Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the world are merely coveting the spiritual goods. We're desperate to preserve what we call
nature, but maybe that's just because it's the best place we know of to go mining for en-
lightenment.
In the morning they walked, but in the afternoon the sadhus napped. You shouldn't overex-
ert yourself in such heat.
We camped in a dusty grove a hundred yards off the road. After lunch, Mansi and I
lounged in an open tent with Jai and Sunil and M.P., who had brought me the gift of a reli-
gious booklet called
Preparations for Higher Life.
Sunil played his regular game: trying to get us to walk all the way to Delhi.
“You can't leave!” he cried. “We love having you here. We're going to put chains on
you both!” He reached out and seized us each by an ankle.
Although he was a sadhu like everyone else, Sunil wore jeans and a shirt instead of
robes. His parents hadn't liked the idea of him becoming a holy man, he told us. “At least
dress normally,” they had said, and so he did. The street clothes were appropriate to his air
of easy competence. As yatra manager, he was the brains of the operation and by far the
most sensible sadhu of the bunch. But he counterbalanced this with a maniacal sense of
humor.
“Name change!” he shouted, pointing at me. “Gore Krishna!”
Mansi laughed. “He's calling you
white krishna
,” she said. “He says you're substituting
the pen and the camera for the flute.”
Sunil rocked back and forth, slapping the floor of the tent as he laughed.
I asked them exactly what made a person a sadhu. Did you sign up? Did you have to be
ordained?
“It's someone's way of life,” Sunil said. “Someone who just wants to be with God, who
wants to serve.”
“Like you,” said Jai. “You've come here. You're concerned for the world. Those who
think for others are sadhus.”
“So I'm a sadhu?” I asked. Could you become a sadhu involuntarily?
Jai ignored the question. “This is not an easy fight,” he said. “Without pen and ink, it's
not possible.” And he wanted to make sure I had my story straight. “People used to drink
Yamuna to purify themselves,” he said. “Now you can't even touch it. Recently some pil-
