by Manjit Handa
Myths and archetypes are always a supply of messages to mankind, of directing us to that proper, acceptable, correct and ethical behavior. It is a different matter if we persist on not learning from them; especially a modern scientific advocate would overlook it all as a bunch of crap and walk off. A mystic on the contrary, would unearth in a myth a potential of an epic.
Carl G. Jung strongly believed that myths were part of the “collective unconscious” and were helpful messengers of deeper wisdom intent on bringing healing and wholeness to the psyche.
Figuratively speaking, is not Yeti that collective expression of the dark, unconscious and monstrous self? The Devil, Mephistopheles, Iago or Satan?
It is on us on how to analyze and comprehend a sign. This wisdom tries to speak to us in order to let us have a glimpse of a wholeness and added meaning to our lives.
The Himalayas, a perpetual house of marvel and awe have plenty of myths tied to them. One of them is that of the “Yeti”. Yeti means “a magical creature” but is better known as the “the Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas”, the name given by the western newspapers on account of the terror it causes in the people living in close quarters to the mountain range. The people of Nepal call it rakshasa which means “demon” in Sanskrit. According to them, stories of Yeti’s existence go back to the 4th century BC.
As per the legends the Yeti has reddish hair (some say it is gray), smells terrible, is big and strong and throws boulders as if they were pebbles. It makes an undulating and whistling sound or even roars like a lion sometimes. Absurd as it would sound, it is fond of alcoholic drinks.
In 1951, an expedition found a track on the Menlung Glacier between Tibet and Nepal, at an altitude of 6000meters. The footprints they saw were 33cm by 45 cm. The foot had five toes of which the inner toes were larger than the others and the heel was flat. The track appeared to be fresh and the footprints were not enlarged by the melting snow. This was clear from the photographs taken by the members of the expedition. Although there were many doubts about the pictures but one thing that was assured from them was that the footprints were not made by any identified animal.
There have been many expeditions to the Himalayas; some of the remarkable ones have been by Sir Edmund Hillary and his guide Tenzing Norgay, the firsts to climb the highest peak Mount Everest. On one of their expeditions they had seen footprints of a Yeti and brought back an artifact which was supposedly the upper half of the skull of a Yeti. Kept as a relic in the Khumjung Gompa (monastery) in Nepal, it was found to be around 300 years old and 20 cm high with a circumference of 65cm. Scientists came to the conclusion that it belonged to a serow or a mountain goat.
Many a people have gone on expeditions to the Himalayas but not more than their tracks or footprints have been found. Interestingly the Yeti is the national symbol of Nepal and even stamps have been issued with its picture which is surely made out of imagination and various ideas of the animal handed out through the generations.
Some say that the Yeti is a descendant of a race of giant apes called the “gigantophitecus” who had made the Himalayas their abode around 500,000 years ago. Another group of skeptics believe that the tracks were made by ordinary animals like a bear or an ape.
No matter what they all say, each time someone thinks of being en route to the Himalayas, he goes with a strange anticipation of seeing a Yeti. The fact remains that nobody still knows whether a Yeti exists or not.
Figuratively speaking, is not Yeti that collective expression of the dark, unconscious and monstrous self? The Devil, Mephistopheles, Iago or Satan? The villain we would like to confront but for the lack of courage; the scoundrel which is within us and we keep looking for it outside, somewhere in the world, in others?
It is for us to conquer that Yeti and enter the realm of individuation, psychologically grow up and discern those favorable and unfavorable facets of our total self. Not an easy task, it requires an extra amount of courage and absolute honesty to reach the summit and destination of self recognition. Nevertheless, it is worth a try if one yearns to attain a perfectly balanced individuality and understand the true meaning of life.
It is essential that each individual realizes the earnestness of the concept of the balanced self so that there are no monstrous trails we leave in the rear for our progeny and evoke dread, fear or terror but tracks and footprints worth pursuing.
Let us be those ancestors, who when they look back, their hearts swell with pride.
