Nal Gufa :Search for Bapuji's lost cave

Asharam Bapu's secluded meditation cave in the rugged jungles of Aravallis

Nal Gufa in Mt Abu

His Holiness Sant Shri Asharamji Bapu spent about about an year in the wilderness of Aravalli jungles after Self Realization to attain yognishtha in the Nal gupha / Nal cave in Dilwara, Mt Abu  ,distt Sirohi , Rajasthan .Sometimes in summer Pujya Shri would go into the dangerous jungles of Mount Abu. Pujya Shri knew that the same Supreme Soul resides even in the ferocious animals therefore no animal could ever disturb Bapuji’s tranquility. In Mt. Abu Pujya Shri used to give satsang in the evenings.

 नल राजा, दमयंती सहित नल गुफा में, बाद में हम उसी गुफा में रहे थे, अभी उजाड़ पड़ी है|- - Pujya Sant Shri Asharam Bapu ji Haridwar 31st May' 2013 

मैं अबू के पहाड़ों  में नल गुफा में रहेता था..वहा मनोहर लाल नाम का एक तार बाबू आया था..अंडे का नाश्ता करता था..शराब पिता था…वो कोई साधक नही था,  .. ‘मुझे किराए का अच्छा मकान मिल जाए’ ..ऐसा आशीर्वाद लेने सुबह सुबह आया था वो बंदा…मैने कहा, ‘अभी थोड़ी देर बैठो..आँखें बंद कर के भगवान का नाम लो फिर मैं बात करता हूँ…’

वो बैठा तो बैठा….सुबह के 7 बजे के आसपास आया होगा…सूर्योदय मैने लाल देखा था उस समय …  9 बज गये..10 बज गये..मैने कहा बैठा है तो बेचारों को बैठने दे…ऐसे करते करते मुझे शाम का लाल सूर्य दिखाई दिया…करीब 6 बजे होंगे…सुबह 6 बजे का बैठा शाम के 6 बाज गये …और वो कोई साधक नही था..शाखाहारी भी नही था..अंडा खाने वाला था, दारू पीने वाला था..आज्ञा मानी , बैठा…सुबह से बैठा तो शाम को सूर्यास्त के समय मैने उस को उठाया…बिल्कुल मैं विश्वास पूर्वक कहेता हूँ…झूठ बोलने से तपस्या नाश होती है, प्रभाव नाश होता है इस बात को मैं अच्छी तरह से जानता हूँ..तो स्थान धर्म अथवा कहेनेवाले का संकल्प और सामने वाले की श्रध्दा  ये बहुत  विलक्षण काम करते है…वो तो आया था किराए का मकान मिले इसलिए…लेकिन ऐसे मकान में अंजाने में गति हो गयी की बोले बस अब कुछ  नही चाहिए…अहो भाव से भर गया..धन्यवाद से भर गया…तो अपने मनमाना तपस्या क्या काम करेगी ? …

Very few sadhaks know that Pujniya Maiyya ji too did her penance in Mt Abu near Nal gufa .It is very well documented in Her biography - Gyan ki Gehrai (published by LPDF 2015). Quoting verbatim

पूज्य बापूजी और मैय्याजी के साधनाकाल के ऐसे कई प्रेरणास्पद प्रसंग हैं | एक अन्य रोमांचकारी प्रसंग उस समय का है जब वे अबू के पर्वतीय क्षेत्रों में साधनारत थे |हिंसक जानवरों से भरा अबू का बीहड़ जंगल ! जहाँ जाने की कल्पना से ही मन काँप उठे ! ऐसे भयावह जंगल में निर्भीक हो बापूजी पर्वतीय ऊँचाई  में प्राकृतिक रूप से बनी नल गुफा में तपस्यारत थे | उससे भी अधिक उंचाई पर स्थित अग्नेश्वर गुफा को मैय्याजी ने अपनी साधनास्थली के रूप में चुना |नल गुफा और अग्नेश्वर गुफा को जोड़ने वाली मात्र एक ही पगडण्डी ! जिस पर आज भी २ प्राणी अथवा २ मनुष्य एक साथ नहीं चल सकते | दुर्गम पगडण्डी और साथ ही वन में वृक्षों की ऐसी घनिष्टता कि सायं चार बजे सूर्य की किरणें भी वहां प्रवेश नहीं कर सकतीं | न जाने कितनी बार उस पगडण्डी पर मैय्या जी का रीछ , बाघ आदि हिंसक पशुओं से सामना हुआ करता |अग्नेश्वर गुफा के पास ही एक बावड़ी थी जहाँ मैय्याजी भिजल भरतीं और हिंसक पशु भी अपनी प्यास बुझाते परन्तु मईया जी के चित्त में भय की एक रेखा तक नहीं होती थी ! इश्वर भाव में ऐसे तन्मयता कि उन्हें देखकर हिंसक प्राणी में अपना स्वाभाव भूल जाते थे |

 I was there as a part of my  41st OCG training in Mt Abu.

Bapuji in his satsangs had told about His stay in Mt Abu cave (Nal gufa to be exact ). (Nal Damyanti ?). I thought this was the right time to go for it .


Nal Gufa can also been seen in the video biography of Bapuji  chetna ke swar  (voice of conciousness) at 41:00 .

On the second day we were at Gurushikhar  & then Dilwara temmple.

While going to Mt Abu , enroute I searched google about nal gufa , old news of 2013 came of Dainik bhaskar & a link of zee news to about nal gufa , the first link of DB didnot open then the other stated that it was in back side of diet in forests , now deserted & broken . This was a clue to me .

माउंट आबू-!-हिल स्टेशन स्थित डाइट के पीछे जंगल में बनी नल गुफा में १९६४ से १९६५ तक आसाराम बापू ने साधना की थी। देलवाडा मार्ग स्थित यह गुफा आज खंडहर हो चुकी है,जबकि आसाराम ने इसको कमरेनुमा रूप दिया था। लोगों ने बताया कि आसाराम यहां एक साल तक साधना के बाद वे गुजरात चले गए। इसके बाद फिर कभी इस गुफा की तरफ नहीं आए। गुफा में चट्टान पर ओम लिखा हुआ है तथा साधना के लिए बनी फर्श टूट कर बिखर चुकी है। घने जंगल के बीच स्थित इस गुफा की तरफ आज भी कोई व्यक्ति नहीं जाता है

.While going to Gurushikhar enroute I saw a board saying diet road this way .
 Google didnot return anything except zila prashikshan etc samiti .No info on google maps either .

Ridge behind Dilwara Temple, probable cave location.

We came back to the hotel after touring Gurushikhar & Dilwara temple & were eating in the hotel , it got over by 1530 hrs , I thought lets give a try & ask about the whereabouts of D.I.E.T , a shot in the dark. The hotel receptionist said just near the next chauraha  ,I went there --nothing only couples holding hands & moving around.Then I asked some common proplr they said , diet ???
 I said diet college  ?
It is in dilwara 3.5 km from there .

Next I asked a police man how to go , he said you have a vehicle ?
no
take from next circle, how far ? 1/2 km
I kept seeing the shops so that I could come back
Few major /commander jeeps were standing .
-diet chaloge ,
-han chalenge 100 rs .
-wapas kaise aynege gadi ati hai wahan se wapas thoda abahar nikle par usme ajana , nahi to mujhe kal kar dena.

I came back to the room , adorned the full battle regalia , field shoes , bag , water , winter jacket , cap 
& instructed the room mates ,sham ko na aun to khoj khabar lelena.

I went , the jeep had changed.Same story , 100 rs , kam ni karoge , na
-akele ja rahe ho , kahan se aye ho , akele jungle mein !!! patta bhi hilta hai to dar lagta hai
-piche jungle hain , gufa hain
-haan , apko rasta pata hai /?
-kar lenge pata
jeep started , going towards dilwara , He showed me the forested ridge & said here are the caves ,

Representative Jungle

 this is the area behind diet , if you want I can drop you at diet  , I said no this is ok.
There was a temple there , I started walking towards west , scanning the ridge .


Made of granite , Mt Abu is a batholith , emplaced almost 750 million year ago . The current mountains are are remanent  of that activity .The vegetation is thorny - babools , keekar , lantana ? etc.Soil is well....um soil colour ..The caves are formed by scrubbing & eroding action of wind , called tafoni

Thorny shrubs in Aravallis , had to make my path through this

I started the jio & watched the video where the presstitutes were searching for Bapuji's gupha , & tried to  match the similarities I spotted.

kept walking , surveying the heights ,climbing , sliding putting in whatever rock climbing I had learnt till now.Some caves like depressions looked promising but turned out to be nothing on going there (didnot took a pic).

Walking more I  found 2 semi constructed gifas - dayanand gufa & arya gufa both dilapidated , found a destroyed gufa as well.

Dayanand Gufa

Arya Gufa

Good thing I had Quechua alpine jacket (decathalon) very rugged - protected from all thorns & cold .The was sun going down .I traced back my steps. hamse na ho paega need to find a local.I went to temple.A person wearing orange clothes was plucking flowers

-Hariom , baba yahan gufa hai kya ?
-kahan se aye ho
-??
-sadhna , ya manoranjan -
-Sadhna sthali dekhni hai 
- paise kamao , 50 saal ke baad ye sab karna
- baba bhagwan 50 ke bad milenge ?
- nahi har jagah paisa ka zaroorat hai .Bina paise ke sadhu bhi nahi ban sakte etc etc etc etc
- Gufa .....
-12 ghoda hai ,  durga hai, gyan gufa hai  ,haathi gufa hai , koi koi aise hain jahan hame bhi jane mein dar lagta hai . Yahan par (took some mata name starting with A  arbudaamata ??)  ke neeche gufa hai , dayanand gufa dekh hi liya hoga ...Kitna samay hai tumhare pass
-baba 2 din ke liya aya hoon 
-yahan to itni sari gufa hai , 1 mahina bhi kam pade
- Nal gufa 
- Nal gufa mein "Asaram" ne tapasya ki thi , baad mein Anjana samaj walon ne tod ke ab hostel bana diya
-aap kaise sadhu bane
- ham to budhe ho rahe the to socha sadhu ban jate han 2013 mein , humko bhagwan etc mein interest nahi hai  .  (i.e.e He left home when allegations on Bapuji started , thus for his rantings against Pujya Shri)
-ye gufa kab bani
-ye to jab se pahad bane tab se hai , nahi to log gufa ghar mein na banake  tapasya na kar lete . Vibration hain tabhi to man shant hota hai , vasnaen kam hoti hain. Guru hainto unke kahe anusar chalo , nahi hai to shastra anusar (started repeating all of Bapuji's satsangs)
-Nal gufa kis side hai 
-Ab to tod diya hai , wo jo Hanuman murti dikh rahi hai uski ke pass hai

Gyan Gufa , Nal gufa was nearby

-Achha baba , apne samay diya
-nahi tumne pucha to hamne anubhav bataya .khoob kamao 50 ke baad ana . class 1 officer bano.
-baba hoon
-upsc nikala
-haan
-kya ho
-GSI ,
-haan to fir gufa ka geology nikalna.

I was disappointed but still made way towards the statute on the road , behind D.I.E.T.
I kept looking at the sun  sundown was at 1750 hrs.



I reached gyan gufa , 
a great statute of Hanuman ji was at the top .I climbed up ,no one found .

From top of  Gyan Gufa , the red horizon

Got down heard some noises,found apujari  .Did some general enquiry & then diverted to Nal gufa, He pointed nal guffa towards NE .
A school & a hostel , I asked the gardener , no idea , I couldnot even get some info on when the building was made .

Here I found large boulders of spherical granite'


 .joota ghis dala granite mein ,found on thorny shrubs , With lot of difficulty managed to make  way.

Found only such structures .

Nal Gufa is somwhere here, Sundown , it was darkening fast

Utterly exhausted  I sat on the rock face & took the GPS reading. It was dark by now , theVenus was shining in the cold winter evening sky

School from top of Gyan Gufa , see jungle to the left.

DIET , Mt Abu

I got down quickly whatever twilight was left , & made my way back . There was no transport back , utterly tired I asked for lift to a motorcycle man, he kindle obliged.Later he turned out to be a policeman .LOL

Below- Representative jungles of Mt Abu

Proof that I certainly visited ;)

Although I was unsuccessful this time  (neither the gufa nor the 3.5 siddhas) , I still believe somewhere it still exists waiting to be discovered , pata nahi kahan , in deep corner of mah heart .

But this time nirasha hi haath lagi .Next time more inputs & tech support ke saath.

I'll be back

ॐ ॐ गुरूजी ॐ

Update
Narayan Sai ji shows the Nal gufa at 1:00