India Journal 2006-#60-May 14th....the Blessing of Silence

After 45 minutes of walking UP ltierally, I've come to a place where nothing exists except the forest.



As luck would have it, my camera, which I remembered to bring, is out of batteries and even the spares are dead! So I've pulled up some pictures from my trip here in 2003, but they will give you some feeling as to what I am writing about in this post. They are from the same area, but not the exact spot. This time I was even further into the dense forest, but of course no pics to show for it.



It is SOOOOOOOOOOO quiet...no cicadas, which is strange, and no birds singing. there is almost a vacuum where no sound exists, but which is pierced every few minutes by the cry of a crow, the call of a solitary bird or the shriek of a falcon. there are NO people here, not even a sign of people. Can see neither McLeod on one side nor Dharamkot on the other. Just heard a distant mooing from a cow down in the village...I am not the first person



to find this place as there are tattered prayer flags strung from a few trees. All I see are the pines soaring straight up, majestically reaching for the sun which does not penetrate down to the forest floor through the thick covering of trees. They soar 30-40 meters high ( I think...not good at this kind of measuring) but the pics above will give you some idea.

Complete oneness with Nature and with God. Just saw a weasel ! The silence is almost deafening. As if it is penetrating and pounding within me. So, on to some meditation and get this off to you later today or tomorrow.

Well, that idea didn't work. Even though I have put on insect repellent, am wearing shoes, socks and jeans, and a shirt covered with a shawl, the mosquitoes have found me...perhaps so few people come here they are in need of a feast! Whatever, I felt the bites through all those layers and finally had to give up the idea of peaceful meditation, and will just sit and enjoy the silence...meditative in itself.

Well, sat there for about 1 hour and on the way down I saw an "ancient" shepherd, could have been 60 or 100...no way to tell, urging his goats down the sheer steep slope fo the mountain and he followed them as spritely as though he was one of them. Gave me a big smile, namaste and wave.

and just as I was happy about the fact that Anil didn't follow me this time, as he always used to (he knew where I was going since he'd asked), as I got back to the tea house, he was waiting and said "Where did you go, I went looking for you!". He assumed I'd take the long (but easier) road up and didn't imagine I'd go up the steep mountain path so he didn't find me when he went looking. So looks like I still have a problem. I made it clear to him that I am busy almost every day and go to sleep at 8:30. Hopefully this will keep him up in Dharamkot.

Anyway, took a footpath down to Bhagsu, a new way I'd never gone before, pleasant and easy, and am now at Gypsey King and have ordered KITCHERI which I have been looking for since I left Rishikesh!!

Slowly things are falling into place and before you know it, I am home and will have to start AGAIN putting my life together in a new place.

But days like these are a true blessing and will try to have as many as possible before I leave here in a month.

Namaste
Jane