After 24 days in Varanasi it was time for me to make my way to Rishikesh for meditation and yoga. I know what you might be thinking, I just finished a 10-day vipassana course and in under a week later I’m taking another course in meditation and yoga. Yup, that’s it.
I arrived to Rishikesh after an 8hr layover overnight in Delhi. Ghandi Airport is like western-like airport with all the fast food like in America. Had an early 6am flight to Rishikesh and a ride to Sadhana Mandir Ashram, Swami Rama’s ashram. I’ve been looking forward to being here and experiencing some of his teachings.
It was a bitter sweet departure from Varanasi. Yes, living can be a bit challenging. No real corner market to get things and finding what you need (water, bath soap, etc) takes some searching out. The dust, dirt, and cow dung is everywhere and pervasive on the senses. It is very crowded with lots of traffic. There is such extreme poverty with beggars on the streets and people wanting to sell you things you don’t want or need.
Yet… the people here have a love for life even with such scarcity and poverty and are more than willing to help you out and give of themselves. They don’t think they really lack of anything, except in some cases where mothers are having a hard time feeding their children. (Infant mortality rate is much higher than in other countries). They consider tourists a gift and want to treat them well. Of course, their money is wanted but, that seems almost insignificant to how they want to treat people.
The people have such faith in their tradition and religion and have their daily practices of bathing, praying, offerings to the gods/goddesses and pujas that keep them connected with their beliefs and may I even say their values and morals. They treat people with such loving kindness no matter where they are from. I have not experienced road rage here even with the extreme traffic jams. I even had a fellow smile and say hello to me from another motorized rickshaw when it was taking me nearly double the time to get to where I needed to go. Where the mind adjusts… the body will follow.
I met some really fabulous people during my stay here in Varanasi. My host family from Airbnb turned out to be blessings from the universe. I got to cook and eat with the family, invited to their respective homes for more sharing of meals… they treated me so very well. It was hard sometimes to receive the care and love that was all around me from Reeta and her family. Something I just haven’t been used to very much. Through them I also met some of their friends and some other people from hanging out on Assi Ghat.
It was a bittersweet departure. The love extended to me was at a level that I’m not used to on a regular basis from strangers and all I wanted to do was to receive that love graciously. It was hard to leave that kind of love no matter how hard it was to not feel like I had to reciprocate and didn’t have to… and at the same time it was time for me to leave Varanasi. I fell in love with India here in Varanasi because of all the people I came across and met during my time.
Here’s a few pics of my first day here in Rishikesh
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