Reflections of an unknown SriVaishnavan at Giza

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Dear friends,

 

This piece is not on any great matter of 'siddhAntam' or

'sampradAyam'. It is a mini-travelogue. It is a rather personal

reflection, nothing more, nothing less.

 

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A couple of weeks I was in Cairo, Egypt for a few days and seized the

opportunity to visit the Great Pyramids of Al-Giza and Saqqara.

 

The monumental pyramids of the Giza are 3 in number. To this day they

rank as one of the world's greatest wonders whose glory and grandeur

remain unsurpassed by lesser monuments, past and present. The first

is the great pyramid of the pharoah king Khufu whom the ancient

Greeks called "Cheops". The second, and only slightly smaller one, is

a few kilometers away from the first and is the great pyramid of

Khufu's heir, the pharoah king, Khafre. And the third one too, not

far from the second, is known as the Pyramid of Menkaure, the son of

Khafre.

 

These great pyramids of Giza are only 3 amongst almost a 100 others

of lesser stature and fame known today to have survived 4000 and more

years of history. They stand now dotting the vast lands of Egypt,

from Aswan to Alexandria, through which the great River Nile flows.

 

The sight of the Giza pyramids is a sight for the gods, indeed! They

truly take one's breath away. The pyramid of Khufu is a massive

structure of 3.5 million blocks of ageless limestone. Each block

weighs an average of 2.5 tons although some weigh as much as 30 to 60

tons each! The pyramid rises majesticaly, an awesome monolith in the

desert, hovering straight above the bright, shimmering sands of the

barren pharoanic landscape -- 481 ft into the clear azure skies

(almost twice the height of the 'rajagOpuram' of our SriRangam

temple); and it stretches for 751 feet on each side covering a

massive area of 564,000 sq.ft (bigger than any 'prAkAra' I have seen

back home in India). It simply dwarfs and overwhelms everything in

its vicinity by sheer size and presence....

 

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For 4500 long years since the Giza was built, the pyramid of Khufu

has weathered everything that Time or History has thrown at it. It

has survived floods, earthquakes, violent sand-storms and plague. It

has stood witness to some of the greatest epochal events of the world

ever since the dawn of human history -- wars, invasions, upheavals

and vandals. It is said Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon have all in their

own times stood at its feet and marvelled at this ancient edifice.

Historians, travellers, archealogists, artists of every generation

have been captivated, even mesmerized, by the unfading magic of

Giza... It is an an old Arab saying: "The world fears Time; yet Time

fears the pyramids".

 

On a strangely quiet and dustless summer forenoon in May 2003,

beneath a cloudless sky with brilliant Egyptian sunshine raining down

the melancholy sand-dunes of a Giza skyline, I too, like some unknown

traveller of the past, stood silently watching the great Pyramid of

Khufu ... taking in its ageless mystique, ruminating its distant

legends and tales, feebly trying to unravel what has remained ever

un-raveled, trying to understand what has yet been barely understood

-- in other words, what to this day remains the inscrutable

immortality of the Giza.

 

******* ********* ********

 

It is not only by its physical magnificence that Khufu's pyramid

deeply stirs one's soul.

 

The pharoanic Egyptians deeply believed in an after-life awaiting the

human spirit. In this they were quite like all great religions of the

world that went before and after the Nile civilization. The Vedic

religion, Christianity, Buddhism, Islam -- all do postulate an

after-life. The after-life these faiths speak about is the after-life

of the soul ('atmA') alone. The body ('dEha-sarIra'), according to

these faiths, is abandoned by the soul ('atmA') before it embarks

upon the onward journey into the heavenly realms. The pharoanic faith

however differs from this view. The Egyptians believed death did not

necessarily render the body useless for the purposes of the soul.

They believed that in the journey of the after-life, no less than in

the soul's earthly sojourn, the spirit ('atmA') continues to employ

the body ('sarIra') as its vehicle.

 

The unique phraonic practice of preserving the mortal remains of

their great kings was founded precisely on the above belief. When a

great king like Khufu or Djoser died their bodies were meticulously

embalmed and entombed according to ancient, esoteric rites of

mummification. (They even deified a god of mummification whom they

called 'Annabis'). These elaborate rites and processes took about 70

days. The corpse was then placed inside an ornate vault (like the

famous Tomb of Tutankhamen - 110 kgs of solid gold!). All the dead

king's personal effects too were buried alongside the sarcophagus

since it was believed that every item of daily use in this world

would be needed to continue serving the king in his journey across

the other-world. And thus it was that, in the tomb of Tutankhamen

when it came to be excavated centuries later, historians found all

manner of royal treasures inside the great pyramid --- regal

wardrobe, great thrones, chariots, palanquins, priceless jewels,

boats and oars, and even 365 little iconic replicas made of finest

alabaster, representing a king's personal courtiers, royal servants

and retinue who would render unto the king -- every single day of the

year! -- all manner of services befitting a king even in the

other-world!

 

It was thus that everything that had been put inside the great Giza

4500 years ago -- the mummy, the sarcophagus, the tomb and all kinds

of royal paraphernalia -- everything was found intact in exactly the

same condition as perhaps it had been first placed! It became a

marvel and a wonder the world had never witnessed before! It was as

though through their great pyramids, the ancient Egyptians had

virtually bade Time and Eternity to stand frozen and still! The Giza

was not only an architectural marvel; more importantly, it was also a

bold statement of a metaphysical idea of towering proportions. What

idea? The idea that, after all, Time can be conquered by Man. It was

the seed of this idea, the human conception of the pyramid as it

first arose, germinated and then sprouted in the minds of the ancient

Egyptians, and which eventually inspired and gave birth to those

towering tombs we see today in Giza... it is the idea itself that is

indeed far more arresting and overpowering than the monument's

physical presence.

 

Khufu's pyramid truly leaves us wondering again and again... and yet

again: "What and why and whither did the Egyptian pharoah conceive

the pyramid? What motivation, what soul-force was it that made whole

generations of common Egytian quarry-workers, artisans and sculptors

toil away a large part of their individual lives helping to erect

these massive temples for their dead kings? What larger and innermost

aspiration of the human soul is it of which these pyramids are but

outward expressions? Were these great tombs of the Pharoah kings

built only to symbolize Man's defiance in the face of Death? Or were

they meant to be Man's humble acknowledgement of the immemoriality of

Time eternal?"

 

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For a casual visitor like me who came from an altogether different

part of the world, and from a distinctly distant cultural i.e. Vedic

background, feelings towards the great Pyramids of Giza can be quite

unexpectedly mixed.

 

Though marvel and reverence did predominate my feelings, I could not

however suppress a vague sense of distaste arising in me as I stood

witnessing the spectacle of Giza. Grand and glorious as the pyramid

truly was, I could not help thinking, the prime purpose to which it

had been put to use by the ancient Egyptians, was "prEta-samskAra" --

i.e. the pyramid essentially represented a funereal institution. And

to my Vedic sensitivity Giza really belonged in the "smushAna-bhUmi"

-- a graveyard or a crematorium where the last remains of

"deha-sarIra" are confined and a wholly unfit and inauspicious

("asoucham") place for any human purpose from every Vedic

viewpoint...

 

The true Vedic adherent has indeed no use or regard at all for the

Body after the Soul has left it. It is the 'atmA', not the 'dEha',

which is eternal and timeless. Yet, the hallowed quality of

timeless-ness, (the quality of "anantham" as it is known in Vedantic

parlance), that quality of eternity which the majestic pyramids seek

to symbolize... it is, after all, associated with the Body of an

ancient pharoah king... isn't it? And hence how could I, a Vedic

follower, stand here atop the dry and barren desert of the

Giza-plateau and gaze with awe and wonder at the tomb of Khufu....?

 

Back in my hotel room that evening, I could not resist the urge to

quickly get into a cold-shower and rub myself down thoroughly in a

bath. Deep down in my heart I felt pulled by some strong, nagging and

atavistic Vedic sentiment to go and get myself an ablution... and

quickly perform a few score spirit-cleansing "sandhyA-gayatri-japa".

Or else, I feared, the defilement of the graveyard --- in other

words, the "asowcham" of the "smushAnam" I had somehow, either

rightly or wrongly, begun to associate with the Great Pyramid of Giza

--- that particularly magnificent defilement (or "theetu") would

never rub off me!

 

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Every evening at the site of the Giza Pyramids they hold what has now

become a world-renowned "Sound-and-Light show". This show has now

become a fabulous tourist attraction -- an "absolute must" -- for

anybody visiting Egypt. Under the open twilight sky and amidst the

ancient monuments, this show employs modern technology ---

laser-lights, holograms, pychedelic ray-beams and stereophonic

sound-bites --- to present the magnificent pyramids, the Sphinx and

the pharoanic Valley Temple at Giza under splendorous arc-lights,

sound and colour.

 

In spite of the previous day's Vedic misgivings about visiting a

"smushAna-bhUmi", I found myself once again attracted by the magnetic

pull the sight of the great Giza exerts on anyone's mind. And before

I could say "dEha-sarira" (or "prEta-samskAra"!), I found myself once

again seated at the foot of the Khufu pyramid, enveloped by a silent,

gathering twilight. I gazed long again at the looming hulk of the

ancient relic. I sat utterly transfixed, humbled in way I could

scarcely explain to myself, enchanted by its ghostly shadows... I

became captive once again of the Giza's matchless mastery, its

haunting, enduring mystery...

 

"Ah! How wonderful it would be", I said to myself wistfully, "how

wonderful it would be to stand like this day-after-day and keep

beholding Time itself frozen, as it were, in a a moment and in a form

as grand as this pyramid! How wonderful indeed it would be, as the

poet William Blake once said, to "hold Eternity in the palm of my

hand"...

 

"To see a world in a grain of sand

And heaven in a wild flower

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And eternity in an hour." (William Blake)

 

********************************

 

It was then that a strange, final thought flashed across my mind like

a streak of passing revelation...

 

** The purpose of the ancient pyramid of the pharaonic age and that

of the timeless "mantra" of the Vedic faith -- like the

"gAyatri-mantra" for instance -- are, after all, one and the same,

aren't they?

 

** Both enable us, do they not, to witness and experience the

essential timelessness residing within each of us?

 

** Both in their own separate ways do tell us, don't they, of our

kinship with things far beyond this world, with things far greater

and subtler than 'dEha'?

 

** The Giza is only 4500 years old. The "gayatri" is dateless. When

we look at the Giza we feel a profound sense of timelessness. How

much more intense, indeed -- we should pause to think -- how much

more reverence should that sense of "anantham" really become whenever

we utter the "gAyatri-mantra" which is a thousand times more

'timeless' than the Giza?

 

** The sheer size of Giza of the ancient pharaohs inspires reverence

in us. How much more reverence then should the "vEda-giri" -- that

towering body of "mantra-shabdha" handed down to us by our ancient

'rshi-s' of India -- how much more reverence, indeed, should that

Vedic tower, a thousand times taller than any pyramid, inspire in our

hearts?

 

** To witness the Giza in all its majesty and splendour, one needs to

travel far to the valley of the River Nile and wait for the twilight

hour before one can cup the eternal moment in the palm of one's hand.

To visit the 'gAyatri' I need merely to await the hour of the

'sandhyA', cup a mere drop of water in my palms, utter the 'mantra',

delve silently into my mind and drift gently into the arms of

Eternity....

 

Regards,

 

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

 

 

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