Preamble

Four months ago I arrived in India for the first time to enroll in a meditation teacher training, which I’ve completed.

During my stay, it became clear that this (other) country had also managed to seduce me despite the Indian nonchalance, the dust and noisy traffic with trucks, buses, motorcycles, and rickshaws blowing the horn all the time alongside the tourists, babaji (ascetics), local people, monkeys, cows, and dogs!! Yes, it can be quite busy in some areas! It is said that India is a nice organized chaos speaking of its traffic.

India surprised me to love her to the point of giving up a three-month contract to teach English in an elementary school in Vietnam. I understood that I was not yet done with India. She still has a lot to teach me on a personal and on a professional level.

So instead of flying to Vietnam, I flew to Nepal to renew my visa for India. Not only I was very excited to be back to Nepal that left me in awe when I first visited last year, but I was also delighted to receive a 6-month visa for India.

My stay in Nepal solidified my willingness to offer meditation sessions and to organize meditation retreats in this part of the world and eventually in Canada. Ideas and opportunities seemed to be everywhere in Nepal, and now in India. The Universe keeps telling me “Go! The doors are wide open for you! “

The desire to write has been tickling me for a few weeks already. There are so many places that I would like to describe, so many stories to tell, so much knowledge about the country to share… Let me start this series on India with a core value that I have been feeling and experience since my arrival in this surprising country. 

Turquoise like The Ganges

It struck me when I came back to India. I was walking in an area of Rishikesh called Ram Jhula. This neighborhood has an atmosphere that stimulates all of my senses. It is during that walk that I got the idea for this paper.

First, let’s start with the Ganges. Each time, my eyes are hypnotized at the sight of the turquoise color of the Ganges quite cold at this time of year. “Maa” (Mother) Ganga, as she is respectfully called, acts like a mother to cradle me, calm me and to offer me her blessings. The surroundings feel like a small oasis of peace where the usual noises seem only a distant echo.

Several legends and rites surround this sacred river. Hindus believe that the water has the virtue of purifying the ones who bathe in it. Another Hindu rite is to spread the ashes of the dead in the Ganges to help their soul to reincarnate into a better life or even to free the soul from the cycle of reincarnations.

This little oasis of peace is sometimes interrupted by children selling offerings on the riverbanks of the Ganga. One by one, they are coming to see me with their baskets filled with offerings made with flowers, squares of camphor and a stick of incense. The offerings are deposited on the Ganga as a gift while making a wish. I really enjoy this whole ritual, from encouraging the young girls to sending out my intentions to the Universe and my prayers to the people I cherish.

One day, a young boy came to see me with his small basket of offerings. I engaged a conversation with him but I didn’t want to buy any offerings on that day. He got so upset! I had to laugh at him! I explained to him nicely “nahin (no) babou (an affectionate word for a young child),  you can’t expect me or any tourists to buy offerings every day. And, it’s definitely not with that attitude that you will honor your offerings and charm the people to buy them!” I tried to tickle him a bit in order to see a smile again on his face. After a few seconds of hesitation, he looked at me and showed me his move. You know the one kids usually do with their hands between them. He raised his left hand to touch my right hand, our little fingers were touching, then our the index fingers we pressed together and hop, we had to put our hands behind our heads, then finishing up with a proper handshake! He left me with a sweet smile on my face … and he was probably smiling too. For some reasons, I really like that ki

Orange like Babaji

Another predominant color is the faded orange robes worn by the babaji, the religious men with a profound and enigmatic gaze who have come to the holy city of Rishikesh known to be conducive to spiritual awakening. Many Saints, Sages, Pilgrims and other great spiritual men had come here to meditate and to spread their teachings. The babas are particularly numerous in this part of the town where several ashrams, religious centers, and temples are established. Some live comfortably in an ashram where they spend most of their time meditating, performing pujas (religious ceremony) and reading ancient sacred texts, while others live on the street, in a shelter made with some plastic sheets built along the road or in the woods nearby. Conditions must be very difficult especially during winter time, which is now, with the temperature dropping down to 10 degrees and even below, with a high humidity factor.

Near the chai tea shops and street food stalls, it’s very common to see Indians buying something to a babaji begging nearby.

 

 

I see someone buying apples to give to the cows that move freely in the streets, another one is grabbing some cookies to feed some stray dogs, children offer their remaining chips to a monkey … Although monkeys rarely wait for food, they simply help themselves! As a proof, one afternoon I was so absorbed watching the street life that I didn’t see a monkey coming to grab my little bag of popcorn! Usually, when this happens, everybody just laughs!

The act of giving and sharing is such a natural gesture for Indians, whereas it’s rather a thoughtful act that sometimes makes us, Westerners, feel uncomfortable in those situations.

The food

This mentality is also reflected in their cuisine. Indian food is made to be shared. At the restaurant and at home, people order or prepare many dishes such as rice, paneer, vegetables, dhal (lentils), yogurt and put everything on the table in order to be shared. Even when they eat Western food at the restaurant, like pasta or a sandwich, I see them sharing the same plate. One has a banana and see two friends coming, he will insist on cutting the banana in pieces so everyone can have a bite.

I came to realize that our relationship with food tells a lot about our culture. While over here in the East people are rarely seen eating alone; it is quite common in the West. Most of the people that I have seen sitting alone in a restaurant while traveling are almost always Western tourists. Put a group of Western people together, everyone will still order their own plate. It reflects somehow our independence and our individuality comparing to the Indian/Eastern sense of collectivity.

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Karma

For Hindus (and Buddhists), daily actions are guided by the rule of cause and effect known as the law of karma. Good deeds in the present will bring happiness in the future, while bad deeds today will bring sufferings tomorrow. Offering food to beggars, religious men and animals is a daily gesture that helps to maintain a good karma. It’s as simple as that!

Aarti

I told you that all my senses were stimulated in this neighborhood. The view of the turquoise water of the Ganga and the orange robes, the smell of fried samosas, the touch of a warm glass of chaï and now the holy sounds! At sunset, around 6 pm, another energy is revealed. The sound of the bells, mantras (prayers), Indian harmonium and cymbals signal the beginning of the puja (religious ceremonies) in the ashrams and especially the Aarti, the ritual celebrated in honor of the Ganga on the edge of its bank.

 

Goodbye Rishikesh

The simple fact of walking in the streets of Rishikesh to observe this cycle of life-based on a core need, the food; a core value, sharing; and a core religious belief; the karma, made me reflect so much on my own beliefs and behaviors.

Rishikesh taught me to open myself a little more to others, to keep a few apples in my bag ready to be given to some wandering cows in the street, to offer a chai to a babaji; to continue to engage conversations with others, to feel more comfortable with the act of giving spontaneously with my heart without overthinking about it.

I am leaving Rishikesh with a certificate attesting that I have completed a 300-hour Meditation Teacher Training. I believe that the path that has led me to here is as important in terms of experience and efforts than the certificate itself.  And it’s that perfect blend of knowledge, life experiences and intuition that I will share in my upcoming meditation sessions.

It is with a great enthusiasm that I  am now moving to South of India, in the province of Kerala, to teach my first meditation sessions in a guesthouse where yoga classes are already given. I am so eager to continue my learning by putting into practice what I have learned and share my vision of what is meditation. I am ready to be a conduct and transmit my soft energy as food for the soul, the mind and the body to all the beautiful beings that will come to my classes.

Once you have felt the dust of India, you will never be free of it. (From Rumer Godden / The Peacock spring)

Hari Om,

Namaste dear readers.

 

BONUS! 2 VIDEO… in French!

If you understand French, here’s 2 video I made on the same day.. just before leaving Rishikesh to Kerala. Why 2 video, because the first one didn’t record entirely what I had to say! Some technical problems… So one is from Maa Ganga and the one one from the rooftop of the building where I was staying in Tapovan, Rishikesh.

Part 1

 

Part 2

 

Happiness and serenity,

Nathalie