Indian Pilgrimage

       
   

 Well, shame about the photies as usual. Say no more.(Days later: some photies arrive on computer. Not for this post though.)

          I set off for Brussels at four in the morning of last Saturday and somehow ended up in New Delhi, having traversed the Brussels airport with ease. Much easier than getting to Aarhus, which was the dummy run at the start of the summer.

          We were staying in the Tibetan quarter of New Delhi. So you just get off the mad motorway and go up and alley, then probably a smaller alley. You can't see the sky. There are planks of wood and lots and lots of electric cables and whatnot blocking the view. I was sharing with a very nice fellow called Alexandre, who wears the night shades for his eyes and the ear plugs so that he cannot hear the dogs barking and fighting through the night.

         This part of New Delhi is kind of incredible. It's as if they'd build on every available piece of land and all that was left between them was a jagged alleyway, which was sometimes hardly wide enough for a bicycle rickshaw. But there are stalls in places and you can go along until you reach a very small square. Two temples are there, but all I noticed was the biggest prayer wheel I'd ever seen. Lots of dogs live there. Didn't see a cat and that might have been more useful.

          The door of the room was locked with a padlock and there was no water for the taps in the sink, but you could get a warm shower. Alexandre gets up at the crack of dawn so far to go and do stuff, so he is a very easy person to share a room with.

         We got to that hotel at half four in the morning of Sunday and set off again for Shankasa (which seems to have multiple spellings). This was about nine hours in a mini bus, but the minibus journeys have so far been no problem. The hotel, The Royal Residency, was really quite swanky. I was surprised. The next day we went to the Buddhist site, which was really very undeveloped. There was a wee shrine and you had to take your shoes off to go up a very dodgy path to another wee shrine at the top of a wee hill. It was hard to connect the first time, but we went back in the evening and that was much better.

         There are about fifteen of us and we sat in the grass at the bottom of the hill and did a bit of meditating and we were told a bit more about the site. The Buddha is supposed to have gone to some Tushita heaven to teach his maw and Gods and whatnot. Well ... but Olaf, a retired Professor of Horticulture, told us that his summary given to a disciple ended up as the Abhibhamma, which I tried to read once and got about a page in. Like trying to read Das Capital. Anyway, that's about the complexities of consciousness, I think. The boy mentioned there were seventeen steps between an event and it appearing in your consciousness. Heavy intellectual stuff. Anyway, the evening at this site was a bit magical.

          We were in the minibus all the next day and went down some very excellent toll roads with very good service stations. No problems with the ride again. This hotel is called The Sravasti Residency. Sravasti has multiple spellings as well!

           Today we went to a park which was a really lovely and well developed site. It cost 300 rupees to get in and we went to sit under a tree for the recitation and meditation and such. Monkeys appeared. Archaeological joes have unearthed and signposted lots of stupas and whatnot. It seems the Buddha spent about twenty four rainy seasons there and it was the place where he did a Great Miracle. A lovely place!

            This evening we went back, but this time missed the 300 rupee gate and went to sit on top of a ruined stupa for the recitation/ meditation, etc. That was great. The sutras are being read in French, which suits me. Also, I can't do the prayers, so there's more chance for me to meditate, which is what I want to do.

             I brought Glenn Mullin's translation of A Book of Three Inspirations by Tsangkhopa. I'm getting so much out of this reading.

              After visiting Bodh Gaya with the lama a few years ago, I didn't really want to go back, but this trip has changed my mind. Even although there are no blue skies in this part of India due to the pollution levels, and the traffic is as mad as hell, I think I'm going to really enjoy this trip. It's just great to get a vibe off these places and have a chance to meditate without any drinking or drug taking, or any of that kind of thing.

          Last night was the first time I slept through the night, but I am still feeling pretty tired sometimes.