What to do? We were advised that we could walk around the landslide and find transportation to Badrinath on the other side. In a few hours, we were close to Badrinath, but encountered a landslide blocking the road. It’s average elevation is 11,204 feet, so it is very high up. This is a Vishnu temple, and is believed that not far from here, the brothers Nara and Narayana (later reborn as Arjuna and Lord Krishna) did austerity (tapas) for thousands of years. From Jyotir Math, it was not far to Badrinath, our destination. Nevertheless, the mountain air and beauty of Jyotir Math was exhilarating. This was a little premature, as we could not get a travel permit to proceed further (so near the Chinese border) until 10 am. For some reason, my cousin decided it was a good idea to wake us up at 4:00 am. Exhausted, I, Craig, and my cousin all fell into a fast sleep about midnight in a huge bed provided by the Shankaracharya’s ashram. Very late at night, after 11 pm, we procured beds for the ladies and gents at the ashram. Craig had a strong desire to see Shankaracharya’s ashram. From there we drove onto Jyotir Math, winter home of the Sankaracharya. The next morning we were able to go for a dip in the Ganges, which everyone enjoyed very much. Finally, we arrived in Rishikesh and procured a sattwic hotel related to Swami Sivananda’s ashram.
In Haridwar, we were stuck for some hours due to some large religious yatra – we couldn’t cross the Ganges to get to Rishikesh. As on all great spiritual journeys, we encountered difficulties. The next day we all met at Craig’s hotel in Delhi, refreshed ourselves, and rented autos for the trip to Rishikesh. They got to see Taj Mahal and also visited Mithura and saw the Krishna temple there. Craig went ahead by airplane with my brother-in-law Visweswarao, as I advised him he should see the Taj Mahal when travelling through Delhi. Ten of my relatives and friends took a train to Delhi, where we rented two cars to travel into the Himalayas. He said he would go with or without me, as he had a strong desire and did not know when the opportunity would come again. The reports were of heavy rains and landslides, so I advised him not to go at that time. Craig expressed a strong desire to go to the Himalayas. The result was that many terrorists in Kashmir surrendered their weapons in Kashmir the next day. More than 1000 devotees participated in chanting the Vishnu Sahasranama together 11 times from 8 am to 8 pm that day. On July 20, 2000, we performed together a Sri Sai Vishnu Koti Tulasi Yagnam for PEACE IN KASHMIR at Sankara Matam, Nallakunta, in Hyderbad. We rented a van and celebrated Guru Poornima in Puttaparthy in the divine presence of Sri Sathya Sai Baba.
In July, 2000, Jill and Craig flew to India, there first visit since 1981. After a few days, one devotee from London, grandson of Kaka Dixit (original devotee of Shirdi Sai Baba) came and gave a wonderful discourse. Sri Sathya Sai Baba, who had been invited, came in astro plane and blessed all of us. One of my sons and Craig flew over the Temple in an airplane and dropped flowers on the Temple grounds in the midst of sankha, bell sounds, nadswaram, etc. Craig and Jill came from Hawaii for the event. In July, 1997, the Shirdi Sai Baba Yagna at our Pittsburgh temple was consecrated. Within about a week, rains started – the heaviest in twenty years! We conducted rain yagna for the island which was undergoing severe drought. As they were business people, we conducted Ganapati Mahalakshmi homa for them, and their business quickly grew from about 20 employees to 300 employees.
They had built a homa kunda in their backyard and Mahalakshmi and I conducted many yagnas for them and their friends. In 1997, Mahalakshmi and I visited the island of Maui in Hawaii and stayed with Craig and Jill. Craig and Jill had a deep interest in the yagnas and Vedic Science as a means to help themselves and others. In 1991, 1992, Pittsburgh Sai Temple was advertising yagnas in Hinduism Today, published in Kauai, Hawaii. On May 1, they will have been married for 31 years. T hey both received bachelor’s degrees from Maharishi University of Management in 1981. Many good souls are serving Baba without expectation of recognition or reward. SAI DEVOTEE WHO MADE THE PITTSBURGH BABA TEMPLE
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