The Himalayas are most inhospitable. The bleak landscape, almost no vegetation, stark mountain peaks covered in snow, jagged edges, impossible walking paths, boulders and stones lying around, reminding us that landslides happen here often. Unpredictable rain, almost no proper accommodation or food facilities. All these make up the Himalayan experience.
Sadhus and saints go and sit in caves and meditate for years together in these surroundings. I have heard more than one account - from Paramahamsa Yogananda, from disciples of Swami Rama, from my own Master, Ishwar Puri ji. I have heard accounts of how tough the conditions there are, and that going and sitting in the Himalayas is not the passport to realisation but a choice of living in extremely hard circumstances.
In these circumstances, we also have to recognise the role the Himalayas play in our lives by providing us with all our major rivers, by being the border with neighbouring countries including Pakistan, China, Tibet, and Nepal, and by being the subject of military aggression on more than one occasion in the past.
Why do gurus and sadgurus urge people to go to the Himalayas in dozens every year? For visiting the holy pilgrim centres, especially the trek to Kailash and Manas Sarovar?
There are two reasons:
1. Such a sparse environment, being away from your normal life, and undergoing these hardships is a way to remind you of how evanescent and transient human existence is and how we cannot take a comfortable life for granted.
2. You may be able to connect with the creator who created this universe.
I have strong reservations about subjecting myself to such extreme hardships. It has been discussed ad nauseam in the last 48 hours how China made this disaster that has killed hundreds on the Nepal-China border and washed away so many pilgrims. All these people lost their lives without realising the risks that they were running while making this trip. It is an act of stupidity to go to such places in such large numbers, even if your guru or sadhguru urges you to do so. Think twice. Think of what the fragile ecology of the Himalayas is being subjected to by the greed-driven building of massive dams, diversion of rivers, tunnelling through the hills.
In my family, there are many who visit the Himalayas every year, some of them, twice a year. They go on pilgrimages to several Shiva shrines on different peaks and go to Kailash Manasarovar via the Nepal route.
I visited Badrinath and Kedarnath in 1995 and Gangotri, Gaumukh in 2000. Since then, I have not travelled to the Himalayas because I believe that the ecology there is very fragile. My trip to Muktinath in 2017 was uneventful but strengthened my belief.
This onrush of tourists leads to indiscriminate construction activity and disturbs the fragile balance of nature, causing landslides, floods, and disasters. We have witnessed several such events in the last few decades.
I do believe wisdom should prevail, and mass pilgrim movement towards Kailash through these fragile regions is inadvisable.
There is no mention of undertaking such arduous yatras in our ancient scriptures. Spiritual practice is a very personal inward journey under the guidance of a Guru, and Guru's grace is more important than visiting any Kshetra.
