Fast Life

Life is so serene so beautiful, Ever sat back & thought about the beauty around us. Everything around us is God's Creation. His creation can't be shabby or bad, except if we have tampered with God's Creations. God kept the whole nature, its resources, & all livestock at the disposal of humans. Yet humans have this insatiable, unquenched desire for more. It is very basic to their humane character. We have a need a craving for the things that we dream of & desire. Not just that we all want these things fast, if possible now, with just a snap of the finger. We are willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to reach to the crux of our desires.

Life for us moves in the fast lane. Reach to the office fast, have breakfast fast, finish the assigned work fast & leave the office fast. Get up fast to catch the office cab, bus or train. Everything for us, “humans” happens only in the fast lane, there is no other road to tread. So much are we engrossed in our fast paced life that we forget to ignore the beauty around. The butterfly sucking the nectar out of the flowers, the kids dancing in the rain, the flowers along the way smiling & giggling, the people looking you in your eye, with a tinge of smile on their cheeks, & gleam in their eyes. Did you ask yourself, when was the last time you drenched in the rain, purposely? When was the last time you called up on your distant relatives, to say a simple “hi”, & ask their welfare? When was the last time you offered the kids playing in the park some candies, they coming jumping & hopping towards you, to relish the candies. When was the last time you looked back at the best times in your life, remembered the school days, college friends & the people you met on the way, whom you forgot, so easily. When was the last time you saw a movie that you really wanted to see? When was the last time you read a book that was long overdue to be flipped? You somehow forgot or skipped to do all this while in this race for getting to your golden chariot that will eventually take you to your Grave. The escorts of death taking you to your penultimate final destination, heaven or the hell!! Was it all worth it? The slogging the sacrifices the rat race. Perhaps it was because it gave you worldly & materialistic satiation. Perhaps that humanly feeling was much more than the ecstasy of all the beauty around & inside you. Perhaps these worldly & materialistic possessions overrode the other ecstasies & happiness. The things that you wanted to really do. But because the circumstances were adverse, or for some other reason, these were like unachievable targets to you.

To get to the top fast. To survive there with full enthusiasm & motivation. To beat the others standing in the way of your success. All are running in just one direction, apart from the exceptions who tread life the way they want to. This is the rat race. It is a fact that when the rat holes flood, all the rats move to a safer place. All of them pushing, shoveling, trampling, running like hell to save their lives, all moving unanimously in one direction. This scene is just synonymous to how humans lead their lives. Only exception being that their lives don't get flooded all at the same time, yet they keep on running, running & running. Running for their lives & livelihood. For someone the grand prize at the end of the rate race is bread & the butter, for someone it is luxuries, & for someone it is the royalties. They all are robotic in their approach, following the same mundane & exhaustive routine everyday, to achieve the things that are quintessential to them.

I ask, Why such a rush, Time is short & hell lot of things to do. People can do what they want to do in the slot of 24 hours that they have. That does not necessarily mean that you have to sacrifice you 8 hour cozy sleep. That may or may not give you what you crave for, but will surely give you a nervous breakdown. CEO's of big companies, the President's of countries can do it efficiently & effectively, because they have the commanding power to delegate. Delegate the responsibilities, & make each person credible & responsible four the task assigned, this is how the Pyramid of hierarchy works. More so the art of delegating is not completely attributed to the person, but to the chair, the position & the designation the person hold. It is this position that empowers him or her to do what they want to do. The question now is that how do we find the time to do what we have procrastinated till now, or what we always wanted to do. But, could not because of our fast paced life. Here the prioritization comes in picture. Prioritization can help us to achieve whatever we want in life. If we prioritize out tasks & our day, then we can be at ease, & still be able to manage most of our work. If not so, we will still have the satisfaction & motivations to complete the rest of the left over task. Prioritization can also ease our run & make our run a bit sleek & smooth. It acts as brakes to our out of control life, going haywire all over & all across.

Something’s are more equal than being just equal. So some things perhaps take more priority over others, & they probably should. But don't forget to enjoy, & relish the beauty around. Beauty is in everything around. Cherishing & Adoring the beauty around in this fast paced race will not only make the passage smooth, but also give unforgettable memoirs to keep for times & ages to come.

Amarnath Yatra & the Story Behind

According to Hindu Mythology, God (Parameshwar) has three deities who carry on the world. This is also known as Holy Trinity. Brahma- the creator, Vishnu - the perpetuator of life and Shiva (Mahesh) -the purifier and perpetuator of good and destroyer of evil. Shiva’s power were beyond imagination, & much mightier than any other Lord. Such were his powers that all Gods would rush to him, if other Gods were in a big trouble. Lord Shiva would then open up his third eye (Trinetra), & do a Tandaav. Tandaav is known to be the dance of anger & fury that that would eventually destroy the wrong doer or the things associated with it. The Taandav would cause high tides, torrential rains, land slides, earthquakes & volcanoes, mountains to falter, floods & other catastrophes. Shiva is believed to be the strongest of the gods, & also believed to be very giving.

It was in the Amarnath Cave where Lord Shiva explained secrets of immortality and creation of Universe to Maa Parvati. The story goes like this. Maa Parvati asked Shiv Ji to let her know why he puts the Mund Mala (beads of heads) around his neck. Bhole Shankar replied “Parvathi you are not immortal, so whenever you are born I add one head in my beads, & so on”. Maa Parvati said,” My Lord, my body is destroyed every time and I die again and again, but you are immortal. What is the reason behind it?". Bhole Shankar replied “I am immortal because I know the secret of the Amar Katha”.

Maa Parvati kept on insisted that she be told that secret story “The Amar Katha”. For long Shiv Ji postponed giving one reason or the other. Finally on consistent demands from Maa Parvati he made up his mind to narrate the secret of life & death & the secret of immortality to Maa Parvati. He started off to a lonely place where no living being could listen to him or the Amar Katha. Finally Shiv Ji came across the Caves of Amarnath. To be sure that no one will overhear him narrating the story to Maa Parvati he left his Nandi (the Bull – Shiv Ji’s carrier) at Pahalgam (now called Bail Gaon). At Chandanwari he released the Moon from his locks. He released the snake around his neck at the banks of Lake Sheshnag. He left his Son “Maha Ganesh” at Mahagunas Parvat (Mahaganesh Hill). At Panjtarni, Shivji left the Five Elements behind - Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Sky. Shiv Ji is also the Lord of all these elements that make up the entire universe.

To ensure that no living being is able to hear the immortal tale, he created Rudra named Kalagni and ordered him to spread fire to eliminate every living thing in and around the Holy Cave. Bhole Shankar entered the Cave of Amarnath along with Maa Parvati & took his Samadhi on the Tiger Skin & began to concentrate. After this he began to narrate the secret of immortality to Maa Parvati “Amar Katha”. But as a matter of chance one egg which was lying beneath the deer skin remained protected, & it hatched. Nothing could destroy it, not even the Rudra, since it was protected by Lord Shiva’s Asan of Tiger Skin. The pair of pigeons which were born out of this egg listened to the immortal story while Shiv Ji was narrating it to Maa Parvati & hence became immortal. Many pilgrims even today report seeing a pair of pigeons, even at such a high treacherous altitude & in adverse weather conditions.

The holy cave of Amarnath is situated in the state of Jammu & Kashmir in India. The holy cave consists of a big stalagmite of ice formed naturally in the cave of Amarnath. I should not call the ice Lingam as a stalagmite, as it is the Lord Shiva itself, in his another Avtaar. Cool, transparent & powerful as he really is. The Lingam gains its full shape of the form of the Lingam during the summer months of May to August. This is yet another miracle that the Lingam gains its full shape during the summer months, while as it should have been the other way round. Adjacent to Lord Shiva's Lingam are two other Lingam's that are of Maa Parvati & Lord Ganesha.

Amarnath Cave is situated in a narrow gorge at the farther end of the Lidder Valley at an altitude of 3,888 m (12,760 ft) above sea level. The terrain is rugged & the climate makes it more of a penance to reach the pinnacle or the cave. Oxygen as you near the Cave also reduces, & causes breathing problems. The weather is chilly & even goes as low as -5o C. There are frequent snow storm, & chilling cold. The devotees still trek the arduous route & battle the weather to pay their obeisance to the Lord. The original name of the tirth yatra, was Amareshwara. It was later coined as Amarnath Yatra. This name is derived from the terms “Amar” & the “Nath”. Amar meaning the Immortal & the Nath is referred to the Lord Shiva, hence the name Amarnath.

It is mistakenly said that the Cave of Amarnath was discovered by a Shepherd, roughly some 150 years ago, when his sheep loitered in the rough terrain, & he went out in search of them. But that is not the fact. Existence of the Lingam & the Cave finds its reference in texts as old as the Nilamata Purana. Nilamata Purana (v.1324), a 6th century Sanskrit text depicts the religious and cultural life of Kashmiri Pandits, & has reference to the Holy Cave in it. The Cave’s existence also finds its reference in the texts like “Bhringish Samhita” and the “Amarnatha Mahatmya”. Pilgrims have been having the darshans of the Holy Amarnath Cave since the 12th century. The shrine & is existence is believed to be 5,000 years old.

There are 2 routes to reach the shrine. The older & the primary route is long, & Devotees generally take this 42 km long pilgrimage on foot from the town of Pahalgam, and cover the journey in four to five days. The shorter route is from the town of Baltal.
The Pahalgam route is as Pahalgam <>(16kms)<> Chandanwadi<>(3kms)<> Pissu Top <>(kms)<> Zoji Bal<>(kms)<> Naga Koti <>(9kms)<> Sheshnag <>(kms)<> Warbal <>(5kms)<> Mahagun stop <>(kms)<> Pabibal <>(6kms)<> Panjtarni <>(kms)<> Sangam <>(3kms)<> Amarnath Cave.
The other route is the newer shorter route from Baltal<>(2kms)<> Domail <>(5kms)<> Barari <>(4kms)<> Sangam <>(3kms)<> Amarnath Cave.
About 400,000 people visit the shrine every year, & the number of devotees keeps on rising every year.