Hitch-Hiker’s Travel Blog of India

I exceeded the max amount of image space on the blog, so I’ll upload photos to Photobucket. The address for photos is http://s650.photobucket.com/albums/uu227/hitchhikersblog/.

Finally I got myself to write this post. I didn’t find the time or energy or whatever to write here in Vrindavan, so this post will be generally about the past, um, month or so that I’ve stayed in Vrindavan.

So, I came here in the beginning of march. I met some nice devotees, discussing the Vaisnava philosophy with them was enlightening and broadening for my mind. Especially it was nice to meet one devotee who had learnt Sanskrit - even though everyone talks about knowledge, very few seem to put in the effort of learning the language of the scriptures. I wish one day I’ll have the energy to do the same. After having a talk of some of the verses whose translation I found to be confusing, he would tell me that actually Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-Gita As It Is is not a translation, but an interpetation of the Gita - in some spots Prabhupada would write what Krishna meant instead of what Krishna actually said.

Then I had some, um, challenges practicing Brahmacarya - Brahmacarya is widely understood to be celibacy, but actually it’s an entire way of leading a life of purity. I read a book by Swami Sivananda about Brahmacarya and his words inspired me and made it clear that it is necessary to uphold purity of thought in addition to purity of deed - and also reading this book made Brahmacarya a bit easier for me.

Sivananda’s book got me interested on his other books - you can find many of them at http://www.sivanandaonline.org/graphics/ebooks/swami_sivanandaji/introduction.html. After reading some of them it seems I might be changing school of thought - from Vaisnavism to Advaita (monistic) Vedanta. You can see the differences by reading Sivanandas books and contrasting with what you find at http://vedabase.net/. Especially it might be interesting to take a look at the two translations and commentaries of Bhagavad-Gita.

I think that’s enough of philosophy for a while. So, during this month I’ve seen a couple of really big festivals here in Vrindavan, namely the Holi, Gaura-Purnima and a boat festival (I don’t know the name for that one..). The boat festival was cool, the courtyard of the Iskcon temple was flooded with water and Radha-Krishna deities were sailing around the courtyard with a swan-shape boat.. I’ll put up some photos of that too.

I also went for a parikrama, circumambulating around Vrindavan. I made some other parikramas as well, as Iskcon organised a tour of the most important holy sites near Vrindavan. I also took a few baths in different holy ponds and ofcourse the Yamuna river. All of these activities are said to be of great spiritual benefit. Well, there’s still a multitude of holy sites to circumambulate and ponds and rivers to bathe in later and I think it still won’t erase all of my sins, but maybe all this will help me in surrendering to God.

So, I’ll be leaving Vrindavan in a few days, heading north to the foot of Himalayas, to Rishikesh. I heard a wild rumor of a hippie gathering somewhere around there, so I’ll try and find the rainbow people :). I’ll write more about how it goes later. Now I’ll post some photos.

Day.. no, I have no idea what day it is. I’ll figure it out for the next post. 12th of March anyway.

Now I’ve been in Vrindavan for a bit over one week. I rented a flat here, got one for around 45 euros for one month. I also found the Iskcon temple and ever since spent a lot of time there. It’s so good to take temple-made prasadam, I don’t have to pray “please don’t let the bacteria in this kill me” every time I eat somehing :D. The general level of hygiene in India isn’t exactly the highest but in temples, especially those of the Krishna consiciousness movement they’te very strict with cleanliness, so I feel much safer eating there.

I took a look at some of the temples here in Vrindavan, will post some photos later. Yesterday was the Gaura-purnima, the appearance day of Lord Chaitanya, a Krishna’s incarnation who appeared about 500 years ago to spread the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra. The celebration was great, the Iskcon temple was full of people, even so full the guards didn’t bohter to stop people from taking photos (usually its forbidden in the temple) and taking advantage of this I also have some photos and videos of the celebration. Will post later.

At the same time as Gaura-purnima there’s also a Hindu celebration named Holi, a day (actually a few days) during wich people throw colours (either in powder or liquid form) at each others on the street. On these few days it’s impossible to walk on the street and not get coloured! I’ll also post some photos of this - and the colorful people!

Now I’m staying at a ‘net cafe downloading some e-books about yoga. I’ll post the photos the next time I come here since the connection in here is reeally slow.

Ok, here’s some more photos.

Ok, here’s some photos from Budapest temple.

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And here’s some photos from AK-57 squat.

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And some photos after Budapest

Ok, will upload more later today. Now it’s lunch time at the Iskcon temple :).

Wow, it’s been a long time since i update. Well, here’s some new stuff!

Day 19.

Well, the driver didn’t exactly feel like taking me for free after all. I was pretty sure he’d be taking me free since he had cargo (wich means he’d be driving anyway) but some 20 km before Teheran he asked for 13000 in local currency - about 10 euros that is. I agreed for 8000 or about 6 euros, I think it was not fair of him not to tell me its going to cost me when I got in but he took me a LONG way (500km or so) and also bought food for me.

Later I found out it’s sometimes a good idea to shut up about your religious alignment - especially if you happen to be in a muslim country and happen to belong to a non-semite religion. I was pretty sure I had a place to stay for the night with the driver’s relatives - they were very happy to have me as their guest until I said I’m a hindu. That’s when the atmosphere froze instantly and everything they would say is “bye bye!”. Oh well, it’s better defined anyway if i say “vaishnava” instead of “hindu” :).

Ended up in the middle of the night in the middle of Teheran, just walked into the first hotel I ran into. A really classy and expensive place, paid about 20eur for the night. It turned out to be the beginning of a spending spree, I’m not sure if it’s still over…

The next day I thought I’ll take a walk to the Pakistani embassy and while trying to find my way there I ran into a computer salesman who insisted I take some tea at his office while he calls the embassy and finds out the exact adress. While calling the embassy it turned out you need to have a letter of recommendation to get the visa. This was enough to discourage me from even trying - if Krishna wanted me to go there, he would’ve made it easier in Sweden or in here. Another thing wich discouraged me was that I would have to stay until monday in Teheran to get the letter, probably would get the papers into Pakistani embassy by tuesday and the visa on wednesday, wich would mean a long stay in a hotel plus fees for the letter (around 30 eur) and visa (probably same or more). Instead I decided I’ll just fly to India. Sorry to let down everyone who was expecting stories about exciting situations with the Taleban in Pakistan :).

The same day I went for the spending spree with the computer salesman tagging along. I bought new eyeglasses (my old ones broke in Bulgaria) and sunglasses. While waiting for them I got a tripod for my camera from a photography store nearby.

Day 20.

Today the computer salesman made a phone tour of some travel agencies and we ended up buying a ticket to Delhi for 250 euros. Maybe it would’ve been cheaper to go through the bureaucracy and Pakistan, but I’ve had enough of bureaucrats pushing me around and making me run here and there for papers. Now I’ll be in India tonight and in India I have plenty of places to travel to without the need for any paperwork.

Now I’m at the airport, I still need to do some paperwork with the ticket before boarding the plane. I’m waiting for the airline office to open. The plane will be going at 6 PM.

Day 21.

Well well, the ticket was for the 25th, not yesterday. I tried changing the day on the airport but they would’ve wanted a crazy upgrade fee to business class since economy class was full. I’m still in Iran, waiting for the 25th. Left airport in the morning and hitchhiked to Qom, one of the religious centers of Iran.

I visited a strange industrial installation on the way to Qom - an old brick factory, wich hasn’t been in use for 5 years. Will post some photos about this place later.

Now I’m at the holy shrine, a memorial for the revolution and a really big mosque. Spent a few hours talking with some islamic scholars - but still I don’t feel my questions answered. I asked about the stone of Qaba in Mecca, isn’t it an idol and bowing down in its direction idolatry forbidden by Quran. The response was something along the lines of “No, it just represents God” and “It’s the place, not the stone”. Still I fail to see much difference between bowing down to the stone or bowing down to the deities at a temple - except for that charming smile of Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda :).

I found out the muslims believe in temporary hell for some sins - some people get out of hell after some time. I also learned they have quite an impersonal view of God. One of the scholars was a little pushy with “If you accept Muhammed and accept Quran, you should convert.” Well, I accept Muhammed and the book but it isn’t all there is to God. Also I find some parts of the muslim mentality and moral code unappealing - like eating meat and smoking cigarettes and the general “we’re the crown of creation”-egoism.

I’ll probably stay in Qom today and head back to the airport tomorrow night.

I’ll try to get myself into the shrine and get some photos. Of course I could’ve just recited their confession of faith and walk in but I couldn’t resist the chance to have a discussion with the scholars - and now they probably wouldn’t be very convinced by my confession :D.

Day 22.

Slept in a cheap hotel paid by a friendly clergyman from the holy shrine mosque. I saw a muslim celebration in the morning, it’s the disappearance day of one of their imams. There was a huge amount of people marchin on the street and whipping themselves with chains. Later I met some people who apparently had came to Qom for the celebration.

Left Qom in the afternoon, had to walk quite a bit and wasn’t sure of the direction at first. Stopped on my way out at the mosque near the road toll. Spent an hour or so chantin my rounds there and while doing that met some people who were very interested in what I was doing. They were heading to Karaj and I decided to go with them. In the evenin we had long discussions about the Vaishnava beliefs and traditions. Also met some of their friends very interested in yoga and meditation - I told them about the mahamantra as the most effective way of meditating.

Day 23.

So _finally_ I’ll be flying today. Went to the airport early in the morning and wasted some time there playing some ames I’ve copied to the laptop. Had been playing UFO Gold for about an hour when the game crashed and I realised how pointless the gaming had been in the first place. Later i cut my winter jacket into small pieces and took everything I’ll be able to recycle and threw the rest to garbage - it won’t be so cold anymore :).

Had some exciting moments while trying to get on the plane (again!). Maybe because I chanted only 8 rounds in the morning. When I went to the check in they told me my name is not on the list so maybe they can’t put me on the plane (!!). I was told to wait for closing of the check-in and I did that, chanted my rounds (I was really wanting for a peace of mind). Well, after the closing of check-in it turned out that the economy class was full, but the friendly Mahan Air agent put me in the business class instead :D.

Krsna is my travel agent :).

In the night arrived in Delhi. Felt a bit spaced out because of the sudden change in atmosphere. First I thought I’d head for ISKCON temple in Delhi, but ended up taking the road in the direction of Jaipur. Slept in Shree Shiv Shanti Hotel, wich is basically a small open-air restaurant on the roadside with something resembling beds on the back. Will post some photos of this place, places like this are typical on the roadsides in India.

Now I’ve come from the land of beard to the land of moustache. Muslims tend to have a fashion for beards, Hindus dig the moustache more :D.

Day 24.

Instead of waking up to the “Allahu Akbar!” woke up to a cock screaming almost right next to me. Now I feel more like my mind has adjusted to India, I don’t feel so spaced out anymore. Should decide on a direction as to where to go now. Will write more later.

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Hitchhiked to Jaipur and checked into Pritty Guest house. I need to get my laundry washed and take a shower. In the evening I visited a Govinda temple. Took the first prasadam since ages !

Day 25.

Decided to stay in the guest house for another day. Went shopping, bought a new waist-pocket-thing and a steel cup since the old ones were broken. Also bought a road map of India. Visited the temple again, a really nice place with Radha-Krishna deities.

Day 26.

Left Jaipur heading for Ramgarh, going into the countryside on some smaller roads. Had a couple of rides on a tractor and few rides on motorbikes. It’s really slow to hitchhike on the small roads since nobody is going very far, most vehicles (be they tractors, motorbikes, autorikshas or cars!) are stuffed full of people and they go really slow because of the bad condition of roads. Finally I made it out of the countryside on to a bigger road between Jaipur and Agra. Now I’m on a ride to Bharatpur, with one of the better-faring indians. I copied some music and movies to his laptop, wich made him really happy. The locals have a crazy thirst for anything western.

He also asked me how to turn his skin as pale as mine. The appreciation of fair skin - and disappreciation of darker skin - is not only an european phenomenon. I wonder why it’s like that in so many places. Even Srila Prabhupada showed some of this sentiment, saying people with dark skin got it because of their past evil deeds. This is one of the teachings of his I can’t fully agree with. The drivers motives for getting a skin like mine were a bit more material - girls. He said he’s having difficulty getting girls and has an idea this is because of his skin color.

Maybe I’ll write more a bit later and try to relax now, it was pretty heavy to be on the countryside, had to walk a lot and also because of the rides on bikes and in the back of pick-up trucks I got a lot of exposure to the sun.

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Well well, after the ride to Bharatpur the driver dropped me on the road to Mathura. I was walking along the road for a while until a man with a motorbike pulled over and asked me where I’m going - and after a while, all the usual “But why are you not taking the bus?” “It’s very hard to get a lift” or maybe “It’s very dangerous”. He was very kind in inviting me to visit his village nearby. Later I learned his name is Dinesh Singh Sogarwal and I stayed at his place for the night. In the evening I met his family and showed them some photos I’ve taken on this trip.

Day 27.

Today I’ll head for Mathura and try to find some people from Iskcon and maybe one of their temples too.

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This still isn’t up to date, I’ll write more in a while. Now for some photos!