Char Dham Yatra - Breaking the cycle in Mystical Himalaya Part 2 of 2

EPISODE 2

In Episode 2 we dwell on the external and internal terrains that the Yatri is likely explore on this journey. 

SEGMENTS

1. The Himalayas are born 
2. The Soul of the matter
3. The science of Vibrations
4. The Rugged Mountains and the effects of their geometry
5. The Four stations .. The Char Dham .. 

Transcript

The Himalayas are born 

The Mystical Himalayas have held a great appeal to spiritual seekers from time immemorial. The Himalayas are the largest chain of mountains  which has some of the highest peaks on earth. More than fifty that tower over 7,200 meters and ten that are over 8000 meters including the tallest mountain peak, Mount Everest. These mountains run along an arc that spans 2,400 kilometers and more than 200 kilometers wide from Kashmir in the north to Arunachal Pradesh to the east, separating the vast plains of the Indian Sub-continent from the 5000 meter high Tibetan plateau across five countries; Tibet, Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bhutan. The glaciers of the Himalayas contain the third largest deposit of ice and snow after the antarctic and arctic glaciers. Some of the largest perennial river systems in the world, the Indus, the Brahmaputra or Tsang Po, the Ganga, Yamuna and Padma are practically the civilisational lifeline for almost one third of humanity. The Mystical Himalayas with its rivers and primal forests are for the people of the Indian Subcontinent and Tibet. More than just majestic mountains, they are a source of the most potent medicines, minerals, food, livelihood and above all, their spiritual moorings and perennial mysticism.

Geologists say that around 50 million years ago, the Indian subcontinent which was an independent land mass that had separated from the Australian continent over 200 million years back collided with the Eurasian landmass and due to the impact of the collision, the land began to rise up rapidly along the entire area of contact. In the process a lot of the mineral rich deep earth emerged to the top, making the soil of the Himalayas incredibly rich and so the Himalayas have always been known to have rare minerals and have been home to the most incredible species of plants.

Why the mystical Himalayas is considered the best place to deepen your quest is also because the air, water and soil is completely different. The soil too is not the normal soil of the crust of the earth but a deeper soil and this happened because of the clash of the Indo-Australian plate with the Eurasian plate and because both the plates were equally hard. One did not go under the other, it was literally like two equal forces pushing hard against each other and so from deep below, the soil was forced to come up and therefore the plants and trees that are there are nowhere on earth and why the Himalayan rivers like the Ganga, Jamuna, Sindhu, Brahmaputra, Padma are all Venerated is because they bring down the soil of the Himalaya and above all the Ganga. Because it brings down the most amount of alluvial soil anywhere on earth, in the plains of the Ganga the top soil from the Himalayas is 7.5 kilometers deep and that is why the Ganga Yamuna plains continue to nurture the oldest civilisation to this day but the waters do more than that, they bring down the soul of the Himalaya.

The Soul of the matter

In the times we live in, when it comes to a rational discussion, ‘Soul’ is considered a no-no topic. When the great thinkers of Europe of the enlightenment period took on the orthodox establishment which was rooted in prejudice; they took a solemn pledge to never let blind faith get the better of their rationality. From it arose the ‘humanist movement’ and it is because of that movement that we are able to breathe freely today but their reaction was so strong that they threw the baby with the bath water. They denied the entire area of life that is beyond the five senses; anything beyond the five senses is not real. Today it is said that only four percent of the universe is within the realm of what our senses can see directly or through infra-red, UV and gamma ray telescopes. The rest of the universe is called the dark world but it is not the dark world. It is simply the world beyond our five senses but we have the five ‘tanmatras’ with which to access them. Because they are subtle, they are the five subtle senses. So what is considered the ‘soul’ or ‘rooh’ or ‘atma’. We have been just trained to ignore when we sit in the hall of Science and we allow this awareness to surface when it comes to love or prayer, yet we live a divide. We do not connect the two, we keep our world of Science separate from the works of love, but life is one, just one and all division is not just artificial. It denies us our right and privilege to experience and live this unity and deep down this is the discontentment that drives us to take a spiritual holiday. In the first half of our lives, we first learn to divide our experience as ‘outer’ and ‘inner’ and then in the second half, we try to unite them.

So if we keep aside this artificial divide, then yes. It’s possible to say without being considered irrational that somewhere the Ganga brings down not just the essence of the herbs and minerals of the Himalayas. It also Brings down something more subtle and that is what we feel when we take a dip in the waters of the Ganga in spite of the pollution.

The science of Vibrations

So that ‘soul’ element, that subtle element is also there in the air as vibrations, quantum physics has almost fully now changed its language from the language of particles to the language of vibrations as the basis of all creation. Every atom is a particular frequency of vibration, every color, every sound is a particular vibration and vibrations don’t really cease with the passage of time they dampen but they exist. And there is the phenomenon of resonance. Every physical object has what is called a characteristic frequency, a natural level of vibration and when a sound is made of that frequency, the atoms of that object begin to vibrate, generating great energy. So like the walls of the temple where chanting has been going on for hundreds of years, if you go there and do the same chant, it has a multiplying effect; that chant will resonate in your mind powerfully. Similarly, there are certain spots in the Himalayas where thousands of powerful Siddhas, Yogis, Adepts, Mystics have chanted, not one nor two but thousands of them  and they chant 24x7. Their chants are in the air, water and soil of that spot and so when you go there your mind starts tuning in automatically to that particular vibe and you start to feel its effects. Why it is said that certain people should not go to certain places is because certain vibrations are not relevant for you, for your path.

The Rugged Mountains and the effects of their geometry

The ancients had a word for a spot of pilgrimage with a water body called ‘teertha’. These spots are known for their ability in assisting in transformation. ’teertha’ draws its meaning from ‘teerth’ another word for water, which signifies its ability to absorb and retain. Water molecules have a crystalline structure that can retain vibrations of sounds and also the essence of the molecules of the minerals and herbs, water can also retain the vibes of your thoughts. That is why Ganga is revered because it is said that experiments were done by the Siddhas somewhere at its source near Gangotri and Gomukh and its waters have that special vibe that makes it immune to decay, bacteria and have healing properties.

The Himalayas are considered the roof of the world. They are very high, also very steep, but they have not been formed by a volcanic process. If you see the volcanic mountains of Fujiyama in Japan, Kilimanjaro in Africa, the slopes are gradual, predictable. The shapes are symmetrical  and evoke a fine sense of beauty and their energies are also similar, well rounded, even fine. The Himalayas are not formed by a volcanic process. It has been formed by a process of upheaval of two plates crashing into each other and it is still happening, a continuous process of upheaval. In the whole of the earth, it is the most geologically significant area. It draws the most power from the core of the earth and so what happens there has maximum effect on the whole of the earth, that is why the ancients considered the Himalaya the axis or ‘meru’ of the earth and the Rishis or the seers have given the Himalayas special attention in this eon. In an earlier eon, Atlantis was significant, the Himalayas are very very young geologically speaking. They did not exist more than 60 Million years back which makes them just a few years old child in the history of the earth. So they have that quality of youth, rejuvenation and the high energy of youth. You can sleep very little and still be healthy there.

So the Siddhas were drawn to live, meditate and experiment there and like we said, they are not like an old volcanic peak that is orderly. They are on the move like an alive boy or girl of seven years. They are in a state of rapid growth. Every year a centimeter is added to the height of the Himalaya, that is rapid if you look at a time-scale of millions of years. No other natural geological formation grows that fast or even close as the Himalayas. Their sheer size and power makes them the most powerful and significant spot on earth and so we can see why the ancients made it their abode and so all their vibes, their chants, their knowledge exists in those mountains.

There are various spots that are filled with different kinds of powerful energies like nowhere on earth. Some areas are good for occultation like Pashupatinath in Kathmandu. Some places are good for pursuit of knowledge like the mountains and valleys of Kashmir. Some are known for their healing, some for meditation, some are very conducive for the pursuit of the mystical sciences.

This is because of the geometry of the places which are different and powerful. Geometry is the source of all diversity. We can see how different arrangements are subatomic particles make for different elements. The shapes and frequencies of light, different geometries of space throw up different objects and worlds. This is all a play of geometry. By just observing the topology of different places we get to see the striking diversity within the Himalayas and they translate to spots with completely different energies and chemistries. So when we go to a certain spot in the Himalayas we are being deeply affected because one; it is geologically very active making it very energetic, two the geometry of the land created by the collision of the tectonic plates of Eurasia and India, three, the sheer size of the Himalayas and four the play of the various geometries of the massive rock formations, five the richness of the soil full of rare minerals and herbs and six the vibrations of the adepts who have lived there for thousands of years.

2400 Kms long and 150 to 240 km wide, 10 peaks above 8000 meters  or 8 Km’s tall and 80 above 7000 mts or 7 Kim’s tall, the sheer gravitas of each mountain, its pulling power, its surface area because each mountain has hundreds of peaks, valleys gorges  rivers and different flora at different heights. Each mountain is a deep part of earth.

So different spots with different energies get created and there are four spots that are very very special and conducive to the growth of the spirit to the deepening of the awareness of the soul which help what in yoga is called ‘atma darshan’ or the ‘sight of one’s own being’ and each of the four places or ‘dhama’ has a particular role to play.

The Four stations. The Char Dham.

Traditionally, the Char Dham pilgrimage was conceived of as a pathway through the four stations of life called artha or material life, kama or the fulfillment of desires, dharma or the stage where you begin to introspect about the nature and purpose of life and Moksha, to reach to the ultimate promise of life, what is called ‘the peace that passeth all understanding’. The journey through these ‘Dham’ or stations was meant to help us to experience the four stages of a life cycle as an insight. So each spot had a particular energy owing to its geography and to the legends who had lived and meditated at that spot, imbuing it with a certain energy which can be experienced by taking a dip and spending some time there.

The most significant thing about an ancient big temple is not its architecture or its beauty. It is the powerful babas who are associated with it. During the course of their life, due to their penance, the sages acquire a powerful mystical aura which is what is left behind when they take samadhi, when they leave their bodies and subsequently over thousands of years, more masters and sages from their lineages continue to do the same. They live there, chant 24 by 7 and when they leave, their legacy is the energy that remains after they are gone. So each of the four ‘dhams’ or stations have a particular energy and if we are able to tune in, they can together give us an insight into the entire cycle of life and so the pathway is very important because one station prepares you for the next and if we can keep our awareness continuous through our the journey, we begin to understand this at a deep level, it will feel like witnessing a whole lifetime.

The Original Char Dham was a much larger circuit which included powerful temples in the four corners of India at Puri, Rameshwaram, Dwarka and Badri Nath. The one in the Himalayas is called the Chota Char Dham. The little one because they are all close to each other and in ancient times, when travel was by foot, it took a couple of years to finish the larger Char Dham circuit.

Bharat Thakur