Inspirations from Mt Everest: Move from base camp to reach the summit
The base camp to Mount Everest summit is 7.5km, and it takes about 40 days to scale the peak. A few brave ones are not satisfied with just seeing the summit and proceed to behold the panoramic view from the top
This month, a group of yoga students set out from Melbourne to Nepal. Each year, Nepal attracts about a million tourists in search of many possibilities. Out of them, about 40,000 trek to the base camp of Mount Everest, more than 5,300m above sea level. Of them, nearly 800 people try to scale Mount Everest at an altitude of 8,800m.
Not all visitors who visit Kathmandu are willing to forego their comforts to go to the base camp. A few who simply long to catch a glimpse of Mount Everest get on a 30-minute airplane ride and are satisfied with the view from the window. They take photos from a distance and are satisfied looking at the brochure given by the air hostess.
But those keen on getting close to Mount Everest leave their comfort zone to reach the base camp, which is a nine-day trek to cover about 200km. After having sighted Mount Everest’s summit, most return to Kathmandu.
The base camp to Mount Everest summit is 7.5km, and it takes about 40 days to scale the peak. A few brave ones are not satisfied with just seeing the summit and proceed to behold the panoramic view from the top.
Most people on our planet are seekers of comfort and don’t wish to come out of their cocoons, which is home or family bondage, to experience life. When we are stuck in our cocoons, life is filled with fear, anxiety, stress, depression, despair, and dissatisfaction.
A few who dare to come out of the cocoon are satisfied reaching the base camp of their potential. At the base camp of our lives, we are satisfied with material prosperity, name, and fame. The people at the base camp become celebrities. Their ego is fanned by their fans and they are on cloud nine.
A rare few proceed further to explore and exploit their potential to the fullest. They realise that material success is a signpost and not the goal of their lives.
Our personality caged in the cocoon is the result of our tamasic or dull nature. Getting stuck at the base camp of life is because of our rajasic or restless nature. One can take off from the base camp only with the help of the sattvic quality or pure nature.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says that the sattvic quality lifts the game of our lives, the rajasic nature makes us get stuck in between, and the tamasic nature pushes us down.
Urdhvam gachchhanti sattva-stha madhye tishthanti rajasah jaghanya-guna-vritti-stha adho gachchhanti tamasha (14.18).
Those situated in the mode of goodness rise upward; those in the mode of passion stay in the middle; and those in the mode of ignorance head downward.
Material wealth is a must for survival in this world. But without spiritual wealth, the whole of humanity will perish. Spiritual wealth is far superior and much harder to get when compared to material wealth. Seekers of spiritual wealth are an asset to society and are far more valuable than seekers of only material prosperity.
The Kathopanishad gives a clarion call to all of us, “Arise, awake, and stop not till you reach the summit of your life. Uttiṣṭhata jāgrata prāpya varānnibodhata | kṣurasya dhārā niśitā duratyayā durgaṁ pathastatkavayo vadanti (1.3.14).”
The path to the summit of life is not easy and is fraught with challenges. But with the guidance of a guru, one gains an exuberance of energy to move from the base camp to the summit. Like people aspiring to reach the summit of Mount Everest take sherpas as guides, we must have a guru as a guide to reach the summit of our lives. We must celebrate life by exploring and exploiting our full potential.
vasudevakriyayoga@gmail.com
(The writer is the Melbourne-based founder of Vasudeva Kriya Yoga)
