India - Part 2

“I am not going to give you a destination.  I can only give you a direction—awake, throbbing with life; and unknown, always surprising, unpredictable.  I’m not going to give you a map.  I can give you only a great passion to discover.  Yes, a map is not needed; great passion, great desire to discover is needed.  Then I leave you alone.  Then you go on your own.  Move into the vast, into the infinite, and by and by, learn to trust it.  Leave yourself in the hands of life, because life is God.  When Jesus says, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done,” he’s saying this... a great trust.  Even if God brings death, there is nothing to be afraid of.  It is He who is bringing death, so there must be a reason in it, there must be a hidden secret in it, there must be a teaching in it.  He’s opening a door.

“The man who trusts, the man who is religious is thrilled even at the gate of death—he can give a lion’s roar.  Even dying—because he knows nothing dies—at the very moment of death he can say, “This is it!”, because each moment, this is it.  It may be life, it may be death; it may be success, it may be failure; it may be happiness, it may be unhappiness.   Each moment...

“...this it it.

“This is what I call the real prayer.  And then you will have direction.  You need not worry about it, you need not fix it; you can move with trust.”

--Osho, “Bauls:  The Singing Mystics”

After a week chilling out in Varkala I made my way to Amma’s Ashram, which was a couple of hours north by train...


My time with Amma was something.


This Indian saint has a huge following worldwide and is known as “The Hugging Mother”.

Please visit her website and read about her work.  She is amazing!


Amma.org
Amritapuri.org


While at Amma’s I stayed in a very basic shared 6-bed dorm with a very basic bathroom and no hot water!  The daily ashram fee of 150 rupees per day includes three meals and two cups of tea per day, and free participation in ashram activities.
While at the ashram I had a great time talking to devotees and international visitors.  I was also lucky to be there while Amma was home.


The daily routine for ashram attendees:
5am – chanting the 10,000 names of the divine mother
5.45am – Ganesh puja in the small temple.
6.30am – Tea time
7am – meditation on the beach
9am – breakfast
12noon-lunch
3pm – tea time
5pm – meditation on the beach
7pm – Bhajan (chanting in the main hall)
8pm – dinner
10pm – lights out.


You are free to participate as you wish, but you are encouraged to participate nonetheless! 


Besides the set daily program, there are many other things to do also, including helping out with the daily activities of the ashram.


I participated in meditations, bhajans, chanting and puja in varying degrees on each day.  I also spent a morning gardening in the rain, whist knee deep in mud on Amma’s Tulsi Farm! 


The rest of the time; eating, chatting, walking, reading and hanging out.


It was very basic – but the experience was extremely nourishing for my spirit.  To chant is a very uplifting thing.  Listening to music is also awesome, as is dancing or singing... ..but to chant in devotion lifts up the heart.


What can I say about Amma?  She does so much – I couldn’t begin to explain.  For that have a look at her website (link above).


But what she loves?  She loves everyone, and seeks to embrace everyone of us--one by one.


She loves to sing and dance.


She loves to laugh and smile.


While staying with Amma, I was blessed to receive darshan from her twice.  Darshan being a spiritual word for “Giving”.  Amma gives darshan through her hugs.


It amazes me that the whole time I was at the ashram I took for granted the experience to a large degree and didn’t embrace it for what is was.  Similarly I was questioning about the legitimacy and ethics of what Amma does.  I was sceptical – is she really so awesome?
Days after leaving the ashram, I realised that I missed Amma and I was feeling a little less joyous!  So from there I moved to gratitude for my experience with her, and from gratitude, devotion flowed.  So I sang in devotion to Spirit and that moved me back into joy!


There’s a great lesson there for us all.  First of all, to have gratitude for your life and experiences.  Secondly, how can you channel your gratitude into devotion?  Into your cause?  Your guru?  Your child?  Who or what gives meaning to your life?  Channel what you love to do for someone or something other than yourself!  From there joy flows naturally!
This little video montage of India features some of my favourite devotional music.

After my five day stay with Amma, I took the train north to Cochin for a few days exploring this old English and Portugese town.  It was interesting – but not the most exciting of places I’ve visited in India.  I indulged in creature comforts after my purist existence at Amma’s.  The quaint colonial sea-side town features old buildings, antique shoppes, cafe’s, restaurants, and wine bars.  It is still largely Christian and Jewish religions in Cochin while on the other side of the headwaters , Ernakulum rages to the pace of the ‘real India!’, a bustling harbour and a lot of commerce going on.

Antique shoppe in Jewtown, Cochin

typical styling in one of Cochin's streets

St. Francis Xavier Church, Cochin

My residence in Cochin; Tag & Nacht Guesthouse

From here, I took the overnight train northeast back to Chennai.


I arrived in Chennai on a very rainy day at the end of the monsoon.  The streets were all a foot deep with filthy mud, garbage, excrement and murky water!


I was in Chennai to vote in the 2010 Australian Federal Election – and then move northwest on to Bangalore.  Chennai is a commerce city also, but there are some tourist attractions.  There are museums, beaches, monuments and temples to see.  There is also reasonable shopping, with multi-level malls – and good eating including a variety of local south Indian fare (among the best and cheapest I had was in Chennai), as well as the familiar western fare, KFC and McDonalds!

Marina Beach - Chennai

National Gallery, Chennai (closed due to structural instability at the time of my visit)

Street Scene opposite Chennai Museum

Dirty river, Chennai

After a few days in Chennai I arrived in Bangalore knowing that D-Nox (awesome German electronic music performer) and Mo-shic (trance composer) were playing at the local trance haunt.  This was very exciting, as I really like both of the artists!  So I hunted down the bar and enjoyed a beery evening under a big old fig tree at the back of this very expensive bar!

I met some cool Indian crew in Bangalore while at the party who spoke English well and had similar interests to me.  It was a very chatty evening and I was invited to continue the party back at their house in suburban Bangalore, to which I graciously accepted.  We shared a late night before I passed out for the night in their lounge room.  (Thank-you guys!)


There was also an invitation to stay and study a meditation course with these guys in Bangalore, but the practicalities didn’t suit me.  So I took the overnight train to Hampi!
My friend Hayley told me about her travels in Hampi, and encouraged me to put it on my ‘must-visit’ list.  It was good advice!


The landscape of Hampi is a boulder-strewn landscape somewhat resembling the surface of the moon, with sixteenth-century Hindu rock carvings and temples scattered for kilometres in every direction.  Filling the gaps are coconut, banana and rice plantations.  A raging red river ran by the village (it was still monsoon).  And there were many monkeys that ruled the place...


Some of Hampi’s temples are still functioning - Hampi is a ‘temple town’.  While I was there I saw and heard weddings, funerals, ceremonies and rituals in process.  I hired a small motorbike to give myself a tour of the region, and spent time reading about Hindu gods while trying to visualise and understand how this now ruined city of half a million people once existed in its heyday.


Here a a series of images from Hampi - I have hundreds of pictures, so this is barely conclusive of everything there.  For a closer look, click on the image and it should zoom it for you!

(More photo's can be viewed through my Facebook Albums; <India - part 3>)


From Hampi I took an overnight ‘sleeper bus’ to Goa.  (Sleeper buses are very uncomfortable – take the train if you can.  In this case I had no other option.)
Goa is cool.  It’s like Varkala in some ways, but the locals are Christian (of Portugese/English/Indian mixed descent).  I stayed at Anjuna beach in the offseason.  I found a concrete dwelling with adjoining loo and shower for 250 Rupees per night, 100 metres from the beach and the local bar. The beer, good food, music, sheesha and late nights flowed!  I had a great time relaxing and exploring the area while partying till late in the bars for a few days before I decided that I was running out of time to see all of India...

on the beach out the front of Curley's bar, Anjuna, Goa - during the monsoon

Curley's

on the beach out front of Curley's

From Goa I booked a plane to the northernmost tip of India.  I booked two connecting tickets via Dehli, to reach my destination of Leh; the little mountain town at an elevation of 3520 metres above sea level....