Kailashmanasarovar yatra
Dear Mr Ananthanarayanan,
Seeing Lord Kailasanadhar directly is an experience. Many have said they are planning to go. Do you know? I never even thought of Kailash. My daughter was casually googling about vacation packages. We wanted to go to Cuba and Mexico and she was just looking for various packages. She happened to see Kailash trip in a corner. She asked me why don't you plan. Believe it or not, the same night I watched the video posted by Esa Foundation on Youtube and I called the travel agent in Bangalore and booked the trip. From that day I observed strict vratham for 9 months. It is not doing pooja daily. It is daily pranayama exercises,yoga exercises, cardio involving running and climbing, listening to Sivan slogams, etc. I prepared myself thoroughly because of imminent altitude sickness there. Before leaving I spent over $500 and got all immunizations done. I took flue shot, shot for H1N1, Malaria, Hepatitis A and B vaccines, diphtheria and menangitis vaccine, Dukoral, malaria pills and Diamox for altitude sickness. All the people who came with me to Kailash did make preparations like what all to carry, what places to see and enjoy, but not exercises, yoga/pranayama. This has made them feel sick. No doubt, Nepal is really a very nice place to see temples, sight seeing, shopping, etc. From Nepal to China border down Zangmu is really enchanting with beautiful sceneries, waterfalls, mountains, dense forests, rare animals and so on. But Zangmu to Nyalam the road is okay, no problem. From Nyalam to Manasarovar the road is extremely bad, only desert, no vegetation, no plants, and till you reach Manasarovar, you can't enjoy. It is very very hard and extremely tough. You don't have oxygen, it is extremely dusty, very cold and sunny too, too windy and dry. In places of stay, you don't have a toilet, you have to depend on outside open air toilet and tissue paper or waterbottle. No bathing possible, you need winter jackets even while sleeping. Altitude sickness causes symptoms like very severe headache, sleeplessness, vomiting, diarrohea, fever and loss of appetite. For enduring all these things and still enjoy the trip, you need physical robustness. I never had any problem, anywhere. Lord Shiva was with me throughout. My trip involved 12 air passages, all got confirmed with competitive rates. The first sight of Kailash is unforgettable. How can I explain God? I am not qualified for that.
When I saw Kailash, I was just like a dog watching him with watering mouth, can't blink my eyes, can't speak, cant think of anything, just a moment of total silence, stillness, peace and tears rolling down from eyes, not knowing what to tell Him, what to askHim, what to offer Him. After 10 minutes, I grabbed my bag and took a big cake of camphor about 250 gms and lighted it before Him. I can only offer this much to Him, who has created all of us. No Rudhram comes to memory. It is an experience, it is bliss. It has to be tasted by everyone before he or she dies. Otherwise the birth is useless.
Any pilgrim place we go, there is a temple, there is a God, there is a priest, there are shops around, rituals around, commercials around. In Kailash, you don't have anything. There is no temple, there is no priest, there are no shops anywhere, no rituals like Gaya, kasi, etc. Even there is no God in the form of idol. The Mount Kailash is God. Nandi Parvat is Nandi, Manasarovar is the temple's "kulam". Everything is abstract. Because, it is just THE ULTIMATE BLISS. Many foreigners came with us. I asked them why they are coming? They informed that they are christians, but they know that there is a concentration of divine current in the area. They also walk like us, suffer like us, meditate in a better way than us, manage whatever toilet facilities, with high tolerance. Only Indians grumble, shout, yell at travel operators even for coffee/tea, diluting the sanctity of the place. Being an Indian I am really upset about this.
We have all sacred rivers like Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswathi, all originate from Manasarovar and Manasarovar is collecting water from Kailash's head directly. Whatever puranas speak about, you can see with your eyes there. In that Manasarovar water taking a holy dip is really a life time experience. This experience is ultimate, divine, sacred and unique. It can't be explained at all.
From two places you can get Kailash darshan very close, one from Ashtapath and the other from Dirapukh. Two opposite directions, very close to your eyes in magnificant form you can get darshan. I conducted chantings, prayers, meditation, etc. with all team members every evening to bring the divine fervour in them and shift the feel of a picnic. All were cooperative, all arrangements by tour operator was great. At Manasarovar, we did 3 hour homa/pooja, aarti, "puttu" neivedhyam, etc., followed by holy bath in that icy shivering cold water. Similarly at Ashtapath, there is a heap of stones. We took a 9 yard saree. We tied the saree around it. We took writings of "Om Namasivaya" for more than 1 crore time. We kept there, lighted a huge cake of camphor to Lord Siva. In Tibet, one form of worship is, they collect all scattered stones into a heap and pray it with the mantra "OM MANI PADME HUM". This is the only manthra, but very very powerful mantra for success in meditation. Tibetans do "Adi namaskaram" and do the full parikrama. Their bakthi is really much superior when compared to us, truely unalloyed. Siva himself is the ultimate God. That is the reason why when you go to Sivan temple, no prasadham is given, only vibhuthi is given, meaning that the end is ash for any and everything. For Siva, no alankaram, no perfume, no garlands. His garland is snake, his vastra is animal skin, he is always remaining in meditation in the mountain Kailash Parvat.
Whatever we ask God he gives us, through which he punishes us. We ask always material things, not realizing the fact that either we leave the material thing or material thing will leave us. One of the two is bound to occur. No escape. We think we can hide certain acts from the nature and escape punishment. Lying, cheating, robbing, all these things come under this, without understanding the fact that He is in the core of our heart, breathing for us, watching every act of us.
Seek Mukti. Visit Kailash, who is The Ultimate. No explanation possible. One has to experience it. Not experiencing this is not a loss for Kailash, only for us. Believe it or not, I returned to Canada on June 12. Ever since I returned, I am still living in Kailash, the Mount Kailash is constantly filling my eyes and heart, while sleeping in the form of dreams, in the waking state in the form of thoughts. It is the Mukthi Sthal. Next to Manasarovar there is another lakecalled "Rakshasthal" where Ravana made his thapas. All demons pray and get their boons by praying in that lake. Devas are not supposed to go there and bath. We have seen it from distance. Manasarovar has waves, but Rakshasthal is silent and scary. I am waiting for next year to come. I am not an organizer of tour. I am a simple bank executive. But I can help everyone wanting to visit Kailash. Everyone can approach me for any guidance.
If you have time and money, you can also plan a visit to Mukthinath which is in Nepal. It is about another 5 days trip. It would cost you about Rs.20,000.
I will share more as and when I find time. Please be in touch. My phone number is 0014168403257 and my email id is
[email protected].
God bless you all. Om Namasivaya.
Chandrasekar