ananda sagara

trichy--> madurai--> varkala--> sivananda ashram, neyyar dam--> ganga darshan, munger--> delhi

well, there's nothing like a train that gets redirected onto the "backroads" track, causing frequent stops in the middle of nowhere for prolonged periods, where people shit ALL OVER the toilets, clog the sinks with garbage, smoke bidis and play music at blaring levels from 3 separate mobile phones at the same time, and eventually arrives 7.5 hours late to make one not SO sad about leaving india. ironically reading "bhakti yoga sagar" (ocean of the yoga of divine love) while debating karate kicking mobiles out of peoples' hands and out the window. would it be ok to do that if i compensate them financially? as with most things in india, it's funny NOW. o the mind!

of course it was a bit of a shock, going directly from ganga darshan, an ashram where 12 hours of the day are to be spent in silence, as well as at meal times, a beautiful bastion of peace where mobiles are outlawed, where you're given a toothbrush as part of your cleaning supplies, where the bedding stores are organized with all sheets folded the same way so that the folds come to the front making them easier to count... you get the picture.

i still love india but i hate what's happening here. the flood of materialism, mcdonalds, mobiles... there's still so much good, so much depth, so much richness, so much bhakti... but i fear for these things. i see the young people here by and large becoming lazy or hyperactive and completely obsessed with the worst parts of western culture. why are you wearing skin tight jeans in 40 degree heat? it's madness.

i've found this journey very tiring. rewarding as always, but a bit heavier than past journeys. so much destruction. of the land. of the culture... recognising myself as part of the problem... in the end, i wish that i had spent more time at ganga darshan. travelling and pilgrimages are amazing, but it's a very slow way to make real change. the discipline and luminosity of ashram life are more hard to bear, but so effective at focusing the mind, energy and emotions. life feels more REAL there, the consciousness more awake.

so that's the point i've come to in this journey, once again roaming rajasically around pahar ganj, passing time and dropping rupees before returning to the fresh air of the west coast.