Kailas
Mansarovar Yatra
“Shiva Tattva is where there is no mind
and the moon signifies the mind. When there is no mind then how can this
‘no-mindedness’ be expressed? You need a little bit of the mind to understand,
experience and to express. The no-mind, infinite consciousness requires that
little bit of mind to express itself in the manifest world. So, to express that
inexpressible, that little mind (crescent moon) is on Shiva’s head. Wisdom is beyond
the mind, but it needs to be expressed with a tinge of mind and this is
symbolized by the crescent moon,” says the spiritual master H.H. Sri Ravi
Shankar.
There was once a blue stock student who
passed out with distinction from an estimable college in Delhi University.
Numerous opportunities beckoned him -the Civil Services examination, joining a
corporate house, or turning to journalism among others. Instead he embarked on
a peregrination to the lofty peaks of Mt.Kailasa.
Meanwhile a friend who was well
ensconced in the hallowed portals of Rail Bhavan, commanding humungous power
was unexpectedly diagnosed with osteoporosis. In order to overcome the pain of
the condition, the doughty fighter enrolled herself at the Bihar School of
Yoga, which did ameliorate her condition. She learnt that some of her
course-mates planned a trip to the majestic Mt.Kailasa and a dip in the
Mansarovar Lake. The brawny warrior ignored all aches and witnessed the
grandiose peaks of Mt.Kailasa.
A third friend, himself a mini czar in
the travel and tourism business and living life king-size awoke one morning
with a seizure and slumped into his bed. A chord struck in his mind and he
resolved to “feel pristine nature” after he was sufficiently recovered.
They all faced existential crises and
sought a certain fulfilment in life; they were determined to experience
something out of the ordinary. Though all 3 were at different stages in their
lives, by merely gazing at the sheer majesty of Mt.Kailasa, they experienced
true celebration in their mind and soul; something they had never experienced
in the ho-hum existence of everyday drudgery.
The pristine snow clad peaks of
Mt.Kailasa stand tall at a dizzy 6,638m. This august Kailash
Range (part of the Gangdisê Mountains), is nestled in the Trans Himalaya
in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.
This undefiled peak is located near the
holy Lake Mansarovar and Lake Rakshastal, in the vicinity of
the interminable Asian rivers like the imposing and exalted
Indus, the Sutlej, the Brahmaputra, and the Karnali (also known
as Ghaghara, a tributary of the Ganges in India).
It is noteworthy to mention that
Mt.Kailasa is considered to be the sacred cradle of four prominent oriental
religions, namely Bon, Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism.
The mountain itself derives its name
from the word ‘kelasa’ or crystal. Preeminent authors of Tibetan-English
history and literature have also mentioned the word ‘kai la sha’ for this
towering mountain, which essentially is a Sanskrit word.
The Tibetan name for the mountain
is Gangs Rin-po che. Gangs or Kang is the Tibetan word for snow peak, analogous to alp or hima; rinpoche is an honorific meaning ‘precious one’.
So the combined term is loosely translated as ‘precious jewel of snows’.
Tibetan Buddhists refer to it as Kangri Rinpoche or Precious Snow Mountain.
Bon texts have christened the peak as Water’s Flower, Mountain of Sea
Water and Nine Stacked Swastika Mountain.
For those professing Hinduism, the peak
is the home of the Hindu God Shiva and it is widely believed that Lord
Shiva resides there; for Jains it is where their first leader was
enlightened; for practising Buddhists it is the navel of the universe; and for
adherents of Bon religion the mountainous range is the abode of the Sky Goddess
Sipaimen.
There are numerous sites in the region
which are associated with Padmasambhava, whose tantric
practices in the consecrated sites around Tibet which are credited with
finally establishing Buddhism as the main religion of the country in the 7th-8th
century AD.
Years back on account of hostilities
between India and China, the pilgrimage to the legendary abode of Shiva was
curtailed (from 1954 to 1978). Thereafter, a limited number of Indian pilgrims
have been allowed to visit the place, under the supervision of the Chinese and
Indian governments, via a lengthy and hazardous trek over the Himalayan
terrain, travel by land from Kathmandu or from Lhasa where
flights from Kathmandu are available to Lhasa and thereafter travel over the
great Tibetan plateau by car.
The voyage spans over four night stops,
finally arriving at Darchen at an elevation of 4,600 m, a small
outpost that swells with pilgrims at certain times of the year.
Despite the existence of minimal
infrastructure, modest not opulent guest houses are available for foreign
pilgrims, whereas Tibetan pilgrims generally sleep in their own tents. A small
regional medical centre serving far-western Tibet and funded by the Swiss Ngari
Korsum Foundation was built here in 1997 to house pilgrims.
Circumnutating the mountain, of which a
part is an official park, is to be executed on foot, by
pony or by domestic yak. It takes around three days of trekking,
going past the Tarboche (flagpole) to cross the Drölma pass at 5650m.
An interesting facet for all pilgrims,
troupers, mountaineers and those pining for inner peace to absorb is that Mt.
Everest stands erect at m 8,848m in height, with the summit being scaled by
over 4,000 people. The awe-inspiring Mt.Kailasa is 6,638m and yet its summit is
yet to be conquered.
It is said that in 1926, Hugh
Rutledge, an English Civil Servant and mountaineer studied the north face, and
proclaimed that it was ‘utterly unclimbable’ and thereafter considered an
ascent of the northeast ridge, but gave up the plan.
In 2001, reports emerged that the Chinese
government had accorded permission for a Spanish team to climb the peak, which
caused an international backlash. Chinese authorities disputed the reports, and
stated that any climbing activities on Mt.Kailasa were strictly
prohibited. Reinhold Messner, an explorer and mountaineer unequivocally
condemned the reported Spanish plans, and was to remark that, “If we conquer
this mountain, then we conquer something in people’s souls. I would suggest
they go and climb something a little harder. Kailasa is not so high and not so
hard.”
“It is not the mountain we conquer, but
ourselves,” was to remark the icon Edmund Hillary. The trip to Mt.Kailasa and
Lake Mansarovar fall in that category.
