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The Asian Age - Enjoy the difference
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To feel India’s connect with Kashmir, go to Amarnath
Jagmohan
- About Swami Vivekananda’s experience at the holy cave, Sister Nivedita has recorded: "Never had Swami felt such a spiritual exaltation. So saturated had he become with the presence of the great God that for days after he could speak of nothing else. Shiva was all in all; Shiva, the eternal one, the great monk, rapt in meditation, aloof from the world". Later, Swami Vivekananda himself recounted: "I thought the ice-lingam was Shiva Himself. And there were no thievish Brahmins, no trade, nothing wrong. It was all worship. I have never seen anything so beautiful, so inspiring, and enjoyed any religious place so much".
- The significance of the pilgrimage, however, does not end at the personal level. It extends to the much larger issue of cultural unity and vision of India from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, from Kathiawar to Kamrup. Its importance as an underlying integrating force needs to be recognised. When some people talk of Kashmir’s relationship with the rest of India only in terms of Article 1 and Article 370 of the Constitution, I am surprised at their ignorance. They do not know that this relationship goes much deeper.
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Monday, July 13, 2009
To feel India’s connect with Kashmir, go to Amarnath
