Back home, surrounded by my familiar things, I continue to learn, to wander in my mind back to India. The Hindus divide life into four stages. At age 70, I find myself in the last stage, Sannyasa, a time for renunciation. The Hindu see this as time to move away from material concerns and judgment. …
Tag: Hindu
India-Cremation on The Ganges, A Celebration of Fire
We traveled The Ganges at night in a wooden boat. The sun was setting and the white sky was diminishing into blackness. As usual, I can no expectations, I was just content to drift on the water and be able to take it all in. Direct experience is wonderful but to a modern American it …
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India-Blown Away by The Ganges River,The World is Not Flat
Visiting The Ganges River in Varanasi, India was not at all what I expected. It is world famous and I have seen pictures of it but to be there, to have direct experience, is a whole other thing. I have had this disconnect between a pictorial presentation and an actual site before, namely The Great …
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India-The Hindu Salutation of the Dawn
I am a gatherer, not a hunter. I wander and obtain things randomly. This trait may have been influenced by ancient ancestral memories. I first realized the roots of this when I read Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Aurel. I loved that book because of its informative portrayal of life in caveman days. …
India-Overcoming My Ignorance
As I stated in previous posts, I went to India with little preparation. Sure, I had the required shots including the one for typhoid and also I had prescription pills to ward off malaria. ( I was told this medicine might produce crazy dreams while I was taking it, months later I am still plagued …
India- Beneath the Colorful Sights,Women’s Issues
I'm a stubborn optimist. But maybe I carry it too far. I wanted so badly to bring back home a lovely picture of India and dispel the dirty, dark shadows that label this country. Three months later, a orange piece of twine remains on my wrist, tied there by a Hindu holy man as a …
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India-The Huge Monkey Problem
There are two types of monkeys in India and they are protected by law since a great majority of the country's population is Hindu and believe in the interconnectedness of all life. There are the Langurs, the bigger monkey of the two. They have grey white bodies and black faces and seem to be the …
India-Hinduism
79.8% of India's population is Hindu, 14.2% Muslim, and 6% is of various religions including Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism and others. The people in my tour group learned to spot active and inactive temples. They were like living things and if people did not use them and bring offering they basically closed up and metaphorically …
India-WHY?
I have a strange way of picking my travel destinations. I do it by whim, waiting to be inspired by some sign or a feeling of intuitive direction. If you are a regular follower of my blog, you might remember that I chose to go to Barcelona, Spain because I saw the city on an …
Going to India
India has been on my list of trips for awhile but what finally made me decide to go was a Hindu celebration held in St. Augustine in April. I loved the color and joy I witnessed. I told one of the participants about my travel list and was given prayer beads and enthusiastic encouragement to …
The Autonomous Traveler 