Today I took a meandering stroll through the various temple ruins spread across Hampi, coming upon one wonder upon another, when I decided to follow some people across fields to the furthest temple on this part of the river. As I approached the gates a young boy in a stylish hat addressed me with such politeness, his eyes shining with the purity of his soul.

“Where are you from, sir?” he asked, and soon a giggling bunch of his relatives surrounded me. I asked each their names, and they answered with such seriousness and dignity that it touched my heart. After chatting for awhile, we took a few pictures and then I moved on, sad to leave them behind. They kept calling my name and waving to me.

Ahead of me lay what is considered the pinnacle of architectural achievement in Hampi: Shri Vijaya Vitthala Temple. It is dedicated to Lord Vitthala, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, for whom it was built as an abode. Legend has is that the Lord found the temple to be too grand for his use and returned to live in his own humble home.

The Vittala Temple (dating back to the 15th Century) is best known for the giant stone chariot that sits at the center of the main entrance square, as well as for the 56 musical pillars inside the Ranga Mantapa. When tapped, these pillars emit musical notes. Every main pillar is surrounded by 7 minor pillars. These 7 pillars emit 7 different musical notes from the representative musical instruments. The notes emanating from these pillars vary in sound quality depending on whether the instrument is a percussion, string or wind instrument.

After stumbling about this temple in a bit of a daze, I thought I’d work my way back to my room and chill for a bit. I’m still adjusting to the hot sun after freezing my butt off some nights less than two weeks ago up north. I can’t imagine how people survive the summers here. As I drifted across the fields some force pulled me down a path to my right and to the river. I had seen people going this way and wondered what could be down here.

Some strange structure appeared on my left, but nobody seemed to be there. It butted up against several large boulders. Could this be the temple that is built into the rocks? I asked two young women who happened to be standing nearby. They said yes, but whoever was spraying water inside wouldn’t answer their calls. I then pointed toward the water and asked if that is where is located a mini temple I saw from the coracle yesterday. They nodded but said someone had warned them it was dangerous getting there. When I indicated I was going, they asked to join me, so I said sure.

After the crossing got a bit difficult across boulders, the girls decided to turn back, but I pushed on and was soon rewarded; I had the riverside temple all to myself. What a magnificent place to be! I spent time there and then headed back. On my return I saw a man standing at the entrance to that strange structure spraying water. I called up to him and asked if I could enter, and he indicated no.

“How about for 100 rupee?”

He then nodded and waved me up. He sprayed my feet and part of my legs and even my shorts with water before I entered, and I thought what the heck, let’s go all the way, so I let him drench my head. We laughed and went inside.

Sure enough, this was the temple built into the boulders. I entered a holy place bathed in cool refreshing air. The edge of one large boulder was made into an altar, and Govinda and I sat on a sort of bench before it. He turned out to be very spiritually advanced and told me of the lineage of gurus that had lived here, extending all the way back to the origin. He showed me a chart written in Sanskrit that named each of the gurus. I learned a lot of other fascinating information from him about the power of this place, much of it emanating from a black stone box at the center.

Before I left he invited me to come tomorrow and have my energy levels read, my chakras and some other things. I agreed. I wasn’t sure about all of this but why not. He had a positive energy about him. I tried giving him the 100 rupee but he smiled and shook his head.

“No, you are a good person. I can see you are with God.” We promised to meet here at 8:30 in the morning, but what a day tomorrow would turn out to be.