Page 7 - Seniorstoday September 2022 Issue

importance of acclimatisation, I thought though I took the returnable down-jacket
it prudent to get in a day earlier at 4500
feet from our sea level in Mumbai - I
would be touching 16400 feet in less than
a week. Acetazolamide (Diamox) 125 mg
twice daily began from one day prior to
departure - strict instructions from the Isha
Medical team. The intensive medicals that
all of us were put through were a lesson in
high-altitude travel - play safe rather than
be sorry - this was not Isha Travels and
Tours (that doesn’t exist) - this was Isha’s
Kailash Yatra - a pilgrimage in the true
sense. This pilgrimage has been happening
for the past 12000 years, and not with the
type of hiking shoes and down-jackets we
Roshan Jeswani have for sure! This pilgrimage is not about
any religion. Religion and prayers became
fashionable in India only about 700 to
800 years ago - Sadhguru does believe that
many of our problems have arisen because
of religion - he says go to Kailash simply as
a human. Food enters our bodies and gets
digested and ‘becomes us’ because we are
essentially humans, and not because we
belong to any particular religion.
The Radisson Hotel has always been
geared for Sadhguru’s groups
Dr Sujeet Rajan
The Radisson Hotel
On Thursday, August 25 evening, we were
all given name tags, our complimentary
duffel bags and backpacks, and a down-
jacket on a returnable basis. I must say that
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #39 | SEPTEMBER 2022
(which remained largely packed away
in my duffel bag), I wore my Columbia
down-jacket (lent to me by my younger
brother who had done Tromso in it) - he
mentioned it could weather minus 20
degrees Celsius easily and would adapt to
external temperature - it was extremely
light and would strongly recommend
this jacket to future pilgrims though a bit
expensive - weight matters when you travel
like this, and immensely. The entire group
then got to know each other better in the
evening and our team leader Amit Anna
(everyone in Isha groups calls each other
Anna or Akka based on gender) set the
ball rolling. He mentioned he would now
take charge and we would need to listen
and follow instructions from hereon - an
outstanding Satsang followed by tying of
an Abhaya Sutra to everyone’s forearm - to
ward off evils and help fulfill ambitions
on this pilgrimage. There was a sense of
excitement that evening as we had an early
dinner and proceeded to bed early.
Sadhguru told us that you don’t go to
Kailash as a doctor, entrepreneur, engineer,
banker, teacher etc. You go after dissolving
yourself completely. Making a living is not
difficult - any human can do it - but making
a life is what this life of ours is all about.
On my deathbed, I want to feel that this life
was worthwhile in every respect. So, live
your life thinking if every day was truly
worthwhile.
Day 2
The next day we were up at 3.30 am, ready
for a guru pooja at 4.30 am, and left for
the airport to take an ATR aircraft flight to
Nepalganj. I always felt the ATR aircraft
was just too small to travel in - after
travelling onwards from Nepalganj, I felt
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