This is really a wonderful morning today.
It's cloudy and early morning rain has made it a cool day. I have no plans to go out and thinking to spend whole day ahead reading 'The Wisdom of Carl Jung'.
Have you ever thought how external ambience, climate, environmental setup influences your inner self?
How change in external setup reflects on your mind ,on your thoughts ,on your whole self?
There is a connection. A strong powerful connection which you and me ignore in our day to day life.
No one can deny this connection between external world and our internal world.
Everyone experiences some moments here and there in our lives when this anxious being feels calmness beyond slightest disturbance,focus beyond any distraction.
There are occasions,moments when mind stops weaving future, stops dwelling on past.
There are times when ever rising thoughts of desires, fears,anxieties cease.
One such experience in my life was my visit to Kedarnath.
Kedarnath is one of the holiest hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and is located atop the Garhwal Himalayan range in Uttarakhand in India.
The temple is not directly accessible by road and has to be reached by a 14 km uphill trek from Gaurikund . The temple is believed to have been built by Adi Sankaracharya and is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, the holiest Hindu shrines of Shiva.
But my reference to this temple here ,has nothing to do with religious importance of this place.
It's geography,it's ambience,it's location that makes this place so special.
Snow clad peaks ,wild flora,scattered waterfalls throughout the pathway, gives you a perfect setup for being with youself.
Beneath majestic peaks flows musical river Mandakini.
I visited this place during my last Diwali vacation with my college friends.
I got up early in morning and wrapped myself in woollens to avoid morning chill.
As clumsy sun appeared kissing at neck of that far east peak,I silently walked to a cliff giving me panoramic view Kedarnath.
There I was ,sitting on that cliff, on that cold October morning,overwhelmed with serenity of that place.
I ran my gaze on horizon , i found golden, snowy, shining peaks in all directions.
Every where ,there were huge peaks with white snow, washed in morning sun light, no noise.
For me , i think its enormity of nature that drives me into that indescribable, meditative state.
I felt a complete harmony with the place. Breathing deeply , eyes involuntarily focused on peaks.
Magically, my thoughts ceased in that moment.There was complete peace, beauty ,harmony.
There was no me.
Beauty of mountains all around was indescribable.It was splendid to be among them, and a strange stillness possessed me.
There i was,very light first time, without any thoughts, without any burden, and with a feeling of complete emptiness and beauty.
I don't know what that was but that was definitely one such experience which my mind always yearns to re-experience.
Another such experience happened to me during my trip to Langkawi.
Scuba diving at Pulau Payar gave me perfect setup to revisit my experience of kedarnath.
Once i jumped into depth of water and overcame to initial disturbances of change in environment, a complete new world unfolded in front of me.
Wowww..., that was so awesome. I felt as if i had gotten new eyes after years of blindness.
There was no fear , no anxiety ,no thought.
Beauty of new world hypnotised me. Everything was so new that my mind became totally focused.
total absorbed in that moment.
Those moments gave me that experience which i failed to achieve even after years of efforts with meditation.
It was so peaceful there. So quiet. All i could hear was my breath.Breathing in ....Breathing out...
Variety of small,big, colourful fishes , coral reef .
In my entire 20 minute dip,not a single worldly thought crossed through my head.
Beauty,novelty and enormity of new world ceased my thoughts.
I felt like a fish. I felt a connection. Such was the connection that i felt a strong urge to join group of passer-by colourful fishes and to roam around in that world of mystery.
I was all fish. There was no Sachin.
A big , lazy,coloured fish appeared in front of me from no where , hardly at a distance of 5 feet.
I looked into her eyes and she looked into mine.
It was like as if she was asking me where you were for so many years.
So beautiful,so mesmerising.
I can never forget that experience in my life.
Next day i was at breakfast table with my friend Ajeet ,who joined me for our first scuba diving experience.
He told me that he was doing scuba throughout night in his dreams.
I smiled at his experience. I know it's mental tendency. Once your mind experiences something so rich, something so new,beyond ordinary , something so full of peace , it tries to revisit the same experience again and again.
Such meditative experiences are very addictive.
In Pic: I , Priti,Ajeet & Asmita.
It's cloudy and early morning rain has made it a cool day. I have no plans to go out and thinking to spend whole day ahead reading 'The Wisdom of Carl Jung'.
Have you ever thought how external ambience, climate, environmental setup influences your inner self?
How change in external setup reflects on your mind ,on your thoughts ,on your whole self?
There is a connection. A strong powerful connection which you and me ignore in our day to day life.
No one can deny this connection between external world and our internal world.
Everyone experiences some moments here and there in our lives when this anxious being feels calmness beyond slightest disturbance,focus beyond any distraction.
There are occasions,moments when mind stops weaving future, stops dwelling on past.
There are times when ever rising thoughts of desires, fears,anxieties cease.
One such experience in my life was my visit to Kedarnath.
Kedarnath is one of the holiest hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and is located atop the Garhwal Himalayan range in Uttarakhand in India.
The temple is not directly accessible by road and has to be reached by a 14 km uphill trek from Gaurikund . The temple is believed to have been built by Adi Sankaracharya and is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, the holiest Hindu shrines of Shiva.
But my reference to this temple here ,has nothing to do with religious importance of this place.
It's geography,it's ambience,it's location that makes this place so special.
Snow clad peaks ,wild flora,scattered waterfalls throughout the pathway, gives you a perfect setup for being with youself.
Beneath majestic peaks flows musical river Mandakini.
I visited this place during my last Diwali vacation with my college friends.
I got up early in morning and wrapped myself in woollens to avoid morning chill.
As clumsy sun appeared kissing at neck of that far east peak,I silently walked to a cliff giving me panoramic view Kedarnath.
There I was ,sitting on that cliff, on that cold October morning,overwhelmed with serenity of that place.
I ran my gaze on horizon , i found golden, snowy, shining peaks in all directions.
Every where ,there were huge peaks with white snow, washed in morning sun light, no noise.
For me , i think its enormity of nature that drives me into that indescribable, meditative state.
I felt a complete harmony with the place. Breathing deeply , eyes involuntarily focused on peaks.
Magically, my thoughts ceased in that moment.There was complete peace, beauty ,harmony.
There was no me.
Beauty of mountains all around was indescribable.It was splendid to be among them, and a strange stillness possessed me.
There i was,very light first time, without any thoughts, without any burden, and with a feeling of complete emptiness and beauty.
I don't know what that was but that was definitely one such experience which my mind always yearns to re-experience.
Another such experience happened to me during my trip to Langkawi.
Scuba diving at Pulau Payar gave me perfect setup to revisit my experience of kedarnath.
Once i jumped into depth of water and overcame to initial disturbances of change in environment, a complete new world unfolded in front of me.
Wowww..., that was so awesome. I felt as if i had gotten new eyes after years of blindness.
There was no fear , no anxiety ,no thought.
Beauty of new world hypnotised me. Everything was so new that my mind became totally focused.
total absorbed in that moment.
Those moments gave me that experience which i failed to achieve even after years of efforts with meditation.
It was so peaceful there. So quiet. All i could hear was my breath.Breathing in ....Breathing out...
Variety of small,big, colourful fishes , coral reef .
In my entire 20 minute dip,not a single worldly thought crossed through my head.
Beauty,novelty and enormity of new world ceased my thoughts.
I felt like a fish. I felt a connection. Such was the connection that i felt a strong urge to join group of passer-by colourful fishes and to roam around in that world of mystery.
I was all fish. There was no Sachin.
A big , lazy,coloured fish appeared in front of me from no where , hardly at a distance of 5 feet.
I looked into her eyes and she looked into mine.
It was like as if she was asking me where you were for so many years.
So beautiful,so mesmerising.
I can never forget that experience in my life.
Next day i was at breakfast table with my friend Ajeet ,who joined me for our first scuba diving experience.
He told me that he was doing scuba throughout night in his dreams.
I smiled at his experience. I know it's mental tendency. Once your mind experiences something so rich, something so new,beyond ordinary , something so full of peace , it tries to revisit the same experience again and again.
Such meditative experiences are very addictive.
In Pic: I , Priti,Ajeet & Asmita.
