Awareness of Life and Death

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Sleeping in a moving train is not yet an easy matter for us, not when you have a high fever. Here the merit goes to Ina, who got this Indian cold virus that knocked her out for a few days while in Haridwar and we had no choice but to travel with her suffering this. After 24 long hours we arrived to Bodhgaya with the idea of participating in a highly recommended meditation training and, of course, visiting an important pilgrimage site where the Buddha attained enlightment.

The meditation training happened to be a serious and challenging experience. We were to wake up at 4 in the morning to start the first hour of 10 long sitting meditation schedule. We lived in confinement and, more drastically, we were not to communicate with any of the participants, and observe a strictly vegetarian diet that reduced supper to some cereal and tea. No friends, we didn't become yogis or anything like that. We were enthusiastic about this special course because it is in no way related to any religion, guru, or sect. We didn't have to shave our heads, learn mantras or adore a colorful Indian guru. But I should say our enthusiasm didn't help us to feel, at least in the first days, great resistance to the painful meditation hours.

At the end, we finished with a pretty good mental discipline and learned a great tool to get a grip on our minds in the context of this fast times. Then, we were ready to hit the Indian roads again.

We started visiting Bodhgaya, which impressed us much because of the fact it attracts pilgrims and monks from very different denominations. You see the ocre clothes of Thai monks getting mixed with the serious gray outfits of Japanese monks, white robes from Sri Lanka with Chinese blacks and, more than anything, you see the colour of Tibetan and Nepali monks measuring the soil with their bodies in fervent prayers.

From Bodhgaya we took to the great human circus of Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges. We reserved the most sacred pilgrimage Hindu site to the end and even after 2 months in India we were shocked by this maze of colour and movement around the Great Mother, the Ganga or Ganges. One of the most shocking events has been to witness the burning of bodies in open pyres, right in front of our eyes. At certain moment we had 5 ceremonies being performed at the same time. Watching (and smelling!) dead human bodies burn left on us a great lesson about life.

Hindus believe the Ganges is the ultimate place to die or to be cremated, their ashes to be spread in the river waters, but it they cannot avoid getting this mixed with everything you could think about: dead animmals, tons of flower offerings and, smellier than anything, a continuous flow from a sewage from this million and a half inhabitants city. So, the banks gave is a summary of what India is. You will see young Indians playing their beloved cricket a few meters far from pilgrims performing the most sacred rituals, bathing, cooking, washing buffaloes or just hanging around. An early boat trip gave us a view of this all.

From Varanasi we travel to Nepal, being this our last border crossing by land. Our last stop before Europe. We'll keep you posted on that!

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Photos

Saturday Night Fever
Ina on her mosquito-proof princess bed in Gaya.

Doing His Rounds
A Buddhist monk praying at the Mahaboddhi Temple in Bodhgaya.

Bath Time
Ritual bathing at one of the ghats on the Ganges banks. Varanasi.

Boatin' at Dusk
On the Ganges.

Riverside Barber
Mourners shave their heads when a family member dies.

Early Yoga
One of the many yogis along the Ganga.

From Ashes to Ashes
The cremation ghats can only be photographed from the riverboat.

Comments

[carrie lee]

maya says
Hola, really good to here from you, we've been very worried about you and the area you were traveling in. I showed your fever picture to maya and she was very sad for you, "I hope she is OK". Please take care of yourselves. Much Love. C.L.