Will we make it? That's the question Kavitha and her cousin, Pallu, ask themselves as they trek through Himalayan pine forests and unforgiving mountains in Nepal and Tibet. Their goal: to reach Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar. The two women walk to ancient monasteries, meditate on freezing slopes, dance on the foothills of Kailash, and confront death in the thin mountain air. In Kailash and Manasarovar, the holiest of Hindu and Buddhist sites, they struggle to reconcile their rationalist views with faith and the beloved myths of their upbringing. Remarkably, it is this journey that helps them discover the meaning of friendship. Walking in Clouds is a beautifully crafted memoir of a journey to far-away places and to the places within. It mixes lyrical, descriptive storytelling with stunning photographs to bring to life a unique travelogue.

Description of regions around Kailas Mountain and Manasarowar Lake in China, pilgrimage centers.

Kailash and Manasarovar: A Quest Beyond the Himalaya delves into mythology and the experience of travellers and pilgrims through the centuries to depict what Kailash has meant to peoples through the ages, and how its influence has permeated literature and great achievements in architecture. The text includes descriptions of three journeys undertaken over twenty-one years, both along the traditional pilgrim route from India over the Lipu Pass and across Tibet.

An Audience with God at Mount Kailash: A True Story grounds its account of the journey of the author, Davinder Bhasin, to the Abode of Lord Shiva upon personal experience and a summary of insights from trusted external sources. The narrative begins by exploring a basic human question that invites all on a quest for truth: Does God exist? An exploration of Shiva, the Lord of Kailash, follows and then finds its context in a review of the mountains place in culture and history. With this background in location, the author reveals the details of the two audiences God gave to him and his family. Rooted in the experiences of these pilgrimages, the next sections provide readers with guidance for planning and making their own journeys to Mount Kailash. In addition, a brief history of Tibet, the home of Mount Kailash, provides further resources for appreciating the natural and human history associated with this sacred mountain. An Audience with God at Mount Kailash: A True Story will enlighten and inform all who contemplate seeking to experience an encounter with God. It also provides an intimate portrait of the spiritual journey of a man and his family, offering their story as a guide for others as they travel the worlds pathways to seek God for themselves.

This book, a sequel to the bestseller Autobiography of an Avadhoota, covers memorable experiences of Avadhoota Nadananda’s childhood and his later life as a sanyasi (renunciate monk), Guru, Avadhoota and a social worker. The reader travels with him as he determinedly journeys through the vicissitudes of his early life, climbing the lofty peaks of the Himalayas to Gyanganj, the land of the Avadhootas, sharing his overflowing joy in serving fellow human beings and eventually finding his successor. It outlines the multifaceted life of Avadhoota Nadananda through his memories as an Avadhoota with a vision, a sadhaka (spiritual practitioner) with a mission, a dreaming social activist with great love for the world, a guru with experiences to share, and a human being who only wanted to see his fellow beings live in eternal harmony and mutual love. Welcome to the journey of a lifetime that takes us through the mind and life of a simple man, a staunch spiritualist, a man of uncanny tenacity and conviction, a super human, a complete disciple who never asked his Master “WHY?”. The exceptional story of a living master, Avadhoota Nadananda. The Man. The Vulnerability. The Tenacity. The Determination. The Grace. The Purpose. The Miseries. The Masters! "A Masterpiece beyond definitions! The journey of a thinking man into the unthinkable realms of true spirituality, guided by his powerful guru, chiseled through unforgiving lifestyles in the toughest terrains of Himalayas, to great heights of superconscious existence! A modern-day epic. A must-read indeed" - Mohanji

Hailed as a "wondrous book" by Gretel Ehrlich, and winner of the Kekoo Naoroji Book Award for Himalayan Literature—a journey of healing that becomes a pilgrimage for the soul. Stephen Alter was raised by American missionary parents in the hill station of Mussoorie, in the foothills of the Himalayas, where he and his wife, Ameeta, now live. Their idyllic existence was brutally interrupted when four armed intruders invaded their house and viciously attacked them, leaving them for dead. The violent assault and the trauma of almost dying left him questioning assumptions he had lived by since childhood. For the first time, he encountered the face of evil and the terror of the unknown. He felt like a foreigner in the land of his birth. This book is his account of a series of treks he took in the high Himalayas following his convalescence—to Bandar Punch (the monkey’s tail), Nanda Devi, the second highest mountain in India, and Mt. Kailash in Tibet. He set himself this goal to prove that he had healed mentally as well as physically and to re-knit his connection to his homeland. Undertaken out of sorrow, the treks become a moving soul journey, a way to rediscover mountains in his inner landscape. Weaving together observations of the natural world, Himalayan history, folklore and mythology, as well as encounters with other pilgrims along the way, Stephen Alter has given us a moving meditation on the solace of high places, and on the hidden meanings and enduring mystery of mountains.

Tibet’s Mount Kailas is one of the world’s great pilgrimage centres, renowned as an ancient sacred site that embodies a universal sacrality. But Kailas Histories: Renunciate Traditions and the Construction of Himalayan Sacred Geography demonstrates that this understanding is a recent construction by British colonial, Hindu modernist, and New Age interests. Using multiple sources, including fieldwork, Alex McKay describes how the early Indic vision of a heavenly mountain named Kailas became identified with actual mountains. He emphasises renunciate agency in demonstrating how local beliefs were subsumed as Kailas developed within Hindu, Buddhist, and Bön traditions, how five mountains in the Indian Himalayan are also named Kailas, and how Kailas sacred geography constructions and a sacred Ganges source region were related.

Kailash – The Heart and Soul of Tibet There are few places on Earth comparable to the mysterious, stunningly beautiful and completely isolated Mt Kailash, which lies well hidden in a remote and deserted region of western Tibet. In order to understand the importance of holy Mt Kailash it is necessary to know that it is considered the legendary abode of the gods. One circle around the mountain (54 km) is symbolically one revolution of the wheel of life or the cycle from birth to death. This, simultaneously, brings about the purification and forgiveness of all sins committed in this lifetime. This is the land of the Sun. In this spot I started to understand the difference between the world that I was coming from and the one that was standing before me. This is without doubt the most beautiful spot on Earth. This is Shambala! These were moments of great happiness, when all the struggles of travelling are forgotten and replaced by sheer joy. This is the physical and spiritual climax of the pilgrimage because the Drolma La pass is considered the most holy spot on the trail and arrival there marks the beginning of a completely new life.

In modern societies, enhancing the quality of our life has become one of our main objectives. In this pursuit, we tend to emphasize on enhancing external situations, our job, business, family and the abounding accumulation of material things; in spite of all the efforts, our personal and professional lives are too often painfully lacking happiness and fulfillment. In this volume, Sadhguru shifts our focus to the inside, pointing out a way to establish a true sense of inner peace and wellbeing by applying "Inner Management."