(from "The Goddess and the Guru"):
Despite his occasional frustrations, Guruji forged onward, accepting all of the ups and downs as Devi’s will—“all part of the game,” as he liked to phrase it. The universe, he remained confident, was unfolding precisely according to her divine intention. So he played his part as best he knew how, and Amma helped him along by exerting “a sublime influence on Guruji when he struggled with these things,” Alok noted.
All the while, Devipuram continued evolving into an ever more beautiful rural retreat, with a life and rhythm all its own. A typical March day in the mid-2000s was evocatively captured by a staff member, revealing a morning routine that still pretty accurately reflects life at the temple complex:
Around 5:45 a.m., the kitchen’s huge, wood-fueled country stove is fired to boil hot water for tea. Shafts of sunlight stream through the tall coconut trees, illuminating clouds of swirling wood smoke as Ammatalli, a farmer from a nearby village, arrives at 6:00 to feed and milk the cows. He’s also in charge of the vegetable gardens, which are now producing tons of the tomatoes, brinjals [mini-eggplants], ladies’ fingers [okra], black gram [lentils], coriander and green chilies used every day in the canteen’s menu.
Meanwhile, Somayya ventures through Devipuram’s gardens, collecting flowers for the day’s pujas. He returns with four baskets brimming with roses, champa, kanakambara, parijata, bilwa leaves, tulsi and hibiscus, to name just a few. The fresh-plucked flowers are placed on a huge plate, and Amma begins dividing them for Devipuram’s shrines. March is also the season for mangoes, gooseberries, guavas and cashews. The mango trees at Devipuram start blooming in January. By March, you can pick and enjoy “tender mangoes”—maavidi kaaya pinja in Telugu. Half of Devipuram is covered in cashew trees; the whole place is suffused with the fragrance of cashews and jackfruits through April.
The staffer went on to describe an ordinary evening there:
When the sun sets at around 6:15 p.m., the birds settle into their nests and darkness falls with pin-drop silence. If you linger atop Sivalaya, you can watch the sky fill with stars; there is no light pollution to disturb your view. Guruji normally spends this time outside the Ashram enjoying the gentle breeze and perhaps listening to meditative music. Often you’ll find him speaking to visitors about physics or answering questions about spiritual practice. When he’s speaking with an advanced upasaka, the language can become highly philosophical—one would need enormous knowledge and experience to even follow the conversation! At 8 p.m. the canteen bell rings, calling everyone for dinner, and it’s another sumptuous meal: various curries, fruits, chutneys and thick buttermilk with the fragrance of fresh butter are served, making it a most enjoyable pastime.
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Yet the very remoteness that made Devipuram so idyllic continued to make it difficult for Guruji to find qualified people willing to come there and settle. He tried to keep his options open as he continually sought divine guidance on what should happen next. He felt that he either had to “hire an administrator to oversee the entire complex,” or, failing that (and if the Goddess allowed it), transfer ownership to an organization with the resources to properly operate the place.
However, several serious inquiries in the latter direction failed to bear fruit.
“Devipuram’s location is anathema to most Indians, who prefer to live in cities rather than rural locations,” noted Gupta. “Cinema, shopping and good schools are all located in the city. Priests and pujaris do not like to live in the country because there is much more money to be made performing rituals in the cities. It is mainly retirees who are drawn to a quiet place like Devipuram,” which is, she concluded, “a nice place to visit, but for various reasons, a place where very few people want to live.”
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