Part 1

Before venturing back to the caves the next day, I returned the scooter and got a newer one from one of the young men I have befriended over the last few days, paying the same price — about $6 for the whole day. Yesterday, I thought the old one would break into pieces as I navigated the treacherous climb to Sattva Yoga Academy where I met up with Paul Tomita and several others from our Wheels of Awakening pilgrimage. What a delightful visit, and how wonderful to hear Anand speak again! Thank you all for the beautiful welcome. It felt like being back home.

At the caves I searched for my Baba friend from yesterday but couldn’t find him. I had some fruit to share with him and wanted to learn more about his life. The caves called me to meditation and inner silence. Peace reigned along the ever-flowing Ganges, its emerald waters sparkling in the radiant light. Droplets of the Ganges trickled down my face and neck as I dipped my hands in the holy waters again and again, pouring this radiance upon my head. The whole beach area reflected my inner calmness, and I found a rock where I could sit and enjoy the eternal now.

A group of white-clad devotees frolicked and gamboled all about the beach, enlivening the setting with their playfulness. As one of their party came near I asked her to please take a photo of me. We chatted and she told me she was from northeast India, proclaiming its beauty with wondrous eyes shining with the purity of those lands. Her radiant, brown skin glowed in the sunlight, and her smile came with a genuine ease. She gave me the names of several places to visit: Meghalaya Living Root Bridge, Seven Sisters Waterfall, Dawki River, Zero Valley. Add those places to the list!

Soon the others collected around us, continuing their play and yoga poses. I offered to take their photo. We snapped a bunch and I finally joined in the fun! I thought they were all from the same place, but when they saw my Santa Barbara t-shirt, two of them exclaimed they were from California. I spent some more time enjoying the immense beauty of this land, feeling it resonate so deeply within. It was as if my spiritual journey had finally taken root in my soul and blossomed with the buds of my eternal devotion.

Not finding Baba at the top of the climb, I decided to chance the journey up the mountain, not really having any idea where I was going. Soon I banked into steep curves and inclines, having flashbacks of the high Himalayas. Up and up I climbed, passing only a car or two and no villages, nothing but nature, a few monkeys, and some strange birds. I started singing, “I drove that scooter as far as I could, abandon it up high…” thinking of Bob Dylan’s Tangled Up in Blue. I passed the 10 kilometer point and kept climbing, now coming into very remote mountain villages. A few women walked past with bundles of long grass atop their heads.

After a few false stops but lovely mime conversations with a family, then two giggling girls, then a friendly man on a beat-up bicycle, I came to the crest of a mountain and passed what looked like a tiny temple. I saw a man in ochre robes washing a pot and called down to him. He waved me to come in. Thrilled to find the hidden cave, I dismounted the scooter and scampered down a hill, took off my boots and walked across a little grass terrace to the small temple.

“Yes,” the friendly man said, beaming. “Here is the cave. Go ahead. You want to meditate.” he gestured to an opening beneath the small temple.

Yes, please,” I said. “I can give a donation.”

He waved a hand at me. :”Later. Thinking too much.”

“Yes!” I banged my head. “Thinking too much!” We laughed aloud, smiling at each other.

Once inside I climbed high and deep, squeezing between rocks. I heard some laughter and then three schoolchildren came sliding down the rocks. Up and up I went with bats flying by my head. Eventually, I came to an altar at the top of the climb and spent time in silence before scampering back down and emerging into the sunlight.

I offered fruit to my new friend and his brother monastic here in the high mountains. The one who spoke English told me he has lived here his whole life, God provides all, and don’t worry! We laughed again, enjoying the peace. As I rose to leave, my friend called me over. He said a prayer, blessing me and running his finger across my spiritual eye to place a colorful mark.

My heart sang with joy, my very atoms vibrated with the song of life. Yes, dear God, my journey has begun.