After completing a two-month yoga teacher training in Rishikesh India, I planned to stay another 6 weeks for Satsang with a well known spiritual teacher.
Translated as “In the company of Truth” the word Satsang is a combination of two Sanskrit words: Sat = truth, and Sangha = spiritual community. Satsang is commonly understood to be a gathering of a spiritual community with a teacher or teachings.
I first met Mooji in Santa Cruz California in 2008. I’d spent the better part of 15 years studying Advaita Vedanta (the Indian philosophy of non-duality) with a number of well-known teachers and I wasn’t looking for a new one. My practice now is to live by inner guidance.
When a friend invited me to meet Mooji, I told her that I was not interested in another guru. But she was quite insistent, so I went and really enjoyed the meeting. I found him sharp, fierce, yet also light-hearted and funny.
Years later, I arranged my yoga teacher training in India to coincide with Mooji’s winter Satsang schedule in Rishikesh.
After moving out of the yoga ashram, I found a guesthouse with a clean, bright room, and a balcony overlooking the river. I negotiated a price to stay for 1.5 months and a few days later Satsang began.
My days were full from then on. I awoke early to cross Laxman Jhula over the Ganges River, then climb the hill to Tapovan town and catch an auto-rickshaw into Rishikesh proper.
After Satsang, I walked home along the Ganga River trail, passing cows, trail-side cafés, and dilapidated yoga schools.
Holi Hell
Three weeks into the program, the bottom dropped out of my plans without warning. Early one morning, I was preparing for the day when I heard a knock-knock at the door. It was Mani, the manager of Yuvraj guesthouse. He informed me that I should vacate my room immediately because he had rented my room to another guest.
“Whahhht?!”
People were pouring into Rishikesh this weekend to celebrate the frenzied holiday of ‘Holi.’ All the hotels were full and he had the brilliant idea to make top-dollar from my room… and I was in the way. He gave me no advance notice, and he never offered me the opportunity to pay double-price myself. He waited until the very last moment and expected me to leave immediately.
Aghast, I explained to Mani that there is nowhere for me to go. The town is packed and all rooms are full. He said that I could stay the disgusting storage room but that I’d have to share it with two other women whom he’d placed in the same position.
I was in shock. I told him I needed a minute to process the information and closed the door in his face. The whole thing was wrong. I wasn’t prepared to travel. I’d just filled the refrigerator with a week’s worth of groceries!
With the streets full of crowds throwing colored powder and water all over each other, it would be impossible to find a room. I decided the best option would be to beg him to let me pay the double price. I went downstairs to negotiate and the lobby was full of people with their luggage… waiting for my room.
Mani said he already rented my room and told me that I could have the storage room to myself now because the other women had decided to leave. That room was disgusting and I didn’t want to stay in it. I told him I needed an hour to search for another room.
I ran down into town for two hours with no luck. Finally, I resigned to stay in the storage room and walked back to tell Mani. When I returned to the Yuvraj, he informed me that I would share the storage room with him!
I could see where this was going and I wasn’t having it. This young man (half my age) had been flirtatious with me (and every other female) since the day I arrived. It was extremely uncomfortable and inappropriate. I made great efforts to avoid him every time I needed to depart the building. When I did encounter him, he’d say things like: “Heather, come sit and keep me company. I’m always surrounded by men and I need the company of a woman.” He made my skin crawl.
You may question why I would appease him, but I learned that it’s best to keep relations amicable here in India. Traveling solo is challenging for females and if something goes wrong, I need someone on my side for help. But it’s a slippery slope to be friends with an Indian man. They often look to foreign women for premarital affairs, not acceptable in their own culture.
I wasn’t going to share a room with this man, so I had no choice but to leave. I still owed him money for the previous week, so I ran back into town for the ATM and also to find a travel agent. I enquired about flights but they were all booked or overpriced. The only departure I could arrange was by bus. So I booked a 15-hour overnight bus ride to Dharamsala. I’d planned to visit Dharamsala in Spring when the weather warms, but instead, I arrived the day after it snowed.
Back at the hotel, I threw my bags together as best I could. I left a full bag of stuff behind because I had no time to properly pack. As I haphazardly dragged my luggage down the hill I heard Mani call out from the balcony and ask if I’d be returning the following year (the nerve!).
In my head, I screamed all sorts of obscenities at him. But out loud, I said, “As the manager of Yuvraj Guesthouse, I don’t trust your business practices. As a friend, you broke the friendship. So no, I will never return” and I walked away. I’d been very kind to this man and all his employees, none of whom would look me in the eye as I left.
It was slow going to get myself and my luggage through the crowds to the bus stop in Rishikesh where I sat for a couple of hours before the bus arrived.
A Bumpy Ride
Bus travel in India has three options: Local, Deluxe and Volvo. The travel agent had been no help describing the differences, so I chose the Deluxe because I thought it sounded comfortable. As it turns out, there are two very good reasons to choose Volvo over Deluxe: Shocks and Heat/AC.
Sleep is impossible when bouncing out of a rock hard seat every 10 minutes. Between that and the freezing cold, I was up all night, cursing every time a Volvo bus passed us like we were standing still. I longed for the tropical beaches I’d left behind in Thailand, but a bright full moon and some podcasts helped me to survive the night.
I arrived in Dharamsala in the wee hours and set about searching for a place to stay. It was really cold.
Travel is often hard and exhausting, but I’ve also had some of the highlights of my life on the road. Sometimes it’s difficult to understand why things happen the way they do, I just have to trust that there’s a bigger picture. With questionable rumors emerging about Mooji, perhaps there’s a reason I was ejected from his presence. In hindsight, I wasn’t actually enjoying the Satsang experience anyway. The good news is that I arrived in Dharamsala the day before public talks with the Dalai Lama.
8 thoughts on “Kicked Out of Rishikesh”
Nicely written. Surprised by the change of travel plans. Stay warm!
I know! When will I ever get back to the tropics?
a nice warm beach sounds about right!
Doesn’t it?
In the last few years, Rishikesh has become very popular with Indian tourists. Pilgrims used to visit Haridwar, take a bath in the Ganga and return home. Alcohol is forbidden in these two towns, but the multitude of new guest houses in Rishikesh many do not discourage drinking in the rooms, and food is ordered to the rooms at premium prices with additional service charge.
The Indian visitors are charged more than foreigners, and it does seem that winter is now full season bar a couple of weeks in January after New Year celebrations. Rishikesh has thousands of western visitors, there for yoga and meditation, and their presence is an attraction to the Indians. It can be said that Haridwar is for Hindus and Rishikesh for everyone.
Rishikesh, Laxman and Ram Jhulla used to have countless Sadhus (robe wearing holy men???) who spent all day smoking pipes of weed and hash, sleeping under any shelter available, but with the advent of both Western and Indian tourists, they had to go. The police have chased them away with large batons (Lathis),and much of the character has gone with them.
The events the writer describes are not uncommon, and the combination of greed, alcohol and limitless Indian tourists has changed the ambience. Rishikesh is still perceived by many as a place to study Yoga and an opportunity to learn with spiritual teachers, such as Mooji, Shanti mayi, Prem Baba, Samdarshi, John de Ruiter. The greed and drunks have already influenced many old regulars to call time on winter in Rishikesh, and it is possible that only newcomers will be drawn there.
I never saw alcohol served in Rishikesh, nor Ram/Laxman Jhula (though admittedly, I wasn’t looking for it and I’m in bed quite early). As I’ve written in another post, yoga (as a concept) has become a multibillion dollar industry. People are now drawn to yoga as a career, rather than seeking liberation from ego identity. It’s a complete 180, in the opposite direction. Spiritual materialism has become ‘cool’ in pop culture, and this can been seen on the streets of Rishikesh. But there’s also a lot of open-heartedness and exploration. So if Rishikesh works for you, great. If not, then at the risk of becoming a curmudgeon I suggest to do as the Sadhus and find a peaceful place to do your sadhana, your practice, and be happy.
When suggesting finding another place, we perhaps need to consider why Rishikesh? Many would not deny it is a ‘high energy place’ in that teachers and students are drawn here, and have been for decades. Other high energy places exist all over India, Tiruvanamalai, Gaya, Omkareshwar to name just three.
Although I’ve not visited, The USA also has locations that attract spiritual seekers, Boulder, and the area around San Francisco are where many teacher/Gurus give satsang.
It may be the case,(or not) that when an individual realises ‘being present’ is not dependent on location or being in the presence of a Teacher/Guru/Master, then the idea of those requirements simply drops away. Even then,years later for many a pilgrimage to these locations is undertaken.
Rishikesh and similar, places offer those in ignorance a direction in which to proceed, or put another way, they have stepped onto the path. Conversations in chai shops etc are usually of a spiritual nature, and happen with total strangers, which ignites the desire to explore. The average European Town is devoid of spiritual content that can be easily and affordably accessed, which is why so many spend so much to reach Rishikesh.
Agreed. I also enjoy those spontaneous deeper connections and magical meetings. It sounds as though you are from Europe. I’ve heard a similar sentiment from European friends regarding the “average European town.” Yet Europe does have its own centers of consciousness. I am from the San Francisco Bay area, and yes… there are a plethora of Advaita teachers, and many passing through. This can actually have its own unique downfall (a lot of spiritualized egos). What works for me is to focus on my practice and not concern myself with others nor with which place is high or low energy.