Hitch-Hiker’s Travel Blog of India

After Varanasi

I left Varanasi on the 28th of June, a few days ahead of my visa to India ending. As I left I would feel the blessings of the Lord on me - the first day of hitchhiking out of Varanasi I ended up in a Hanuman temple and when I asked for prasad I was given a full meal of the best prasad in a long time (instead of the sugar candy I was expecting). After the meal I took rest at the temple for a few minutes, and someone from the nearby village came to the temple. We had a talk for a while and when I asked him to translate to the devotees of the temple my humble request to stay there for the night, he told me there’s a big yajna (a sacrificial ceremony) going on in his village and invited me to come to the village to see the yajna. The yajna is a big occasion in a small village, as it takes a couple of dozen priests to do, and needs a ton of different kinds of articles to be sacrificed. It’s like a multiple-day religious festival, but could be arranged at any time (as long as there’s someone willing and able to put in the money and the sacrificial items). This yajna had been going on for a week and was still going to continue for two more days. People from the village (and their relatives, who had come from farther away for the yajna) participated in the yajna by making parikrama (circumambulation) of the sacrificial fire for hours as the priests were singing the mantras and offering various items to the sacrificial fire. I made a few rounds of parikrama, but couldn’t keep on with the zeal of some of the villagers (some would go 1008 rounds, I was content with about a dozen). The main organisers of the Yajna gave me a place to stay for the night and in the morning I went on towards Nepal.

The next day the Lord would shower even more blessings on me - I had darshan of a Durga temple in a small town near the Nepali border and there was a marriage ceremony going on in the temple. The organisers of the wedding would offer me a full meal of prasad. I also took some photos of the temple and the marriage ceremony, and will post them later. In the evening I crossed the border to Nepal. I’m writing this in a guest house in the border town on the nepali side and after a while I’ll go on to somewhere in Nepal.

Some indian told me that people come to Varanasi for two reasons; for learning or for burning. For me it was definately a learning experience. When I came to Varanasi I didn’t have any idea where to find a good affordable accomodation. I felt it’d be a good idea to go to the train station for my search - even if normally I almost never go to the train stations. It was the guidance of the Lord who put me there, as on the train station I met a group of four spanish travellers, with whom I made friends and with whom we went about looking for the guesthouse together. One of them, Manu, has practiced meditation and we had long talks about spirituality in the evening while walking on the ghats (bathing places along the Ganga). Discussions with him gave me more understanding and a fresh perspective on some things and it was nice to meet a spiritual person outside any traditions (even though I could feel a bit of Buddhism in some of his ideas, he doesn’t follow any particular tradition).

I feel that even if I don’t have a Guru, the Lord sends people to teach me when it’s the right time. In almost every place where I stayed for a longer time I ran into some person - or more than one - who would share their spiritual knowledge with me. In Vrindavan it was some elder Hare Krishna devoteens, in the Rainbow practicioners of freeform spirituality from all over the world, in Badrinath a couple of swamis (and one american-indian traveller).. Sometimes it’d also be people whom I didn’t expect to be knowing of spirituality - but I guess it’s important to keep your eyes and ears (and heart!) open for good advice, no matter from whom it’s coming.

The next day we woke up early and took a boatride at sunrise to see the beauty of the Ganga and the ghats from the river. We would also see many people doing their morning rituals at the banks of Ganga. In Varanasi every day seemed to be divided in two; the morning and the afternoon. I would do things and go out in the morning time, then return to the guesthouse for the hottest hours of the day and take some rest, then go out again in the afternoon. This also follows the schedule of most temples; the darshan is available in the morning, closed at around noon and opening again at 4 pm.

The spanish travellers left after only a couple of days as they only have a short trip in India. On the days to follow I did sadhana and had darshan of some of the most remarkable temples in Varanasi. One day I went to the Durga temple and had a lesson on greed - it really upsets me when I see people in the temple being too centered on money. On top of that, one of the people aiming for money ‘instructed’ me on how to give my prayers to Mother Durga, and while he was saying prayers for me I was further upset by the fact that he only asked for material things - I had to interrupt him to tell that no, I don’t want a nice job, nice wife or success for my family, none of those things are what I had come to the temple for. Later the same day I feel there was also an exam on greed, wich I failed - being still a bit upset and leaving the temple, the shoe guy on the door (someone who watches after your shoes wich you need to leave outside the temple) asked for a few rupees, and now thinking back his was probably one of the most reasonable and justified requests - but as I had just dished out around 50 rupees total to different pujaris (=priests) and shrines inside the temple and being still upset, I gave him nothing - I was only reflecting the greed of others, reacting instead of genuinely being myself.

Another day I went for darshan at the Tulsi Manas temple, a really big and apparently quite new (and shiny) temple with deities of Lord Ram and Lord Narayan. As I was misinformed of the times of darshan, I arrived to the temple around 3 PM, one hour too early, and to pass the time I took a walk and ended up in two other great temples, the Tridev temple (with Durga, Narayan and Shiva if I remember correctly) and what is popularly called the Monkey Temple, a big temple which is a sanctuary for a group of monkeys, with deities of Hanuman (the monkey-headed god) and Lord Ram. This day gave me a strong impression of the spiritual energy in Varanasi - and a couple of pushpanjalis (flower garlands, offered to God and given out to people who come to the temple). usually the garlands aren’t given to everyone, but when I went into the temples, the devotees of the temple were extra happy to see a foreigner who is also a devotee of the Lord, and would give me a garland.

Yet another darshan I had another day was the Vishwanath temple (aka the Golden Temple, as the roof is made of gold), wich appeared to be the oldest of the temples I visited and apparently also held the most importance. It’s a Shiva temple in the middle of the old town, to get to the temple you’d have to go through a maze of small alleys filled with shops selling things wich you could offer at the temple and crowded with people going to (or coming from) the temple. This temple also had the tightest security I saw in Varanasi, with teams of armed guards in many places around the temple and on every entrance. After the darshan I headed back to my guesthouse walking along the banks of Ganga and stopped for the Ganga Puja, the everyday worship of the holy river. The Ganga worship ceremony was one of the most impressive ceremonies I’ve seen so far - I’ll post some photos of it later. At the Ganga puja I met a mexican guy, Carlos, who seemed to be really interested in the Indian spiritual traditions. I adviced him to make puja on the Ganga (to light a small ghee lamp and float it on the river) and take prasad after the Ganga Puja. After the Puja and having some prasad we sat down at the ghat for some time, talking about the Indian spirituality. As we departed I also gave him a few reading tips about the spiritual traditions of India.

I felt I’d had enough of wandering on the small roads and the countryside, and the road towards Lucknow was the easiest to find, so I ended up heading from Lakhimpur to Lucknow and bypassing the big city by the ring road. In the night I ended up in some small village, with no place to stay, night falling and a crowd of curious people gathering around me. It didn’t take long for the local police to take interest in me too - the policeman was kind enough to put me on the local India Oil petrol station and telling the workers there to ‘take care of me’. I ended up sleeping on a bed brought specially for me on the front yard of the gas station, after having a dinner of a few mangos and some dahi (=curd, a youghurt-like indian milk preparation, a favorite of Lord Krishna). I also took a shower with the garden hose right on the front yard of the gas station in the night :D. I’ve slept around plenty of gas stations before (while hitching in Europe), but never was I treated this kindly by the workers - they would give me the office for preparing and offering the foodstuffs for the Lord and in general looked after all of my needs :).

A bit after Lucknow I saw two of the most amazing old temples I’ve seen on this trip. It was a Vishnu temple built about 120 years ago, and next to it a Shiva temple, appearing a bit older. Both were practically abandonded, there seemed to be a few devotees living in the Vishnu temple, but clearly the days of their glory were long gone for both of the temples. It was an amazing oppoturnity to feel the vibes in these deserted temples and take some great photos (will post later).

The next day I went on in the direction of Varanasi, going direct and skipping Allahabad (wich I’ve heard also has strong spiritual energy). The day was full of sweating in the roadside and sitting on motorbikes - somehow I felt a bit more uncomfortable with it than usual, maybe because I didn’t do my usual sadhana (=spiritual practices) in the morning since I had no suitable place in the gas station. The following night I ended up sleeping at a roadside dhaba (=restaurant, with a few beds too, but no rooms) and taking a bath from the water tank. I’ll post a photo of one of these public bathing facilities wich you see all around india - basically it’s a concrete tank full of water and you take a cup and pour the water on yourself while standing near the tank. Sometimes there would be a half a dozen people washing up at the tank simultaneously (and everybody would show amazement to see a foreigner among them).

Today I started from the dhaba, hitched for around 4 hours (starting at around 6, arriving at ten) and ended up in Varanasi, a big city, without a clue where to go or how to find accomodation or anything. I felt that time it would be a good idea to go for the train station and at the station I met some fellow travellers, four backpackers from Spain looking to stay in Varanasi for 3 days. After two of them went through some of the ticket-office bureucracy while I chatted with the other two, we shared a autorickshaw and set off in a search of a good guest house. After checking out three, wich all were turned down by them (being too expensive or not comfortable) we found the perfect place, on a quiet alley, with a courtyard garden and reasonable prices (100 rupees for me, 300 for them).

I’ve been on a fruit fast for the past couple of days and I feel it slowly taking effect, feeling more ‘ethereal’ than usual and more sensitive to movements of Prana(the life energy, also called Chi by the chinese). Taking only fruits and Dahi also keeps me more energetic in the extremely hot (30-35 degrees Celsius) weather - and I have the feeling taking anything heavier would cause trouble with my stomach. The good side about this ‘fast’ is that I can go on virtually as long as I will - there’s a great variety of delicious fruits and combined with Dahi they’ll contain all the nutrients necessary for me. I still wonder about salt - I lose a lot of salt by sweating, and I’m not sure if I get enough of it from the fruits and dahi to replenish.

Now it’ll be only a few more days in India, as on 2th of July my visa to India will be finished and I’ll have to head for Nepal before that. I have a wish of going from Nepal to Tibet, to visit mount Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva, but it really depends on the mercy of the Lord. Sometimes it’s a lot of red tape before getting a visa to Tibet - although I heard some babas (=religious renunciates) cross the border illegally on their pilgrimages and the chinese government isn’t apparently really interested… Well, I’ll soon find out all about that :D.

I plan to stay in Varanasi for about a week to visit all the most important temples and ghats and get few days of good concentration on my Sadhana. I’m so happy the Lord provided me with this guest house (I could’ve just ended up not finding any nice place, it’s a BIG city and hard to find the few good and affordable guesthouses) wich is excellent facilities for recovering from the few rough days of travelling and doing some sadhana.

Hari Om!

I had a tempting offer while still in Rishikesh, but already packed and resolved to go on that day - a tourist cab driver gave me a ride and on hearing that I travel around by hitchhiking, he offered his hospitality at Rudrapryag, a small town between Badrinath and Rishikesh. I had to say no, since I was decided on heading towards Varanasi. He also told me of some religious community in Rishikesh where he knows the Swamiji running it and told me I could probably stay there for free - another tempting offer. I took his contact info, just in case I’ll be heading back to Rishikesh later :).

I left Rishikesh in the direction of Haridwar and ended up sitting on a motorbike for most of the day. A bit after Haridwar a real estate broker from the countryside offered his hospitality to me and I ended up going a few kilometers from the main road to his village, crossing through beautiful and peaceful dense forest area. It was nice to make a little detour to the countryside.

The next day I went on and yet again the Lord would shower his mercy on me - A steel dealer gave me a ride from where I started to Sitarganj. This ride was exceptionally full of mercy since the distance covered was a few hunder kilometers, MUCH longer than I would usually go in one ride in India. As he was a business representative he was also busy getting from one place to another as fast as possible, wich made me cover much more distance on this day. On top of that, the car had _air_conditioning_, something I almost never see in India (and also something I’m really aching for on the hot days :D). From Sitarganj I turned south, heading for Pilibhit and stopped for the night in a small Gurudwara (Sikh temple).

Day after that I went on until Lakhimpur, a bit bigger town, from wich there’s a bigger road to Lucknow (major city in the area, with direct highway connection to Varanasi). I had left the major highways when I took the steel dealer’s ride all the way to Sitarganj and went on the smaller roads from there on. Right now I’m still in Lakhimpur, as I ended up staying here (in a Gurudwara, again) for two nights and spending yesterday fixing my backpack.

In here the Gurudwara is right next door to a Mataji (Mother Goddess, Durga, Kali) temple and last night I went for the Arati ceremony there. Mataji is one of the major deities in the Hindu religion, the giver and taker of life and the shakti (the energy or power) of the Lord. Also Kundalini, the potential power of humans normally residing at the lower end of the spine, is seen as feminine, and raising her through the six Chakras (=energy centers of the body) along the spine to the top of the head, to the seat of Sadasiva, is seen as the goal of Yogic practices and perfection in some schools of Yoga. I’ve just started to read a good book on Kundalini Yoga (Yoga aiming to raise the Kundalini) by Swami Sivananda. Later I’ll post some links for all of the ebooks I’ve read on this trip.

Today I’ll be leaving Lakhimpur, but I’m still a bit undecided on the direction - and also I haven’t got any idea where to find a spot for hitching, a common challenge for a hitchhiker trying to get out of a bigger town. I guess I’ll go in the direction towards wich I’ll find the spot :D.

I absolutely loved Rishikesh. Many things for wich I was longing in Badrinath were easily available - such as fresh, juicy and affordable fruits, internet cafes and a well-stocked general store, all just around the corner from where I was staying. I could also get a couple of more hard to find things, a tripod for my camera and a proper yoga mat (believe it or not, a good yoga mat is hard to find in most places in India! The rare locals who do yoga usually do it on a blanket). I stayed in Lakshmanjhula, near Tapovan, on the same side of Ganga as the center of Rishikesh. Most of the foreigners - and therefore also most of the shopping inferno and hawkers - are situated on the other side of the river in Lakshmanjhula, not far away to visit but just far enough to give me a peace of my own :). I absolutely loved the family with whom I was staying, they were kind and helping me out in every way. The mother of the family was happy to cook for as she was cooking for the family, so I would get indian home-made food whenever I liked.

Later I discovered there’s also an Iskcon temple called Madhuban in Rishikesh, about 1km from the center, between the center and Ramjhula. Iskcon also has Govinda’s (restaurant), serving a great buffet for 150 rupees (about 2,5 euros). I was super happy about this - the Lord really knows my heart and fulfills all my wishes :). When I was leaving Badrinath the Lord did one of his lilas (plays) on me, as my trousers ‘disappeared’ when I was bathing in the Tapta Kund (holy thermal pond in Badrinath) and with the trousers went my Japa Mala (=prayer beads). Madhuban also had an answer to this trouble of mine, being the only place in Rishikesh where you can get big size original Vrindavan Tulsi (=a holy tree) beads.

One of my favorite places in Rishikesh was a small and quiet beach on the Ganga, also quite near to the place where I was staying. Near to this beach in the forest - or should I say the bushes - there was a Kutir (=small shack or cottage) of a baba (=a religious renunciate) and I ended up going to the beach just about every day and also visiting the babaji often. Near the beach there was also a sweet small island on the Ganga, close enough to cross over to by swimming and with a big cliff, ideal for jumping to Ganga.

I also had a couple of amazing, relaxing ayurvedic massages at Rishikesh. Generally Rishikesh seems to be a ‘wellness’ destination of India, having all sorts of ayurvedic treatments and a good selection yoga classes available. On the Ganga I saw some not so wellness-oriented tourists also - it’s popular to go rafting or kayaking on the Ganga or trekking around Rishikesh.

One day I took a small hike to a nearby waterfall, under wich there’s a water tank in wich you can go swimming. It was a nice walk and a nice place to swim, the surroundings of the waterfall being beautifully green and the water being nice and warm for even a longer stay in the pond under the fall.

One of the most profound experiences in Rishikesh came through a couple of books. Firsty I read Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahamsa Yogananda. His autobiography inspired me to do more vigorous sadhana (=spiritual practice) and also gave me a good amount of knowledge of the astral body and the astral world. I truly recommend this book to everyone, even if you’re not of spiritual bend, it’ll read like a thriller, full of wonders.

The other book was even more profound and enlightening, The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. Eckhart Tolle has made an amazingly simple and powerful representation of God-consiciousness and God-realisation. This also I would recommend to everyone, even those not interested in spirituality, as Tolle doesn’t much speak about God and even less of religion, just about how to be more present in where you are right now and how to be more consicious of everything.

I’m sorry there’s no photos from Rishikesh. It’s a beautiful place, but I was more concentrated on experiencing the beauty rather than documenting it.

I’ll write a longer post about Rishikesh and things wich happened here later. Now just a short one to notify I’m leaving Rishikesh, after about 3 weeks of staying. I really loved the place, went swimming in the Ganga almost every day.

Next I’m heading (if the Lord be merciful on me to Varanasi.

Oh, and please do write comments! Or mail me at speedhawk (at) q-olio.net

Hari Om!

Ok, I finally uploaded photos from Kasardevi, Bhageshwar and Badrinath. The URL for all the photos is:

http://photobucket.com/hitchhikersblog1

Sorry for not organising or tagging properly.