Detachment, Vision, and the Labor of Building Devipuram

Unfinished goddess statues slowly fill the unfinished frame of the temple.

(from "The Goddess and the Guru"):

One day while touring the construction site with Alok, Guruji motioned toward a handmade ladder rising precariously from the ground and spanning the temple’s skeletal frame toward the partially constructed dome. He told Alok to climb up and have a look around.

“So I climbed,” Alok said, despite a lifelong fear of heights. “The ladder was shaking all the way and so was I. Guruji shouted up, ‘Don’t worry! It will hold you; I’ve climbed it many times!’ And as I got higher up and looked around, I began to understand why he wanted me to go up there. He wanted me to see—to realize—for myself just how difficult it had been to put everything together. When you’re in the middle of a jungle, when your labor is unskilled, when you don’t have the money—when all you have is your vision.”

Remarkably, Alok added, Guruji projected absolutely no sense of attachment to the project. He seemed to be watching Devipuram rise and expand with the same curiosity and fascination as any other onlooker.

“Guruji always made it clear that the ownership of Devipuram did not reside with him,” he said. “In fact, I would always joke with him, saying, ‘Devipuram was constructed not because of but despite your poor management skills!’

“For me, the fact that this place is here at all is sufficient proof that the Goddess exists!’”