Cindy and I take part in the Ganga Aarti ceremony. Here we are placing flowers in front of the Gods.
Words Won’t Do Justice
We drove quite the distance down the mountain to arrive in Hardiwar just before the Ganga Aarti ceremony. When we arrived we went into the city to visit a merchant, a bit past the Ghat where we were to experience the ceremony. We went here becuase it was the best place to find the statues of the Hindu Gods and Goddesses we wanted to bring home. We found what we were looking for plus some mala bead jewelry and some gifts for Garmeet’s family. After, we found our guide to the ceremony who brought us down close and personal to the Brahmins and the main Ghat for the ceremony. We paid some INR for this priviledge and didn’t really know what to expect. Just a little background on this practice, first of all. This Hindu tradition is practiced along the Ganges river every morning and evening both in Hardiwar and Rishikesh, with Hardiwar being the original place of the ceremony. Hardiwar is considered one of the seven holy cities of India and Shiva’s footprint is said to be at the Har ki Paudi Ghat. The river Ganga is very important to the Hindu religion and is believed to carry properties of renewal and salvation…by taking a dip in it’s waters you are purified as is the entire human race. As a side note, in Varanasi, another very holy city, cremation ceremonies take place on the Ganges river where people send their dead out into the water on a burning pyre. As you will see by my photos of this ceremony every morning and evening thousands of people gather for this ritual, fully dipping in the river and also blessing special tokens or offering the river food and milk as well as sending out baskets of flowers with a burning candle.
As a part of our privilege in the ceremony, Cindy and I were allowed to be next to the Brahmins and on the bottom of the main Har ki Paudi Ghat. We sat, dipping our feet in the waters and watching others perform the bathing and other purification rituals. What we didn’t realize, was that part of our payment was to have a Brahmin perform a ceremony especially for us, to bless our families and provide protection not just for us but for all our loved ones. In the photos you will see some of what we did during this ceremony. We offered the Gods flowers, water from the Ganges, prayed with a special call-back mantra and with a burning candle (called a diya). After our own personal experience with the Brahmin (several of these Brahmin are here for the ceremony and are all born into that caste), the ceremony continues with others experiencing the same and then it all comes to a head with a large burning Diya waved over the river with a prayer. During this we were encouraged to place our hands on the Brahmin’s who was performing this part of the ceremony. We also waved our hands over the diya to cleanse ourselves once more and took some water from the Ganges to bless our statues and beads.
Rishikesh: Yoga, Ashrams, Temples and the Beatles
Rishikesh was one of the cities I was most looking forward to as I have long wanted to experience India and it’s strong sense of spirituality. Of course I am not the only western gal who thinks this way as many people who come to India think of Rishikesh as a destination. With this in mind, we did book a hotel that was also a spa and offered yoga as a part of our package. It was a comfortable hotel with good vegetarian food and we did partake in the yoga for the two full days we were there. We also hired a guide to take us around the city, the first full day we were there, to show us the various temples and ashrams around the city. The temples were varied and intersting with some devoted to Vishnu and other gods and one we visited was for creation itself with a very large lingam at it’s center. The lingam is an abstract phallic form representative of Shiva’s infinite power and is set in the center of a circle which is the feminine energy of shakti, and is said to represent the beginning of creation. There is much more to this and I will have to reread Joseph Campbell’s writings on this and other symbols of Indian religions.
Both Cindy and I felt that the ashrams were special places for their sense of community and a place where you can take the time to practice your sense of spirit but also a place everyone is welcome at no cost. We tried to go to a Kirtan at the ashram across the street from us but the timing was a bit confusing. The most beautiful ashram was the Parmarth Nikatan ashram with a peaceful presence with many rooms set around beautiful gardens, statues and a temple. It seems they have a yoga conference here every year as well as other possible ways to attend. When I return to India I would like to spend more time here. We also crossed two of the main Jhula’s of Rishikesh, the Laxman and the Ram Jhulas, and went through a nice market as we walked through the city. At the same time our Guide gave us a bit more information about Hinduism and how people practice.
The next day we had Garmeet take us up to the ashram where the Beatles had their retreat. This is now a tiger reserve that you have to pay to get into but we visited and took images of the outside. It wasn’t anything too special but it was fun to think about the history of this place. It was quite close to the Ganges on the other side of the river from where we were staying. We were going to go for a hike to some waterfalls ended up feeding some black-faced monkeys instead, who ended up jumping on the car and almost joining us inside. They were much nicer that the stealing and tricky other monkeys of India. Two of which stole chips right out of Cindy’s hands! You’ll have to hear that story in person. The day ended up being a very rainy one, so we walked a bit and ended up having an early dinner at a Chotiwala Dhaba (Chotiwala was a hairstyle worn by the Maharajas and is now the mascot of the restaurant).
Oh, and yes, I forgot to talk about the many cows in the city, as well as sadhus, monkeys and stray dogs. This is true in most places but because of the small size of the city I noticed them even more.
