Jadeine Shives, author of 'Digging a Well to Heaven'

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CHAPTER ELEVEN

Check Your Baggage, Soul, and Heart!

Along the way we passed a typical village clad in thatched roofs and dirt floors. A small child of around four was standing by the roadway collecting tiny branches for firewood. Barefoot, with crumpled clothes and tussled hair, she was the epitome of sweetness. Tony shouted for the driver to stop as he rustled in the backpack for something. Pulling out the miniature airline teddy bear, he shoved a fifty rupee note into the back of its plastic wrapper and jumped out of the car.

Her wide eyes grew bright with excitement as he placed the spontaneous gift in her small hands. Holding it tightly she began kissing it over and over again. The joy in her innocent heart was overwhelming and contagious, so pure in its delight. Looking up at her unexpected benefactor, she held the bear high in the air as she waved back at Tony with great appreciation and began her rounds of affection again on the bear.

Watching the scene unfold through the back window of the car, I was immediately struck by its simplicity, joy, love, and giving—all four combined in the middle of nowhere, some place between Bangalore and heaven. So touched by its pure emotion, I was unable to pull my eyes from her.

Jumping up and down she waved us goodbye. Not having taken long enough to pull the bear out of its plastic wrapper, she would likely not discover the rupee note until she ran home to her mother. Watching her tiny form disappear over the horizon, waving back continually, I knew it was the two of us who had received the greatest gift. When we turned to smile at each other, the tears in Tony’s eyes were just as big as mine.

Staring at the ceiling that night, I watched a small moth beating itself against the burning light overhead and relived each of the moments of the day: lush flowering trees, jeweled temples bursting toward the sky, cascading waterfalls, and sweet little girls. What a completely different feel this part of the journey had had. The Divine Mother’s embrace seemed to crush me on Allahabad’s riverbanks, cremated me in the fiery ghats of Benares, and then awakened me in the fabled garden of heaven. With such intense emotional sadhana in the last few weeks, I felt like an empty, cracked eggshell. Thankfully, the day had been filled with serenity and contentment with none of the dramatic swings from hell to bliss and all parts in between.

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