Background
After I lost my Mother, I pretty much lost all the faith in Gods. I used to chant, recite a lot of stotras regularly right from childhood. However after this, I only limited myself to one by Adi Shankaracharya called Matra Panchakshar Stotra. He’d written it in praise of his Mother and all Mothers in general.
Later on, I came across and started reciting one more stotra written by a later Shankaracharya called Devi Aparadha Kshamapana Stotram. It’s another stotra written from the point of view of a son in praise of his Mother. However, here the Mother is Devi Maa. It’s also a beautiful stotra as an apology and plea to the Goddess to always bless him.
Then last year in 2022, I got this inspiration to pray daily again. It was inspired by someone in almost funny incidence. So I started to and not seriously. But later on I became serious again and reverted back to some of the stotra and chants I used to recite earlier. I also added some new ones this time.
Later in 2022, during the Navratri of Ashwin (September – October) of that year, I recited the Durga Chalisa for 9 days. This has been memorized in my head in my father’s voice as he sang /chanted it. So I recited it in my head in his voice and devoted it to Devi Maa from his side. I similarly recite the Shri Ram Raksha Stotra in my head as my Mother’s voice as she used to.
On the 10th day i.e. on Dussehra, I experienced something that changed my life forever and made me a devotee of Devi Maa forever. It restored all my faith in the Gods and made me a steadfast devotee. The morning of 5th of October 2022 has been forever etched into my memory and my soul.
I would not like to discuss that part with anyone, so please don’t ask. However that has been the impetus for me to get every chance I can to visit the temples and especially the ancient temples and especially the temples of Devi Maa. The Shakti Peetha being my main aims of pilgrimage.
Aim for Shakti Peetha Visit:
If Devi Maa wills it, I’d like to visit all Shakti Peetha at least in India and possibly in Nepal, Bangladesh and Shri Lanka within this decade i.e. before 2030. This would also give me a good goal to travel all of the Indian Subcontinent.
It might be instrumental for my future life goals.
Future:
I do not see a single comprehensive source with a detailed description of all of the Shakti Peetha. Some come close but they have the generic description of some of the Peetha. It seems the story of each Shakti Peetha is either lost or not easily available.
One of my aims will be to document and explore all Shakti Peetha as I visit them. I’ll also take good pictures of at least the temples, as the phones / cameras are often not allowed inside the temples.