Yogin's Quest

May all beings have happiness and its causes. May all beings be spared suffering and its causes. May all beings abide in the state of joy that knows no sorrow. May all beings trascend attachment to friends and aversion to enemies. And live beleiving in the equality of all that lives.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007


TRIP TO RAJISTAN

India is a very diverse country, the terrain, the people, the languages, their customs, is like visiting many countries in one, so you can experience so many different things just by changing areas in India, my intention here is not to give you a detailed tour/account of each city and place that we visited, but highlights of the human aspect or things that impressed us.
In the past never had the opportunity to visit Rajistan, which is located in the eastern quadrant of the country, and in view that Karethe’s first visit to India and my last five months of intense Buddhist practice and studies India, it was appropriate to take a break and do some touring around.
So we decide it to go to Sarnath for HH the Dalai Lama teachings, then remain in Varanasi and start our holidays there, what can be said of Varanasi, is a holly, crazy city that has to be seen to be believed and appreciated it, we had a great time visiting all the gaths, temples, holly places and of course the Ganga, ahhhhhhh Mata Ganga, to be in this river at morning before sunrise and before sunset is an unbelievable experience, the colors the People, the temples, the history, the sadhus all illuminated with different lights as the sun rises or declines, is overwhelming and a reminder of why all the tribes in the past all over the world worshiped the sun.
People live and die by the Ganga as it is the most sacred river in India an very auspicious to die here and to be cremated here, walked everywhere and took, tuk tuks and bike rickshaws, we did it all and as usual were impressed by the people, most of them have nothing or less that nothing and they never give up, hope, living day by day they keep on living and doing their spiritual practices, a way of life forgotten or ignored in the west, in my opinion we should have a look at how this people survive and how thank full they are for what they had, perhaps or world would be more compassionate and appreciative, rather than taking all for granted, and constantly complaining (no I am not generalizing here), there is people like these in the west, but so few, so we continue to destroy our world and our health pursuing happiness, not realizing that happiness is within our reach, as it is internal not external, all we need is to change just a bit at a time, getting more compassionate and putting always others ahead of self and you will see the change.
We visited Agra and the Taj Mahal, the biggest monument inspired by real love in the world as well as other cities like Jaipur, Udaipur, Pushkar, Jaihlsamer, Bikaner, etc., we even did a desert Safari in camel back, we saw from the idiotic to the sublime, temples, forts, mansions, ruins etc., but wherever we went, the contact with the local people struggling in their daily lives to survive was the most important, cherished and remembered experience of these five weeks.
As they say, a picture is worth a 1000 words and not wanting you to be bored with my poor grammar and recontouring abilities, here are some pictures that will describe Rajistan better that I could do, enjoy. Once again I want to mention that I am very thankful to many beings, for being so blessed in having the opportunity to be here and experience and learn so much, from all these places , cultures and people.

We met so many local people, they adopted us into their families, gave us presents and their love, without expecting anything in return, hey are the ones that made our trip and unforgetable experience



Taj Mahal 6 am

A Sadhu

Ahhhhhh Pushkar


Desert people and their house


Desert lady in her house


Our camel safari


Timeless sands in the desert

Midnight time at the oasis (actually is 6am at the desert)

Desert prople dances (notice the cobra in the box in the right hand side)

Desert folklor colorful and different

The blue city


Pushkar old man

Varanasi, Ganga river early am
Ganga river daily wash and swim

Another daily swim

Night ceremony at the Ganga river


Interdenominational morning ceremony at the Ganga