From the heavens
Sometimes I was the mountain,
And carried you on my chest.
A bridge sometimes, also riverbanks,
And now I am an ocean,
But you continue to flow,
Even after disappearing into me.
– Arun Trivedi in Tumhara Nadi-Man
The concept of heaven continues to defy definition. Prophets have offered varying visions. Preachers have propounded conflicting theories; litterateurs have tried to depict it through words; artistes have attempted to render life to the idea, each according to an individual interpretation. But it still remains an inspiration, or desire, at best. Its physical attributes can only be guessed at, never ascertained.
If heaven is a place of eternal peace, irrepressible joy and complete bliss, then it must remain somewhere in the imagination – that is the only place where ideas need not reflect reality. But if it is an address where gods and angels live, it must be a place very similar to Tibet. Kailash, a mountain metaphorically higher than the Himalaya, and Mansarovar, a lake subliminally deeper than the Pacific Ocean, are both located on the Tibetan Plateau. And Tibet has to be heaven because some of the biggest river systems, which sustain nearly half of the world's population, originate in its highlands.