Commitment: the many ways of reminding about it

In a manner of speaking, life is all about commitment. It is commitment that brings in determination to do otherwise difficult tasks. It is interesting, sometimes, to see this principle reinforced at the most unusual of the places.

I was camping with a group of friends at Kanatal, further up of Mussouri and Dhanolti, at a camp site called Wildex. Managed by a group of youngsters, the place provides excellent outdoor activities and well built swiss type camps to sleep. At 8000 feet above mean sea level, surrounded by pine trees, it is a good place for group activity. Many a times the clouds come kissing.

One of the activities was a trek to a nearby temple Surkundadevi. It is at about a height of about 10,000 ft above MSL (9,995 to be precise) about 7 kms from the camp (much less as the crow flies).  The place is a steep climb of 2000 feet from where the road ends to over about 2 kms. The base is about midway between Dhanolti and Kanatal, and you wont miss it as you see a large number of pilgrim’s cars parked by. Even at the base level, the elevation being 8000 ft, and surrounded by lush greenery of the surrounding mountain slopes. The place is picturesque, even if you do not want to go up to the temple, for the religiously minded there is enough to worship.

However, a large number of people prefer to trek up. There is a steep climb through concrete paved walkway which may have an average gradient of 30 degree, which at places becomes a steep 45 degree climb. As you go up the view from becomes more spectacular. Each step you go up, you are rewarded by the scenic beauty around. At the same time your body is tested to the limits, your leg muscles hurt, your lungs remind you that you are stretching yourself. As you watch the pilgrims pant their way up, many thoughts cross your mind. Pilgrims of all ages are climbing. I see a young couple holding their baby in their hands and walking up. There are old people, who otherwise find it difficult to walk two kilometers on plane road, climbing up the steps and the incline. They are all committed to climb up and fuelled by their religious beliefs. I had another pure trekker with me who was trekking for the scenic beauty and not for religious reasons. It gave us a chance to chat up about the indirect way in which religion lets people see new things they haven’t seen before.

If you don't climb those difficult steps you wont see the beauty. Why is it that most temples are built on hill tops, in otherwise inaccessible places? Yet lots of people visit. The more inaccessible the more committed people become. Take the case of Sabarimala in southern India. In addition to being inaccessible, requiring a trek through tiger infested forest of Western Ghats, the beliefs demand that the pilgrims observe a 45 days strict fast of vegetarian diet, abstinence and penance and travel through a difficult route. Vaishnavo Devi temple near Jammu which requires an arduous trek in the inhospitable terrain of high altitude Himalayas is another example. Similar is the case of Hemkunt Sahib, a Sikh Gurudwara located way up in the Himalaya. In all these places you will find most unusual of peoples, old, physically challenged, those with small kids in hand trekking up hills that others dare not to and so on. They all share a determination to see their God or follow the faith they believe in. Commitment brings in a rare determination that propels people to do such otherwise impossible tasks.

In all these places religion reminds people of one basic tenet of life. Commitment! It is commitment that drives people on all these difficult terrains. It is a religious way of reminding people that life is about commitment.

One basic common theme that links all successful people is the commitment to the cause, which they espouse. Commitment brings in a determination. A resolve and steel. Such determination is the key to success, in any walk of life. Innovation demands commitment.

Through the difficult treks that it puts on their pilgrims way, religion reminds them once again that life is all about commitment and determination.