A trip divine

Suddenly on a Thursday afternoon I decided to make a trip all alone for 2 days to Sringeri. There was vehement opposition from home - perhaps they suspected, as they have in the past that I might get swayed away from the so called 'normal' accepted life that humans live. When I informed my friends while on the trip that I had gone alone, sympathies poured in from all over. It was considered unthinkable that a person would travel alone. This is attributed to the confusion most people have between being alone and being lonely. Alone & not feeling lonely is the most wonderful state of being, especially in silence & contemplation. Lonely is the worst state known to the human mind & affects a large number of people especially in advanced countries. If you cannot enjoy being alone, you'll never enjoy with anybody else, be it humans or pets or in exotic locations. On the other hand, one can be lonely even in the midst of a bustling crowd, lots of friends & relatives and so on. Being comfortably alone arises from a state of compeleteness, of oneness with all of existence. Being lonely arises from the ego, from the sake of wanting someone or something to feel complete & this is totally natural since ignorance hides the real nature of the self that includes all.

Coming back to the subject, Sringeri is one of the four mutts founded by none other than Adi Shankaracharya. Take a look at their website at
http://jagadgurus.org/ . Since then, the unbroken lineage of Jagadgurus have drawn scores of people who come in search of solace or just to witness a confirmed jnani! The whole place appeals so much since it has temples, a river, some forests, plenty of space to sit in silence and is rarely crowded except on special occasions. This becomes especially important, since most temples these days are heavily crowded and noisy. To get to a silent place, you need to travel far away & get into one of the upper-class resorts in the jungle. But here, one need not fork out princely sums and book months in advance to have a decent roof over the head. One need not go in search of exotic restaurants for some great piping hot food. There is even a patha-shaala (vedic school) in the traditional Gurukula mode imparting Vedic education to many enthusiastic disciples of all ages. In the evenings, one can listen to the melodious strains of Karnatic classical music. The puja, chanting and the whole atmosphere transports one to the mythical times that we've only heard or read about, provided you keep the mind calm & free of worries about what's happening back home!

All in all, an amazing experience. I wouldn't want to go there with anybody but my self :-). I wouldn’t want to listen to anybody, but the silence of my heart.