'Why Mirtola?' OK...why? What sort of 'Mirtola' have you been talking about?

If there is a significant 'Mirtola' that you should respond to, it is not Revenue village no. 54, District Almora. The true 'Mirtola' is a state of mind and heart in which existence is infused with ultimate meaning, and every aspect of one's being is accepted and integrated on the spirit.

It does not stand for a life centered on social prestige, business profit or any other socially approved coordinates. It stands for being united by Love, not by shared greeds; for acceptance of suffering, not for escape into euphoria; for introspection, not for blaming it all on others; for service, not for personal progress; for holding and transforming tensions, not for finding an easy release; for intelligent enquiry not for unquestioning belief; for challenging preconceptions, not for traditionalism; for dedication, meditation, self-remembering, constant watchfulness, constant service of the beloved, courage, vigour, fire.

Such a 'Mirtola' has had many other names. William Blake called it 'Jerusalem'.

So if you think to achieve anything merely by visiting an ashram in the Kumaon and bowing respectfully to a Sahib Sadhu, you have got it all wrong.

The geographical location of the 'true place' is either in the centre of your true heart or wherever your beloved is. In that place is the only key to happiness - especially to happiness in marriage. But it is a very uncomfortable key to hold because the person who holds it passes through misery.

‘Love is the guide and Love is the goal.
Where’er Love's camels pass
The one true way is there’.

Letter from Sri Madhava Ashish, December 1977, reproduced by kind courtesy of Mala and Rohit Tandan.