Varanasi

Here is Varanasi in its glow. I LOVE THIS CITY, so long it's the most Indian place I've seen and it's much more peace and love than I've imagined...

In pictures:

Better than Nag Champa:

Potato Balls, aloo masala:

On the Assi Ghat

To keep Ganges neat and clean please do not throw plastic bags etc. :)))

Snakes without the magician... 

Napping 

Baba and Sunrise

Morning rituals, somewhere there there's a Burning Man :))

Washing and drying

Mother Theresa 

Children children where are thou

 

Sewing machine, mamma mia

Typical water tap and typical South India temple

HAHA

Rushing to buy some bracelets outside an ashram 

Wood for the human barbecue... 

Morning laundry 

Lingam on the Ganga 

Waiting for the clothes to dry

Babas

Market 

Southern Food - Dosa

Bracelets

Ganga and the goat

Janka and her Ghat

BE HAPPY!

HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Well, almost one month since I've written here, in Nepal Internet is a rare (and expeeeensive ) and I've also been wrapped into meditation and practices so you can understand me!

I'll write more about where and what and when, so long enjoy the view from our balcony to Anapurna chain. That's a dream to wake up every day and have it as your wall paper :)

LOVE

28 January, apparently Saturday...

Organized chaos... in the Universe, in our comprehension of life, in our thoughts, in the way we move or talk, in our feelings or in the birds going South. Varanasi train station is also organized chaos. I've never seen that before... Hundreds of people, everywhere, mainly on the floor, with their own places, food, toilets, with their own hope... to get into the next train. We were going to Gorakhpur from Bodhgaya and had to change in Varanasi. We didn't know they had one of their Mehlas (religious feasts). And we didn't know they'd all want to take the same train we bought tickets for. How to describe... lake of people. Sea... Ocean... with inner rivers and boats. With luggages and prayers. Noisy, stincky, pushing, swearing, crying... Someone told us they changed all the sleeper coaches into the sitting ones. If you've ever taken a train in India, you'd understand what I mean if I say organizes chaos, right? Indian don't buy tickets to sitting trains, they just go. But when you have thousands of those who just go... Police was rude and violent. Somehow we managed to find someone who would help us to squeeze into our coach. Terrible. They through out five or seven people for us three. Difficult to be equanimous. Difficult not to gasp. C'etait infernal... Then in the train... you couldn't step - people EVERYWHERE, literally. We had to find out places and convince people that we had right to occupy them (actually not a problem - the policemen were outside shouting on people through the window and nobody protested, they just had this crazy inner wave of anger towards us...). We tried to sleep on our benches surrounded by faces (close to me there were 4 women sitting on the floor, and some more in my feet). In the middle of the night more policemen came and there was a fight and they were throwing people out again and then nicely asking us if we were ok, if our luggage was safe. Sad... specially when you understand that it's all about money - the ticket I bought was 80 rupees, 1,5 euros and it gave me right to be treated as a human being. Sad, again and again. Well, let everybody be peaceful and happy, policemen included! At the end it turned out to be less drama than I thought and we even had sandwiches and tango music for breakfast!

So we arrived in Lumbini, for that had to go through 101 small things - rikshaws, immigration service, busses, dust, people, traffic, long walk with bags, screaming monkeys. Crazy day! Oh, Lumbini... Buddha was born here. There are tens of monasteries around, have never seen that before, it's a big supermarket! The town turned out to be a one-street village, like in a spaghetti-westerns. Pretty clean and with nice people... Everything much more expensive than expected, but I supposed it's due to the wave of tourists coming from India to spend their obligatory gap of two months outside the country. Locals are spoiled by the amount of money floating here as well (Lumbini is a UNESCO-heritage place, but everything is done in a real wannagenna style, roads go out of the plan, money disappears etc)

Right now in the vipassana center, on a short 3 days self-retreat - after the previous course ended they nicely let us stay, providing food and shelter. I am supposed to meditate, but now it's 21.34, there's no light, and if I sit and concentrate on my sensations, I immediately fall asleep, so I decided to write all this instead. See you  soon!

Be Happy and don't forget to chew!

(oh, the lights are on again, I'll try to do some vipassana...)

Haven't written for ages, but there are good reasons - Bodhgaya swallowed me with all my internal and external life! Phowa 12 hours per day, two Greek Sofias, Temple, Tree, dust, beggars, handicapped children, goats, "Indian spa", being detached, eating a lot, talking even more, monasteries, prayers, meditation... Ok, let's take it easy and start again (viva Goenka-ji!)

10 days in the Holy City... more than 10 months of Marseille-life. Well, I'd almost say more than 10 years, but you wouldn't believe me. You know Bodhgaya? Cmon, you know it - Buddha attained enlightenment there, under the Bodhi Tree, once in the history. The Real Tree is not there any more - it was cut by King Ashoka's crazy wife, but one of his daughters managed to safe a root and plant it in Shri Lanka, and they say that the present Tree, standing at THE place, comes from the saved root. I believe it. Close to the tree there's a temple. HUUUUGE Temple. 

Around the Temple there are PEOPLE - everywhere and at any moment of the day, the sea of monks in different colors of robes, Buddhist rainbow, mostly deep red - wine bottles! Pilgrims, Indians, Europeans, dogs, children, army... Praying, eating, taking pics, fighting, spinning the wheels, prostrating 100 000 times. Nice place for anthropological studies. 

Moreover, the Kalachakra has just finished, so picture a land after a tsunami - they say around 500 000 people came to Bodhgaya to see Dalai-Lama. And voila, Dalai-Lama is gone, but the dust has still not settled down. The dirt, the excitement and the prices as well. I went to the Kalachakra maidan 3 days after it was over. A sad sight - like when you take away the Christmas tree. Still smelling the party, but so much trash after... And you know it's not gonna be back for a year or so. With Dalai-Lama they say it was the last time he gave this teaching (well, they say it every year, man!)

I came to Bodhgaya to attend Phowa, the teaching of Lama Ayang Rinpoche on meditation in the moment of death, 10 days of impressive and intensive empowerment. Couldn't finish it, too strong for me, too Buddhist, too spacing out. Anyway, used to come to the tent every day to meditate, Lama Rinpoche is very powerful and you feel it once you enter the field. Well, and Tibetan bread they served with tea - this very special Tibetan bread, you know... 

Ok, instead of doing Phowa I managed to jump into a sea of other types of meditation. Too much to write here... I also met the very best people, thank you, David! THE family - two Sofias, Francoise, Dragos, Raz, Anni and many others. It's karma, pure karma. Inspiring, turning me upside down, tuning in, loving unconditionally and sharing their knowledge so freely and in such an unexpectedly easy manner - over a plate of momos or a ginger-apple cake. Oh, food is a separate topic - you know how much I love Tibetan food! What to say - here it was my momo and chowmein paradise! Thukpas, thentuks, fried or steamed momos, Tibetan bread... And all the other types of food - got some hummus, pizza, brownies, olalala!  Ok, stop this float of hedonistic fantasme!  

I am full of love and new horizons after Bodhgaya. The energy is AMAZING (yes, John, I understand you!) and I still have lots of things to digest...

Sorry for the disorder in the pics, Inet is slow and I am sooo tired... 

PHOWA FROM HERE...

TO HERE

LAST DAY OF PHOWA, THE OFFERING TO THE BUDDHA AMITHABA

WITH RAZ, LOVELY!

I don't have words to describe what is happening to me here in BodhGaya! I just don't have words...