volt's 56 down friday

Of course the ashram was prepared to welcome us in after a short debate.




Custom dictated that the travellers would be given food and shelter without expectation of anything in return if, after a debate on matters such as the nature of ultimate reality, the guru concluded that the travellers were indeed genuine mystics.




The path we had taken through the foothills of the Himalayas would be deliberately avoided by all but the wisest of sages, for the guru who held court in this ashram was none other than the revered and even feared Swami Sri Muktibodhananda of Rishikesh.




It was said there we but a handful of living sages whom this guru had admitted free of charge, such was his wisdom and level of expanded consciousness. A debate with this guru was a challenge few would dare to accept, and it was not unheard of for this guru to engage in dialogue lasting days.

The debate I was most privileged to just witness had last all of five minute. Within that relative blink of an eyelid Muktibodhanada had been overcome with an apparent sense of revelation at some of the words uttered by my master. I was of course not surprised, as I had already witnessed my master open the eyes of many great and revered holy men in this ancient land.

And so we rested, and by the morning word had spread throughout the surrounding villages that a very great and wise man had descended upon the people. As I looked out the towards the river at the break of day on my morning walk,




I notice to my delight a line of devotees who had come to pay homage to my master stretching down to the river, across the bridge and into the distance.




My master is of course none other than Bhagwan Shi Rajneesh, leader of the Orange People, otherwise known as Osho. We affectionately know him simply as Volt.