RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY – CHOSE YOUR SIDE

Discussing my thoughts on spirituality in a short format of a blog I considered a superfluous ego trip. Initially, that is. But the cynical voice inside wondered whether I could. So, not certain whether it would make sense to the readers, I decided to gamble recklessly into this trap.

Let’s begin from the beginning: Human beings are stated to be the highest form of evolution on this planet and yet we understand nothing about this life energy that is pulsating in every life form. What we know is that all elements on earth are made up of atoms with its electrons and nucleus made up of protons and neutrons; identical or different atoms combine together chemically to form molecules; a bunch of molecules form the cell, and multiple cells come together to become a life form. We have no idea why atoms combine together into molecules which is the basic building block of every life form. We have no idea whether it is the atom or its combination, the molecule, which has life energy because apparently that which we call non-living such as rocks and minerals also contain atoms. Somewhere a will is generated; they gain intelligence and start growing. Suddenly there is vibrant life energy in them and they wish to survive. That phenomenon which we define as desire is born. A remarkable creation unfolds all around. The cells grow but it is not permanent. It can collapse at any time because different kind of molecules feed on each other or one type of cells become food for others. This desire to grow includes to multiply and to reproduce itself which implies that sex is a basic requirement just after food and before shelter and clothing in all life forms. The growth of molecules in cells is uncertain and futile but this desire is always stronger than its futility. Thus even in the face of death which is certain, the desire for survival and growth seems to be the driving force of the life energy. No doubt we humans appreciate survival stories and the fighting spirit; all great stories which touch us are built around growth and the victory of the underdog over difficult conditions. Anyway, the truth is that we have no idea what this life energy is, why does creation happen, why desire is impermanent or why molecules collapse. It’s like we see flares rise from the surface of the sun and suddenly collapse as if it was a desire which collapsed. Human intelligence at present merely witnesses this as an event. 

Those atoms which do not grow or multiply seem to be unchanging, but they do change when temperatures increase or decrease. At extremely high temperatures even rocks melts into molten lava when they expand and at very low temperatures they do shrink. Thus non-moving things also come alive when the environment is right for them, when it suits them.   

Is there a design behind this creation: Evolution of life is one time immemorial work-in-progress; it has seen repeated back and forth movements, several new situations and their new solutions. Unraveling the purpose behind this amazing creation that we witness has been a favorite quest for the human mind since the time our species evolved. However apart from speculating about it, we have been unable to throw up any credible explanation. Life as we know it today has no real purpose. Therefore a lot of emphasis is placed on retaining a pleasant state of mind and being happy in whatever circumstances we find ourselves in. Circumstances will always remain beyond our control and bound to change, the trick is in accepting this and becoming unaffected by prevailing conditions.

Given that to be so, it would seem that we wrestle too much with the idea of good and bad, sacred and evil, rebirth and karma. However these are not mere statements or mumbo-jumbo. Every molecule has a will to survive and they are emotional as well. While seeking help in their endeavor, they understand threats and risks, positive and negative thoughts. For example, simultaneously as our intelligent mind senses danger the whole body starts shivering in fear and every strand of hair stands out. Apart from the molecules, the life energy in the body is also connected to every other life energy and this energy is always aware, receiving and sending signals. The energies on this planet are organized in such a manner that good thoughts, actions and words begets good in return and bad is responded with bad. That which will help others survive, help their desire to create and brings out a smile is good. Bad deeds will only hurt the perpetrator in the long run. This however is a general statement because a lot many times the innocents are hurt, but that is what uncertainty and futility of life is all about. Therefore live with softness and hardness of the spirit, be gentle and be rough, using them both as the situation demands, knowing that both are for the situation and not for you. Know fully well that at any moment you too can collapse because nothing is permanent.

Molecules and the life energy are also connected. Molecules have desires and emotions, which the life energy helps execute. Their game is limited by two factors, one being the composition of the body, its properties, strengths and weaknesses and the other is the capability of the life energy itself. While the former is pretty simple to comprehend, nothing much is understood about the latter. I prefer to believe that regrets and unfulfilled desires that remain at the time of the final breath, is retained with the life energy and it carries forth the negativity into the next molecule. Likewise a satisfactory life results in positive energy being carried forth into the next. This impacts the strengths and limitations of the life energy in the next molecule. Such or similar concepts are widely accepted but not established beyond doubt. Many such concepts erstwhile accepted have also changed over time, so it is advisable to never treat them as sacrosanct. Challenge them always. Push their limits until change becomes acceptable and a new level is reached.

It is rightly said that you only live once provided that you means your ego. The molecules when they combine, needs the ego to protect itself so that it can grow. Ego provides a sense of identity to the huge combination of molecules. The ego manipulates other elements so that its own body can survive. Merely this much is the usefulness of the ego. Several regrets in life happen when we give the ego much more importance than it deserves. 

How to deal with the unknown - Religion versus Spirituality: My referring to the unknown here is referring to the life energy, to the ways in which atoms combine to finally shape into life forms, to the rules which govern nature and the universe.  Man has adopted two ways to deal with this unknown. One is when he doesn’t know, or doesn’t understand certain phenomenon, he has wisely decided to declare it so, rather than speculate on it. The other is to crystalize the unknown into a concept, give it a definition, properties, shape, and a benevolent character. While the former is being comfortable with the unknown, the latter is rooted in fear of the unknown.

Over time such mental perceptions become personal properties, and nobody is willing to let go of his, fearing a vague idea of self-destruction. The perception when agreed upon and accepted by others then becomes such a powerful force that it takes the form of a religion. In due course different religions tend to be evaluated. Disagreement with and ridicule of others religion arise, and a tendency erupts to portray one’s own as superior, starting a religious war. Religion is probably required, for human beings to subdue the fear of the unknown and to channelize efforts and energies into a constructive socially protective mechanism such as to encourage good deeds, care for parents and elders, develop kindness in behavior towards one and all, etc. All such human traits which are positive. Essentially religion was for those who couldn’t make sense of life in the midst of so much unknown, that they thought it necessary to consolidate the entire unknown into a theory of an all-knowing omnipresent and omnipotent God, and who yet remains his look alike. Such people pray to their personal God for his protection and for the fulfilment of their desires. This can be seen as reasonable since they are communicating with the life energy inside them, which infact is protecting them all the time.

On the other hand when the unknowns are permitted to remain unknowns and emphasis is laid either on deciphering it or trying to identify with it, then it is spirituality.  For example, Buddha’s and Mahavir’s teachings were purely spiritual. Unfortunately it is another matter that today we have downgraded both of these to religion. The goal of spirituality is to become one with the unknown, the universal life energy or to experience it firsthand. Call it nirvana or moksh whatever one may choose. It is a direct journey into the unknown. The intriguing part is that those who have travelled the road, have explained how others may travel but have been unable to explain the feeling of the journey and that of the destination in human vocabulary. It is such a fluid, ever changing, impermanent state that it defies description. People who have undertaken the journey have simply cautioned mankind to be weary of this impermanence and not to give undue importance to the physical visible world. They call it futile exercise.   

MOLECULES OF LIFE (Wondering At Dwali)

Water rains towards the ground, on the mountains below,

Doesn’t fuse into the soil and rocks, but dislodges them,

Hurtling them further below, changing into new colours,

They slide together further and further below,

Noisy, it could be a friendly banter or a bitter fight,

All follow the rule of gravity, the magnetism,

It isn’t easy to resist its embrace,

Wonder how this possessive love arose,

The origin of this emotion, and its depth,

Does it follow a superior rule Bo?

Life is the energy where,

Employing the molecules of water and the molecules of air,

The tiny molecules of cells activates the seeds of growth,

Similar molecules of cells bind and extend into shapes and sizes,

From the humble grass and tiny insects,

Offering themselves to be devoured by a more radical species,

Big insects prey on the tiny, and in turn become food for the birds,

Who pollinate the flowers, making way for varied plants,

Which are consumed by the herbivores, who attract the carnivores, 

This evolution of molecules and the predator victim drama,

Has been continuous since the beginning of time,

Who arrived first, the molecule of water or air or cells,

How did they learn to thrive together,

Are these interdependent pieces of a single life energy,

What is this evolving energy that changes every nanosecond,

Why does it not rest or do something unexpected,

Does it also follow a superior rule Bo?

The current leader amongst the species,

The modern Human, is also a play of the molecules,

An insignificant spec in this enormous changing energy field,

Some alteration in some vague molecules could also spell its doom,

Whereas the life energy would still persist after it,

Yet human ego permits it to believe,

To be different, superior, independent and irrespective of everything,

To be able to survive outside of this environment,

Is it foolish fantasy or a deliberate part of the evolution of molecules,

Has any part of life energy escaped its fierce love,

Do such life energies exist elsewhere in the universe,

Is all of it a single entity of energy,

What is the source of this energy and how long has it been there,

Does it follow a superior rule Bo?

KHATI THE BEAUTIFUL PAINTED VILLAGE

19^th Oct 2018, the day one of my trek to Pindari, I woke up at the KMVN guesthouse Bageshwar to a bright morning and clear skies. The previous evening, Dharam Singh my guide had said that we would leave by 7 am by shared transport to a place called Kharknya from where the walk to the village of Khati was about 6 kms which would be our resting place for the day. Dharam Singh had promised that he would bring the vehicle to the doors of the guesthouse instead of us walking in the market place trying to find one. I guess he was probably trying to make my life easy. But it was 8 am by the time a vehicle arrived. Dharam Singh explained that he contacted another vehicle but it didn’t turn up, so it took him a while to locate another. I could see that neither Kharknya nor Khati is a frequently travelled to destination. The road passes through several small towns like Bharadi, Kapkot, etc., and there were more passengers for these destinations. We two and a vet doctor were the final ones alighting at Kharknya.

At Kapkot we requested the driver to stop at the Forest Department office so that we could register that we were on our way to Pindari. The recent decision of the Uttarakhand High Court banning all treks in the Himalayas wherein people pitch tents in the mountains has led to a lot of confusion. The Forest Department wasn’t permitting anyone to carry tents up the mountains, and one had to stay in some hotel or guesthouse. I paid a fee of Rs. 100 for registering myself and took a receipt.  

The vet doctor Himanshu Pathak shared some very interesting bits of information. He was going to Khati to check out a poultry farm which was funded by state government grants. The state government was trying to encourage more streams of livelihood for the population living in the mountains. He explained that wild animal attacks were a cause of concern lately. There was a leopard which was stealing goats and killing children. A villager near Bageshwar was the hunt of one such animal wherein local villagers had set a trap for it, however the animal wasn’t ready to be fooled and it went around the trap knowing that there was a goat inside but wouldn’t enter. The villagers had phone him and told him to bring along his tranquilizer gun but since he had already started his journey to Khati, he passed on the responsibility to his colleague at Bageshwar.  

For going to Khati there were two routes. One road went to Loharkhet and from there one had to trek up the mountain to Dhakuri which is at 2700 meters before descending to Khati, about 16 kms. Another road which is still under construction at several places goes till Kharknya and one has to walk through the forest. The road from Bageshwar to a spot called Mujwa Binayak, which boasts of a scenic spot overlooking a valley, a Ganesh temple and a fairly decent hotel, is pretty tolerable though there were disturbances. From there to Kharknya the road isn’t asphalted and is severely affected by erosion and landslides; it has been constantly under maintenance making it dangerous.

From Kharknya the actual walking to Pindari really starts. The road to Khati runs through a dense forest, with beautiful small waterfalls. It is more or less even, broad and doesn’t pose much of a challenge. Khati at a height of about 2200 meters above the sea level is a picturesque hamlet surrounded by tall mountains and dense forests on all sides with the looming ice-clad Himalayas to its north. It’s a very small valley of sorts and is just above the junction where the Pindar River and the Sunderdung River streams flowing from their respective glaciers merge together. Khati is on the left bank of the river, the land sloping towards the south in the direction of the river. The gently sloping land which is about 562 hectares has been claimed by population of 314 villagers for their 66 houses and agricultural fields (all figures as per the 2011 Census). Khati village is about 60 kilometers towards the north of Bageshwar the district headquarters, and is the first stop on route to Pindari glacier. 

As one turns the final bend on the path towards Khati, one is struck by the cluster of colourful houses at a distance. They are all clustered close to each other as if tucked away together in the midst of green trees. As one enters the village, there are a couple of boarding and eating facilities on its outskirts. KMVN also has a tourist rest house at Khati which is at the other end of the village towards Dwali. Apart from these, there is also a PWD guesthouse.  Tourists can easily find accommodation and food without any prior booking, or else they can pitch their own tents. However the phone connectivity is extremely poor, inspite of there being a Post and Telegram Office in the middle of the village. 

When in the village, one is awestruck by the multicolour painted houses. With a base of a bright colour, each house has a different theme painted on it, depicting persons of repute belonging to the owner family, local village scenes, and various kinds of patterns and designs. The walls and doors are painted with different colours. Most of these houses have two floors and a few of them are three storied. A few new one are made of clay bricks with cement concrete while most are made of wood and stone. Most of the houses are fitted with solar lighting since there is no electricity at Khati. Most of them have piped water and also in-house toilet blocks. For a small village, having these modern facilities came as a surprise, but this is all because of Hans Foundation whose members and volunteers,  a couple of years ago had set up camp at Khati for a couple of months and transformed the village. There are a couple of schools in the village primary and secondary and kids from all nearby places study there. Khati had a primary health center in the past and the village boasts of a small hospital building. But this is no more in use.

Khati used to have snowfall in the past and was inaccessible during the winter months. Of late however there has not been any snowfall for the past few years. Trekkers and mountaineers have always been using Khati as a pit-stop on their way to the Himalayas. The main occupation of the villagers is agriculture and they grow various crops along the mountain slopes. Several of them also cater to the tourists.

Another striking thing that one notices at Khati is the rampant cultivation of Charas. Charas or Ganja is the name given to a hashish form of cannabis which is handmade. It is made from the resin of the cannabis plant. After the main cropping season, before the onset of winter, the farmers allow cannabis to grow wildly on their lands. They then crush and roll the leaves of the plant with their bare hands into a thick pulp form and sell it to the brokers. Charas is a cash crop which fetches the farmer around Rs. 30,000 a kilo and all family members are involved in this trade. Over the centuries Charas has been consumed by the Sadhus as a ritual and therefore also has a cultural connotation. Even though declared illegal by the government the Charas cultivation continues openly. 

One also finds the younger generation of schooled boys and girls changing their occupation. Previously agriculture, goat and sheep rearing, joining the army and tourist guides to the Himalayas were the only source of income. Nowadays a lot of youngsters are moving down from the mountains to the plains to pursue higher education or jobs in the cities and towns. Life in the mountains is physically tough and devoid of all modern growth and also entertainment facilities which are provided by the internet.    

Khati gave me the impression of an idyllic very well knit village. The village plays host to foreigners trekking to the Himalayas and therefore is exposed to modern thoughts. And yet, since it wasn’t reachable by motor vehicle directly, it manages to remain on the fringe of modernity, in a buffer zone, which also isn’t an uninhabitable place. It has an exotic aura to it, being just within striking distance of the snow clad mountains, and yet just out of reach of crowded habitats. Its weather threatens to be severe in the winters and yet people survive to make a reasonable living all through the year. To normal imagination it is a raw place to live, and yet, to those who are easily satisfied it offers a sublime lifestyle.  It is my sort of dream place to retire to.