As the sun rose on my third--and final--day on the mountain top, Swamiji and I did our hatha yoga outside, in front of the ashram building. Glorious to do the postures outside, in the orange glow of sunrise...
Then, he got the idea to create a threshold to the entrance of the main ashram room, made out of muddy water mixed with cow dung... a truly dirty and messy business! (This is one sadhu not afraid to get "down and dirty", as it were... !) But...later that eve, it proved to be somewhat disasterous! What happened was that some village men brought a hose into the building to fill up a tank of water inside. The huge tank sat above the bathroom; the idea being that there would be "running" water of sorts for bathing, and to "flush" the hole-in-the-floor toilet. But... the operation got out of control: water went everywhere, the "threshold" turned into a muddy, gooey mess that got tracked into our living space (which I had spent about 3 hours cleaning earlier that day!) In short, an unbelievable mess ensued! At first I was aghast, truly upset... but the drama unfolding before my eyes hit my funnybone...and THEN I could not stop laughing at the absurdity of it all!
The other major adventure of the day was a hike to a valley lake below us. Swamiji claimed that it would only take a one-half hour descent to get there. When I saw how far below it was, I knew he was wildly underestimating the distance... I was correct, and the hike took us well over 2 hours! We had to zigzag through farmland, owing to the constant disappearance of the trail... and wound up going much of the way on winding roads instead. It was hot, terribly hot... and I greatly looked forward to a refreshing lake swim!
Along the way, Swamiji plucked some fresh sugar cane stalks right out of a field where they were growing, and I delighted in chewing and sucking the delicious juice out of the cane (after he painstakingly bit off the tough outer skin for me!) I communed with a painted cow, a few goats, and some local people... it was really a wonderful excursion, all in all...
When we finally arrived at the lake, however, I was greatly disappointed: the water level was quite low and there was a lot of trash along its edge....it was definitely too polluted to swim in.
By this time, the sun was getting low...I was VERY anxious about a long and grueling return hike! However, an amazing miracle occurred... Because the roads were largely empty, and definitely devoid of rickshaws or other forms of transportation, there seemed to be no hope of getting a RIDE back up the mountainside. Suddenly and unexpectedly, a young man on a scooter stopped when he saw us... we chatted a bit, and he offered us a ride! "It appeared you were in need some help!" he explained quite simply.
Hmmm...something telepathic going on there?!? One never knows...but we gratefully accepted, and got a ride back up the mountain to the ashram (hiking UP that steep hill would have taken a good 3 hours, at least!!!)
It was good to be "home", bathe, and get a nice, home-cooked meal from our village cook. I thought I would get to sleep early that night, being quite tired out. But... Swamiji urged me to stay up until midnight--the official, auspicious full-moon hour--in order to meditate in the caves with him. Suprisingly, I DID muster the energy for it, and was glad that I had! I experienced an amazing meditation in there, despite disco noise from the village below, and only slept about 5 hours that night. Waking refreshed the next morning, I was sad to say my farewell to this very special abode of the Swami and the villagers... For sure I will return one day!
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| You can see how far away it was! There was NO WAY we would ever have made it there in only a half hour's walking time! (Even though Swamiji kept a pretty good pace going, and I half-ran at times to keep up!) |
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Starting out our day with hatha yoga in the bright, early morning sunshine....
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Swamiji begins the arduous task of slathering the entrance to the ashram with the cow dung and mud mixture.
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| Soon, off we went...under a hot, afternoon sun, heading toward the lake far below... |
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| Hot, dry.... but still, it was nice to actually be hiking! |
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Feeding sugarcane to the hungry goat...
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| Swamiji tearing off the tough outer skin with his teeth...then presenting it to me to chew and extract the sweet juices from inside. How chivalrous is that?!?! |
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The goat herder!
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A huge load of sugarcane being transported to market... sugarcane growing is a major source of income in these villages.
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| Eating my sugarcane while admiring this very pink cow! Apparently painting the cows is part of some sacred ritual... what an odd practice, but I suppose the bovine doesn't mind! |
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| Arriving at last at the lake, which was--alas-- unswimmable! |
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| Moon behind the ashram... brilliant and beautiful! |
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