Khajuraho – a Peaceful Sigh of Isness
Days 5 & 6 – 24th
and 25th April 2018
We arrive around 3 hours late, which doesn’t make much of a
difference, considering it is still around 9 am.
During the last few minutes of our journey an interesting
entrepreneur who seems to be in his sixties, tells us he has guesthouses in
several towns, including Khajuraho which is his most permanent base. If we had
not already booked online we would gladly stay at his place, where he also owns a
small restaurant.
The people of India are natural born entrepreneurs. I know
this is a very general statement, but from what I have been able to experience,
there are more entrepreneurs here than in most places, many of course just
owning a very small business, or even just a Tuc Tuc or a rikshaw to ride people
around, but nevertheless, they have created their own businesses. And here this
is not equivalent to having higher education or even having been schooled at
all. It is a natural instinct – as I believe it is anywhere else in the world
but schooling tends to stifle this to a certain extent. Well, Let’s not go into
this for now…
The kind man takes us to a good honest Tuc owner who drops
him off at his Hotel and then takes us to our humble abode. It cost us a mere 3
dollars per night and the young man who opens the door tells us it opened just
a month ago. He is 21 and once again a clear example of an entrepreneurial
spirit.
The room is clean, though it has no air-con but it does have
a fan and a private bathroom.
H lives with his whole family upstairs, where there is an unfinished terrace which we come to realise is also the "breakfast hall".
We are invited to eat breakfast which we do, and meet two
young ladies, one from Spain and another from Germany who are travelling alone
– they have just met. One has been volunteering in education here and is now
doing some sightseeing and the other is on a Gap Year experience, thoroughly
enjoying her journey, which she does not plan ahead for - she moves on day by day.
We have asked the Tuc owner to please pick us up at 10 am to
take us around the Temples, which are quite far apart from each other, so after
a hefty breakfast washed down with delicious chai – hummmm, I just love chai –
we take off.
The man asks whether we mind if his younger brother comes
along too because he’d like to practise his English, so we welcome him on
board. He is around 17 and says he has a Russian girlfriend whom he is very much in
love with. He can speak good English and says he intends to learn Spanish also.
Apparently there are many Spaniards and Latin Americans visiting Khajuraho,
which explains why our Hotel host also spent 2 months in New Delhi learning
Spanish at a language School.
Our first stop is at a small Temple and as we go in we find
this young man studying Astrology sitting in there. He is apparently one of the
many keepers of these temples and as soon as he finds out that Pedro is also an
Astrologer they engage in enthusiastic conversation. This Temple is small but
significantly represents the different faces of Consciousness – ranging from
illusion to divine wisdom. It illustrates this that nothing is what it seems. When we go beyond appearances and feel, a
whole new Universe of Isness opens up.
When we get back to the Tuc, the driver warns us that there
is a keeper at each Temple and that if we engage in conversation we will never
get through all the Temples but we know that this was a special occasion and it
isn’t likely going to happen this way at all other Temples.
I haven’t told you yet, but Khajuraho is so Peaceful one can
almost hear the sky sigh with contentment. It is, in fact, one of the most
peaceful places I have ever been to. I suppose it has to do with the sacredness
and devotion passed down throughout centuries and generations of devotees who
chose this land to become One with All that Is and then having been protected
by a dense jungle for many ages up until the XXth century when it was unveiled
and recovered by the British.
Khajuraho is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is home to the
largest group of medieval Jain and Hindu Temples and the erotic sculptures that
ornament only 10% of their outer walls are a legacy of the Tantric Cult that was practised
here, as a way of transcending human desires and attaining Nirvana – therefore
sexuality is not seen as something to be rejected or condemned but much on the
contrary something to be lived fully until one transcends desire, as all other worldly attachments.
There used to be over
80 Temples round about 1000 a.c but now only 22 remain sufficiently intact to
be conteplated. One curiosity is that there are no erotic sculptures inside the
Temples, signifying that in order to connect with the Divine, one must leave
carnal desires outside. Eroticism is thus used to depict one of the many human
practices also shown on the outer walls’ sculptures, such as music, harvesting,
pottery, etc. Within the Temples there is place only for the Divine.
Phew it is hot! As we leave our shoes at the bottom of the
stairs before entering each Temple, we have to step fast and lightly in order
not to get the soles of our feet burnt on the stone stairs.
Fortunately inside
it is cool. It’s as if even this detail was meant to be, for Divinty is
always a soothing Home to fall back into and take a deep breath, letting go of all
of the outer world’s struggles.
We absorb the peaceful magnitude of this sacred place in
silence, moving in and out of Temple after Temple, mesmerized at the purity
that can be felt, especially in the Jain Temples.
There is nothing to be said. It is a sensory experience
through and through, as if God were holding our hand and taking us personally
on this soulful tour.
It is around 1 pm when we finally consider ourselves to be
satisfied with our visit. By now the sun is high, relentlessly heating this
land as if it were stoking a furnace.
We decide to go to the restaurant that our young Hotel host
recommended, for a drink and eventually some grub.
We are served some delicious Indian cuisine and after a
while along comes Pilota – this is how the young man who owns the Karma Guest
House we are staying at is called.
We realise he is highly respected amongst his fellow companions
– they all look up to him and would like to be just like him. It is interesting
to observe such behaviour amongst such young peers, but then again, this young
man is indeed a very outgoing example of a good looking go-getter.
Well, our time in Khajuraho from then on is restful and
slow, basically enjoying the silent peace up until the time we have to catch
our train to New Delhi the following afternoon.
This time it is in 2AC Class, which is a fair deal more
upper class that Sleeper. Here we have sheets and a pillow and blanket, people
are quieter, the windows aren’t open because there is air-con and we can
definitely have a very comfortable night’s sleep. On both occasion we have
chosen to travel by night so as to lessen our impression of distance and allow
the hours to float by as ships sailing through our dreams.
At the station...
Khajuraho was a very special instance of our journey and the
Peace that blankets the entire area has become embedded in my cells and will
stay with me forever.
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