Final Post and Introduction

This is my final post to this blog and in it I aim to present a small summary of the concept of yoga as I understand it after my experience in India, because I believe a lot of people are confused by all the different styles of yoga and do not clearly understand that yoga is not just a form of exercise. This little summary might not be completely correct and it might give rise to some discussion or constructive criticism, which I appreciate. This summary can be used as an introduction into my blog and after you have read it, I suggest you read the posts from oldest to latest, unless you are looking for something specific, in which case you can use the specific labels, which you will find on the right hand side.

What is yoga?

Literally yoga means "union" or "to yoke". Yoga is the union of breath with the body, of the mind with the muscles, and the self (or soul) with the divine. Yoga is not a religion and does not require you to believe in a certain God or chant certain mantras. It is an ancient Indian discipline which leads to health in the body, peace in the mind, joy in the heart and liberation of the soul. Liberation of the soul? In this context, I believe liberation of the soul does not mean union with the divine after death, but liberation from anger, greed, worry, desires, despair and depression.

Often the reason for our unhappiness on a personal level is the fact that we are constantly at odds between our mind and our heart, our desires and our fears. We feel alone, anxious and scared.
In our families and communities we criticize each other and compete with each other, "My style of yoga is better than yours." And we devide ourselves by nations, religions and colour. Yoga in its most complete meaning is the panacea for all that which ails us and devides us.

Here's a dictionary definition of yoga:
Yoga: n 1: Hindu discipline aimed at training the consciousness for a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility that is achieved through the three paths of actions and knowledge and devotion
2: a system of exercises practiced as part of the Hindu discipline to promote control of the body and mind [Hindi, from Sanskrit yoga, union, joining.

Note the paths of action, knowledge and devotion. There are many types of yoga that don't even include doing poses like down dog or tree. This is because yoga is not just physical exercise. There is yoga that only focus on obtaining knowledge of sacred texts. There is yoga that is all about devotion and service.

Types of Yoga

• Hatha Yoga

Most people if you ask them what kind of yoga they do, will say "Hatha Yoga". A lot of people get confused as to what all the different kinds of yoga are.
Hatha literally means "sun meets moon" and this type of yoga emphasizes specific physical postures or asanas. The ultimate goal of practicing difficult postures, however, is not a toned bum or flexible hamstrings, though these are sometimes the by-product of a yoga practice. The ultimate goal, if we are to really do yoga, is to force the mind to withdraw from the outside world to create perfect spiritual insight and tranquility. Hatha yoga provides us with a healthy body, which is a stepping stone towards achieving a still mind.

There are many different styles of yoga:
Anusara, Ashtanga, Bikram, ISHTA, Iyengar, Jivamukti, Kripalu (derived from Kundalini), Kriya, Power, Restorative, Shinto, Sivananda, Vinyasa (Flow).
These are all forms of Hatha yoga and I suggest people try out different styles to find one that suits them. There is a good comparison of the most popular styles / kinds of yoga in the February edition of the Yoga Journal.

Ashtanga yoga was and is taught by Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, India. A few decades ago westerners started going to Mysore to practice with Jois, or Guruji, as he is called. They brought the practice to the U.S., Europe, well now pretty much all developed countries have ashtanga yoga. Guruji, now at 91 years of age, is not the only ashtanga teacher in India, but he is by far the most popular.
Iyengar yoga is called Iyengar after the instructor who popularized this type of yoga. BKS Iyengar, who is also in his 90's, teaches in Pune, India.

BKS Iyengar and BNS Iyengar, along with Pattabhi Jois, learnt yoga from their guru Sri T. Krishnamacharya. While Jois and BNS today teach the vinyasa based form of yoga known as ashtanga, BKS focused on breaking down postures and working on the alignment. Iyengar yoga is sometimes referred to as "prop yoga", because of the use of props such as blocks, straps and blankets. If you are a detail oriented person, who doesn't mind a lot of verbal instruction by the teacher, Iyengar yoga may be the thing for you and it is a great base for understanding alignment. It can also be a good choice if you are practicing with injuries.

• Japa / Mantra Yoga

This form of yoga involves the use of words or phrases that are repeated either mentally or verbally.

• Karma Yoga

This is the first of the vedic methods recommended for self-realization. It is the path of selfless action, in which the practitioner serves others without expecting anything in return.

• Jnana Yoga

This is the path of knowledge in which the practitioner seeks the answers to questions such as "Who am I", through science and philosophy. Ghandi never did any asana's, yet he was a model yogi on this path.

• Bhakti Yoga

This is the path of devotion and is considered the superior method for achieving self-realization, when compared to Karma and Jnana yoga. Priests, monks, nuns and other holy people all follow this path.

• Raja Yoga

Raja Yoga means the king of yogas and is based on the yoga sutras written in sanskrit by Patanjali some 2800 years ago. Yoga is believed to be a lot older, and there are many other sanskrit texts on the subject which have been lost, such as the yoga korunta.
The yoga sutras explain yoga as an eight-limbed tree. Ashtanga means "eight limbs", but when we refer to Ashtanga Yoga, we all mean the practice of the asanas, which is only one limb. When Pattabhi Jois named the style of yoga he developed, from what he learned from his guru, he meant it as a reminder to practice all eight limbs and not just the asanas. Yoga is a way of life and its teachings should penetrate every aspect of our being from your actions to your speech to your thoughts.

There is a style of Yoga called Integral yoga, which integrates the various branches / forms / types of yoga mentioned above.

The eight limbs of Raja Yoga

There are many many translations of the yoga sutras and I have tried to identify, through discussion with people who have read some of them and by reading reviews on them, the most easily readable translations. I have put links to two of the ones I have identified as easily readable on the blog on the right hand side.

As mentioned earlier, yoga is not a religion and none of the eight limbs depends on one's spiritual belief system and it does not matter what name or form of the divine you worship.

The first four limbs are considered the external limbs, and the last four limbs the internal limbs.???? The order of the limbs is important and the first two limbs are the foundation of the "tree", the moral and ethical code of conduct.

1. Yamas (actions)

a) Ahimsa: non-violence
b) Satyam: truthfulness
c) Asteya: not stealing
d) Brahmacharya: restraint and moderation
This is frequently translated as celibacy or abstinance, but after more research, I found the following description: one whose actions are pure and holy, to create loyal, honest and loving relationships bringing us closer and closer to God.
e) Aparigraha: non-accumulation/non-hoarding
"There is more than enough for everyone's need, but not enough for any man's greed." Mahatma Ghandi. We need to realise that nothing belongs to us, we are merely lending it for certain period of time, and the more we try to accumulate, the more we acquire, the more we are bogged down and the more difficulties we face.

2. Niyamas (observances)

a) Suacha: refraining from putting anything impure into our being (drugs, cigarettes, negative gossip, pornography etc)
b) Santosha: contentment
We should strive for an attitude of gratitude instead of hungering for more (possessions and achievements).
c) Tapas: practice of tolerance
taking control over our volatile mind, emotions and insatiable senses
d) Swadhaya: study of the scriptures
We should read something spiritual and inspiring every day, but we should also use introspection as a tool to examine our lives, just like a businessman examines his balance sheet.
e) Ishwra pranidhana: devotion to God

3. Asana (Seat on which to sit to practice yoga - control of the body)
Asana (or the physical posture) is not the yoga, it is the preparation for the practice of yoga. We must not stop with asana, the asana readies us for the higher limbs of yoga.

4. Pranayama (prolonging our life force and energy - control of the breath)
As the breath becomes still, slow, deep and steady we find that our lives also become calm, collected and centred.

5. Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses - control of the senses)
Turning the object of our senses from the external to the internal.

6. Dharana (singleminded concentration - control of the mind)
To channel all thought-power in one direction and stop the incessant wanderings of the mind.

7. Dhyana (meditation)
Not to be confused with concentration, where there is a subject (you) and an object (what you are concentrating on). In meditation all borders, boundaries and seperation between the universe and us begin to disappear and we begin to realise the inherent oneness of all beings and all creation. At first we will need a technique to get us there, but once we are in a meditative state, we do not need a technique any more.

8. Samadhi (to merge)
This is the ultimate goal of enlightenment.

Rishikesh

Namaste, this is your cross legged guru coming from the yoga capital of the world... Well that is what Rishikesh calls itself, and this is with some justification, because there are a multitude of ashrams, not just shala's where you practice yoga, but ashrams where you live and do yoga, lining the ganges river banks and hugging the slopes of the foothills of the Himalayas. Even the hotels have got daily yoga sessions taking place at the hotel, which outsiders can also join for a fee of about Rs 100.

So let me start from the beginning. On Wednesday, the 7th of March, I left McLeod Ganj and got on the bus in Dharamsala for Dehra Dun, which was supposed to be a 12 hour trip. We left at 17:30, but only arrived in Dehra Dun around 13:00 on Thursday, due to the fact that the bus got a punctured tire sometime after midnight. I was snoozing and only got out of the bus to see what was going on around four or five am. By that time they were busy putting a spare tyre on but I do not know what took them so long. When we finally got going we went to get the tyre that was just put on, replaced... I have a suspicion that the tyre was borrowed. Well we finally got going again after seven.

When we arrived in Dehra Dun, people started getting off at different places until only three tourists (including myself) were left and the bus driver decided to drop us off in the middle of some busy intersection (I guess he wanted to get rid of us so he could get some shut eye), so the three of us had to catch bus number 5 to the ISBT (Inter State Bus Terminal), which we found out by asking the shop keepers around us. The "bus" was more like the rickshaws used in Malaysia and Thailand, slightly bigger than the black and yellow kerosene burning rickshaws used in India, and it has 2 bunks on which you can seat 3 people each. It was not fun in the midday heat with all my baggage and the fact that I had felt nauseaus since I got onto the bus (I think it was the fried BakLek I had at the restaurant before leaving - I won't be looking at any more fried food in a while!) and had not eaten since did not help. I eventually stopped a "bus" that was not completely packed and got on with all my gear. It ended up being almost half an hours drive to the ISBT, which I did not expect and the "bus" filled up very quickly until we were squashed in with 4 on each bunk and all my gear on other peoples laps...

At the ISBT I caught a local bus to Rishikesh, which was another one and a half hours away, and was another terribly squashing experience. I was alone now even though the other 2 tourists were also going to Rishikesh because we could not all fit on "bus" number 5.

So I eventually got to Rishikesh just before 16:00. I had intended getting there early in the morning and hoped to do some yoga during the day, but it was not to be. I had gone through the lonely planet and found the conglomeration of ashrams I found most interesting. Getting off the bus I had the usual trouble with rickshaw touts and walked two or three hundred metres away from the bus station where I was still charged 4 times the price locals pay (Rs 5), but it was still only two thirds of what I would have paid at the bus station.

It took me a while to finally decide on an ashram. Along the way I met people staying at the Shivananda ashram who told me that the yoga there was not so nice and they were actually looking for an afternoon yoga session at another ashram. We crossed the pedestrian bridge over the holy river "mother" ganges, and looked at 2 ashrams on the other side. The girls ended up joining the yoga class at one of them, even though they were half an hour late. I decided to go to the previous ashram we had looked at, the Parmarth Niketan Ashram.

In India, so many things happen by coincidence... I found out later that this was the largest ashram in Rishikesh with over 1000 rooms, and on arriving I found out that the International Yoga festival had just taken place here from the 1st to the 7th of March. If I had known, I would have come to Rishikesh instead of gone to McLeod Ganj... anyway, will have to do this another time.

I had to wait quite some time to be helped, but I eventually got a room for Rs 400 a night, which includes all meals and all the yoga sessions at the ashram... Excellent!
At 18:00 until 19:00 every evening there is aarti at the banks of the ganges, run by this ashram. Aarti is prayer ceremonies and is basically lots of singing and clapping hands sitting at the ghats (steps down to the river). According to the literature here it is world famous and it was quite a pleasant experience.
After that we had supper, which was thali. I was actually looking forward to rice and dal, as I had not had any since I left the south of India.
The gates to the ashram close at 22:00, and the town is actually dead by that time because all the shops close between 19:00 and 21:30.

Friday
I got up in time for the seven o'clock Iyengar class with Karin O'Bannon, which was quite good, but typical of the Iyengar style, she took one single pose, the warrior pose, and we worked on that for the entire one and a half hours, just perfecting alignment. This is a great complement to Ashtanga yoga in my opinion, but of course you never ever break into a sweat. Straight afterwards I went to the Kundalini Yoga session until ten o'clock. This was a more energetic class and includes lots of chanting and the movements are timed, but I did not enjoy Kundalini very much.
At the end of class someone called my name and guess who happened to be at the same ashram in India... it was Kerry, the owner of the Haum of Yoga in Johannesburg. As breakfast time at the ashram was over, we went to a nice little restaurant outside and caught up with each other. Kerry had come to India specifically for the International Yoga Festival and told me more about it. She wants to get a group of South Africans to go together next year. She also said that the Kundalini Yoga during the festival was much much better and was led by Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa, a sentiment I had heard before too.

Kerry also made an insightful comment that I thought I would share. There are seven chakras along the body's axis. We were discussing how difficult it is to travel in India and she explained that while travelling in India you are operating from your root chakra, because you are always on the defensive, and therefore it is very difficult to operate from your heart chakra and be open and loving to others.

Lunch at the ashram was another simple thali with rice, dal, a vegetable, chapati and some pickled mixed vegetables (achar) which I enjoyed. At three o'clock I said good-bye to Kerry, as she was leaving for Delhi and I gave her the biltong I had been carrying since the beginning of my trip (I have been living on a pure vegetarian diet since arriving at Purple Valley) as she wanted to give it to a South African friend in Delhi.

At 15:30 I did another yoga class which focused on backbending. It was the first time I had ever gone into the full back-bend without having generated all the internal heat through the ashtanga yoga sequence.

Supper was another Thali with different vegetables and was very good again... I really enjoyed the food at the ashram even though it was very very simple.

Saturday
My last day at the ashram. A very unexpected rain shower woke me up in the early hours of the morning. I then joined the satsang at 6 o'clock, which basically consisted of meditating for an hour while the sun was coming up, listening to chanting music in the background and a candle lit in front of us. There were only three of us at the session.

The next available class was the Kundalini at 8:30, but I decided to go look at the yoga at another ashram. I watched as they started and decided not to join as it was just too calm and easy for my taste. I ended up spending four hours on the Internet working on the blog and then had lunch at the ashram... guess what it was... Thali... but I enjoyed it again.

After lunch I decided to explore the town more and strolled up to Lakshman Jhula (pedestrian bridge) and further up along the ganges and then turned back and crossed the ganges on the bridge, walked back down the other side and crossed back over on the Swarg Ashram Jhula. This was about a three or four hour walk, during which I saw many signs for a 7 day Ashtanga Yoga retreat.
On the way I bought some gooseberries. I did not expect to see gooseberries in India and when asked what it is, the locals call them raspberries and cherries and who knows what else, because they don't know the English name. I then realised that there were monkeys around and quickly had to make an escape, only to realise that where I was now standing on the street there were two more monkeys watching me from the roof of the building. So I ate them very quickly.

A quick comment on the holy cows... They are everywhere, even crossing the pedestrian bridges, and of course they shit everywhere, so you have to watch where you step ALL the time. In the mornings some hay gets put out by the ghats next to the river, but after that the cows forage in dustbins etc around town. I have heard that they sometimes die from eating plastic packets and I have personally seen a cow literally eat the posters off the walls using its tongue to tear pieces of paper away.

After the walk I bought another four books at a great little store that gave twenty percent discount on top of the very cheap prices. I then joined the evening aarti at the ashram again and then headed off to my room where I showered and got ready for my forty hour trip back home. During that time, the heavens opened up again and I was looking at a very wet trip to the bus station. I went and had another Thali for supper.... mmmm... I love this ashram... another full belly and I am ready to leave.
I asked the guys if there was anyway to have a taxi come pick me up at the ashram because of the rain, but this was not possible, because there are NO bridges for cars!!! Luckily the rain had died down and I did not get too wet hiking to the other side. I was wearing my shorts and long pants as well as a t-shirt, long-sleeved top, and wind breaker, even though it was not very cold. This was only to ensure that I could fit all my stuff into my bags. I had also donated my towel and some other t-shirts to the ashram.

On the other side I had to bargain for a taxi to the bus station because with the rain, the taxi driver was not going to be able to pick up any other passengers. The bus was supposed to leave at 21:30, but I got there at around 20:50, just in case it left early. I could not afford to miss any of my modes of transport from now on. My bus was scheduled to arrive in Delhi after four in the morning and there was no other bus that evening. The bus the next day would have been too late to catch my flight to Mumbai, which left at 14:00.
I was however quite undisturbed if any of my modes of transport were delayed, because I did not relish the thought of arriving at four am in Delhi and I had plenty of time to spare in between. As it turned out, the bus we were all waiting for at the travel agent never arrived, so the travel agent quickly packed the seven or eight of us into two taxi's and took us to the bus station where there was pandemonium because people had paid for sleepers and were not getting sleeper seats etc. I was refunded the Rs 250 I had paid and paid Rs 200 to the conductor on this bus. I was relieved that I did get a seat though, because the bus was full!!!

Sunday
We arrived in Delhi around five in the morning and I read my Lonely Planet to figure out what I would do until it was time to go to the airport. I decided to go look for a yoga or meditation class in the city and afterwards have breakfast and then do some final shopping.
I left my big backpack at the cloak room at the bus station and then took the Metro for Rs 9 to Connaught Place.
I had chosen to visit the Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga, and guess what I found when I got there. They are holding a National Yoga Week from the 12th to the 16th of March. It would have cost a mere Rs 1200 for the entire week, including accommodation and meals... That is incredibly cheap. But the fact that there is so much happening around yoga wherever I look, makes me think that yoga is well and alive in India!!!
There was unfortunately no classes that I could attend because everybody was apparently preparing for the yoga week.

So I headed back to Connaught Place to find a restaurant serving up some good south indian breakfast... my last chance :-). I found a restaurant that was open at 8am on a Sunday morning and was recommended by the Lonely Planet. However, the idli's were tiny, the dosa was too thin and Delhi was extremely expensive. I remember having breakfast with Ayu at a restaurant in Mysore and we had four plates of idli, and three plates of dosa and four cups of chai and it all came to about Rs 58. One plate of tiny idli's here cost Rs 45.

After enquiring what the best option would be to get to the airport, I headed back to the bus station to collect my bag. I got back to Connaught place around 10:30 when some stores started opening up, but most remained closed because it was Sunday. I started searching for masala chai... spices for the tea in India. As Connaught place was not a residential area and had no general stores, only brand stores, I was very unsuccessful in finding tea spices.

At around noon I looked for a public bus to the airport but was unsuccessful as well and eventually resigned myself to having to pay about Rs 250 for a rickshaw. Luckily I found a very helpful gentleman who told me to wait in the building, while he got me a rickshaw for the true price of Rs 60 or 70. Eventually I got a rickshaw for Rs 90, plus Rs 10 for the bags, which I was very happy with. On the way to the airport I struck a deal with the rickshaw driver to make a detour to some shops to buy Masala Chai.

My flight was slightly delayed and we arrived in Mumbai just before five in the afternoon, but I was very impressed again with the service on Jet Airways and the food. We were served Baskin and Robbins ice cream after lunch, so I had three helpings :-)
After I got my bags, I took the shuttle transfer to the international terminal where I had to spend seven hours waiting. This is the same terminal where I had spent the first few hours of my trip (when I arrived in India) waiting until morning. The food in the terminal was extremely expensive at four times the price on the street, and so was the internet cafe.

At midnight I joined the long queue to have my bags security checked and they actually asked me to open my backpack to get my alarm clock. They took out the battery, so that the clock would not tick. The aeroplane was new and big and more spacious than any of the domestic flights I had been on, but the service on SAA was not very good. I did not have anyone sitting next to me, which was lucky as the flight was 95% full. We landed at 7:15 and I was happy to be home.

McLeod Ganj

In the morning, Saturday the 3rd, I woke up to find the weather very gloomy and overcast, but seeing the first glimpse of the Himalaya's was still nice. The roads were extremely narrow and the bus climbed up the windy path with deep gorges falling off to the sides. At one stage the road made such a serious curve, there was a sign that said "Dead Slow" and the bus really did take that turn inch by inch. But overall, I did not find it as scary as people made it out to be.
In Dharamsala, we had to change bus for the last 10 km stretch (4km by foot, but the road is longer because of the steep incline). When I got to the bus stand, which is basically the town square and is no bigger than the floorspace of a small restaurant, I started phoning all the hotels mentioned in the lonely planet looking for a room, but as expected everything was full.

Because checkout was only around noon, I started walking through town and the first thing I did was register for the teachings. I am glad I did, because as the day progressed the queue only got longer and longer. When I registered I asked how much it was and the guy said five, so I pulled out Rs 500. No, it was Rs 5. They could make so much more money, but they are a very honest people!!!
The teachings started on Saturday, but the official start was only on Sunday, so I had not really missed anything.
I then found a place for learning Tibetan cooking. On the menu for that evening's course was Momo's. I had never had them but had heard lots about them, so I registered for the course. I also found lots and lots of nice things I could buy... hmmm, pity about that weight limit... I am trying to make plans how I can increase the size of the single luggage item I can carry on with me :-)

After having some breakfast just before noon, I started searching for available rooms and eventually found a room for Rs 600, but I wanted to see other options. I walked to the next town, Bhagsu, 2 km away, and found rooms available there for Rs 400 with TV, but I did not like the place very much, so I went back to McLeod Ganj. By the time I got back that room for Rs 600 was taken. Damn, I could have kicked myself!!! Eventually I got a room at the Hotel Tibet for Rs 810, but it is a deluxe room normally going for Rs 990. They gave me a 20% discount. It had been a long search and I needed a rest and watched some TV.

In the late afternoon, I headed out into the freezing cold. People are walking around with blankets draped around them and warm jackets etc and so far all I have is my windbraker... At least I have a nice room and warm water... the cheaper rooms do not have hot water and I am willing to pay the extra money for that commodity :-).

At 5pm I went to Lhamo's kitchen for the cooking course. We made 3 kinds of tibetan momo's: veg, spinach & cheese and sweet momo's. We used three different designs in the dough to identify which were which, and teaching us how to create these designs took most of the time, but it was good because it was much more hands on training than Tina's courses were.
They were my first taste of momo's and they were devine. I was later to find out that they were much better than the ones one could buy at the street side stalls.
What was also nice was that Lhamo gave us a glimpse into his life... he was born in Tibet and escaped over the Himalaya's when he was 9 or 13 (I forgot). He is now 29 and has not seen his mother since except that he got a note from her last year that she is fine. A cousin of his escaped last year and Lhamo is looking after him now. In India, they cannot get citizenship and they remain refugee's and therefore cannot open their own businesses in India, and because they never get a passport, can not return to Tibet.

Unfortunately the quantity of food that we prepared did not fill my tummy... and later that evening I was overcome with cravings again and I gave into them and I ended up buying 5 different chocolates and ate them while watching TV.

Sunday
The next morning I got up around ten past seven. It was a beautiful day with the sun shining... no more overcast skies!!! It was going to be like this for the rest of my stay and it really warmed up, so I was glad.
I was told to be at the teachings at eight because it is so packed. The teachings are from 9:30 to 11:30 and again from 13:00 to 15:30. I bought some banana's for breakfast on the way down to the Tsuglagkhang complex where the teachings are being held, and I found a transistor radio with earphones and batteries for Rs 170. Could have got it cheaper, but as unprepared as I was, I had to pay the extra Rs 50. On the way in, there are seperate cues for the public, the monks and nuns and foreigners. The foreigner queue was split into male and female because we were all searched very thoroughly. We are not allowed to take in any cell phones or cameras. The guy actually turned on my radio to ensure that it was really a radio. Impressive!!!
I remember that at the railway stations, before getting on the platforms you have to walk through a metal detector (with your bags), but because there are so many people, the guards just let everybody walk through and the metal detector is constantly beeping...

I was lucky I got a very good place in the courtyard, because I only got in around 8:50. At first I was right at the back but right on the walkway where the Dalai Lama walked from his residence to the central chapel where he would sit and teach. The first time I saw him I was struck by how joyous and happy he seemed to be. After he had walked through, the security removed the security tape and some of us could move onto the walkway, which meant I moved right into the centre and sat on the red carpet... Yes, I was also unprepared in that respect because I had no cushion to sit on. The things people are allowed to bring to the teachins are a mug (they serve tea during the teachings), a blanket and cushion, food, hat, umbrella and a radio with earphones. The monks then came in with huge baskets full of rolls and started distributing these and then started walking around serving tea.

The teachings always start and end with Tibetan chants / prayers. Then the Dalai Lama started teaching. He said that even though he had covered the introduction to buddhism the day before, there were many people who had not been there, so he covered it again.
His teachings cover two texts, namely, "A guide to the Boddhisattva way of life" by Shantideva and translated by Steven Bachelor, and "The essence of superfine gold" written by the 3rd Dalai Lama. It is quite complicated material for the uninitiated like myself :-).
He spoke about how important education is and then he went on saying that our minds fool us into thinking that we have an independant existence, and he tried to inspire us to develop the wisdom to understand this incorrect view and that there is no absolute independant existence. We are all connected and there are infinite number of contributing factors to each and every event.

It was also nice that he used personal experiences which were quite humerous while teaching, for example telling us about his travels to the west and an air-hostess swatted a mosquito in front of him as a pure reaction and then felt very guilty and told him that she would never kill another mosquito.

I went to the afternoon teaching session as well and in the evening after having a rest I walked up to Dharamkot, the next village up a very steep incline. I eventually found the Tushita meditation centre where an australian woman who was a buddhist gave a review of the days teachings.

Monday
On Monday my mood was not very good. I suspected it was because I had no plan for the rest of the week and because my body was missing the daily yoga practice. I did not attend the teachings, but did some window shopping. There is so much on offer here in terms of souvenirs: books, shawls made from yak wool, jackets and blankets made from wool, shirts, skirts, traditional jewellery, wall hangings with quotations from the Dalai Lama, music CD's of tibetan chants and DVD's of the Tibetan struggle and other stories or documentaries, embroidered bags that the buddhist monks use, tangka's (see glossary on right), note books made from re-cycled pater and the list carries on.

My cravings continued and today it was baked cake and pastries. There are many places selling sweet tibetan bread, all different kinds of cake and pastries and as I have not even seen any of this in five weeks it was too much to resist. I must have had about five pieces of cake during the day.
I also went in search of a place I could practice my yoga, but the yoga instructors all seem to be out of town during the teachings (I found out where they were later... see next post). I also looked at doing some karma yoga, ie: volunteering, while I was here, but I was told that the computer classes and english conversation classes were not running during the teachings. (There are different types of yoga, jana yoga, karma yoga, hatha yoga, raj yoga etc, which I will explain more in my final post).

I ended up doing half an hour of yoga, to the beginning of the seated poses in my hotel room... (I realised how dirty the floor is :-)) and this helped both my mood and my spine, which felt a lot better after the exercise.
I also came up with a plan for the rest of the week, which is to go to Rishikesh, which calls itself the yoga capital of the world. So now I had done some exercise and I had a plan and I felt a lot better.

As mentioned earlier, we were not allowed to take in any cameras during the teachings, so I waited until after the teachings were finished in the afternoon and then walked in and took a photograph, which is why there is a photograph of the teachings available on my web album.

At five pm I went to the cooking class with Lamo again and we made Mokthup and Tenthuk soup. I was disappointed because I was going to come on Tuesday to make tibetan bread, but Lhamo was not able to do that class.
The soup was good and easy to make. This time Lhamo told us a little more about the culture and customs of the Tibetan people. Usually a family will live together and each has got a duty so sometimes one brother will leave for 3 months to look after the animals in the mountains, but they remain a family unit and when one brother takes a wife, the other brothers usually share that wife. It is uncommon for a brother to then choose another wife for himself as this would mean he would not live together with his brothers... anyway, that is how Lhamo explained it to us.

In the evening I met Ori, an Israeli tourist who told me that he had attended the review of the day's teachings, which were now not held at the Tushita meditation centre anymore, but were being done by the monk who was doing the english translation of the teachings and it was held at the temple itself. So I made sure that I would attend that the next day.

Tuesday
In the morning I attended the teachings again, and in the afternoon I made an excursion to the waterfall in Bhagsu. Afterwards I went to the Himalayan Yoga centre where I had organised the day before that I could practice by myself. It was nice because the view from the window was onto the mountains. But my practice was slow and I took lots of breaks. I do not know if this was because of the altitude (approximately 1800 m above sea level) or because I was practicing alone.

Later I went to the review of the day's teachings, which was interesting.
He spoke about favourable rebirths (precious humban birth) in samsara (the cycle of reincarnation or rebirth) and performing the 10 virtuous actions and abandoning the 10 non-virtuous actions to gain liberation from samsara.
He also discussed that the goal of enlightenment should not be for oneself, but for the benefit of all other sentient beings, and how to cultivate the boddhicitta (the wish to become buddha to benefit all other sentient beings).
He also defined love as being the wish to give happiness to others and compassion as the wish to remove suffering from all other beings.

Afterwards I would have liked to see a tibetan movie, but unfortunately the one cinema (part of a tiny little restaurant) was not showing anything and the other one was showing something I had no interest in.
I ended up eating at the Japanese restaurant Lung Ta, where I met a french canadian yoga teacher and I had an interesting discussion with him.

Wednesday
I woke up early on Wednesday and bought some tibetean bread from the street side vendors. Previous mornings I was not up early enough to see them.
I then went for a walk towards Dal Lake through the forest. I have blisters on my feet from all the walking I have been doing around town, but it is good to get the exercise and this walk was beautiful.

I then had some breakfast and purchased my bus ticket to Rishikesh (Rs 470) for 17:30 from Dharamsala.
Then I got down to some real shopping. I did not worry about the consequences to the weight of my bags and had decided to throw away some of my clothes to make sure I can fit everything. :-) I then went to the hotel to pack and check out.
In the afternoon I walked back towards Dal Lake because the lighting in the morning was not that good and I wanted to take some better photographs.

I then had a quick bite to eat before getting a jeep ride down to Dharamsala. The driver threw my backpack onto the roof as there was no space in the jeep... we were packed in there like sardines. On the way down I was constantly checking if my backpack was not thrown off the roof with inertia as it was not tied down and the driver was screaming through the sharp corners.

New adventures

Yesterday, Thursday, I went to practice early. The shala was getting emptier every day. I did not expect anything from my practice, but it ended up being really good again... I bound Marichyasana D on my right side and I bound Supta Kurmasana again... so all in all I have had a great week of practice.
I think I have pushing Supta Kurmasana a little too hard because my lower back is being stretched forward to its limits and is a little tender.
The weather has been warming up the last few days and I have been perspiring more than my first week in Mysore, even though I was practicing earlier, around 6 am. In guruji's shala, the mornings are for westerners and the indians (there are very few) train in the afternoon, and they must be suffering...

After practice I had coconut jelly outside the shala where we normally all meet and chat for a little after practice. I thought I would just tell you a little about the coconuts here...
When you order a coconut, you have to tell the "coconut man" whether you want juice only or jelly. He then determines by the slight difference in sound the coconut makes when he taps it which one is only juice or if it is a little older and has started solidifying. He then chops off the end of the coconut and hands it to you with a straw to drink the juice out. If you ordered jelly, you hand him back the coconut and he chops off a sliver of the green outer layer, which you will use as a spoon and he chops the coconut in half, so you can scoop out the jelly and eat it.
Indians use the entire coconut tree... the leaves are used as plates and to make roofs, the trunk is building material and fire wood, and the young coconut fruit is juice and the shell is dried and used as fuel for fires. If the coconut is not used while still young it turns to jelly or the hard coconut, which is used in food and as garnishing food. Once the coconut is really old and completely hard, the inside is cold pressed and coconut oil is made from it. Also the hard brown shell is used to make spoons and lately arts and crafts too.

I then went to Tina's to say goodbye to everyone and Tina was packed some fenugreek roti's with tomato chutney for me to eat on the train... Leena was there as well and she had finished her panchakarma ayurvedic detoxification treatment. She has been quite down the last few days and yesterday she fainted twice and she think her nose is broken. Tina was saying that panchakarma should only be used as a last resort, but this doctor is prescribing it to every single Yogi who is coming to him...

I then had to return my mattress and scooter to Randy and pick up my yoga rug which I had embroidered... It was late because there was a power cut the day before... something you have to expect in India... I have even read in the newspaper that they want to shorten the business hours (go on until 21:30 or 22:00 and are closed around 12 to 4:30) in some cities to take the pressure off the electricity grids.

On the way to the railway station (if you ask for the train station they don't know what you mean) I picked up the pants I had tailored. I got to the train station half an hour early. I had bought a second class ticket on the Tippy express to Bangalore for Rs 70. At the airport I met Michael who was on the same flight (unbeknown to both of us until then) and he had come by taxi for Rs 1,500.
The train took about 3 hours to do the 135 km journey and the last few kilometres were excruciatingly slow considering I still had to go to the airport for my flight at 4pm. The train arrived at 14:15. As soon as I got off the platforms, I was harassed by taxi touts and offered rides to the airport for Rs 280 to 450. I really don't like tourists that pay without finding out what the locals pay because it is cheap in their currency and it is convenient. That is the cause of the harassment for others and the cause that tourists get ripped off. I went to the info booth and found out where I can get pre-paid taxi's and paid Rs 85. My rickshaw driver, Harish, was very nice and friendly and apologized on the way for having to get petrol as he knew I was in a rush. I got to the airport at 15:15 only to find out that the flight was delayed by 2 hours. Well that mean that I was not going to be able to get onto the bus to McLeod Ganj and I had to spend last night in Delhi.
Btw, my backpack was packed to the brim and weighed just under 20 kg and my daypack (hand luggage weighed another 10 kg. It contains the books I did not ship (package limit of 5 kg). When I left SA it all weighed around 12 kg.

While driving through Bangalore, I saw many signs advertising the coming of Amma to Bangalore on the 4th and 5th of March, just as I had seen in Mysore for the 1st and 2nd of March.

The flight with Jet Airways was very good again and the food delicious. I had the non-veg option again, chickpeas in gravy with potato patties. There was also a little packet named "After Eight", which I assumed would be chocolate, but this turned out to be a mixture of some seeds, but mainly aniseed, to freshen the mouth. It was good though.
Even though I had been sitting for most of the day, I was extremely exhausted and did not have the energy to get up to get my Lonely Planet guide and read up on Delhi, knowing that I would have to spend the night there. I was even thinking of spoiling myself and going to an expensive hotel in Delhi.

After the three hour flight, I found some energy and started informing myself of options. I phoned a few budget hotels in the Tibetan colony and was told that they were fully booked, or the telephone informed me that the number (from the lonely planet guide) did not exist. The number of the hotel that I finally got in the Paharganj area (described as a seedy area "due to its reputation for drugs and shady characters" in the lonely planet) worked on one phone, but when I phoned back on another phone it said the number did not exist, so I had to use the phone I originally got through on and it worked... very strange!!!

As I said in one of my first posts, on my first trip to India ten years ago, I had the worst culture shock I have ever experienced in all my travels and I got very stressed and aggressive. On that trip I only traveled through the north of India. On this trip I have been to the south so far and I have loved it so far. Now I was back in the north and people have been telling me that the north is far harder to travel in than the south, so I am expecting the worst.
I got a bus to the New Delhi train station for Rs 50 and then after having more attempts made at ripping me off by rickshaw drivers (like telling me that the hotel is already closed, so they can take me somewhere else and get commission) I decided to use my map and walk the last few hundred metres to the hotel using my map. A taxi would have been more convenient but a lot more expensive.

I finally got into my room around midnight. The room had a TV and cost Rs 250. I have not had a TV in 5 weeks... It is amazing how quickly we fall into old habits... I fell asleep with the TV on :-)
Delhi is a lot colder than the south of India was. The night was cold and required blankets. I also realized that I have strained my lower back, which was already saw from overstretching it, when I picked up my backpack to get onto the bus. I was considering finding a yoga shala for today but have decided to rest.

In the morning I went in search of food and walked around Paharganj... Vendors were starting to open their stores and I was in danger of buying more stuff!!! Delhi is extremely cheap. You can pick up a pair of shorts with pockets and beltloops etc for about five Rand or less if you bargain.
On the breakfast menu I could not find any idli's or dosas anymore... The south of India is the rice bowl of India and the north of India is the bread basket. Tina said that that is why the north has got all the big brawny indians and the south has got the intelligent indians :-)

I then went to the internet cafe and started writing this post, because I was not yet ready to tackle the nasty world out there. I had to rewrite this post 3 times because of the internet connection dropping, or computer rebooting unexpectedly... Other than this particular experience, my experience of the Indian broadband services has been excellent.

I then finally headed to the Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT) near the old Delhi railway station. I wanted to experience the life and vibe on the streets so I decided to walk instead of take a rickshaw. On the way I found the Metro , which I had read about. It only became operational a little over 2 years ago. It has 3 operational lines now and it uses a disk system. You can buy a card for Rs 170 of which Rs 100 is refunded for a day pass. Otherwise you have to pay for every trip. I paid Rs 8 to go 3 or 4 stations on the same line. It goes up to about Rs 30 I think. After you bought the disk, you enter by swiping the disk, then when you arrive at the destination, you have to swipe the disk again to get out and drop the disk into the system. The metro train was absolutely packed every time I used it and I never had to waid for longer than a minute for the next train... and the station was quite clean considering the amount of people going through it and compared to the streets!!!

At the Kashmere station, which is also the old Delhi railway station and the ISBT, there was a McDonalds serving Chicken Maharaja Mac, Paneer (cheese) Salsa Wrap, McAloo (Potato) Tikki Burger, and Veg Surprise Burgers. The meals were about Rs 62. I held back the urge to taste the veg surprise.

I bought myself a ticket on the Deluxe Air Conditioned Bus (there is also another deluxe bus without AC) for Rs 800 to McLeod Ganj, because I wanted the safest and best bus, which left at 8pm that evening.
I then walked back to the hotel through Old Delhi, past the red fort and Jama Masjid, places I had visited on my first trip to India. Here is a snippet of Chandni Chowk, one of the main streets through Old Delhi. In the background is the old fort. There are 3 churches on the right hand side of the road, a Jain temple, a Hindu temple and a Sikh temple. The streets are extremely noisy because the culture is hooting to let people know you are coming instead of relying on them to watch out for you.




Here is another link to the main bazaar road in the Paharganj area where my hotel is, and here is one of street side vendors making jalebi, which is very unhealthy too, but I liked it.

At 6pm I got my bags from the hotel and headed back to the ISBT, which was absolute chaos. I had to wait because I arrived early and there are lots and lots of food stalls around and I finally gave into my cravings and bought 4 packets of biscuits and chips. The chips were "Lays" and the flavour was "Magic Masala". Everything you buy in India is marked with either a green dot or a red dot, signifying vegetarian or not.
I then had to search for the bus, which was not near any platform, because there were so many buses. We finally left just after 8pm. I had moved seats because the women sitting next to me was sick and I did not want to catch her cold. Luckily there were extra seats in the bus. Most people in the bus were on the way to the McLeod Ganj for the teachings and there were quite a few monks on the bus. People were coming from all over the world. The lady who I mentioned just now came from Darjeeling.

I thought I would never get any sleep because of all the hooting by the bus driver, but luckily this died down to a more acceptable level as we got out of town and onto the highway. At around ten o'clock, we made a pit stop. It was a themed place called Haveli, meaning fortress in Punjab. I was feeling ill from all the biscuits I had eaten but decided to try to eat something. The food was not that great, but after the meal I got served, what we would consider mints. See the picture on the right. It is jaggery (raw sugar), misry (which looks like sugar, tastes sweet but is not sugar) and then aniseed.
I was lucky because the man who sat next to me got off sometime during the night and I had both seats to myself, and I got some sleep.