Day 12, 24/08/1024
I woke up to find the New Moon and two stars forming a perfect triangle in the early morning sky. A heavenly sign.
We had readied our back packs with one night of essentials for our stay at Mt. Kailash. As advised by Isha, we had hired personal porters to carry our items. We were also told not to take any pictures on the way up to Kailash but to walk in silence, with a chant of Shiva Shambho to help us with our steps. With a happy heart I walked towards the parked bus. Just next to it, Swami Prabodha had his head down, settling something in some duffle bags on the floor. I wished him, "Namaskaram Swami". He looked up and wished back and asked me if I had hired a porter for my back pack, to which I answered "Yes, Swami". Then he asked me what all I was carrying on me and I showed him my waist pouch and walking stick, water and apple. The packed lunch was going to go in the back pack. Swami immediately looked at a volunteer standing to my left and said, "Give it to her". I saw a flat yellow sling bag with Isha Sacred Walks written in black being given to me. Swami looked at me and asked me if I will be able to take it. As I took the bag in my hand, I asked Swami what it was and he said "It's Sadhguru's Guru Puja photo". Tears of disbelief, joy and gratitude filled up my eyes as I said in hindi "Sar aankhon par". I touched the picture bag to my forehead and then hugged it with both arms and thanked Swami profusely. I remember his beautiful smile while he made sure that I was okay carrying it. I felt he had recognised the longing in me and gave me this precious gift that I can never forget. With deep gratitude towards Swami, I climbed into the bus and sat with wonder and awe, tears rolling down. My wish of going to Kailash WITH Sadhguru had materialised in such a beautiful way.
It was about 2 hours drive to a small village Darchen (4575m), from where begins the 17km trek to Dirapuk (north face of Mt. Kailash). During the journey in the bus, we saw many Tibetan (Bon) pilgrims, some very old, walking and some prostrating through their journey on the road. It's awe inspiring and perplexing to see such kind of bhakti, devotion (or the pull that people feel) There were other groups of pilgrims from all over India, specially Gujarat. After a briefing and distribution of oxygen cans for emergency, some people took ponies while the others trekked.
I held on to the bag with Sadhguru's photo and smilingly thought to myself, "who is taking who? Is it Sadhguru taking me or am I taking him" I just felt blessed and magicked ! Throughout the journey the bag did not leave my physical being.
The huge rocky mountains of varied colours flanked a rocky valley, the path was plain and not too much of an incline. I felt that this would be child's play as compared to the trek to Kodari. Due to thin oxygen levels, each step was heavy, and soon we had to climb up a few steps and very small incline - and that was hard! It was cold but hot and thankfully no rain.
We all walked at our pace, some people overtaking, some falling back. Some found at tea stalls resting. Soon a stream was visible in the valley bed. The scenery was humbling. We were like little ants crawling in a line to get to our destination. The energy was high and humbling. Specially seeing the practices of the Bon pilgrims, some walking while turning their prayer wheel. We took breaks to eat our fruits and packed lunch. I forget the name of my porter, but I'm grateful to him as he appeared off and on and kept an eye out for me. I still have the memory of me sitting on a rock on a grassy patch, eating my apple with Sadhguru's photo in my lap.
You get to see the South face of Mt. Kailash when you start the trek, and then the West face during the journey. Soaking in the enormity of the sacred land we finally saw the North face, our destination. Padam, Urmi, Shilpi, Viji and I were walking almost together when we had our first sighting of the North face.
There were two buildings on the left and one further ahead. Urmi went straight ahead to check, Padam went to the left, while I just stood still in front of the natural marvel, Sadhguru with me. Soon I saw Padam on top of the building on the left signalling us to come there. We were the first 5 to reach. We were welcomed by Viki Anna (a lawyer) who was based there as a volunteer for all the Isha groups that were to come in the next few weeks. He assigned a room on the first floor which had 5 comfortable beds. I chose the bed right next to the window and when i opened the curtain, I could see Mt. Kailash right there. Feeling blessed and not tired after a 4.5 hour trek we went and took pictures. Throughout the afternoon the rest of the group kept trickling in.
We were called for the routine medical check. The medical volunteer said my oxygen level was great, it was 93%. She asked when I had finished the trek, I said that it was half an hour back. I asked how much should it be? She said anything above 80 is good. This was new information for me (that was tested during covid six years later)
As per instructions, I placed the Guru Puja picture in the meeting hall
at base camp. There is no physical evidence of me with the bag, but the images are eternally engraved in my being.
Now some pictures!
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