Rishikesh

A place in the foothills of the Himalayas keeps this part of the story alive.

A few hours' walk and drive into the forested hills above Rishikesh, where the Ganga comes down out of the mountains, there is a temple called Neelkanth Mahadev, the temple of the blue-throated great god, which tradition says stands on the spot where Shiva drank the poison and then sat in meditation while it cooled in his throat.

In the month of Shravana, it is crowded with pilgrims carrying water from the Ganga to pour over its linga.

In Bengal, the story took another turn.

So I picked Neem Karoli Baba off of his list, because he had Lama Govinda, and I can't even remember all the different names he had to go up to the foothills.

And then York and I went to Rishikesh, and we were in...

Eight Finger Eddie's.

Did you ever hear of him? Okay.

In Goa.

Okay.

So we stayed at his place in Rishikesh.

Okay.

You must know that since perhaps 30 years I am very active moving about.

Before coming to India I was in Kazakhstan and then I came to India but we gave a big program in Rishikesh that was so wonderful with really a lot of young spiritual searchers who go traditionally to Rishikesh and I went to Delhi and then I had to fly from Delhi to Vienna for only two days and I'm one of those crazy movers, if you want.

My reason of doing it is to try to serve my Lord by helping people to either make the first steps in his direction or to continue.

Now, I got introduced to Raghunath when he was, when we were young, perhaps some of you were not even born at that time, and he was an icon at that time of a well-known band, Youth of Today, who started a new trend within the, I think the style is hardcore music.

to Instagram call me.

But, you know, it was good because yesterday was a codice in Rishikesh.

Okay.

And...

You want it now.

Right.

When we bathed in the Gunga in Rishikesh, I was prayed, you know, help me to use my gifts for service and, you know, to not forget you.

And then about 20 minutes after that, I was like, what is all this? Right.

But yeah, that's a lovely song, which later I think John did a parody of, and nobody knows why.

There's just a tape where he's singing about Rishikesh to the tune of Blown Away.

And it's impossible to tell if he's taking the mickey or just likes it.

I know what I can do.

Like Pete Best, Cleave was born in India, where her English father, Major John Cleave, was stationed.

Amazingly, Maureen was born in a small town in northern India called Mussoorie that is only about a two-hour drive from Rishikesh.

She came along a year after her parents were married in Dehradun.

Maureen's mother Isabella, known by her second name Mary, took her two young daughters Maureen and her younger sister Mavis to visit relatives in her home country of Ireland in 1938.