Rishikesh

Trip Start Jul 08, 2008

Trip End Ongoing

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Flag of India Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India
Friday, August 22, 2008

The next morning I gathered my things together and walked to the bus station, catching a bus north one hour to Rishikesh. This was the city made famous by the Maharishi and The Beatles and I had heard that it since became overrun with Westerners seeking spiritual guidance and yoga instruction. When I arrived I took the narrow suspension bridge across the roaring Ganges that was only capable of supporting foot traffic with the occasional motorcycle and wandering cow. I was pleasantly surprised when some people on the bridge wanted their pictures taken with me; one even filming me with his video camera. Maybe this place wasn't so overrun after all! I settled down in a guesthouse and soon started wandering south on the path along the Ganges lined with temples and ashrams. I wanted to see the Maharishi's ashram, where The Beatles had written most of The White Album while practicing Transcendental Meditation. It had been abandoned over ten years prior but still remained. I walked as the path went from beautifully laid brick to gravel and eventually to dirt and vegetation. Finally the remains of the Maharishi's ashram were to my left and losing their battle for existence to the encroaching plants and weeds. I had expected an active stretch of ashrams spoiled by the powers of spiritual commercialism but found a deserted and peaceful area where the loudest noise happened to be the Ganges to my right.

After a couple of days I checked out one of the ashrams along the Ganges to see about their afternoon yoga session.

The Current View from the Maharishi's Ashram

The Sri Ved Niketan Ashram consisted of red corridors surrounding a well-kept lawn with a large building for yoga and meditation in the center and when discovering that a stay here would be cheaper than my guesthouse while including free yoga and meditation I decided to check in. I was given one of the rooms along the perimeter of the courtyard. This was not a typical ashram in that guests could come and go as they pleased as long as they were in by 10:30 pm. The rules were ones I was already following anyway: no smoking, drinking, or meat eating. Pin drop silence had to be maintained to allow for a peaceful meditative environment.

As the morning arrived the loud bell was erratically sounded to indicate the start of the 6:30 am yoga session. After the hour and a half session I would spend the day walking around exploring the city then returning for an afternoon session of meditation followed by more yoga. I fell into the habit of hand washing my clothes each night and my routine started to flow beautifully. I developed a fondness for the head-stand yoga pose mentioned so much in Jack Kerouac's 'Dharma Bums' and have since added it to my repertoire.

After a few days I received an email from Tom, who had made it down to Varanasi. I decided impulsively that I would journey that way as my days in Rishikesh were starting to melt together. I would take a short bus trip north to Dehra Dun where I would catch a long train ride to Varanasi.