From the valley of the Gods

“In beauty we are united, through beauty we pray, with beauty we conquer” - Nicholas Roerich.
 

It is this beauty of nature that make me out from my nest and instigate me to explore the eternal beauty of Manali aka "the valley of the Gods". Though the physical relief, the community and culture of Manali is quite similar to rest of the hill station of India; still it is different in its own way. In the past I have visited Darjeeling, a hill station in the eastern part of India. And I thought it would be a similar kind of experience. But thankfully I was wrong in my notion.

 

There was something unique about Manali that made her so special. Well it is hard to say. While moving from one part of Manali to another, I have mingled with the local people; I have tasted the local food. I came through the customs, the culture, the religious belief of the people and the way they lead their livelihood. And my experience gathered in course of this close association enchanted me. It is not only the nature that makes Manali so beautiful but also the culture, customs and overall the common people. Just like a child looks beautiful in the lap of her mother, these people looks beautiful in the lap of this wild, rustic and mysterious Nature. This Nature enclosed within her the beauty which is thousands of years old and it only gets unfolded for those who truly deserve to witness that. 

 

 

Being a city dweller, it was quite hard to sustain life amidst all the hardship necessary for leading a life in this land. We are accustomed with a life of luxury; life that requires all the elements to make us comfortable in every way. We consider our self to be the sole proprietor of the resources of this Earth and cannot think a life without this. So when we visit a place like Manali, we try to find the same kind of comfort that we get in a city life. And that is where we make the mistake. The more we seek the conditioned life of a city, more we get far from the Nature. Just like any other hill station, Manali too have the infrastructure enough for providing our lazy body and mind the required comfort. But through this we cannot experience the true beauty and eternal spirit of this region of Himilayas. We need to sacrifice and uphold our mind to seek the true essence of beauty. We need to educate ourselves to appreciate the mystic nature of Mother Nature.

Just like we educate ourselves for adapting various institutions of society, same stands for understanding the Nature; her eternal essence. Well Manali gave me that opportunity to realize this truth. It makes me feel that to understand Nature, we need to dedicate ourselves and sacrifice our needs just the same way to do it for sake of religion.
But what astonishes me is that it is quite easy to renounce for the sake of religion than for the sake of the Nature. Even amidst the Nature, people gather in numbers in the temple courtyards to find intangible solace. And the religious institution for sake of self preservation, are desperate to tie people with age old beliefs and customs.


We fail to understand that the path of salvation lies in understanding the Nature. Understanding and comprehending the natural laws can only lead us to the path of higher truth. And my pursuit for understanding this very truth has been accomplished in Manali.