Settling down in Dharamsala...

Hello!

Soon it will have been three weeks since Evrim and I arrived into the heaping crowds of Delhi, where rickshaw exhaust, cow dung, foods frying, and a vast list of other events, that put us into a sensory overload, could go on for pages. During this time I haven't felt like there has been any word that could describe what I have been seeing or feeling while being here in India which is why I haven't been able to put together a blog until now, and even now I don't know if I could ever describe fully what India is like.
Since I've been here I've already cried to Evrim telling him that I want to go home and that I don't want to live in India. I actually have even gone to the level of describing the bed in my Mom's cabin and the biscuits she makes and how that's all I want.
But, there is something about this country that makes you want to stay and keep exploring, because like everything in life, whether you are crying late at night on the side of a street lost in Mathura, India with 15 Indian men surrounding you, smells of poop, horns blaring, and finally arriving to a muddy room with beds filled with bugs, or if your sitting on your posh bed in your mom's cabin while she fixes you biscuits, one may always be face by a whirlwind of distractions.

Evrim and I went to a teaching with Geshe Sonam Rinchen, a Buddhist teacher here in Dharamsala, who is teaching on the 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva, and today he spoke on one of the Six Perfections: wisdom. One quote he used was, "the root of all seen an unseen happiness is Wisdom", so in order to be free from all of our distractions and mental disturbances we must seek knowledge and by seeking knowledge it will become clearer as to what practices we should cultivate more of and what practices we should avoid. After sitting in his teaching it was very evident to both Evrim and I that this was place that we needed to stay, to deepen our practice and studies in India.

With that being said, we love Dharamsala! The Tibetans here are glowing with kindness. We have received the most amount of smiles here than any other place in India. Our home for now is the Ashoka Guest house overlooking a dense forest filled with Tibetan prayer flags, other colorful homes, and the Himalayan Mountains... an amazing site to wake up to. We have already met a very sweet Buddhist couple from Australia who we have had almost every meal with since arriving and who have been very helpful in showing us around.

We already have plans for many events here. Amazingly we have been blessed with arriving at the time of a teaching with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, which will last for 8 days. We will also continue going to Geshe Sonam Rinchen teachings every morning, are looking into taking an intensive Tibetan language course, and will being having conversational classes with Tibetans in the afternoon. There is so much knowledgeable nectar to drink up here in Dharamsala, and sip by sip we will try to write about as fully as possible (Evrim has been doing a better job than I).

We hope you are all healthy and happy yourselves. We enjoy reading your posts so keep them coming!

Obama 2008!!

Laying low in the highlands

We have retreated up the hill in Rishikesh and have not moved for nearly five days.

Here is a picture from our 'cottage' hotel, the sun appears just over the hill around 7am.

This is a place many people use for retreat of one kind or another. I will skip mentioning the negative aspects of what Rishikesh has become subject to. Instead I will say that the mornings here reflect the true nature of this valley. Calm, breezy, beautiful light: perfect for spontaneous meditations.

Mary is getting a mini-package of Ayurvedic treatments including full body massage, सिरोधरा sirodhara (I'll let Mary explain), and a steam box with herbs and leaves specific to her condition. This morning I am simply going to get the massage, though yesterday I got the sirodhara too.

Tomorrow we are hoping to be on a bus from देहरादून Dehradun (not too far from here) to धरमसाला Dharamsala. We will have lots to do there and are very excited to spend time with Tibetans (I am especially excited to watch the debaters at the monastery), to hike near glaciers which means we get to wear sweaters and hats!

We'll leave you with this picture that Mary took. A common color to see, even in the woods...

Week 1 - वृन्दावन Vrindavan - आगरा Agra - हरिद्वार Haridwar - ऋषिकेश Rishikesh

So much has happened in one week and we have been travelling quite a bit but we are slowing down our pace here in the "foothills" (back home we call them mountains) of the Himalayas. We are in Rishikesh which is a pilgrimage site because of its proximity to the mountains, to the river Ganga and it apparently was the place where the Rishis (Sages) used to live. It has also become a "pilgrimage" for tourists from all over the world, but especially the infamous Israelis. Personally, I would like to retreat up the mountain away from all of it. It is a nice small town and the mountains and the Ganga are beautiful but it feels false, and I feel out of step. So we are going to try to do just that. I could write pages and pages about our trip to Agra, our time in Vrindavan, place of beloved Krishna's birth, and our observance of the evening puja on the Ganga in Haridwar and our early morning ablution in that cold swift river, but I will leave the rest for Mary and for the pictures to tell (she is the photographer most of the time). I hope you can all enjoy them!

Women exiting the Taj Mahal

Children playing in Agra, on the walk away from the Taj...
A goshala is a place where the cows, hence the milk, are. This beautiful mother was looking at us through the window. Minutes later we drank a home made salty lassi from this local milk. Easily the best I've ever had. Some people come and pray over and/or visit the cows. This is in Vrindavan; milk is still a little scarce there...

Some Milking action

डेल्ही Delhi

We arrived a little late (past 3:00am) and when finally in bed only slept a few hours so we are taking it very easy today. I wish I could describe the car ride from the airport to our guesthouse but I cannot. Delhi seems to be a very cosmopolitan but also a very Indian city. At least from the drive and the views from this guest house.
There's a non too ornate shrine to Shiva next door, the sweeper woman cutting weeds in the sidewalk cracks by hand, the cyclo-rickshaws floating by (I've only observed women in pairs in those), and the park across the street with many types of green and many different sounds of birds, though the crows are the loudest. We even heard a hawk cry and saw it circle this morning. It is hot and humid but breezy. Compared to Richmond summers this aint bad.
After our rest there will be more to do and more to write...
नमस्ते