While the Kamakhya Temple was the main destination for our sadhana on this trip, Shree Maa blessed many other sacred sites in the Guwahati area. This promises to be an interesting read, as we are about to enter into a temple that Shree Maa visited in her youth, as well as two ashrams where She did sadhana as a young girl.
The temples of India are vast in number and rich in variety — some are opulent, some are small village temples, some house only one deity, while others house several, some are good for sadhana, while others are so packed you have to wait in line for hours to receive a five minute darshan. Though they are all different, the string that holds the garland of temples together is the devotion of the people of India.
Shree Maa took us to the Umananda (Shiva/Hanuman) Temple, which is uniquely located on a little island in the middle of the mighty Brahmaputra River. We were headed there to perform puja to Sri Hanuman. Many of you will remember that Shree Maa and Swamiji established life into this Hanuman in 2011.
To get to this quaint little island we jumped on a community boat, which took us across the gigantic river that looks more like an ocean. Shree Maa offered flowers to the river while She chanted “Om Namah Shivaya”.
It is par for the course for Shree Maa to make every action into worship, and the attentive ones who are eager to learn and share Her way of life, took note of it. In Her essence, Shree Maa’s way of life merges spirituality into every activity, thus making everything She does a sadhana. It is simply a beautiful way to live.
When we got to the island we climbed many steep steps through beautiful flora to reach the Hanuman Mandir. Thankfully Shree Maa had a palki!
When we arrived at the temple, we were astounded at how clean and shiny Hanuman was. We were planning to polish him, but we didn’t need to. He was already perfect.
Swami Pranava and Prashant Baba immediately prepared Hanuman with brand new clothes that Shree Maa brought for him. They also adorned Hanuman with several flower garlands.
Within 15 minutes we were ready for puja, which Swami Pranava performed beautifully. Then the place was filled with bhakti as the duo Shree Maa and Ramya Maa led the Hanuman Chalisa.
Shree Maa was telling that this is a very famous temple, as legend has it that Shiva shared many yogic teachings with Parvati on this little island.
This little island temple is also a hot spot for visitors during Shivaratri.
As we packed up, I managed to find a cute little white and yellow flower to offer to Hanuman’s feet. We then made our way back to the boat and to the mainland.
In the car, Shree Maa began to tell stories from her sadhu days as a young girl. At just 17 to 18 years old She was doing sadhana in various places in the area.
One of those places was the Bhoothnath Cremation Grounds, which She pointed out to me from the car. I managed to snap a picture as we sped by.
It looked like a lovely, peaceful place with tall palm trees and I easily could imagine Shree Maa there as a young girl performing sadhana, meditating, and learning from the sadhus. (I secretly wondered if She brought food and fed the sadhus, but didn’t bother to ask!)
Another favorite spot for Shree Maa to do sadhana as a young girl was the Basishtha Temple and Ashram. This charming ashram dates back to the Vedic age and is just outside of Guwahati City.
The temple got its name from Saint Basishtha (Vasishtha), who lived in the ashram here. It is believed that Muni Basishtha went into Mahasamadhi inside a cave located in the ashram, and his shrine is the main attraction of the temple.
People line up and carefully step down into a cave where the shrine is and then they may perform short puja, pray, and offer flowers and dakshina.
After darshan of Muni Basishtha, we all headed outside to the back of the temple and much to our amazement was a flowing river gushing over huge boulders.
The Basishtha Temple is literally built right next to a mountain stream with gigantic boulders and connecting the two is a narrow bridge.
This ashram is so beautiful that I imagined doing sadhana here on a day that was not so busy with people.
Shree Maa told that She would meditate and do sadhana here on the boulders and take dips in the gushing river that turbulently flows by. She explained that the river here in this location is actually the Ganges River, but it is a mystery as to how the Ganges River got all the way into this interior location. She said scientists even to this day cannot figure it out!
Everyone followed Shree Maa’s lead as She carefully stepped on slippery rocks and got deep enough to take a dip into the rushing Ganges. Everyone laughed, playfully splashed, and felt cooled and refreshed.
After darshan from Mother Ganges, Shree Maa moved into a quiet, peaceful state where she allowed herself the time to just observe everything – Her children playing in the water, the monkeys jumping to and fro, one monkey eating a lotus flower She offered, the big banyan trees with ancient roots, the sound of the river etc. This was a perfect moment of blissful surrender while activity went on around Her.
One of the funniest observations was when Shree Maa’s Monkey (Sonic) appeared to have another monkey as a secret admirer. It was as if the monkey was looking at his future evolution!
On the way out of the ashram, Raj caught a video of an elephant in the ashram. This area has a lot of wild elephants and this particular elephant loves the ashram and frequently visits. Jai Ganesha! Check out video below:
For sadhana lovers, mark this place as a “must see” and come on a quiet day, sit on the rocks, chant and meditate.
Stay tuned for the final travelogue, coming shortly, where we will share one more of Shree Maa’s sadhana locations in Guwahati, and then her adventures in Vizag and Mumbai.
Jai Maa!