05 September - Bhojwasa to Gaumukh continued

Walking up to Bhojwasa, I walked alone.  I had the company of the wild flowers, the insects, the animals that roamed freely but kept to themselves and an occasional pilgrim passing by.  But most of the time, I walked alone.  I saw in the distance four Swami's.  One Swami walked ahead whilst the others followed close by.  I later came to know this Swami as Swami Tatwananda, a Sadhu from Kerala, the Southern part of India.

While walking between him and the group, he would make space beside him.  There seemed to be a silent invitation for me to draw near.  To walk close.  I did.  We walked most of the may in Silence, occasionally smiling at each other.  The rest of the Swami's followed behind.  We eventually made it to Gaumukh.  It was a sight to behold.  A huge figure of an ice mountain shrouded with mist.  Blocks of ice floated down from the big iceberg known as Gaumukh and formed the source of the Ganges.  The water was really cold.  Almost freezing.    We reached there in the early morning, with mist still surrounding most of the mountain, and us.  The mist would clear and we would behold Gaumukh in her splendor.

It was cold.  About 4 degrees.  I was warmly clothed.  As we stood there, the thought came to me:  Okay, this is nice but i am really cold and wouldn't mind being back at my hole in the ground in Bhojwasa around about now.  Just as the thought came to my mind, I saw an old Swami (perhaps in his late 80's) zoom past me with lightning speed.  He was barefooted, skinny and had nothing on him but a shoal around his waste and beads on this neck.  It seemed he was on a mission as he had no time to talk.  I heard later that he is a well respected swami around these parts and that his home was in Tapovan, about 18km away from Gaumukh and 15000 feet above sea level.  He was doing one of his routine walks there.  It was snowing.  He was half naked.  I was not sure that was possible.

Going back to Bhojwasa from Gaumukh i developed a repoir with Swami Tatwananda it seemed.  He always welcomed me beside him/    It was good walking with him.  It was wonderful looking at the peace and calm in his eyes and feeling that so strongly in his presence.  At some point i decided to walk ahead of the group and make my way back to 19km to Gangotri.  I would be there a day earlier and wanted to establish communication with Sunil to let him know.  About 8km down the path, I saw a mountain man walking with his horse.  He asked if i needed a ride.  He asked with an air of desperation in his voice and i could tell that he could use some extra change. I agreed, jumped on the horse and rode back to Gangotri.  There were some very close calls and i was thankful to make it back in one peace.  I made it back to Gangotri well ahead of schedule.  I thought about the others walking behind me and how the path, for all intensive purposes was meant to be walked by foot as i saw it as being meditational and cathartic.  This was not the case with me and i felt a little dissapointed with my decision to ease the load.  I also thought about the horse and the man who would whip it on its rear with a stick.  I realised it may have been a bad idea to have taken the ride.  I will walk to Gaumukh again and back some day soon.  With no horse on the way back though.