Ganshpuri

i arrived in the mumbai airport a little before 4am on saturday the 16th. i missed my flight out of delhi (i was convinced that it left at 7pm, not 5pm!) and the next flight i booked was delayed and delayed. i was sleep deprived and anxious, so after some consulting with the very nice information desk man, suri, i hired a car from the airport to take me directly to ganeshpuri. as i watched first the city, then the countryside slide by from the comfort of a new, air conditioned car, i kept thinking, now just what exactly have i done? where am i going and how long am i staying there? will i be able to get out? the ride took about 2 hrs, and since most of the roads do not pass though the, um, nicer parts of town, i found myself getting more and more anxious. however, once we turned off the main road onto the smaller country road (barely enough room for two cars to pass eachother, let alone the huge trucks vividly painted with 'horn please' carrying sand and dirt and people) i started to feel slightly better. the countryside was beautiful, albeit a bit dry looking, but still tropical with palm trees and blossoms. i noticed that there was an awful lot of brick making going on - lots and lots of people mixing sand and clay (i presume most all of the top soil) with water in rectangular holes dug in the ground. next to that were rows upon rows of bricks stacked up to dry. at each area of brick making there were pyramidal shaped mounds of bricks, with smoke wafting off the top. the color change in the bricks told me that this was where the bricks were baked. i passed many of these areas.

suddenly, i noticed a tall fence topped with barbed wire, protecting, so it seemed, the lush green grass and tall trees and flowering bushes that were inside. we made a left hand turn to continue to follow this fence, onto a side road. i realized that this must be the ashram. i was certainly impressed with the magnificence of the grounds, but taken aback by the fence which strongly said "KEEP OUT". also, all that green must mean that they are watering the lawns and trees - i knew that ganeshpuri was situated on a river, but all that watering couldn't be completely good. the main impression i got was $$$.

i arrived at hotel samadhan around 9am, and checked into my room. this hotel is right across (literally) from the Nityananda temple at the center/end of town. i should mention that most people think of Nityananda as a god - you could argue that he was/is Lord - and worship him as such. his photograph appears in many shrines to other gods or incarnations of gods, and in ganeshpuri, at every arati - to Ganesh, Ram+Sita, Bhadra Kali, etc there is a little arati for Nityananda included at the end: Jaya jaya arati Nityananda, Jaya jaya arati Nityananda, Sagunarupi Govinda, Jaya jaya arati Nityananda, Manika Prahbu Tu hosi, Akkalkota Swami hosi, Shiradi Sainatha hosi, Kaliyuga Nityananda banasi, Jaya jaya arati Nityananda, Jaya jaya arati Nityananda".

after i had paid for the few days i was planning on staying, i ran into vijay in the hall upstairs. he is from trinidad, and is a devotee of a devotee (who is now a guru- Sri Vasudeva) of Baba Muktananda. the 'official' siddha yoga lineage goes like this: Nityananda --> Muktananda --> Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, however many received shaktipat from Muktananda and have since gone on to teach and spread his message (and also give shaktipat). shaktipat is a very complicated thing to discuss, so i will not go into it here, but it is a central part of the siddha yoga path - the awakening of kundalini shakti. please go to their site for the accurate info: www.siddhayoga.org. vijay told me that if i hurried i could make darshan at Baba's (Muktananda) mahasamadhi. i did.

i was overcome by the beauty and precision of the ashram (Gurudev Siddha Peeth) when i first set foot inside. in the first area - the temple - is a golden statue of Baba. there are also the most loveliest of photographs of Baba on the walls. from there i made my way into the maha samadhi, where i circled the white marble sepulcher and bowed to the padukas (sandals) which were adorned with fragrant blossoms. i then joined the rest and sat for meditation for the remainder of the hour. Baba's mahasamadhi is only open for a total of 4 hours on the weekends - one hour each in the morning and afternoon, saturday and sunday. many feel that this is outrageous, because all should have access to the mahasamadhi of great beings.

when i returned to my room, i slept for the rest of the day, through into the night. the cold that i found myself with upon departure from agra was worse, and i knew that rest was important. i arose early the next morning for the guru gita (5:30 sharp!) at the ashram. how beautiful and wonderful! there were a lot of people there (mostly westerners) due to the fact that a retreat put on by siddha yoga was nearing its completion. after hearing stories of the guru gita chanting in the ashram from siddha yogis, i was so ecstatic to finally be there, participating. so quickly, the hour of immersion in divine syllables was up, and i was out the door. vijay was waiting outside, with his traveling partner, jeety (another devotee of Vasudeva). together we made our way back to the village of ganeshpuri, roughly a 30 min walk - 20 if you walk fast. we stopped for chai at a delightfuly pink and blue painted chai stall, and had a lovely conversation about life in general. i ended up spending much of my time with them that weekend as they were leaving on monday morning early. both of them are wonderful and have great senses of humor. jeety and i explored the hot springs - 25 rupees for a bath with incredibly hot mineral water - and came out changed! Nityananda used to bathe in those hot springs every morning, and i felt refreshed, recharged, and purified for having done the same. later that afternoon we went on a little adventure to the island in the middle of the river where Nityandanda used to meditate. there were enshrined banyan trees there, as well as many sadhus and several families picknicking. jeety and i discovered a natural source of the hot springs - a circular opening in the black volcanic rock, with incredibly hot, clear water bubbling up. the minerals in the water keep bacteria - aka green slime - from covering the surface. we sat for a while in the shade of one of the banyan's and chatted. i was told later, that in ganeshpuri, there is no gossip - only satsang.

earlier that morning, a local man, ganesh, approached me and offered his services as a guide of ganeshpuri. i accepted, and he took me for a ride on his motorcyle to vajeshwari, the next town over, where there was a hut that muktananda stayed in for several years during his sadhana. keeping watch is a devotee/sadhu who has been doing seva there for 20 years. after meditating for a short while, we preformed arati for nityananda (yes, a little shrine to him inside) and then off to a Shiva temple where Nityananda first stayed, or so i was told, when he came to ganeshpuri. the sunset over the river valley was spectacular.

i was planning on only staying in ganeshpuri until tuesday - i had planned outgoing south to Hampi, an apparently amazing site with lots of temples and ruins and also the opportunity to do some rock climbing (i do have my rock shoes with me!). however, monday afternoon i took a walk up to see the ganesh temple on top of the hill. there are 8 little huts along the path going up, amidst black boulders and brown sand and dry dry grass. it reminded me of photographs that i have seen of tibet and the himalayas. at each little temple i peeked inside - a ghee lamp was burning and insence as well. each little ganesh was slightly different, and carved from black stone (i couldn't figure out if it was the same stone that the mountain was made of). the views of ganeshpuri and the river valley were spectacular - the white domed top of the temple peeking out between palm trees and green foliage. the hill top was deserted, and when i reached the largest ganesh temple just before the top of the hill, i paused. delightful music was coming from speakers hidden somewhere - om ganapatie, namo namah - the mantra of ganesh. as i was peering inside, suddenly i noticed a man coming towards me, waving his arms. i realized that i hadn't taken my shoes off - oops! - and that was what he was gesturing about. he was dressed in an orange cloth, wrapped around his waste, sadhu style, with the white strips on his forehead, arms and legs and various other dots of yellow and red. he wasn't saying anything - but preformed arati at the ganesh temple and gave me prasad and then lead me to a sign on a building that said 'office' - it said that Swami was in silence except for 9:30 to 11:30 am for several years, so could only see visitors between those hours. i did not know that the man leading me around and preforming arati at all the little temples around the hill top was the swami. he took me into his little abode, attached to the main temple on the top of the hill - dedicated to rama and sita as well as a whole slew of other gods and goddesses - and took out a little notbook where he wrote questions down that i answered. conversation was very slow, he was eyeing me up most of the time - and after several pages of his notebook, i said i was going to go. he told me to call him tomorrow, because i said i was leaving for mumbai to get to hampi. he was very emphatic that i call him, so i promised that i would.

in the morning when i went to check out (5am) the hotel owner told me that it would be much better if i waited until between 10 and 3 to take the suburban train into mumbai - it would not be as crowded (go to youtube and type in 'mumbai local train' and you'll see what i mean). so instead of waiting to call swami, i decided to just go visit him in person, and then leave afterwards.

to be continued...

fyi-
i am now in pondicherry, home of the sri aurobindo ashram and auroville. there are lots of internet cafe's here, so i will be playing a bit of catch up over the coming days/weeks. the town is swelling with devotees, as the 29th, friday, is a huge holiday - the supramental manifestation day. tomorrow is auroville's 40th birthday, and i will be attending the festivities there, starting at 5am. i am staying at the mother's house- a guest house of the ashram, and it is very nice - ocean views with my morning asana practice and lovely people staying there (mostly all westerners). its only my first real day in pondy, so ill let you know what all the fuss is about once i figure it out!