India II, part I: Why India?

The view from the mountaintop may be amazing, but it’s the climb that...  

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For decades, the cliché has been that travelers go to India for soul-searching.  It’s been said, it’s been observed, that many Westerners from countries whose spiritual aspects are muted by materialism flock to the vast land with hopes of discovering a deeper meaning of life.  If the process is “finding oneself”, the travelers are seekers.  The initial assault on the senses, continuation of surprises, and beautiful flow of the unexpected must be experienced to understand how a trip to the subcontinent can turn one inside out.   Spend some time soaking it in and then, there it is: your soul.  In the midst of positive transformation, spinning around brilliantly before you .  Why India? 

So long as the traveler has a heart, a trip to India will tear it wide open.   Be ready for surgery of the soul.  Sadness, pity, awe, and shock may be the first emotions to flood one’s being. Upon their arrival, tourist seekers from the West are immediately confronted by India’s poverty.  The widespread in-your-face occurrence of slums, beggars, crippled, diseased, and homeless pierce the heart like daggers.   In some areas, the pollution is suffocating and the streets are lined with trash.  On the scene, one cannot help but think about materialistic attachments, the meaning of “luxury”, and the means of an individual’s mere survival. After some time, the place and its people will fill that heart with compassion, appreciation, and love.

Then there’s the God aspect.  The country overflows with rituals of religious devotion.  In the West, the politically correct manner of practicing worship is to do so behind closed doors.  Such is not the case in the land of Hindus.  Prayers, parades, pujas, and other acts of worship openly occur on the streets, at the ghats and in the flowing waters of the holy rivers, and around the various temples found in every nook and cranny.   The sound of chanting layered with drums and bells permeates the air intermittently, adding joy to the backdrop of beeping traffic, mooing cows, and revving machinery, as one passes through any city.  Images of gods, goddesses, and gurus are found everywhere one turns:  in taxis, homes, restaurants, hotels, and bus stations.  A shopkeeper starts his day by lighting incense and saying a prayer before the flower- adorned shrine set up behind the counter, unconcealed.  In every corner, in every way, the polluted atmosphere is blessed over and over again through the devotion of India’s billions of inhabitants. 

The air of India’s spirituality has spread like wildfire.   The Beatles’ George Harrison brought the maha mantra (Hare Krishna, Hare Ram) mainstream.  Devotees of Lord Krishna donning saffron robes and shaved heads are seen the world over.   Their International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) temples have been global for decades.  Along with its wide-openness of religious practice, India mothers the ancient roots of yoga and various types of meditation.   It was yoga that drew me here from the beginning and, for a large percentage of travelers, these “new age” practices are the main attractions. 

With so many ancient ruins, holy sites, temples, gurus, ashrams, and meditation courses, it’s easy for one to get lost in this enormous show of the sacred.  Seeking out the ultimate spiritual experience, travelers go this way and that, from ashram to temple to guru.  The search itself brings immediate yet temporary satisfaction.  As long as one is seeking, there is denial of the divine that lies within us at all times, in all places.  Only when the effort is dropped and the seeking has ceased, one is able to see the beauty, truth, and supreme energy in each moment, in each living being.

“So long as the traveler has a heart, a trip to India will tear it wide open”.  Within that open heart, divinity reveals itself without having to be found.  Layers upon layers of veils, which prevent us from seeing things as they are, gradually fall away.   At the end of the day, the spiritual awakenings end up occurring, perhaps not at the temples and holy sites, but on the long and winding roads that lead to their doors.

If your friends jumped…

I have some sweet photos, but for some reason they're not showing up... I'll get them online in two weeks or so... 

Before the official start of class, we had a half-day to go out and about.  A group of us shared a taxi to the nearby village of Trimbakeshwar.  Just a few kilometers away; its edges and lights are visible from the ashram.  We were dropped off on a main road in the center of town and walked toward the temple that contains one of only 12 Shiva lingams (a special stone monument for Shiva, the God of destruction, the god of the Yogis). 

Street merchants offer grass to feed the cows, flowers and sweets for the temple, and Om bindis (markings placed between the eyes that offer protection and bring awareness to the inner strength that lies in that Ajna chakra area).  We decline the vendors, instead heading around the temple to a chai stand.  As we wait at the street side counter, we watch the man make the sweet drink- boiling the milk, adding spices that include plenty of fresh grated ginger, and sweetening with sugar.  Yum. 

 After a nearly glorious glass of gingery chai (because the only truly Glorious glass of anything comes from Marlboro ;) off we went towards the green, rolling hills.  We circled around a large pond and heard a man ask, “Which country”?  As we paused to answer, he informed us that we were in front of the President’s house, the President of Trimbakeshwar, Mrs. Sujita Sanjay Shikhare.  I asked if we could take a photo, and he invited us in for a view from the balcony. 

 The house was nice, seemingly new, and he led us up to the second floor.  Out on the balcony, there were a few men preparing for a puja (the blessed Hindu ceremony that involves a small fire and colorful flowers as offerings). 

 After photos, the man invited us inside and led us to a room.  There were nearly 50 or 60 people inside who were finishing up what appeared to be the first part of the puja. 

After a moment, they proceeded out to the balcony.  We were then taken up to the roof where we walked around admiring the solar panels and the view, peeking down to watch the people out on the balcony. 

 As we headed out and thanked the man for graciously welcoming us into the house, we asked how to get to the ghats (steps along the bank where people tend to congregate for washing away sins from the soul and dirt from bodies & clothes) of the holy Godavari River.  The man pointed, and we headed again towards the hills.  The path took us to a gorgeous body of water that was probably part of the river, but seemed like a lake.   

Across the way, we saw a group of boys jumping into the water.   I had to check it out.   We carefully walked across the cement-pillared wall that seemed to be a dam, meeting up with the boys.  The water looked relatively clean, the platform wasn’t too high, and there was one taker in the group to join me.  Rather than jumping from the highest point, where the boys were diving from, we opted to jump into the same area, but from the top of the railing.  Panty & camisole clad, in we went.  Best jump ever.   

Two more days

[I accidentally removed several photos from these blogs... oops].  


This past Friday: Stacey, Donae & I visited Yakcheon-sa, the largest Buddhist temple in Asia. Quite ornate, amazing colors. Noticed great acoustics as the monks chanted and periodically made rhythmic tappings with a stick. At one point, from the third story windows, we could see a man outside heaving a large wooden log into a bell. The paintings on the wall were... different. There was one depiction of a meditating man being decapitated. From his neck, spewed a tall reaching fountain of water, upon which his head floated. Stacey and I are quite curious about this, and would like to look into its possible meaning. I mostly enjoyed sitting in a tiny temple situated on a shady hill nearby. The gentle fragrance of incense brought calmness to our beings, and we three sat in silence before the altar for a few moments. Here's the main temple:

After the temple visit, we took a taxi to the nearby Jungmun Beach, where the waves were high & lovely, the sunshine intense, the water clear & blue, and swimming temperature ideal. The sounds of air-raid-like sirens alarmed swimmers, followed by an announcement suggesting that swimmers get out of the water- as the waves were too strong. How annoying. What ever happened to quiet signs which read "Dangerous Currents, SWIM AT YOUR OWN RISK"?

This past Saturday: David invited us to join him to Mosulpo, where he teaches students twice a week. The drive down was hilly & scenic... and included Mysterious Road, the optical illusion of a gravity road. We had the car in neutral and it appeared to be rolling uphill! Kind of like the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz, CA. I've googled the phenomena, which occurs in various parts all over the world. Apparently these areas are all optical illusions, rather than areas of "strange gravitational/ magnetic pulls". Worth checking out. We continued on, picked up 5 of David's students, and proceeded to the Glass Castle museum/theme park of glassworks & mirrors... brilliant! It's mostly a sculpture park of amazing glass pieces/installments. In the center, there's a cafe where we stopped for ice cream. The entire back wall is domed glass, and water runs down the outside making it seem like a rainy day. But the sun was out... giving it a gorgeous sun-shower effect. This is one outdoor piece, made of several glass panes, lined up:

After dropping the students off, we went to the Chocolate Museum... but it was closed. We drove on, stopping at a very interesting store/house to buy some drinks. The entire front wall was made of recycled drink cans. Very neat.

The drive home was lovely, as David so thoughtfully drove the coastal road, heading up the West coast at sunset. Amazing views... sun setting over the water... very huge windmills on the edges of the land. Beautiful places... great company... thank you. life is good.