One with the Universe!

Certain situations and few happenings since last one year have moved me in some way. If I look back to myself exactly one year back, I was a completely different person. Looking back to me, one year back and today, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that the two images are like oil and water. At times, I have been wondering (while writing this) should I post it on my blog?

(made up my mind)

I have always read about cosmic oneness and have happened to believe a lot of theories on cosmic oneness, its meaning and the meaning of life and I certainly don’t expect you to believe what I am about to write. And why I believe in it still remains a secret, all I can say is that I could “feel” the cosmic oneness and how everything in this universe is connected. My experience is probably the smallest fragment of this cosmic oneness theory, yet I want to express it, although an experience cannot be express in words I believe. It can be only felt and experienced. The reason behind expressing my feeling is that I want to know if there is anyone out there who felt the same at some point or someone who cannot agree more to this. Am I the only one?

On a beautiful dark morning, I was just looking outside my window. What I saw wasn’t just the usual roadside scene. I was watching at the world through just a window from my house. Cynical, right? I observed a group of IT employees who were waiting for their bus to arrive for a morning office pick-up, senior citizens sitting on a bench with opened newspapers covering their faces and kids waiting for their school bus. I observed one of the IT employees waving her hand continuously and it made me “think”. A man who was reading a newspaper “heard” the temple bells ringing. After few more minutes (in which he must have “thought”) – he went inside the temple and prayed. And while I was watching at the world through my window, I realized how every action (not necessarily physical) has an effect in this cosmic world.

The IT woman who waved her hand got my attention and affected my mind since I started thinking about what was she doing. Few people who were ringing bells of the temple affected the thought process of the man with newspaper and his thoughts made him visit the temple and pray. The kids affected my sub conscious mind and made me think of my younger sister who waits for her school bus every morning, back in my hometown. And when I told this to my friend, how his energies started thinking deeply about what I felt.

I said, “So do you see how everything is connected? Every action of a person directly or indirectly affected some one else’s action/mind/thoughts/mood. And can you feel the infinity of this chain of matter affecting other matter?”

Our minds are programmed to ask for a scientific explanation behind everything. So I did not blame him when he asked me a scientific reason behind it. I am not much of a science person although I know the basics of physical sciences. I started thinking of an explanation, a scientific one. I knew what I thought did make sense but my mind tossed as I thought of some scientific words to describe the phenomenon of “everything is connected”.

After few minutes, this is what I said: What I experienced was an infinite chain of matter, which is connected to each other, in which, every single action (not necessarily physical), affects the rest of the infinite chain of matter, directly or indirectly. And this exactly made me feel how the entire Universe is connected and the infinity of this chain of matter. Any kind of energy used by any matter affects the all the energies in the cosmic world.

This means that even when you are reading this right now your energies are affecting the giant ocean of energies in the entire Universe. When you are reading this right now, and using your energy to read this, your mind is working, your moods are changing and any person who talks to you after this, you might have a different perception about “talking” to him and that might definitely affect his thought process and the infinite chain goes on. On the contrary, this might not happen with you, but something else, try searching for a connection and you will find how everything is connected. All is One, indeed!

This experience has totally changed my perception about the Universe. When I talk of Universe now, I believe, it starts with me! The chain of matter starts with me. I should do good deeds for the mankind to make sure this chain does good too. My mind is at peace ever since I felt this phenomenon. But the curiosity still resides within me. Have you ever felt this way or am I the only One?

(Please share in your comments for this article as this is one if the most important articles I’ve ever written. Please feel free to criticize if you do not agree with my views. All is One!)

☮ Peace ☮

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My Last Evening in Srinagar, Kashmir

The reason why I wasn’t writing about my last night in Srinagar, is the fact that I don’t want to recall it. I’m re-living my journey through my travelogue and every time I write it, a part of me is found travelling in the woods and mountains of Kashmir. I don’t want my journey to end this time, through my travelogue, but I have new things to write about too. So what makes me write this today? The sudden mood swing! Damn, I feel the same today, like I felt on the last night in Srinagar – yes, no matter how weird that sounds, the mood is what made me write this today. Crazy whims, I wonder!

May 18, 2010. 3.30pm: It was raining heavily the entire day in Srinagar and since I was aware of the last day, my wander lust just didn’t seem to have got enough of the place. I had read of Rozabal in one of the books by Osho and was curious to visit the shrine in the downtown Srinagar. Rozabal is a shrine in Srinagar where Jesus Christ is believed to have been buried. It is believed that Jesus Christ survived the crucifixion and came to Kashmir, India, where he lived last years of his life and finally died in Srinagar, where he is believed to have been buried and have even left a bloodline in that region. When a friend of mine told me about the place and its directions the same morning, my curiosity was eating me up from within. I was told by many locals that it isn’t a safe place to go, but I blamed my itchy feet and went on to explore. The place seemed a lot difficult to find at first and when I did, it wasn’t much of a pleasant experience. I found kids, barely 8 years old, who were agitated to see me trespass their “territory”. I saw the shrine, closely and wondered whether all those stories about Jesus living in India were true. I made up my mind to research over it later. I read what is written on a board just above the shrine. Photography was strictly not allowed. I do not remember the lines as they are, but it did mean something that was sure to ignite fires of controversies. I would have to read a book and research more deeply to write anything about Rozabal. Many books like The Rozabal Line and The Lost Years of Jesus explain many related stories. I was just fulfilled enough to have been able to visit the most mysterious place known to me and moved on carrying a thousand thoughts in my mind.

May 18, 2010. 5.30pm: The typical woman inside me was yelling by now and wanted to make the most of shopping in Kashmir! It was undoubtedly the most beautiful evening of all –yes, I was being partial since it was my last evening by the Boulevard. The Dal Gate Road was full of street hawkers selling Kashmiri handicrafts made of Papier Mache. Every single artefact stands out with its vibrant explosion of Indian hues and intricate Mughal designs. I loved walking down the road aimlessly while the rest of the world around me continued to run. The sun didn’t wait to set, the shikaras didn’t stop floating and the shops didn’t stop selling. The world moved on every second as I walked aimlessly on the road, exploring each shop and trying to touch everything that caught my eye! I shopped like a total shopaholic with full-on bargaining power! The still waters of Dal Lake had began to reflect the street lights around, the house boats had began to gear up for another candle-lit dinner for the evening, the shikaras were carrying newly arrived tourists to their reserved house boats, as the sky turned dark. And I knew, as I leave, someone else like me would come here, explore the place, indulge in the slowness, ride horses up to 14,000 feet, listen to the sound of waters that the oar of shikara pushes, travel the less travelled roads that lead to Himalayas, discover true romance in the Mughal Gardens, watch the green carpets of Gulmarg, and simply live a part of their lives in the land of Kashmir.


I did not know whether the Kashmir euphoria was rising up within me or was the sadness of saying a final goodbye, faded my euphoria of the place. Whatever it would have been, it sure was one beautiful sad evening. I discovered that this place had moved me, in a way that I could never be the same again. I wanted to live the moment forever and never wanted to go back to where I belonged. Kashmir is a powerful beauty and it sure had cast a spell on me. It made me think beyond the commercial world. The spell it put on me had a name and I called it the spell of simplicity. I wanted to surrender myself to the euphoric Kashmir. I am still under the same spell and living in the afterglow.

Creative Commons LicenseAV's Avilicious by Avanika Mote is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.

Pahalgam Pictures

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KASHMIR EUPHORIA - Part Three (Sonmarg)

A month back, same date, same time, I was in the heaven and they call it Sonmarg in Kashmir. I’m amazed at how time passes when it’s not working in your favor. A month feels like a year without what I fell in love with – Kashmir. But time moves on, and so does life.

We left Sonmarg around 9.30am and on my way, I was listening to few songs that are really close to my heart. The journey till Sonmarg is so full of beauty; I couldn’t move my head a single time! The River Sindh defines a different shade of blue altogether and the flow of water sounds like a million waterfalls are hurling down from the heaven itself!

Just a few kilometers before Sonmarg, there is a small park by the roadside on the right. A perfect spot, to stop by, indulge and waste some time doing nothing is what this park offers. Located right on the shore of Sindh River, it gives you a perfect feel of what I call, closest to nature. The entrance of the park is a wooden bridge located on the River Sindh, look down once, I suggest, and you will feel the power of purity, I guarantee!

To be brutally honest, I never wanted to cross the bridge and let go of the feeling I had while on the bridge! The unexplainable feeling of standing on the bridge – overlooking the gigantic flow of water, the sound of which numbs your ears and the water that can freeze you inside out – was mind blowing. You can see the Himalayan range chasing the sky high heights all around you and I was lucky enough to see them snow-clad that morning! The Himalayas looked magnificent in white and looked picturesque every time I followed their height to reach to the peaks that kissed the clear blue sky.

I went inside the park and it reminded me of the pastures in Gulmarg. I felt like I was blindfolded with a green cloth, yet again, only this time, I was surrounded by snow clad mountains and pine trees that got me bewitched. I had never seen so many colors of nature at one place at the same time – the blue sky, kissed by White Mountains, the Green pine slopes, the Aqua Blue waters of Sindh, the multicolored stones in the river, the Brown wood tree barks and the endless stretches of green pastures inside the park! Holy God, for a moment, I was spellbound and open-mouthed!

We spent an hour or so in the park. A small café inside offers tea, coffee, and the Indian staple food – Maggi noodles! I recommend sheer indulgence inside the park, and I’m sure you know by now, what I mean by the indulgence, the slowness of it, so close to nature.

We reached Sonmarg in a short time. The moment I got down from the car, I breathed the first air of Sonmarg – the land of Gold! And trust me; it did feel as if the air is Gold! I know how weird that sounds, what matters is how it feels and not how it sounds – that’s the catch. I really cannot explain in words, how I felt by just looking around. I could never imagine a place on Earth that would put a spell on me, by just looking around it – Sonmarg confirms it.

It seemed like a pair of eyes wasn’t enough to look around the beauty, a pair of ears wasn’t enough to listen to the sound of wind and river water. Words felt short and few sensations I lost…Four directions and three dimensions weren’t enough for this place to exist, simply exist.

So, I am leaving you with only pictures of the land of Gold. Try looking at them from my eyes and leave in your response. I know, words will be a little difficult to find! A month later, I am still enchanted, popeyed and wonder-struck.

Creative Commons LicenseAV's Avilicious by Avanika Mote is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.

Sonmarg Pictures

Creative Commons LicenseAV's Avilicious by Avanika Mote is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.