Part Four 131313 ththth May 2004 --- 282828 ththth August 2004 New Delhi, India 13 May 2004 Pilgrimage to Shalagram (Gandaki and Muktinath) Part One Hare Krsna! All glories to Srila Prabhupada! I'm back in Delhi from Nepal. It is not an exaggeration to say "I just made it. " A major political crisis brewed up in the country during our final days there. The Prime Minister resigned and a nationwide strike was called. Had we not been able to exit the country on the day we did (10 May), we might still be in Nepal now, unable to secure transportation for the ride to the border. Anyway, the pilgrimage to Shalagram was ecstatic. There are so many pix on file to choose from, I shall have to publish a series of photo reports here at In2-MeC over several days. I'm quite exhausted due to the overnight journey from Gorakhpur, so the text of today's photoreport shall be minimal. This is B. K. Rama Tamu, a vegetarian non-smoking Nepali caste brahmana, who drove us in his car from the Indian border to Pokhara on 4 May. 2 The ride to Pokhara is a dangerous one. Three days before we made the trip, this bus skidded off the road and crashed down the mountainside. Forty-two persons lost their lives. The Machapuchare Peak of the Annapurna range, seen from Pokhara. The Machapuchare {"Fishtail"} peak is 6696 meters high and has never been climbed. The government forbids mountaineers from tackling it because Nepalis consider it holy. Though one of the most magnificent of Himalayan mountains, Machapuchare is a baby compared to Mt. Everest (Sagarmata), which is also in Nepal. 3 We stayed the night of 4 May in a hotel in the Pokhara "lakeside" district, next to the Phewa Lake. Unfortunately the view of that beautiful body of water is mostly hidden behind the sprawling business area. Pokhara has changed for the worse since my visit in 1987. 4 Samples of Nepali tourism trade. This barber is a nice devotee! See the paintings he displays in his shop. He is vegetarian and worships salagram-sila every morning. 5 At Pokhara airport on the morning of 5 May. We are boarding the flight to Jomsom. Along with myself, Rocana and Martanda (who snapped this photo), we were graced with the company of Mataji Rasalila dd. Her skill in the Hindi language was very valuable to us. The plane flies between the Himalayas, not over them! The flight takes only 15 minutes but seems a lot longer. The little Dornier aircraft, only big enough for 15 passengers, skims craggy ridgetops and is often buffeted by mountain winds. Inspiration for serious japa. 6 At last we've landed at the Jomsom airport! It's a sight smaller than LAX, but then this is Lower Mustang, not lower California. Mustang is an Anglicization of the Tibetan Lo Mantha ng, which is an autonomous region in north-central Nepal that borders on Tibet. The destination of our trek today is the village of Kagbeni ("Crow Confluence" in Nepali). The rocky highland stretching from Jomsom to Kagbeni--through which the Gandaki flows--is called Lower Mustang. Upper Mustang is where Damodar Kund is located, a lake that is the root source of all salagram silas. We are not going into Upper Mustang as expensive permits are required from the Nepali authorities. 7 After deplaning, we walk through Jomsom, pausing before the Hotel Marco Polo, where I stayed in 1987. We take an opportunity to spoof this Since then the facade was renovated but inside it's hotel in north Jomsom that claims Jimi the same place. Hendrix roomed here in the 1960s. It's a Nepali myth we ran into more than once. Hendrix never visited Nepal at all. The myth is probably good for business, though. Martanda at last smiles for the camera instead of clicking it. After passing through the northern outskirts of Jomsom we arrive at the 8 bank of the sacred Kali Gandaki. This is the river form of Goddess Vrndadevi. Rasalila dd offers her respects. I walk ahead, looking for a special salagram sila. Several days previous to this photo I told Rasa and Rocana that my dream was to find a red Sudarsana Cakra sila. After walking next to the Gandaki for only a few minutes I find the sila I prayed for! It is red, its sides are round, and it has a tiny hole through its center that is visible at both ends. It is covered with mysterious markings. Sri Sudarsana Cakra ki jaya! Part Two will follow! 9 New Delhi, India 14 May 2004 Pilgrimage to Shalagram (Gandaki and Muktinath) Part Two Hare Krsna! All glories to Srila Prabhupada! We'll continue with the photoreport at the point we left off yesterday--where we began to find saligrama silas along the bank of the Kali Gandaki River. By the way, if you would like to see a good map of Lower Mustang, double-click your pointer on this Web address: www.footprint-adventures.co.uk/mapnep/fixjoms.html Formerly the Gandaki River Valley was the most important trade route between India and Tibet. It was controlled by Lo Manthang, a Buddhist kingdom of Tibetan language and culture. But more than 200 years ago the Buddhist Raja of Lo Manthang allied Immediately after I discovered the red with the Hindu Raja of Kathmandu in a war against Sudarsana Cakra sila, Rasaji came upon Tibet. This is why the present region of Mustang (Lo 10 this sila manifesting the face of Lord Manthang), which is populated mostly by Tibetan- Nrsimhadeva Eventually we returned speaking Buddhists with Mongolian features, is part this sila to the Gandaki as He was too of Nepal and not Tibet (now under the red flag of large and heavy for any of us to Communist China). consider keeping and worshiping Him. For Martanda, Rasalila and Rocana, the trek up the Gandaki River Valley was a new experience. They loved it. 11 In 1987 I did the trek with my Godbrothers Avinasa Candra (now HH AC Bhaktivaibhava Maharaja) and Krsnaksetra Prabhus. At that time we met our French Godbrother Pitavasa Prabhu on the way. From '87 I remembered this "couch rock," a very comfortable place to rest! Now the trekking trail takes us away from the bank of the Gandaki for a while. 12 Between Jomsom and Kagbeni one sees evidence of human habitation only rarely. This is the isolated stone hut of a herdsman. Nobody was home when we passed it. The skull of a yak. This classic symbol of desolation accentuates the atmosphere of loneliness that hangs over the Gandaki River Valley. 13 This metal suspension bridge spans the Gandaki River Valley. Incredibly strong winds often blow through the valley, and if you are crossing this bridge when such a wind comes up, you truly fear you'll be blown off into the river below! Our party pauses for rest on the east end of the bridge. At this point we are thankfully within sight of the town of Kagbeni. The trek 14 through the valley is mostly flat and level. But the valley itself is some 2000 meters above sea level! Thus catching your breath is a problem, since there is less oxygen in the air than normal. As we descend from the bridge to the valley floor we meet a herd of incredibly nimble mountain goats. At the upper edge of this photo you can see Ekli Bhatti, the southern "suburb" of Kagbeni. "Hotel Hill Ton" in Ekli Bhatti. There is also a "Holiday Inn" here! Kagbeni proper is another kilometer or so beyond Ekli Bhatti, but we have no reason to go there as the Hill Ton has rooms for us. This hotel is managed by a pious Buddhist gentleman who strictly keeps to a morning and evening program of chanting and worship. Don't ask about the diet of these people, though! 15 Behind the Hotel Hill Ton the holy Gandaki flows on her way from Kagbeni, visible in the distance. As the sun drops over the Himalayan horizon, we search the blackish waters of the Gandaki for more salagram silas. Will the Lord mercifully reveal more of His transcendental forms in stone? Part Three will follow! 16 New Delhi, India 15 May 2004 Pilgrimage to Shalagram (Gandaki and Muktinath) Part Three Hare Krsna! All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Again, if you wish to refer to a detailed map of the places shown in today's photoreport, double-click this web address: www.footprint-adventures.co.uk/mapnep/fixjoms.html Late sunset inside my room at the Hotel Hill Ton: I'm contemplating the salagrama silas we've found today. On my forehead is a trekker's lamp purchased in a Pokhara supply shop. With the aid of its light, I study the silas closely. 17 Here's evidence that the Lord desires I continue to worship Him in the forms of Sri-Sri Jagannatha-Sudarsana. I found a sila with the unmistakable facial features of Lord Jagannatha: two reddish eyes, a nose, and a smiling mouth. I've positioned this sila atop the Sudarsana sila that I found this morning to form Lord Patita- pavana (the name by which Lord Jagannatha is addressed when He is worshiped separately from Baladeva and Subhadra). Positioned next to Patita-pavana is a second, very beautiful, Sudarsana sila. Yajna-purusa is the name of this combination of silas. A sila with an extraordinary mouth rests upon a Cakra sila of a wavy shape like a flame.