Which town?

local traditions, of which the priestess had also attached herself to the service of the Banyan tree, the geographical centre of the city to be and one of the seven sacred trees of India. To even think of destroying, however superior the motives may be, such a charged site whose existence belonged as much in the subtler physical world to which the villagers are naturally sensitive as to material life appeared as an untenable proposition.

How then would one “negotiate” this hurdle?

Would one content oneself with ignoring it as long as possible, hoping that some unexpected event would intervene and solve the dilemma?

*

Still quite rare were those among the neighboring villagers who had joined the adventure. A few families had, at the beginning, made that choice, relying on Her for their security and welfare. A few teenagers had too, who had experienced in childhood the atmosphere of the first schools in the community, chosen to integrate. The development of the individuality, in the societies of India, is generally subordinated to the needs of the familial entity, often complex and fluctuating, and of the community and caste one belongs to. It is more difficult for an individual person to engage separately into an adventure that demands the entire adhesion of one’s being and the inner discovery and union, a commitment which is traditionally reserved to exceptional souls, whom the community must eventually recognize as such - like the “siddhars” of the Southern regions.

Nevertheless, a few had made the step.

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