“Sankatmochan Mahabali Hanuman” actor Arun Mandola recently visited the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine, and performed a special pooja there. He spent four days there but asserted that it shouldn’t be called a trip.

The trek to the holy shrine is approximately 12 kilometres and it can be quite challenging. Though there are paid facilities like helicopters, horses and ponies available to make the devotees’ journey easier, Arun chose to travel on foot. He said, “I was in Vaishno Devi for three days. I did not use any support during the trek and enjoyed the scenic beauty on foot. The first day, I rested after finishing the trek, and performed the pooja and darshan on the second day. The third day, I started climbing down. When I visit such holy places I don’t consider it as a trip, it shouldn’t be called that.”

“I am very serious when it comes to visiting religious places and I refrain myself from doing any fun activity. I feel worshiping needs dedication and focus, and at religious places you should only be thinking about God,” he added.

There is a saying that you get to visit the holy shrine only when the deity calls you, and the actor said that she called him after a very long time. He added, “I feel blessed that Maa Vaishno Devi called me because without her permission you cannot reach there.”

“It is difficult to describe my feelings when I visit Vaishno Devi and I always try to climb on foot. There is a reason Mata Vaishno Devi is situated on a mountain. She takes your test and checks your dedication towards her. I feel climbing is similar to tapasya. These days, people cannot sit and meditate so I feel it’s equal to tapasya,” he further said.

Though Arun was happy with the darshan, he confessed that he faced some difficulties due to winter.

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I went there in winters and my body is not used to handling it. I have been in Mumbai for the past many years and have not seen or felt the winter season. In Mumbai, you get only summers and rain, so I struggled with the weather there,” he concluded.