
Although this talk by Vidura isn’t strictly about service, it’s included for its relevance to the spiritually relevant subject of staying inwardly centered while performing our outward roles. (Photo: 2010s – Vidura in India with friend Anil)
About two months ago, I traveled to India to make some adjustments to the itinerary for our annual pilgrimage that became necessary because of the fighting in Kashmir.
Always in the past, I had traveled to India in a spirit of pilgrimage – of chanting and meditating and drawing inspiration from the shrines we would visit. But this time I subconsciously let myself slip into the thought, “This is a business trip. I’ve got to rush over to India and set up the new itinerary, and rush back home again.”
Normally, when we arrive in New Delhi, the first thing we do is go to Chadhapur Temple, the residence of a saint called Baba Nagpal. Baba has given us many, many blessings during our visits, and it’s always an extremely special experience to have a chance to visit his ashram. But on this morning, in meditation, I thought, “I have a lot of appointments today, and there’s no way I’ll get it all done unless I really get down to business.”
So I gave my meditation a lick and a promise and rushed out of the hotel and jumped in a taxi and started charging all over New Delhi looking for potential sites for our pilgrimage. And as I rushed and rushed, nothing was going right. Everywhere I went, I either arrived late, or I got stuck in traffic and didn’t make it at all.

Finally, at about five in the afternoon, I said, “At least I can salvage a little bit of the day. I’ll rush out to the Chadhapur Temple and see if we can attend the Durga Puja during our visit.”
Durga Puja is a major festival, and a wonderful time to visit the temple. So I charged out to Chadhapur Temple, jumped out of the cab, rushed in, flipped off my shoes, made a cursory pronam to the deities, and began looking around for someone who could speak English. But I couldn’t find a soul, and that’s very unusual in India. I looked high and low, charged around, but could find no one to help me.
During my wanderings, I kept passing a part of the ashram that was somewhat secluded, and I noticed that there always appeared to be a short line of two or three people standing in front of this building. But I didn’t give it much attention; I simply took a picture of the building and kept walking.
I was beginning to get a little frustrated, and finally I thought, “Well, to heck with this. I’m going back to the hotel. Nothing’s happening today. I’ll just write the day off.”
But as I wandered slowly back toward the hotel through the afternoon traffic of New Delhi, I got an uneasy feeling in my stomach, “Uh-oh, Vidura, something’s wrong. You’re in India and you’re charging around, acting like a frantic businessman.” I went back to my hotel room, and I thought, “I’ve got to regroup and start over.”
I sat down to meditate, and I was a bit restless for a while, because of the manner in which I had spent the day. But as I began to meditate, all of a sudden I remembered a pilgrimage to the Grand Canyon with Joseph Bharat Cornell, an Ananda member who’s a naturalist and the author of a best-selling book, Sharing Nature With Children.
We were standing on the rim of the canyon, listening to a talk by one of the park rangers with the wonderful view spread out behind him. You look over this vast chasm, and it’s awe-inspiring. The ranger said that the average visitor, in the course of a two-day visit, spends two minutes looking at the canyon. And we were shocked. I thought, “How is that possible? How could people come this far and fail to perceive the beauty of this place?”
I don’t think people are insensitive to the grandeur of nature, but perhaps they simply don’t have the tools that Bharat shares, and that we’ve been given through yoga, to quiet ourselves and tune in to the present moment.
In my meditation, the next impression that came was of a tour to the Holy Land several years earlier, where we would get up very early and meditate for an hour, then read scriptures and descriptions of the shrines that we would visit during the day. And only then would we chant and get on the bus and visit the shrine. Sometimes we would chant as we entered the shrine, then we would sit and deeply practice the inner stillness and try to draw the presence of Christ and the other saints who had been in the shrine. And it was always extremely deep and moving.
But we began to notice that during our visits to these shrines, which would last upwards of an hour or longer, a steady stream of pilgrims would be coming by, and they would stay no longer than two or three minutes. At most, they would enter, look at the chapel, take a snapshot, and leave. The guide would say, “This and this happened here,” and they would go. And this happened over and over.
When the tour ended, we told our guide, “You know, Jacob, I bet we saw about ten times as much as any other group that’s ever come to the Holy Land!” But he said, “No way! You saw about one tenth of what everyone else sees, because everywhere you go, you stay and chant and sing for hours!” But we were more than willing to give up quantity for quality, and for the experience we’d had.
Reflecting on these thoughts in the hotel room in New Delhi, I realized, “Vidura, you’ve blown it. You’d better get up in the morning and make amends.”
The next day, I got up very early and meditated, and then I jumped in a cab. But instead of charging around New Delhi, I went straight to the Chadhapur Temple, where I had a very long meditation and visited each of the beautiful shrines and offered my respect. And as I sat to meditate again, a man tapped me on the shoulder and said, in English of course, “Is there any way I could be of help to you?”
I said, “I’m part of a tour group that has been here several times, and we’re looking forward very much to coming to Durga Puja.” He said, “No problem, no problem, I will make all the arrangements. We’ll be very, very happy to have you.”
I said, “How is Baba?” And he said, “Oh, Baba would be very happy to receive you today.” And he pointed to the place where I had seen people standing in line the day before.
He said, “He’s giving darshan every day in that little building. All you have to do is present yourself, and he’ll be more than happy to give you his blessings and spend time with you.”
I thought, “Oh, brother!” So I went across the compound and stood in line with two or three other people, and no sooner had I arrived than a crowd of about a dozen Indians came along and began jostling me, as they usually do when they’re standing in line. My first reaction was, “Wait a minute, I was here first and I’m going to take my turn.” But then I thought, “No, wait, I’m supposed to be listening to the inner voice more carefully. I’ll just pull back and wait my turn.”
I was pretty much shoved to the end of the line, and all of these people went through very quickly. Baba would give them a little tap on the head, and they would pronam and run out the door.
Finally, I was the only one left, and I pronamed and knelt before Baba, and he gave me his blessing. He doesn’t speak English, so I just meditated and absorbed the peace and blessings that were emanating from him, and it was very beautiful. Before I left, he went into the back room and got some fruit which he blessed and gave to me, then he gave me another blessing, and I pronamed and went on my way.
It was a moving and beautiful experience, but it was also a lesson in what can happen when we let our minds drift away from the presence of God, and what can happen when we remain in contact with that voice within, and live our lives according to its directions instead of the dictates of our business, or the rush to get something done.
I’d like to close with a passage from Swami Kriyananda’s book of sayings of Paramhansa Yogananda, The Essence of Self-Realization:
“One hears endless excuses! People say, ‘I have no time for meditation. I have all these appointments to keep.’ Well, when God calls them they will have to break every other engagement. Death is the one appointment that no one can break. Why waste so much time on things that are not lasting? Oh blind ones, wake up! God calls you from beyond the little joys of life. He calls you from all the pains that follow them. ‘Seek Me!’ he says. ‘Seek that changeless joy which you have so blindly looked for in mere things. Everything you’ve sought for incarnations you shall find forever in Me alone.’”
Blessings. Thank you for this lovely reminder !🙏
Thank you!