Maya's Aura: The Ashram

by Smith, Skye

  At the main entrance to the yoga pavilion there was a reception line of the dozen leaders. The first in line to welcome her was Manfred, and then his two partners. He reached out to shake Maya's hand, and she shook it hard. He seemed surprised that she was covered head to foot with a widow's cloak, and was wearing gloves.

  She moved along the line shaking hands. Most of the congregation was assembled in the pavilion, and many had danced with her long into last night. She looked up at the central beam. There was a collection of crystals hanging there from a line. Her eye followed the line, and she saw Sanjay at the other end of it. She went and stood beneath them.

  She asked everyone to sit in lotus position on the floor, with the dozen leaders in a circle around her, alternating male-female. When all were seated, she introduced herself, and told them that she had a very powerful aura that was white. The white of purity and goodness. She welcomed them to share her aura. "You will sense it not just by its whiteness, but if you accept it, you will smell a white wildflower, not with your nose, but with your soul."

  Some had already smelled the scent and there were murmurs of agreement through the crowd. She asked them to close their eyes and calm themselves and then open their eyes and look at the crystals. When all were calmed and looking up at the crystals, she took off her gloves and threw open her cloak. Underneath she wore only her white bikini bottoms. Marique stepped forward and took gloves and cloak from her. They had practiced the showwomanship, as if they were on stage.

  Maya put her palms together in prayer and raised her aura to a brilliant white. One of the women of the dozen gasped. Being closest to Maya, she was the first to feel it. At a nod from Maya, Sanjay lowered the crystals to just above head height.She opened her lotus beneath them, closed her eyes and unconcentrated her mind. This allowed her aura to find the crystals and go wild.

  Maya was not surprised by what happened next, but everyone else was, including Sanjay.. Only once before had she charged more than one crystal at the same time. Five at once, in a garden in Vancouver. With five, the white light from the crystals had been dazzling, and the people watching had gone into deep trances.

  Even through her close eyelids she could see the bright whiteness of the light from the dozen crystals. There were moans of awe, and sounds of deep breaths, and cries of joy and wonder. Her aura was completely out of control. The bright white became blinding white and then brilliance. She pulled her opening lotus away from the pendants but didn't grab her elbows as was her norm after charging crystals.

  Instead she crossed her right arm over her nipples and went into the pushing pizza stance to focus the wild aura out through her left palm. She opened her eyes. The crystals were still glowing faintly. She slowly turned around to see all of her audience. There were perhaps ten women pressing their foreheads to the floor in a complete trance.

  She stepped out of the circle of the dozen. She noticed that Manfred and his partners had their eyes open watching her every move. She began at the far edges of the large floor meandering between the people, pushing her aura into the breasts of the both men and women. To each she whispered, "This ashram should be run by women."

  Eventually everyone in the audience had felt her aura directly, and she returned to the center. Sanjay lowered the crystals so that she could untie the line and put all twelve laces around her own neck. Starting with the closest woman, the one that had been the first to feel her, Maya lifted a crystal over her head and placed it around the neck of the other woman.

  She then asked the woman to touch her forehead to the polished wooden floor and she pushed her aura at the woman's back with her left hand. The effect was immediate. The woman moaned in ecstasy and fainted.

  Next a man, then a woman, then Manfred. He touched his head to the floor, and she pushed her aura not at his back, but at his neck. Everything on this earth that was Manfred stopped at that moment, and he slumped as if he had fainted. She did not pause to check on him. She kept moving as if he had simply fainted like the others had.

  When she was finished the dozen, she straightened to her full height, although by now she was so weak she could barely stand. She said in clear, slow words, "This ashram should be run by women." The entire assembly repeated it.

  Eight of the dozen around her were now sitting back up. They looked around nervously. At first they looked at each other, and then at the congregation repeating the mantra, and then they realized that four of them weren't moving. All of them were men. One of them was Manfred.

  The woman beside Manfred mouthed a quiet scream and began searching him for vital signs.

  "Do not be afraid!" Maya yelled out in a strong low voice that sounded confident, though she herself was shaking. "Four of your leaders have left you for a better place. They have passed into nirvana." She didn't have the strength to do more. She held her elbows and drew in her aura, and started to fall. The old gardener wrapped an arm around her waist and kept her standing.

  The congregations started moving, talking, looking. A woman raced away and returned with her medical bag and knelt beside each of the four still men.

  Four, Maya thought, who was the fourth? With Sanjay's help she limped over and looked at the fourth man while the woman turned him over to check him. She did not recognize him from the ashram. Sanjay whispered, "He was in charge of our missionaries in Goa. They are the ones that bring new Euro girls here."

  She nodded but was barely listening. She had to lie down, and soon. Lakshima came to her with a glass of water and she sipped it, and then gulped it, and closed her eyes. The next voice she heard had a Swedish accent and a commanding tone.

  "Clear these empty bodies into the office. The souls that were using them, are finished with them now. We must choose new leaders. I want all of you to form into groups of six and search your hearts for the names of those you would trust to be our leaders."

  Ajay and Marique came into the center of the floor and covered Maya with her cloak. Ajay swept her up into his arms and carried her towards the office. He lay Maya down to sleep on one of the couches, while others arranged the four bodies in a row behind the desk. After waiting until those that had carried the bodies had left the office, and then he locked the office door.

  The old gardener and the buxom Swedish woman and the Indian engineer looked at each other, and then Ajay said, "What now? We must be calling the authorities to be reporting four deaths. The police will come. They will stomp all over this compound checking everyone's papers. You will need bribe money, a lot of bribe money, and someone to bargain the bribe price down."

  "Have you done that before?" asked Lakshima.

  "Hah, I am managing three big buildings in Mumbai. I am doing it every month," he replied in his melodious voice.

  "Will you do it for us, now? Just this once until we have chosen new leaders," pleaded Lakshima.

  "But what if they are charging Maya with murder? They will be wanting to do that, so they can be taking her to the police station lockup to have sex with her."

  "We have many witnesses that it was not murder. She did not ever touch them. We all saw that."

  "This is not mattering," said Ajay anxiously. "They will not be wanting to take her to court, just to be having sex with her."

  "Don't worry about me," Maya called out sleepily from her couch. "When they come I will be teaching a meditation. They will not dare to arrest me. I will teach meditation until they give up and leave, or until you bribe them and they leave."

  "This plan is being too risky," Ajay replied. "We should already be in my car driving to Mumbai."

  "No," Sanjay finally spoke. "You must not leave. If you leave, the police will arrest you for sure. The highway patrol will stop you before you even get near to Mumbai. Maya speaks wisely. They will not arrest a religious leader during devotion. I know that for a fact, having done it myself."

  "Okay, okay," Ajay finally conceded "I will be handling the police. Where is the money? It will be taking much cash."

  "Oh dear, there is a
problem," said Sanjay, sudden fright crossing his face. "When we all assembled, the office staff would have locked the safe and the safe room. The safe room has a key, that will be in one of the pockets of those bodies over there. The safe has a combination. All those knowing the combination are dead."

  "I know the combination," announced Lakshima. They all looked at her. "What?" she replied to their looks. "D'you think that Manfred did not bed me regularly when I first arrived. I was younger, prettier, and thinner then. Besides he loved my breasts. Not me, just my breasts. Me, he told to keep quiet. He didn't trust smart women."

  "Good," said Ajay, taking charge. "Then the first thing we must do is find all the passports, visas, and ID papers and be distributing them to their owners. If anyone is having personal valuables in the safe, then they may ask for them later. Meanwhile, I am having some phone calls to make. Sanjay, you had better be staying close to me. I will need your knowledge to answer questions and to bargain."

  While Lakshima opened the safe room and then the safe, Marique sat with Maya's head in her lap, stroking her hair. "You scare me, sweetie, scare me a lot. You tricked those men and then you snuffed out their lives. Are you the same woman that just yesterday pulled me away when I was stomping the men that were trying to rape you?"

  "That was different," Maya whispered pointing to the bodies. "Those four men set up a system of evil and greed under the disguise of religion. They were using this ashram to fill their own pockets and did so by ruining innocent lives. It was these men that forced Vasini to service the men who you were kicking. The men you were kicking were nobodies. Stupid fat guys who were trying to live their horny dreams."

  "So what now? Do we stay here?" Marique asked.

  "I guess that depends on the police, but I'll tell you what I would really like. A beach. A glorious sand beach with ocean waves. I'm a coastal girl. I don't belong here on the edge of a prairie."

  Lakshima emerged from the safe room with a box of passports and other documents. "Marique, could you help me please? There is another box of these. Could you grab it and we will take them to the dining room and have someone distribute them." She then looked at Ajay. "I will be right back to count how much cash is in the safe."

  Maya put her head down and closed her eyes and took a power nap. She woke up when the two women returned.

  Lakshima walked up to Sanjay and told him that two interim leaders had been chosen for a period of one month. Her and the head cook. "Now we just have to convince the bank."

  "First you must be convincing the police," Ajay reminded her. "They are on their way. Come, let us be counting all the money, and then we must be locking the safe so that they will not steal it. You know how police are." He turned to Marique. "Love, please take Maya back to the yoga pavilion and have her lead a meditation. And tell all the women to completely cover up. It would better if they all look like nuns for the police."

  * * * * *

  For two hours the police roamed the grounds. An ambulance came to take the bodies to the new hospital where preliminary autopsies were to be performed to see if there were traces of drugs or poison. The first police that arrived were more interested in talking to all the western women, and sniffing the air for ganja smoke. Eventually two detectives arrived, followed soon after by their lieutenant boss.

  Once the boss arrived, Ajay and Sanjay took him into the office to drink Manfred's private supply of Johnny Walker Red Label while the two detectives organized the uniformed police and made the preliminary enquiries. The detectives were competent. They took many statements, all of which said that the four men died during a religious ceremony lead by a visiting instructor.

  Of course, the police were not going to miss this opportunity to hassle westerners, so everyone’s visa's were checked and rechecked. Lists of names and addresses were created. The grounds were walked by uniformed officers looking for any sign of drugs such as ganja plants. They were greatly disappointed, not because they couldn't find drugs, but because all the women were covered neck to ankle.

  The uniformed guys were eventually sent away. The detectives made their report to their boss, and then waited patiently for orders. Twenty minutes later, the boss sent them back to the station. He followed them shortly afterwards, after the safe had been re-opened and some money counted into his hand. Once he was gone, Marique went and interrupted Maya's meditation to let her know that she could stop.

  Once all the police were gone, the entire community gathered under the yoga pavilion. Lakshima then informed everyone of what was happening, which was that the police were not satisfied that these were innocent deaths. They were having the bodies checked for drugs and poison. The police had taken all the passports and visas to the police station. Checking everything would take three days, during which time there would be uniformed officers posted at the gate.

  "In other words, life goes on as before," someone called out. "The police have had undercover cops watching the gate all year."

  "Not quite as before," said the head cook. "From now on there will be no companions supplied to VIPs. We will be contacting those with reservations to advise them to bring their own."

  "But they will cancel," someone yelled out. To this the cook just shrugged.

  * * * * *

  For the next three days the entire ashram was under house arrest. And yet, despite the worries about the police, it was as if a giant black cloud had vanished from above it. Everyone's mood turned positive. This was accepted as a new chance. A chance to make the ashram into what they all had been dreaming of when they had first joined.

  Sanjay begged Maya to sit in meditation with all, but one at a time, and identify any that had auras strong enough to train. Lakshima begged Ajay to go through the office papers and computer systems with her to figure out the state of the finances.

  Marique didn't like that. The big Swedish blonde was comely and of an age with Ajay. Marique felt completely excluded when the two of them were working closely together. It was a purely female reaction to eagerly agree to Vasini's offer to be an observer at some tantric sex lesson. She was hoping to make Ajay sit up and take notice, and be fearful that she might join in.

  At the end of the first day Lakshima discovered boxes of DVD's containing videos of the members in sexual poses. When Ajay joked that they could start their own porn website, she immediately asked Vanisi and Marique to take the boxes and throw them on the rubbish fire that was always smoldering at the far end of the property.

  "So Vanisi," asked Marique as she watched the toxic smoke rise from the DVD's, "now there is nothing to blackmail you with and nothing to force you to stay here. When the police return your passport, will you go home?"

  "Why would I do that?" asked Vanisi. "Do you not feel the change? I am hoping that this ashram will turn into the spiritual sanctuary that I came to find." She poked at some DVD's that were trying to escape from the pile. "I will give it a few more months, at least until winter is over. Then I will decide."

  She was not the only one with such a plan. Almost everyone shared the same hopes, and the same willingness to be patient, surpisingly including all the companions. Since they were no longer to be forced to have sex with VIP guests or with local politicians, their life in the ashram could only get better.

  On the third day, Lakshima and Ajay announced wonderful news. The banks had accepted the change of leadership, and therefore, the change of authorizing signatures. Unfortunately, the bank accounts were not as healthy as they should have been, because Manfred and the guys had been siphoning the profits away for personal use.

  There were immediate rumors that they would have to stay in the VIP business, and a bit of the old black cloud returned to the ashram. It was Lakshima and Ajay that convinced everyone that this was not necessary, because they had a different business plan in mind.

  The old business plan had two kinds of guests. Those that came for yoga and those that came for sex. Without the sex, they must increase the income from the yoga. That meant wealthier yoga
guests. The new plan still rested on attracting rich men, but this time, older men; and not for sex, but for spiritual retreat; and not for weekends, but for months.

  Lakshima was certain that they could attract such old men from Europe. For instance: Scandinavian seniors who were beyond the age to spend winters in Spanish nudist colonies, hard drinking and keeping company with the plastic breast crowd.

  Ajay was certain that they could attract such old men from Mumbai. The old, rich men of India often went on pilgrimages to recover their spirituality once they had passed their businesses on to their sons.

  That third afternoon the detective boss stopped by to talk to Ajay. After the man had left, carrying the rest of Manfred’s personal liquor cabinet, Ajay went to the dining room and made an announcement. "The doctors are telling the coroner that the four men all died of natural causes. The police are still hold suspicions about the incident, however they no longer have cause to continue the house arrest. Tomorrow they will be returning our papers and passports. They will be handed only to their owner, so everyone must come forth to claim them."

  * * * * *

  "But I must be going back," argued Ajay. "My business month-end, it is near, and I will be needed in Mumbai. Besides, I must be interesting my father in visiting this ashram."

  "But Ajay," Marique replied. "Maya doesn't want to spend any more time in a big city, she wants a beach. And so do I." She held him close. "Ajay, I'm sorry. I must go with her. We promised to stay side by side for the whole trip. You must go alone to Mumbai."

  "Why not be staying here and I will be visiting you on weekends."

  "No, sweetie, we will go to Goa and live on a beach for a while."

  "You will be breaking my heart."

  "Mine too, sweetie, but you 'ave promises to keep, and so 'ave I."