An Authentic Life 1.1 for pdf - Universalist Radha-Krishnaism

muni and I gave them a tour of Vrindaban. We circumambulated
the town along a trail that devotees walk
barefoot as an act of devotion.
We went to Akrur Ghat. The three monks
wanted to see if we could make it to the other side of
the river and back. We easily waded the first half,
and a sandbar was in the middle. From there to the
steep crumbling sand bank on the far side was a hundred
feet of fast moving deep water. We swam hard
and made it to the bank, grabbed on, and pulled ourselves
out of the water to avoid being swept far
downstream.
Dry thorn bushes covered the shore. We picked
our way upstream with bare feet to have a better
chance of getting back to the sandbar before being
swept downstream where there was no sandbar or
hope of getting back to the other shore.
We dove in and swam as hard as we could.
Brahmananda and Gargamuni made it to the sandbar.
Unable to make much progress, I was swept downstream
to the end of the sandbar. As my strength gave
out, I thought, "This is a great place to go. Drowning
in the holy Jamuna should liberate me."
I relaxed and let my feet drop to tread water as
long as I could. My feet hit sand! I walked onto the
sand bar. The three of us made it back. Bishaka and
Yadubar watched all this through their telephoto
lenses not knowing what to do.
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