Hairy Om's :: Rishikesh

Rishikesh. The "Yoga Capitol of the World". The city of ashrams & the holy Ganges River. A place where sadhus (the bearded, dreadlocked holy, & some not so holy men come to gather, chant, &...ask for money/food). The place the Beatles visited in the 60's to study with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of Trancendental Meditation (T.M.). Wow. finally made it to this crazy place! Alot different than i imagined, but isn't it always like that? Expectations. Although...I'm not disappointed. I came straight to Laxman Jhula area, which is the furthest away from downtown Rishikesh & therefore the quietest. I landed at Hotel Divya & am very very happy there! I have a top floor 'penthouse' room at this nice, clean budget hotel for only $5 a night! The top floor has a new marble inlaid floor & a magnificent view of the Ganges River. I found this place from some random online searching & am thankful for having saved me a lot of searching around. This place has so many hotels..and ashrams! The choices a tourist has for studying yoga here are mind boggling. overwhelming. Luckily...my first day here I ran into a 3 friends from Vancouver (one i knew would be here, the other 2 a complete surprise), and one led me directly to MY yoga school.

my first real encounter with a snakecharmer! Rishikesh.
see more photos »

Trika Yoga.

www.agamayoga.com

"Agama is a unique international school offering its students the secret spiritual path of true Integral Yoga in a modern form. Based in the authentic, esoteric lineages of Indian and Tibetan Tantra, Agama provides an updated and upgraded self-development system whose theory includes comprehensive university-level teachings in Yoga, combined with those of other sacred traditions from East and West (such as Taoism, Gnostic Christianity, Tibetan Buddhism, and Sufism). At the core of our teachings is the practice of an exceptional system of Kundalini-based Hatha Yoga and Laya Yoga, two of the most powerful elements of this age-old tradition. This is an approach nearly lost today which relies on energy awareness during Yoga practice to produce a highly accurate self-understanding of body, mind, and spirit. We focus also on meditation, healing through cleanses and purification, exploration of special topics in-depth through immersion workshop courses, and retreats. "

Trika Yoga School
see more photos »

This school is MORE than I expected to find! It is a complete path of Yoga. Embracing yoga not just as a physical aerobic exercise like so many schools wrongly do in the West (where Yoga had to compete with Jane Fonda & Richard Simmons & therefore evolved, or devolved into something else). This yoga system works on chakras while doing asanas, which is very different from any class i've ever attended. We have a class in the morning 8:30-11am (1st half hour is lecture), 4-6pm class, followed by 7-8:30pm lecture. That sounds like a very lot of yoga & you, like me, might think...woo...1 hour makes me tired, how could i do that? Well...this yoga is alot lighter than any i've been to. You hold the poses for 2-5 minutes each. I was sore the 1st day, but now am fine with their schedule. I look forward to classes & do not get that lazy feeling inside that i used to get. Most people in the West do not look further into the studies of Yoga. If they did they would find suuuuuchh a wealth of information. Trika school gives out papers of useful info each day that the evening lectures discuss, but the papers help clarify. Great teachings not even related to yoga, such as the Macrobiotic diet (more later), Tantra, music meditations & the basics such as:

Monkey picking his toes (not the one that stole my bananas!)
see more photos »

• Form, method of instruction, benefits and cautions of asanas (postures), pranayamas (breathing techniques) kriyas (cleansing techniques)
•Anatomy and the physical/mental benefits of yoga
• Subtle yogic anatomy and the Chakras
•Introduction to Ayurveda, nutrition, and the yogic diet
•Ashtanga philosophy (the eight-fold path)

These things can & do cure illnesses, depression, etc...

Simply by doing daily poses, breathing exercises, & cleansing techniques you can improve your life.

Typical India scene of the many stores selling many many trinkets that one does not need!
see more photos »

This school is for me!

I intend to finally learn the Neti cleansing technique of using a special Neti pot & salt water to HEAL MY ALLERGIES. this is my big 'health problem' for the past 2 years. I believe it is an emotionally caused problem from my mother's tragic death, & a relationship that began to crumble around that same time. I will not get allergy shots for 3 years like an allergist specialist recommended , but will try this time proved technique instead. daily sinus cleansing, as well as a few yoga poses that can help.

Just an ordinary guy i met today!
see more photos »

I will be here in Rishikesh for 3 weeks, instead of the 2 i planned. Train tickets to Varanasi & Bodh Gaya were not available for my 1 week there, so i decided to stay here & study at Trika. Although I will regret missing those 2 places, I prefer to have longer meaningful stays in places i like as opposed to 2 days here, 2 days there & all that bussing around! Besides, now I have more reasons to fulfill a 2nd journey to India (trekking in the Himalayas, visiting Nepal, Tibet, Rajasthan, etc...).

Today...i am fasting. well, kind of. I am eating a few bananas & drinking a few glasses of fresh orange juice. I have been trying (quote...TRYING) to fast once a month for awhile, which ended up being once a season. Fasting is extremely good for us to do on a regular basis! It's not just a religious fanatical ritual performed by Hindus, Jews, & Muslims! No, this is for everyone! Really. It cleans out the toxins in our system & improves our health! There is much to say on fasting & one can find a wealth of info online, but just a reminder or suggestion if any of you are curious...it is GOOD GOOD GOOD. If you can't do no food (i can, once did 10 day Master Cleanse), you can do a fruit OR fruit juice cleanse. Remember to drink 2-4 litres of water after, & go back to regular diet very gradually beginning with light foods such as soups & raw food.

Luckily...the monkey that stole my bag of 5 bananas & zoomed back up a tree didn't perform this feat today, or might have fought back! But, what could i do that day, but laugh & consider it a modest offering to the monkey who happened to share it with his little ones. I went back to the stand & bought 5 more, hid them in my bag, & on my bike ride back gave one to the sweetest old Indian lady begging on the side of the road. In return I got the biggest brightest smile i've seen in ages, and a prayer for me as well. how nice, & only for a 5 cent banana! i might have to start giving out bananas more often! Oh yes. The beggars. Rishikesh has about the same amount of visible beggars on the streets as Dharamsala, but they are mostly quiet & not approaching people. They simply chant, "Hari Om", or "Rama, Rama. Hello! Hari Om." I like this approach better.

As for my journal title "Hairy Om's". If you've been to India, you know what i mean. Hari Om is a chant that many Hindu's say that basically blesses God as everything. Everything is God. Here in Rishikesh there are many hairy Sadhus with long dreadlocks & beards. They usually wear all orange robes & have certain rituals & practices that Sadhus are known for. Such as...smoking charas (aka marijuana) to reach a high state of consciousness that they feel is closer to God. A meditation. So many of them have offered to sell me "good hash, good smoke, good marijuana mr." But alas, I am not interested & just smile & walk by. That reminds me...in India & many other countries you definitely want to be extremely careful buying that little herb known as marijuana. The locals don't get hassled for smoking it & you'd think it was legal here, but if the police catch a tourist smoking any you are about to giving a bribe, known as "baksheesh" to keep you out of prison. I hear $25-50 usually works. Even worse is when a crooked policeman or his helper fraudulently put some in your bags & arrest you! Anything for a buck. Unfortunately this happens quite often here.

Finally, i wanted to expand on Macrobiotic diets. It is a system founded by Japanese health nut Georges Oshawa that:

"On the simplest level, it means that individuals eat foods that keep them in balance with their environment (i.e., in a hot (yang) climate, more cooling (yin) foods are eaten, and vice versa). Oshawa outlined a ten-stage "Zen" macrobiotic diet in which each stage gets more restrictive. The diet is alleged to overcome all forms of illness."

http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/Kwa-Men/Macrobiotic-Diet.html

Apparently, he cured literally tens of thousands of people with various diseases, all by changing their diet! At Trika yoga school, they have recommended we try the Oshawa diet #7 that consists of only eating brown rice, oats, buckwheat, millet, and wheat (all Yang foods) for 10 days! That means only those & nothing else except a little salt. This diet alone can rid you of many toxins & has cured countless ilnesses. The 1st few days can be challenging apparently, but after day 4 or 5 it gets easy (like my master cleanse fast of no food....you get used to it & actually enjoy feeling lighter). I won't be trying it now becuase i need food energy to keep doing my yoga, but will most definitely do this diet very soon.

Lastly, somebody found my travel blogs on this website & has asked me to write for a new travel series of books. And i'll get a paycheck! Yeah for www.realtravel.com

as for other stuff to do in Rishikesh, i may go white water river rafting, hiking to some caves where holy men live, ...not sure yet.

Hairy Om's & much love,

Adrian

p.s. I have completed to new songs i've written while abroad that you can hear. One hiphop track, another breakbeat/dubstep:

www.myspace.com/blackhurst

More Hairy Om's :: Rishikesh

More Hairy Om's. More days in Rishikesh brought more travel blog topics. More interesting people, places, cows, & even a robot! So far my India trip has been about staying in one place as long as possible & not zooming around like an italian stallion spending 2 days here, 1 day there. I've gotten very comfortable in Dharamsala/Mcleod Ganj (6 weeks) & now Rishikesh (2.5 weeks).

Again, Rishikesh is a holy ancient Himalayan city where the holy holy Ganges River flows direct from the highest of the most high mountains on earth, & holy men & women come down from their caves & villages to teach yoga-meditation & the art of supernatural potentials that remain unknown for most of humanity. Even before the Beatles & Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, this was a center for serious yoga studies with a lineage of gurus teaching various styles, probably the most well known being Sivananda. Many of the sadhus (dreadlocked, bearded, orange robed men) walk around here. I wasn't able to have any discussions more than 1-2 phrases in English with them, but was able to get a few good photos with permission. Isn't this one guy looking intense? The paint on his forehead represent his devotion to Shiva, divine consciousness...and the opening of the 3rd eye (intuition, wisdom,..).

More days in Rishikesh brought more travel blog topics. More interesting people, places, cows, & even a robot!

mysterious sign of a dreadlocked holy man, with no explanation.
see more photos »

While walking across one of the two bridges I saw a dead cow with a flower wreath that had been thrown into the river as a burial. Of course in Varanasi you will see dead human bodies among other things in some of the absolute dirtiest, polluted water on the planet. Many, many Indians come to bathe in Varanasi in the holy Ganga as they believe it will give blessings, good luck, a good reincarnation, healing, and so on. Unfortunately I read that it is safe to have 500ml per litre of fecal pollution, & it has 1.5 million !!! Of course, in mystical India, many people have learned the lost art of 'mind over matter' and simply defy scientific logic. I believe it's possible & humans have potential to physically transform energy, but I have not learned this art yet so when I go to Varanasi someday in India trip #2, I will probably just watch others bathe & play it safe. The picture of the temple on the beach in Rishikesh is where I swam one warm November 16th day, and here the water is coming direct from the mountains & fresh, pure, & ....ICE CccccccOld! I lasted about 15 seconds! But now i'm blessed right? Hope so! I am having good luck on this trip!

an actualy real life dreadlocked holy man. one of hundreds in Rishikesh, but the only one i asked & paid to photo!
see more photos »

I have mostly just been doing the Trika Agama yoga school 6 days a week, 4-5 hours yoga, 2-3 hours of lectures, & homework. In between I have had time to attend an aarti puja ceremony that hindu's do every sunset & sunrise on the Ganges River -songs, prayers, & flower-candle trays sent down the currents as offerings to God. There was one big one I attended that had a famous bearded mystic guru who came and did some prayers. Everybody in orange robes, singings songs of love & devotion. I didn't get any pictures of this unfortunately. To be honest...i didn't feel much spiritually from these ceremonies, but that is mostly because i don't grasp the complicated Hindu religion, don't speak Sanskrit or Hindi, & therefore enjoyed it more on a surface level (i just thrive on the cultural studies & novelty of being in new situations such as these). I did discover a small temple where 8-15 people or so go & chant various mantras at the same time, ringing bells, burning incense & a very timeless feeling. I meditated there 2 mornings & recorded 6 minutes of chanting on my mp3 player. I can't remember if I mentioned but...pssst...i have a secret! I got a secret mantra initiation at Trika Yoga school! I finally learned the ancient art of internal "unstruck" Nada Yoga mantra chants. silent chants that you say to yourself & receive a humming buzzing echo-reply back from the cosmos. very powerful i must say! if it's your cup of tea. if not, TV meditation will have to do, eh? Heck, it's what everybody else is doing. But those of ya that know me know i don't follow the trends. I go by that old saying that if you want to be succesful (or in this case healthy)...do the opposite of what the majority & mainstream are doing!

I moved to the Shiva Resort which is closer to my Trika Yoga School, with a very nice grassy garden & plants outside my room (a rarety here).
see more photos »

As far as sugar goes I am following that saying. (get ready for a little more preaching...i mean...schooling) Upon arriving to Rishikesh, I got 2 of the biggest & painful zits (one above my lips, one inside my nostril) from eating too many treats one week. Well, i decided to do 2 weeks of no sugar, while i watched countless other travellers eating those delicious looking chocolate cakes, pies, & locals eating all the Indian sweets (even worse for ya...pure sugar & oils). I'm quite proud of myself for doing it. Felt good energetically. I finally cracked when I saw how good that German Bakery apple pie is...I had to have one! Now that I did...I feel like doing 4 weeks of no sugar & will go til X-mas til the next. Why you say? Why the heck not. All this sugar we are extremely addicted to is causing our immune system to crash, messing with internal organ health, making us restless, & has no nutrional value whatsoever. Purely a taste thing. And a chemical reaction (some say sugar is a drug?) that makes us high or hyper fo awhile. Oh & it gives many of us zits too which is a sign of dietary/environmental toxins trying to come out of our bodies! Last year I met this 60 year old woman that went 5 years with no sugar & had not been sick that entire time! She was the most healthy, radiant person i've ever met & I must say that she inspired me to someday attempt longer periods of time away from humanites favorite drug. But...uhh...i'm not that extreme & I do love my chocolate so...maye i'll do a season (3 months) sometime?!?

Delhi nights & crazy daze ::

Delhi nights & crazy daze ::

New Delhi : I came to India with the intention to avoid the big cities. Like the black plague, they keep spreading & spreading, & infect many millions of people. Delhi's growth is out of control. It is amazing that it all stays together & life functions in this kind of chaotic infrastructure of 12 millions bodies constantly coming & going. Perhaps the most difficult challenge here is the simplest thing in life...breathing! This place has too much pollution from autos, buses, & rickshaws giving off black fumes of not so lovely air to breathe (giving you a daily set of black boogers!). I hear the asthma rates are increasing exponentially at a very alarming rate. In fact, this is how I felt in New Delhi, out of control & alarmed. What's so 'New' about Delhi anyway, it looks anything but new here with old dirty buildings, trash everywhere, & everything looking like it's barely hanging together.

Frenchie Francoise's lovely tall skinny Mughal tower 2 bedroom house with rooftop we partied on tonight!
see more photos »

But yet, the new conservative corporate government declares that "India is Shining!". The slogan chanted by all that are making money in the IT department (Information Technology, or more simply international call centres that go to low wage economies to save money), big corporations, large stockholders, & corrupt politicans. For them, "India is Shining" & that is exactly what they want to program in the minds of the 1.2 billion inhabitants of India & the rest of the world. But you take a look around. Maybe 1% of India is shining. Like this french photographer & journalist I met said, "India is dying, crying, & a few are shining". This is the title & topic of his current piece of work. It is a complex situation that happens in all capitalist nations where the rich get rich, & ...well...you know how it ends. He told me about the many small farmers committing suicide as their business dies & country grows with pains, while capitalists gains increase, but their furtile lands ceace to exist in abundance like the good ole days. Guess that's the evolution of a capitalist country (we all went through it no? America, Canada, etc..), and we know the communism scenario isn't the best creative solution because it's own problems of corruption & power imbalances arise. But yes, this is getting to political for a travel blog. I wish I could write more funny stuff, but my sense of humor comes out more in person, & I hope to increase my literary humor soon. These are serious things to consider though, & I didn't come to India to make up new jokes.

Delhi Jazz Fest band from Germany that was actually very good!
see more photos »

So, that's my serious intro to New Delhi.

On my recent second trip into Delhi I spent five days in this massive metro, as opposed to my 1st day landing in India where I made a rapid escape to the lovely Dharamsala. Because I made a new friend up north who invited me to her home in South Delhi, I was able to get an insiders view into the good life of Delhi. Antigoni (greek name for a greek gal) has been living in Delhi for 3 years working for the WHO (World Health Organization) doing HIV education & other meaningful work. Actually, I arrived on the weekend of her 3rd anniversary party which coincided with her french boyfriend Francoise's b-day party (but i'll get to this later). Day 1 I showed up in Delhi on a train from Rishikesh (5 hours) about 4pm in the afternoon & took a taxi minivan (150 Rs) to her pad, talked, rested awhile, got fed some delicious carrot-beet-cheese salad & then accompanied her & Francoise to a play. It was AIDs Awareness week & the play was about an Indian young women with HIV in modern traditional India & how her boyfriend & family did not know how to communicate with her upon finding out her situation. It was well done & worth while to attend. The building complex the play was in is very post-modern urban architecture-some kind of government center for arts & culture. For our next event we walked across the street to see 3 FUNK bands play in a beautiful outdoor garden restaurant lounge setting (I capitalized FUNK because i love funk music!). Now I see why

they say "India is Shining". The two events I attended make you feel that way. The crowds were upper class Indian and international

mostly. I did not feel like I was in India at these two events, except when walking across the street getting a glimpse of the homeless sleeping in the medians of the roads (very common here), the large amounts of honking (also very very common here), & the rickshaws that you simply cannot avoid for a day in India (they are everywhere & make India function like the tick tock of a clock). It was here at this concert that I sat down on some cushions, glancing at a hooka, ordered some food, & talked to Francoise's photographer-journalist friend about India. I was inspired by his sense of adventure & the ability to make a career internationally with his chosen work in the freelance realms. I guess I'm doing a little bit of this now with my travel writings & book. Feels good making money in

another country. Frees up your previous belief that you were taught from day 1 that you cannot work in other countries unless

you get status, licenses, & other beauracratic paper trails. But alas, the path of an artist, a gypsy, a musician, a writer, a massage therapist, a craftsman, & many other trades cannot be traced. We slide through the framework & walk through walls like Neo from the Matrix. We are the invisible community worldwide that governments fear & want to find, & fine!

We find freedom in the new global village. Afterall, if there is no WWIII & things pass like Y2K & business is as usual, the world will evolve into ONE global economy. The prophesized New World Order, with one money linking all countries (like European Union, but this will be Earth Union), all people, all trades, everything computerized, perhaps even the surgical computer chip heard about in conspiracy theories.

But whatever happens, we shall overcome. The whole us vs. them game is almost over. Freedom will prevail. Humankind's lust for freedom is as deep as the need for love & intimacy. We must be free! With freedom, the world truly is our stage, we let go of rage, fly from the cage & run wild in the utopian earthly gardens of abundance. The New World Order is nothing to be afraid of because there is one thing about governments...they are not as powerful as they think. Their power is temporary & in the hands of a few puppets. Individuals can find loopholes in the system, "Chant down Babylon" & set themselves free. Especially alternative lifestyles where one leaves the system to grow their own food, lives simply in rural settings & becomes self-sufficient, sustainable, & lives off the grid & therefore outside the system. We always have a choice. We do not have to keep up with the Joneses, buying new cars every 3 years, mortgaging a house & living in debt for life. Unless that truly makes you happy & free, why go there?

Eco-villages, formerly known as communes have become a perfect model for the ultimate freedom & harmony. Sustainablity and Eco have become key words even in the mainstream. We are finally becoming a more conscious global village that will have no choice but to be ecological (afterall, it's logical to save our ecosystems instead of kill them off right?) & to be sustainable makes all the sense in the world, no? To grow your own fresh, healthy, organic food (yes, no pesticides, genetically modified chemical junk in this experiment). What a concept? Just like the days of old previous to our mad population growth & love affair with chemicals in the industrial age.

Yay for de-evolution! We will have no choice but to revert to the old organic methods that may not make as shiny & perfect looking produce, but in fact have a much higher vitamin & mineral content. Of course, we do have new methods of organic farming such as 'Bio-dynamic farming' & other permaculture methods that communes such as Findhorn have pioneered (they are famous for growing humongous sized amazing fruits & vegetables in the 70's that brought them worldwide fame. they have been one of the most successful communes to date). As for growing crops inside the 'urban jungles' of the concrete madness we call cities, it can & is being done in a large way. Cuba has led the world in this new movement back to organic growing & their metropolis of Havana has

abundant gardens on rooftops, parks, sidewalks (where we have grass to look at & for dogs to pee, they grow crops for the starving!).

I hope to go there someday soon & photograph & research this positive aspect of their play on communism for the people.

One last fact i learned before i get back to Delhi & India...the average North American consumes 30 times more than the average Indian. 30 times! we better start learning how to sustain off all that trash we consume, eh? That's why I like art made of recycled garbage, it just makes sense using what other people in our rich cultures throw away. I met one guy who claims he never buys anything when he moves to a new big city. He finds furniture, clothes, & everything to live simply by in alleyways as people throw out good stuff in mad shopping sprees.

Day 2 :: Started the day by teaching my first unofficial yoga class with one student, Antigoni. Taught her the Agama yoga I learned at Trika school in Rishikesh. It felt real good to finally teach yoga, after learning so much & becoming more comfortable with the poses. Afterwards I went with her & Francouise driving all over doing errands to get ready for their big party the following day.

Don't remember much that day except a blur of shops, cars, poor people, black smoke, & turning down a McVeggie burger

because I still don't like McDonalds & only use them to take craps in their bathrooms! At least they're good for something huh?

But to each their own. Oh & McDonalds in India of course does not serve hamburgers due to their ancient belief in saving cows

for milk, yogurt, & their amazing gifts they give humanity. Holy cows walk & roam the streets of Delhi & every other city in India & therefore avoid the untimely deaths so common worldwide. I do hear that they often die here prematurely though by eating plastic bags & other

garbage that suffocates them. Many people take cows to the vet for surgery to avoid this & save their lifes.

Later this night we went to the annual Delhi Jazz Fest & saw 2 bands. The first sucked. Cheesy light fluffy jazz with doo-wap diddly doo wap female vocals that all made us feel like we were on a cruise ship & 20 years older than we actually are. I like my jazz

either funky or dark & dirty. The second band was great though. They were from Germany & had a great blend of experimental

(even Radiohead-ish), dark to light, funky to ambient...very diverse. They had a standing ovation & two encores!

Day 3 :: I found myself teaching yoga again, now two students, uhh..friends really that just wanted to practice & allow me to review

what i've learned while teaching them some of this exciting super jedi yoga! Next we went to Hauz Khas Village & I began researching that neighborhood for 2 of my travel stories, one on the historic park nearby, & one on the artsy hip village shops nearby. It was divine timing that Francoise's house & rooftop party were in this area. Prrrrrfect! After checking out the ancient Islamic tombs of the Mughal

invaders of early 15th century Delhi, and checking out some funky original shops in the village, I went to the party. The rooftop was

filling up with ex-pats from all over the globe that live & work in Delhi. Alot of French, some Latinas from Mexico, D.R., & other assorted varieties of youngsters having a good time, sipping wine & eating cheese (this was a French party ya dig?) & alot of other great

food that people brought. Actually had the best chocolate cake EVER (seriously!) & decided to bend my no sugar rule for this (thank

goodness i did! it was worth it!). I didn't want to dj but about 10pm I brought out my mp3 player upon request & played some originals

& other songs. Dancing on rooftops is fun! Until the neighbors complain....then it's over, like our party. But that's ok, it was Sunday

& people had work the next day I suppose. Besides, we have to respect the neighbors & us being 'foreigners', outsiders in their land,

we especially must pay respect & not push too many traditional buttons of rules, regulations & conservatism that could upset the

status quo, dig?

Day 4 :: Antigoni had to leave Delhi for work at an early hour so I packed my bags (i hate doing this...just when i'm getting comfortable somewhere) & went to North Delhi's Tibetan Colony called Majnu-Ka-Tilla for 2 nights. There I refound my love of Tibetan people,

art, food, & buddhist temples (there are 2 there, but very small & humble). I bought a book I sent to my dad (this is a whole story in itself. India Post!!!), some dvd's, & used this colony as a place to launch on Delhi excursions for more travel writing stories!

I did some research one day on music shops in Delhi for buying musical instruments (which the publisher of the book, Connesseurs Guide to Delhi, thought was a good idea for me to research) and I also wrote one story on Majnu-Ka-Tilla.

Four stories now, in 4 days! Wish I could post them now but All Things Asian publishers will hopefully copywrite all 4 of them & then

they will be in the book, and I will get paid cold cashola!

Day 5:: I saw the Jama Masjid mosque, the largest Islamic temple in India, that is absolutely mind blowing in size, age, & beauty! I think it was made by the same master architect as Taj Majal, which I unfortunately will miss in this India #1 trip, but whatever. Buildings schmildings!

Just a hop, skip, & a grumpy jump away I was at the Red Fort seeing with my own eyes another very historic building of Old Delhi

made by the Mughals (i believe in 1400's) which the British eventually took over & used & returned to India hands after 1947 Independence. It is massive! I really enjoyed seeing the ancient original 1300-1400's books with Islamic writing & art in the museum inside. I love Islamic art & writing...it's so harmonius & elegant. I wish there religion was more understanding of all truths & not

so fundamentalist & extreme. They have contributed so much to India (and the world) in architecture, art, music, & other inventions.

I wish racist & ignorant people who don't understand the islamic people would look a little deeper. It's just the extreme fundamentalist that are causing all the problems (Islamic, & Christian!). What I don't like about the Islam faith is the way they categorize all non-believers in their faith as infidels, unholy, & outsiders. I feel this in their gaze.

I like how the Sikhs accept all faiths, all religions, all truths of one god. I believe in that. I believe tolerance, acceptance, & total

freedom are the way of the ancient past & the way of the future. No more wars for people's grammatical errors! God is God.

Everything is holy. There are many paths to the mountaintop , but they all lead to the same goal. Enlightenment, which some call

Heaven, Christ Consciousness, Samadhi, Nirvana, the land of Allah, Shambhala, ...

Many paths. All true. Please people, stop your fussing & fighting as ole Bob Marley warned you 40 years ago!

"we don't want Armageddon. Love will conquer all." (another ole reggae song by i can't remember who?)

Day 6:: I took a train from Delhi 2 days & one night & 40 hours later in Goa , spent night at Colva beach and 3 local buses for another 3 hours to get to Arambol where I am now & hope to stay for 1 month or so. Nice to get out of the cold north & cities to decompress & relax for my last 3 months down here in the tropical south!

Goa NYE 2007 :: Al Queda threats dissolve into tranquility!

Goa NYE 2007 :: Al Queda threats dissolve into tranquility! ::

Goa. the legendary tropical beaches of southwest India. the place where the Portuguese settled & colonized in the 1500's & made predominantly catholic & found financial & political control, until the 1947 Indian Independence which ended that & the larger British Raj control. Goa. the place where the hippies came beginning in the 1960's to getaway from the materialistic west, live for dirt cheap, & party on the beaches. Some have never left, & many have been coming to Goa consistently in all shapes, ages, nationalities, & sizes for a good vacation. Some have made it there home. Like me! Well, for one month anyway. I am already dreaming about coming here annually (and why the heck did it take me 12 years to get here? that's when i first wanted to come to India, & now this Goa scene is kind of overblown & not like 'the good ole days'). Prices go up for December & January. Sometimes double or triple the normal rates at hotels, beach huts, & restaurants.

38 hour 2nd class AC train to Goa. Met a russian older lady in my compartment who liked to talk. She shared her life story with me. It was nice to have a companion on the long voyage, although I found myself just wanting to read, listen to music, or watch movies on my little ole Archos 504 super-toy! Arrived around 10:30pm at some random city NOT on the beach & so I took a taxi into Colva (the nearest beach) and stayed at a family guesthouse room that I had called to reserve. Very nice family! Morning time went for breakfast & walk on the beach then took rickshaw to start my journey to the very north beach of Goa, Arambol. 3 buses & 3 hours later I arrived. That makes it sound simple though. 3 VERY PACKED buses & 3 VERY LONG HOT HOURS later I arrived at Arambol & then it got worse from there.

My friend Alex had reserved me a room & I was to call her cellphone to meet her. Her phone did not work & I waited at a restaurant with all my luggage trying repeatedly for 5 hours until darktime. I then locked up my bags with a chain & went to this reggae show where I thought she would be. Sure enough, by 10pm or so I found her & went to my new room. It actually gets rough again, as opposed to smooth, which I believe is what we prefer, no? Rough in the sense that my new room was very noisy & not quiet as I wanted. The family that owns the guesthouse had a store adjacent to my wall & woke up every morning at 7am sharp & began their shuffling. I am a lightsleeper & when I wake up, I'm up! Even if I try & go back to sleep, almost always..I toss & turn & give in to the day. 7am is not always when I want to get up, especially after late night music events. I put up with this interrupted sleep for 5 more nights then decided to change rooms. Problem was I had paid in advance for one month in this room. So, I manifested somebody that gets up at 5am for yoga, a woman named Paddy from Australia. Perfect! Next, I found myself the super-Shanti quiet room at Ludu Guesthouse up on top of this hillside where I hear ocean waves (100 metres to the rocky shore where the restaruants are) , palm trees in the wind, & crows for my wake up call. The soothing sounds of nature that are much more delightful than waking up to motorcycles revving. I like it here & am staying 1 month in this room at 300 rupees ($7.50) a night.

My impressions with Goa so far ::

Tropical utopian paradise where beaches, warm ocean water, palm trees, blue skies, sun, fruit & seafood are abundant.

The good life! I remember this. Oh yeah! From a kid travelling to Florida & California with my pops, I fell deeply in love with this lifestyle. The beach life is for me. Yeah, Vancouver has it's beaches but the months are so few each year when the weather is hot that we feel a natural anxiety that "oh know...summer's gone already? I have to wait another 3 seasons again!". I would love to set up a spring/summer pad on one of the BC gulf islands (i hear some get less rain & are in warm belts? Gabriola?), But Goa is year round hot. November to February are the ideal times to be here. March begins the monsoon season where rain will fall like waterfalls wildly month after wet month (makes the Pacific NW seem tame in comparison). Goa, of course is also a party place. The hippie generation of the 1960's made Goa a party scene where life was & still is cheap & simple. Back then it was rock n' roll psychedelic parties on the beach, especially full moon, & somewhere in the late 80's til now, Goa trance took over (for those not into electronic music, this is techno rhythm, with more repetitive bass lines & wierd sci-fi sounds. Other styles of trance include psy-trance, progressive trance, etc..). Nowadays the scene is not at it's peak (all scenes naturally rise & fall, like ebb & flow of the tide, up & down like a roller coaster ride). The people, drugs, & parties are still very much here, but the local governments have decided to tighten the ropes even more this year & the police are as corrupt as ever. The have six jurisdictions of police here in Arambol, & each team sometimes comes to the parties, clubs, restaurants doing music events to get their baksheesh (bribe). This year is the first they have made a 10pm noise curfew which is totally against human nature! I mean, 10pm is usually when most events start! It has caused small restaurants owners that cannot afford the big baksheesh (20k Rupees= $500 US) to throw late events a big loss in sales & potential for their venues.

More on Goa:

Many many Israeli & Russian young tourists (In India, but especially in Goa). They come here for many reasons, and one, perhaps as we all do in some way, is to escape our lifes back home & find some R&R on the beaches of Goa. First the Israeli's. Many of these Israeli's are here because as citizens of Israel they are required to serve 2-3 years in the military. Some have already served. Some are looking to leave Israel & avoid that mandatory service. A rare few are here for a short vacation, and believe in their duty to serve in the army & protect their country. One thing is for sure, the Israeli's, like the Russians, stick together in their groups, & stereotypically come off as being cold, distant, & not so friendly with the international community. I did get a chance to meet a few warm, kind, open-minded Israeli's & Russians while there though. Had a great dinner conversation with a young woman, Gabrielle, who taught me a new viewpoint on their perspective. She said that often Israeli's see layed back relaxed west coast american/canadians like myself as somebody hard to connect with. They judge us as being too relaxed to care about the international violence occuring & that if we were more involved & activists in the struggle like them, then we could relate. I see the logic in this, but it's just a clash of mindsets. We create our own reality. Yes, I feel lucky to have been born in a peaceful part of the world where war & terrorism has not been a part of my direct daily life (but post 911, it is very much apart of the global villages psyche). I am from the sacred lands of the Pacific Northwest. The last of the wild west where the pioneer's dreams of freedom & open space still exist to some extent. I play my role in being active in the community & world community I live in & ya know...I strive to be even more relaxed. That is the goal, no? Let go of stress, anger, judgement, contempt, seperateness, ...& realize our commonality. I would hate to see a future Earth that had the opposite goal!

Speaking of 911 & terrorism, when I arrived here early December '06 there were warnings by the Israeli government intelligence that Al Queada has threatened to attack Goa due to it's high volume of Israeli & other 'non-believers' here. The did attack a nightclub in Bali a few years ago, but I feel like this threat is a hoax by the Israeli government to get young Israeli deserters back to their homeland & back in the army!

As for the Russians...I only met two the entire 5 weeks in Goa. They were two beautiful 30-something ladies that sold the most dee-lish chocolate cheesecake every night at the Pyramids beach bar. Lovely sweet ladies (even sweeter cake!) who told me that Russians are so cold because of the cold communist government that programmed them to be that way...and perhaps the weather & geograpically isolated location as well. Being so isolated, you don't have to relate to a dozen other nationalities daily like Europeans. I wait, I met a third who was an extremely gorgeous blonde my age that I invited to my last music event but did not see her again. I will remember that smile though! May all Russians warm their hearts, soften their minds & smile like these 3 beauties!

Many new health problems to discover & "learn" from here in the poorer & more tropical parts of the world.

My third day in Goa I noticed that my nose was swelling. After 5 days of watching it grow bigger & swell up my eyes & giving headaches, I decided to see a ENT specialist. He diagnosed it as a Furuncle infection & said I am lucky I didn't wait til it reached my brain. I took antibiotics (1st time in Dharamsala for travellers diarrhea/flu, now a 2nd time) & it went down after a few days.

During my 5 weeks here I decided to finally get my Earth symbolic tattoo on my upper left arm in 3 sessions by this amazing Italian artist Enrico (charges half price cost back home). I co-designed with him a piece on my upper arm that is a lotus flower with earth continents, flower of life, water, & light beams. It is nice to finally get this body art done (5 years i've been thinking about it), but I must say that the beach is no place to get tattoos. You have to stay out of the sun each session for 2 weeks, & out of the water for 1 week. So...I only had 2 weeks of my 5 where I could swim. Next time I'll wait til a cold rainy winter Vancouver week to get a tattoo (I have one left to get on my right arm, AIR symbols containing the Haida Pacific NW black/red animal art of the Eagle, Raven, & Hummingbird in harmony with black air spirals & a non-traditional approach surrounding them. Hope to get when i go to Haida Gwaii, aka Queen Elizabeth Island from a native Haida tattoo artist). Now, my last days in Goa I received a very unpleasant red swollen rash on my groin that continued to spread around my belly.

Yikes! The doctor here said not to worry, "it's just an allergy", but...kind of bad timing for I am now off to a Zen 7 day retreat, and already underslept from the mayhem of last minute things here, packing, & such. My friend says this may last 10-14 days & could be a poison plant like poison ivy? At least I didn't fall off of a motorcycle or scooter like many dozens of people I encountered. I rented a scooter & drove one hour to a secluded beach further up north with a gang of 5 motorcyclist (I was the little guy on the scooter, they had the big bikes). It was nice being in the remote beach, but the roads were soooo bad & full of potholes, & the crazy Indian hectic driving even worse. After that...I mostly stayed at Arambol beach the entire 5 weeks. Well, I did go to the Saturday night market twice which is an incredibly colorful affair with live music til 2am, hundreds of vendors, not just typical Indian 'seen it before' items, but handcrafted original clothes, jewelry & such from the foreigner travelers & Goa immigrants. I also went for a long cycle ride with my good friend Sivadas from McLoed Ganj who took me to see Old Goa, ancient Catholic ruins from the 16th century & a massive church that's holding up good for 500 years old. It was nice hanging out with Sivadas again. Hung out with him & other new friends for NYE celebrations at the Pyramids. Oh yeah. The "White Pyramids" is a tiki lounge beach bar & restaurant run by Austrian runaways Andy & Max. I played music there four times over the weeks. I dj'd reggae, dub, & global beats, including the launching of my new project BiOniC LoVe SoUnD SySteM, which I played a mini 30 minute original set with live congas, tabla, me & German mc on the mic. Andy & Max said the show was one of the best ever. Over 100 people dancing up a storm almost my whole 4 hour set. Good times...and I even got paid 1000 Rupees each show (uhhh...that's really only $25, but buys 8-10 meals here!).

Well, all this time in Goa & no wild trance parties for me. I had the most musical inspiration at Pyramids watching live sufi persian

4 piece band with dulcimer, persian sitar, doumbek & arabic percussion, vocals, & a belly sufi dancer. They were amazing!

I'm doing a remix of one of their songs now. Loving the Persian dulcimer at the moment. Such a mystical instrument.

Goodbye Goa...thanks for everything!

mystical mountains of Tamil Nadu :: South India

Zen retreat. 7 days of mostly silence & lots of deep meditation. Arrived Monday January 15th, 2007, after 48 hours of 1 overnight bus to Bangalore, 1 day in that sardine can of 6 million souls city, 1 overnight train, another 3 hour bus, one last 1 hour bus, & a quick taxi ride up a mystic mountain...has brought me to a remote mountain zen retreat center, located in South India.

"Nirvana is right here before our very eyes. You are looking at the Lotus Land. You are the very body of Buddha." (ancient Zen saying)

Very green backyard with Japanese stone garden & mountain views!
see more photos »

"The journey begins with the first step Here & Now, and it is always the first step" (Amy Sama - master at Bodhi Zendo center)

"Emptiness is not to be understood as something seperate from or beyond our actual universe. It is the relative nature of all forms inthe universe, in other words relativity itself, which is the emptiness of these forms." (pg. 51, Zen for Beginners)

"Shikan Taza is sometimes said to be the most difficult, most advanced type of zazen. It is just simply sitting without any object of concentration...(It) is often compared to the alertness of someone involved in a life or death sword fight. Most important is to sit in the faith that this "just sitting" can and does naturally unfold to total self-realization, called Buddhahood." (pg 74, Zen for Beginners)

Beautiful mountain green fresh gardens = LUSH!

I feel right at home here. I have re-entered the dojo & here is my new food for thought:

Enter the Dojo. the gongs have once again been struck & the ringing of singing bowls is calling you to trancendance. It is time to practice the art of emptiness, to realize the nature of your true self. there is no duality. unity surrounds us always & in all-ways. flow into the harmony of the unstruck sounds & surf the cosmic echo your heart has longed for.

Enter the Dojo, where silence is not the only thing that is golden. your true self is golden, pure & full of emptiness. you may have forgotten along the paths of illusions & delusions of the Six Worlds of Samsara, but you are infinity, manifesting equanimity, attaining emptiness Here & Now. with emptiness you are free. free of opinions, ideas, ego. back to beginner's mind as they say in Zen. Yes, it is life's mysterious riddle. there is in actuality...nothing to attain. in emptiness we become full again. This is It! Zen.

Be still as a stone. Centered in this moment, like a rock, on rock. Still.
see more photos »

It is simple. letting go & surrendering to balance in nature. non-judgement & complete acceptance of our imperfect selfs. butterflies & chirping birds know this, so now it is our turn? This isn't rocket science. It is the science of meditation, which is a direct path to save us from our own troubled restless monkey minds. moments of Satori bring encouragement, but do not strive for only bliss & joy. life is dramatic & naturally full of ups & downs. Enter the Dojo & bow to eternity & rejoice for this space & time is always for you. It is always here. freedom is yours...again...Now.

The master of Bodhi Zendo, Ama Samy.
see more photos »

For 220 Rs ($5.50 CAN) you get a beautiful room, very good gourmet vegetarian (mostly grown locally), & the practice.

The practice is about 8 hours of meditation done at 25 minute sits about 16 times a day. In between you eat, drink tea, do one hour of selfless service work, laundry, shower, read, be. My seva (selfless service job) is to rake, tidy & clean the Japanese stone garden. perfect! Just what I needed to further empty this hectic monkey mind of mine! This place is like another dream manifestation for me.

There are probably many many other Zen retreat centers worldwide, but this one is very much to my liking. Japanese & Asian culture has also been a life long interest for me, starting with Bruce Lee & other kung-fu movies as a child in the '80s, to taking Japanese goju-ryu martial arts for 4 years in high school, to having many asian friends & girlfriends throughout the years. I am drawn to their cultures perhaps as much as India. I love the resonance of the gongs, the humming of the singing bowls, the pounding rhythms of the wooden blocks. this is Zen & i forgot how much I love it (it's been awhile since i read any Zen or practiced this meditation). At night after a long day of many meditations, a series of drums & bells are played and a standard Zen message is read:

"Let me respectfully remind you, life & death are of supreme importance. Time passes swiftly and opportunity is lost. Each of us must strive to awaken. Take heed, do not squander your lives."

Another good idea I got from the Zen master here is that alot of us so called spiritual minded seekers have these goals of reaching enlightenment, samadhi, satori, & so on, BUT...that is not important he says. To be here now in full acceptance without desiring, striving, & pushing too hard. There is nothing to attain! Everything is perfect, NOW! If those states come naturally, then great. But many have their heads up in the clouds when they progress on the paths & reach certain states & forget that they still have their imperfections (i don't feel i'm one of those types, but sure...i got some ego to balance!). "Head in the clouds & shitting in the toilet." We are all of the earth & need to be real with ourselves HERE & NOW. I have to admit...he's got a good point! Anyhow, I love this place & highly recommend it. Could easily stay here a few months in the Dojo!

Madurai huge temples :: South India

Madarai huge huge massive temple complex! picture is a 1000 words

so here are 2000 words in my 2 pics! this place was truly massive & one of the holiest & biggest wonders of the world without a doubt. Reminds me a little of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, big scale production, yo!

Auroville :: a visionary eco-city 40+ years in the making!

Auroville, South India :: 6km north Pondicherry

Auroville. An experiment in living, inaugurated in 1968 & now 41 years into its evolution. Not really a big commune, but more of a small conscious city of 2,000+ 'Aurovillian' residents & many guests passing through for short & long-term visits. Auroville is diverse, spread out over many square miles & hard to understand at first glance. Even after 10 days here I feel I have only seen a small portion of the area. It consists of many smaller individual communities or what could be called eco-villages, cooperative living, organic farms, sustainablity projects, & also commercial infrastructures such as bakeries, restaurants, & shops with locally made products. There are always many workshops & courses throughout the year teaching sustainbality, permaculture, healing arts/massage, dance, yoga, & other very interesting topics. It is kind of like being back in college for me, but exactly the stuff i'm interested in learning now. My first days here were spent settling in & getting comfortable with this new scene. Everything is very different. You have to register & get a guest card, leave a money deposit to get a credit account for Auroville, & use this account number at restaurants, internet cafes, & the grocery stores-the idea being a futuristic city where you don't use cash. The food served at some places is mostly grown on these farms & therefore extremely local. I volunteered at 'Solitude' farm, planting lettuce & watermelon, & was treated afterwards with a lunch that was 90% from their farm! Can you say 'Frrrreeeesh'! The health food store here "Pour Tous" has some amazing products, many made here in Auroville, like the 10 element cookies, mango bars, & organic produce. At first, I felt displaced & confused about Auroville, even with it's good food, workshops, & interesting places. The community did not seem in unity. I saw many people walking around that were too serious, pretentious & over-flowing with New Age know-it-all attitudes & egos the size of Texas. I did not see enough smiles, happiness, or even just neutral open-minded types. I saw people frowning & scowling driving too many stinky loud gas guzzling cars, motorcycles, & scooters & not enough electric cars, bicycles & smiles that a true visionary city should have in abundance! Since then, I've let go of judgements & learned that this Auroville is what it is NOW, & like other cities, it is in a constant state of growth & evolution. So what, people are not perfect here either. This is not yet a city of enlightened humans living in harmony with Divine Mother (Indian name for God/Goddess/Creator/Great Spirit/Brahman/Allah). Maybe in the future, one hundred years or more....who knows? This is still just the beginning process unfolding... like a teenager, confused & going through puberty, or is Auroville still a baby going through growing pains & suffering from the loss of her Mother? Mother, not to be confused with Divine Mother, is the founder of Auroville. A french visionary yogini & special friend of Sri Aurobindo, famous South Indian guru & author of many profound books from the early 1900's. I have no doubt that these two were visionaries that gave many insights into the human potential & planted many seeds for a brighter future here on Earth. They initiated a way of life known as Integral Studies, involving Integral Yoga, Integral Meditation & philosophy that teaches to advance the evolution of humankind to what they called the Supramental state. As for Auroville, it is what it is, & if you let go of the judgements & see what good is happening here, you can enjoy this place even more.

Me at Matrimandir futuristic dome!
see more photos »

My original intentions were to do volunteer work 3-4 hours a day on an organic farm here. I found the perfect farm, Solitude,

& so far have worked two days 9-12:30pm planting lettuce & watermelon. Afterwards they treated us with an amazing meal

that was 90% from their farm...now that's eating locally...literally footsteps away! No potatoes shipped from Idaho, no rice flown over from Japan. This kind of local eating, one part of the microbiotic diet (read more online), can do wonders for the world by saving tremendous fuel & carbon burning, but most people are not aware of this idea. They walk into Safeways & buy 90% non-local specialties, & believe me...i've been one of the crowd. It's how we were raised! I love those New Zealand gala apples....sweet & yummier than my BC & Washington apples in the backyard. But at this point in the 'Earth game', it's all about being the change you want to see in the world. Being the change. Walk your talk. Do we want to support our local organic farmers & make those prices go down over the next few decades? The trick is getting the mainstream to think & act this way.

Matrimandir Golden meditation dome, very Star Trekky sci-fi kinda building!
see more photos »

And what will happen when peak oil really does drive prices for everything on the shelves up to unaffordable rates? Will the

items that don't need oil to transport, the locally made items, be the same price? I think so. Let's start shifting our consumption habits now & get more prepared for the inevitable shift! Tomorrow, I go to volunteer again at Solitude. I would be doing

everyday but I found a few important workshops that I joined.

Indian kids taking shower in public the Indian way...& having way too much fun as well!
see more photos »

I have begun studying Polarity Wellness 5 element massage/bodywork privately with Mikael at the Quiet Healing Center. I missed the 5 day workshop that happened so I'm doing 6 private lessons & learning as much as I can in this short time. Basically using the elements of Earth, Water, Fire, Air, & Ether for applying pressure & movements for a unique bodywork therapy.

I've also been doing the 5 element dance workshop Mikael does once a week. The prices are incredible here! I payed

Our beach hut at Reve Guesthouse for first 3 nights, $4 day.
see more photos »

200 rupees ($5) for a two hour private lesson to learn the massage. You can study a variety of things here such as Thai massage, Watsu, Reiki, etc., for way cheaper then back home. Oh yeah, Watsu. Water shiatsu. In a swimming pool, you get gently massaged & brought into deep states of relaxation. I did one Watsu & was so thoroughly relaxed afterwards that I

couldn't walk for half hour. Sat down & meditated by the pool til I came back to Earth.

Me planting baby lettuce at Solitude organic farm. Amazing farm, read blog for more details on it.
see more photos »

Today. I had the absolutely most incredibly tasting papaya as of yet! Superb natural organic fresh local sweetness! Wowsers!

That's it. That was my day.

No really, I did more, but that was my favorite moment. I did 2 hours of yoga in the morning & and after had the biggest cry in many months. Crying about my mom's suicide & the anger, frustration, sadness & grief i've felt. I havn't realized how much anger, & to my surprise guilt, I have been holding in. Anger that has been with me probably since age 10 when my mom first

My favorite chill hang out place at Quiet Healing Center (spa resort). Nothing like a hammock nap!
see more photos »

tried to commit suicide & ended up in the mental hospital for 2 years. Anger at the psychiatrists & pharmaceutical industry that tried & failed at curing her bipolar (manic depression) & diabetes. Anger that this only lonely child has lost his mother for good. Angry at the fact that I couldn't do more to help. Actually I have been guilty that I could not cure my mom & find the right healing for her. I know, that sounds wierd...I actually thought I could heal my dis-eased mommy. My astrologer said this is in my chart though. I am the wounded healer archetype (Chiron in the North Node) that is a healer, but one that attracts deep wounds that need healing & integration. I have also held guilt over how my mom's actual death happened, as it was not a simple suicide, but drawn out over 9 days. She tried to overdose on her diabetes medicine, insulin, which put her into a coma by the eight hours or more time it took for her to be found & brought to the hospital. At this point her brain was completely damaged & if she were to be kept alive with machines & live longer, the experts said she would be a vegetable. Me, being the only child had to make the extremely difficult decision of pulling the plug on her life support & letting her finally die.

This was not easy for me! I believe in miraculous healing, spontaneous healing, prayer, miracles. Maybe her brain would not have suffered that much damage...I wanted to believe this, but it just was not possible they all said, & it was probably fact. But, maybe she could be healed...I wanted to believe. But, the situation was grim. I had to honor my mom's decision to end her life. It became my choice, in some twisted fate, to have to pull the plug - in a sense kill her, although she had already done the work & most of her brain was already dead. My mom & I were so close. I was born on her birthday, April 12th, & we always shared that cosmic connection of sharing the same b-day. After her death, I had to decide all the other issues immediately. Cremation, the type of urn, what type of funeral & plot for the urn. All of this was madness, but I acted like I could handle it all at the time. I have been keeping alot of emotions in since her death & trying to accept the situation. I believe in reincarnation & hope that her next life will be happier & free of dis-ease. I worry about her chosen death by suicide though & the 'hell bardos' that buddhists say one can enter. Is my dear mom trapped in that scary place, or, like my Catholic family thinks, is she in heaven? Or reborn? So much left to Great Mystery, one really never knows being mere human.

So, I surrender to the unknown, I let go of this pain & suffering, & I have faith that everything is as it should be, here & now. All part of the intergalactic puzzle, & our individual karmic roles are intrinsically wrapped up in the outcome of this 'Earth game'.

But ya know, there have been those 3 big questions asked for centuries that still have no definite answers. Who are we? Why are we here? And...where are we going? I guess death of a loved one brings out the philosopher in you. It really makes you realize how precious this life is. I usually don’t open up so much by web writing, but what the heck. better than keeping this all inside to myself all the time!

As to Auroville, I am leaving in two days. I may come back some day. My 3 weeks fly by way too fast here. Probably because I was so damn busy going to workshops, cooking fantastic healthy meals with my friend Shinobi, going to the free cinema, getting massage, dance classes, working at the farm, going to the beach, crying & processing emotions, etc. Definitely not a boring place!