The Mystic Nuances at Rishikesh

 by Sanjoy Das Gupta

 

End March 2018, me and my wife with two very close and dear family friends, had planned out a very short stay at an ashram very near the Rishikesh Barrage with the serene Ganges flowing by ever so elegantly with all its mystic nuances that evolve and emerge as one starts to be in communion with her grace and blessings.

Post our “anondo-sobhas” at the early morning hours and in the evenings at the exclusive open first floor verandah overlooking the flowing mystic Ganges, we read out Sri Ramakrishna’s “Kathamrita” by “Shri M” with appropriate opening and soulful “Rabindra-Sangeet”, followed by deliberations on the innumerable dimensions of the Ramakrishna Movement as one tries to initially fathom from Swami Vivekananda’s talks and his innumerable priceless deliberations. The holy dips in the Ganges early morning & in the evening at the adjoining private ghat of the ashram were heavenly and ushered in a total state of the body and the mind into sublime blissful modes that are beyond comprehensive words.

I am attempting to put forth and share three such personal and celestial experiences in our sojourn at Rishikesh that shall remain etched in mind forever. Perhaps, God willing, I might have been blessed to experience them on myself in person, as HIS own touches, to imbibe them more comprehensively into multifarious facets of life and its nuances that remain hidden, unfelt and unseen.

 

The mystic music of the falling of the banyan tree leaves at night:

As I sat alone in the open verandah late into the night, the breeze took up and rustled through the huge banyan tree in the ashram. The rustling continued ever so subtly, but then, I could start hearing the musical treat of the leaves of the banyan tree rustling and falling simultaneously throughout the night in a pattern, rhythm, with uncanny musical notes and scales. The beauty of the conscience feel was that the performance was HIS completely in the darkness, but lit and resonated up my mind and chakras with an illumination so bright but subtle with the sensatory and neurological systems experiencing and yearning to assimilate unheard compositions defined in any raga formation one might have experienced or even dared to compose to its ongoing dynamics that went on and on. It was “divinity connect” through our sensors that cannot be drawn into words or feelings. I only regained my surrounding conscience when I could hear the chatters and chirping of the birds waking up to welcome the new day with dawn approaching beyond the hills across the river horizon. In Literature, such as Rabindranath Tagore’s work, the “shaggy headed” tree’s rustling is linked to memory and a child’s imagination, while in other contexts, it represents “permanence” in a changing world. This experience, as it were, could not be obviously penned down through sketches.

The full Moon glistens across the entire horizon creating an unbelievable continuum of a silvery aura:

As we walked on the service road besides the softly gurgling but silent Ganges river in the evening, the otherwise dark sky suddenly got lit up with sight of the outstanding full moon rising ever so slowly like a dancing girl in her rhythm, over the far-fetched mountain ranges bathing her with her silver halo on its vast undulated profile. I watched the phenomena in rapt awe as the moon began its slow climb and thence cascaded this silver halo onto the next nearest hill ranges. The silver reflections ushered their distance narratives from my vision like two distinctive silver waves dancing with the moonlight. The climb mystically moved further upwards and then suddenly lit up the frontage jungle trails into the third layer of silver waves to one’s vision. All of a sudden, the gleaming moon rose up further and cascaded its silver awe on the full width of the Ganges river, trembling and silently gurgling with its mystic silvery dance. I was dumbfounded, struck by this brilliant silvery palate almost seemingly touching my whole conscience into a unison that perhaps one can even comprehend and leave oneself in total unison with the Almighty with HIS grace and love.

With HIS grace too, I was able to capture a few snapshots of these spiritual moments as they transcended into my psyche and inner core of the SELF on my little cellphone. Lest that such moments remain forgotten into the past syndrone, I thought it prudent that the above visions be captured into a assimilated pencil sketch of the time frame emergence. The sketch below portrays the aforesaid experiences to the extent that I could possibly put in place with all my humility.

 

The Mystic Veil of the Emerging Dawn:

 

I had woken up quite early this morning and came out in the open verandah to catch the wonderous moment of the first hint of faint radiance of sunrise over the horizon and thence onto the Ganges river, whose very quiet rustle at that moment, was very intriguing and mystic indeed in the then darkness. Somehow, as the time progressed, I was unable to see the river that I was so eager to see. A strange mist engulfed the entire horizon, as if from nowhere, and the entire surroundings likened to a mystic moving veil, ever so clever to reveal what lies beyond, but with an element of mischievous play fullness that only HE could play! The phenomena struck me into am ambience that took me beyond any cognitive sense for quite sometime! There was no reason really for my dear Ganges river to cast itself into this wonderous phenomena completely hidden behind this veil so to say. I closed my eyes thence and prayed eagerly and very earnestly for HIS blessings to reveal the secrets and visions beyond this veil.

And lo, this mist began its almost musical and dancing format with its movements and peeping visual revelations in many mystical forms of the river, the hills beyond and near, the abstract shaded greens of forests thereafter and the sun peeking below the horizon now and then, all in a rhythm and colour spectrum that goes beyond any description just like a dancing veil for perhaps more than half an hour. I stood transfixed in the open verandah amongst this dancing veil of HIS creation and bowed in obeisance as the veil finally lifted itself and one could see the real surroundings in their natural and normal dimensions and colour hues.

The sketch that has emerged in pencil was intriguing as the phenomena could not be possibly captured through my small innate camera of my trivial cellphone. The moments of this mesmerizing truth and exposition, with perhaps HIS presence or playfulness, best remains within my soul forever and perhaps allows the provision of some idea through this simple sketch that I have dared to attempt.