Masters and mystique of Himalayas in Namita Gokhale's ‘Mystics and Sceptics’

Raaja Bhasin

THE day the review copy arrived and the envelope was left to be opened later, was the day I attended an exposition on the Indian-Hungarian avant-garde artist Amrita Sher-Gil. This was at the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi. There was a guided tour through the gallery that holds many of her paintings. Adjoining this are the rooms that display works of the Russian émigré, Nicholas Roerich. That gallery was empty, silent and the opportunity was simply too good to pass. One was able to spend a long time in solitude, not just looking at and unhurriedly admiring the paintings, but also sought to fathom, in one’s own limited understanding, the layers and depths of creation that lay in them. Back home, the envelope with the book revealed the dust-jacket of ‘Mystics and Sceptics: In Search of Himalayan Masters’ with a picture of Roerich’s painting entitled ‘Pearl of Searching’. The editor of this anthology is Namita Gokhale, who hardly needs an introduction to India’s English-speaking readers. The book had not yet been opened but the bar had already been set high.

From one essay to the other, this collection of 25 chapters varies substantially in subject matter. However, the essence of the theme remains. Each takes an aspect of religion, faith, spirituality, brushes with the ‘other world’ or even plain old fraud draped in divinity. The length of each also varies between a few pages and several. The writers are also diverse — spiritual beings, diplomats, journalists, authors, initiates and the disillusioned. Some are seekers, some are sceptics; many are both.

There are first-person accounts where traveller and writers like Alexandra David-Neel speak of their adventures. Another, by scholar Makarand Paranjpe, traces Swami Vivekananda’s travels in the Himalayas. The much-loved and much-read Swami Paramhansa Yogananda writes of the time when, as a child, he wished to run away into the mountains. Former civil servant Sujata Prasad retraces the journeys of the formidable polymath and polyglot Rahul Sankritayan, who established benchmarks of scholarship and seeking while being a sceptic. Rajiv Mehrotra interviews the 13th Dalai Lama, and the transcript contains questions and answers that many of us ask — like, reincarnation and transmigration of the soul. Navtej Sarna brings us the sojourns of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh. The volume’s editor, Namita Gokhale, movingly writes of being blessed and transformed by the enigmatic Neem Karoli Baba and by Siddhi Ma. Ramola Butalia speaks of the Siddha traditions, Madhu Tandon of letting go, Biyoya Sawian of divination and Alka Pande of the Devi. In all these chapters, each has been prepared by someone as distinguished as the other, and if their names are missing here, it is only for want of space.

One of the most interesting chapters is Tsering Dondrup’s novella, ‘The Handsome Monk’, which has been translated into English by Christopher Peacock. From the esoteric to the obvious, this is a careful selection that can only be made by someone who has walked and continues to walk many paths. The book reflects the character of the Himalayas that has many forms and hidden depths in its endless heights. For some, it is a formidable frontier and for others, the home of divine revelation.

As Namita Gokhale recounts being told, “The gods come to us in many disguises. They may come to you with a boon, or they may leave you with a curse if you do not conduct yourself in the right way.” Something similar may be said of books that pass our hands. This is an anthology to be read by every person interested in this magnificent mountain system, in divinity, or in religion; it is also for the one who questions and even dismisses it all. Savour the lines and read them well.