Back to Rishikesh and Departure

Inevitably, a day comes when the mundane takes the spotlight. Little details that bring balance to a life must get attended to. Sleep in a little longer. Make a Skype call to family. Send off delinquent emails. Do the laundry. Sit on the deck and look out over the scenario and just chill. Organize the suitcase. Take a long walk. Take a breathing class. Do the breathing out under the tree...think about home and the routines. Drift to going home and what to do when the return happens. Curious little snippets that drift through the mind like puffy cumulous clouds on a warm day.

Thinking about this writing process. It has been a really important part of this travel for me as I am able to walk back through the experiences of the day and reflect and integrate. I have been moved in the writing where I wasn't in the experience. It is a daily wash that feels necessary. I am grateful that you who are reading along with me are there. It is a sweet comfort...I did notice that as the writings have progressed they have gotten longer. When I switched from FaceBook to the blog I noticed that some chose to stop following. Too bad, as the deeper experiences are just beginning as the adventure expands out into the destinations to come...

I have a tendency to invest my own experiences in a candid way in my writing. Since it has cathartic and integrating effects for me I include it. Sure I could be a court reporter and tell just what I see here. Or I could be a new age guy and spin the holy in everything. But there is something about sharing the experience from all places that feels good to me...like something I would like to read and follow. I like to see how people handle things when put into challenging circumstances. I like to see how someone evolves. And I love to feel the emotional responses to living....in a land that is so different from my home in Cambria, California,  stuff happens...and challenges are met...and experience builds up in staccato bursts. Let's deal with it together...because we do live vicariously from one another and we do store information for personal use down the road. And we do connect and love one another in large ways...anyway, just woke up with that. It is 6 AM here in India

After yesterday adventure into Rishikesh for the aarti ceremony we collectively decided to go back today. But this time we, as resourceful humans, went back with a bit of preparation, having learned from our experience. Different shoes, slip ons for the temples and ceremony at the river...instead of the coat with the zippered pockets for camera lenses and recorders, I brought my blue canvas bag to put my stuff in. My stuff today included water (got really dry yesterday), throat lozenges (smoke and dust irritated), a little bit of chocolate, an apple, and Tigger...my daughter, Gabriela, brought me an authentic stuffed Tigger from a trip to Disneyland a while back. Normally, I travel with Brownie, the dog that accompanied my birth and has been with me ever since, but he has taken to staying behind on some trips...staying behind here would create monumental challenges in getting him home...so I brought Tigger because he brings me joy and I just love his ability to find lightness in all the moments forms...

And, before I knew it a new photo series was born, Travels with Tigger. I am photographing him doing what Tiggers do in all the locations  we will find ourselves in. He is sooo willing, even engaging the locals to pose with him...stay tuned for some samples.

Though the bus trip down the mountain was smoother, I found myself a bit more queazy, and that stayed with me until we crossed the bridge over the River Ganga. This trip was more about supporting the local economy and the amazing resourcefulness of the people...shopping. Each had a small list of desirable items. Once across the bridge we set a meeting place and time and broke into smaller wandering groups. I am more about the experience of being there and photographing what catches my eye. I like the mala beads and I enjoy a few bracelets on my arm. So I was watching for them. As we are going to Nepal next, I am holding out for some of the bowls and sound healing items that may present themselves there.

Somewhat a cross between New Delhi where the steet vendors were aggressively confrontive, and the Old Delhi laid back come to me vibe, the vendors in Rishikesh gave a soft sell presence. A couple words just to see the level of interest. And when interest is shown, they jump to action to show the possibilities. And when there is more than interest, one is taken to the back room where the good stuff awaits...these are the gem laden malas and statuary, the fine cloth, the treasure. Out front you get malas that have been dipped and painted to portray quality.

I have worn a brass and copper and silver Tibetan bracelet with some red coral on it for many years. It has become worn and I was looking for some replacement...I showed the first vendor what I was looking for and there it was on the shelf with hundreds of others. Now I do not require one of a kind items...I like what I like. This bracelet was $15 when i picked it up in Pacific Trader catalogue. I asked the man how much and he indicated 100 rupees...two bucks. Now some really enjoy the bartering process and I have witnessed enough to know some strategy...but we are talking pennies here. So I asked for 4 of them and parted with 500 rupees for the satisfaction that I had a stash now of something I value. And I can give several to Gabriela, because she likes them too..

That is all I wanted on this excursion, though I was taken by a couple of malas, one of Lapus, and one of clear crystal...but Deborah says wait till you get to Kathmandu....she knows some people there. More on that as it unfolds.

From then on it was simply a leisurely stroll of photography through the streets until the rendezvous time. Earlier in the day there is much more activity than we experienced in the late afternoon yesterday. Saddhi's, Holy Men, in all shapes and sizes and conditions move from ashram to ashram through the narrow corridors. Beggars with palm extended or cup jingling a dancing coin beckon to one so moved by their presentation or life circumstance...blindness, lost appendage, crippled, scarred, on and on...I thought of the guy who works the street corner at the entrance to Trader Joe's back home... his Need money for beer and smokes! sign ever present...

Many children work the streets peddling items, flowers, food, maps, photos with them, postcards..sometimes parents are nearby and sometimes it is a family business. Locals will even come up to get photos with the Westerners...they don't pay at all...most of the westerners in a town like this are spiritual seekers. And as such, they are dressed in the robe of the ashram...but some just have a turban or a shirt or vest that speaks of their journey...over blue jeans and Nike's. It is a curious place, peppered with tastes of the West as people seek some inner alignment and attempt to make sense of what they have manifested in their own lives up till now. Sadly, they do not make much eye contact...I would think that this would be a sign that something has been found.

The monkeys are out today. A man feeds one apple slices. The monkey settles and poses for the photos that come. Perhaps they are in business. The vendors offer free samples...and then suggest a small pittance when taken. The little boy with the cherub face beckons you to buy the flower basket fish food offering. Just down the steps his family runs another store as they keep a watchful and proud eye on their little entrepreneur. Down on the steps by the river a huddled group of turbaned holy men in orange and white share a smoke...the smell punctuates the air...perhaps this is the secret to their visions. They shoo away photos with waving hands and harsh facial expressions. Here and there smartly dressed men gather in pairs and just watch people. Travelers sit by the river, watching the moments of their life drift by. The motorbikes force their way through the crowds with those annoying horns. The cows gather by the river, a small herd of 11, whiling away the late afternoon...awaiting the coming chant, perhaps, or gathering like the seagulls back home at sunset...to turn as one and face the last rays if the day...codings from the galactic center

Snapshots of life in a far away land...memories etched and waiting to be retold in lands they will never see. Life lived in its infinite myriad of forms. Nothing matters...nothing at all. The flow speaks and everything and everyone surrenders to it...the rebels will eventually get caught and swept into the incessant river. I am getting the feeling that when I leave this experience I will not be able to look at my moments at home the same. I do not know yet what that means. I have been humbled and educated. It is easy to take this and start to make decisions about what is important, what is necessary.

Some people come to India and know that they have come home...they even drop their lives and move here. Some people come back over and over...I am moved and opened by this experience thus far. It has taught me well, revealing some issues ready to be tossed..and I am grateful beyond belief. And there is more to come...just one third of the way through our journey. But I chose to be born in the United States...and I absolutely love California and the coast in Cambria where I live. I want to take the thin veil between the dimensions and live in that frequency back home. Walk in the Pacific Ocean and remember the Ganges...look at the sunset and see the glistening white statue of Krishna gazing down through the pulsating sounds of chant sung from the wide open fully surrendered hearts and voices of the masses. I get this...and it is my charge to lovingly and devotedly bring all that is for me back home to integrate...to do my part in ushering in this Aquarian age of Oneness...to Moonstone Beach where I end my days in the waves, to Strawberry Canyon where the bench in the trees affirms that God is everywhere, to the Bluffs where the Pacific Ocean vistas stir my heart and soul every single day, in sun or fog or rain or wind.

Today's ceremony was precious, an acoustic version of last night's light and sound assault. Fewer people, more intimate, the guru there the entire time leading chants over the PA, accompanied by harmonium and tabla. Young monks, boys from 8 to 18 clad in robes sporting the colors of the USC Trojans swaying as one to the chant's intoxicating pulse. The sun goes down in that same brilliant orb of red and orange and yellow and the clouds become a slo mo evolution of inspiration...a buttermilk sky, pink and lavender cookie drops in a fading background of blue pranic power. And the river dances, currents moving in time, oscillations of the one true vibration orchestrated by the collective intention of the I AM as represented by every soul who chose to show up to this moment. Never to be repeated in all of eternity we all play our part, this testament to the blending of the breath of life to manifest the sound in all its glory. The fire and incense return...lots of smoke and clockwise circles of flame. The brass fiery cobras dance and the people rush to put their hands through the flame...purify me, burn away the lower vibrational choices...give me this moment of pure possibility, unfettered by any thought or energetic residue of my diversion. I rush forward and sweep hands through one at a time, a choreographed dance of me, too! I catch eyes with the monk...remember this he demands...nothing has power over you when you trust the I AM...nothing!!!

I am at the river's edge...my Flip is videoing the water's dance. I am mesmerized at the alignment of the entire setting to the one frequency that sings yes...it is a good day to die! echoes the Lakota warrior from the plains of long ago...I hear you, man! And I let it all go...daily these ceremonies occur. The great purge of thought, belief, energy and resistance to being that which we are. Note to self: keep doing that daily cleanse you have initiated back home....this affirms its necessity

Back at Ananda for the last dinner. We leave tomorrow. This place has served well. It is for cleansing and transformation and remembering. It has done that...bless you moments, stay clean, and trust the flow...you are loved and valued beyond what you can even fathom. Next stop, Delhi...