Date: August 27, 2026
Author: Narendra Murty
A blog inspired by selections from Savitri
It tired of its unchanging happiness,
It turned away from immortality:
It was drawn to hazard’s call and danger’s charm,
It yearned to the pathos of grief, the drama of pain
~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, Book VI, Canto 2, 455
In an extraordinary poetic flight in these lines, Sri Aurobindo describes the descent of the soul from its state of original felicity to the womb of Chaos and Chance because it tired of its unchanging happiness and that is why it turned away from immortality.
This cosmic truth can be perceived at our human level also, in our own lives, and especially in the lives of great men and women around us – individuals who have left their mark in the world particularly because of their adventurous spirit.
The lure of adventure works is real. Bored by comfort and inaction, many amongst us seek stimulation, excitement – even danger at times. That is how the soul too was drawn to hazard’s call and danger’s charm and moved away from unchanging happiness and immortality.
Take the case of mountaineers who undertake dangerous climbing expeditions in the Himalayas. The altitude above 8000 metres is called the “death zone” in mountaineering. It is a zone of insufficient oxygen and freezing winds. Mountaineers can survive only for a few hours in the death zone. One third of all the mountaineers who brave the 8000 meters peaks die in the death zone only.
But still, mountaineers from all over the world make a beeline for summit attempts on these killer Himalayan peaks risking their lives. Why? Adventure! They are drawn to hazard’s call and danger’s charm. They shun the warm comfort of the home and choose the icy summits of the death zone.
In this human motivation, we can see a reflection of the soul’s longing for adventure. We are drawn to suffering and danger because that is the innate impulse and need of our soul. An inert, slothful state does not make us happy. We long for action and adventure.
We not only long for adventure, but also chase grief and pain. We go to see sad movies and cry. We don’t want to smile and laugh all the time. Shakespeare’s best plays are his tragedies like Hamlet, Macbeth or King Lear. The Greek tragedies of Aeschylus and Sophocles are rated much higher than the comedies of Aristophanes. We love watching tragedies because we want to experience Karuna rasa. Because we also want to experience the pathos of grief and the drama of pain.
Sri Aurobindo explains that the soul feels “an attraction which in human terms on the terrestrial level might be interpreted as the call of the unknown, the joy of danger and difficulty and adventure, the will to attempt the impossible….” (CWSA, 28: 257).
This “call of the unknown, the joy of danger and difficulty and adventure, the will to attempt the impossible” were personified in a vivid manner in the life of the Nepalese mountaineer Nirmal Purja, or Nims Purja as he is popularly known.
This extraordinary mountaineer shot to international fame and stardom like a meteor when in 2019, he achieved the impossible feat of climbing all the 14 Himalayan peaks that tower over 8000 metres (26247 feet). Among those famous peaks are Everest, K2, Kanchenjunga, Makalu, Nanga Parbat, Annapurna, Lhotse, to name a few.
Nims Purja became a household name all over the world when his record breaking feat was documented in a documentary titled 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible released on Netflix in 2021. It is one of the most watched documentaries on Netflix.
Nims Purja had everything going for him. International stardom in mountaineering which was hitherto an exclusive privilege of the Westerners; adulation of his own people and becoming the poster boy for all adventure lovers the world over. By achieving the feat of climbing all the 8000 metres Himalayan giants in 6 months, he did what no Western mountaineer could achieve till date.
The first mountaineer to do it was the legendary climber Reinhold Messner; but he took 16 years to achieve the feat. The earlier record in terms of duration was 7 years. Climbing all the fourteen 8000 metres peaks in 6 months was unthinkable and considered “impossible”.
And then came Nims Purja. Throwing all statistics, precedence and records to the winds, Nims Purja achieved the impossible. Because he had the will to attempt the impossible. The world was at his feet. Then tragedy struck.
Nirmal Purja was killed along with nine other climbers when a massive avalanche struck them on Broad Peak in the Karakoram range on 30th July, 2026. For the record, he had already climbed the Broad Peak successfully twice – once in 2019 and then again in 2024. Then why did he return again to Broad Peak where death was waiting for him? Was it hubris on his part? Or were the gods angry?
We shall never know. We can only say that Nims Purja had to do what Nims Purja did as a way of life. Walking into the “death zone” repeatedly as a matter of routine. Challenging death, defying death. He had all the fame, adulation and money to sit around with his family and friends in the comfort of his home. He could have done that.
But he had too much of the indomitable spirit in him that made him return to the death zone of the killer mountains. Because he chose to live his life responding to the hazard’s call, the danger’s charm. Because he was a hero. And heroes are not afraid of death.
Does this mean the end of Nims Purja’s story? Not at all!
From a living legend he has passed into the pages of history and shall always shine as a beacon of inspiration for the present and subsequent generation of climbers. Now we shall see a new generation of heroes who shall attempt the impossible by trying to surpass his record.
Nirmal Purja has set a new benchmark in responding to hazard’s call. And the human spirit would never be wanting in answering that call. Many would perish trying to achieve the impossible. But still the heroes would come pushing the borders of human ability. Because evolution is the force that drives us, moves us. Because man aspires to be Superman – even in body and mind.