Offering Gratitude to The Himalayas
Master spoke to us at Joshimath after returning from Badrinath:
We have successfully completed the char dam yatra, journey to all four sacred pilgrimage locations! You are the first batch to visit the char dam with me. Tourist guides say that people normally will not be able to do the Himalayan trip as per their laid out schedule. Out of the 4 sacred places, they will miss one or two due to landslides etc. By Divine Grace, we have done it. Let us give our gratitude to Himaraj (Lord of Himalayas) and Ganga Mata (Mother Ganga) for having allowed us to be on their lap, at their feet, and to all devatas, the celestials*, for giving us their darshan* in such a wonderful way. Let us offer our gratitude for having the best and most beautiful weather conditions these 15 days. Nowhere were we disturbed by nature; we were protected, guided and supported by nature. Our bodies are too sophisticated. What best nature can do, she has done. This is not the place where nature usually co-operates; so what we have received is a very big blessing.
There have been practically no landslides, no waste of time on that account. On an average every day, at least 40-50 landslides occur on this Garhwal range which we are in now. Everywhere, nature and Parashakti (the female energy that moves the universe) have done everything for us: from Yamunotri to Gangotri to Kedarnath to Badrinath. We had a wonderful darshan everywhere.
We cancelled Gomukh because I was concerned about the whole group's health. Even if a single person suffers, it will be a disturbance for all. Otherwise we had everything. We were really fortunate and blessed to have this experience.
We had a little bit of cough and diarrhea but it's ok! As if in our whole lives, we have never had these things? It is worth the bargain. If you don't have a little cough or diarrhea, you will not be able to remember the trip in a special way! Now you will remember the names of the places where you had diarrhea, cough etc! Otherwise, the whole hill will be remembered in a flat way! These are all gifts of the Divine for you to remember the incidents and places!
At the end of the session, we will do a formal puja to all the rishis. It is said that Gandharvas, Kinnarvas, Kimbarudas, Rishis, Munis, Siddhas, Devatas and Antarikshas, various kinds of celestial beings, all live in the Himalayas! We will be offering our formal gratitude to all of them. Only when all of them are happy with you and bless you, will you be allowed to stay in the Himalayas. Even if a single one of them does not allow, you cannot stay here!
One person in our group is fortunate to have had the darshan of Mahavatar Babaji - Akhila Balaram. Before climbing, she asked me 3 or 4 times if she would get His darshan. I said, 'Pray to him, I can't do anything. I can't recommend. If I could, I would have shown him to all the 135 people. It is his privacy; I can't do anything.' We cannot interfere; we have to respect his privacy. He can choose if he wants to; we cannot choose! She had a beautiful darshan. I saw her energy after that; it was not an illusion; it was an authentic darshan. I held her hand and read the whole imprint. Let us thank Babaji for it.
In so many other ways the Divine has blessed us. Such a big group having darshan of the char dham is not a joke! We have people from ages 8 to 80 in this group! We have had such a mixture of socio-economic backgrounds, health conditions, people from different comfort levels, different mental setups, different educational backgrounds, different understanding levels, different spiritual levels! We have completed the trip successfully as one big family. If you have had vomiting these past few days, it is good because the pitha would have been cleansed, the vata (vata, pitha and kapha are body conditions defined by Ayurveda, Hindu system of medicine) would have been cleansed. If you have had cough, the kapha would have been cleansed.
The Himalayas, by its own nature, is ayurvedic. The Ganga water is so sweet. It comes from so many herbal roots. The very air here is filled with herbal essences. Wherever you go you drink only Ganga water. You have your bath using only Ganga water everyday. There are no bore wells here. All the hotels use only Ganga water for all purposes! All your food is cooked here with Ganga water only. It is a herbal essence. It is a cleansing process.
It has been a little tiring but so what? Any muscle that became tense will now be relaxed and liquid. Not only the mind, but also the body is cleansed. To make people silent, we should bring them to the Himalayas!
Unending hills; an unimaginable pathway all around. The hills change every two hours; the process is unending. Nowhere in the world can you see any man-made structure to match this. Man-made structures would look like ants in comparison. If there can be a world not made by man, it is the Himalayas. The Himalayas prove that there are still places where humans are not kings, where humans are not everything. Our whole body, mind and spirit are cleansed by the Himalayas.
If you are taking any steroids or toxins, you will be cleansed of them. In Ayurveda, they will make you first vomit 5 times. Not only that, they will also make you sweat (which is one kind of vomiting). They will make you weep; the kapha (phlegm) will be taken out through the nose. The same process is happening here to all of you - a natural ayurvedic treatment! With all these, you are still managing to journey. That is the beauty!
Let us give our gratitude to the Gods for letting us have their darshan peacefully.
Jai Himagiriraj ki Jai! Jai Devi ki Jai! Jai Yamuna Devi ki Jai! Jai Ganga Mata ki Jai! Jai Kedarnath ki Jai!
Jai Badri Vishal ki Jai! Jai Sarva Rishi Muni Ganapathibhyom, Sarva Devata ki Jai!'
(These chants honor the forces behind the Himalayan journey including the Himalayas, the female cosmic force, the sacred rivers and the shrines visited).