Breath taking Moments - Travelogue-ories...

Breath taking Moments - Travelogue-ories.

Summer of 94 - The month of June, when the Himalayan shrines of Badri and Kedar open up and the ice and snow melt down to flow, as the graceful and divine Ganges, with many a persona down its course, we were on our way to Kedarnath from Rudra Prayag. It was a stormy night and after the hectic trip to badri, 10 of us adults and children bundled up in one jeep, should we go ahead?
I said yes...like Steve Jobs,founder CEO of Apple, mentions at the 2005 Stanford commencement speech(available on You tube), "the dots will connect , but only at a later date."I knew this was it or the Universe knew and wanted me to have this one moment in life that took my breath away.
So we all went ahead - 6 adults (parents), one post teen (me), one teen, one school girl and a little kid. We drove up to the foothill of the path, leading to the holy shrine of Kedarnath, an abode of one of the 12 Jyotirlingas, personifying Lord Shiva.
Gauri kund housed a hot-spring and from there on started a 14 km trek that would take us up to our destination. There were palki bearers,who would carry people up and ponies with guides , that could also carry people up. We decided to get the moms up on ponies and the rest of us trek up.
Muddy, stony and rugged pathways, strewn with petite shops filled with eatables and other necessities, was the scene along this route. All along, on the sides were small, pink, snake-head like flowers - which my mom said that she had only seen here and giving respect to the Lord of this journey Lord Shiva - we all chanted Om Namah Shivaya - to lighten our journey and go along with the throng.

The steep slopes looked dangerous when we peeked now and then, all along our ascent. After about 4 hours, we quit the long and winding road, to follow energetic backpackers and young adults to trek across the slope of the mountain. It was tricky, but doable.

For the last stretch, I had to resort to a pony ride to accompany one of younger kids, who could not walk anymore and was scared to go alone on the pony. So that was a breather and I could see my fellow travelers and was amazed to see people of varying ages and nationalities on this route. I saw an old lady, around 70+ making her way up, with a small sack. In days past, people who were at the last leg of their lives took these trips, to submit themselves to the highest,having fulfilled all their responsiblities. It was part of the Indian, hindu way of life.

We all met at the top. The trekkers took the longest - 7 hours. No modern mode of transportation was seen. Crystal clear, fresh, crisp cool mountain air welcomed us. Unpolluted and untouched by anything unnatural or should I say man-made.

The gentle gushing of the Mandakini river, which was deep emerald green, owing to the rich vegetation of the land, feasted our eyes and sang into our ears. We rushed towards the temple as the sun retired from the sky and had darshan of the renowned Jyotirlinga that adorned Kedarnath.

On KEDARNATH - legend and history...
Kedar is another name of Lord Shiva the protector and the destroyer. Shiva, is considered the embodiment of all passions-love, hatred, fear, death and mysticism which are expressed through his various forms.
According to legend, the place came into being during the period when the five Pandavas brothers were asked to seek Shiva's blessings purging them of the sin of killing their cousins. Lord Shiva unwilling to give darshans to the Pandavas frled Kashi to live incognito in Guptkashi, where eventually he was detected by the Pandavas. While fleeing Shiva took refuge at Kedarnath in the form of a bull and started to plunge underground when he was spotted by the Pandavas. He dived into the ground, leaving behind his hump on the surface. No wonder the natural rock formation that is worshiped here resembles the hump of a bull. Thus Shiva pleased with the determination of the Pandavas, exonerated them from their sin, gave them darshan & bestowed upon them the opportunity to worship his hump.
The other four places where Shiva is worshiped take their appearance from different parts of his body -the naval at Madmaheshwar, the arms at Tungnath, the face at Rudranath, and the matted hair at Kalpeshwar. The latter four along with Kedarnath are known as the Panch Kedars.

Very unlike the south shrines the north Indian mandirs are quite informal and give more importance to bhakthi and informality in prayer. As we went in hearing the legend and had darshan of the jyotirlinga, really looking like a hump, we walked out, in awe of an inscription of AdhiShankara's visit to this shrine. This great Guru had traveled far and wide, all along the Indian subcontinent, establishing, recognizing and glorifying many a shrine.

The priest of temple, was briskly moving all along the perimeter, applying the sacred ash , vibhuti, on everyone's forehead very devoutly. So we were all taken care of by the Lord here. We rushed to find our night halt spot and found a couple of rooms in a small boarding house. We had dinner, some rotis and dhall.

As we retired,oblivious of the outside and all tired to the marrow of our bone, we were thankful to house 6/7 of us in the 12ft/10ft room. Our bodies served to warm us. I slipped into blissful sleep, amidst the snow-clad mountain peaks in the heart of the Himalayas, filled with all natural splendour, breathing in the clean, heavenly air. I was gently awakened by my fathers' soothing voice, calling on me to wake up and come outside. I reluctantly left my cozy blanket, only to be transported into the silent, yet stunning show of the heavens. My father nudged and made me look up and I saw millions and billions of glittering stars, nay priceless diamonds in the sky and the black space lost in them. That was a star studded night and along with the the snow-clad mountains surrounding us, stood as witness to the glory of the heavens above and we could feel the divine presence of the Lord Shiva and Parvathi residing amidst them. It was THE moment that took my breath away. And even today I long to have my children and husband share that experience and we will.

On being Spiritual and being Religious

Since you have raised the point of inner strength...does it come from outside of ourselves? Ours and most religious texts, when delved deep into take us gradually into the spiritual realm where the differences and divisions vanish and we start seeing the basic similarities and the togetherness of the entire universe. That is what the big picture is.
Religion is about certain beliefs and a certain set of rules followed and being within some structures. This is a good beginner and base. But we cannot remain in one point and not evolve.As long as we can see that all this is to give us a footing and we can see or explore the world around us and within us from this point onwards...we are good. Nothing that divides and makes someone feel greater than the other, can be the truth. The basis of all life is one and we are the projection of colours of rainbow from the same white light.
So a spiritual person is beyond distinction. This person seeks the true nature of one's own self and thereby discovers a lot of uniting factors. Look at all the elements of nature being separate yet together and blended with one another.
I think when we find the balance and peace within us, we are on solid ground to go thru life for what it is.

Good and bad are as relative as the attributes of fire that burns to cook,light and also hurt and destroy. Life ALWAYS JUST HAPPENS and that uniting factor that forms the basis of all we see and all that exists is what we call or know as God. We surrender to that for the same to reveal itself to us and give us balance and understand all that is as is.

Faith in the almighty

Every day seems to be a see saw or a sinosoidal wave in every one's life. In the morning things come as huge issues but by the day ends we have a solution. I find it funny because this means we keep our faith always strong and unwavering. This also means that never give up on the trust we have on the almighty.

If the almighty has brought us so far in our lives will HE drop us midway. It is rather he will carry us. I do remember the "Missing footsteps" story.

Wonder how people who are atheists react to these scenarios? Are they unfazzled by troubles or they are so confident of the system? Need to question this.

Maybe reading philosophical books would make us really strong.

Just a thought!!

Time with Kids

I just woke up after long to see how less quality time I spend with my kids. I do see them throng with affection. Many times I take it for granted that they like what I do . But never have I realized that kids like some stuffs they enjoy and I do not participate in them. For example any game or show on TV etc. So it is very important for me to see what is in the little one's mind too.

In general we cannot take for granted that kids should like what we want. My interest is music and my kids love that too. At least they do not hate it. But once in a while I should make it a point to see that I spend quality time with their loving areas too.

Just a message and a wake up call for me. Thanks to my beloved for letting me know this.

Love Beeyappa.

Acharya Ramanuja's 992nd birthday is tomorrow and I salute this great teacher, who broke the barriers of any discrimination, to help each and every one of them seek the highest in their own way. He walked each one's path along with them and lit their way. On hearing his stories one realises, that such kind of souls make religion more meaningful and a pathway to tread upon to reach your destination.
the word religion means to re-ligare or go back. to what?To where we came from to our beginning. Why do that? we want to go forward not backward. That's probably what most of think and hence the non-acceptance and constant denounciation of religion, when it tries to reason on your face.Well... lets look at nature - What if, the seed that grew into a tree refuses to get back to ground and wants to keep on growing endlessly - will there be anymore trees or any more room? What if the water that comes down as rain refuses to evaporate back up to the clouds? what if the streams astounded by the splendour of some forest-view, refuse to flow further down to the open plains? imagine if all beings created, refused to decompose back to soil to rejuvenate itself. Does it all make sense why we need to get back or turn within to find the answers to all our qusetions.
That is apparently the concept of zero. We always go a full circle in life, each and every one of us. If all of us refuse to descend as we ascend, the balance of life is lost. we are all at different points on that zero. When we look at the other person they seem higher or lower...and we show appreciation,jealousy,pity and concern. The truth is that we are all along that same path and will encou nter the same situation sooner or later. That's it. Life goes in circles and when we are aware of this and still go around that makes life worth living.
this is what the great masters reveal to us. Once our inner eye opens to this truth, we can take things as they come and keep doing our duties, for all that is up MUST come down and all that is down SHALL go up.
Next writeup will be on incidents from the Acharya's life that are still truly inspirational to me.

Thanks for sharing your time..

driving age and greying territories

I think the age to start driving a car is too early here. But the one rider to my opinion is that I was not growing up here at that age. 14 years and 9 months - that is the age to get a permit to drive with an adult.I'am a mom. I try to protect my kids from a few things, owing to my own experience with life. That is pretty limited. Life has a lot of unknown a factors to it. Growing up is about taking responsibilty and definitely about acting responsibly. Teenage/Youth is great age ,full of vigor and great confidence. One will dare to try and seek many things and will not worry about the dire consequences. It is the age that tries to break a lot of barriers. When near fire it takes a split second to get warmth from it or be burnt by the same. That discrimination comes with age, and is there any reason why we should put ourselves so close to the fire, to test our faculties? that is my question. Is there a crying need from the society to have the youth testing the waters so early? Independance and freedom are the key words that probably support this act and one wonders...what is the price they pay for this and what is the responsibility shown.
What can you expect of the young mind that can soar to great heights and dive to deep depths,but will take awhile to find its feet on the ground. We are under pressure most of the time and even when some of us believe we are above that, we still are and yield to the peer pressue or the need to go against our own stubborn will or fixated opinions, to prove that we are also flexible and adaptable. Is that right? really or is the world of the middle aged parents more Greyer than black or white?

having good time with children over spring break. they get to play with their friends and use all the things around the house to entertain themselves. sometimes they just have fun with each other.
reminds me of the good ol' days spent with friends and cousins. we used to make up all sorts of games, tell each other imaginary tales and visualize absurd things. As girls we used to play dress up with clothes..get together and talk our hearts and breath out, giggle incessantly and play board games like addicts.
when i did not have anybody I used to engross myself in the books and live with all the characters...going through the civil war with Scarlett and Rhett, living the Jewish struggle with Ari Ben cannan,riding thru the west with louis L'amour novels - something about horses,saddle and leather wearing gun-toting men...race thru continents and plots and live all the adventures with Ludlum and gloat with beaming hearts and smiles in the whimsical plots of Archer..the classics - living thru the vales and hills, the fog and mist and the legendary rain showers of the English countryside and the manors and distinguished balls of London in those wondrous classics....Ah..those days.Now I live in the Pallava century amidst the war between Mahendra Pallava nd Pulikesi ,mesmerized by the art granduer rendered thru sculptures and the dance of Sivakami........Oh the times...

I look at my daughters play and read and think happiness and joy are timeless ,they never die...just get refreshed...