Pilgrimage Yogananda’S India Ron Lindahn & Hélène Castéra
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PILGRIMAGE YOGANANDA’S INDIA RON LINDAHN & HÉLÈNE CASTÉRA 1 2 October 6 & 7 - Delhi We arrived in Delhi late in the evening. While clearing customs Hélène received an email from Air France apologizing because they had missed putting her baggage on the airplane, and assuring her that they would do all possible to have her bag delivered soon. So we had a few minutes to talk about options, while I went to baggage claim to recover my little suitcase. We then went to the Air France special lost luggage counter and when it was our turn the woman at the desk said "Did you check the baggage claim area?" So we went back to the carousel and sure enough it was waiting there feeling a little abandoned, but ready to go. Upon leaving the airport, which is bright , modern, clean, and spacious, we walked out the door, right into India. The hubbub of the crowded street scene began at the door and continued for the next half hour and several miles into the city to our hotel. It was midnight, warm, a bit humid and there is a smell unique to Del- hi that cannot be described. It is not so much unpleasant, as it is different. One becomes acclimated to it fairly quickly. It has been more than thirty years since my last visit and with my first breath of Delhi many memories came flooding back. Our hotel was in the bazar section of the city. Even at one o'clock in the morning there was a great deal of activity. After thir- ty hours of continuous travel I slept till nearly noon that day. We had several important things to accomplish before our 9:30 pm departure; changing money, obtaining a SIM card so Hélène would have a phone to make calls in India, lunch, and a return to the hotel to reclaim our luggage. A friend of Hélène’s wanted to meet her while in Delhi and offered to connect with her at the main Bank of India to change money at 2:00pm. The office is some distance from our hotel and we decided to go to a closer branch and have lunch, then if we had time, to contact her friend. Our attempts to first locate, then ex- change money were thwarted and we were sent to the main Bank of India office. After all of our running around we ended up at the bank at exactly 2:00, the time we were supposed to meet her friend, and he was waiting there with his friend, who is a high ranking 3 manager at the bank. After changing our money she invited us up to the bank cafeteria, on the roof of this 12 story building where we had a wonderful view of the city, a nice plain, very Indian meal, and a chance to get to know a couple of dear sweet souls. Following lunch we went to the manager’s office and had a cup of chai and talked a bit more. Following our time at the bank we made our way back to the bazar area where we were able to locate an Airtel office and obtain the needed SIM card for the phone. There was a moment of chal- lenge when Hélène discovered that the padlock on her back pack would not open. Something had happened and no combination would open it. Finally we were directed to a 'locksmith' who fid- dled with it for a minute before picking up a large hammer and giant chisel and, giving it a smart blow, burst the lock and solved the problem of not being able to get in the bag. We see ingenious solutions everywhere. We had some chai and used the internet connection to check email and the new SIM card. Finally it was back to the hotel for our bags and off to the train station for our 9:30 pm departure to Ha- ridwar. We are scheduled to arrive at 5:45 am. The first class sleep- ing compartment is comfortable and included accommodations for charging all of our devices. Now for some much needed rest. 4 October 8 - Haridwar From Delhi we traveled by train overnight arriving in Harid- war an hour or so late and without much real sleep, after 7 am. We found a place for breakfast near the train station. We took an auto rickshaw about 8 kilometers to the Urmi ho- tel. Very nice rooms, accommodating staff, nice restaurant. After checking in we went back into Haridwar by auto rick- shaw - first one wanted too much for the trip so we started walking and a few blocks away found another who agreed to take us to Swami Keshavananda's Ashram. The driver claimed to know the place, but did not have a clue where we wanted to go. After several failed attempts, it became obvious that he was taking us back to the train station. We insisted he turn around and go back to the main road we knew the ashram to be on. After turning around he drove us directly to the place, which was really quite close. The ashram was a lovely garden spot. Keshavananda was a dis- ciple of Lahiri Mahasaya, and reacher of Paramahansa Yogananda. We visited and meditated at the shrine containing Lahiriji's ashes, then went into the cave where Keshavananda used to meditate. We sat in meditation there for some time. We saw the rudraksha tree that Swami had planted himself and were gifted with seeds from the tree by the resident in charge. We also saw the tree where La- hiriji, after leaving his body, appeared to Keshavananda. From Keshavashram we went to the evening Ganga Aarti - de- votion to Mother Ganges. This elaborate ceremony included chanting of mantras and of- ferings of flowers and fire to Divine Mother as river Ganges. The walk to the place of ceremony was a journey through what could have been an ancient bazar with little shops and stalls selling all manner of items, and wandering vendors with holy beads, and rafts of flowers with candles to float in the river as part of the Aarti. There were also vendors selling electric gizmos, flashy bling, food, clothing, etc. As we entered the throng and removed our shoes, leaving them with hundreds of others, we were signaled by a priest and led through the crowd of hundreds right to the front of the river, 5 actually in the river on a step. With pants rolled up we stood in holy Mother Ganga while the music and chanting filled the air and large flaming lamps were moved in time to the music. At the end Hélène took the flower raft she had purchased and floated it with the others out onto the twinkling river. She then joined a lovely Indian woman standing next to her, and performed a small cere- mony together before floating a second raft in the river. Following the ceremony we made our way back to the Urmi Hotel, then walked a couple of blocks to a nice out of the way restaurant where we had a wonderful meal before retiring for the evening. 6 October 9 - Rishikesh In the morning we were picked up by our driver for the trip to Rishikesh. The drive was less than an hour and the entire journey was along a busy highway, bustling with businesses and filled with traffic. A note about the roads, including "highways," which are like a two lane back road in Rabun County. The roads do have a white line painted down the center, but this is not to indicate lanes or sides of the road. The line is provided as a work’s project to keep some Indians employed. It is there only because much of the rest of the world uses this convention for purposes of structure and order. India has never seen the need to impose so much order from the outside, it has allowed growth to be more organic and the result is a system that works perfectly well, without rules and excess or- ganization. The result is a driving experience that is baffling to a foreigner. At first. Cars drive on the left side of the road, thanks to British rule for so many years. But the left side of the road is more of an idea, a suggestion, than a reality. Basically it means that oncoming cars stay to the left of each other. Beyond that it is a free for all. The roads are clogged with cars, auto-rickshaws (a three wheeled golf cart like convenience), motor scooters, motorcycles, bicycles, bicy- cle-rickshaws, people walking, cows and water buffalo walking, all making space, passing whenever there is a sliver of space. It is com- mon for a car to be passing a bus, while a scooter is passing the car, while scooters and rickshaws are coming the other way, on a two lane road. When a larger vehicle approaches the traffic melts back into its "lane," or side of the road. All vehicles are constantly honk- ing, not in an aggressive, impatient, road rage manner, but more like the echolocation that bats use to navigate. The roads, alleys, bazaars, are all so clogged, and filled with so much traffic swift- ly intersecting and passing within an inch or two that it appears the folks here have developed a kind of hive mind which allows them to pass huge numbers of people, and immense amounts of goods, in extremely close proximity, without injury, or even upset.