Lama Govinda's Quest for the Truth

Winter 2016 Lama Govinda’s Quest for the Truth: A Summary of His Life - Part II Iván Kovács Lama Anagarika Govinda1 Eternity and Infinity in the spiritual or religious sense are not mathematical values but experiences common to all people who have reached a certain spiritual maturity, and most of all the great leaders of humanity in the fields of culture and religion. Lama Govinda, 19772 Abstract Almora district in the state of Uttarakhand. This undertaking became possible after lengthy his is the second and concluding install- preparations and organization, something for T ment of the two-part article dealing with which Li had taken most of the responsibility. the spiritual quest of Lama Govinda. It begins It was also thanks to her that they had found a with the expedition that he and his wife, Li, sponsor for their expedition, The Illustrated undertook into Western Tibet and describes in Weekly of India, to which Li had committed some detail their challenging but rewarding herself by providing a written record of their experiences. The remainder of the article trip. When they had finally secured enough summarizes Govinda’s and Li’s years of men and mules to transport their belongings, productivity, and their joint mission to make they left Almora on the morning of July 22, Tibetan Buddhism known to the wider world 1948.3 by means of their art, book and lectures. The _____________________________________ article concludes with Govinda’s death in the San Francisco Zen Centre in California. As in About the Author Part I, this article includes appropriate quota- Iván Kovács is qualified as a fine artist. As a writer tions from Govinda’s own writings to render he has published art criticism, short stories and po- the text more colorful. ems, and more recently, articles of an esoteric na- ture. He is a reader of the classics and modern clas- The Journey to Tsaparang sics, a lover of world cinema, as well as classical and contemporary music. His lifelong interest in he point of departure from which the Go- Esotericism was rounded off with several years of T vindas set out on their expedition to West- intensive study with the Arcane School. ern Tibet was the Almora Hill station in the Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 67 The Esoteric Quarterly Govinda and Li both gave a written account of Personality consists in the power to influ- their travels, albeit each of them from their ence others, and this power is due to con- own perspective. Govinda, always the philo- sistency, harmony, and one-pointedness of sophical thinker and poet, could not be both- character. If these qualities are present in an ered to comment on the day to day details and individual, in their highest perfection, then hardships of their journey. His writing became this individual is a fit leader of humanity, more descriptive only after their first pilgrim- either as a ruler, a thinker, or a saint, and age to Mount Kailas, a pilgrimage to which he we recognise him as a vessel of divine devoted three entire chapters in his book, The power. If these qualities are present in a Way of the White Clouds.4 Li, on the other mountain we recognise it as a vessel of hand, did not shy away from verbalizing her cosmic power, and we call it a sacred frustrations and the personal hardships which mountain.7 are an inevitable part of such an enormous un- Mount Kailas is a major pilgrimage site for dertaking. Yet, she was never bitter or resent- Buddhists and Hindus alike and stands isolated ful. And even while describing the extreme in the center of the Trans-Himalayan ranges at conditions of their journey, she retained a ca- an elevation of 22,000 feet. It has a symmet- pacity to express herself in imaginative and rical peak that is capped by snow and ice that creative ways. To illustrate this point one only rests on a rocky plinth thousands of feet high. needs to quote her on some of the specific Four of Asia’s major rivers have their sources weather conditions that she and Govinda expe- in the region, namely the Brahmaputra, the rienced: Indus, the Sutlej and the Karnali.8 A storm then broke. The rain nearly froze However, the magic and splendor of Mount us while the wind howled like hungry Kailas does not stand isolated. As viewed from wolves around us. Oh, those winds! They the south, the sacred mountain forms a triangle are Tibet’s worst enemy, and if I was ever with Lake Manasarovar in the right foreground asked to picture them I would draw a hun- and Lake Rakshastal in the left foreground. dred thousand ice-bound daggers with the Lake Manasarovar is relatively round in shape head of a howling wolf for every hilt.5 with a 55-mile circumference and 120 square The landscapes they encountered were stupen- mile surface area and is a fresh water lake.9 dous, but the region was sparsely populated. Lake Rakshastal is unevenly shaped with a Ken Winkler describes the setting as “a tough, surface area of 97 square miles and is a salt unrelenting land, but preserved deep in its water lake.10 eroded hills and ruined monasteries were rem- Lama Govinda comments on the spiritual sig- nants of frescoes, icons, and images of incredi- nificance of the two lakes, informing us that ble beauty and sanctity. It is hard to imagine the geographical position of the two lakes cor- what became the larger attraction for the Go- responds to their relationship to light and dark- vindas, the faded glories of the earlier artistic ness. Manasarovar, being in the east represents and religious fervor or the natural beauty of the beginning of the day, while Rakshastal in this harsh and rugged country.”6 the west symbolizes the beginning of the night. Govinda introduces Mount Kailas—the first Moreover, the Tibetan name for Manasarovar, great highlight of their journey—with the fol- Tso Mapham, stands for the invincible forces lowing words: of the Buddhas, while Rakshastal is called Lha-nag-Tso, the Lake of the Dark Deities.11 There are mountains which are just mountains and there are mountains with person- True to pilgrim tradition, Govinda and Li cir- ality. The personality of a mountain is more cumambulated Mount Kailas, which took them than merely a strange shape that makes it about four or five days. Despite the profound different from others – just as a strangely effect that the mountain had on Govinda, his shaped face or strange actions do not make description of the actual pilgrimage is at best an individual into a personality. sketchy. This might be attributed to the strange 68 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2016. Winter 2016 phenomenon which makes the mountain ap- the Buddhist perspective, and it finally dawned pear to be so close that one could almost touch on Govinda, that the monastery was not Bud- it, while at the same time it appears to be ethe- dhist at all, but Bön.15 real and intangible, like the emanation of The monastery’s true identity was further con- something more profound. Li, in her article firmed when the Govindas were allowed to see describing the experience as published in the things in greater detail. For instance, the famil- Illustrated Weekly of India in the April 22, iar “Wheel of Life,” depicted among the fres- 1951 edition, defined Mount Kailas as having coes of the porch, did not have the usual a “dreamlike” quality.12 twelve divisions, but thirteen. And a figure that Less than a week later, Govinda and Li entered looked like Amitabha had white as its body a valley which Govinda described as being color instead of red, and was seated on an ele- reminiscent of the Valley of the Kings near phant throne instead of a peacock throne, and Thebes. Even the white-washed buildings that bore the name “God Shen of the White Light.” stood out at the foot of the mountains remind- Later that day, after they had returned to their ed him of the cubic Egyptian temple structures. tent, it was the abbot himself who paid them an By all appearances, the place looked like a unexpected visit. To their surprise, they real- Buddhist monastery where they hoped to get ized that he now seemed to be an entirely dif- shelter, but the place seemed to be deserted, so ferent man, with none of the proud aloofness they pitched their tent outside the walls near 13 and sarcastic smile. The Govindas praised eve- the river. rything that they had seen, further ensuring the The following morning the Govindas sent their abbots goodwill towards them and the neces- caravan leader to the abbot to announce their sary number of yaks, as well as guides needed visit, and were finally granted permission to for the continuation of their journey. Thus the meet him. After exchanging pleasantries they morning of the next day they were gratefully explained to the abbot that they needed fresh on the move again.16 pack animals for the next stage of their journey, but the abbot declined, stating that he Govinda describes the last stage of their jour- could spare neither men nor yaks because they ney before their arrival at Tsaparang in The Way of the White Clouds in a chapter entitled were needed to help with the harvesting. Go- 17 vinda then produced the Lamyig (travel pass) The Valley of the Moon Castle. He gives a from Lhasa, which entitled them to transport detailed account of how they had to ford a riv- and food supplies at local prices, but the abbot er by means of a rope bridge that only had two laughed derisively, and his attitude of friendli- steel cables for its main support, which were ness changed to defiance.14 hanging side by side with nothing but short planks and sticks upon them that were fastened Outwardly, Govinda appeared to be calm, but with ropes and wires.

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