For many years I have intimately known the Himalayas, the mighty ranges of the West and towering peaks of the East. My first impressions and visions called forth by their unparalleled beauty and grandeur have only become more vivid as years went by and their message has become even more eloquent. Gradually, their outward form and their inner meaning have assumed a new significance, blended into one and transmuted by the very power residing in the multiple concepts for which the Himalayas stand, this great temple of nature reserved for the true seekers after truth in all its forms.
From time immemorial the best aspirations of mankind, the loftiest concepts and legends have been woven around the Himalayas.
Throughout the world, whenever the word «Himalayas» is pronounced, people become attentive, and a special eagerness and expectation light up their countenance. It is not only the concept of tremendous heights, the call of unconquered peaks, uncharted glaciers and valleys or the unbelievable richness of vegetation and animal kingdoms, there is something else besides these outward attractions, there is a greater and deeper significance the word «Himalayas» conveys to the listeners, as if an unseen spiritual influences live in this very word, a special magnet which made the Himalayas the great centre of spiritual pilgrimage.
Innumerable are the shrines and caves dotting the valleys and slopes of the Himavat. Everyone knows Kailas, Manasarovar, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Ravalsar, Triloknath, the caves of Arjuna and Milarepa, centres of spiritual search and aspirations. But how many are the shrines unknown, reserved for the true seekers after truth, either on this or the other side of the range?
The great Rishis directed their holy quest towards the Himalayas. Mighty teachings and doctrines were born under their towering peaks. Is it not strange that throughout the world the Great Teachers, of whatsoever race or faith, have always gone to the heights to receive some of their greatest revelations? Does height, does eternal snow, the rarified atmosphere contribute towards greater lucidity, or is it in order to rise above the sphere of the turmoil of life?
Those of you who have climbed great heights know how active becomes your mind, how light and even unnecessary becomes sleep. Are these some of the qualities that attracted the great searchers after truth from time immemorial?
Pure thoughts are born in pure places, in places unsullied by the lower selfish passions generated in the struggle for existence and self-gratification.
The caravan is nearing the highest point of the pass. The men dismount and gather bright Primulas; reverently they place these offerings on the nearby rocks: «to the Devas, who live on those peaks». Truly this is the sentiment unconsciously expressed by everyone when the word «Himalayas» is pronounced — the abode of the Devas.
The great Sages and Rishis, perhaps they could contact these spiritual influences, they most probably could, or else they would not turn towards those mighty peaks. Those great souls, those brilliant minds that have given us loftiest philosophies and systems, could they ever be justly suspected of not knowing what place was the best for the generation of transcendental thought?
Those great philosophers explained the mysteries of Nature long before science was able to demonstrate them; the atomic theory, the theory of relativity and vibration, the Maya and Tatvams, they proclaimed telepathy long before the human brain was found to emit waves.
The conscious awakened mind must and can attune itself to the influences of the Cosmos and can read the Book of Life. It is part of life itself, this individual focus of conscious existence; hence partaking of all its influences. And if it is endowed with the faculty of self-realization and cognition, with individual consciousness, truly there can be no limits to what human mind can achieve and know. Some of these marvelous mysteries of the subconscious we see in certain prodigies and in the realm of hypnotism.
The pilgrims gather at a wayside shrine: «Have you ever heard of the shining ones, the snow men, and those who live beyond the eternal snows?» Quietly flows the narrative, attentive are the faces. A new hope and understanding unite these accidental, passing friends.
There is always some truth at the foundation of every legend, of every apocrypha.
The quest of the spirit, forever it remains the supreme effort of mankind, the inborn aspiration to something beyond the apparent emptiness of everyday life. All great minds stopped to ponder over the mysteries of life and death, and they told us that this life here on the earth, this short evanescent existence is not a mere accident to come and to go, snuffed out by death for some unknown purpose. This life is only the means for the spirit to gain experience, and when the material existence has come to an end, the real man continues in a different state and sphere.
Could one logically accept or believe that the products of the human mind, systems, philosophies, great works of art and all manifestations of human genius to survive for centuries and millenniums are the products of finite mind, and the creator, the cause of all these manifestations, has disappeared and exists no more?
Beyond all conflagrations and strife, beyond all destruction and violence stands the eternal concept of Spirit.
Mightily stand the Himalayas, their ramparts drawn towards heaven. Along the winding valleys and gorges Guru Charaka gathered his precious healing herbs, Hiuen Tsiang, that amusing Chinese traveler, thirteen centuries ago described the medicinal plants found on the Himalayas. The Pandavas came here to rest, wearied by the great struggle, and the Tibetan poet saint Milarepa listened to the echoes of Nature and voices from beyond.
What memories lie concealed in the mighty folds of these ranges! The great Gautama in search of the salvation of mankind, Rishi Vyas, Rishi Narada, Rishi Agastya, innumerable are the noble souls to find their best inspirations in the shadow of these towering peaks and to carry them down again to struggling humanity, humanity caught in the coils of ignorance and selfishness. The great Pythagoras, Apollonius of Tiana, they have certainly contacted these illumined men, when treading the soil of India in search of wisdom.
The Lama says: «I must go, my teacher calls me, his pilgrimage on the earth is coming to an end.»
«But where does he live, your teacher?»
«He is now at Kailas, and it will take me months to reach him there.»
Thus speaks a Lama hermit, having heard the voice of his Guru a thousand miles away.
Mysteries still live along the slopes of the Himalayas. They are ever present for him who searches for them with an open heart, not for the sake of curiosity or for derision.
Let us look with an unprejudiced mind for the real understanding of life, we shall find it all around us, and it will regenerate our outlook and our habits. How wonderfully rich life becomes once we contact these eternal values, everything assumes a different meaning and purpose! And it is precisely now, in these days of the Armageddon, that we must think of the sublime truths, real and eternal beyond every conflict and destruction.
Beyond the ravages of strife the spirit of the Himalayas distils its influence throughout the world. We find it in the lofty philosophies, we find it in the arts, in poetry, in music, in paintings, sculpture and architecture.
How unforgettably beautiful are these majestic ranges: every possible variety of form and colour is theirs. Through the narrow winding gorges, mighty rivers carry the message of the snows into the distant plains, the three sacred life givers of toiling millions; the Ganges, Brahmaputra and the Indus! Waterfalls break into a thousand rainbows and relentless glaciers wind their way down into dark precipices. The ever present, all pervading pulse of life scattering, pulverising rocks and growing glittering crystals. The eternal Proteus-Life in its infinite manifestations combining and recombining forms, dissolving them in order to bring them again into objectivity under a fresh impulse and in new combinations.
One can truly say such riches of natural beauty as are found in the Himalayas are not to be seen anywhere here on this earth.
Kanchenjunga, the guardian of the five treasures, like a priceless necklace of shimmering pinkish pearls floating above the hazy valleys and hills, the transcendental vision of another world of sublime beauty to draw our spirit upward.
Himavat! The birthplace of immortal thought, the loftiest concepts hover over thy mighty peaks. Shambhala, the Holy Grail, the Heavenly Jerusalem, are the symbols of the interlinked aspirations and visions of so many different ages and peoples, the eager and earnest hope of weary mankind and the eternal affirmation of the great philosophers.
Himavat, the beautiful, thou hast given us our greatest treasures and forever thou shalt remain guardian of the greatest mystery, the holy marriage of Heaven and Earth.
1967
