We spent a week in the mystical city of Varanasi, how easily it crept into our hearts.
Varanasi is a holy city for the Hindus and the Buddhists. Sitting on the shores of the mother of rivers- Ganges, it is believed that whoever dies in this city of Gods is granted a complete liberation- moksha, no questions asked. Hence the dead of many places from all over India are transported here for a cremation. Walking down the alleys of the old town, there are always hurried funeral processions going past chanting "Rama Nama satya hai!" (the name of Rama is the Supreme Truth). And the cremations down the burning ghats proceed 24 h without stop. One is allowed to watch these ghostly ceremonies, after being told ten times not to take a photo and finding an acceptable distance for ones stomach not to cramp too much. We were unfortunately a bit sick while we ventured down to the famous Manakarnika Ghat, hence we watched this show with a dizzy head and a feeling of nausea, but it made the city we had already felt to be mysterious even more so. Varanasi is a special city indeed with its thousands of narrow alleys which are almost impossible to navigate, the almost constant mist (coupled by the smoke from the burning ghats) circling above the river, the sadhus (mostly fake) with wide crazy eyes and the goats and cows balancing on thin edges of walls and steep stairs. Days turn into weeks easily when you feel yourself to be in a surreal place like Varanasi.
To pass the time we also took some yoga classes and tabla lessons. Enjoyed the tabla immensely, kept hearing nothing but drum beats in my head for days, there were no more taps of heels or clicks on keyboard, it was all a drumming, drumming, drumming.. :)
In the evening there is the aarti or evening river ceremony. The lighting of thousands of little candles for blessings and the chanting that goes with it- magical! We watched this from a boat. Here's a short clip of a video to get a feel of the place in the evening.
Will always remember the beauty and the magic of this very special town.
For 10 days we were living as nuns in a Vipassana retreat in BodhGaya.
It is very hard to describe a Vipassana course. One thing is for sure- it will leave a deep mark on everybody who takes the challenge, it might be a deep resolution to never do anything similar again, it might be a change in an attitude of living which will be for the whole life, or it might be a life-long devotion to this style of meditation, taking courses after courses and being very actively involved.
Here is a daily time-table of Vipassana:
4:00 am Morning wake-up bell 4:30-6:30 am Meditate in the hall or in your room 6:30-8:00 am Breakfast break 8:00-9:00 am Group meditation in the hall 9:00-11:00 am Meditate in the hall or in your room according to the teacher's instructions 11:00-12:00 noon Lunch break 12noon-1:00 pm Rest and interviews with the teacher 1:00-2:30 pm Meditate in the hall or in your room 2:30-3:30 pm Group meditation in the hall 3:30-5:00 pm Meditate in the hall or in your own room according to the teacher's instructions 5:00-6:00 pm Tea break 6:00-7:00 pm Group meditation in the hall 7:00-8:15 pm Teacher's Discourse in the hall 8:15-9:00 pm Group meditation in the hall 9:00-9:30 pm Question time in the hall 9:30 pm Retire to your own room--Lights out
As you can see- we were extremely busy! Also we took a vow to keep these precepts: 1. to abstain from killing any being; (seemingly easy but challenging to keep an eye out for accidentally squashing bugs and insects) 2. to abstain from stealing; 3. to abstain from all sexual activity; 4. to abstain from telling lies; 5. to abstain from all intoxicants. And as an extra for Hille as an old student: 6. to abstain from eating after midday; 7. to abstain from sensual entertainment and bodily decorations 8. to abstain from using high or luxurious beds.
The most important vow however was the vow of Noble Silence. We were allowed no contact with people at all, including eye-contact. We were relieved of all our reading and writing materials, music etc and men and women were strictly segregated. All we had left was our minds, hour after hour observing our minds, our very crazy minds as it comes out!
The meditation itself consists of 3 days Ana Pana meditation- sharpening ones mind with the tool of observing ones breath and the rest of the time Vipassana- observation and development of equanimity towards the biochemical and energetical reactions on ones body. It is a very interesting and certainly an extremely enlightening activity. Amazing how much we don't realise about ourselves.
Why is it so influential, this particular meditation? First of all it is definitely a hard challenge to the mind and to the body. One is constantly tired, hungry, stressed because of such a denial of human contact (that part was definitely the hardest, human being is indeed above all else a social animal!), and also the usual brain-food of entertainment. But the effects are palpable from the very start, the mind gets calm very fast, quiet and concentrated. And then it starts throwing up root causes of our past afflictions, this also is very difficult for some. Forgotten complexes suddenly overflow the mind, some people report just starting to ball their eyes out for no reason, some have panic attacks, the dreams are certainly extremely vivid and sometimes horrific. In theory this meditation establishes a contact to the subconscious mind by observing its reactions which are the sensations/vibrations on the body. When one has problems then they can always approach the teacher. The teacher is always calm and says something like- stay with this experience, this is the reality of this moment and your job is just to observe it, nothing else. In such a way and by never reacting to the pleasant experiences by craving or the unpleasant ones by aversion, but simply being a silent witness- the impurities, afflictions, complexes and suffering in general get eradicated after the Buddhist philosophy. And well from experience of two retreats I can say each time I have left about 10 kilos lighter, amazing- as if the worries and past complexes do actually have a weight.
We came out of the course and went back to the holy Buddhist town of Bodh Gaya early in the morning and it was a completely unreal experience. A mist was hovering above the town, everything seemed as if in a dream. We went to the main temple to watch Tibetan monks chant in a deep rumbling voice while up in the street was playing music like this...
... hundreds of people praying, swirling their prayer wheels, making prostrations, meditating underneath the Bodhi Tree where Buddha was said to have been enlightened.
I guess our senses which were extremely heightened by the Vipassana, got an easy power-hit there at that magical, mystical evening, never to be forgotten. We spent a whole evening high on life and on energy, it was incredible. This spot seems to be indeed one of the most powerful on this planet.
And the whole town of Bodh Gaya will remain one of our favourites in India. The atmosphere was so peaceful and spiritual, majestic in its holiness, the pilgrims, the beggars, the flies, the mist, the chanting, the temples from all the Buddhist countries side by side- wow!
There were more beggars there than anywhere we've seen so far, few people do not give in a place where the thoughts of good karma are so close to their hearts.
The Tree is absolutely magnificent. Whether it is indeed a saved sapling of the very original tree is a matter of faith. But the tree itself, with its huge gentle horizontal branches which seem to want to embrace and protect as many people as possible, is intensely beautiful and powerful, of that there is no doubt. Especially for tree-lovers, and I know there are a few among the readers.. :)
Here's also a pic of the different styles of temples of each Buddhist country.
The Bhutanese temple was our favourite, it had such a mellow and peaceful interior and out-of-this-world3D wall paintings, to watch them was akin to actually taking a walk on those green slopes and pastures.
Here's a few pics of Mumbai as promised. What a mega-city! With its population of about 14 million, Mumbai is India's most populous city. It is a cosmopolitan multi-cultural mix of slums, Gothic buildings from the British rule, large parks, skyscrapers, temples from a wide range of religions- Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Jain, Zoroastrian, Christian, Sikh... A varied city indeed.
We had only a day, so we prioritized and took a trip to the Elephanta caves in the Elephanta island, an hours boat journey from the Gateway to India. Unesco World Heritage Site, these caves contain very beautiful reliefs, sculptures and a temple dedicated to Shiva.
Before entering the caves we had to fight to keep our belongings from the monkeys residing around the temple, who extort all visitors to give them their soft drinks and snacks. They bare their teeth and hiss and most tourists give it up straight away. Lii managed to keep her Coke. :)
The most important sculpture is that of the three-headed Shiva. From right to left the faces represent the three aspects of Shiva- the creator (Brahma), preserver (Vishnu) and destroyer (Shiva).
You have found Hille and Lii's travel blog. Welcome!
Olete leidnud Hille ja Lii reisipäeviku. Lahe! :)
Please forgive the jumbled bi-lingual aspect of this journal, its a good chance to try to understand Estonian! Or not, lol. It is indeed one of the most difficult languages in the world and yes we sat around the fire for ages thinking what is the perfect way to make it impossible for foreigners to ever get it. Ending up with something that even we have difficulties with, especially ones like Hille, who is basically an ex-pat at this stage.
Olen täitsa veendunud, et tublid eestlased saavad aru kõikidest inglise keelsetest sissekannetest, sest... noh lihtsalt oleme ju nii haritud ja fantastilised. :)
Tundke end vabalt, hoidke ühendust, kommenteerige! Feel free to send us a message or comment.
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