Listen to the Sagasrabana Mantra while watching through the pilgram’s video lens on the way to Vasishta Gufta, or Shiva’s Cave.

Travel with this home-video journalist, feeling the bumpy road as you ride with these pilgrims up the steep winding roads into the foothills of the Himalayas.

Whenever I see modern films of ancient places like Vasishta Gufta, I think of the Ramayana and all the sages and seers that Ram and his devotees stayed with during their 14 year exile in the forest.

As the car speeds its way through to Shiva’s Cave, catch moving views of the holy Ganges and the mist-covered mountains. And take note of humble cottages of nearby forest dwellers dotting the foothills.

The road ends, yet the journey continues by foot, now at the door to the Vasishta Gufta where the pilgrim’s camera pans from the hut that guards its secret entrance, and then forges on into the darkness of Shiva’s Cave itself.

Although it’s difficult to see Vasishta Gufta in the gloom, except for a few candle flames near the Lord’s shrine, this film provides a rare glimpse into the remnants of one of the sacred Himalayan caverns settled by one Shiva’s original devotees, Vasishta.

How amazing that it still exists on earth where, deep in the Himalayas, austerities are still performed to the God Shiva in this cave.

It is said these meditation rituals have been carried on from then to now, after the example left by the venerable sage, Vashista, after whom the shrine is named. The name,Vashista, means ‘Guru of Ram’.

If you have studied  the Ramayana, you’ll recall that Vasishta is the Guru to Ram’s family. Some feel that Ram, said to be one of the avataras of Vishnu, is in fact an historical figure. If so, perhaps this shrine is a remnant of the place near the hermitage where Ram and his three brothers studied in their boyhood.

Seeing these kinds of YouTube films of yogis and masters abiding as far from civilization as they can, I think of what it must be like to live there now, and what it must have been long aeons past when the legends orginated.

People still have such small huts and cabins, some the size of our automobiles. To enter such tiny little hovels you must kneel and crouch through, then carefully turn around before closing the door to the wind. Thin walls and coverings are the only shield against raging elements at such altitudes.

Maybe a cave is the way to go…

Om Namah Shivaya
Nataraja Om