Just read about a traveler from Rajkot who had returned from Kailash-Manas Sarovar trip to Kathmandu on Jul 3 and passed away the next day. He was with the Shrestha Travels group that had returned to Kathmandu on the day that our group had started the trek around Kailash. My thoughts and prayers are with his family in their grief, and I am glad he was able to complete his trip to Kailash-Manas Sarovar in this lifetime.
I have noticed that whereas focusing on Shiva's name and closing my eyes brought me a visual memory of Kedar earlier that faded into nothingness, now it is interspersed images of Kedar and Kailash that fade away slowly - the former is a temple made by man to replicate the house of the Divine, which is the latter. And I feel truly blessed I have seen both.
It would be great to spend some time in solitude after a trip of this nature, it gives you time for manan-chintan - introspection and analysis. For most of us, it was time to return to a frenzied pace. After the trek was over, I was still unpacking and packing for Haldwani, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Delhi and finally Dallas meeting friends and family everywhere and also talking shop with a few people along the way. I was busy while my mind reeled from the shock of new and opened flows of thought. It was as if somebody stirred the pot, and memories and thoughts and emotions from the sub-conscious were released into the conscious mind. This will take me time to adjust to - there are things I needed to think through. And I will always stand by my promise to myself on the banks of the Brahmaputra that I will always remember its peaceful flow, I will learn to live through everything that life brings.
In Ahmedabad, the Sivananda ashram, my home away from home, was tranquil as ever.
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| Morning yoga sessions at the Sivananda ashram, Ahmedabad |
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| Lily pond at the Sivananda ashram |
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| Shivalaya at the Sivananda ashram, Ahmedabad, home away from home |
Aum Namah Shivaaya!!
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