More than often New Delhi my birth town becomes a place of my worst nightmares. No longer does it have its old colonial charm nor its laid back attitude. It is now teeming with people, bombarding it every day with migrants coming in from all parts of India. The pollution levels have become so high that it is now no better than a gas chamber. Rishikesh and the upper regions of Uttarakhand is the place where I escape now and then to regain my sanity.

My first trip to these regions was in the year 1996 and has continued till the present year. 1996 was the period when I had held a camera in my hand for the first time. With a spiritual bent of mind right from my childhood I decided to make a trek cum pilgrimage to Tapovan.

A beautiful place nestled in the Himalayas at an altitude of 14000 feet. This is a dangerous two day trek from Gangotri, into complete wilderness of the Garhwal Himalayas. This region has always held a profound significance for serious minded philosophers, saints and mystics. Thousands of sadhus and yogis all through the ages have spent entire lives meditating and studying Vedas and Upanishads around this region.

I decided to drive down to Gangotri in my car. My first halt was at Rishikesh, a seven hours drive from New Delhi. It is an ancient city on the foothills of the Himalayas. In Rishikesh, the mighty river Ganga meets the plains for the first time. It is a spiritually charged place impregnated with temples and ashrams. It has a recorded history which dates back thousands of years. Saints, yogis and mystics have lived here from times immemorial to study and meditate.

This city is ordered to be vegetarian by law. Meat is not served within the city limits. Peace impregnates in this region to its very core. I bring here my books on philosophy and sit on the pristine white sands of the river banks to read and ponder. An unimaginable hush seeps into my agitated mind.

I start my journey towards the upper regions of the Himalayas at about 5 am next day. My next destination is Uttarkashi, a midway place from where I need to pick up my porters and guide. An experienced guide is a must when trekking to a dangerous place like Tapovan, where one has to walk across glaciers.

During the winters this region becomes completely frozen and inaccessible. The frozen ice crust becomes soft in many areas as summers approach. Travelers are at extreme peril while crossing them. Many slip down into the freezing Ganges river never to be seen again. After picking the porters and the guide I head towards Gangotri hoping to reach there before nightfall.

But destiny wishes otherwise. As I drive towards Gangotri, I find that the road is fairly bad and this slows down my speed considerably. Then suddenly an unexpected happens!!! Just in front of my car, a few feet away, snow from the hill top comes crashing down thunderously. The whole road gets blocked with huge blocks of snow as I bring my car to a screeching halt.

We are now stuck in total Himalayan wilderness. Night is approaching fast it will become pitch dark soon. There are no streetlights or any inhabitation nearby, and we could easily become prey to leopards and tigers which abound this area. The porters and guide look around for a place to sleep and soon manage to find a deserted shack. They decide to spend the night there lighting a small bonfire to heat themselves and to keep wild animals away at night. I decide to sleep in my car, turning on the car heater as the temperatures were bound to dip down very low at night. None of us had anything to eat that night. Icy winds screamed all night long hitting it forcefully and shaking it every now and then.

It was dawn and I was glad to see army men busy clearing away the snow. I was requested by them to edge my car closer to the mountainside to make way for the ice clearing bulldozer. I now see a long line of cars and trucks parked behind me, waiting for the road to clear. Upon inquiry, I was dismayed to learn that clearing the road could take another day more. As I had driven in my smallest size car, one army official suggested “I’ll give you three of my men, you have three of yours, so just pick up your car and walk through the snow.” A Brilliant Idea!!!! We did exactly that. After lifting the car and walking through the snow patch we put the car down, thank the officer and drove away. The owners of other heavier vehicles lined up behind me stared at us in utter astonishment

I now arrive at the beautiful village of Harsil, en route to Tapovan, which reminds me of the legend of Frederick E. Wilson. Also known as ‘Pahari’ Wilson or Raja Wilson, Frederick E Wilson, was an adventurer who is believed to have deserted the British Army just after 1857. He escaped into Garhwal and met the Raja of Tehri, seeking refuge. But the Raja, who was loyal to the British, refused to give him shelter and he moved into the interior areas of the hills. He landed in Harsil, a remote idyllic valley on the banks of the Bhagirathi, with slopes full of majestic deodar trees on both sides.

He also became one of the first to plunder the natural resources of the Himalayas, cutting down trees, exporting skins, fur and musk. He amassed a huge amount of wealth doing this. He later built a huge cottage for himself known as the Wilson Cottage which now lies in ruins. Wilson gradually became the most rich and influential man in the entire region of Tehri Garhwal. He even began minting his own currency and even as late as the 1930s, his coins could still be found with local people. His name and power evoked terror among the locals. Wilson married a local girl named Gulabi from the village of Mukhba. The portraits of Mrs. Wilson still hang in his derelict bungalows. Wilson was popularly known as the ‘Raja (King) of Harshil’ and also he introduced apples into this area. These are still called “Wilson Apples”.

Wilson had a great understanding of the local places and people. He built several bridges in the area, the most famous of them being the 350 feet suspension bridge over the Jadh Ganga at Bhaironghati. This bridge was a source of terror for the locals who hesitated to use it. Wilson then galloped across it many times on his Arab Gey horse. Villagers say that even now, on full moon nights, his ghost can be seen and heard galloping in the area, though the bridge has collapsed long ago. Some people leave their spirit behind in the place they have lived, long after they are dead. Frederick ‘Pahari’ Wilson was one such man. Nobody dare leave Harsil without remembering him. Wilson and his wife now lie buried in the Mussoorie cemetery.

Gangotri now lies just 50kms away and I make a dash for it. Next day I make some last minute purchases for the trek at Gangotri. All geared up we start walking towards Tapovan the following day. As we trekked ahead, we arrived at Chirbasa, which is at an altitude of 3,585 m. Chirbasa literally means abode of Chir trees. Blue Pine and Silver Birch trees also abound in the region. Our next halt was Bhojbasa. As planned in advance, we stay the night here.

We spent the night at the Lal Baba Ashram were we were served food and some much needed hot tea. This is the last inhabited region of the trek. After this point, one is in complete wilderness, with no electricity and totally at the mercy of nature’s elements.

We depart for Gaumukh early next morning. Gomukh is mentioned even in the ancient Hindu texts called Puranas. It is said there that while searching his lost sheep a shepherd boy reached near this glacier. The snout of this glacier looked exactly looked like the mouth of a cow, and thus it got its name “Gomukh”.

In British Era (1818) this glacier was rediscovered by two British officers Captains Hodgson and Herbert. At that time, it lay at the base of huge blocks of snow nearly 300 ft in height. All that has now changed. With all due thanks to mankind and global warming, this glacier has now receding rappidly.

This place has a great religious significance for the Hindus hence I offer my prayers before moving on.

Gaumukh to Tapovan trail involves climbing glacial moraine and traversing through the Gangotri glacier on its right flank. This part of our trek most risky and treacherous. This area is extremely landslide prone and one has to walk across the glacial stream called Akash-Ganga. The climb now becomes extremely steep and exhausting too. We are thrilled to spot a group of Bharals or the elusive Himalayan Blue Sheep madly running down the mountain slope, making the moraine come crashing down after them. Tapovan our final destination was finally reached after trekking 9 kms. We were now standing at an altitude of 4,329 m. Tapovan is a high-altitude alpine meadow and I find myself encircled by bewitching Himalayan beauty.

Completely exhausted I instruct my porters to pitch the tent. I was feeling restless and nauseous and my body was showing its first signs of altitude sickness. I was not feeling hungry as with the onset of altitude sickness, one tends to lose appetite and feels nauseatic. Oxygen levels drop sharply in Tapvan resulting in headaches and fever. Night temperatures go down to minus 10- 15 degrees or even more. Lack of electricity makes things all the more depressing. An absolute quietude prevails. This deadly silence suddenly gets shattered by howls and wails of wild animals inhabiting the mighty Himalayas.

Next morning I wake up to find myself in the company of Mt. Shivling (6543 m) & Mt. Meru (6630 m). Tapovan serves as the base camp to Mt. Shivling. Early morning light falling on these snow peaks is breathtaking to say the least. The sky is a deep azure blue in color due to the high altitude and ultraviolet rays. These ultraviolet rays burnt my skin so bad that my brown skin literally turned black in color for days to come.

The whole day I roam around the area looking for vantage points to take pictures. Next day I began shooting as early as 5 AM the next day, standing outside in knee deep snow, with winds blowing at neck breaking speed. I was shivering violently despite the heavy woolen attire. Occasionally, my tripod would get toppled over because of the gusty winds. My cameras too had started behaving erratically, because the temperatures were well beyond their endurance level. I had no choice to but to keep a kerosene stove burning continuously, so as to keep one spare camera body warm at all times. I shoot with one camera until its battery gets cold and then use the warm spare one, keeping the first one near the stove.

Occasionally ascetics or sadhus cross my path with smiles and folded hands. God in the form of natural beauty seems incarnated right in front of me and I was ecstatic. I meet a young saint called Shimla Baba. He lives here, in this absolute wilderness, with his German girlfriend. Talking to him was really a pleasure and spiritually enlightening.

The next morning, as I was walking on the frozen Gangotri glacier, I saw a cave and heard some noise inside. Frightened, I stopped, thinking there could be a wild animal inside. A hand beckoned me to come in. I found myself in the company of a young Tamil mystic, clad in a spotless white robe. He was very kind and offered me tea which I accepted gratefully. He had a doctorate in physics, seemed a highly intelligent man who also spoke fluent English. I could thus converse with him at ease. He was spending his time in this wilderness studying the Vedas and Upanishads in the company of other like-minded mystics.  We enter into interesting dialogues on subjects like the starting of the science religion divide, illusionary nature of the physical world, Vedas in relation to discoveries in Quantum Physics, the enigma of consciousness and death. Questions which still baffle top scientific minds questioning their understanding of the universe at large, all starting coming up.

He gives me an insight on how the famous Danish physicist and Nobel Prize winner, Laureate Niels Bohr (1885-1962) was a follower of the Vedas. Both Niels Bohr and Erwin Schrodinger, the founders of quantum physics, were avid readers of the Vedic texts and observed that their experiments in quantum physics were consistent with what they had read in the Vedas. Erwin Schrodinger wrote in his book ‘Meine Weltansicht’: “This life of yours which you are living is not merely a piece of this entire existence, but in a certain sense the whole; only this whole is not so constituted that it can be surveyed in one single glance”. Schrödinger, in speaking of a universe in which particles are represented by wave functions said, ‘The unity and continuity of Vedanta are reflected in the unity and continuity of wave mechanics. This is entirely consistent with the Vedanta concept of All in One.’ The multiplicity is only apparent. This is the doctrine of the Upanishads, and not of the Upanishads only. The mystical experience of the union with God regularly leads to this view, unless strong prejudices stand in the West.” (Erwin Schrödinger, ‘What is Life?’, p. 129, Cambridge University Press)

The Advait or non-dualistic school of Vedanta philosophy quotes, Brahman (Consciousness) as the Sole and All Pervading Entity. Advaita means non-duality. It is a state of Oneness with its creation or in other words the Creator has become a part of His creation. According to Advaita metaphysics, Brahman is the ultimate, transcendent and immanent Reality. The world in itself has no separate existence apart from Brahman. Jīva or individual consciousness and Bramhan the universal consciousness are in reality identical in nature and merged in each other. Though the individual consciousness apparently has a separate existence in essence both are same. Just as space within a container seems different from space as such. This feeling of separateness is a result of Ahankara( ego) and Avidya (self-ignorance).

Adi Shankara was an early 8th century Indian philosopher and theologian who consolidated the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta (अद्वैत वेदांत). Adi Shankara was born when Hinduism as a religion was in utter chaos. The multiplicity of religious practices saw the rise of many cults all claiming to be the real Hinduism. With Vedic tradition under attack, it was Adi Shankaracharya’s genius that reinvented Hinduism and          re-established the Vedic tradition with his excellent commentaries on Brahama-Sutras, Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. According to him, the ultimate reality is Brahman or pure consciousness. This pure consciousness is devoid of all attributes and all categories of the intellect.

The concept of Maya as given by Adi Shankara is that the world is an illusion and this makes the understanding of his philosophy difficult. The world for all practical purposes is real, then how can it be an illusion? But the essence of Shankara’s philosophy is that from the phenomenal point of view the world is quite real. It is not an illusion but a practical reality. He uses an analogy of dream to explains “Just as things seen in a dreaming state appear to be quite true and real for the dreamer who partakes in that, so also is this illusory nature of the world. Only after waking does one realize that it was an illusion”.

Apparently Shankaracharya’s philosophy is supposed to be an antithesis of Buddhism. According to some a major difference between Advaita and Mahayana Buddhism are their contradictory views on Atman (soul) and Brahman (God). It is widely felt that Adi Shankaracharya was instrumental in driving Buddhism out of India because of these two conflicting metaphysical concepts. But this notion is completely erroneous. According to Swami Vivekananda, Shankara a great philosopher in his own right, showed that an in-depth study reveals that the real essence of Buddhism and that of the Vedanta are not very different.

Adi Shankracharya explains :
मनोबुद्ध्यहङ्कार चित्तानि नाहं
न च श्रोत्रजिह्वे न च घ्राणनेत्रे ।
न च व्योम भूमिर्न तेजो न वायुः
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥१॥

Roughly Translated As:
neither am I the mind, nor the intelligence or ego – neither am I the organs of hearing nor that of tasting, smelling or seeing – neither am I the sky (space) nor the earth – neither the fire nor the air
I am the Ever Pure Blissful Consciousness;
I am Shiva, I am Shiva
I Am The Ever Pure Blissful Consciousness;