Journey to Maharajji-Part 1 Meeting Maharajji

 I would like to share a story with you of a nice young woman I met a few days before Guru Purnima last month. She flew all the way from Australia to be at the ashram on Guru Purnima and considers Maharaji one of her Gurus. But this devotion that developed over many years came with its fair share of struggles. Let me share with you her journey to Maharaji.It all started in 2000 when Supriya came to America from India to complete her internship in architecture. She visited her uncle at that time who happened to live in Dallas, Texas. Her uncle was a very big devotee of Maharaji and had a framed photo of him hanging on the wall in his puja room. Like any good Indian girl Supriya would visit his puja room to give Maharaji’s photo her pranams (bowing as a sign of respect and receiving blessings) out of habit and respect, but she honestly didn’t feel any connection to him. She tells me that she thought Maharaji was very funny. Hanuman on the other hand was always a source of admiration for her. She adored Hanuman as a child and felt like he was her little brother. As a child when the family would visit the Hanuman temple in India she would put a rakhi (sacred thread of love placed on your brother) on the Hanuman murti. She was lucky because on this trip to the US her and her uncle would make a visit to the Taos ashram for a bhandara (large feast for a holy festival) where she met both Hanuman and Maharaji. But even in the Taos ashram she didn’t feel a connection to Maharaji. She didn’t think much of it and went home back to India.Three years later, in 2003, she came back to Texas to help her sister with a family problem. However, the situation was complicated and she was finding it difficult to stay in the US. She decided to return to India. Supriya's birthday was coming up and she wanted to spend it at an auspicious temple. Remembering the Taos temple, she booked a bus ticket there.  It was a long  ride from Austin to Albuquerque and a frustrating shuttle ride from Albuquerque to Taos. She got into Albuquerque at 6am and caught her shuttle. But on the way to Taos the road was blocked due to a landslide. Her and the other passengers were stuck waiting the whole day for the landslide to be cleared. As it turned out the other passengers were actually some lovely women who happened to be shamans. She enjoyed talking with them and they told her many things about herself. But it was still a long wait without food or water.  Finally, as evening started to fall the roads were cleared and they continued their ride in the shuttle. The driver told Supriya he would have to drop off some passengers in another town and then come back to Taos, so she would be the last one dropped off. By this time she was exhausted and not in high spirits. Finally, it was Supriya’s turn to be dropped off but the shuttle driver got lost and he couldn’t find the temple. She said it was very stressful and the fact that is was already 9pm, the time that the gate at the temple gets closed and locked didn’t make things any better.  Supriya got nervous that she wouldn’t be able to sleep at the ashram, but they finally made it and fortunately nobody had closed the gate yet.She gathered her luggage, walked down the unlit path to the ashram kitchen and stood in the doorway feeling just about ready to cry. Standing there a little dumbfounded the cook, an Italian women, said “Go and see him he’s waiting for you.”  Supriya instantly thought oh no I haven’t taken a bath- in Vedic culture you never enter a temple without taking a bath and rinsing your mouth. But the cook looked back at her and said, “don’t worry he’s waiting for you,” as if she had heard Supriya’s worries, “go quickly they are almost closing the temple doors.”Supriya didn’t think twice and went to the temple room, bowed in front of Hanuman and started crying because of the days journey, her dear sister's problem and some difficult situation not letting her stay in the US for a longer visit. She did her pranams to Maharaji’s photo, but still no connection. With the day’s journey finished she took rest.(to be continued.........)