"Himalaya sadhus" India by jorgejuansanchez

The gate to the fabulous Himalaya region is Haridwar, on the banks of the holy River Ganga (Ganges), in the new State of Uttaranchal. There are daily trains from Delhi to Haridwar as well as buses. Then you still have to proceed to Rishikesh, and after two more days of travel by bus you will arrive to Uttar Kashi, or the Northern Varanasi, from where you can reach four holy places at the border with Tibet (and still 100 kilometres further the Kailas Mountain and the Ganges source). These four holy places are: 1 - BADRINATH, where there is a famous temple devoted to Vishnu. It is one of the four holiest sites marking the four cardinal religious points of India (the other three are Rameswaran, in the south, Puri in the East, and Dwarka in the west). In Badrinath the sage Veda Vyasa wrote the Vedas and the Mahabharata, and even “witnessed” the battle of Kurukshetra (the main argument of the Bhagavad-Gita) without leaving his cave, thanks to his telepathic powers. 2- KEDARNATH is located among glaciers and shelters one well known temple devoted to Shiva. The road and paths to get there are really overwhelming! Indeed, the Gods have good taste to have chosen that stunning mountains and valleys as their residence. From Kedarnath you can reach walking the Valley of The Flowers and the Lake Hempkund, which are holy places for Hindus and Sikhs alike because the tenth Sikh guru, Goving Singh, founded there a Gurdwara. 3- YAMUNOTRI has a holy temple at the banks of the Yamuna River. At some days walking distance you can attain the Glacier Pindaro, where some sadhus affirm that there live the legendary sages, or rishis, Muniraj (over 300 years old), and Babaji the Eternal. 4- GANGOTRI, where I stayed one month because I met an old friend from a recent Kumbha Mela festival in Allahabad. His name was Baba Ashoka Nanda, and he owned at 4 hours walk a cave called PRACHEEN GUFA. Thanks to his invitation I had the privilege to experiment life in that striking part of our plantet.

PRACHEEN GUFA CAVE. We woke up at 3.30 AM to look for firewood for the om-kund or holy bonfire, plants for obtaining ink to paint our foreheads, ears and Adam’s apples during the puja ceremonies, leaves for the tea, lovely flowers to decorate the temple; in the evenings Baba, or Babaji as I called him, played his seashell and chanted Hindu litanies, etc. Pilgrims visited our cave (one of the many hundreds that are inhabited by sadhus in that area), and gave us chapatti, roti, samosas, fruits, etc., and Babaji corresponded with prasad. One day we were visited by the guru Laxeman Das with eighty of his disciples with video cameras, in donkeys, accompanied by several porters of the low caste sudra who carried their trunks. They gave us a lot of rupees and food. Laxeman Das worships Laxmi or the Goddess of the abundance. Her followers ought to be millionaires of the caste Brahman. Some of the disciples were lying in chairs transported by four harijans (untouchables) on their shoulders.

resting after the holy bath

GOMUKH GLACIER is at two hours walk from Pracheen Gufa. Besides the glacier there is a famous ashram ruled by Lal Baba. There I met “naga” sadhus naked, covered only with ashes, summer and winter. Others never move one arm, which soon gets atrophied, others never lay to sleep, but lean instead to a tree or tie to it with ropes, some never cut their nails, which are very long and curled, others never speak, and still others remain in the river without ever going out. Many carry a “danda”, or spear, that is called tridanda if has three points, and hold a “lota”, or milk can. Most smoke ganja. If pilgrims give food or money, the sadhus eat, if not they look for herbs or fast, and if they die from hunger they do not care, it is considered their karma. I also saw Sikhs with their turbans and swords, and sannyasins, or men over 50 years old, dressed with white loincloths, who had given up everything, house, work, family, etc., to pilgrimage around the holy places of India until their death.

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