http://paulmason.info/gurudev/gurudev.htm

'The Teachings of Guru Dev - The Roots of TM'
Quotations of Shankaracharya Swami Brahmananda Saraswati
Compiled by Paul Mason

# Reference 6

'Some wandering monks and sannyasi sit in caves like that, but where 
I stay in a small Ashram in Uttar Kashi, the cave is like a small
basement under a  room. The entrance is through an opening only big
enough for one person to enter.' 

'Food is not always needed, but when I am eating, a man comes from 
the village and cooks vegetables. I do not break silence by seeing 
or talking to anyone.' 6

Quotation of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi from page 67 'Hermit In The House' 
by Helena Olson, Los Angeles, 1967.

additional

Author, Paul Mason notes:-
'In the Winter of 1976 I visited Uttar Kashi and on arrival there
sought out as to where either Guru Dev or/and MMY might have stayed. 
After making enquiries, I made my way out of town with pack on back and
trudged on and on. The shadows were stretching longer and the light 
fading dramatically before I eventually arrived at the quaint little 
temple of Gyan Mandir, and stood beside the stone Shivalinga there. 
The swamis at the temple chattered to me attentively, but seemed 
embarrassed that they could not provide anything more than very basic
accomodation.
"No proper facilities!" they explained.
Nonetheless, they offered me to stay in a quaint and very primitive 
room. There I lit a candle and a stick of agarbatti, laid out 
my sleeping bag on the raised bed and settled down to meditate before 
turning in. 
During the night it got very cold so I was so-o-o glad that I had taken
a friend's advice and brought along a 'space-blanket' which I wrapped 
tightly around myself. Perhaps it was the journey from Srinagar Garhwal
 or maybe too much glacé pineapple but I felt ill. In fact, I got 
incredibly feverish and really cooked inside my emergency space-blanket
- which was far more preferable to freezing without it! Anyway, the 
fever made me so sick outside, but then turned into something else. 
Safe back inside my space-blanket I fell into this incredible exstatic 
state, colourful and incredibly blissful and like a trance. Pretty much 
a relief from the ill stuff!
In the morning I went outside to the standing tap and found a
brahmachari washing there. We exchanged nods and smiles etc, and I got 
on with cleaning my teeth. Then he asked me where I was staying - so I 
pointed weakly to the door of my room. He looked at me curiously and 
then said very slowly:-
"Ah - that is where Mahesh Yogi stayed."
Well, when I returned to my room I looked about more closely. I noticed 
a gap on the front side of the bed and found that if I removed some 
sticks I could crawl underneath and into a small space below ground 
level, the 'cave' MMY described to Helena Olson in 'Hermit in the 
House'. I did not explore immediately but when I did I clambered through 
the narrow gap and entered the space beneath, which was somewhat 
claustrophobic. I could hear a faint but persistent hissing sound, 
probably on account of the River Bhagirathi 
(Ganga) closeby.'