::: Journey to innerself :::

This happened a few years back...

It started with a negative feeling where I felt once again I was trading off on my wishes for my mom's religious obsession...where I was dwindling between a trip to Goa or the Golgumbas at Bijapur and she wanted to leave on a religious pilgrimage but the trip only ended taking me a step closer towards the beautiful nature.

Kadachadri Mountain is a beautiful place situated in Kollur, Mangalore. The uphill stretch is almost 66 km...off which the only vehicle that is able to make itself up the road is a Mahindra Jeep...Hats off to those fellas for making a real robust vehicle. The uphill stretch is steep, curvy and highly unlevelled. The vehicle takes u on a stretch of about 56 kms the rest is a journey by foot. Its this part of the journey thats the most beautiful part where the concrete roads give way to nature's creation. The path to the destination which is a Adi Shankaracharya cave is amidst a dense thicket that is full of wild plantations and huge trees. Its oft visited by wild animals and we happened to see a few of them. Strange but then there was no fear at all. Not to forget to mention here that there were also those friendly monkeys who were eager to eat out of your hands and hold onto ur dress and walk along with you as if u were their long lost companions. Nature made great steps out of the stepping boulders and roots of trees and it was a beauty to watch how well they were laid. The mind was sensitised with every movement, every sound and every sight. The never ending stretch of spirited colors just blended in each other. It just reminded me of a quote by an author unknown which says ..

"The colors that the meadows holds,
Is something which no painters brush has told".

Never realised how easily we walked across a stretch of 8 kms (which would be a near impossible task in the roads of Bombay). There was yet another milestone at a distance of another 2 kms but that is something for which I (as in the female sect!!) was ill equipped... as I was dressed in a dainty salwar khameez and slip ons ..the journey sure required shoes and jeans for it was very very steep, wilder and had sharped edges all over. That was something where only the guyz continued and certain that they enjoyed it for there was a beautiful water fall at the end of it and a 'Shiv-ling'. Glimpses of which we saw in the pictures that they captured in their handy cameras. The journey downhill was as intriguing as the uphill one...

One just lost oneself in a trance unfurling the ravels of the mysterious nature that gave you a sense of peace within and tranquility...so much away from the rustic concrete jungle that we all live in..filled with deep urges for achievement, politics, never ending deadlines and a mad rush for money, power et al. You might call it by different more decent names but the bottom line is that they are all the same!!

Aint it??

Are we not trading off a simple livelihood & such pleasantries which are immaterial in nature for something which is materialistic and in the rush for a better life is making us emotionless thick skinned souls where we just dont seem to get affected by just about anything. Being a part of the melee, I, too the other day just walked aside a partly eaten dead body of a woman lying on the road by just casting my glance away as i was a late for a meeting with a potential client and that concerned me more!!

Strange are the different facets of life for there amidst the beauties of nature I was sensistive to every vibration and here on the road I was an insensitive soul. But then there is also no denying the fact that it is in this very vicious world that I work to earn my bread and butter to run my family ...whilst, there... in the blissful surroundings I sought peace at an elevated level - the conflicting thoughts only continue to thrive in my mind....

Leaving here, as my mind as started again on its wandering journey...

~ Aishwarya

Dear Aishwarya,

You have just reminisced about the inner radiance that is waiting to come forth and engulf us in a rapturous embrace provided  we have time and patience to experience such lovely moments. Life is made of such beautiful memories that spur us to do greater things in the coming years.It reminded me of a beautiful poem written by Wordsworth the poet on Daffodils:

I wondered lonely as a cloud that floats high over the vales and hills

When all at once, I saw a crowd, a host of golden daffodils !!

Beside the lake beneath the trees fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

For oft when on my couch I lie, in vacant or in pensive mood,

They falsh upon that inward eye, which is the bliss of soitude

And then my heart with pleasure fills , and dances with the daffodils !!

Hope you will have many more of such wondeful experiences !!

Prof.Lakshman Madurasinghe