In May of 2000, the Mercy Center in Burlingame, CA launched "the Cave of the Heart", a live-in retreat that sought to replicate the experience of daily monastic life at Bede Griffiths' Hindu Christian Ashram in South India.  The five-day, in depth experience was meant for those who were familiar with the work of Bede Griffiths as well as those who were not: it was an opportunity to come together and be invigorated by a common purpose.  Many members on the team that facilitated this retreat had had a close relationship with Fr. Bede and continued to propagate his vision through their work.  This retreat proved to be a powerful vortex that coalesced much of the spiritual energy that accompanied us on our third annual pilgrimage to Shantivanam: an experience that we have been calling a "Journey to find the other half of the Soul" and which could just as well be named "in the cave of the heart".  Our destination was Bede's Ashram in South India.

A lot of energy went into the preparation of this experience.  Like any important ritual, the amount of preparation determines the quality and depth of the experience.  Both the participants as well as the organizers worked hard towards this end.  An important feature was referring to each other as pilgrim in all our communications.  We still encounter people who ask us, "How did your tour go"?  We don't explain.  But for those who want to join us on this journey, this experience is a pilgrimage, not a tour.  Because pilgrimage is our objective, 90% of our fellow pilgrims attest that the experience is nothing less than life transforming.

From the moment we connected as a group in Los Angeles, till the day we left the Ashram in India, each one of us in the group practiced this very simple objective and it made all the difference.  We said our mantra internally as much as we could, practicing the awareness of the Divine Presence at all times.  We constantly practice "seeing different".  This meant avoiding judgment and comparison as we experienced life styles and systems on the other side of the planet.  We practiced "right attitude" at all times, communicating to each other with love and consideration.  Without any doubt, this was the most powerful and joyful pilgrimage we have had so far.  The reason for this is because we have learned so much, year after year, and much gratitude must be offered to our very first pilgrims who braved our maiden voyage: no one knew what to expect.  Our second pilgrimage was definitely smoother as we knew how to prepare the group. A thanks is likewise due to our second batch of pilgrims: they were a marvelous group of people.

Each year we have strived to make this experience not only better but also different.  The first year our emphasis was Bede's Ashram.  The next year we placed the emphasis on chanting, and this worked well after the release of the Yoga of Sound music albums.  This year our emphasis was strong on pilgrimage as well as chanting.

One of the highlights of this particular trip was a climb up to the top of the holy mountain known as Tirueengkoil Malai, considered to be one of the most powerful places of pilgrimage in South India.  This mountain is recognized as first among the 50 seats of spiritual power in India known as "peetams".   Legend associates the mountain we climbed with the great South Indian sage Agastya.  According to local custom, it is considered of immense spiritual merit if the pilgrim manages to visit three holy mountains within the course of a single day and receive darshan, or blessing, from the deities enshrined in the temples atop each of these mountains.

To pace ourselves right we made single day pilgrimages to a temple or two from the Ashram, which we used as our base.  The afternoon we arrived at the base of Tirueengkoil malai it was very quiet.  Some had opted to remain at an ashram of Tantric yoginis where we stopped by en route to the mountain.  The rest of us climbed the ancient steps barefoot and in silence.  The sun was just beginning to go down and the view was simply spectacular when we reached the top.  Once inside the precincts, we stopped to meditate in front of the stone statues of Shiva and Parvati, personifications of the opposites on every level of being.  We chanted and prayed with sacred movements in the temple of Parvati and later did the same in the temple of Shiva that were both side by side.  It was one of our most profound experiences.

Another special feature of our pilgrimages are the opportunities we have to interact personally with disadvantaged young people, the elderly and children through social projects.  This does not take away from our time of prayer, meditation, chant, and pilgrimage: in fact, it enhances all of these.  Each year we make it a point to visit the social outreach projects managed by the Ashram and other communities that we visit and many of our pilgrims are moved to help.  Nothing is asked for: the very visibility of the need awakens the giving.  Sometimes these efforts are in secret and no one knows about it.  At other times someone in the group asks the others to pool in to realize something substantial.  The first year we helped a group of gypsies get out of a legal situation and funded their industry of trinket manufacturing.  The year after that we donated a number of sewing machines to young girls who had completed a training program: they could now set up their own business.  This year, one of our pilgrims coordinated the construction of a dining hall for a large group of orphaned children.

There is a sense of fullness and completion after the pilgrimage is over and integrating back into Western culture is by no means easy.  We return changed, powerfully different.  A new perspective has emerged and a new consciousness has been gifted us.  Many of our pilgrims have consistently returned a second time so we know that we must be doing something right.  Now that others are planning to join us a third time, we can't help feeling that we might be doing something special, but it would not be right for us to take all the credit.  The people of India, the temples and the land itself awaken wonderful experiences for us all, but mostly it is Spirit, herself, itself, himself …There is nothing but Spirit that shines through every moment of this undertaking.  

Russill Paul

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