Weekend idea - Day trip - Alandi, Where Sant Dnyaneshwar is in deep Sanjeevan Samadhi

 Alandi is a place considered sacred from time immemorial, even before the arrival of Sant Dnyaneshwar. This village or town is situated on the banks of river Indrayani and was a famous centre of meditation and prayer. In fact, it was known as Alkapuri a few centuries ago.

Situated just about 30 km from central Pune, this place can be reached in about an hour by car. There are PMPL buses from various places in Pune that travel to Alandi. Here is the Map for a trip to Alandi from Swargate, Pune.

We took the road from Bombay Sappers to Alandi via Vishrantwadi. The road is mostly divided 4 lanes till very close to Alandi after which the road width reduces a bit to three-lane undivided one. Once you cross the Indrayani river, the road becomes a village road with just two lanes, though the road surface is good.

The Samadhi Mandir of Sant Dnayaneshwar is just after the river crossing. When one goes by car, the biggest worry is about car parking. Alandi has three car parking. While going from Pune to Alandi, the first one is just short of the Bridge on the Indrayani river, on the right side Second is just after the bridge on the right side, and the third one is just after the Samadhi mandir on the right side. Parking on a normal day is thus not a worry.

Entry to the samadhi mandir is free but there may be a queue for darshan. If you reach at afternoon Prasad time or any of the Aarti time, add about 30 extra minutes to your expected time taken for darshan. Sant Dnyaneshwar is revered across Maharashtra. Many of us may travel and visit this place as a get-away, but most people visiting Alandi are devotees and Warkaris (People who do Ashadhi and Kartiki Wari (Trip on foot) from here and from abodes of other saints like Tukaram to Pandharpur) having deep reverence to Sant Dnyaneshwar. This reverence reflects in their behavior, orderliness and peace that they maintain while standing in the darshan Queue.

Devotes and visitors alike also visit the Ghats (embankments) of river Indrayani but unfortunately, like most revered rivers in India, this river has also become polluted. Hence many skip venturing into this river.

Now let me show you a few Photographs of this place (Photography is allowed in a limited area).

Entrance to Samadhi Mandir

Samadhi Mandir from outside

One of the Sacred Tree in the complex

Alandi is one of the Religious-Tourism day trips from Pune. This trio is recommended for everyone who has a religious bend of mind or a tourist bent of mind or both. This trip is a day best spent.

If one is keen to know what is Sanjeevan Samadhi (It is not the same as Jeevant Samadhi), reach here for more about it _- Sant Dnyaneshwar’s Sanjeevan Samadhi – Contemplation on Death (gethappythoughts.org)