Yoga

Ved Niketan from outside

Evening aarti ant Parmeth Niketan

I am really en joying Rishikesh. The evenings are the best time, when it is cool and breezy, I could not ask for better weather. I am now staying at Ved Niketan Ashram across the river from Dayananda but closer to the Ramjula section of town. A lot more going on here, and within range of a lot of the big elaborate ashrams. So much to tell as always, it is hard to know where to begin. I'll start with a few days ago, after my last post. I went to a "music concert" that was being advertised on flyers all over town, hoping to see some good musicians. It was held in a little yoga hall and they charged 200 rupees to get in.. I was already turned off buit paid they money. After a tabla player performed solo, which was not so bad, a "sitar player" got up and attempted to play. His instrument was out of tune and right away it was obvious he had no idea how to really play Indian classical music at all. I kept thinking is this a joke? until after a few minutes I got up and left, as all the other westerners apparently had no idea. I was a little upset for a bit, that they were trying to pass this off as a music concert, and was shamed that I had been dooped. You win some you lose some I suppose. After such amazing music in Varanasi, I guess it is not so easy to find here in Rishikesh. But yoga is another story. There are almost too many places to choose from to have a yoga class but I will get to that in a bit. Yesterday I was still at Dayananda in the morning and had breakfast and lunch there, and met Mataji for a bit in between. The food was quite good, and everyone sits on the floor to eat, except some of the older people that sit in chairs. After, everyone washes there own trays in a huge sink area and then puts everything back for the next time. It is cool how the community is so important and eveyone does a share. I gave a donation and packed my bags to head to my next destination. They were really nice and appreciative of the donation, which was not terribly a lot, and did not ask for more or anything. Really nice people, I wish there was some classes going on there necause I may have liked to stay longer. But Ved Niketan is ok. Cheap and filled with westerners, my room is more liek a cell, but it is perfectly fine for a few days. For 100 rupees a night I can hardly complain. They offer yoga classes in the morning and afternoon, and I took part in the afternoon class yesterday and today. The teacher is likeable and the ytoga hall is a really cool place. Doing yoga as the evening approaches is really peacful although I am not sure if I really like yoga all that much. It is more painful than anything else for me, and hard to get through. My favorite aspects are the breathing and mediative parts of the routine, the om chants are really nice. And at the end when you lay on the ground in silence, this is quite nice. I am trying to like it, and I want to but it is more of a chore to me. I think I am finding that I just like meditation, not so much all of the physical labors of yoga. Maybe I will do a few more classes, but tehre is a meditation center that offers daily mediation sessions which I am more interested to take part in over the next week. That being said, I do feel nice after the yoga session is over, a lot more peaceful but it might just have to do with the time of day.

Yesterday after the yoga class I went a few paces over to Parmeth Niketan to watch the evening aarti ceremony on the river. It was quite beautiful with singing and fire and all kinds of stuff. Lots of people were there too. I spotted an englishman who I had met in Varanasi and we went and got dinner afterwards at the Ayurvedic Cafe. I really liek this place, it is only 100 feet from Ved Niketan as well. I had a hot apple cider and a chocolate pancake that hit the spot. We talked a lot about meditation and spirituality and general, and some books worth noting. But I said that I had read so many spiritual books from so many different teachers and that they really all just say the same thing. Maybe in differenty ways, but they all come back to the same points, and truth is really inside your self and no where else. So sooner or later you have to throw it all out, becasue sometimes it fills your head with so many concepts that you can never reach the point that you want to reach, which is not in any book. To this he agreed. He was staying a little ways way and was leaving in the morning, so I said farewell and parted at the gates of Ved Niketan. He was an interesting guy, and very relaxed due to lots of mediation, which makes me want to intensify my own practice.

Ayurvedic Cafe

Today I went to Maharishi's Ashram, made famous by the Beatles who dwelt there for a time in the 60's. It is all deserted now, and really not maintained at all. So there was really not that much to see, everything was deteriorating, and much of the grounds were overgrown. But still coll to see. It is a shame it was not kept up better,it looked like an awesome place. The gate was locked, but someone let me in to look aroudn for 50 rupees. After this I took a long nap, I was really tired today, and eventually got to another yoga class at 4. So not a super eventful day, but I like that I can take my time, and not do much if I decide to. These are the benefits of long term travel, I do not have to squeeze everything into a few days. I just wondered around this huge and beautful ashram next to mine, which has fountains and lights and everything is very nice and well kept. Now I am here at the ashram internet cafe and will soon go back dwon the oad for dinner.Not much else to report, I think I will saty another day here, and then maybe relocate to Laksmanjhula on the other end of town. Peace for now.

I think this was used for meditation, these were all over the place

Gate from the inside at Maharasi's Ashram

Ashram next to mine