I'm not sure where I left off in part one, but I think it was around Uttarkashi? I just looked and can't remember. But my heart wants to write about Uttarkashi so I shall.
When we got there I immediately thought, god, what did Sharath love about this town? It's a shit hole! Then we got to our room, which was again a chore to get to, then to find out there was again no hot water and there was a big hole in the wall where the mosquitoes just came right in. So I took a breath and allowed my inner feelings to come up and then blocked the hole and made the best of it as one does in India.
When there you have to embrace it, or you will go nuts and want to leave, so I embraced. Then we went out for a walk and bought some data for my phone since absolutely nowhere in this mountain town seemed to have wifi.
We found out there was a Kashi Vishwanath temple there too, the most famous of which is in Varanasi but is also full of the longest lines and the rudest people begging for money, but for even more money if they don't like the amount you've given them. So I was not excited to discover this temple here, but once we started walking I realised okay, this town is different. There is less people. There is no honking. WTF?!? NO honking!!! I almost got ecstatic lol. But yes, no honking, or only every so often.
Less people equals less traffic, so not often did you hear a honk. So we were walking and decided to just wing it and led ourselves right to this temple, went through the entranceway and wow, nice.
In the front of the main temple was also what they call a Shakti Temple, shakti being another word for the energy of the universe, the power behind everything, also the divine feminine energy. And we go inside, there is a 15 foot high trishul in the middle made of three kinds of metal. This trishul was the one gifted to Durga to do her battle with different demons whenever she is called upon, and it was magnificent. The story being she was here in this area sitting and a demon was coming upon her and she threw the trishul at it and it stuck there and has been there since. Which sounds fanatastical and amazing, and it is to see as well.
The priest here put the kum kum on our foreheads for us, also put rice on the spot as well, then blessed us with a splash of water and gave us tirtha to imbibe. Then we sat down and just felt the energy in the room, very, very awesome. We sat for quite some time and then decided to get up and go into the main Kashi temple and did. It was awesome, and the lingam in the middle had emerged from the rock on it's own, wasn't forged by human hands. And here in the north you can touch it! This was new to me, in the south they are so respectful and full of devotion, touching it would almost be anethema. Although my ekamukhi rudraksha touched the lingam at the Chandramouleshawara Swamy Shiva temple in Mysore to get blessed...
So, we went through, the priest talked in English to me about the lingam, most here don't speak English so it was a surprise. He also asked me where I'm from and was excited to hear about it, but also asked me again every time I came in the temple! hahahaha. Anyhow, then we went outside and sat there for a long time, watching the crowd and how devoted they were and that they never once looked at me, the only foreigner there, oddly. Which I enjoyed.
On the walk back home Sammi told me he'd done research and found out there was a Kali temple somewhere here and after my Kali experience in Varanasi I was eager to find it. So I googled and found a video of the temple but found out it was inside an ashram to Sri Sri Anandamayi Ma and we looked the next morning but couldn't find it, so went back to the other temple. Then later in the day when we went out for lunch we just decided to walk randomly and happened upon this red building that was round, and then more and more of it, it was big with a fence around it. Then walked by the gate and the door behind the gate was open and there was Hindi on the wall.
I read the script, which is the same for Sanskrit, but I usually didn't know the Hindi words. But this time I read the Sri Sri Anandamayi Maa Ashram and Kali Mandiram. What?!? We just found the place. So two days in a row we found these temples we wanted to find but only by our instincts, by our hearts, not by our thinking too much about them.
Then a swamy from inside came to the gate, spoke Hindi to us which Sammi translated as he was wanting us to come in and see, but at this time of the day most temples were closed as they allowed the deity to rest and regain their energy so they could give more darshan again that night. But he opened the temple for us, and opened the meditation room and showed us all around the ashram. It was quaint, lovely, had a beautiful inner courtyard garden and just the feel of a very soft, full of light, and energetic place. But so calm. So we went inside the temple, and once we got in, we sat down and boom... That quiet, empty mind happened to me again. Same as the last Kali in Varanasi. We sat, we sat, we sat. I saw Sammi had his eyes closed but I couldn't close mine, they could only stare at her, she was black, and all accents were red, even red lighting shined down on her. I was captivated.
Once I decided to get up and go out, I circumambulated the inner sanctum, a regular occurrence in South India, but here is done but done less so, I bowed and touched my head offering it to her and felt the most inner peace I'd felt ever. We also went upstairs to the meditation hall which had a wall size picture of Anandamayi Maa and it was similar energy only I didn't go blank, then we went down to sit in the courtyard realising we'd been in the temple for an hour.
Sammi looked at me and said, did that happen to you again? That thing from last time? I said yes, he admitted it also happened to him. On our slow walk home we got some snacks and talked about how we wanted to go back again and experiment with this, and so we did. We often went in the morning and in the afternoon again, and the swamy started making us stay for lunch and chai after our morning visit because we were there for so long. We'd sit on the floor in the kitchen and eat with the other monks and volunteers and just be in heaven. Even one of the monks suggested that I should teach the yoga there in Uttarkashi itself, it was where it was needed for the pilgrims coming through and those who were getting ready to start coming more often. He knew the climate of tourism there is getting ready to change. This we told him, was exactly what Sharath had told me to do as well.
Anyhow, important to note is that during my time in Varanasi I'd gotten a parasite and remained quite weak and sickly feeling after, even though I'd gotten medication and rid myself of it. While Sammi stayed strong and happy and hearty. Then in Rishikesh I started to feel better and enjoyed the time more and he was feeling more subdued. Then in Uttarkashi I began to beam and glow, he'd stop me daily and tell me man this place is for you, you're so happy and your skin is clear and the glow is coming from inside. I even shaved my head there as an offering to Kali Maa and to devote myself to her purpose on the earth, Sammi didn't do that but he did shave off his beard which was getting quite long. I'd already done that with mine in Varanasi, mostly because it was so fucking hot there lol.
But we explored many little corners of this town and found little pathways up into the foothills and behind power plants where young couples hid themselves so no one knew they were flirting. We found little streams that led into the Bhagirathi, which is the river that comes down from the the Gangotri that eventually meets with three other rivers to become the Ganga. The little stream I fell in love with so much was amazing and called the Indrarathi, my name Sat Inder, sat for truth and inder as a derivation of Indra, so this little stream was for me!
When the time came to leave it was hard again but not just because of the 6 hour ride on the bus where the girl in front was vomiting out the window, the bus leaning over the side of the mountain road quite often, but because I'd fallen in love a little bit, or a lot, with this little town and it had allowed my inner being to be brought forth in a different way than ever before. It also allowed me to experience the energy of Anandamayi Maa and Kali Maa and realise that my life purpose was to propagate these things within myself and others. The Ashtanga Yoga being only one way that is possible, but through stories and living a certain way, with heart. And bringing heart to everything we do, including the practice, but if there is not practice to bring it anyway in a different form maybe. But it also inspired me to find Kali in all places and in all things and corners of the world, which led my friend in Mysore to show me this little family owned Kali temple and to discovering the Sri Ramakrishna Ashram in Mysore also had a Kali and I could be reminded externally daily of this devotion to her cause if I failed to maintain my inner awareness of this and of it being my calling in life.
So, I'm tired of typing. This will have to be part two and I'll continue another day. Merry Christmas!
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