Uttarakhand - “Ancient Haven for Pandvas, Poets and Pilgrims”

The Pandvas, wearied by the years of struggle against their wicked brothers, came here to rest and the Tibetan Poet – saint Milerapa listened to the echoes of nature and voice from beyond. Buddhist books are replete of instances where the Lama hermit travels in response to his guru’s summons – his sojourn on earth is coming to an end and he has sent for his disciple – who hears his guru’s voice from one thousand miles away. Mysteries still live along the Himalayas slopes – ever present for those who search with an open heart for those who search for the truth, sublime beyond all conflict – beyond all destruction.

Overcoming all strife, the spirit of the Himalayas distils its influence in the world’s philosophy, poetry, music, painting, sculpture and architecture. The birth place of immortal thought and concepts that hover over its peaks – Shambhala, the Holy Grail and the Heavenly Jersusalem are the symbols of the hope and aspirations of horrified mankind. The quest of the spirit forever remains the supreme end of a mankind looking beyond the emptiness of present existence. This life is only the means for the spirit to gain experience when the material existence is over – the real man comes into his own and continues in a different state and sphere. We cannot accept that fact that the creators of the world’s masterpieces of art and literature, that have survived for centuries, have disappeared and exist no more – beyond all destruction stands the eternal concept of spirit. These thoughts fill the mind in the pure and rarified atmosphere of this “Abode of the Gods”.

This is the land where the Ganga, Yamuna, Alaknanda and the Mandakini are born and can be seen in their pure blissful infancy, which sent the late Prime Minister Pandit Nehru into raptures during his visit in the youthful years in 1938. Here the Himalayas appear in varying and fascinating hues depicting, sometimes, their rugged grandeur and at others, the beauty of their softness in the symmetry of careless abandon, “Among mountains, I am the Himalayas”, says Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. An endless source, in fact a cornucopia of material prosperity, as well as bringing spiritual peace to India’s culture, the Himalayas are both mighty and humble.

Here in the land where India’s holiest rivers begin and pilgrimages and the temples of the Lord soar into the cosmic blue, yonder man and surrounded by the dizzy beauty of eternally frozen lakes, majestic waterfalls, meandering rivers, undulating meadows, incredible lush green mountain valleys and a large variety of exotic flora and fauna willingly surrenders his soul to the Absolute Being.

Uttarakhand - “The Abode of Gods”

In the heart of these mighty mountains, touching Tibet, the roof of the world, in the north and the great Indo-Gangetic plain in the south, is an area, known, over the centuries as ‘Uttarakhand’, as a ‘paradise’ on earth and the most glorious temple of Nature. In magnificence and stupendous sublimity, there is no other mountainous region in the world that can be compared with the Uttarakhand Himalayas – a region under-laid by rich mineral deposits, still almost untouched, and a beauty that is unexcelled.

Here, which they designated “Dev Bhoomi”, came ancient Aryans to seek divine knowledge amidst the mighty ranges of the west, and towering peaks of the east, with their unparalleled beauty and grandeur that gave to doctrines and teachings equally mighty. Invested with scenery of indescribable grandeur, of a magnificent variety, this ‘Abode of God’ is studded with places of pilgrimage and shrines. Under the towering peaks were born pure thoughts in places unsullied by the selfish passions generated in the struggle for existence and self gratification.

Here, in the quest of the spirit, which remains the supreme effort of mankind, came the great teachers of mankind to receive in that rarified explaining the mysteries of Nature, long before science was able to explain them, the atomic theory, the theory of relativity and vibration. Maya and Tattavams, proclaimed telepathy long before the human brain was found to emit waves. Enclosed in the folds of the mighty ranges are memories of the great Gautam Buddha in search of salvation for mankind. Rishis – Vyas, Narada and Agastya seeking inspiration to carry down to struggling humanity, while from Europe came the great Pythagoras and Appolonious of the Tiana who certainly contacted these illumined men, when they came to India in search of wisdom. Along the winding valleys and gorges Guru Charaka gathered his precious healing herbs, their qualities also described by Huen Tsang in 1300 A.D. in his travelogue on the sojourn in India.