SHANTITOWN
Sages 5
Swami Satyamitrananda Giri
I was first introduced to Swamiji by Anurag Tripathi of Sanskar TV whom I had met at Parmarth Niketan where he was filming the daily Arati for the network. He told me, you have to meet this man, he is a great guru, he is the guru of Swami Avdheshanand. So off I went to his camp to interview him for my Kumbh Mela movie, He was dressed in orange and his room was also orange. I was very tired and he had a low, hypnotic voice that hypnotized me. After a while I began to see his aura, about 3 feet wide and it was... orange! I realized that it was not because of his garb or the reflection of the cotton walls, it was the other way around. The orange color has been espoused to remind the eye of the orange color of the aura of a realized person. Swamiji was most helpful and gave me prasad of Bombay mangoes, the best there is. Swamiji is the founder of Bharat Mata Mandir in Haridwar as well as several other ashrams throughout India and the world. He travels to the UK and Canada often. We visited him at his residence in Haridwar to give him a copy of the film.
Didi
Didi runs Swami Avdheshanand's main Ashram in Ambala in Haryana, India. Didi presides over all the Sadhvis or female renunciates of the Juna Akhara. She also assists Swamiji in all matters that pertain to his mission and she occasionally travels with him.
When we visited the Ashram, it was Didi's birthday and a great feast or bandhara was organized and hundreds of people attended.
Didi is a former Gymnastics National Champion of India.
Gopi Giri
Jessica and Gopi Giri
We first met Gopi Giri at the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad in 2001. His hair was a feature most sought after by photo- graphers as, when unraveled, it drops all the way to the floor, a length of over 2 meters that Gopi Giri hasn't cut it in over 35 years. In his late fifties, he spends the summer in Northern India and the winter in the South. We have run into Gopi Giri several times in our travels. He is gifted with the Siddhi or occult power that has mastery over climate, meaning that he is never affected by extremely hot or extremely cold temperatures. In the morning, Gori Giri likes to walk around and talk to the flowers that live nearby. We have given him one of the necklaces and one of the bracelets he is wearing.
