An Audience with God at Mount Kailash: A True Story

By Davinder Bhasin

An Audience with God at Mount Kailash: A True Story grounds its account of the journey of the author, Davinder Bhasin, to the Abode of Lord Shiva upon personal experience and a summary of insights from trusted external sources. The narrative begins by exploring a basic human question that invites all on a quest for truth: Does God exist? An exploration of Shiva, the Lord of Kailash, follows and then finds its context in a review of the mountains place in culture and history.
With this background in location, the author reveals the details of the two audiences God gave to him and his family. Rooted in the experiences of these pilgrimages, the next sections provide readers with guidance for planning and making their own journeys to Mount Kailash. In addition, a brief history of Tibet, the home of Mount Kailash, provides further resources for appreciating the natural and human history associated with this sacred mountain.
An Audience with God at Mount Kailash: A True Story will enlighten and inform all who contemplate seeking to experience an encounter with God. It also provides an intimate portrait of the spiritual journey of a man and his family, offering their story as a guide for others as they travel the worlds pathways to seek God for themselves.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing India
• Release date: Feb 11, 2016
• ISBN: 9781482858792

Davinder Bhasin

Davinder Bhasin, an exporter and the founder of businesses in manufacturing and real estate, is the vice president of the Punjab Forging Industries Association. He and Minakshi, his wife, have two daughters and one son. Fulfilling a dream, they made pilgrimages to Mount Kailash, the Abode of Lord Shiva.

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Copyright © 2016 Davinder Bhasin. All rights reserved.

ISBN

978-1-4828-5880-8 (sc)

978-1-4828-5879-2 (e)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

www.partridgepublishing.com/india

02/24/2016

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For the Ram Lal Bhasin Charitable Trust in memory of my beloved father and mother

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Dedicated To

All ‘Shiva Shakti’ devotees and known/unknown Gods and Deities, Yaksha and Yakshinies, Gandharvas, Dakinis, Ganas and Praets, that live at Kailash

CONTENTS

The Quest: Does God Exist?

Reality or A Myth? Find the answer in the chapter ‘An Audience with God’

Shiva: The Lord of Kailash

Rebirth (What happens after Death)

Why Is Kailas Called Abode Of Shiva?

The Importance of Om (Fifteen Types of Om Symbols in Six countries)

The Significance of Kailash

Kubera at Kailash

Kailash Manasarovar in the Eyes of Swami Pranavananda

The Unsolved Mysteries of Kailash

The Revolutionary Russian Study: The Axis Mundi

The UN on Mount Kailash

Hindu God’s Creation: Tibetan Research Unlocking the Accuracy Pointers

The Holy Lake Mansarovar

Surroundings of Kailash

Kailash Parikarma (Circumambulation)

The Beauty of Kailash as Explained by Swami Pranavananda

An Audience with God

First Audience with God, May 2013

Second Audience with God, May 2014

One More Miracle

Kailash as a Temple of Shiva and Family

Routes to Holy Kailash and Lake Mansarovar

Ancient Routes

Modern Routes

Preparing Yourself for the Journey

What to Carry/Dos and Don’ts

What to Wear and How to Keep Yourself Warm

Buying Warm Clothes and Travel Aids

Checklist for the Journey

Obstacles

Physical Fitness and Preparation

Things to Do Once You Get There

Meditate

Havan (Homam)

Significance of Havan

Holy Dip

Har Kankar Mae Shankar (His Divine Image in Every Stone)

Prasad (Gift from God) of Kailash and Manasarovar on Your Way Back

Keeping Environment Clean at Kailash

Brief History of Tibet

The Tibetan Lifestyle

Wildlife and Natural Bounty of Tibet

Religion

Mani Mantra on Mani Stones

Namesakes

Acknowledgements

Submission

Epilogue

THE QUEST: DOES GOD EXIST?

The question was first raised by my daughter Gaisu, who like her father grew up with this question and, again just like me, never shared it with anyone till recently.

Reality or A Myth?

Does He really exist, or is He just an impression woven from myths? We haven’t really come across or even believed anyone who has met or seen God in the true sense of the word.

Science does not recognize the concept of God, though the constitutions of many countries do, including that of India. But has anyone in recent times, in all these countries, really seen him? Or is it all a follow-up to the faith or fantasy that has prevailed since the ages when mankind was in its initial stages of development? Was the concept of a Supreme Being an inception of the eminent elite in those ages, a tool to enforce and assure their dominance over the commoners?

The Hindu Vedic books reveal that that many ages ago, science was at its peak. People had complete knowledge of the planetary system, and the whole astrology revolved around that. They had no big telescopes or observatories; though they were aware of the speed of all the planets, such was the technology.

In one verse of ‘Hanuman Chalisa’, written by Saint Tulsi Das and relating to the Ramayana period, which happened about 1.3 million years ago, he mentioned that the distance of the sun from Earth is about 150 million kilometres. One of my friends did the calculation for me, which is explained in the footnotes.¹ The distance is very well confirmed by NASA now. How was that possible! The people with no visible instruments had the knowledge of such great scientific magnitude. Science at its height or God!

The Puranas said millenniums ago, though without any instruments, that this earth is round. Was it again science in those periods or God giving knowledge to his followers.

In the war of Mahabharata in approximately 3100 BC, in Dwapar yug,² all the warriors and scientists were killed, and that was the start of the twenty-eighth Kalyug. Arjuna was a warrior who had arrows like guided missiles which could pierce all the leaves of a tree and come back to him. From one arrow, it could be converted into thousands of arrows like the cluster missiles today. Kubera, the god of wealth, possessed a plane. But was that God again or technology at its peak or a good super human in those days with superior leadership and scientific skills? Was it science only, which we are trying to redevelop now, or was it that God provided all these powers to the persons who believed in Him? Plenty of questions were in mind with no real answers!

There are historical findings to indicate that there were atomic blasts between eight thousand to fifty thousand years ago, and Nagasaki/Hiroshima were not the first atomic bomb blasts in the world. Findings in Jodhpur, India, recently or during the excavation of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, tell us that there is still enough radioactivity present which is more than fifty times the normal level. In Kurukshetra, a town in North India where the Mahabharata was fought, the radioactivity level is said to be still higher than the normal levels due to use of atomic weapons in the war. Again, was it science or God who provided special weapons to his devotees to destroy evil as is written in Mahabharata? The great warrior Arjuna, who could destroy the whole enemy army with his arrows, couldn’t save his wives from normal dacoits when God wasn’t with him.

Millions of people take a dip in the River Ganges on the eve of the Kumbh³ festival. In the year 2013, more than 120 million people took dip in the confluence (Sangam) of three holy rivers Ganges, Saraswati, and Yamuna at Allahabad in India. But is it all religious or a successful idea of someone to stimulate markets for ages?

The water of River Ganges does not decay for years even if put in a bottle, whereas the normal water from any other river develops fungus. Is it because Ganges is a deity and possesses superpowers to cleanse itself and the sages help to clean it, or is there more oxygen in its waters somehow, which helps it to stay fresh?

Some, but very few, persons claim that they were blessed by God in person and they had a vision of God, which my daughter respects and believes. But again the analytical sense asks the same question: is it true or a stage of the brain where one is self-hypnotized due to the height of meditation?

Though she is very religious and she believes in all gods, Shiva and Shakti are the ones she mainly worships. She keeps fasts, goes on pilgrimages, and has been to Kailash Manasarovar thrice, a very difficult pilgrimage in Tibet. So to say that she is a very religious girl won’t be an exaggeration. But she always had this unanswered question in the back of her mind.

Is it an ancient belief passed on to generations, which we are following by virtue of taking birth in a religious family or is it actually that God is behind every action of our lives?

We go to heaven if we do good deeds and pray. If we are cruel, if we do not respect the elders and are dishonest, etc., etc. God punishes us and sends us to hell. Does it all exist, or was it just to scare a child and put fear of God in his mind? And that child never gets out of that fear psychosis even when he is grown up. He teaches the same lifestyle to his family!

Can one god or a few gods handle the entire celestial continuation, with billions of persons and entities and keep an account of what’s going on in their lives? Does he have an office with an endless staff of celestial messengers and accountants keeping tabs on each life he creates and the courses they are taking?

Millions of persons from all age groups might have this question in their minds.

The question still stands, though: does God exist?

After our journey to Kailash Manasarovar, my daughter Gaisu jumped, danced, and vehemently accepted, fell on her knees, and cried, ‘Yes . . . He exists. God exists!’ She experienced something that answered all her questions. I will explain this in the chapter ‘An Audience with God’.

SHIVA: THE LORD OF KAILASH

Shiva, the God of gods, has a huge following amongst Hindus. His wife, Goddess Parvati, is considered as a very strong deity and is also called Adi Shakti (eternal power) and Prakriti (Mother Nature). Sanatani Hindus mainly follow three gods: Brahma (The Creator), Vishnu (The Protector, the one who runs this world), and Mahesha, The Shiva (the Destroyer), and the three gods together are called the Triumvirate. We find thousands of temples of both Shiva/Shakti and Vishnu/Lakshmi, but due to a curse, Brahma has only one temple at Pushkar in North India, in the princely state of Rajasthan.

The wife of Brahma is called Goddess Saraswati (goddess of wisdom and fate), Goddess Lakshmi (goddess of wealth) is wife of Lord Vishnu, and Goddess Gauri (goddess of power who destroys evil) is the wife of God Shiva. All these goddesses together are called Goddess Jagdamba, and she rides a lion.

As per Hindu religion, Shiva is the only god out of three who lives on this earth with his wife, Gauri, while Brahma lives with his wife, Saraswati, in Brahmlok, just above earth, and Vishnu with his wife, Lakshmi, lives in Baikunthlok beyond that. Shiva in his Hanuman avatar during Ramayana was asked by Rama to stay on this earth to spread the name of God and help the humans.

Shiva is called the First Yogi on this earth, a master of yoga. He taught Yoga to his wife, Parvati. Shiva is also the best dancer in this world. When he and his wife dance together, the whole world is hypnotized, and all the gods and goddesses come to Kailash to watch that beautiful moment.

The role of Shiva on this earth is beautifully explained in Garuda Purana, and I have read the smaller version of it along with my wife, Minakshi. It is an interesting and very informative Vaishnava Purana, which educates about the cycles of birth, rebirth of a soul, different stages of travel from death to rebirth, ideal ways of living, and ailments and their remedies—all are narrated in detail.

It also explains that this celestial was created by Vishnu and the first thing was an egg named Harinmaya. God himself entered into this celestial egg and created a four-faced body and named it Brahma. Brahma created this world and is called the Creator.