Happy 250th Birthday USA. God Bless

Introduction

The Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park are among the most spectacular manifestations of nature on Earth. To the geologist, they reveal volcanic forces, tectonic movements, hydrothermal systems, and glacial sculpting. To the biologist, they are living laboratories of ecological interdependence. To a tourist like me, they are objects of wonder. 

What I saw & felt ?

The Sight

I was recently gifted a Rayban Meta Sunglasses by my son, for enjoying  my holidays at these Parks. For me as a tourist, there was this additional gizmo which not only provided shade for my eyes but also the luxury of providing me continuous on line audio tour guide to my ears through the Meta Glasses. As we drove around the figure of eight (the tour map of the two parks), I was guided (controlled perhaps) by someone unknown, unseen and unheard by me, continuously monitoring my movements from the sky and providing accurate knowledge about what I have to see, hear, feel and do using my sense organs next. That guy up there in the sky ! He should be a Sarvajña (सर्वज्ञ) (It translates to “omniscient” or “all-knowing”). Sounds Vedantic ! Isn’t it?. What I saw and heard is what I call as The Sight.

The Vision

We commenced our tour from North to South. A thought crept into my mind later. This journey of ours starting from North is South facing and has been perhaps destined by Lord Dakshinamurthy Himself. He as the South facing silent Adi Guru wants us to learn silently from what we see, sense, talk and do during our journey. As I watched  and listened through my Rayban Meta Glasses the scenic Gardner River (North Entrance to Yellowstone),  a thought flashed across my mind. Immediately using my mind, I mentally replaced the Rayban Meta Glasses with my own specially designed “Vedanta Glasses” which provided me an online audio tour guide to understand the Parks in the true Vedantaic Vision ( “Paramarthik” vision –  at the ultimate subtle plane). 

As a student of Advaita Vedānta, for me, with this vision, the Parks at once  became something more profound: a vast scripture written in stone, water, fire, sky, and life itself to me. To look upon the two parks’  Ecosystem through this lens of Vedanta—the ancient philosophical culmination of the Vedas—is to move past the illusion of a fragmented landscape. 

Yellowstone and Grand Teton are not merely places to be seen. They are opportunities to contemplate the nature of reality itself.  This Vedantic vision reveals the interplay of the Ultimate Reality called the undefinable Brahman (the singular, unchanging, non-dual substratum of Absolute Consciousness) and the inexplicable Maya (the cosmic, creative power that projects the illusion of multiplicity, time, space, and causation). In the light of the above vision, this entire ecosystem of the two parks is a macrocosmic altar. It is a living commentary on the Upanishads, where the raw elements of earth, water, fire, air, and space (Pancha Mahabhutas) dynamically reveal the underlying reality. This is where Nature becomes a classroom, where these Realities are contemplated. 

What I learnt through “The Sight” is what I call as “The Vision”.

What are you going to see ?

This Vedantic Vision will be presented to you along what are seen with the normal sight as a weekly Travel Diary.

In other words,

• What I, the tourist saw & heard using Rayban Meta Glasses (The Sight)

and

• What I, the Vedanta Student learnt using Vedanta Glasses (The Vision)

will be presented to you.

So get ready to travel (for four months) with me as we take the tour of Yellowstone and Grand Teton where you will be provided both the sight and vision.

Let’s start the tour.

The entry 

The Sight

As we enter the Yellowstone National Park from the North,  the majestic, snow-dusted mountain dominates the skyline just outside the North Entrance. Standing at 10,969 feet, it is the highest peak in Yellowstone’s Gallatin Range and gets its name from the electrical discharges experienced by early surveyors during an 1872 lightning storm on its summit.

The flowing water right at the northern boundary is the Yellowstone River (the longest undammed river in the contiguous United States), which runs directly past the town of Gardiner. Just a half-mile east of this area, it merges with the Gardner River (also spelled Gardiner), which flows down through the scenic canyon parallel to the North Entrance road.

At the entrance is the famous Roosevelt Arch.

Tour Video

https://youtu.be/DptorK9CSI8?is=dLsoSeRPBOE08l3I

The Vision

Standing by the side of the Yellowstone river and looking at the Electric Peak, you are witnessing nothing but the perfect dance of existence. 

In Vedanta, the ultimate reality is described as Kutastha—the unchanging, rock-solid, witness consciousness that remains unaffected by the passage of time, weather, or human drama.

The absolute peace of the mountain  is never disturbed by the storm clouds that gather around it, the snow that blankets it, and seasons fade around it; yet  the mountain itself never moves. Even its name carries a Vedantic spark. ”Electric”, the “Nama” (name) of the  mountain is nothing an expression of the cosmic energy (Shakti), the silent, powerful foundation upon which the entire play of the universe takes place.

In Vedas, the river is the ultimate symbol of the spiritual seeker (Jiva). Born from the high snows, it rushes over rocks, twists through canyons, and overcomes obstacles with a singular, relentless destiny: to dissolve its individual name and form (Nama-Rupa) into the vast, boundless ocean. “Take bath in the river and start the day” is the tradition that can be seen in several Indian Villages even today. Dissolve your ego and start the work is what that daily routine represents.

The Yellowstone river represents the vibrant movement of life. Even though it is a single, continuous entity called “the river”, yet, in reality, the water molecules are changing without a stop. This is the definition of Maya—that which appears stable and real but is actually a fluid, ever-shifting stream of experiences.  This is the essence of Samsara. 

For a “Samsari” (one who is into “Samsara”) like me, the cosmic energy (Shakti) is beginning its teachings. 

Note on Background Music

Carnatic Music focuses on surrender through Bhakti (devotion) to the Ultimate Reality, Brahman (addressed by different names and worshipped in different forms ). Therefore I have intentionally provided that music as the background music to theses videos, silencing all other sounds.

Next week

Next week , we will see the Udine Falls and a Petrified Tree as we drive towards the Mammoth Springs.

God Bless