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Kailash –Mansarovar : A journey to the home of Lord Shiv – My own personal experience. Mount Kailash yatra is considered to be the ultimate yatra for Hindus, as Mt.Kailash is the abode of Lord Shiv, Mother Parvati, Lord Ganesh and Lord Kartikeya. Soaring over 22,000 feet Mt. Kailash is the world’s most venerated holy place not just for Hindus, but also Buddhist (Buddhists call the mountain Kang Rimpoche meaning the precious one of glacial snow), Bon (Shamanic religion of Tibet and surrounding area which pre-dates Buddhism) and Jains (Jains call the mountain Astapada). In Hindu philosophy we have many lakes, rivers and mountains which are holy. For example Rivers likes Ganga, Yamuna, Narmada, Sindhu, Gandaki and of course many more. The philosophy is based on Purush and Prakruti; Purush represented by Lord Shiv and Prakruti (Nature) represented by Mother Parvati the consort of Lord Shiv. Four lakes (Sarovars) are given the importance of holiest of all lakes in which one has to take seven dips in a life time to gain Moksha (Salvation). These four Sarovars are:- Narayan Sarovar (located in the western district of Kutch, Gujarat) Bindu Sarovar (located inGujarat near Siddhpur) Pampa Sarovar (located in South India and famous for devotee of Sri Raam – Sabribai) Mansarovar (located in Tibet next to Mt Kailash) Mansarovar Lake is a freshwater lake which lies at 15,060 ft above sea level. It represents purity in its purest form according to Hindu scriptures, Lord Brahma (the creator) created this lake in his mind (Manas) and hence it is called Manasarovar . Every Hindu feels the urge to visit and pay obeisance (take Darshan), take a holy dip and drink the nectar waters of this holy lake. I have always been fascinated by the mysteries concerning Mt Kailash. What is most fascinating is the unique, symmetrical, pyramid-like shape of Mt Kailash. It looks like a shivling placed in the middle of lotus. From close quarters the mountain appears like the “Shikhar” of a temple. While the surrounding mountains are of reddish brown colour, Kailash is always clothed in pristine white snow and stands out. The striations on the mountain look like marks of Swastika. Similarly, Mansarovar is nearly oval in shape, with streams from Kailash flowing into it. Considering its holiness, no expeditions have been carried out to climb the peak of Mt Kailash. In the ancient texts of Hinduism, Mt. Kailash is referred to as the centre of the world, it is the source of mighty rivers like Sindhu (Indus – both Hindus and India gets its name from this river and a number of ancient civilisations prospered on the banks of mighty Sindhu), Sutlej which flows to the west of India, Brahmputra which flows to the east of India and Karnali which is the largest tributary to River Ganga. I have been meaning to make a pilgrimage to Holy Mt Kailash and Mansarovar for a while and mentioned this to a few friends who may be interested in joining in and hence form our own yatra group. In 2012 and we agreed that we will get a like-minded group together for this yatra. By mid- 2013 we had around 16 people who were keen to make this yatra of a life time, so we got together as a group, nominated one person to liaise with various travel companies to get the best package for the group. After considering a number of travel companies we decided on Skylink travel (based in Wembley, North West London) for their flexibility (in preparing an appropriate package to suit our needs), being proactive to our travel requirements and good value for money. By December 2013 our yatra group had grown to 28 people (with 5 people being from Kenya). There is a lot of pre travel preparation for such yatra which include:- Purchasing appropriate warm clothing and accessories like Trekking shoes, Thermal under clothes, Raincoats and trousers, gloves, mountain glasses, monkey caps, sun guard, dust masks etc. Personal fitness plan (minimum of 5km walk per day at least 3 months in advance) Pranayam – Breathing exercises as the oxygen levels are very low in high altitude areas like Mansarovar and Mt Kailash Getting special travel insurance which includes repatriation and altitude up to 18,000 ft Our Journey started on 11th May 2014 with the yatra group flying to Kathmandu (Nepal). As soon as we landed and checked into our hotel (Hotel Gokarna Resort, Kathmandu), we were taken to Sri Pashupatinath Temple to take blessings from Lord Shiv so we may commence our journey to his abode in Kailash. Sri Pashupatinath Temple, Kathmandu, Nepal Yatra group at Sri Pashupatinath Temple, Kathmandu, Nepal Pashupatinath temple is located on the banks of the Bagmati river in Kathmandu, and it is one of the holiest Lord Shiv shrine in Nepal. According to the Nepalese legend the temple was built by Supuspa Dev a Linchhavi king in 753AD, there is a stone inscription in the court yard of the pashupatinath temple which was erected by king Jaydev the 11th in 753 AD. The temple is in Pagoda style with beautiful wooden carvings and is covered with cooper on the roof. We left very early the next day from Kathmandu heading towards the border town of Kodari , a bridge (friendship bridge) separating Nepal from Tibet (China). The immigration process was a very painful one lasting over 4 hours. Unfortunately one member of our team was not allowed to carry on with Yatra due to some paperwork mix up at Lhasa. This person was so looking forward to performing yatra with his mother and his wife, and it was heart breaking to see him being turned away. We finally entered into Tibet and headed towards our Land Cruisers, on which the journey to Mansarovar was to be undertaken. We had to get into groups of four as each Land Cruiser would consist of a Tibetan driver, four yatris and one Sherpa. Security in the Chinese Tibet at this time was so tight that even after rigorous immigration checks we had to wait for Chinese border security police to escort our fleet of land cruisers to Nyalam. The road beyond the border town of Jhangmu was silken smooth – The Chinese have realised the economic benefit of pilgrims and hence invested in good infrastructure to serve them well. It took us nearly 5 hours and we had climbed from 4000 ft at Kodari to 12,000ft at the town of Nyalam. We had crossed the alpine country with vegetation to Tibetan plateau devoid of any trees or greenery. Tibetan road around 120 km from Jhangmu Nyalam – We were all in our down jackets, gloves and monkey caps when we reached Nyalam. We stayed at Nyalam for two nights in order to adjust to height and acclimatisation. The hotel facilities at Nyalam were very basic. We trekked up to a nearby grassy meadow just below the snow peaked mountains. I found out much later on that if any yatri had difficulty with this trekking, they would have been advised to opt out of Kailash Parikrama. We were also advised not to take any showers or baths from Kodari onwards! Yatra group at Nyalam Everyone was checked twice a day by accompanying paramedic, a quiet Nepalese gentleman called Shyamsunder Pradhan, Shyam would check oxygen level in the blood, blood pressure and pulse rate and jot down the results on individual health chart for each yatri. We also started taking the Diomox tablets in the morning and evening, to reduce altitude sickness. Unfortunate side effect of the Diomox is loose motion (not a pleasant condition when you are constantly travelling and there are no facilities!) Altitude sickness hit me quite hard with nausea and severe headaches but it definitely was well worth the discomfort to be able to reach the land of Lord Shiv. Constant meditation upon Lord Shiv and chanting of Mahamritunjay mantra really worked wonders for me, the headache subsided to a dull ache and diarrhoea also stopped on the end of the second day at Nyalam. We had a priest with us in the group and the mornings and evenings were rather special and spiritual with chanting of vedic mantras and satsang and Bhajans. This really created a special atmosphere where one could realise the link between the jeev (atma / soul) and Shiv (the supreme parmatma / god). We left Nyalam on 15th May, the road snaked up and around the Tibetan plateau, the sky appeared deep blue with not a trace of cloud anywhere, the landscape was barren, brown and awe –inspiring with not a blade of grass anywhere in sight. Our driver was a silent Tibetan who played loud Tibetan music non-stop throughout the journey. We reached Saga (16,120 ft above sea level) and were greeted by rosy cheeked Tibetan kids outside our hotel who wanted anything from biscuits to sweets from us. We left Saga very early on 16th May, the stars were shining in the sky as was the moon, the sky was very clear and hence the stars and the moon appeared very close. The sensation I felt was that we were up in the sky among the stars as the land was totally devoid of any signs of civilisation, population or vegetation, it was simply desolate land with one road running through it. The sunshine on the Tibetan plateau is a sight well worth all the hardship that we were enduring like difficulty in breathing, tiredness, high blood pressure, constant nose bleeds and loss of appetite. Our fleet of Land Cruisers made constant stops so that yatri could relieve themselves! We were told to keep drinking water on a constant basis as water has oxygen and that could supplement the oxygen levels within our blood streams hence the constant need to go and relieve ourselves! Good to acceptable oxygen level is between 75 % to 85%, one yatri from Nairobi was on 94% throughout the journey however most of us varied between the range of 75-to 85%.

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