The Golden Puri Beach, where tranquility meets spirituality.

 
Hello All,

I recently visited Odisha with my grandparents to do one of the sacred pilgrimages of Hindu culture (that also comes in one of the 4 dhams) in Puri. “The Jagannath temple” is one of the most sacred places in India for Hindus.

The Puri beach is in proximity to the temple and my hotel was also very near to the beach so I’m writing about my experience of living there for a couple days. I couldn’t include my visit to the temple in this blog as mobile phones were not allowed there!

This beach was the most unique beach I’ve ever seen in my life. Unlike other beaches of India like Goa, Mumbai etc, this beach had a vibe of spirituality mixed with the beautiful views. No half naked women, no alcohol and no beach parties. All this beach had was pure spirituality and tradition rooted to every sand particle.

I used to go there at dusk and dawn every day and some of the things that I witnessed were really amazing. The very first thing that I noticed when I visited there for the very first time at sunrise was people were waiting by the ocean to worship the ocean and the sun God. At the time of sunrise, people bowed to the ocean and put a little sand to their foreheads to pay respect to their ultimate provider i.e. The Ocean.

Everyone there were so joyful and happy. I was able to observe a bright glow on everyone’s face while I was walking on the sand. I tried to capture some beautiful moments that you can see in the photos.

Upon sunrise and after their worship, people rushed to the water to take the bath. While bathing, I could still see the respect they had for the ocean. They were enjoying and having a great time. Seeing them so happy made my day.

Another thing that surprised me was that people made Shivalingas and Temples with sand unlike other beach where people make random things.

The above photo is of a Shiva Linga that represents Lord Shiva made out of sand. There were many Shivalingas made by many people during morning time before their morning worship and when the waves touched the Shivalingas, they prayed and worshiped.

The above photo shows the holy Jagannath temple made out of sand. I was thrilled to see it made here at the beach. It depicts how religious the people were!

After taking a bath, people sat on the chairs at the beach to see the beautiful sunrise and enjoy fresh breeze coming from the Bay of Bengal.

As the sun rose up, various activities started happening there. There were many paddlers, cameramen, camel men and people of various other professions roaming around the beach by 7 AM.

As the day passed, more and more people began to come there. In the photograph below, you can see a lot of people gathering around the beach. They all were so exited to feel the morning breeze and cold water that this beach had to offer.
 

Many people also got busy in buying different commodities and products that the paddlers were selling.

There was so much happening there that I even lost the track of time. It was 10 AM already and I needed to get back to my hotel as I had some more places to explore during the day.

On my way back down the beach, I witnessed something very amazing. I saw a group of dogs having fun in the sand. They were digging into the sand and running here and there like they were very happy. Seeing them made me realise that not only humans but also dogs had the positive impact of the spiritual environment on them.

Lastly, apart from all the positive things, I witnessed something that sank my heart down. I saw a dirty sewage pipe opening up at the end of the beach. That was the worst thing that happened to me that morning. I was not expecting such a thing while I was mesmerised by the positive vibes at the beach.
 

The government should take measures to do something about this problem. It’s really a very serious matter that should be taken care of.
 
That’s all for today.

Thanks for passing by.