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K A
I L A S H
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@exotic.T
I B E T
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| Mt. Kailash has
the unique distinction of being the most venerated yet least visited
of the world's major holy places. Due to its remote location in far
western Tibet, the mountain is visited by no more than a few thousand
pilgrims each year. There are no trains nor planes going to the region,
and by land there are only three, long and difficult, routes. Even
today, with rugged over-land vehicles the journey takes weeks, and
you must carry all your gasoline and supplies for the entire journey.
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| How long have people been
coming to this sacred mountain? The answers are lost in antiquity,
long before the dawn of Hinduism, Jainism or Buddhism. The cosmologies
and origin myths of each of these religions speak of Kailash as the
mythical Mt. Meru, the Axis Mundi, center and birth place of the entire
world. The mountain was already legendary before the great Hindu epics,
the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, were written. Indeed, Kailash is
so deeply embedded in the heart and mind and archetypes of ancient
Asia that it was perhaps a sacred place of another era, another civilization,
now long gone and forgotten. |
| Pilgrims to Kailash, after
the difficult journey getting there, are then confronted with the
equally arduous task of circumambulating the sacred peak. This walking
around the mountain (clockwise for the Buddhists, counter-clockwise
for Bon adherents) is known as a Kora, or Parikrama, and normally
takes three days. In hopes of gaining extra merit or psychic powers
however, some pilgrims will vary the tempo of their movement. A hardy
few, practicing a secret breathing technique known as Lung-gom, will
power themselves around the mountain in only one day (the author’s
method). Others will take two to three weeks for the Kora by making
full body prostrations the entire way. It is believed that a pilgrim
who completes 108 journeys around the mountain is assured enlightenment.
Most pilgrims to Kailash will also take a short plunge in the nearby,
highly sacred (and very cold) Lake Manosaravar. The word 'manas' means
mind or consciousness; the name Manosaravar means Lake of Consciousness
and Enlightenment. Adjacent to Manosaravar is Rakas Tal or Rakshas,
the Lake of Demons. Pilgrimage to this great sacred mountain and these
two magical lakes is a life changing experience and an opportunity
to view some of the most magical scenery on the entire planet.
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