Sometime in the late nineties some land was purchased by Sri Raniji of www.livinginawareness.org for the Monks to conduct larger retreats. Satyaloka is small and could not accomodate the large number of seekers who were flocking there. Also many of the Western seekers could not get past the physical discomforts of sleeping on a mat on a clay floor with 100 or more others, cold showers, no air-conditioning or heating, light would come from the sky and play in the water.During the times between when we were training at Satyaloka,etc.
The monks spoke quite frequently and very excitedly of the new land where the new facility called, "The Golden City" was to be constructed. They told us that there was a sacred lake at the top of a mountain near there where beings of the monks would bring photos of the new land and tell the teachers of this tradition of transformation and enlightenment how the construction was going. In 2000 following a 4 week yajna at Satyaloka I traveled with Ananda Giri, several monks and some of the teachers to The Golden City for Amma's birthday. It was nothing like it is today. There was a small one room building for Ananda Giriji and a separate building for the male monks, a building with showers, toilets, and washing machines, and a dhyana vihar made of poles with a thatched roof. There were no quarters for the female monks at the time.
One day we went into a forest and followed a stream to the lake. A monk led carrying a machete. They said the forest was haunted by the spirits of Rishis which could be seen sometimes as small flickering lights. If they did not want you there you would not be able to enter the forest. We came upon the ruins of a sall temple, a small stone cow was laying on its side.
We climbed huge boulders and drank from the stream (see photo).. A Swedish woman stood in the stream and began to scream. She refused to go further. Eventually we turned back as we had to leave the forest before dark due to the spirits, bears and the resident panther.
When I saw the photographs of the Light Beings taken over the Golden City I could not help but wonder if they were the beings from the sky that the monks spoke of.
Dharma Dharini
