A few years back, we were made Regional Trainers for adolescent health for the north-eastern states of India. As part of that, the first training was organised at Guwahati, Assam.
With the place intimately connected with Swamiji’s experience with his Mother Teacher, we made way to the Kamakhya temple where he met her. This is a unique place, as it honors the menstrual cycle of the feminine divine, by closing its doors for three days, once in a year (generally around June).
As Swamiji shares in his Living with Himalayan Masters, at the time that he visited this place, it was very remote. His mother Teacher was a great lady yogi, who lived by the temple area from since she was twelve upto the age of 101. Though she never came out during daytime, she regularly visited the temple at midnight and at three in the morning. Swamiji said she was a very powerful and yet gentle old woman with tremendous will power and that whatever she said would always come true. She never slept, but remained sitting in meditative posture throughout the night. He also said that in her presence, his consciousness would raise exactly as it did in front of his Master. She explained to Swamiji the whole anatomy of sleep and systematically taught him the Mandukya Upanishad, which explains the three states of mind: waking, dreaming, sleeping and the fourth state, turiya, which is the state beyond.
And, yes, our visit to the temple was profound indeed !
