5 days in india!!??!?! reflections from 1st trip india

got traffic?

water palace, jaipur

animals and humans coexist! aunt sheila and grandma outside fatehpur


construction worker in jaipur

cows are holy, and their poop is really useful too

simple living with Earth homes

making friends with humans everywhere i go


Amber Fort, Jaipur


my grandma is so cool... the best 88 year old traveller ever! took me with her for her journeys, i am so lucky!


poor elephant at the hotel in jaipur. i cry for elephants


made it to Vrindavan, the birthplace of Lord Krishna!!


india (jan 4-jan 10)


sometimes i look around in different sceneries in my life and go, wow, how did i get here again?
am i really doing this right now?
i sit in the front seat of an SUV
5 days in india
drive drive drive new delhi-jaipur-agra-back to delhi
how did i get here again?
me here you there
how did we all get here?
dusty children cooking fires out of trash on the street
what is the meaning of all this anyway?
painted camels leisurely heaving carts
what am i supposed to be doing exactly?
does anyone really know out there?
piles of rubble
baskets hoisted on women's heads
trash trees trucks bikes in out beep beep people people everywhere eeek
i feel an increasingly blissful detachment from everything
one day you're here the next day you're not
so temporary everything is in the material world
never know when we're going to go
enjoy this country here
enjoy that nice dinner there
have that drink
all temporary enjoyment
sense gratification
there's more to life than satisfying the senses
we have the ability to pursue higher consciousness
even though we can make improvements in how we sleep, eat, mate, and defend, this doesn't make us more advanced
the problems of birth death old age disease still exist
this is how we strive for true advancement
when we to look to transcend the mundane material world
and use this human form to
understand spiritual manners
the realm of the internal world
india is a special place
people been pursuing and developing the science of self-realization for thousands and thousands of years here
not new concepts
not new answers

i can't believe the traffic here
markets food piles colors dust ricksaw
dark eyes follow me everywhere
green grass here desert there
disconnection everywhere in the material world
inside the nicest hotel palace lalaland, where green grass grows inside th egate
wind blown sanded women and children beg outside
guarded by gates and scrunched man faces wearing weapons everywhere
sometimes my friends call me shannyland
there's something i have a difficult time communicating
subjects of the soul
has to be experienced, felt from the inside, not through the mind

look all you want, i know i'm different
seeing an ancient civilization is breathtaking
the palaces the large structures
but
i'm not so impressed with material things
after all, it's humans that built these things
i appreciate the amount of time and energy it took to make these structures
and learning more about this part of the world
but
what made the mountains ocean forest flowers
what made love where is love born what's a soul where does it come from
i thrust my spirit inwards and upwards beyond the planes of my conditioned mind
searching for truth (truth doesnt change)
all these foundations will crumble
just like my body
disappear
like everything in the material world

westerners have a hard time with the poverty here in india
somehow
i'm okay with it
knowing that this crazy world is just a reflection of inner madness
how does one understand the sufferings of the world?
how can one solve all the problems?
what can you do?
what can i do?
who am i, anyway?
thank you Vedic scriptures
Srila Prabhupada
teach me
we actually are not these bodies
we are the spirit soul that dwells
without the presence of the spirit soul, the body is totally useless
we're all servants of the Creator
trust in higher power
the material world is our learning ground
all is directed to make us take refuge in the internal world
and bring us back to the spiritual world
not new questions
not new answers
i am so grateful for the opportunity to have the time, privilege, and resources to explore the meaning of life

{to see my aunt's photo album, go here http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=ukrqfre.bt47oqi&x=0&y=-coqpq&localeid=en_US&cm_mmc=site_email-_-site_share-_-core-_-view_photos_album )