(A decade ago after a
trip to Tibet, Nepal and India, I wrote down my impressions. It was not meant
to be a book, however after it was read by some, it was suggested that if it
gets published, interested persons can use it. However I thought (and still
think) that the narration was more of a personal quest into Bhagavan Shiva and
that it may not interest a wider audience. Therefore instead of commercially
publishing it, I thought of placing it on a website of Publishing house Harper
Collins’s website known as Authonomy.com.
It remained on their website for people to review my narration for many years.
However, last year, when Harper Collins shutdown Authonomy.com and I realized
that some people still wanted to read my account, I decided to place all 26
chapters of that travelogue on this blog. Reader views and comments are
welcome)
Chapter 18. Kailash Trek, Day 3
Last day Parikrama was
like a cakewalk in comparison to second day. It was a distance of 6 km over a
relatively smooth terrain with minor ups and downs. It was a walk through a
valley with grass-less brown mountains on both sides, a river continuously keeping
us company to our left and rocky tall mountains on the right. The rocks
appeared to be different from seen earlier. These had glassy-green appearance.
Also there were mountains and rocks of violet, brown and orange-brown shades.
We came across a few Tibetan
pilgrims who were performing a very tough kind of Parikrama. They were
not walking as how we were doing but by prostrating. These pilgrims wear
‘shoes’ even in their hands and also wear an apron like thick cloth in the
front to protect palm and abdomen from injury and exposure to stones and dirt
during repeated rub with ground. They would first stand and do a Namaskaar,
then prostrate to the full body length touching the ground, head to toe and do
second Namaskaar while lying on the ground, then rise up and stand
straight. This sequence is repeated continuously to cover the distance of
entire circumambulation. It would take him 25,000 prostrations to complete the Parikrama!
What a tough Tapasya, a pursuit! We enquired with one of the prostrating
pilgrims as to how long would it take him to complete the Parikrama. He
said: “about 30 days”. We admired him for his faith, determination, patience,
strength and resilience.
Our trek on day 3 ended with
ending of the mountains. Leaving them behind, when we emerged, a wide flat
plain greeted us. This flat-land holds Manasarovar and Rakshas-Taal. The river
that kept us company goes further and empties its content in the Rakshas-Taal
faintly visible from where we stood.
Our dream had come true. What
multitude of Hindus, Buddhists and others dream of accomplishing once in their
lifetime was realized by us. We were in Kailash-Loka, a heaven, hence it
is out of the place if I was to say that we were on seventh heaven, but a
reader can imagine our exhilaration. We felt blesses, especially that I
survived the ordeal was a sign; I took as indicative of God’s wish that I
should devote rest of my life, doing His work. I had promised it to Him
yesterday when the trek had become difficult, but from today my work should ceaselessly
continue. Period of last three days was amazing. We had forgotten that a whole
world existed outside the circumambulation arena. It
did not exist for us quite literally. We were in a different
world-truly. Although we were anxious to complete the Parikrama, we felt
a sense of loss and disappointment when the moment arrived. Landcruisers, we
bade good-bye to three days ago, were parked at the end of the trail and
awaited us. As a token of completion of trek, walking sticks that were no
longer needed now were returned to the organizers. Our driver, that giant-baby
greeted us warmly but we had hardly any enthusiasm. Unwillingly we climbed the
Landcruisers. Hardly anyone was talking to anyone. One by one the trekkers
returned and claimed their places in the Landcruisers. When all four passengers
and our Sherpa took their seats, driver took us to the Darchen base camp that
was just a few kilometers away. We were back into the material world, governed
by the God of death. It was just about lunch time and we gorged on the hot
lunch kept ready by the thoughtful organizers to lift our forlorn souls, just
separated from hug of Bhagavan Shiva and Mata Parvati.
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