The Chardham Yatra is a unique soul-stirring experience felt on the pulse. Every nano second of that transformative feel is etched forever in memory. Yes, undoubtedly, the awe-inspiring yet unbelievably calming grandeur of the Himalayas inspires such a sense.
Yet there is another presence, mightier than the Himalayas, who accompanies every breath i take. Yes, Joshi Math onwards, the great Adi Shankaracharya is unmistakably the immense existence who transmogrifies me from a traveller in to a pilgrim.
An astounding legend indeed! Sure, in his infinite wisdom, he transformed a moribund religion in to a vibrant way of thinking, of becoming, of being. Yet, just imagine, in those days traversing those great heights, and not merely metaphorically!
A young man, nay, an adolescent, from far away Kerala! All alone! There would not have been any defined roads, there must have been any number of wild animals across the path, and there was the chimeric climate, changing literally any moment as per its maddening moods. How could he have managed the feat?
I am hugely humbled each time I think of that great achievement. 'He' 'then' takes a dip in to the freezing bitingly cold water so that 'we' can 'now' 'enjoy' the darshan of Badrinath, which currently is so very touristy!
On the banks of the mightily rushing Alaknanda in spate, her swirling waters lashing the banks as I perform the tarpan kriya for Aai-Papa, I re-live the magic of His charm, He being both, Lord Shankara and the Adi Shankaracharya.
Meeting him at Kedarnath, despite the silly debates about his very many samadhi's at very many places, is as primal a feel as touching the Bheem Shila that appeared out of nowhere to protect the temple. Honestly, this young man who cherished, revived, resurrected Hinduism at a critical juncture, and so intelligently, rationally and yet most poetically, is the real bulwark whom I cannot adore enough.
No wonder, I did not mind building the customary small little home of pebbles near His samadhi, instead of troubling a 'kandi'wala bearing my weight in the 'pithu' all the steep way up to the Bhairava temple! Honestly, literally 'Beda par' as the mendicant sadhu told me when, despite the chill and the winds, I managed to light the diya Raju got from London, as the priest in the sanctum sanctotum of the Kedarnath temple so infinitely gently, and, eh, absolutely scientifically, had on his own explained the 'no diya' policy there. Enriching, fulfilling, immensely humbling!
Pratima@ Throughout the Chardham Yatra, which I yet again re-lived due to the Adi Shankaracharya Jayanti, every nano second, I kept on thinking of three individuals. Oh, yes, of Aai, given her hyper-sensitivity and the toughness of those wild pathways, of Papa, for going there, without proper preparation, and, oh, yes, of the great Adi Shankaracharya who traversed all sorts of tough terrains so that we survive!
Quote of the day: "It is only great souls who know the glory of being good," said Sophocles.
Word of the day: Advait Vedanta Advaita Vedanta is a non-dualistic Hindu philosophy, primarily systematized by Adi Shankaracharya, asserting that the individual soul, atman, is identical to the ultimate reality, Bramhan. It teaches that the perceived world is, maya, an illusion, and mukti, liberation is attained by realizing this fundamental oneness. The core belief is the non-duality of the atma-paramatma, the individual soul and the divine.
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