In the afternoon, we reached Garudeshwar. This was our second home after Sinor. My granduncle stays here. When he was 28 years old, his nephew, who was 26 at the time, left home to live in solitude and spend time in longer meditations. They settled down in Nardeshwar,s an abandoned Shiva temple (a place mentioned in the Shiv Puran) in the village of Garudeshwar, which was a forest. This temple and a small hut were the only two structures for kilometers. For 21 years, they had no running water or electricity. They bathed in the river and carried water from it for other uses. The nearest village was a 3-hour journey if you could catch only the bus after crossing the river. Their food for all these years was moong (lentil), bhakhri (rolled flat bread), and ghee (clarified butter). Their day would start at 3 am with morning japas (reciting certain words or sounds for concentration) and end at 9.00 pm.
Recollecting those days, Dada would always say he never knew when day came and night set in; there was no sense of boredom or need to break the silence or do something else. There was a constant state of awareness that permeated day and night, and many years. It has been 60 years of personal cultivation and service in this lifetime. This cannot be followed by a previous lifetime of such cultivation, I guess!! From birth until he was 7 years old, he would take the ashes from the mud cooking stove, apply them all over his body, and sit quietly. He did not talk for the first 7 years of his life,e and my great-grandmother accepted that as a matter of fact and let him be. She felt this was some conditioning from his past life he is still carrying,g and did not want to disturb him by interrupting in any way.
My mother’s childhood and growing-up years were spent here. This place had a strong influence on her spiritual life. I feel privileged to share that lineage. I have always come here in the past but could never connect the dots, my attraction to the river and old Shiva temples, all of it is part of this shared experience that comes from the lineage. Our forefathers have stayed and meditated for many generations on the bank of this river.
The realization is that it is foolish to think this journey is ‘my own’. It’s the fruits of their cultivation, and we are surely at the receiving end of it. It’s their blessings that have given us this opportunity to connect with nature inside and out. We surely know that we are being held each day by them.
Dada shared that he once wanted to do the Narmada Parikrama, but his spiritual teacher asked him to sit in one place and cultivate. And, so he says, ‘while my feet are in one place, my prayers are reaching the universe.’ We felt a mother's love in his presence. It not only healed our physical pain but also touched many parts of our hearts. While he sat with us, we wondered if we were interrupting his daily practice. To this, he said, ‘If this conversation is going to bring more peace to your heart, then this is my practice and worship to God.’
As per the “rule,” a pilgrim can stay in one place for 3 nights, but when someone requests you to stay with such tenderness and love, you can’t deny. Today would be our last evening with him. This space, people, their experience, and conversations have helped deepen our intention and allowed us to think more deeply about personal practices that can ground us and help us be more equanimous.
Om tat sat. Narmade har.
Day 11: Garudeshwar (Nardeshwar)
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