I reached Haridwar around 10.30 am and searched for accommodation near the railway station. I found one which was the closest.

By the time I could keep my stuff and attend to my daily ablutions, it was way past noon. I thought of eating a simple sandwich and tea for lunch. After I ordered it, I settled down to look into the map to reach the Ganga ghat.

When the tea carafe and sandwich came I left it on the table for hardly a few minutes to look into the map. I turned towards my sandwich to see about 25-30 tiny cockroaches crawling over it. I was appalled at it and felt disgusted. I looked around to locate from where they might have crawled out. I thought of discarding my sandwich and having the tea from the thermos. The moment I opened the thermos, I smelled the odour of these slimy creatures. They were somewhere in the thermos. I opened the bottom of the thermos and noticed over a hundred of them inside the thermos. I called a room service person to show him these creatures. He came after half an hour. By the time he came into my room, there were only a few crawling on the table and under the thermos. There ensued an argument which I couldn’t counter. He asked me to pay the bill and I was aghast at his audacity. I quickly dressed and walked out in the hot sun. I finally searched out government accommodation and shifted my bag over there. It took me a good three hours. I was extremely hungry by then. I had to pay at both the hotels and the room service bill. I was wondering why would God want to put this kind of obstacle in my path?

I know why that happened to me in retrospection. It was simply a sign from God and I should have known or accepted it. I stayed in Haridwar for a few days. I visited a few nearby places too.

For four and a half-day I had immersed myself in an argument with my Spiritual Master while dipping my feet up to my knee in absolutely chilled water. I was in a state of samadhi while I had the darshan of my Gurudev Shri Dattatreya about a kilometre from Har ki Pauri. I know that I should not have argued with Him today. But then I was very hot-headed and unruly. I got lots of lessons from my Gurudev at that spot.

The main argument was about my return back to base at Bangalore and I was refusing to go back.
Finally, I cut a deal with Him that I will go back and teach that one person whom He has sent to me. My job was to help that one to reach a certain destination within a stipulated period of four years. Then I was free to walk away.

I will be writing in detail about my one on one with my Master in another page. Just now, take a pinch of spice and be happy tasting it.