The tale of two days...

Rishikesh - From chatting with a Sadhu about the meaning of life on the banks of the Ganga and foothill of the Himlayas (I felt like I never wanted to leave Rishikesh!)... to getting slapped and sitting at a police station for two hours (I felt like I wanted to leave Rishikesh and never come back!) (disclaimer : mom, i didn't tell you over the phone, because you would panic and get all worried, so it's better that you read about it on the blog)

Day One... We leave Haridwar on a bus, and decide that from the bus station in Rishikesh, we'll walk to the area that we want to stay in (Swarg Aashram area of Rishikesh by Parimath Niketan). So, we got off the bus around 8:45 am, and started walking. It was our first attempt at a pretty long walk (maybe, about 3 miles or so) with our backpacks. We reached the western bank of the Ganga, and got our first spectacular view of what Rishikesh is all about... the serene yet powerful Ganga and being surrounded on 3 sides by the Himalayas. The ghats here aren't as crowded as Haridwar, and more beautiful. Haridwar seems like the place where the masses of India come for a spiritual experience... while Rishikesh is more where the more "yuppy" seekers come for mediation and yoga from India and around the world. We continued to walk (not always in the right direction), and after about an hour and half hit a very nice-looking temple. It was an ISKON temple (Hare Krishna), and just really struck me as being very simple, yet beautiful and serene. We sat in there for a while... the mandhir had the scent of fresh flowers... quite pleasing.

Then, after making sure we were going the right way, we continued walking. Stopping here-and-there -- at book stalls, figuring out where the heck we were and where we're supposed to go, we get to our hotel around 12ish.... washed some clothes, then at some pizza next door for lunch. =)

With the Lonely Planet as our guide... we then walked over to the Laxman Julla area.. approximately 1.5 miles away. The walk is a really spectacular walk along the easter banks of the Ganga... and for Rishikesh being a tourist attraction and all, there weren't that many people on the path. We would see these little huts along the side of the river... sadhus who have "renunciated" life and came to the Himlayas live in them. Again, we talk about how we have to talk to one at some point!

We get to Laxman Julla, which is this really long pedestrian suspension bridge, that leads to a 13-story temple (with every possible Hindu murti). The most entertaining part.. we walk across the bridge, and take a seat on a bench to rest for a bit... we didn't know that we were in for an episode of "India's Funniest Home Videos". There are a bunch of monkeys that hover around the end of the bridge... and if they think that you have foood.. they attack! These monkeys are ruthless. A lady had a bag of nuts... saw the monkeys coming.. she threw some nuts on the ground... the monkeys just avoided the nuts on the ground, and went straight for the bag in her hand! Time after time, Sampat and I sat there and were rolling on the floor with laughter as innocent people continued to be vicitimized by the monkeys. Haha.. ask Prachi.. I think she might know how it feels... =P

On our way back from Laxman Jhula.. along the gorgeous walk... we go to the Ganga.. along this beach area. There, I spend another few moments in meditation, connecting the dots of India. We sat there, observing various sadhus go about their routine, washing clothes, taking baths, walking back-n-forth, etc. I'm thinking... here's our chance... but, now, comes the question - "How to Approach a Sadhu". Sampat thought that at dinnertime, we should ask a sadhu to have dinner with us and we could talk over dinner... I wasn't so sure.. who knows if sadhus eat at restaurants.. and a sadhu that does eat ar a restaurant.. might be a little shady.

Guidelines on how to approach a sadhu (our sadhu is below):
1. Make sure the sadhu is legit... i.e. he doesn't smoke biddi, doesn't have a designer watch, etc.
2. Make sure that the sadhu isn't in deep meditation or going through some kind of supernatural experience. Otherwise, he may place a curse on you... and you probably don't want that.
3. Try to get the sadhu to aknowledge you.
4. If the sadhu does aknowledge you, make sure he isn't giving you a glance that says "Stay Away from me you mere mortal!"
5. Talk to him and make sure he's sane.
6. Don't be afraid to ask tough questions, and be ready for answers in riddles!

Sameer does a good job in his blog describing our conversation with him. We basically asked him questions about how he lives, what made him come out here, etc. I didn't really expect much out of him... I thought, he may be a little insane. But, I was thoroughly surprised that the answers he gave were straight out of a book, or sumthing! We asked him how he decided to leave everything and come out here... he answered, "The same way that you two decided to come up and talk to me... it's just something from the inside." One of the lessons his guru taught him, that he told us is, "you should deserve, then desire." Sampat asked him - "how does the Guru teach?" He answered, "The same way that you learn engineering in college..." We said, "Through lectures, homework, and tests?" He replied, "Yes... there are many tests..." Sampat asked if he could give us one... he said "no"... but he left us with words of advice - "whatever your desire is, or whatever you feel like you should do from the inside.... then just do it... 100%" And, then, he was off... continuing his walk.....

Sampat was telling me that he read somewhere that these sadhus ans swamis, they don't tell you what you want to know... but they tell you what you need to know. I really feel like that line "You should deserve first, then desire" really hit me hard. Not along the exact same lines as it was said... but it really reminded me, that we get what we deserve. It reminded me of the true theory of karma.. which isn't just action and reaction... but the reaction, the consequence... is what you REALLY deserve. Whatever I deserve, that is what I will get.

That evening, we visited Paramath Niketan, and learned a little about their organization, the India Heritage Foundation (I believe that's what it's called). We got a couple of brochures and a book on their philosophy and their work, etc. Here in Rishikesh, they have an ashram of mainly orphaned kids that grow up in a spiritual atmosphere... straight back from the Vedic days. =P

We stayed for their Aarti on the Ganga at around 7 pm. It was absolutely phenomenal. There were a lot of people there... all the students from the ashram, robed in orange, come out for the Aarti. There a lot of foreigners and tourists there as well... a lot of real seekers. The vibrations felt during the Aarti... I got my first sense of that spiritual spark inside of me during my trip. I felt happiness that Sampat was sitting there besides me. I really felt that spiritual being within me trying to reawake.


Day Two...
We eat breakfast, come back to the hotel to a furious hotel manager! Sampat does a pretty good job explaining the whole situation in his blog.... here's my summary:

me and Sampat have a crazy story... we got taken to the police station in Rishikesh! (Mom, dad.. sorry I didn't tell you over the phone!) But, basically... we were at this hotel (there were a lot of foreigners there).... and I saw a towel laying on the ground in front of someone's door.... so, I knocked on the door (it was about 9:30 pm... and the light was on), and it was some girl from Columbia.... i asked if the towel was hers, it wasn't... and then we talked a little bit, "where you from? how do you like india? where have you gone so far? etc.".... Then, the next morning, the hotel manager pulls us outside and is like, "did you knock on someone's door last night?" and he was alll pissed off... I said, "yeah.. i saw a towel on the ground, so, i thought it belonged to someone in the room". (we've already lost many things -- boxers, address books, pajamas, etc.. so, i feel for these travellers losing stuff!) However, the girl says that someone knocked on her door 2 more times after that and asked "to check the hot water"... and she got really scared, so she told the hotel manager. She says that she's she didn't open the door, but is "sure" it was me. It definitely was not me... The hotel manager didn't believe that I only knocked on her door once... and then went to read and sleep... For some reason, he felt certain that I was trying to break into her room and do some "shady" business and so he called the police... At this point, I'm kinda freaked out... cause I have no clue what's going to happen. This girl just seemd to be hyper-paranoid.. and she was travelling alone, too, and that probably added to it. So, first, the hotel manager's "thug" comes.. and tries to intimidate us and actually slaps me. Then, he called the polcie, and two policemen came and they took us away.... we walked with them for a while... we had no clue where they were taking us.... but, they didn't seem as "nuts" as the hotel manager and his "thug". They then took us in some jeep... and to the police station. We sat around for bout 2 hours... finally, a policeman that spoke pretty good English (because they didn't really want to deal with us in our broken Hindi) talked to us for a while.... took down all of our information (passport, address, etc.).... he believed us... warned us that in India you should not try to help anybody and that the "women's" word is strong.... and they let us go. But, man... it was nuts!! All those Hindi movies where the police start beating their prisoners came to mind...

Viewing it in light with the events of the day before as well.... I think that the whole situation was a result of "getting what I deserve". Over the last couple of years... I really have lived a pretty "sensually" pleasing life... basically, I've lacked any kind of spiritual direction and spiritual motivation. I've just been having fun, and working.. going here and there. The events from the previous night... I know that I didn't do anything wrong, and if I take that view... then it angers and upsets me that I was slapped, taken to the police station, etc... it was unfair and unwarranted. However.. remember, the sadhu tells you what you "need" to hear.. and it allowed me to have a different outlook of the situation. In the bigger picture of life, this is what I deserved and needed... to remind me that any type of spiritual progress will only come when I "deserve" it.