Guldasta

Beside Chandratal Lake, HP, India. Aug. 2007.

Our life is not one single journey. It is, rather, many tightly woven journeys which are so deeply interlinked that we may safely view them as a whole.

There is the journey of the body. There is the journey of the mind. There is the journey of the heart.

And it is the journey of the heart that touches our deepest depths. But it is, again, not just one single journey. The heart makes many many journeys and often the roads intersect; the results of one become the baggage of another, and the troubles of one become the gifts of another. Such is the nature of Life.

For the individual and the society, it is the journey of the heart that is vital to existence as a race. From the day we are born we begin these three journeys, and they end only with our demise. But what makes the journey of the heart unique is that it can never exist by itself. The body can exist by itself, the mind can learn without always needing another mind, but the heart is nourished, it’s journey made only with other hearts. A mother makes this journey with her child, a brother makes this journey with his sister, and couples make this journey with each other. It is our hearts that truly make us what we are. The most skilled craftsperson draws his/her inspiration from what emanates from the heart. That emotion is crafted by the skills of their mind and body, but the origin is always the emotion. It could be a painter, a composer, a doctor, or an engineer. It is their *love* for their profession that inspires them to excel. And love is nothing but a vehicle of journey of the heart. Truth be told, the journey of the heart underlines everything we do. It is the root of our happiness and our sorrow. It is the root of our creativity and destructiveness. It is the single most powerful force at our disposal.

Imagine being able to cook very well. But, when you actually cook, you do it because you love doing it. The skill to cook by itself has no pleasure. You acquire the skill to be able to make a journey. The mind then becomes a tool for the heart to accomplish its goal.

And so, it is vital that we recognise that the journey of our life, is essentially the journey of our heart. And I know it means I am now saying that we truly make only one journey. That of the heart.