Picture: Tonto Natural Bridge
“This is my new favorite place!” Carla said this as we were at the base of a Tonto Natural Bridge. The land bridge is the world’s largest travertine (400 feet long, 183 feet high, 150 feet wide), a formation that is created by a hot spring pouring over the sides, leaving a buildup of minerals over millenia.
The land bridge was first known by settlers when a miner was chased by Apaches and he hid in one of the caves nearby. Today it is a state park that requires a steep drive down and then a switchback trail that takes you to the base of the bridge.
It is when we arrive at the end of the trail that we are charmed by the red rock slabs surrounding pools of water under this natural bridge. There are many caves that captivate our interest, as it always intrigues me to be inside these caves.
From time immemorial caves have been the natural habitat of yogis, monks and spiritual seekers. There are practical reasons for this, a cave will provide shelter, and with a little fire a cave can become a comfortable living site.
There are also more subtle reasons for an inwardly focused meditator to find a cave suitable. As you spiritually progress your psychic body becomes more sensitive, more open. Noise, light and mental disturbances by worldly people can become difficult, even painful for the ardent seeker. The refuge of the cave blocks out sound, light and is an excellent insulator from the psychic chaos of the world.
There are places upon the earth that are naturally attuned to more refined spiritual forces. An area or a cave can also become spiritually charged due to the influence of a highly advanced soul. The two can work together when a naturally charged area is frequented by a highly developed being; an ultimate combination of nature and nurture.
Under the land bridge there are a number of naturally formed caves. There is no evidence of any advanced soul having lived here, but there is a profound sense of peace and spiritual vibrancy that accompanies this natural setting. In our journey to the Southwest we had previously felt such a vibration at Kartchner Caverns State Park. Now, here, it is felt to be even more powerful.
God arranged it so that just as we arrive a group of hikers are leaving, giving the place all to ourselves. We explore around the pools of water and sit in the natural caves. It is a spiritual baptism for the soul; washing clean everything not of a higher vibration.
It is inevitable that when we mix with the world we will pick up some of those lower influences. The advanced practitioner may rise above these influences; some may be divinely directed to purify such forces through their bodies; and the most advanced in consciousness will simply see these forces as aspects of God.
When Papa Ramdas had a vision of Krishna he said something to Krishna that was shocking to me when I first read it. Papa told Krishna to take this form of Krishna away and to make Papa see Krishna in His universal form; the all-pervading universal vision. There are many aspirants who seek all of their lives for the embodiment of Krishna to manifest even as he did to Papa; yet here was Papa sending him away! Papa was after the purist, most sublime vision of God; not a form that can come and go, but a permanent vision of God as everything that is!
As I have said before, God is equally present everywhere, it is just that he seems more equally Present in some places than others! The spontaneous thought comes to me now, that you should feel the peace and spiritual purity of this sanctuary of God under that natural land bridge and that as we imbibe the deep Presence of the Divine in God’s natural cathedrals, you will be with us in Spirit and feel it as well.