The language of The Wise Mountain

In search of peace of mind and to enquire the true nature of my own being, I have travelled a lot and have encountered many people on the way. Some people were intelligible, educated and formally understand the human psychological conditioning of this era. Some were uneducated but capable of throwing insights on the nature of their subject. Thus travelling faraway places for a long time, I came to realize that the nature and our being do exist side by side. They coexist for they are actually the different sides of the same coin. I had read Upanisads, Vedas and Puranas of the Hindu tradition and came to those phrases where nature was supplemented with some anthropomorphic ideologue. The Brahman, the Supreme One, is not beyond this ephemeral existence but rather ‘One’ with it. The world is thought to be the mere projection of the Atman, the true self. The mind and the body, thus creating the whole personality; do not exist beyond the objective world, as for their existence; some particular objective form is needed. Those were my thoughts at the time when I met a mystical figure amidst the crowd of the city.

Once, while I was having a cup of tea in a Café in front of Tri Chandra college, I saw a man reading the book, the very one which I was searching for a long time which was out of print and has became a rare one. That antique book was about a certain Mountain of Kathmandu Valley and I had had some interest on that book as the writer of that book was thought to be a saint, an enlightened one actually, who had resided on that very hill till his death and used to keep silent most of the time. He was called Mouni Baba affectionately by his friends and listeners as he never entertained people as his followers or disciples. He used to, according to some people, laugh a lot and speak less. His words were sweet and some people have also declared that his words directly enter into the core of being. Some people had obtained glimpses of inner self in his physical proximity and they had in their own declared themselves as his disciples.

But my interest was on his obsession towards the mountain where he used to reside. I came to know that he was a non-traditional mind and he had no interest on rites and rituals of any tradition. But however he used to say that that mountain has some particular vibration and he used to treat the mountain itself as the Supreme Self. According to some, in this very mountain he had attained altered state of consciousness and whatever he had had to say were taught by the mountain. This has interested me a lot as I had already read some books like Hesse’s Siddhartha or Coelho’s The Alchemist where the nature itself has been teacher to the people. And in the modern time, Raman Maharshi and his relationship with Arunachala is too well known. As a researcher of cultures, myths and religions, I wanted to know much about this obscure philosophical lore but couldn’t as Mouni Baba had already left his body and his only book has been out of print for more than thirty years. So seeing the man with the book that I had wanted for long, I wanted to befriend him and snatch the book as soon as possible from him!

I was observing him minutely. He seemed to be in his late thirties but his hair had already turned snow white. He was wearing white shirt and blue Denim Jeans. With sharp nose and broadened forehead he was really different from others. But that was not all. He had something that other people had not. What was that? I did not know but somehow I knew it already. Is that so? This man has a certain grace on his smile, on his movements of the body. I was thinking in this line when he stood up from the chair and paid the bill in the counter. I also finished my tea.
When I came out of the café, he was gone. I looked around but he had vanished amongst the crowd of the students.

“You want to know about the Mountain, no?” I heard the voice from behind.
Oh, so he is here.
“Yes! But how do you know this for sure?” I asked.
“You were about to snatch the book, hahaha!” I was stunned with his prophetic understanding and belly laugh.
“Everything happens in time, you know my friend. I think today is your time. Come with me.” Saying this he started to walk. A little bit uneasiness was there in me but however I followed him.
When I caught his pace, he smiled towards me and said,” You may call me Mr. M.”. I greeted him.
“How do you come to know my mind? I know certain guesswork is always available to humanity but this much of preciseness I have never seen.”

“Yes! People have discarded their possibilities for a long time. This lopsided civilization has made almost everything miraculous. It is certainly an inference that I knew that you were interested in the book but there is something else that was not only the inference. I have read your vibration, your aura.” I see short mischievous smile in his face.

“My aura! Okay, I do not know how to react in this situation. But being a student of many religious traditions, I have confronted with many written pieces with these kinds of incidents. I do not know Mr. M. if you are joking or not but I am impressed and really I am much more interested to read that book and to know about your relationship with the book.”

“There are many possible answers to your question. If you are comfortable you can say that I had written this book myself long time ago and have come today in this city just to give this book to you knowing that you are the rightful person to have this book. Or, you can say that this book was written for you or I wrote this book keeping you in the mind. Or, you can say that I am the only true proclaimed disciple of Mouni Baba who had initiated me while he was dying and told me to keep the secret of the Mountain intact for the coming generation. Whichever description is good for you, you can choose one. In this moment there is no exact answer to your question.” O my god!! O My god!! This man is insane. I was thinking and felt awkward walking with him.

“Haha! I was just joking. In the spiritual field, these kinds of gossips are frequent.” He told looking into my eyes penetratingly. The truth is that I am the only surviving direct disciple of Mouni Baba. He had ordained three people in his life. Two others have already obtained Mahasamadhi. I am the only one remaining. And it is time about for me to leave this world.”

“Look, if you want truth then you will have to swallow many pills of shocks. In your present state of being not a single answer is sufficient. You are searching for a definite answer to your questions but that is only the search of facts not truth as it is. You have to bear in mind my friend that the fact may be so that none of the above answers are correct but that may be true in some sense. I hope someday you will understand this and will be able to rejoice the life as it is.” By that time we reached to Kasthmandap in Indrachowk. I had no willingness to talk with him. The book had lost the charm but somehow I felt something in his presence which kept me unwilling to leave him too.

“You are right that there is something in the mountain.” Sitting in the Debal of ancient one tree made Temple he continued, “The Mountain is blessed as every being, plants, organic or inorganic life in this world is blessed.”

He gave me the book and said “Look! this is the only teaching of Mouni Baba in the form of written pieces intelligible to human beings. If you cannot grasp what is written in here, you cannot understand your own true Being, the Atman. Mouni Baba only talks about the Atman, nothing else. He talks about love and listening. He talks about Heart and Being. You will have to imbibe this, realize this and embrace the fact as the fact. Stop deluding yourself and listen to the nature. It still has that vibration which is eternal. But promise me that you will destroy this book after reading it. Don’t cling to the words, live with feeling.” I nodded my head.
He left without any other word leaving me behind with the book.

The book is all about the mythology of the history of the creation of that Mountain and the method to understand its message.
That book has transformed me. It has changed my outlook towards the matter and other being in the world. Hatred, jealousy and violence have departed from me and yes now with the practice of the abidance in the heart, I have found Peace; that peace which is eternal and which is already with us. The only point is to recognize it here and now.

It has been more than twelve years since I have met Mr. M. I think he has finished his work in this plane. I really do not miss him now as I have understood the meaning and distinction of fact and truth. And yes I have already burned the book in the auspicious day of Holi last year!

Summary of Mouni Baba’s Book:
The Steepy Mountain as it is known to some is very difficult to climb. There is a legend formed around this mountain. Many are the legends but the one that is more believable is that this mountain once was a wise man living in the plateau of Deep valley some thousands years ago. When the man died, on the deathbed, there visited the other wise men previously dead to welcome him into the other world. The Wiseman with deep eyes, full of compassion, snowy hairs, beard and brows smiled to them and thanked them for their coming.

The wise man thanked them with his full heart and while stepping aside from his body, he stopped for a moment, brooded over some matter and spake thus: ‘O Wise Friends, now has the time come when the cessation of understanding is coming. Men and women will be short lived, dull and will be devoid of understanding of life and Cosmos. I felt like a tremendous surge of Love and compassion towards the coming humanity. So, with the inspiration of the almighty eternal and if you permit me, I would love to stay here eternally till the new dawn of understanding become possible to the upcoming humanity.’

Saying this, the sage sat down on the seat of his meditation. The other Wise praised him for his omnipresent consciousness and blessed him with love this way: ‘ O wisest of all, the Dharma is under your guard and love is your seat. The posture of your eternal being is not touched by any outward conditions. Your being is the eternal being and one with the eternal One. You are the One. So the thought thus emerged from you has already become the divine one.  You are like a mountain with the height that touches the sky and become one with the sky. So be like the mountain and show the path to the coming humanity.’ Thus saying they departed. Then and there the wise one melted and formulated the ephemeral body into the huge shape of mountain and trees and flowers and birds and wild animals and hundreds of creatures; flora and fauna.
In the first millennium after his metamorphosis, the Steepy Mountain used to talk with the villagers and passersby. They used to hear, understand and communicate with him. He used to share his eternal knowledge of life and cosmos and thus about God with them. Many ignorant people used to turn into wise one with his presence. But after the end of second millennium, there in the consciousness of the people the new area of knowledge emerges in the name of sports, science and recreation and thus the new civilization started to hover around the consciousness of people. The new civilization demands for progress of external objective situation in the human mind. People started to ponder on how and what life could be rather than swim in their center. The progress mongering mind thus formed cities and roads and carriages and theatre and many forms and branches of arts and science. Slowly people started to forget the old Mountain and newer generation started to cease to understand his language. Sometimes, some city dwellers used to come to the mountain. The old one used to speak but the people didn’t understand him. When their being level has been changed they ceased to understand him. His voice has become a whisper in the form of air and breeze of the leaves and grasses and the tender dew drops.

Some people used to be stroked with the beauty of the mountain and its habitats and used to come and dwell there for some time. Sometimes they become overwhelmed with the rising of the sun and the chirping of the birds and the breeze coming from the old trees. There were some people who used to weep and embrace some plants when they were in the contemplative moods but these incidents had become rare.
There were certain tribes and people with heart who could still understand his language but they have become backward tribes and civilization. They were unable to make others understand that the mountain could speak. Sometimes, in the form of sociological investigators, some city people used to come to those tribesmen and used to do ‘research’ on their lifestyle, foods, religion and other details. They would be amazed with the simplicity of their life and would unknowingly laugh when they would say that they could talk and receive higher messages from the ‘God Mountain’. That would be news to the city dwellers and many nightclubs would be filled with the talks of these simple, uncivilized and wretched tribesmen and their ignorance.

The Wise Mountain is the same for many more thousand years. But the sensitivity of people has changed a lot. People’s language has been of the mind. People have discarded their millions of possibilities and dwells and imbibe only one message centre- the centre of mind. It is still said that if anybody opens his heart, if anybody starts to live from his heart he can understand the language of the wise mountain and the wise one can bestow deep understanding and knowledge about the life and the cosmos which each one is searching for their whole life. But the language is different.

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