Yesterday, Sirbaz and Joshi left the basecamp for the summit push on Mt Annapurna. Today, they reached Camp 3 (6,420m) late in the afternoon. By pushing their physical limits on icy slopes under overhanging sercas for an entire day, now they are resting up in a tent.
While they are up there, I wonder why some people risk their precious life in pursuit of dreams?
Life is perhaps the biggest miracle after the birth of the universe. For billions of years, we drifted in cold dark space as star dust before our earth came into existence over five billion years ago. Then, somehow, a single cell was born from lifeless matter out of which multicellular bodies took shape, and a long evolution process began. Our ancestor had to endure harsh conditions against all odds for hundreds of thousands of years.
The universe waited so long to have us here. Why? Could there be any significance to it?
If the world appears all chaos to you, life is what it is, but if you perceive an order in it, then there has to be a purpose to it. While we may not be able to grasp the meaning of the entire universe, we can certainly search for the meaning of our life.
The answer lies deep within us.
It is what we long for!
Our yearnings emerge from the depths of our soul and slowly take form of dreams. Nothing defines us more than our dreams do.
The universe is a jigsaw puzzle. Our dreams and longings are a way of the universe guiding us to play our part in the grand scheme of things.
The purpose of life is to discover our true potential and know who we are. To know who we are, we need to find out what we love to do. And for that, we have to set out on a journey into the unknown led by our inner voice. Once on this path, every risk is worth taking for it brings us closer to our true self.
As Sirbaz and Joshi sleep in their warm sleeping bags tonight, a dream awaits them outside their tent. When the two will head to Camp 4 tomorrow, it will not only be a journey towards the summit of Annapurna, but also a journey within, and becoming of that unique missing piece in the grand puzzle of the universe!