PICTURES OF SWAMI RAM.
TARKESHWAR SIGNIFICANCE -- AS PER THE BOOK "Living With The Himalayan Masters"
Chapter : Protecting Arms
I know many calm & quiet places in the lap of Himalayas where one can live & meditate without being disturbed. Whenever I get tired I think of recharging myself by going to the Himalayas for a short period. One of my favorite places for sucha retreat is in the district of Garhwal, twelve miles north from Lansdownne, where at the height of 6500 feet there is a small Shiva Temple surrounded by thick fir trees. In that region nobody eats corn without offering it to the deity of that temple.According to local folk lore , if anyone does this by mistake , their house starts shaking and the people act in a funny way. When I first heard this, at the age of fourteen ,I had a desire to visit that temple. I thought that people create such myths out of their imagination, and that the myths then travel far and wide and are beleived by everyone , though they have no basis in reality. I decided to visit that place to see for myself. I was approaching there at 7'o clock in the evening. It had already become dark.I was travelling along the edge of a cliff. I did not have a light with me, and in those days I used to wear wooden sandals which were very slippery . I slipped, and was at the verge of falling down the cliff, which was vey steep, when suddenly a tall, old man dressed in white caught me in his arms and brought me back to the footpath. He said, "This is a holy place & you are fully protected .I will take you to your destination."He led me along the path for about 10 minutes,until we neared a thatched cottage which had a torch burning outside. When we came to the stone wall surrounding the cottage, I thought he was walking just behind me - but when I turned to thank him, I could not find him anywhere, I shouted after him , and the sadhu who lived in the cottage heard me & came out. He was pleased to have a guest & told me to follow him to his small room. where a fire was burning. I told the sadhu about the old man who had shown me the path in he dark. I described his appearence, and explained how he had saved from falling off the cliff.
This sadhu started weeping & said," You were fortunate to encounter that great man. Do you know why I am here? Seven years ago I also lost my way at exactly the same place. It was eleven 'o clock at night. the same old man took hold of my arm & brought me to this thatched hut where I now live. I have never seen him again . I call him siddha baba. His loving arms have also saved me."
The next morning I searched the whole area, but did not find any such man. I went to the cliff and saw the marks where I had slipped. I often remember those loving arms that protected me from falling from then cliff. It was a very dangerous place,and had I fallen from the cliff there would have been no chance of my survival. Later I talked to the villagers about my experience and they all knew about this siddha. they beleive that he protects their women & children in the forest - but none of the villagers have seen him. During that time I was strictly following the austerities & instructions given to me by my master, and
I did not possess or carry anything with me. My experience has often confirmed the belief that those who have nothing are taken care of by the DIVINE.
The thatched cottage in which the sadhu lived was just a hundred yards from the small shiva temple. The temple was in a little clearing in the woods and was surrounded by tall fir trees. That place was highly charged with spiritual vibrations. I learned that a great siddha had lived there 600 years ago. He instructed & guided those who lived in that area, although he remained in silence. After his death the people built a six-foot-square temple where he lived. Inside there was a shiva-linga. the villagers even today visit the temple once in three months before the new season begins to keep their memories of the great man alive. Some say it was he who saved me from falling off the cliff. I stayed in a small room near the temple for several months, remaining alone and practising silence & certain austerities.
A few years after my visit to that temple some brahmins decided to bulid a larger , more solid, and more majestic temple in place of the small, old temple which was no longer in good repair. When the laborers began digging around the foundation to remove the old temple they found that the earth was full of small snakes of various colors. so they started picking up the snakes along with the dirt, and throwing both aside. But the deeper they dug, the more the snakes would appear. An old woman from a nearby village would come to the temple each morning and evening. In the evening she would walk three miles to the temple in order to light the lamp inside, and in the morning she would come extinguish it. /she had done this regularly for several years. She didnt want the temple to be modified and warned the builders not to disturb it, but the engineer who was in charge of the project didnt pay her any heed. After digging for six days, they found there was no end to the snakes. The more they removed , the more there seemed to be left. They dug around the shiva-linga in order to move it, but found that it was buried deep in the ground. They dug down eight feet, but could not remove it. On the eighth night the engineer had a dream in which the old yogi who had rescued me appeared with his white beard and long gown. He told the engineer that the shiva linga was sacred and should not be enlarged. So the old temple was rebuilt to the exact dimensions in which it had stood for six centuries.
I visited this place again in the spring of 1973 with Swami Ajaya and a small group of students. We stayed there for six days in a small two-storied earthen and stone house which had been built a few 100 feet from the temple. Another old sadhu lives and as a sort of priest to the temple there now.He is very hospitable and serves anyone who comes there.That place is very serene and very beautiful.At the top of the tall hills that surround the valley one can see the long ranges of the Himalayas as though all the snowy peaks are tightly clinging to one another and are determined to stand firmly from eternity to eternity.
By Swami Ram - His Experiences with the Himalayan adepts.
