From Baethi, we started walking on the forest path.
Occasionally the canopy of endless greenery would clear up and reveal small
settlements. One such settlement was Atkuni: a small hamlet which had an
ancient Bhairav temple. After some time the forest path ended and we came into
a small town. We had to descend a mountain whose entire valley was under paddy
cultivation. It was quite tricky. The greenery of the endless paddy was almost
blinding. After the endless paddy fields we came across an auxiliary road which
will take us to where we intend to stay the night: Gothu. Once we reached
Gothu, Maamaji told everyone that tomorrow’s trek would the most difficult one
so we better get some good sleep. Nevertheless, I decided to join maamaji for
the sathsang that he was supposed to convene at the nearby temple. He openly
admired and approved my peity. Sathsang was fun with the now familiar Garhwali
tunes and impromptu dances by 70 year olds. Gothu was also incidentally the last
place where I could keep up my asana practices.
Have you ever wondered why we gravitate towards certain
situations and certain kinds of people? Why we instinctively trust and commit
to a certain individual? I have wondered that. A lot.
The last few weeks, I have been thinking about Maamaji. I spent a lot of my time in the Himalayas with him. I was specifically wondering what made me choose him? Me and him – We were an eclectic duo. We come from two different worlds. He was an ageing Hindu pandit in a remote north Indian village. I was a catholic from South India with a fatal obsession for Yoga/Sadhguru. There were so many aspects of Maamaji’s personality that weighed uncomfortably on my then new-age-spirituality sensibilities. For eg, Maamaji personally rolls his tobacco and smokes them unapologetically after performing some Pooja in the nearby Uttarkashi temple. He charges money for performing these poojas promising that “Bhole Baba will help you pass the exam” etc. He gets angry quickly. Sometimes for arbitrary reasons. Any one…
The last few weeks, I have been thinking about Maamaji. I spent a lot of my time in the Himalayas with him. I was specifically wondering what made me choose him? Me and him – We were an eclectic duo. We come from two different worlds. He was an ageing Hindu pandit in a remote north Indian village. I was a catholic from South India with a fatal obsession for Yoga/Sadhguru. There were so many aspects of Maamaji’s personality that weighed uncomfortably on my then new-age-spirituality sensibilities. For eg, Maamaji personally rolls his tobacco and smokes them unapologetically after performing some Pooja in the nearby Uttarkashi temple. He charges money for performing these poojas promising that “Bhole Baba will help you pass the exam” etc. He gets angry quickly. Sometimes for arbitrary reasons. Any one…
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