The Silence Within

A delicate breeze ruffled through my hairs as I stood beside the Dalai Lama Temple. I looked up to the clouded sky, veiled by a thick crust of pine leaves. The enchanting divine mantras were hung in the atmosphere. Mild fragrances were accumulated in the place, as if, immured by a higher entity.

I sat down with people who were already lost in the depths of hymns devoted to His Highness. The monks were cladded in red. They were singing verses in a tongue that was foreign to me. Even after that, it felt surreal, like an old dance, majestic in its perfection. It took a blink of an eye to perceive that amidst all the rituals, there was a calmness of an ocean; peace of a small creek flowing through the meadows.


Some things are meant to reach out to your minds and leave a lasting kiss deep within its surface. They act as the eye of a hurricane, stillness in the middle of all the commotion, a white dove hovering between the black clouds. Our mind creates a smooth picture of the times that have such impressions on an individual. Those pictures, memoirs in other words are often revisited by people. A cistern of comfort, they are a reminder of how close a person can get to his inner self.


The compassionate drum rolls and the intoxicating chants of around two hundred monks were echoed from the deep valleys adjoining the temple. It felt as if these prayers had some unknown control over the swift movements of butterflies or the rustling of pine leaves. What other force of nature could cause such periodic fluttering of wings or the constant swaying of pine trees? Was it the fact that I, being an ardent lover of nature, never gave a sincere notice to these occurrences before?


It was the stillness of the moment that made me realize the splendor of simplest things that surround me.  The tranquility of the place compelled me to notice things that were once oblivious to my eyes.  I took a walk along the premise of the temple, breathing in pleasures that the air carried. I heard tales from their past and read accounts of their religion. Absorbed by the spiritual knowledge, I took the pavement that led back to my hotel.


Later that night, I found myself staring at the emptiness. The brilliance of the day had just dawned on me. Beauty of a higher power was more visible to me than ever before. I found solace.

(first published in Udaipur Times)