Advertisement
Published: March 18th 2009
Ananda Prakash Yoga Ashram, Rishkesh
Ashram life is not for everyone, but it sure suits me. I love the quiet focus on introspection, increasing awareness and various other healthy pursuits. The people are kind and thoughtful, the food is delicious and healthy, there’s lots of time to just BE and of course there’s yoga! At Ananda Prakash Yoga Ashram in Rishikesh the day starts at 6 a.m., before the sun rises, in the beautiful third floor yoga hall with a yoga class led by Yogi Vishvketu (Vishva). The room is graced with large picture windows that frame an unbelievable view of the sun coming up from behind the foothills of the Himalayas. It’s an incredible way to start the day.
This ashram is new, just two years old, and started by my friends and teachers Vishva and his wife Chetana (who is originally from Toronto). It is situated in Rishikesh, so it is not as peaceful as Aurovalley; but luckily, it is in one of the most peaceful areas of Rishikesh (Tapovan). Overall, Rishikesh is a pretty serene place. It is surrounded by mountains and the Ganga (Ganges River) runs right through the middle of it. In the early
morning, the wind rushes down from the mountains and it really does seem like Devi Bhoomi, the land of the gods. Seers and sages have been gathering here for spiritual practices since before recorded history, pouring their beautiful and uplifting energies into the river, the tress, the rocks, the wind. There is no doubt that it is a special place, both calm and inspiring, and I love it here.
I came here on March 10, the day before Holi (the festival of colour) with Yahav, the young Israeli girl I met at Aurovalley. (It’s only about a 40 minute drive from Aurovalley to Rishikesh.) We shared a room for four days, until she left for more travels in India. Now I am in my room alone, which I like (though Yahav was a lovely room mate!). Here are some notes I took over the last five days.
Holi (March 11)
What a great day. It started with an amazing Vishva-ji yoga class, in which he talked about enthusiasm and excitement and how important they are to life. I couldn’t agree more. Follow your bliss, that’s the secret to life.
So here I am following my bliss
in India. I have become friends with a young man, Abishek, who is here photographing Vishva. We talked together last night, my first night here, and today he was my prime target when we were playing Holi in front of the ashram. Then, we headed off together to Laxman Jhula. There weren’t a lot of people on the road, people were home with their families, but we did get soaked with colour and coloured water and crossed the bridge to sit on a quiet ghat by the gorgeous Ganga to dry. Then, we went to a café for chai and finally came back to the ashram just in time for a late lunch.
Later, Abishek, Vishva and Pankaj, the ashram musician and singer, went to Ram Jhula, the centre of Rishikesh, to take pictures of Vishva doing asanas. Vishva drove me to Ram Jhula on the back of his scooter, and it was really fun, winding through the mountain roads of Rishikesh. It is interesting to me that I was never on the back of a bike in India before, and now on this trip, I am all the time!
Then, we had a classic Vishva adventure. We
went to a juice bar that he used to go to as a student (I had only ek kela, one banana), and then we stopped at the very humble home of a 100 year old yogi. This yogi used to walk 64 kilometres, from Haridwar to Rishikesh and back, every day for 20 years without missing a day. He sat up in bed to receive us, and we sat on the floor around him. His room was quite messy, and included a cooking area in the corner. After we sat for a few minutes, Pankaj sang a beautiful devotional song and I clapped along, the percussion section. It was a lovely moment. The aged yogi listened with rapt attention, and peered through thick, clouded glasses. He was quite remarkable, a very sweet and gentle soul.
I noticed several cockroaches crawling over his things. I don’t say this to be critical, but to observe that people in India are so much more tolerant of these things. This man is living in harmony with his environment, which includes cockroaches. So different than the North American approach, which would be to exterminate them and sanitize the place.
We were late for
dinner, but they saved some for us and afterwards I sat in the garden and watched the full moon rise behind the majestic peaks that frame this end of Rishikesh. It is beautiful and peaceful here, and the sacred Ganga Mata pours powerfully through this valley. In the morning, fresh, invigorating air blows down from the mountains and stirs the reverent energies and holy ghosts of this ancient sacred place.
I think I can hear Yahav’s voice outside. Today, someone thought we were mother and daughter. Also today, Abishek thought I was about 29. I liked both projections. I actually felt for a second that Yahav was my daughter. How wonderful it would be to have a daughter, I thought, to travel around India with! (Especially a daughter as sweet and intelligent as Yahav.)
March 12, Rishikesh
I am settling into the life at Ananda Prakash Yoga Ashram. For me, the great draws are talks with Chetana and yoga with Vishva. It is also very nice to be able to walk into Rishikesh, and the Mata Ganga is astounding here: a lustrous stream of sparkling opaque-green water snaking through the narrow valley of Rishikesh. I have not
yet communed with the river, but maybe tomorrow I will make that my focus.
I walked along the far bank, from Laxman Jhula to Ram Jhula to shop. I took my time, walked slowly and enjoyed observing small moments. A poor man sharing his meager allotment of padadam with a beggar. A man and his son feeding a cow on the bridge. People all along my route getting their shops and wares and produce ready for the day. A woman cooking papadam over a small flame and lining them up to sell - her only merchandise. A man with a cart washing and lining up cool bottles of soda, each with a small lime perched on top. Shopkeepers sweeping the areas in front of their shops. I love watching life in India, as it is lived out in the open, and it is often small and humble - but each moment seems to have some ritual significance. It is so opposite to the way we live in North America.
I had a wonderful experience, shopping for music CDs in a great little store near Ram Jhula. I was walking by and a large box set, “Wedding music of
Rajasthan,” caught my eye. I walked in and the owner - whose name is Harish Chauhan, same as my friend in Toronto - played some tracks for me in the back of the store, in his office, where a small, elder yogi with twinkling eyes was sitting. We began chatting and enjoying the music together, and when a particularly catchy Rajasthani wedding song came on, he got up and danced with me. Then he grabbed my palm and said, “wonderful, you are an artist!” He made me feel so good by saying that! I felt confirmed and validated. He also said I would live a long life and have a husband … “Why you aren’t married?” he asked (somehow he could discern I was unmarried). “I don’t know,” I replied. “You tell me!” He wants to introduce me to a 42-year-old Indian businessman … He also offered to give me the name and number of an Indian classical dance teacher. Maybe I will become an Indian dancer in THIS life after all!
March 14
Yesterday I went to Haridwar with Vishva, Abishek and Pankaj. We spent a long time on a quiet ghat, where sadhus live, on a
tributary of the Ganga. It was lovely and peaceful there. But when we went to Hari-ki-pari, in the centre of Haridwar, I felt very disturbed, just like last time I was there more than three years ago. I left them and came back by taxi. I told Vishva how I felt and he said, “Too much Shiva energy.” Shiva is the destroyer (one of three main gods in Hinduism - the other two are Brahma the creator and Vishnu the preserver). Shiva destroys the negative; things that need to be destroyed so that new life can grow.
My “surrogate daughter” and roomie Yahav left today, for Simla, with another lovely young Israeli girl, Roni. I was delighted that she met Roni, and felt a little happy protective twang when I learned they would be traveling together. Yahav and I had a wonderful morning together, going for chai and shopping for CDs and books in Laxman Jhula. I was in a light-hearted mood, after an amazing Vishva yoga class. I went into a deep meditative state in sivasana and felt my insides were sweet. I actually could taste the sweetness of me! Divine essence! Vishva can really inspire oneness.
Tonight, I walked down to Laxman Jhula and watched the sunset from the edge of the river. I sat on a small beach and felt my open heart pouring into the river. I am continuing to follow my heart, and my personal writing about this journey is entitled “Raw adventures of a lyrical heart.”
March 17
Over the past two days I had an astrological birth chart reading and a diagnosis by an Ayurvedic doctor. Both practitioners were wonderful - very gentle, learned, well-educated, spiritually aware and sensitive Indians. The very best kind of people you meet in India. I feel very lucky to be surrounded by these beautiful souls.
The astrologer said I am on the right path. Following my inner voice, writing, pursuing my spiritual interests and trusting my instincts about moving to India - all of these things he soundly confirmed. They are in my birth chart. So are difficult family relationships and being single! (He also said I am headstrong and rebellious, go figure) He said several other interesting things, and we had a long, philosophical discussion that I enjoyed very much.
The Ayurvedic doctor said my agni (fire) was low, my
vata was high, digestion and metabolism are slow and ama is there. She is giving me treatments and herbs, as well as a special diet, for all these things so let’s see. The treatment consists of a massage with dried herbs and then shirodara (a thin stream of warm oil is poured over your forehead for some time) and then steaming, to open the pours and sweat. And then there are some more intense cleansings which I won’t describe …
So, I am relaxing, doing yoga, cleansing, getting healthy and thorou
ghly enjoying Rishikesh energy, the fresh air, and the gorgeous green Ganga.
And starting to plan my next trip. I am going back to Delhi on March 22 to see my friend Manmohan (Mark) from Toronto (originally from Delhi) and then on March 26 I am going to Pushkar, a tiny town set around a round lake in central Rajasthan. It will be very hot there as it is essentially plunk in the middle of the desert. But I have wanted to spend a few days there ever since I sped through, three years ago, on my way to Jodhpur with Caryl. We only stopped for lunch, not
long enough to sense the “vibe,” and I made a commitment to myself that one day I would go back and go to the Brahma temple - the only temple to Brahma in all of India.
But before that ... I am going back to Aurovalley Ashram, and this time bringing Vishva and Chetana to see the place and meet Swamiji. I am very excited!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.062s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 6; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0382s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Vijay
non-member comment
Life in India is tough
I am greatly enjoying your narratives on India. Am an Indian myself and I just want your readers to notice that living is hard in India at a grassroot level. You may imagine how these people are working laboriously to earn enough money to make life just a day longer. On the other side are people with wealth, people who are fortunate to have enough money to see all this happening in real. There is a sharp contrast in living standards even within India, leaving aside North America. Additionally, life may be calm and peaceful, but it is certainly not evolving. Rishikesh and Haridwar, as you see them now, were very similar 30 years ago also. Hardly anything has changed, may be quality of roads. If development is coming these people's way, we should be feeling good rather than thinking that the culture is being lost. Given a chance, these people are very likely to choose western style development over present.