Interactions with Sadhus

It takes a bit of explaining to portray the concept of a Sadhu. They are members of a religious holy order, and in this case, of the Bochasanwasi Akshar-Purushottam Sanstha, or BAPS, a sub-sect of the Swaminarayan faith. They are people like you and me who have renounced their worldly attachments to serve God.

For most of my life, the ones I've come in contact with have been sadhus since before I was born. But as I grew up, some were initiated into the ascetic fold after I had gotten to know them as householders. And even more recently, a group of three of them, who received diksha, or initiation into the order, very recently, are only a few years older than me, and were my temple youth group leaders in Houston. One of them graduated from Harvard, one from UT-Austin Plan II, and the other from Georgetown Law School. They've been friends of mine for years, and so it's interesting interacting with them in this new context.

They just left yesterday to go back to Sarangpur, a tiny little town in Gujarat, where they are still continuing their religious studies. That leaves me with their projects they have going here in New Delhi. It's a pretty big load, considering that these guys were some pretty heavy-hitters in terms of ambition in the projects. Hopefully I'll be able to do their work some justice.

On another note, my wallet got stolen. On the bright side, it means I don't have to be so careful about my credit cards anymore while I'm in India. :)