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Letter #6
Rishikesh, Swami Chidanand, Ganges River, Haridwar
Hi Friends and Family
Travel Day
Wednesday was a long, exhausting travel day. We left our hotel in Agra at 730AM to travel via motor coach back to Delhi. From Delhi, we took a 3:30 train to Haridwar. We had enlightening conversations with Indian people.
Upon arrival in Haridwar, one of India’s most sacred cities, our senses were overwhelmed by the presence of thousands of pilgrims and devotees in their colorful turbans and saris. They lined the platform and back rooms where they either waited for their train home or were planning to spend the night.
We walked thru the streets at night to move to out to our motor coaches which were already carrying our luggage. It was a bit scary because the power went off twice, forcing us to walk in pitch darkness. Power shutting down periodically is common in India.
We took a 1.5 hour ride to Rishikesh.
Hotel From Hell (will describe in detail later)
We were shocked upon arrival at our hotel to discover our buses could not descend the steep hill to give us access to the hotel because it was situated on the side of a hill. Only a rugged, twisted path connected us to the hotel. We had to leave our buses and take ten jeeps (of five people) to tackle a treacherous, steep, drive down cliffs, IN THE RAIN, and it was pitch black! I was really terrified because the roads were winding and slippery and we almost overshot a turn. (we would have flown into the mighty Ganges). Then, we had to wait for them to unload al our luggage into jeeps.
We had traveled FIFTEEN hours from Agra.
Fr Leo reminded us how excited he was we would soon be at our 5-star resort and spa overlooking the Ganges.
He was wrong!
Our rooms were so bad I thought we were on candid camera. This was more like a one-star hotel. The rooms were rustic, dirty, devoid of what we needed (towels, drinking water, hot water etc), and the shower consisted of a slab of concrete with a shower head in the ceiling near a smelly toilet.
I had to climb 4 stories of steep winding steps in the pouring rain. My luggage did not arrive in my room till 115AM.
We were all devastated by the site of this dump!
It rained torrentially all night and some rooms flooded, some had bed bugs, and someone slipped and fell in their room. We were supposed to stay here 4 nights!
Fortunately, our travel team came to the rescue working thru the night and found us a 4-star Western hotel in nearby Haridwar. It was clean and neat, and safe. The staff was very friendly and the food was good. (we spent I peaceful night there) We would head back to Delhi early to spend the last two nights at the Taj Mahal (5-star) hotel.
This hotel incident triggered all our “core issues” and brought us to an extreme low.
I was hungry, angry, lonely, and tired (and frightened) in that room!
We also found out we could have NO meat in this state.
Rishikesh Spiritual Connection
We took jeeps to Rishikesh and walked across the Ganga footbridge alongside hundreds of other worshippers. Walking thru the town was a whole other experience. We noticed the people seemed much more serene in this holy city—even the cows seemed happier, and the beggars were less aggressive.
We headed to a special ashram. Fr Leo and Shama arranged for us to have a private audience with Swami Chidanand, known throughout the world for his ground-breaking work in youth education, disaster relief, upliftment of women, interfaith harmony, and village reconstruction. He captivated us with his gentleness his resolve and his powerful message of love, forgiveness, non-violence and “being the light”. We were all mesmerized seated in a semi-circle facing him. Our groups ages are from 20s to 70s. He fielded such questions as How can all the worlds religions get along? and Are we born knowing “the way?”. He answered our questions with Zen-like stories.
He spoke of the Dharma and how it creates our karma. Dharma stands for duty, harmony, amity, righteousness, morality, and non-violence. We have the power to create and change our own destiny based upon our thoughts and actions.
Naturally, we wanted to stay longer but he had to leave us for daily 2:00 silent meditation.
Next, we gathered together in front of the Ganga—the Holy River, celebrating mother spirit.
We formed a circle and held hands while father Leo led us in prayer and poured holy water over us.
We watched worshippers bathe and do laundry, while cows came by for us to pet them.
I took a dip in the Ganga.
We noticed the people seemed much more serene in this holy city—even the cows seemed happier, and the beggars were less aggressive.
Haridwar
Haridwar is located in the foothills of the Himalayas, and considered to be one of India’s most sacred cities because Vishnu left his footmarks there.
Ganga Aanti
After checking into our new hotel in Haridwar, 22 of us left at 5:30 for a moving experience: Ganga Aanti. Every night at sundown, thousands of villagers and devotes gather on the banks of the river Ganga to pay homage to Mother Ganga.
Vendors were selling flowers, bindis (red forehead dots), empty water vessels and many other items.
At sundown, the bells sounded, flames were lit, and boats of flowers were unleashed into the river. Hundreds of tiny boats filled with colorful flowers lined the Ganga. We each lit the flame in our boats filled with flowers and released them to the mighty river.
The next morning, some in the group got massages at the hotel and some of us took pedicabs into town to the bazaar. What struck me is that they do not bargain here. All prices are fixed. There was relief knowing we did not have to use drama or manipulation to play the bargaining game. Obviously, they avoid confrontation and are far less motivated by profits in this holy city.
I noticed that since we experienced that horrible hotel, and it got resolved, we seem to be much lighter since our travel team resolved the problem to the best of their ability. They are a great team (Shama, Anita, Fr Leo, and Michael). We are so grateful to be in a clean hotel now!
Shama, who owns Rama tours is so attentive—she even arranges to have birthday cakes for those celebrating. We will be guests in her home here tomorrow!
The bus ride to Delhi was much more relaxing and even the rest stop was nice with CLEAN MODERN toilets!
We shared more of our life stories and told jokes.
We begin every day reading the Buddhist Prayer together.
We stopped for Chinese dinner!
5-Star Splendor
At 11PM, we arrived at our magnificent Taj Mahal hotel in Delhi. It is *****!! The turbaned, uniformed, white-gloved guards opened the doors for us, a women placed rose petal bindis on our foreheads, and jasmine leis around our necks. Everything is fragrant here.
My room is spectacular with all nice amenities including robe, slippers, chocolates, and dessert cake.
I am in heaven!
Breakfast service was exceptional! They attended all our needs. There are even attentive attendants in the lobby bathrooms.
We are off to see Delhi today—including the Ghandi museum and a Hindu temple!
Please forgive the typos.
Namaste
Karla in India
