Considerable number of devotees of goddess Vaishnodevi droves in Vaishnodevi Temple every year.Mostly, during the occasion of Navaratri, Vaishnodevi Temple is flooded with thousands of followers. On that occasion, the temple is decorated gorgeously. In Navaratri occasion, devotees worship goddess Vaishnodevi by offering coconuts, apparels, fruits and rice among others.
In Vaishnodevi Temple, the procedure of Aarti is quite long. The priests perform this religious act every day. Before commencement of Aarti, priests also perform self-purification activities. Afterwards, the idol of goddess Vaishno is washed with water, milk, ghee, butter, honey and sugar. The entire procedure of Aarti occur among the delight of several mantras. Subsequently, a special holy material named Tilak is positioned in the forehead of the idol and Prasad is offered to her. The celestial lamp is lightened when Aarti is performed. This religious act is done in the presence of devotees.
As per Hindu mythology, goddess Vaishnodevi is one of the 108 Shakti Peethas. She is also known as Mata Rani. Goddess Vaishno is a manifestation of goddess Durga. Legend states that once goddess with her three manifestations namely goddess Kali, goddess Lakshmi and goddess Saraswatimeet together and shared their mutual spiritual strengths. On that time, a strikingly bright light originated from the place where three powers merged. As a result, a beautiful young girl appeared from the divine light. She asked the goddesses about the reason for her creation. The Devisclarified that the girl was created in order to maintain justice.
The Devis told the divine girl to take birth in the residence of humans named Ratnakar and his wife, who were great devotees of the three goddesses. The girl was also told to develop herself mystically so that she can obtain high degree of cognizance. Afterwards she was supposed to merge with lord Vishnu. Thus, by telling that, the goddesses blessed the girl and accordingly she was born to the family of Ratankar and her wife. The couple named her daughter as Vaishnavi. From childhood, Vaisnavi demonstrated a hunger for great knowledge. Any teaching and learning was unable to gratify her thirst for knowledge. Soon Vaisnavi begin to look into her internal self for gaining knowledge and learned about the act of meditation. She realised that only mediation and reparation can help to fulfil her true objectives. Therefore, Vaisnavi abandoned every household conveniences and went deep forest for meditation. In later phase, Vaisnavi become goddess Vaishnodevi when she shed off her human form.
The main idol of Vaishnodevi Temple is goddess Vaishno herself, which is stated to be a true replica of Vaishnodevi Temple which is situated in Jammu & Kashmir. The only difference between these two temples is that, Vaishnodevi Temple in Gujarat can be visited in couple of hours, while the same of Jammu & Kashmir require much time in order to visit the shrine completely. The temple is about 50 feet high in width and the shrine premise resonate with the chants of Jai Mata Di at every time throughout the year.