JOURNEY TO INDIA - a travelogue by Ariana Saraha

Following are a few of my notes from a recent journey. They barely scratch the surface of the actual experience, especially the inner one. Please keep in touch, or follow the links below, if you'd like to hear more as the story unfolds...

Rishikesh - 1.14.07

Hola beauties!

Well indeed, I have landed in the Motherland. Without fault, and thankfully by Grace, I navigated the airports, the taxis, trains, buses and rickshaws, and arrived in Rishikesh the same day my plane landed in Delhi. Pack on back, intuitively weaving my way through the Lakshman Jhula area of town, which I'd heard was the gentlest (I am on vacation after all!), a very sincere and peaceful woman approached me. Before I knew it, I was sheltered into her sweet ashram, which I then discovered was only around the corner from my one friend in town who's working at Ramana's Garden orphanage.

Gently embraced by the sweet gardens at the ashram, my new friend Turiya, a warm "bath" (ie, buckets of hot and cold water mixed and poured...), I set about to a little exploring...

It is different here! Even Morocco didn't prepare me for this level of "third world." Yet here too is permeated with western influence and luxury. For every cowpie there is probably a celphone. Both sides seem equally pervasive.

A bit of culture shock in my first attempt at a shopping experience (it became quickly clear that I needed some warmer clothes!), so I scurried right back to the ashram, and then to find my friend Aaron for a gentler introduction to this new world...

The shock came mostly just from navigating a different way of relating to people. The smells, the dung and urine in the streets, the simple earthy way of living - these are almost immediately familiar. But the way the people take in your gaze - that's where my soul gets shattered, confused... I don't even know that I have the words for it right now. It's becoming more comfortable. I find solace in how easy it is to meet the gaze of women - sometimes warmly, sometimes playfully, sometimes nothing but just being together... But men. Men are like a different species here. Not all, but so many. I've taken to downcasting my eyes most often in their presence. Not out of shyness or shame, but that it is not worth the energy drain to combat what feels like a fairly invasive way of leering at western women. But not all. I just had a delightful interaction with a young man in a fixed-price shop where I bought a shawl (I tell you, it is cold here!). Somewhat flirtateous on his part, but mostly just in appreciation of the beauty of life. I loved one thing he said...

I told him I had arrived in India alone, but then came here and met a friend. Then in my next journey, to the Kumbh Mela, I will travel alone but then again meet a few friends. After that, I will travel alone to Varanasi, but once again meet a friend! His response: "like life! We enter and leave alone (birth and death), but in between, so many people!" I liked this analogy, reminded me of the sanctity of these moments of aloneness.

So here I am, Rishikesh. Sheltered between two hills, here the Ganga is the color of pure jade. Temples ring nonstop, monkeys play through the rooftops and playfully terrorize the bridges. Flowers bloom and fall. Small cows wander slowly through the lanes, mopeds zip and beep and craze. Families live their humble existence out front of their tiny houses - tending their cows, washing the clothes... The laughter and shouts of children never seems to stop. Tourists come to shop - shawls, spirituality, yoga... Shivananda Ashram sits in the center, a paragon of virtue...

For these few days, I've stayed at this sweet little ashram with Turiya. So far, nobody else is staying there, but one woman, Puja, comes daily to clean and help with the cooking. It is a simple life. We meditate four times daily in the little temple with the big picture of Jesus pouring water from his heart ("but sir, where is your bucket?"), and the little statues of Shiva and the Buddha keeping watch. Krishna resides over the open-air dining room, and Hanuman embraces Shiva out in the yard, but it is a "Christian" temple. I'm not sure what that means here, but it seems as good an excuse as any to cultivate divine love and pray for humanity. The meals and the tea at the ashram are simple and sweet. I had my first cup of "street chai" today, and was glad for the spice!

But for now, the sadhana and simplicity of the ashram is perfect for me. I am happy to help tend the garden - my main task now being to harvest the seeds of the old marigolds. Nasturtiums weave their way around the yard, some roses bloom, some sprouts of new life I am curious to see...

I'm not sure how long I'll be in this little ashram, as Turiya is traveling soon. But for now, and especially since she found that little "Fairy Down" brand sleeping bag for me, I am happy :-) And it is sweetly comforting that I have a friend just literally around the corner. A gentle, if slightly shocking, introduction to this beautiful new land.

My next mission: take a bus to Dehra Dun to buy a guitar!

As always, the songs are calling me home...

I'm sending my boundless blessings...

Om Shanti ~ A

Rishikesh - 1.22.07

Hello kiddos! (freaks, family, friends...)

I am loving you here from my beautiful temporary home of Rishikesh. Indeed, still here! (As anticipated :-) I have moved on from my sweet little ashram to a hotel up the hill. It was a gentle and protected way to enter India, to be swept immediately into ashram life, but I am glad for my freedom now. Ironically, I also miss the groundedness of routine (specific sadhana - spiritual practice - and mealtimes each day...). So I am discovering my own organic daily ritual which includes beautiful moments of sadhana in the sunshine (it's still a bit chilly here, but warming up), including yoga and pranayam, as usual... But the spaces in between are filled with wandering...

Visiting the children's school/orphanage to play with the kids, visit my friend Aaron and the other wonderful volunteers there, eat great organic food in their cafe, sing prayers in their evening children's satsang...

Sitting in Tulsi restaurant, my other favorite eatery - not only for the great food, but for the eclectic mix of mostly young foreigners from all over the world...

Wandering the dusty streets and its mix of smells (incense, dung, deisel...), sounds (bhajans amplified from the temples, pop and sacred music from the vending stalls, boundless bubbles of hindi, endless foreign accents, noisy engines, shouts and calls from people selling things...), and sights (I can't even begin to describe!).

I seem to meet new friends each day. A young Israeli woman who we had a good laugh about how funny it is that so many people spend all their energy complaining about life ("but that's how they find meaning!" I exclaim :-) We laugh and "commiserate" about how much we enjoy our lives, both traveling, and back home... Another amazing woman, who I'm just starting to know, from Norway. We met initially when she asked, "were you singing around a fire in Colorado last summer at a Rainbow Gathering?" Indeed, and she remembered it had been Rebecca and I singing "Jai Ambe Jagadambe..." Getting to know the proud owner of Tulsi, a foreign woman who is marrying her Indian husband this Saturday! Her belly full of baby, we talk about education, ways to kinestetically awaken learning in a more holistic way. We talk of spiders, the web of the universe. We talk of anything we can think of, well into the evening, staying out till 11:30 (late by Indian standards - although I was out one night till 1:30 with my American friend Karl, again at Tulsi).

I spent one afternoon in satsang with ShantiMayi and her sangha, just before they headed to Allahabad for three days of the Kumbh Mela. Very sweet community, although striking that everybody is western, all the way here in Rishikesh! That's where I connected with my tribe.net friend Karl, who I had a fun two days being American in India with. Laughing in that way only irreverent Americans do, only minutes before sharing blessings and ancient Vedic chants down by the Ganges...

Another western-woman teacher is here, Candice O'Denver, teaching the "Great Freedom," resting in awareness... Very beautiful teachings, and I may attend satsang again. But I don't feel I'm here to seek teachings and teachers. They are all around me, in every breath of the air, curve of birdwing, scent of rose, laughter of child, deep gaze of friend, cold mornings and achy feet even!

So I continue on here, for another week it seems, before heading to the Mela and then Varanasi. For now, just enjoying living a life here, being simple. Spending time with the children. Breathing in the sunshine in the morning, practicing yoga and bharata natyam on my rooftop in the afternoons, wandering the streets, smiling and meeting as many gazes as possible...

In Peace ~ Om Shanti Shanti Shantihi!

Rishikesh - 2.2.07


There are no words...

...only Love

Varanasi - 2.13.07

As I type, a little mouse comes by to check out the little neglected chai cup near my computer in this little open air internet stall...

I'm finally relaxing into the madness that is Varanasi. It hasn't been easy, but now I am studying and have a decent place to sleep, so it's starting to feel very sweet...

Not many days more to study here, but always sweet, even just to dip a toe into the river of raga...

I'm taking morning lessons with a wonderful French woman named Uma who has studied Dhrupad for countless years (the oldest style of classical Indian music, in the North at least). Then after wandering free for the afternoons, I take an early evening group class with Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar, a beautiful and sleepy-seeming ancient old man who happens to be in the family that is the lineage holders for Dhrupad... Miraculously he is here only one week, overlapping with my stay... And I'd intended to seek the Dagars out for years!

It wasn't easy landing here. Dirty, noisy, crowded... a city! It is to San Fransisco what Rishikesh is to our gentle and magical Boulder. I tend to love the city in small doses, but never seem to feel at home... I was met with a myriad of challenges that shattered any semblance of conditional peace. But weathering it out, I've found it was the perfect challenge to clarify my dedication to God, beauty, and Love (same same :-)

Speaking of "weathering it...," we've had quite a bit of sloppy rain, a unique challenge in open-toed shoes in a city filled with every possible unknown grodiness imaginable... No, I'm not yet comfortable walking around barefoot, I still feel the separation between my tender white skin and the steaming cowpies...

But I'm used to rock hard beds, little or no pillow, lack of central heat on chilly days, all the crazy smells that come my way...

So many stories I don't even know where to begin! But I will be returning just in one week, and we'll be singing kirtan that Friday, rockin it with Tribal Electra Saturday...

And in case you really want into the heart of my journeys, I will be transcribing my journals upon my return, so look for the book out soon... :-)

Loving you all greatly. I'm sending my blessings that you are wonderful and well, that you are finding ever more that place of deep peace, and that you always know you are Loved, that you are the heart of pure Love....

Happy Valentines Day :-) And Maha Shivaratri!!!

Om Shanti Shanti Shantihi!

For more:
      www.arianasaraha.com - Ariana's website
      blissprincess.blogspot.com - more of Ariana's writings