Kailas Mansarovar Yatra

 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 7^th-8^th 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.