiritual tourist spot". Supports James who traveled across India and few other countries for finding ideal location for his set up. "Bidis, plastics and drugs are bane for this place available in plenty and food complaints are causing damage to its spiritual temperament.

The lord of senses gives peace to many souls but itself it is like an isolated baby where less attention is been given by its people and local system. If resources are over utilized than it is a loss but if not utilized than its loss could not be counted in figures. It is a gold mine where the sheen of metal is visible but it is been used more worst like rusted iron.

The place wish to relive its days of penance and small spiritual shops with their high prices and notorious activities are bringing bad name to place and Indian spirituality.