A strange incident happened on my Jan 2019 solo cycling trip in Thailand. After cycling my first day, I halted in a hill town. And after asking a few local people I found a small hole-in-the-wall vegan restaurant. This also happened to be one of the most delicious vegan & authentic local food I had in all of Thailand.

As I was waiting for this meal, I looked around and voila… There was the photo of Anandmayee maa on the wall. Just above the photo of a Buddhist monk. Errr… I didn’t know much of Anandmayee maa , at that time, but I knew that she was of Indian origin and originally from Kolkata side.

In this way, I had my first interaction about this Indian yogi. I couldn’t find out more from the vegan cafe lady abt how she found maa… Due to language barriers. But over time my understanding was that , in the early days, East India was closely connected to Burma and Thai regions. This was all one region administratively at one point. So it is not that unusual for a Indian yogi to be venerated across borders.

Since then however, I have been intrigued about Anandmayee maa. And so, I was very happy to stumble across her ashram in Uttarkashi a few weeks back.

Here too, there was bit of a story.

I saw her ashram marked on G maps, but that location was false, there was nothing to see there. So I might have missed it entirely. Even though I actually passed right by it on my first visit to Uttarkashi town…

Anyway, by a quirk of chance, a few different situations came together and I landed up there after a couple of weeks. It is a bright red coloured temple and ashram which I can only call a powerful Devi spot.

There is a Kali maa temple in the courtyard, bright red and Kolkata feels.. the idol is from Kolkata (area). And it also has a shrine for Anandmayee maa herself..

It was a very soft and caring space. Where a feeling of “don’t be too rigid on yourself. take whatever few comforts you need… And carry on…” seeped into me.

Very devi space, I thought to myself then. And I wondered whether it was Kali maa or Anandmayee maa here? Or are they merged?

Well, as I exited after a while, an old monk who spent his childhood with the maa when she was alive, greeted me. He directed me to have some sugary Prasad from a bottle kept there… I eagerly asked him whether maa had stayed here somewhere?

He directed me to a room in the next building where she has stayed…. So I headed there. It has been made into a shrine. And I sat there and meditated. It was really beautiful. And my wondering abt which devi it was disappeared.

As with Ramana Maharshi in Tiruvannamalai, this Maa’s space is also alive and vibrant. But there was a different gentle touch which I have not often experienced. It was really beautiful.

After that, I sat around chatting with the monk on various things – bhakti, Maa’s life, my life and Gurus and so on.

Much grateful for the beautiful experience. Unfortunately, I couldn’t wish the monk goodbye before leaving the town. But I wish him all the best with everything… Anyway, Maa will be there taking care of him.

For me it was one more place of support and care on my spiritual path.

I am truly grateful to these ashram spaces and the beings who persisted in setting them up. And also those that take care of these places after the beings are gone, so they don’t become totally derelict or encroached.

Another humbling experience for me of India’s great spiritual infrastructure & yogis…