Holy Pilgrimage

I just finished my holy pilgrimage to the city Rishikesh.... a place of meditation, yoga, instruction, and a bath in the holy ganges river.......actually two. I have become pure and will reach nirvana because of all the water I swallowed. I just hope it doesn't become nirvana revenge. We camped on the white beaches in the foothills of the Himalayas. The olive green river flowed through the ravine of high towering hills, dotted with ashrams or learning places for the pilgrims. Terraced mountains, rain, monkeys and the sound of flowing water awakened me to my new reality. The ititnerary for the day...... my first yoga session.....white water rafting on the Ganges River.... hitting the rapid Panga and flipping over on the raft.......... deciding I am already wet so why not jump in later and surf down the Body Surf rapids........... a religious discourse on Hinduism with a Swami......visiting the holiest city in Hinduism, Rishikesh..........and watching the Aarti, or evening prayers to Krishna on the Ganges. It was truly enlightening!

On the way back to Delhi, we visited a leper colony one of the rotary clubs here helps. What a beautiful little village. Fingerless, footless, noseless, hearts of gold, and pure souls, came to see the Americans with their big smiles, fingerless namastes, and glitters in their eyes. 80 families are supported with food and medication, bandages and clothing. What a beautiful sight...

The Rotary Blood Bank was next.... impressive. It is amazing the goodness of people in this world. They give so much time and money. Truly it is service above self. Wally and I have left everyone at the airport last night, we leave for Kathmandu today. So far everything sounds good for us to go. I am excited for awaits me.... The children in the orphanage, going to church at the Kathmandu Branch, toothless smiles from those we are about to help.

The Pearl and Polio Plus

The Taj Mahal, a pearl set in the midst of poverty... yet this country seems to become more wealthy the longer I am here. Perspective.... experience......
the Taj like the women of India, are jewels amongst the dirt, dust and pollution. Every day is a special occasion... a time to dress up.... a time to be feminine. Long flowing saris like jewels: emeralds, jade, amethyst, amber, coral, topaz, diamonds, turquoise,rubies,sapphires, glitter in the sun. Softly they stroll, gracefully they sit amongst the aggressiveness of their lifestyle. The pride of a street beggar, sweeping the garbage from her domain, to place it in the pile a few steps from her. The duty of a village woman, kneading cow dung and patting it into symmetric discs to dry in the sun. Stately they sit on the back of a scooter, royally they sit in the rickshaw. They are beautiful.... beautiful like the Taj Mahal.

The Taj Mahal... a monument made for a woman. White like the mother pearl, glistening with precious gems. Her figure, completely symmetric is laced with flowers from the relief cut marble. Draped with inlaid coral and malekite. From her flows the milk of hope, of inspiration, of love, of beauty. Peace is her aura. She breathes, she moves, she flows. Her heart beats. Her face changes with the light, always serene, always peaceful, always smiling.

Polio, that is what has brought me here.... today I gave the two drops that could save a child from this horrible disease. I went from tent camp to tent camp, yelling doorgam!!!!!! come...run quickly! little children would come running with half naked, filthy little bodies.....stop and open their mouths for the vaccine. They understand the importance... little babies cheeks were pinched to open their mouths, black marker on the little finger determined who had the drops or not....whistles were passed out.... and as I walked away.... little whistles rang the most beautiful thank you I have ever received. Goodness, love, charity, humanity. That is what keeps me coming back to these places.

Maharaja

All I have to say is Maharaja.....



the marble columns of the Amber Fort,


ornately decorated doors, the balconies,
the blown glass walls, the courtyards, the gardens,


the painted elephants
and vibrant turbans,


the stacked souvenier shops,
the observatory,
the rose colored Wind Palace Facade,


the floating Jal Mahal, and the City Palace

......Maharaja!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jaipur Foot Factory

So today was the 200 km bus ride from delhi to jaipur. I watched the road and countryside for hours, never getting tired or bored. So much to see. I wondered how many men had been sitting in their spot, watching for hours, never getting tired or bored. We passed bright fields of wheat and mustard seed, and in this sea of flourescent yellow, red, turquoise blue, purple, hot pink, green and orange saris slowly bobbed up and down. What a beautiful sight.

Today we visited the Jaipur Limb Factory, where the famous Jaipur foot is made. These artifical limbs cost about 30 dollars to manufacture and cost nothing to the patient , in which about 40-50 patients get a new limb every day. Lined up along the streets crippled people sat, waiting for days for their name to get to the top of the list. They loved seeing us, touching us. I held their hands, with huge smiles on their faces, they looked up. We would exchage namaskars. I would take pictures with the digital camera so they could see themselves. What a fun change from their every day life! I mostly saw people with polio, a woman with leprosy, car accident victims, etc. It really hit seeing all of those many people with polio. That is why I am here... To alleviate any others from this pain. The highlight for today.....being surrounded by all of these beautiful people whose life was about ready to change because of this factory... such hope!!!!!!

The Holy Ganges

The holy river Ganges - the most sacred river to the Hindu. It is not dirty, it is your soul and your heart that are dirty if you think it is dirty. People bathe, pray, brush their teeth, dump the ashes of their dead, wash their clothes, dump their sewage, dump figurines of the goddess Saraswati, meditate, recite scripture, sell souveniers. They come to the river and wait to die, for if you die in the river, you reach Nirvana.

As soon as I stepped off the bus, I was blessed with the red tika dot, further on down the road, a yellow one adjoined the red. Red tika powder was thrown all over to celebrate the last day of the festival for the goddess Saraswati. Fantastic.... Another sensory overload.

Sarnath, the place of Buddha's enlightenment and first sermon, Buddhist's believe he is the enlightened one, hindu's that he is the 9th reincarnation of Vishnu. Maroon and yellow robed monks, walked the peaceful ground. Pilgrims meditating and praying.

Back to the river to watch the nightly cremations and the evening prayer ritual.......they say a picture is worth a thousand words, experiencing it is about a million, so my words are worthless....but it was amazing.

Namaste

India is everything I thought it would and more. This place is fantastic. So full of life and color. It took me 32 hours to get here and settled. let me just say that any bed that allows you to get vertical, feels great! yesterday was jam packed full of goodness. it involved a city tour, visiting the monument that lays over the place Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated, the largest mosque in India, and a rickshaw ride through old delhi. We were 12 rickshaws going down a wide blvd, which then turned to a small street, then to a shadowy canyon-like small alley where 4 story bldgs almost touch at the top. Our rickshaws are no longer together, we've been swallowed up by the river of people, motor scooters, honking horns.

Absolute wall to wall people, your elbow bumps others in rickshaws, pedestrians hang on behind you and follow, others wedge between and step over the front wheel, motor scooters constantly honk horns, and there is this feeling of a sea of humanity. You struggle to take it all in, look to the right and see vendors with gold, the left they're selling rugs, then you're confronted with awful smells where they are slaughtering chickens, then selling car parts, then small herds of goats, then book stores, make-shift hardware stores, boxes of electronic gadgets with made up names (Pana-Sonik, Sunni, etc), children gestering with their hands to give them something to eat, and in the middle of it all are dozens and dozens of these little 4-table restaurants frying-frying-frying something....

You stare not wanting to miss anything, they stare at you, you are so close to each other you can easily reach out and take something as the rickshaw goes by, or others can touch you and sometimes do by accident. The people are in rags, others with cell phones and leather attache cases, women are either dressed in bright colors (orange, purple, pink) and their mid-drift is completely exposed, or they are covered from head to toe in black and you see the gauze like material move as they breath.

The senses are overwhelmed. Ten minutes seems like an hour, 30 minutes seems like all afternoon. When you finally reach the mosque you are to visit and you dismount the rickshaw you feel exhausted, and realize it all took about 45 minutes.

After removing your shoes, pay someone for a little tag that allows you to take photos, climb the many stairs, and from the top of this very high stairway you look back, see the 1000's of people flowing down the streets and realize, I will never be able to find the words to describe this experience.

But the highlight for today.... visiting Mother Theresa's Orphanage, "The Sisters of Charity Orphanage for the Mentally and Physically Handicapped". What a treat! Those cute kids were so excited to see us and to touch us. Reaching out crippled hands to touch white skin, smiles exploding in their eyes and on their faces. We are all God's children, and he loves us all. I felt God's love for these dear children, and for me. It is amazing what we learn through suffering, and watching the suffering of others. We see the charity, the love, the peace of the experience.

I am now in Varanasi, the holiest city in Hinduism. Tomorrow we break the day on the holy Ganges River, visit the place of Buddha's first sermon, and then end the day by sending a prayer candle down the holy river.