final impressions

Some final impressions of Rishikesh and the out laying hamlets. I've been here almost one month and the best analogy I can make is............. that if an Indian, who's favorite sport is Cricket, spent their one month vacation in Cooperstown, N.Y.. How can that be? I come here to see the abandon ashram of my only Guru, the Maharishi, and end up staying. Mostly I would consider myself a Taoist that practices Tai Chi, but this is the Yoga capital of the world and there are dozens of Hindu Temples. But the place is magical. I decided to do a meditation retreat, but also became involved in the local culture. The local monk also teaches Reiki, so I took that course. I got Ayurvedic massage for Mr. Baba that was so inspiring if I come back I'll take his one week class. Many of the local merchants and waiters know and greet me with simple and kind conversation. It is a safe place.... There is a line in the Ramayana, that goes 'here,in this world of passing sights and nets of pleasure and of pain'.... So I must experience the net of pain, that comes in the form of the beggars. There are Touts, these are fellows that try and hustle tourists, but after awhile they stand out and you can dismiss their hype easily. But then there are the beggars, they come in two forms, first and most prominent is the Sadhu that begs, not all Sadhus beg, only some. These Sadhus come in two classes as I see it, first are the old and infirm, they have nothing and probably can't get it together to help themselves, they are aggressive with westerners, if you do give them some rupees they want more, very irritating. At one point I decided to give them food, so I bought some apples, but the first two that I handed apples to had no teeth, but they took them anyway and I still ended up giving them 10 rupees. The second type of Sadhu is one that really has denounced all. They want nothing to do with this world, especially work, they seem to be very intelligent, the younger ones are strong, handsome and energetic. The older ones of this class seem to be in deep contemplation constantly, they may sit all day on one bench. Someone always feeds them. The ashram where I stay feeds about 50 Sadhus twice a day.................Just as the Sadhu is an integral part of the culture so are the aged, blind, crippled and maimed. These people are Ronald Reagan's psychological Shadow, times a billion. Left out to the elements, they survive on charity, barley. They see westerners as walking cash cows. Their faces are tragic and I could walk all day just handing out small portions of money and there would still be a thousand more that needed same. When a woman with a tumor the size of a baseball looks up at you with large dark smiling eyes and raises her hands in the form of a bowl..............well it just gets me. I can't just shake it off, it stays with me and there is nothing I can do...................... The first photo in this series is of the daily blessing at one of the temples, much singing and praising the various gods. It's all cool but I don't speak Hindi and I can't carry a tune, so I pass...............The waterfall photo is just upstream from here, it was a nice bike ride and walk to get to it................In conclusion I would say this has been a life changing month, mostly because it will add to my view of the world and my place in it. It is a place for mind and heart to meld......................There are 2 posts today so check out the new one below.........................NAMASTE