From: The Journey Home

By HH Radhanath Swami

This rock was to become my cherished place. I would sit on it every day from sunrise to sunset, surrounded on all sides by the forceful current of the Ganges. In that incredible panorama I felt so tiny...

The solitude of that rock became my shelter...The closest mountain took the shape of a heart at its very top. I gazed on it for hours thinking of how it symbolized for me the heart of God, a heart that is unlimited, giving ultimate shelter to all beings; a heart that is majestic and beautiful. Just as in climbing the mountain we leave behind the earth where we stand, to reach the heart of God we have to leave behind unfavorable earthly attachments. Sincere spiritual practice is an uphill climb, and no matter how many difficulties we face, we have to continue looking upward with hope. The mountain provides all support for those who strive to reach its top. similarly, if we are sincere, the Lord will provide us with the means to reach his supremely merciful heart.

Spread out around me on all sides was Mother Ganges in her winter dress of sparkling, undulating aqua. Her waves rippled and swirled as if intoxicated by her own beauty. No human artist could capture even a moment of this unending display. And, just as her art was created, it simultaneously disappeared. I took from this a lesson. All beautiful forms of this world are in the process of transformation. Nothing is stable. with every moment, our reality is changing. Mother Ganges, like nature, is constant, but no manifestation of hers remains. Likewise, all that we hold dear in this world is imperceptibly vanishing. We cannot cling to anything. But if we can appreciate the beauty of the underlying current of truth, we can enjoy a reality deeper than the fickle waves of joy and sorrow. I sat, a submissive student, trying to learn from my teacher. she begins her course from high in the Himalayas and flows without crease to the sea. Innumerable obstacles--huge rocks, fallen tress, or even mountains--block her way, but nothing will stop her journey to the sea. Gracefully she flows over, under, or around all obstructions. Mother Ganges teaches us that if we want to attain the sea of our aspiration, we must persevere in our goal and never be discouraged by the inevitable obstacles that come on our path. All impediments are like rocks in the river of life. we should flow around them and never give up. With the Lord's help, there is always a way.

As I sat on that rock, I imagined that watching the flow of the river was like watching the passing of life. If one is inside the river, one is greatly affected by it, but if one sits on the bank, one can observe it with detachment. Mother Ganges teaches that if we learn to be detached from our ego and the flurry of the mind, senses, and the world around us, and observe life with a sober disposition, we gain wisdom. After the sunset each evening, I returned to my cave in the forest and contemplated the gifts of the day.

One day I thought about how millions of years of history had been enacted on these banks. During the Age of the Aryans, spirituality flourished. Alexander the Great came and went. Then the Mughals, conquering North India, rules for centuries only to be vanquished by the British Empire, which was eventually driven away by Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, and the Indian freedom movement. slavery and freedom, war and peace, political conquest and defeat--like the seasons they had all come and gone. Through it all, timeless Mother Ganges patiently flowed toward the sea. Truth, too, was unchanging. Whatever may happen in this world, however dramatic, it could not disturb the flow of truth.

Many objects, I observed, were so swept along in the current, among them leaves, flowers, uprooted trees, a dead buffalo, and even human corpses. If an object remained in the river's flow, I reflected, it would eventually be carried to the sea. But in the course of time, most things would be diverted to the banks and their progress halted. The spiritual path and the spiritual teacher are like the current of Mother Ganges and the students are like the objects carried along the river. If the follower remains faithfully in the current of the holy teachings, he or she will be carried to the ocean of spiritual truth. But many temptations and diversions appear along the banks, promising comfort and happiness, tempting the follower to come out from the current that leads to one's heart's aspiration. Not all aspirants will remain faithful, but those who do can reach the ocean of enlightenment.

Early one morning, just before sunrise, as I looked downstream into the current that never slept, I considered her thousand-mile journey. The sea was calling and each drop of water patiently flowed in the current to her ultimate destination, so far away. Mother Ganges is teaching me that patience and steadfastness are required to follow my calling.