An Enlightened Guru on the Ganga

John adjusted his glasses and pinched his beard.  “Oh yeah, there’s some real good gurus all up and down the river. I’m going to a different one every day. But nobody can make me meditate like Andrew Cohen does, that’s why I’m here at his retreat.”

“I need to see a spiritual teacher I can talk to,” said Brad. I have a hundred questions, and Andrew couldn’t give me an answer to the first one!”

“Oh!” John replied. “If you want someone who will answer questions, go see ShantiMayi. She might not give the answer that you want to hear though!” John laughed, and a pained expression came across his face, as if he had learned that the hard way. “If you hurry you might make her 3 o’clock satsang.”

Brad got directions and took off, walking the same path that Gautama Buddha had walked more than two millennia ago. He reached the Lakshman Jhula bridge in the north part of Rishikesh, an area known for it’s historic multi-colored ashrams. Some of the precarious towers pointed a dozen stories high, and nobody seeing them for the first time could fail to be deeply inspired.  Finding the Sacha Dam ashram, he looked for a place to sit among a group of about 100 people who were stirring in the warm sand. Almost all of them were foreigners, from places like Europe, Australia, Asia, and even Russia. They were seated around the Master who was sitting on a padded stone wall, by a big Bodhi tree.

“Where are you from?” ShantiMayi said, asking the American newcomer. He felt the strength of her gaze as he stepped over to sit in an opening in the sand. When he looked back, he was stunned. Shining into his eyes was the sheer force of pure spirit. Brad knew in that instant, beyond anything a mind could conceive, that she was an Enlightened being. A Mahasattva, he would learn, and this was his Darshan.

“California,” he said, breathless. It suddenly felt as if he was halfway out of his body, and waves of energy were moving through him as he sat in the sand.  She smiled and kept looking. Her waist length blonde hair and smooth, fair skin was totally out of place in India, but made irrelevant by the feeling that she was connecting him with the whole Universe. “‘I’m Brad, nice to meet you ShantiMayi,” he managed to say.

ShantiMayi went about greeting others, many of whom she knew by name. Then she started singing in Hindi, her eyes closed, her voice setting a beautiful vibration that mesmerized all. People sat with their palms together, some singing along. When it was over she gave a short talk about her Guru who also lived in the Ashram, and was very aged. He had inspired her to stay in India, awaken to to the truth of the Absolute Reality, and be of service to the awakening of humanity. Then, she took questions. Brad was filled with energy, and too struck to ask any. She then concluded her afternoon satsang.

Upon his return to Andrew’s ashram for the evening meal, Brad found John. “I”m going to go see her every day! Thank you,” he said. And he did. The next day ShantiMayi asked for volunteers to help with chores around Sacha Dam. A few people raised their hands, including Brad, who was assigned morning cleanup which started at 630 am with toilet duty. That created a conflict with his routine at Andrew’s retreat, which could only be resolved by checking out of the retreat and finding a new room closer to Sacha Dam. Brad did all of that in a heartbeat.

Everyday he helped with cleanup, attended satsangs which were often twice a day, and asked his questions. ShantiMayi had to silence him on occasion, to give time for others. When not in satsang or doing cleanup, Brad was meditating,  or hanging out with the advanced students who would congregate at the German Bakery that on the west bank of the river at the foot of the bridge. They would drink chai tea or coffee, and talk about readings from Nisargadatta, Ramana Maharshi, or advanced Buddhist scriptures like the Lankavatara Sutra that ShantiMayi had ordered everyone to study. Some of them furtively smoked cigarettes or nipped from small bottles of booze, both which were forbidden.

Within a week, Brad’s spirit was on fire such that it melted his thoughts, leaving a mind-emptying experience that lasted for a few days. A huge mental weight was lifted, leaving nothing but the direct experience of his 5 senses, and a curiosity about what was going to happen next. He went around with nothing to do but to be in the present moment – free! The lifting of his constant weighty thoughts was a comic relief.

It wasn’t Enlightenment, or even close to it. But it was a strong first step on a journey that would take a tortuous path for the next 15 years, when he would finally have his own true Enlightenment experience.