Bus journeys through the Himalayas are indeed charming. The frequently repeated words are Chalo, Chalo (keep moving) or Rukho, Rukho (stop). More often than not, public buses have few passengers. But at times, they get crowded with no foothold space.
I was given the first seat near the entrance of the bus and next to me sat the conductor. Throughout the journey, I had this quite odd task of keeping the metal covered logbook of the conductor safely beside my seat. He would ask for it many a time whenever he needed to make entries as people boarded and to keep it back after he was through.
There were a mixture of emotions and ideas while I sat in the bus for the next 10 hours. I began reading the Sri Vignana Bhairav Tantra. Reading was difficult as the bus rattled down the bumpy mountain road. Then I found the scenery outside so alluring that I put the book inside and just looked out. The view was nothing short of spectacular. I closed the book and just soaked in the glory.
Then this shloka from the Vignana Bhairav Tantra lingered in my mind: yatra yatra mano yati bahye vabhyantare pi va; tatra tatra shiva vasthath vyapakathvakwa yasyati; It means wherever the mind goes, Lord Shiva is already present. There is not any place where Shiva is not present.
I soon began to apply that verse to what I saw outside. I saw a mountain, the greenery and then the blue sky above. I discovered that my mind takes the form of what it sees and becomes that — a mountain, a tree, water or the sky. I am all that I see — I realised.
The bus ploughed its way through Hanuman Chatti, Joshimath, Vishnu Prayag, and took a turn to Kedarnath. Each time a Prayag came, the conductor would turn around to show us the rivers that are meeting at the confluence. Passing through mountains, winding roads, bridges, temples, villages, water falls and streams, the bus chugged its way up to Gaurikund at around 6.45 pm.
It was dark by then but the cold temperature and the atmosphere of Gaurikund seemed so pure, holy and welcoming. Gaurikund, where the Mandakini river flows, is the place Parvathy did arduous tapas to marry Shiva. There is a hot spring here called Tapt Kund and a temple for Ma Gauri.
Further down the temple is a bridge that leads to the other bank of the Mandakini where there is a shrine and a bathing ghat where Parvathy
was supposed to have taken bath during her days of her penance there.