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To Himalayas In Search of a Rishi

Sunil Vijayapala

My meditation spell planned for six months in India was interrupted in April, as Buddha Gaya's weather turned out to be nasty and hot. As meditation became an impossible task I thought of moving out further North West to a relatively cooler climate to the domain of the Hindu circuit which most Sri Lankan Buddhists miss out on their Buddhist circuit.

Hindu circuit was as fascinating as the Buddhist one and I anticipated to meet a Rishi who had attained to Dyana consciousness. Travelling by train was my choice as the railway system in India is intricate, complex, clean and quite fast, provided you travel in super express ones.. The ticket should be booked in advance, weeks ahead and lower births with AC are in big demand. I did my booking from an agent in Buddha Gaya to travel from Gaya in the state of Bihar to Hariduwar in the new state of Uttaranchal, which was carved out of Uttarapradesh recently, along with new Uttarakand (UK). Some stations like Varnasi are so over crowded, with people sleeping on the floors and platforms and one smells pungent odours and unclean areas are seen as some do urinate on the tracks between platforms, although toilets are provided at stations. Any tourist should be prepared to tolerate unhygienic conditions and unclean food where ever they visit in India.

You might come across ill-mannered Indians with loud voices, which is unfortunately a common feature in India and one travelling alone you should be prepared for close encounters. My journey took about 5 hours, through Varnasi, which is a short run compared with other destinations on the thousands of kilometers of Indian railway system. Hariduwar means God's Door and here was the Hindu citadel with many Hindu temples and big and tall absolutely beautiful statues of Hindu Gods like Shiva, Vishnu, Ganesh etc. Har coins with Shiva and Hari coins with Vishnu and on the day of my visit it was a festival day with Poojas and the roads were blocked with vehicles and millions of people, arriving from all parts of India, in trucks, buses, cars etc. Trucks are aloud to carry goods inside and people on top of roofs!

From Hariduwar I took a local taxi to Rishikesh and ended up on my final destination, Laxman Jhula (meaning Laxman's bridge, of Ramayane fame). I reached my hotel cutting through a suspension bridge over the Holy Ganges river. The 3rd floor room's balcony view was a fabulous sight, with a million dollar view of the river, bridge and Hindu temples and Ghats steps leading to the river. Early morning one could hear holy prayers and night lights were gorgeous. Many Europeans and Israelis were seen in an around the town as was the case when I visited Varnasi with it's stupendous view of a Ganges with further shore pure white sandy beaches.

The next town two kilometers away was Ram Jhula (meaning Ram's bridge) with another suspension bridge, with many famous Ashrams conducting Arrti pooja, near Ganges in the evening an absolute treat for everyone who appreciates devotional Indian songs similar to Bhajan music, singing in praise of Lord Shiva, Vishnu etc. Yellow clad young boys and old priests with a lady lead the way and everyone joins in the singing which sometimes takes you to a trance. Yogis conduct sessions on Yoga and I too was interested to learn the Hindu ways of meditation and I met a 97 year old Swami at Parmath Niketan Ashram, flexible as an 18 year old, who conducted a 1-2 hour Yoga session, more like an exercise session which was strenuous with different forms of breathing and movements of limbs. I made inquiries about Dyana Yogis in these two towns but according to a young swami there were none as everything had been commercialized similar to the situation in Sri Lanka where Buddhism has been abused by the monks themselves, at holy sites like Anuradhapura.This priests however advised me to move further north to Himalayas where I might find the Rishi I was looking for and I decide to visit Gangotri, where River Ganga originates.

Few destinations such as Gangotri, Minotri, Yamunotri, Bardrinarth, mostly related to origins of holy rivers from Himalayan range are important for Hindus as BodhGaya, Kusinara, Lumbini etc. for Buddhists. I was told the Valley of Flowers on the way to Bardrinath offers the best view of Himalayan range but I was more interested on the origin of Ganges and took the local bus to Gangotri. However the best form of travel in India is to share a local taxi often a jeep, which normally covers about 200 km.

The Himalayan route was treacherous especially after heavy rains and big boulders were seen thrown on the road. During winter most of these narrow roads are impassable and are closed. The mountains in Kadugannawa and in the hill country looks like dwarfs compared with Himalayan mountains which are twice as high and very steep. We passed towns of Jalal, Chamba, Dehra Dun, where German Buddhists monks from Sri Lanka were imprisoned by British during war times. The scenery was stupendous and to my surprise the holy river had been tapped to generate electricity by building few dams across it. The nervousness trebles as sometimes the foolish driver backs the vehicle on to the steep side, to let another vehicle pass.

We reached half way point Uttrakeshi roughly 150 km from Reshikesh, and I must say the bus ride was extremely uncomfortable. At a distant one can for the first time see snow capped mountains. By the time we reached Gangotri a total distance of roughly 318 km it was 7.00 pm and dark. I saw for the first time the holy mountain at close range, windowed by two mountains (similar to Elle view) the Shivling peak! What a sight it was it was amazing and no wonder most venerate Himalayas..

The village of Gangotri was small and had several small hotels, with no electricity (no hot water) and no running water, which in fact was a surprise for me as the river Ganga which is a torrent stream at this point had enough flow to generate electricity on a small scale. My other surprise was that to visit Gormuk glacier where the river originates one had to have a permit which is issued by the forest officer at Uttrakeshi, which was the half way point! Some do go back but I decided not to and I tried an Indian guide to get it, which was a disaster. I never made the 18 km walk from Gangotri to Gormuk(means mouth).. The glacier is melting fast thanks to Global warming and the Indian government seems to be discouraging people visiting Gormuk.

However I decide to walk up to 2 km to Ram Mandir (temple), near the gate where the forest office was located, in the hope of meeting yogis or rishis as I anticipated. On the way one can see pure blue green crystal clear water falls, which feeds the Ganga stream, which is about 3 meters wide at these points, compared with the river which at some points like in Varnasi is about a half a km wide. The Shivling peak is about 4000 meters from sea level and was majestic and the mountain leading to it was steep almost 80-90 degrees and one could imagine the might of Everest which almost is double going up to 8000 meters. I met some Yogis at Gangotri and inquired about Rishis with Dyana powers and to my disappointment the answer was negative and they too mentioned that everything was commercialized and Rishis with powers were a thing of the past. May be they were right or wrong but utterly disappointed I returned to Rishikesh.

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