[Reader-list] To feel India’s connect with Kashmir, go to Amarnath

[Aditya Raj Kaul]

To feel India’s connect with Kashmir, go to Amarnath*
July 10th, 2009Deccan Chronicle* * By Jagmohan

Link -
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/op-ed/feel-india%E2%80%99s-connect-kashmir-go-amarnath-026
*

Few of the present generation of Indians know that Swami Vivekananda,
accompanied by a couple of his European disciples, undertook a yatra to the
Amarnath shrine from July 28 to August 8, 1898. Sister Nivedita, an
Anglo-Irish social worker and a disciple of Swami Vivekananda, has left a
brief but beautiful account of the journey which shows how significant this
yatra is from the point of view of culture and national integration.

About Swami Vivekananda’s experience at the holy cave, Sister Nivedita has
recorded: “Never had Swami felt such a spiritual exaltation. So saturated
had he become with the presence of the great God that for days after he
could speak of nothing else. Shiva was all in all; Shiva, the eternal one,
the great monk, rapt in meditation, aloof from the world”. Later, Swami
Vivekananda himself recounted: “I thought the ice-lingam was Shiva Himself.
And there were no thievish Brahmins, no trade, nothing wrong. It was all
worship. I have never seen anything so beautiful, so inspiring, and enjoyed
any religious place so much”.

In August 1986, when I was the governor of Jammu and Kashmir, I travelled on
foot, from Chandanwari to the cave, taking the same route as was taken by
Swami Vivekananda and his party. It was a journey to remember. The route is
certainly one of the most enchanting and enthralling routes in the world. It
transmits a feeling of being “upward and divine”.

In a state of heightened sublimity and with his faith fully surcharged and
the awe and majesty of the sights around him, the pilgrim perceives, with
his mind’s eye, Lord Shiva, sitting calmly underneath an imperishable canopy
provided by the “mount of immortality”, and conveying in hushed silence the
message of inseparability of the processes of creation and destruction; of
“every beginning having an end, and every end having a beginning”.

The holy cave is located in one of the “purest and firmest peaks” of the
Himalayas which, in the Hindu tradition, is itself a symbol of sublimity,
serenity and strength. And there is a very close relationship between these
“silvery mountains” and Lord Shiva. This relationship finds best expression
in the words of Adi Shankara when, overwhelmed by the physical and spiritual
beauty of the white peaks, he reflected: “Oh Shiva, thy body is white, white
is thy smile, the human skull in thy hand is white. Thy axe, thy bull, thy
earring all are white. The Ganga flowing out in foams from your matted
locks, is white. The crescent moon on thy brow is white. Oh all-white Shiva,
give us the boon of complete sinlessness in our lives”.

The cave is accessible only during a short period of a year, usually in the
months of July and August. At that time, inside the cave, a pure white
ice-lingam comes into being. Water trickles, somewhat mysteriously, in slow
rhythm, from the top of the cave and freezes into ice. It first forms a
solid base and then on it a lingam begins to rise, almost imperceptibly, and
acquires full form on purnima. It is believed that on that day, Lord Shiva
revealed the secrets of life to his consort Parvati, the beautiful daughter
of the Himalayas. It is also believed that while Lord Shiva was speaking to
Parvati, a pair of pigeons appeared and overheard the talk. And this pair
still comes to the cave at the time of the yatra as incarnation of Shiva and
Parvati.

The most captivating spot on the route is the lake of Seshnag. This lake
symbolises the cosmic ocean in which Lord Vishnu, the preserver of this
universe, moves, reclining on a seven-headed mythical snake. After getting
refreshed with a bath of ice-cold water of Seshnag, the pilgrim takes a
steep climb to the most difficult spot, Mahagunna (4,350 metres).

Thereafter, a short descent begins to Poshpathan which is covered in wild
flowers. From there, pilgrims move to Panchtarni, a confluence of five
mythical streams, and then to the cave. A strange sense of fulfilment seizes
the pilgrims, and all fatigue is forgotten. Even with temperatures touching
zero, the pilgrims are driven by their faith to take bath in the
almost-freezing rivulet of Amravati.

This is what Sister Nivedita has written about Swami Vivekananda’s
experience: “With a smile he knelt, first at one end of the semi-circle,
then at the other. The place was vast, large enough to hold a cathedral, and
the great ice-Shiva, in a niche of deepest shadow, seemed as if throned on
its own base. To him, the heavens had opened. He had touched the feet of
Shiva. He had to hold himself tight, he said afterwards, lest he “should
swoon away”. But so great was his physical exhaustion, that a doctor said
afterwards that his heart ought to have stopped beating, and had undergone a
permanent enlargement instead.

How strangely near fulfilment had been those words of his Master: “When he
realises who and what he is, he will give up this body!” Afterwards he would
often tell of the overwhelming vision that had seemed to draw him almost
into its vertex. He always said that the grace of Amarnath had been granted
to him there, not to die till he himself should give consent. And to me he
said: “You do not now understand. But you have made the pilgrimage, and it
will go on working. Causes must bring their effects. You will understand
better afterwards. The effects will come”.


The significance of the pilgrimage, however, does not end at the personal
level. It extends to the much larger issue of cultural unity and vision of
India from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, from Kathiawar to Kamrup. Its importance
as an underlying integrating force needs to be recognised. When some people
talk of Kashmir’s relationship with the rest of India only in terms of
Article 1 and Article 370 of the Constitution, I am surprised at their
ignorance. They do not know that this relationship goes much deeper. It is a
relationship that has existed for thousands of years in the mind and soul of
the people, a relationship that India’s intellect and emotions, its life and
literature, its philosophy and poetry, its common urges and aspirations,
have given birth to. It is this relationship which inspired Subrmania
Bharati to perceive Kashmir as a crown of Mother India, and Kanyakumari as a
lotus at her feet, and also made him sing that “She has 30 crore faces, but
her heart is one”.

** Jagmohan is a former governor of J&K and a former Union minister*