Letters from India

33. Rishikesh & Badrinath - June 1985

Rishikesh & Badrinath

June 25-29, 1985

Badrinath

Dear Family,

(June 25th) Well, this morning I left Haridwar and took a bus to here, Rishikesh. Bus took one hour traveling through beautiful, beautiful lush greenery – from forests to roadside trees and bushes, to expanses of rice fields. Here Rishikesh is at the foot of some hills no, snow-capped Himalayas in sight.

But then again, it’s a very cloudly day. One the way here it rained; it’s been raining lightly on & off all day. I'm staying at the Tourist Bungalow, Rs 20 a night. I should’ve discovered them before - nice big room, common bathrooms.

A mouse just scampered into the room! He’s somewhere under the bed now. That reminds me of an amusing rat-tale that I don’t think I’ve related to you: it happened in Katra (Jammu). I had just arrived and was setting up in the hotel room, when I saw a big, fat rat scamper in the open door and run under my bed! Soon after, as I was thinking, “What’s this?” and wondering what to do, the manager and assistant walked by. I got their attention, “Hello? Hello!” and told them a rat had just entered. They looked under the bed and said, “No, no rat.” I insisted and they finally said, “No, no, you see, it’s alright. Don’t be afraid.” As I was answering, “I'm not!” they casually walked away (India!).

I investigated and found, not under the bed. Must’ve gone to the bathroom. Soo, I dutifully went and sure enuf, by the toilet stood (stood?) our rat. He quickly scampered up the pipe to the toilet-flush tank. I made noises and actions; he ran down and out the door and under the bed again, as fast as his tiny legs could carry him. Poor little, chubby tummy, waddling ratling! I finally got him out the front door. The vehicle of Sri Ganesha is the rat! I'm always afraid to take out and display Sri Ganesha’s picture, lest the rats come to pay their obeisances but – alas – I must. For Ganesh is the only god whose picture I display, he’s my favorite. :-)

I went to the nearby Vittala Ashram today, veeery interesting. This was my first Vittala temple experience. I don’t know very much about Vittala - just that he’s an incarnation of Vishnu.

Then to the famous “Lakshmana Jhula” (a bridge), where Rama’s brother Lakshmana did tapas.

Nearby the Vittala Ashram was the well-known Sivananda ashram (Divine Life Society). I remember reading about it in an early life-story book of Baba. He had visited there and had told Sivananda that he should engage in meditation in the Himalayas and leave the organizational duties he was evolved in – one of the few times I had heard of Swami giving such advice! I don’t know if Sivananda followed the advice – don’t think so.

(June 27th) Left on bus to Badrinath at 6 AM. Pitifully tiny hills lined the way, finally at 70 kilometers away from Badrinath (Rishikesh is 300 km from Badrinath), caught first glance of the sacred, impressive, snow-capped mountains. (Of course, they disappeared from sight soon after and didn’t reappear for like 30 more km.).

We had this crazy bus driver who sped along roads and dashed around bends with hundreds of feet drops, as if they were some sort of normal roads.

We arrived in Joshinath at 5:30 PM (one hour ahead of all the other buses), 42 km from Badrinath, to spend the night (no night driving allowed in mountain regions). Huge peaks all around us – only two peaks with snow!

A quiet little town – except for this Sankaracharya temple right behind the hotel I'm in (Nandi Devi Hotel, Rs 15 a night). They constantly blast our bhajans – Rama bhajans. I'm enjoying it a little less than if I was in a normal situation, if I didn’t have a headache and had just spent the last 11½ hours riding in a bus (an Indian bus, yet – no shock absorbers, or so it seemed).