The Yogi of Height & Ashbury

A photo-essay on Mark B. who left his comfortable life in New York to become a homeless Yogi in San Francisco. He lives out of a 1971 Volkswagen Deluxe parked in the Height & Ashbury neighborhood. He works a minimum of odd jobs so he can dedicate himself fully to the search of enlightenment. San Francisco, USA. 12/03/2008.

Mark B. leaves his comfortable life in New York to become a homeless Yogi in San Francisco. He lives out of 1971 Volkswagen Deluxe parked in the Height & Ashbury neighborhood. He works a minimum of odd jobs so he can dedicate himself fully to the search of enlightenment.

On a quiet sunny morning in Haight and Asbury, San Francisco the door of a 1971 Volkswagen Deluxe slides open. Out steps Mark B. aka. Gaurish, 25, resembling a western Sadhu. Brown dreadlocks fling over his shoulder as he pushes himself out the door, a messenger back dangling of his side. An ocher dhoti moves around his legs as he briskly walks up Ashbury St. Unlike what people might expect from his appearance, this men moves with purpose, his brown calm eyes are gentle and steadfast.

Mark B. who left his job life in New York to experience homelessness in the streets of San Francisco now lives in his van in the Height and Asbury district. Among the hardships of a simple life, he discovered that what is most important to him in life is maintaining his freedom.

The "Height" as it is called by the locals is still a center of bohemian life. The colorful store signs and people still offer glimpses of the 60's flair. Independent smoke shops, bars, bookstores an array of spiritualistic, used clothing stores and music stores are fronted by flashy graphic signs. The street is alive with throngs of foot folk, musicians, homeless people and some performance artists throughout the afternoon and evening. Within minutes you can go from the Dreams of Kathmandu, a Nepalese crafts store to Pipedreams a smoke shop. Whatever the purpose of your trip whether it is of artistic, spiritual, literary or psychedelic nature you will find a destination in Heigh and Asbury.

The majority of people in the US have to work full time jobs to maintain their life and some even several jobs. Gaurish chooses to live the way he does because he believes that having the extra time during the day to do the the activities that are important to him is worth more then having all the luxuries that he is abstaining from. He values maintaining a minimum standard of materials necessities to maximize the quality of his life.

Several years ago Gaurish learned from Tibetan monks how to prepare chai and ever since kept experimenting with different ingredients. After he reached a level of proficiency in making the chai he felt drawn to share it with other people and regularly started making chai for his friends. Sometimes he sells his chai with a little cart at Height Street.

Not all the residents in the neighborhood tolerate the long term appearance of Gaurish Volkswagen in front of their houses. A few times in the past neighbors left little notes on his van saying that parking is limited to 72 hours. In each
of these cases he just moved his van to a different parking spot without any consequences. Gaurish feels that some residents have a notion of seeing it as an injustice that somebody can live for free while they pay large amounts for rent or mortgage.

"My mode of life in the past year has been to not acquire other things. Try not too. Sometimes I buy cloth or something as I need it. I guess aside from $10 a day food, I spend maybe $20 a week on something else, extra. Fixing the bike can be expensive. "

Gaurish hasn't been to a doctor or dentist in many years and his only insurance is faith in a higher power. This makes him part of 45.8 Million US Citizens who don't have health insurance, hoping that they will never get sick.

As the afternoon sun turns orange Gaurish pulls out a book of the Sufi philosopher Rumi and starts reading the poem: "Put this design in your carpet" . He halts at the line " I want to be in such a passionate adoration that my tent gets pitched against the sky". Something in him strongly identifies with this fragment and he appears in deep in thought then remarks: "Allow yourself to remain open, your groundedness isn't grounded in the world but your foundation is in spirit it is in the sky." He smiles warmly and continues reading.