Mata Vaishno Devi Temple - Stampede - 1st Jan,2022 Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

Faith takes devotees anywhere
atop the high mountains and hills
or deep down in those valleys for devotion
where one hopes to be with God
and affix his belief in divine worship;
so whether the road is narrow or long
whether the climb is stiff or dangerous,
devotees always throng with hopes
that they will seek blessings and favors
or just go there to that temple and offer their thanks
for all the benevolence they have received
and for all the dreams they have achieved;
some even rush to those temples
to revere their deities and idols
and to ask them relief from worries and anxieties
or to seek cure from ailments and illnesses;
while some just go there for asking more prosperity
and it is their faith that makes them rush
to climb those stiff stairways uphill
that will lead them to those shrines of divine grace
where they prostrate themselves
and make offerings of flowers and incense
to implore Gods to help them
while some choose to go on a pilgrimage
to offer their gratitude and veneration to those Gods
in whom they have placed their trust and confidence.

Imagine one such journey of joy called a pilgrimage
to Mata Vaishno Devi Bhawan at Karta in Jammu
where thousands were suddenly caught in a stampede
and twelve of them died while many got injured;
how very painful must have been the end of those who died
under the hundreds feet that might have walked over them
just to save their own lives
as the rush must have kept pushing and thronging ahead
while each one was trying to stay alive;
imagine dying in a stampede where no one to help,
no one to pick you up and run
or get you to an ambulance;
sorrowful, sorrowful indeed
as those precious lives got lost
for faith, for worship, for devotion so intense
and yet mercy just closed it's eyes
while people just died or got crushed and injured
in a stampede all so unexpectedly
as so difficult must have been that chaos and commotion
where one must have tried to out beat the other
in the game of survival and escape
that one life lost or hurt must have been a self-sacrifice
and a helplessness so tough to overcome or combat,
that devotees and worshippers in the future should know
God exists everywhere and anywhere to bless or to heal
but life is not forever and to value life is greater reverence
as God blesses those who have faith in themselves
and that faith tells us - one must work hard to achieve
what they want and the reward naturally comes out of it
as out of the fruits of his own labor, a farmer reaps rich harvests.