Riding Through Trans-Himalayas : A Pilgrimage from Bondage to Beyond.

What being beyond means, is to have profound experience of life. The anticipation and excitement for the possibilities that are waiting for us. I searched for bliss and found it latent in me like a fire latent in wood. Happiness is when what we think, what we say and what we do are in harmony. I think about riding in Himalayas at least 10 times a day and whenever I am able to ride, it all harmonises leaving me with a doorway to what I call beyond. 

In city we compare ourselves to every person next to us, be it in office, house, gym etc and try to become better in comparison, but in Himalayas I find myself  standing next to the infinitely massive peaks pointing towards the cosmos and galaxies directing me to be like cosmos, to merge with the cosmos where time looses it’s relevance, so as my identity. I cannot become nothing, but at least become small. The purpose of my trip is to wear myself out . The mask that I carry in society is blown off. I am not a man or a woman, or this or that. Walking and riding as life, just like the breeze. 

There is a reason why places of worship are placed high up in the mountains , because when I go there, the sense of who I am gets dropped. Only then something larger that who I am , will become a living reality for me. 

Looking around it all looks so  surreal, riding in these mountains which look completely untouched yet defeating the best designs from the world’s best architect. On these mountains and these terrains there is a different kind of energy. I am being driven by something else which I cannot locate inside me. It is very difficult to explain. On my first trip to Trans-Himalayan region , I saw the humongous nature of what was there . Every-time I thought of grabbing every colour and shape my eyes can see, I wanted to camp there for months to understand and soak in everything. Later I realised that to know every colour and shape I will have to be here forever and become one with it. 

We were riding 9-10 hours daily on difficult terrains but body and mind were not connected so we never felt any pain and with the beauty that we were surrounded, it just doesn’t matter how long we ride. 

Passion is the utmost will that a human being is capable of gathering within himself. It can be for anything that our senses can capture. I always like to be surrounded by these magnificent mountains. It is not important what you are passionate about, passion for anything is a very beautiful way of keeping yourself aside. If you know how to keep ourselves aside, only then something larger than you becomes a living reality for you. 

This riding experience is a phenomenon in itself whose existence is felt just like a breeze. Here in trans-Himalayan region the intensity of the experience is such that it is not easy to miss when you are here. All it takes that you are available there, that’s all. This is existentially there, vibrating and reverberating like unimaginable. Just traveling silently we absorb for what we have have made ourselves available for. The stillness above 5000 meters is felt in every breath we take and every movement we make. Even the time stops to tick and a hint of timelessness appears making every activity to stop. A sense of lightness, sense of freedom from everything is all I can remember. Here no matter who you are, as a human being, this hits you. A seed of a new dimension is implanted within you and the impact that it has, life is never the same again. This seed cannot be destroyed by anything. If you reduce the sense of what is you — your likes, your dislikes, your whims, your fancies, your love, your hate; if you make yourself into an open doorway, if life breathes, it will grow very fast. This is not a seed which will bring forth a tree; this is a seed that is capable of bringing forth a mountain. 

Mountains are a phenomenon, Himalayas are phenomenon. This is not something that you worship, not something that you philosophise, this is not something that you identify with, this is not a brand that you can carry on your forehead. This is phenomenon that you must find access to, this is a phenomenon that has answers for everything in the universe. 

Going together with my life partner  to consciously lose ourselves, if not entirely, at least a part, is not about building bonds, it is about stepping into the beyond. 

When ,being engaged with the limitations of life becomes tedious, then wanting to step into the beyond becomes a strong need. Otherwise, nothing wrong with anything, just its limited, that’s all. Some realise it’s limited early on, some upon their deathbed. I am very happy that everything in my life has fallen together to allow me to get this experience which might be once in a trillion chance. 

The pilgrimage means you are on, moving in your life, not settling. All the time moving from this day to the next. If for one day you become stagnant, stagnation always stinks. Let this pilgrimage become a source of aliveness and that is only possible when you make space for everything. 

You have to be willing to keep the journey going on, and nobody can stop a willing human being.