Scaling rocks to waterfalls, diving into waves in the Atlantic Ocean, and hiking through a river in the Amazon rainforest may sound like the activities of a daredevil. However, they were actually the adventures of a group of yatris on the most recent Chinmaya Inspiration Yatra to Trinidad and Tobago in November 2017. Vivekji from Chinmaya Mission Niagara led 45 North American yatris ranging from school-aged children to grandparents on the international self-development opportunity of a life time.
The first few days of the Yatra were devoted to yatris getting to spend time at the Chinmaya Mission Ashram. Yatris interacted with school students at the Chinmaya Vidyalaya, participated in Vedic chanting and Kathopanishad classes with Vedanta students, and most wonderfully, got to spend time with Pujya Swami Prakashananda.
The first excursion yatris delved into was a hike to Edith Falls, a hidden waterfall nestled at the top of a rocky hike. While the trek itself was demanding, the beauty of Edith Falls proved that the hard work required to get there was worth it. After the morning’s hike, yatris enjoyed pizza with Trinidadian flare, including ingredients like hot peppers, pineapple, and corn before heading to Mount Saint Benedict, a monastery set high in the mountains. Mount Saint Benedict is in constant mounam, or purposeful silence, and yatris were able to enjoy a reflective quietude before returning to the ashram.
The yatris’ next trip took them to the Dattatreya Temple, where an 85-foot moorti of Lord Hanuman stands tall. After chanting Hanuman Chalisa while completing pradakshina around Lord Hanuman, yatris traveled to Patiram Trace, where they got to offer freshly picked bilva leaves to a svayambhu Shiva. Lord Hanuman and Lord Shiva must have been smiling upon the yatris, because after visiting both temples, the entire group indulged in scrumptious Trinidadian food including doubles (channa batura sandwiches), aloo pies, and spinach pies. With full stomachs, yatris returned to the ashram, where they filled their afternoon playing football with Vivekji and the Vedanta students.
Yatris spent the third day of the Yatra at Maracas Bay, a beautiful beach with huge waves and picturesque views. Before leaving the beach, yatris enjoyed “bake and cheese,” a local sandwich favorite before returning to the ashram.
The highlight of the trip came the day after Maracas Bay, when yatris left before sunrise to hike up through rainforest terrain to the peak called Tapovanam. While the hike started off light, it wasn’t long before yatris started losing their shoes in the thick mud that filled the trail up the mountain. However, the group was soon met with the blessing of wading upstream through a river all the way to the peak. At the top a large pavilion welcomed the yatris, who quickly jumped into many forms of seva, including unloading bags from jeeps, cutting vegetables for dinner, and most demanding, tearing down old parts of the pavilion structures and building concrete walls with Swami Prakashanandaji. While at Tapovanam, yatris forgot the conveniences of normal life and used communal kitchens, bathrooms, sleeping spaces, and were completely immersed in simple living, high thinking, and of course, reveling in joke after joke told by Swami Prakashanandaji. Despite being away from home in the middle of the rainforest, yatris could not have felt more comfortable and joyous.
Upon returning to the ashram, many yatris prepared to head to their respective homes. But, while their time in Trinidad was quickly coming to an end, they were filled with inspiration their experiences had cultivated. At the end of just a short week, yatris gained new friends, new perspectives, and a new sense of the blessing Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda has given all of Chinmaya Mission. More than anything, yatris learned this: Yatras are not simply spiritual pilgrimages. They are difficult but worthwhile opportunities to journey away from our comfort zones, and towards our best selves.
