Rishikesh was made famous to the outside world when in 1968 the Beatles came here to meditate at the Ashram of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. This holy city on the banks of the Ganga has always been a place of local pilgrimage but has since attracted yoga practitioners and spiritual seekers from the rest of the world alike. The gates of the famous "Beatles Ashram" are now locked, but my friends and I were able to coax our way in, and there we descended upon the Blissful forest. Amongst dry brush and decaying buildings were half naked Sadhus, who with all their worldly possessions in one bag, have chosen the path of renunciation in an effort to attain total liberation from the attachments of the material world. Amidst the almost other worldly meditation pods of the Ashram, two Babas followed us in and led us up a small winding staircase to the roof of a pod which looked out into the forest.
Without a common language but smiles and giggles, we sat in a circle and stared out of the small window on to the overgrown brush. One Baba started to pack a chillum. Tipping his head back and raising it to his forehead in thanks, he drew the smoke into his mouth and let it out with a deep look of satisfaction on his face. This is a Sadhu's life.
When it felt like we had really lived that moment together, felt their world, eked out every drop of human connection that we could have with no words, we left.
On the banks of that Blissful forest, as I took my first dip in the Ganga, the mysterious Sadhu continued walking until he disappeared around the mountain.
On his way to some liberation I suppose.
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