CAVE YOUR CAVE

"The mind is sharper and keener in seclusion and uninterrupted solitude. Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind. Be alone-that is the secret of invention: be alone, that is when ideas are born." - Nikola Tesla

A few weeks ago, I had the good fortune of participating in the Dwarka-Somnath Yatra with nearly two hundred devotees from Goa. One of the many places we visited during this pilgrimage was the cave of Jambavan. Our scriptures mentioned that Jambavan, lived there for many years and it was in this cave that Lord Krishna and Jambavan had a fight and finally Jambavan surrendered to the Lord and gave his beautiful daughter, Jambavati in marriage to Him. The cave of Jambavan was very divine and extremely peaceful. Some devotees were suggesting to stay in this cave a little longer and chant the Holynames with focus. What more better place than to focus of the Supreme than a cave. No mundane interruptions, no mobile range, no distractions for any of the senses. Completely cutoff from the mundane civilization. Probably, that is the reason that sages and saints of every civilization in every part of the world loved to reside in caves.

THE UNCOMPLEX LIFE
The Srimad Bhagvatam mentions this interesting verse in the form of rhetorical questions -

Srimad Bhagvatam 2.2.5
cīrāṇi kiḿ pathi na santi diśanti bhikṣāḿ
naivāńghripāḥ para-bhṛtaḥ sarito 'py aśuṣyan
ruddhā guhāḥ kim ajito 'vati nopasannān
kasmād bhajanti kavayo dhana-durmadāndhān

"Are there no torn clothes lying on the common road? Do the trees, which exist for maintaining others, no longer give alms in charity? Do the rivers, being dried up, no longer supply water to the thirsty? Are the caves of the mountains now closed? Or above all, does the Almighty Lord not protect the fully surrendered souls? Why then do the learned sages go to flatter those who are intoxicated by hard-earned wealth?"

Srila Prabhupada explaining this verse writes in his purport - "The general rule is that a mendicant devotee will accept a simple small loincloth without asking anyone to give it in charity. He simply salvages it from the rejected torn cloth thrown in the street. When he is hungry he may go to a magnanimous tree which drops fruits, and when he is thirsty he may drink water from the flowing river. He does not require to live in a comfortable house, but should find a cave in the hills and not be afraid of jungle animals, keeping faith in God, who lives in everyone's heart."

The essence of this verse and the purport is that, the life of spiritualist is about keeping his life as simple as possible, so that major of his time is devoted to pursuing his spiritual pursuits. Just imagine, how much human energy is spent in working for food, clothing and shelter. Almost, an entire life is spent in it. Then, where is the time left for spiritual emancipation. So, the scriptures explain that if one can live as simple as possible, that's the best. Given the fact, that we can't live in caves, but we can definitely take inspiration from the sages of lore and find our version of a modern cave. We will come to what this means a little later. But before that, let's look at the examples of saints who lived in caves.

THE CAVE MASTERS
It is explained that Vyasdev compiled the entire Mahabharata in a cave in the Himalayas. Haridas Thakur, the greatest acharya of the Holynames lived for a long time in a cave in a place called Phuliya. The erudite and unparalleled Vaishnava scholar, Jiva Goswami lived in a cave and performed his Sadhana there. Lord Ram also stayed in a cave during the four months of the rainy season at Kishkinda. Sugriva and Hanumanji also stayed in a cave in Kishkinda. Tukaram maharaj also did his bhajan in a cave in the village of Dehu. Bharat, the younger brother of Lord Ram, lived in an underground chamber in a place called Nandigram during the 14 years of exile of Lord Ram. (SIDE NOTE - Many of these historical and spiritually surcharged caves are still present today for those eager to see and feel thier vibrations.)

Radhanath Swami in his memoir, "The Journey Home" mentions of his visit to an underground secluded chamber in a small chapel in Rome which was used by a Christian priest of the Franscian order to pray and meditate. Caves have always been sought after for those seeking enlightenment from every religion across the world. Radhanath Swami also mentions, how before embarking on his maiden and life changing journey to India, he and his friend Gary stayed in a cave in the Isle of Crete and meditated for weeks till he heard a voice that told him boldly and clearly, "go to India". He followed and trusted that voice and very soon all his desires were fullfiled. Once he reached India, he stayed again in quite a few caves in the Himalayas. All his cave life didn't go in vain. These periods of introspection and seclusion in the caves, carved him to be who he is today.

THE CAVE PRINCIPLE
For all of us, we may not be embrace  the physicality of a cave but we can and we should surely embrace the principle of a cave. The principle of a cave is about taking quality time, creating a scared space and making a determined vow to invest in deepening one's relationship with God and oneself. It is about taking time to meditate, chant, introspect, contemplate and study the Absolute truths. It is about disconnecting from this world and connecting to the spiritual world. The cave life is about spending quality seclusion with our self, so that we can gain some jewels of wisdom, realisation and experience and then come out from the cave of seclusion and give quality association to others.

Anyone who has achieved anything in life and contributed in some substantial way has first removed time for himself. This is called Sadhana. Without Sadhana for oneself, one cannot do Seva for others. Just like, for an arrow to pierce a target and make an impact, the arrow needs to be pulled back and released similarly, to make a solid impact in this world, one needs to take step back and spend time in seclusion. That means - to go forward in life, one needs to step back first to reshape, rebuild, rewire and reorient oneself. To hear our soul's voice and God's voice in our life, we need to silence the noise of the world and the mind. For all this to happen, we need to create a sacred space and time for ourselves. This is the cave principle.

THE PRACTICAL CAVE
Śrīla Saccidānanda Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, a great Vaishnava visionary in the Chapter 12 of Śrī Hari-nāma-cintāmaṇi, writes the following paragraph giving an idea of how to create the cave space in our life and how it helps in developing attraction for the Holynames of Krishna.

"If indifference or lack of attraction for the name is present, one should take association of Vaiṣṇavas who are properly chanting in some place sheltered from the material influence. By chanting in that situation, his absorption in material things will be reduced; being inspired by the conduct of the Vaiṣṇavas, he will give up that fault. Gradually the heart will get attraction for the name and will be anxious for the nectar of the name. The advanced devotees have recommended that one live in a place where Kṛṣṇa had His pastimes, near Tulasī, in the company of Vaiṣṇavas and gradually increase the period of chanting. Quickly the taste for material objects will go. Another remedy is to carefully chant in a room by oneself with the door locked, or concentrate on the name by covering the eyes, ears and nose with a cloth or the like to prevent stimuli from the exterior. Carefully chanting in this way, an attraction or taste for the name will develop and indifference will be suppressed."

As Bhaktivinode Thakur mentions, the way we create a cave for ourselves is by creating a sacred space where we can focus on our Sadhana, our meditation, our scriptural study and deepen our connection to God. Either, you have a small and a simple room dedicated for this (modern version of a cave) or have a corner of one room dedicated as your sacred space. By the way, the idea of bhajan kutir is exactly this - a hut that serves as a place for bhajan or private worship of the Lord. Every great saint in the devotional line, did thier Sadhana in such bhajan kutirs. Whatever that place may be, that place is a must. This place must be clean, simple, devotionally vibrant with a picture of Krishna and most importantly free from distraction of any sort - no magazines, no newspaper, no TV sound and no mobile.

When we enter this zone - our cave we enter with a resolve (sankalpa) to disconnect from our world to connect to His world. This resolve is very important. The time we spend with God, let it be quality time and exclusive time. It is our appointment with the most important person so let everything and everyone else wait. Let us enter our little cave everyday with this mood and come out only after gaining something valuable, either wisdom, realisation or experience. After all, to carve our life into a masterpiece, we need to cave our cave and learn to become a master of our cave life. That's the secret of every master.

- Achyut Gopal Das