April 17, 2005
Dear Friends,
Greetings from Kausani! We are here visiting Rob Ivie, a devotee of
Mother’s from the early 1970’s. He is living here now, doing
fulltime sadhana. Rob lives in an apartment with a living room,
bedroom, bathroom and kitchen that is part of a larger house. The
family that owns and lives in the rest of the house are the Nagys.
We
are staying in an apartment above Rob’s, complete with a covered
porch and a full view of the snowcapped Himalayas! Mataji, Mrs. Nagy
is our cook using an open fire in their large room; Mr. Nagy heats
water for us on a fireplace outdoors. It is simple living, quiet and
far away from busy cities and towns.
Rob has a long-term lease and is doing a lot of renovations on the
apartment that have made it sparkle from clean paint, patched walls
and new ceilings. He is doing all the work himself and it has turned
into intense sadhana! Doing anything in India is more work than one
would ever think, but there are no Home Depots to run down to and
pick up some varnish, paint or supplies. It has been a real
challenge, as testified by his hands, chapped, cut and bruised as he
has been striving to get the apartment ready for our visit. It is
not all done, but some rooms are finished and the one room left is
ready to paint.
Before coming here we left Phool Chatti Ashram, with much gratitude,
and drove upstream along the Ganges into the higher elevations. The
state highway compares with a poorly kept driveway. Usually one lane
of asphalt, there was much road construction in process and the road
literally turned into a gravel pit at times, and sometimes no more
than a widened goat trail! But the beauty was spectacular at every
turn as we climbed up through the forested hills with the river
running below in brilliant green.
Our intent in going this route was the prayags (joining of two
rivers) found in the upper rivers that eventually make up the
Ganges.
Devprayag (Deoprayag) was our first stop. We witnessed the brown
waters of the Bhagirathi merging into the deep green of the
Alaknanda at there. After lunch from a roadside shack we continued
up the Alaknanda. More beautiful views showed themselves before
coming to Rudraprayag. This was to be our stop for the night and the
government hotel was positioned exactly where the Alaknanda and the
Mandakini join together.
These prayags are considered holy sites, and with good reason. What
wonderful energy is felt as these joinings. We moved down the trail
to the river’s edge. There we saw white measuring sticks that showed
8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 meters above the river, showing how the river
could rise during the monsoons! What spectacular power there must be
in the raging water flow at that time. As it was we felt refreshed
and washed clean from our dip in the ice-cold waters.
We
watched a procession directly across the river come down the steep
trail to the bathing ghat. Flag carriers led the way, drums beat in
rhythm and six-foot long brass horns blew their mournful tunes as
the devotees came to the water’s edge. A priest set up a lamp and
dipped the flags in the Alaknanda at the convergence. They commenced
a beating of drums, dancing and chanting that was to last the entire
night until sunrise the next morning for this once a year ceremony.
Meanwhile across the river at the very point of convergence a priest
and group descended from a temple there and performed an arati as
the sun set. It was a busy time of worship and we had prime seats on
rocky seats next to the river. How wonderful for God to arrange it
for these touching forms of worship to occur as we were in our one
night visit there.
Next morning we continued our journey upstream to Karnaprayag. It
was at this point that it is said Karna, the eldest brother of the
Pandavas, practiced sadhana that gave him impenetrable armor. We
braved the traffic to the town center, taking quite some time to get
across the one lane bridge and through a small lane that attempted
to hold two-way traffic. There were no turn offs and no wide outs,
so it is a constant game of who will give way. One rule on the
Indian roads, “Never use reverse!” No matter how efficient it may
seem to do so, one may never go backwards even a foot, but onwards
always! It is all the fun!
We
dipped in Karnaprayag before moving on up into the mountains. It is
very easy to see why the yogis and pilgrims seek out those prayags,
they are truly places of blessing. The steep mountain path was
climbed by our intrepid ambassador; a car that would look and drive
like a car from the 1950s, only without the power. But, it is the
most comfortable car for us¾a
large trunk and a roomy backseat¾the
suspension handles the constantly bad roads better than the newer
cars.
Again more spectacular scenery of high hills and deep valleys;
beautiful farmlands and well painted houses made for charming points
of interest. We never tired of spotting new temples dotting the
landscape. One up on a distant hill, another by a river, usually
painted orange, sometimes white; usually pyramidal topped, sometimes
domed. They are small temples, perhaps a dozen feet square at the
base and around twenty feet tall. They are a constant reminder of
the deeply religious nature of the most remote citizens of what
Billy Graham called the most religious country on earth.
Finally we arrived in Dwarahat and the Y.S.S. Ashram. What a joy it
was to see Brahmacharya (pronounced Brahmacharee)Vasudevananda once
again. He is a light for this organization with the most universal
view of anyone I have met in YSS or SRF. He was leaving the next
morning for some weeks’ trip north, so we had timed it perfectly
thanks to our consummate tour Director! We retrieved our luggage
that had been left there, feeling a pure vibration of AUM where
previously, although the vibration was ringing within, there was
nothing but oppositional force. As Sri Yukteswar had said to me, to
encounter that dark during our earlier visit was the reason I had
come there. That purpose being fulfilled previously, it was now just
a delightful visit.
We
made the two-hour journey to Kausani and have been with Yogi Rob,
this sincere Kriyaban who strives earnestly for his complete
realization. We are now counting the days left in
India¾five
on Sunday. Tomorrow we leave for Corbett Park; it is a seven or
eight hour drive from here. After that an overnight train to Delhi
in order to fly to Singapore, San Francisco and then to Seattle. We
hope to get an earlier flight in the day, next Sunday, than we were
able to schedule ahead of time in order to see you all on Sunday.
It
will be such joy when we see you once again, after four months on
the spiritual pilgrimage in sacred India.
With all love and blessings,
David
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