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A Journey the Roof Of the World |
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 A Journey the Roof Of the World – Tibet & To the Navel of the World –
Mt. Kailash |
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A PLACE OF PILGRIMAGE
Hindus - abode of Shiva and perceived as the physical manifestation of the mythical Mount Meru. They believe that a circuit of the mountain will erase the sins of a life time and break the karmic cycle. Also believe that the waters of the sacred Lake Manasarover were created from the mind or Manas of Brahma, the god who symbolises the creative force in the universe.
Buddhists - call the mountain Kang Rinpoche, the 'precious snow mountain'. This is the cosmic mountain, a link between the physical world and the spiritual universe.
Jains - know Kailash as Mount Ashtapade. It was on the mountain that the founder of the faith, Rishabanatha, attained spiritual liberation.
The prevailing faith in Tibet, prior to introduction of Buddhism, was the Bonpo religion. To the adherents of Bonpo, Kailash was, and is still known as the nine-storied swastika mountain, the mystical soul of the Tibetan Plateau. The swastika is the holy image for all these religions and is symbolic of spiritual strength.
THE ABODE OF THE GODS
Particular significance of Kailash for Hindus is that it is the mythical home of Shiva. His home is shared with his consort Parvathi, a manifestation of Shakti, the Goddess and female force in the universe, and his two sons, Kartikeya his warrior son and Ganesh, the lovable and hugely popular elephant-headed God.
It is from the mountains, flowing from the hair of Shiva, that the River Ganges mythically descends into the plains of India. Many Hindu legends are concerned with Shiva and are therefore naturally set around Kailash.
THE SOURCE OF FOUR GREAT RIVERS
Kailash and Manasarover have also been dubbed the fountainhead of the world. |
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Early pilgrims recognized Kailash and the nearby lake as the source from which stemmed the river systems of virtually the whole of the Indo-Gangetic plain. Indeed within a few miles of the holy peak can be traced the source of the rivers Indus, Brahmaputra, Sutlej, Karnali, and although somewhat further off, the holy river Ganges.
The rivers which find their source in this remote part of the Tibetan Plateau enter the plains thousands of miles apart, a unique and extraordinary phenomenon. |
THE FULCRUM OF THE UNIVERSE
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| The Vishnu Purana explains how the world is made up of seven continents, ringed by seven oceans. The central island has Meru as its core, bounded by three mountain ranges to the north and three to the south. Mount Meru is the central fulcrum of the universe, and the navel of the world, from which four mighty rivers take their source. |
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| As the early Vedic beliefs became transformed into the religions we are aware of today, so Kailash has become the earthy avatar of Mount Meru. |
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