saklanaji, forest sadhu

ravi, alicia and i wove our way up the himalayas up up up from the town of dehra dun to visit saklanaji, an 85-year old sadhu whose life has been devoted to planting trees on the side of these mountains - they are our lifeline, our oxygen, we breath because of trees, we are alive because of them - he met us with a prayer, tears streaming down my face in the recognition of being in a sacred place, in the orbit of a sacred mission
with the will and vision of a self-proclaimed madman, saklanaji mourns and loves and every day, lives his prayer to the forest for the trees... he takes us through the paths of the oaks he has planted with his own hands singing at the top our lungs
"ek beti, bricth hazar" have one child and plant a thousand trees
"wake up" we sang to the village below, "wake up and plant trees!!"
three seeds into every hand-made hole, one for each of the gods, vishnu, brahma, mahesh ~ every act, every seed planted, an act of devotion
mostly blind, saklanaji knows the mountains like his own skin - the curves and textures, moisture and drainage, he moves through his forest deftly, confidently, joyfully
he tells us the secret of the forest's sadness, the road that cuts through her body, and the trees whispered to each other their fate. and saklanaji takes their vyog into his heart, and seeds their future, shows another possible future for the trees, and for us. they can live without us, but we can't live without them.
he takes us to a hole in the ground, the grave that he has dug for himself- HA! he laughs, i am a madman who has dug his own grave. a hindu, he will not be cremated as tradition goes, instead he crawls into his grave, lies face down and asks that we drape him with flower petals he has brought for this occasion, this performance. in his death, he will join the trees instead of burning them. he tells us he would love to come and see our forests in canada, and thank you for our invitation - he will be there, he will come, but he hopes we will understand that it won't be in person.