Char Dham Yatra

Sharada Kumar

Well planned pilgrimage tour, which turned our dreams to reality. Lots of respects to the Yatra Director Sri,Agrani Krishna Dasa and the tour manager Nitinji. Hats off to their dedication, even the smallest of the details was taken care off very well. They made sure we got good Darshan and healthy food on time. Thank you. We are looking forward for another trip.

Seethalakshmi R

It was an excellent experience. Everything was handled with a lot of care and very courteously. All went off punctually. The food was good and healthy. No one suffered from tummy aches..:) Special credit to Agrani Bhaiya and Nitin Bhaiya who who were very polite, cheerful and gave us loads of knowledge. I can never forget them and hope to continue our relationship with Tirth Yatra. God willing!

M Subramanyam

During the Yatra we got very nice darshan at holy places with a lot of information through sthala purana narrations. The food & accommodation were also satisfactory. Thanks to Yatra Team. I also extend my thanks to the bus drivers.

Thanks Tirtha Yatra ! For sharing my comments and happiness for the benefit of other Yatris !!

Kapaleeswaran V

For full text, please refer to my Blogpost: https://kapalicanvas.blogspot.com/ .
However , some points:
Acts of Tirtha Yatra that impressed yatris:

1. Baggage Handling : Of all the other things, the one that was a hit even at first sight was their baggage handling technique. Each Yatri was given a unique ‘Generic Room No (GRN) ‘, which will be mapped to the room allocated to the yatri at every hotel. All the Yatri has to do is to ensure that the tag bearing the GRN is there on all the boxes and within ten minutes of your reaching the room, the luggage will be delivered. Similarly, while checking out, if the bags are kept outside the room at the specified time (normally 30 minutes before checkout time), they will be loaded into buses. During entire trip of 12 days, none of the 47 Yatris reported any loss of baggage- and more importantly the dreaded act of carrying the heavy baggage to the bus was done away with and that was a big relief , particularly to senior citizens and people with hip and knee problems. In my opinion, this is the Unique Selling Proposition of Tirtha Yatra (USP).

2. Seat Allocation: Apart from specified premium seats in the first row, other seats are allocated based on the age of the Yatri and this was communicated even before the start of the yatra, which will remain allocated through the Yatra . A point of relief is, seats in the last row are not allocated to anyone and could also be used to store excess hand baggage, if any.

3. Quality of Buses: Both the 27 seater vans were well maintained with seats reclining smoothly and the air conditioner in the bus was always turned on, though much of the travel was on the hills.

4. Drivers: The drivers were well experienced and most courteous to the Yatris with the stepping stool placed by the cleaner almost immediately after the door is opened. Everyone could leave their valuables like Mobile phones and Ipads safely in the vans , as the drivers are in the employment of Tirtha Yatra for many years and absolutely dependable, as we were told and also proved!

5. Food and Cook: The biggest draw of Tirtha Yatra is their promised Satvic food, without any onion or garlic and they stuck to this through the Yatra. Every day, invariably, a sweet will be served with some cut vegetables as energizer and the food though not extravagant but was good enough for the yatris to maintain their zeal. In short, enough of variety and quantity as we take at home. The most satisfying aspect , personally for me, was the availability of rice and buttermilk on all days at both lunch and dinner! This made the well stocked medical kit redundant through the tour !The cooking team was ever smiling and never reluctant to serve, even allowing passengers to stock coffee/ tea in their mini flask, during long travel. No wonder, satisfied yatris contributed liberally and expressed their gratitude to the cooking team and drivers at the end of the yatra.

6. Pravachan: Another huge attraction of Tirtha Yatra is their daily Satsang or pravachan wherein the Yatra Director gives details of places visited or to be visited. It is learnt that all the Yatra Directors are well informed and equipped with the Sthala Puranas and so every team could enjoy their briefings. Particularly, we were blessed with the presence of Shri Agrani Krishna Dasa , whose mesmerising discourse at all places especially about Ganga Matha, Uttarkashi, Vridha Badri, Pandukeshwar, Badrinath, Kedarnath and Devaprayag were worth visiting again, just to hear him.

7. Tour Schedule: The whole Yatra has been skillfully scheduled to start early, complete the chore leaving enough time in the evening for pravachans, rest and relaxation. As the whole tour was conducted more as a Yatra (as evidenced by the Neivedyam being done before the food is being served), even the Lunch and Dinner are mentioned as Lunch Prasadam and Dinner Prasadam. The day’s travel starts with a group recital of Nrsimha Pranaama – which is set in such mellifluous tune that it is bound to be followed by all yatris even after the completion of the Yatra. This was followed by the chanting of Vishnu Sahasrnama and thus the mood for the day is always set.
Earlier in the day, a morning wake-up call is followed by baggage placement and a decent breakfast is served with coffee and tea. During travel, every two hours a bio cum tea break is made and thus the strain of travel is never felt, though on some days we travelled for more than 12 hours , maximum being 15 hours and 15 minutes!!

8. Tirtha Yatra specials (in my opinion) :
A. On the first day, the Yatra Director declared that however early we start, supplying hot water for bath is their responsibility and it is to their credit that they never failed on that promise through the yatra.
B. Every yatri was gifted with a Winter jacket and an umbrella , which are very essential for this Yatra.
C. As a surprise gift, a darshan at Badrinath, by name Vishnu Sahasranama Dharshan was offered to all yatris.
D. Further a priceless Badri Yantra , which was sanctified with sankalpa and pooja was presented to every family of Yatris and along with the priceless pravachans and gifted Darshans and tasty food, every yatri had reasons to retire to their home, with heart full of satisfaction and devotion.

Last but not the least, the quality of Yatra Directors and Yatra Coordinators being identified to conduct the Yatra is something one has to experience to relish and enjoy. They are always available for queries, act friendly and attend to your needs. Particularly senior and super senior citizens are given the attention due and the manner in which another yatri who volunteered his services was allocated to accompany a super senior citizen at Kedarnath, was an example to quote.

Anything with quality need to be paid accordingly and as such for the manner in which this tough Yatra of the four major abodes of Yamunotri, Gangotri, Badrinath and Kedarnath along with the Divya Desams of Joshimutt and Devaprayag, in my opinion, it is reasonably priced and well worth the cost.

I have always boasted of choosing the best after my own analysis, references and filters and am happy that with Tirtha Yatra I have hit one more Bulls eye !! For all the fears, apprehensions and anxiety I had, post yatra along with a filled heart, healthy mind and a body with a ‘golden fatigue’, I retire confidently recommending this operator for such tough treks and trails.
As a satisfied customer, I had shared my good thoughts about the Yatra! As with love, the path of tours also never run smooth! Of course there are some areas with room for improvement, which I have shared above so that they don’t find a place in the feedback from subsequent batch yatris !! With your professional approach, sincere intentions and with a focus to deliver quality tours, I am confident you will act upon constructive feedback, as appropriate. Jai Badri Vishal ! Jai Kedarnath !

I observe that the Feedback columns are filled in the reverse order. For instance, the first entry displayed dates back to 2016 , whereas the last entry here is the latest. Obviously, visitors to the website will me more interested in hearing the latest views. Hope this will be taken care of.

Shreekalah Kapaleeswaran

I have found the best spiritual tour operator and felt very spiritually bonded. The Sthala Purana narration was a great thing I experienced. I would love to join more Yatras with Tirtha Yatra.

Meenakshi S

Our Char Dham Yatra was from September 11th to 22nd 2019. This was our second Yatra with Tirtha Yatra. Actually we had lot of doubts and fears in our mind before starting this Yatra. But with the blessings of Lord Badri Vishal and the guidance & support of Tirtha Yatra CEO Agrani Krishna Dasa, Director Venkatesh Dasa and Co-ordinator Nitin Varshney, we were able to complete our Char Dham Yatra successfully. It is a unique experience which we can feel it and enjoy only with Tirtha Yatra. The Sthala Purana explanation was superb. The Satvik food was very good and served on a timely manner. The accommodation provided at all the places were very comfortable. Kudos to the drivers for their experienced and tremendous job. We had very good Darshan in all the temples. We would love to travel with Tirtha Yatra again for our future Yatras and awaiting an opportunity to join you again.

Meenakshi Rajendran

The Satvic food was excellent. The Yatra Co-ordinator Mr Venkatesha Dasa was very courteous.

Venkatraman Rajendran

Special care was taken for senior citizens. Handling of baggage at every point was superb. Quality of food was excellent.

Latha Subramanian

One of the best Yatra my mother Mrs Rajeswari Devarajan enjoyed. Very good accommodation and ground support to senior citizens. I would stronglt recommend people for this Yatra.

Ravi Balasubramanian

It is generally very difficult to handle our family group of 5 and above. Our Yatris size is around 47, the co-ordination level of tour director Venketesa Dasa and CEO Agrani Krishna Dasa were amazing. By and large positives were at large which overshadowed small misunderstanding and discomfort. I pray to Badri Vishal and Kedarnathji to give them good health and energy to undertake more Yatras. Myself and my wife had a nice Darshan and had a blissful Yatra. On reaching home I feel like missing out something, a sort of voidness which is beyond describing through words. Overall a satisfying and a happy end of a fantastic Yatra. Good job done by your team.

Kalyani Balasubramanian

The Yatra was fully energized with Sri Agrani Krishna Dasa our Yatra Director from Tirtha Yatra in Deva Bhoomi

We took the Char Dham Yathra trip in June 19. We were extremely satisfied with the arangements and the friendly staff. We were priviledged to have very knowledgeble preacher who kept us spiritually occupied with sthala puranas and stories from Baghawatham. We cherish this trip as one of the most spiritually fulfilling trip and look forward to other trips with you. Thank you for doing such a wonderful job.

Padmaja Subramanya

Yamunotri trek was amazing! The snow melting and gushing underneath at certain places were also like Gupthagamini . Kedarnath is a place where Lord Shiva manifests both as Prakruthi, Purusha and so many other forms.