My Name is Mandala

This is not a travelogue, but the description of a pilgrimage in the truest sense of the word, because a pilgrimage distinguishes itself from an ordinary journey by the fact that it does not follow a laid-out plan or itinerary, that it does not pursue a fixed aim or a limited purpose, but that it carries its meaning in itself, by relying on an inner urge which operates on two planes: on the physical as well as on the spiritual plan.  It is a movement not only in the outer, but equally in the inner space, a movement whose spontaneity is that of the nature of life, i.e. of all that grows continually beyond its momentary form, a movement that always starts from an invisible inner core.

Just as a white summer-cloud, in harmony with heaven and earth freely floats in the blue sky from horizon to horizon, following the breath of the atmosphere – in the same way the pilgrim abandons himself to the breath of the greater life that wells up from the depth of his being and leads him beyond the farthest horizons to an aim which is already present with him, though yet hidden from sight.

- Way of the White Clouds, Lama Govinda