Apurva remembers an event from 1977
The children assemble at our little school behind the ashram in Poona, ready for an outing and load into the minibus.
Here we are pulling up near Lonavala, a beautiful hill station two hours away.
The kids tumble out excited at their first day trip. We organise them into groups of older ones taking care of younger.
Adults shoulder the rucksacks full of our picnic and extra water.
Now to head for the river. It’s some ways away, and an ideal destination.
It’s a pleasant 21 degrees here, and at the end of monsoon the hilly countryside is lush, green and vibrant.
‘Careful, look out for snakes! See if you can hear shouts.’
We aren’t in the wooded area, so we don’t have to worry about wolves and tigers.
After a while we can see the river in the distance.
‘Not far now!’
As we get really close we all freeze!
Everyone is standing stock still, completely silent.
There, floating about two feet above the river is an orange-clad yogi, perfectly still, in full lotus position, eyes closed in meditation.
In front of our eyes – levitating!
There is an unspoken tussle between the adults who want to leave, and the children who want to go closer, curious to check if it’s a trick!
The adults win and we find another picnic spot.
Our picnic is finished. A devotee, dressed in faded orange pajamas and a kurta, approaches us to explain that we are in the grounds of an ashram. We are welcome now to return to the river but no one must pee in it. We are also invited to darshan.
When asked, we explain that we have come from the ashram of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in Poona, hence our orange clothes.
After further exploration of the river we head for the ashram.
The devotee ushers us into a small room.
There we see a small gathering of people. The yogi sits at the front with a large bag of mala beads. He puts his arthritic, gnarled hands in the bag and, laughing, starts to throw the beads to or maybe at the children!
Trying to prevent a scrum, we all, yogi included, collapse in laughter.
No words are spoken. Then, the yogi gets up and leaves.
On our drive home, lulled by the rhythm of the bus and tired from the excitement of the day, the children are soon sound asleep.
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