There are some religious rules to be followed for this yatra:
1. This Yatra's first and last visit should be to Morgaon in order to complete the entire Ashtavinayak Yatra.
2. This yatra should be done without going home.
3. This yatra should be done by following a religious sequence for visit to Ashtavinayak temples as listed below:
Religiuos Sequence:
1. Morgaon
2. Siddhatek
3. Pali
4. Mahad
5. Theur
6. Lenyadri
7. Ozar
8. Ranjangaon
9. Again Morgaon
The importance of each Ashtavinayak is available in books and on internet.I am providng the information which I never got from any source which is the route & distance for following the religious sequence for this yatra when you are planning to go on your own. There are many travel agencies which arrange this Yatra, but they do not follow the sequence & do not plan the yatra Morgaon to Morgaon.
As this is a long journey, plan it for 2 nights & 3 days so as to make this yatra less hectic & have inner satisfaction of completing this with due respect to Lord Ganesh.
We had followed all the religious rules & planned it for 2 nights & 3 days. We did it in July 2011.
Our plan was as below:
Day 1:
1. Pune to Morgaon:
We left from home at 7.00 am from Pune & reached Morgaon at 9.00 am.
Distance: 65 kms.
Route: Pune-Hadapsar-Saswad-Morgaon.
2. Morgaon to Siddhatek:
We left from Morgaon at 9.45 am & reached Siddhatek at 11.45 am.
Distance: 93 kms.
Route: Morgaon-Baramati-Daund-Siddhatek
3. Siddhatek to Pali:
We left from Siddhatek at 12.30 pm & reached Pali at 7.00 pm.
Distance: 221 kms.
Route: Siddhatek- Daund - Solapur Highway- Hadapsar - Yerwada- Shivajinagar - Old Mumbai - Pune highway - Lonavala - Khopoli - Pali.
4. Pali to Mahad:
We left from Pali at 8.00 pm & reached Mahad at 9.15 pm.
Distance: 42 kms.
Route: Pali-Mahad.
Day 2:
5. Mahad to Theur:
We left from Mahad at 7.30 am & reached Theur at 10.30 am.
Distance: 116 kms.
Route: Mahad-Khopoli-Express Highway-Aundh-Shivajinagar-Yerwada-Hadapsar-Theur.
6. Theur to Lenyadri.
We left from Theur at 11.00 am & reached Lenyadri at 3.00 pm.
Distance: 140 kms.
Route: Theur-Hadapsar-Yerwada-Shivajinagar-old Mumbai-Pune highyway-
Nashik Phata-Chakan-Rajgurunagar-Narayangaon-Junnar-Lenyadri.
The climate at Lenyadri was fabulous. There was drizzle of rain & the Lenyadri mountain was covered with clouds. All the tiredness of driving was releaved & we got refreshed just by seeing the climate. So we decided to make a stay at Lenyadri.
We booked a room in the Bhakta Niwas which is at the foot of Lenyadri mountain. It is a huge place with very fresh air & pleasing atmosphere. The rate was Rs. 600/- per night.
We went to the room, got fresh & then went for darshan.
There are around 285 steps. It take around 15 to 20 mins for a normal healthy person to climb it.
The most dreadful task during climbing is to protect yourself & the bags / purse you are carring from the humans old version i.e. MONKEYS...!!!
They snatch away anything that you are carrying. When we were climbing we heard that they snatched a bag & purse and ran away.
We climed up and fortunately no monkey turned up to us but they were continously staring at us if they could find anything to snatch away.
The darshan was very good & the view from the top of the mountain was excellent & breath taking.
We stayed at the Bhaktaniwas. It was newly built so it had everything new & in good condition. It had an A/C also.
7. Lenyadri to Ozar:
We left from Lenyadri at 6.15 pm & reached Ozar at 6.45 pm.
Distance: 18 Kms.
Route: Lenyadri-Ozar.
Earlier we had planned to stay at Lenyadri & go to Ozar the next day. But as we had finished Lenyadri darshan well before the plan, we went to Ozar as the distance is very less. Took darshan & came back to Lenydari for stay.
We left from Ozar at 7.15 pm & reached Lenyadri at 7.45 pm.
Day 3:
8. Lenyadri to Ranjangaon:
We got up at 5.30 & left from Lenyadri to Ranjangaon at 7.30 after having some tea.Reached Ranjangaon at 10.15 am.
Distance:127 kms.
Route: Lenyadri-Narayangaon-Rajgurunagar-Pabal-Shikrapur-Ranjangaon
Here we had completed all the Ashtavinayaks in sequence, but the yatra is considered as completed when we again go to Morgaon.
This was what we had planned to complete the entire Yatra following all the religious rules & we moved further to Morgaon.
9. Ranjangaon to Morgaon:
We left from Rajnjangaon at 12.00 pm & reached Morgaon at 3.00 pm.
Distance: 108 kms.
Route:Ranjangaon-Nagar Road-Bypass to Magarpatta-Hadapsar-Saswad-Morgaon.
Took darshan at Morgaon & left for Pune at 4.30 pm.
10. Morgaon to Pune:
We left from Morgaon at 4.30 pm & reached Pune at 7.15 pm.
Distance: 65 kms.
Route: Morgaon - Saswad - Hadapsar - Pune.
Total running following the religious sequence is around 1000 kms. Our plan proved to very effective & also we took enough rest beacuse of which we did not feel tired due to travelling & driving.
It was a very pleasing & satisfying yatra, for which one needs to have a desire to complete it & Lord Ganesh will take care of the rest for you....
It is a Yatra which an individual ideally should comple
