transcendental travelation...
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
And then there were two...
With hugs, tears, and words of encouragement Amanda flew home. Sacrificing her manifested travel, exactly where she has always wanted to be, to be exactly where she needed to be. With her family. Brave. Compassionate. Strong...I miss you. I love you. I will see you soon.
Why the universe acts as it does I may never know, but I can have faith in the fact that it always acts accordingly and delivers exactly what everyone needs...somehow. Now the pen has been passed, the script and characters changed, and a new storyline unfolds.
And so, it continues in yet another holy city in a country where everything is turning up holy. Pushkar! An Aladdin-esque city set amongst the arid Indian desert. Periwinkle blue, and white washed buildings creep out into the dry land like a slow growing garden. Drums, bells, voices of prayer, flowers and incense color its air. At the center is Pushkar lake, created when Brahman dropped a lotus flower, it's petals circling the globe three times before dropping to the ground. Because of this, it is home to the only Brahmin temple in the world, it shares the ashes of Mahatma Ghandi with Varanasi. One can wash away all of life's accumulated sins with just a bath in this holy water. It is indescribably rich, yet beautifully humble and real. Plus it has camels.
With the road manager of this band now gone the dynamics are truly different. But it would be doing an injustice to her if I did not continue as best I can with the remainder of my time. And even though distance may have us apart now and leading us down different paths, the commitment I have to Amanda and the life we shared on the road will continue on. Unless i get into camel racing.....
Namaste.
Why the universe acts as it does I may never know, but I can have faith in the fact that it always acts accordingly and delivers exactly what everyone needs...somehow. Now the pen has been passed, the script and characters changed, and a new storyline unfolds.
And so, it continues in yet another holy city in a country where everything is turning up holy. Pushkar! An Aladdin-esque city set amongst the arid Indian desert. Periwinkle blue, and white washed buildings creep out into the dry land like a slow growing garden. Drums, bells, voices of prayer, flowers and incense color its air. At the center is Pushkar lake, created when Brahman dropped a lotus flower, it's petals circling the globe three times before dropping to the ground. Because of this, it is home to the only Brahmin temple in the world, it shares the ashes of Mahatma Ghandi with Varanasi. One can wash away all of life's accumulated sins with just a bath in this holy water. It is indescribably rich, yet beautifully humble and real. Plus it has camels.
With the road manager of this band now gone the dynamics are truly different. But it would be doing an injustice to her if I did not continue as best I can with the remainder of my time. And even though distance may have us apart now and leading us down different paths, the commitment I have to Amanda and the life we shared on the road will continue on. Unless i get into camel racing.....
Namaste.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Heavy hearts in white marble
It is with the heaviest of hearts that I write this post. My beautiful sweet Grandmother has gone to her creator and will now forever bless the stars that look down upon me. She holds hands with my Grandfather now, this I know, and feel certain that they both watch over me on whichever roads I choose to follow. Tomorrow I will begin my journey home, in time to cry and laugh and cry with my family. It was only this morning that I booked my ticket and while it feels so sudden, painfully sudden that I leave India, I know it will wait for me and I will return under sunnier skies.
I find it fitting that on the day before I leave this beautifully mystical country, that we should visit the Taj Mahal. The quintessential Indian icon, which stands as a monument to undying love and utter devotion. I could not help but think of my Grandmother. How proud she is of me to have come this far, following my dreams and how she would have been in pure amazement at the accomplishments of love. I thanked her so many times over today, for allowing me to see this through her eyes.
I haven't really begun to understand the enormity of leaving these travels and returning "home". We have grown so much and experienced more than one could ever expect. Our cups run over... I just envisioned a different kind of homecoming. I am sad. But I know I am going to a place of love and warm arms. Nate and I will not be returning together though, which makes my net all the more fragile. He will be continuing onward to Tanzania to be with his sister for a time. Family is the most cherished and important bond that we have and I am grateful that he will be with her to 'continue filling his cup'...
In light. In love. In Peace. Be well and know that we are all one...
I find it fitting that on the day before I leave this beautifully mystical country, that we should visit the Taj Mahal. The quintessential Indian icon, which stands as a monument to undying love and utter devotion. I could not help but think of my Grandmother. How proud she is of me to have come this far, following my dreams and how she would have been in pure amazement at the accomplishments of love. I thanked her so many times over today, for allowing me to see this through her eyes.
I haven't really begun to understand the enormity of leaving these travels and returning "home". We have grown so much and experienced more than one could ever expect. Our cups run over... I just envisioned a different kind of homecoming. I am sad. But I know I am going to a place of love and warm arms. Nate and I will not be returning together though, which makes my net all the more fragile. He will be continuing onward to Tanzania to be with his sister for a time. Family is the most cherished and important bond that we have and I am grateful that he will be with her to 'continue filling his cup'...
In light. In love. In Peace. Be well and know that we are all one...
Surrendering to chaos so that we may find the peace
I have been led here to pray. I have been led here to let go. I have been led here to be a part of something greater than myself, to surrender all that I know so that the entirety of my being can be shaken to the ground and my temple rebuilt...
Varanasi is the holiest of cities in India. To die here and have your ashes spread in the Ganges River is the most important ritual that a Hindu could do. Ascertaining them to ----. It's a ancient place filled with thousands of modern pilgrims. Every one of them surrendering to the power of the River. To bath in the waters is a act of contrition--- and one that is done in full view, without modesty. Overrun with pollution, tourists, poverty and cows, these elements seem to be lost upon those given over so deeply to devotion. Privacy is an unknown word here. Every aspect of life, takes place in the open along this powerful current that flows from the Himalayas. India is unlike any place I have ever been.
I've come to understand that these writings are the best way for me to process of all this beauty and madness while I am traveling. There is too much we have seen and too much that I can't understand just yet.
Varanasi is the holiest of cities in India. To die here and have your ashes spread in the Ganges River is the most important ritual that a Hindu could do. Ascertaining them to ----. It's a ancient place filled with thousands of modern pilgrims. Every one of them surrendering to the power of the River. To bath in the waters is a act of contrition--- and one that is done in full view, without modesty. Overrun with pollution, tourists, poverty and cows, these elements seem to be lost upon those given over so deeply to devotion. Privacy is an unknown word here. Every aspect of life, takes place in the open along this powerful current that flows from the Himalayas. India is unlike any place I have ever been.
I've come to understand that these writings are the best way for me to process of all this beauty and madness while I am traveling. There is too much we have seen and too much that I can't understand just yet.
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