Choosing Love – Thank you Mother India/ Post 2

Diving in

Day 1 – 20th April 2018

 Having left home yesterday morning, we finally arrive in New Delhi this morning, feeling a little bit jet lagged but triumphantly happy: we’re finally in India again!

Unlike many, I enjoy long flights. They give me plenty of time to sit in silence and practice stillness. 

And if not, I can always read or watch a movie, listen to music, sleep or even have meaningful conversations so each moment since we take off, including the in-between stop over, is part of the package of unusual circumstances involved in travelling and removes the expectation of being headed somewhere, since arriving there is just one more part of the constant journey of Life.

Arriving in India, I must say, is always somehow unsettling. Not necessarily in a negative way, for me. The first thing that strikes me is the special scent – to me it smells of incense and varied spices always, and this in itself has a powerful uplifting effect. It sort of switches on another level of sensory awareness.

Then, it’s the amount of people. Always so many everywhere – especially in huge cities like New Delhi! Nevertheless, I feel at home with people here. There is an intrinsic kindness I can’t quite describe, but it makes me feel welcome anywhere I go. It’s like India opens its arms wide and receives me with a celebrating heart each time I get to touch its land.

Then, at this time of the year, it’s the heat. Today, however, there is a soft breeze that lightly soothes the hot air - at least now in the morning. 

Then, it is the noise out in the streets. Hooting traffic and people speaking and moving all over. Different kinds of music playing and mixing with each other. TVs going on and on like a record turning, playing advertisements, bollywood series, news… All of this is overwhelming to me. After a while I need to get away from the noise, just for a while, to breathe deeply and get ready for more.

Then, it is the heaps of rubbish sitting on the sidewalks, on the streets, basically anywhere one looks there is some sort of debris, be it refuse or potholes, gravel, stones, never ending road works and repairs that somehow often look shabbily unfinished… This is part of India and though it can be saddening, I choose to accept it as it is. Hopefully, somehow, there will be a gradual turnaround in the rubbish issue, as rag pickers keep earning their keep collecting it for recycling and as more and more youngsters start creating alternatives to the endless platic piles.

Then, it’s the intense colours. They are all around us, creating a vibrant cocktail that almost tastes like a blend of tropical fruit. Speaking of which, reminds me of the food stall vendors and the delicious mango, banana, coconut… someone selling something everywhere. I believe India has more entreprenurs per squate metre than anywhere else. There is always something to trade and young men come from their hometowns into the big cities to seek a better life by owning their own tuc-tuc or whatever else inspires them to earn a dime, thus clogging the city with excessive population, pollution, dirt and poverty, not realising that far out in the countryside, cultivating a piece of land might have been a surer and more peaceful way of putting food on the table. Homelessness and begging is rampant and the fascination for the big city turns out to be a demise rather than a new lease of life. But this happens anywhere around the world – the illusion that living in urban clusters can somehow be lifesaving or lead to otherwise inaccessible riches.

We had already booked a place to stay at today, which seemed good and clean on the photos, so when we arrive at the metro station where we are supposed to get off, we ask a tuc-tuc to take us there. It so happens he says he knows where it is, but doesn’t really. No wonder! The name is not exactly the one on Booking! On an unfinished street and in a seemingly unfinished building we find it. It has been open only for a month so at least it will definitely be clean. We wonder whether it is the place we booked, but the hotel receptionist reassures us that it is and honestly we are hot and in need of a cold shower and a short nap so we give in easily. The room is acceptable, withing Indian standards, clean enough for one night, no cockroaches in sight. Actually, last time I came to India I saw none, which means my conscious choice for the best possible experience worked out pretty fine :D  

Today we have to go to the train station to buy our tickets to and from Khajuraho. When we get there, lo and behold, there are hundreds of people all over the place, sitting or lying on the ground, standing at long queues, hustling and bustling to and fro. We head to a queue and stand there patiently for a while, some men trying to cut in front of us but us not letting that happen, many bystanders staring at us as if we are misplaced, until a kind man comes to me and says we’re not supposed to be standing there because there is an airconditioned office upstairs just for tourists to get their tickets! What a mighty blessing! Choosing Love turns out to be a basic practicality of a life significantly lived, in honour for each breath.

After getting the tickets – Sleeper to go (which the assistant warns us has no AC and can get quite noisy – not recommended to tourists) and 2AC to come back because these are the only places available (2AC costs 4 times the price of Sleeper but has some very welcome amenities, such as bedsheets, blanket and pillow). One way or another we view it all as an exprience and have chosen to embrace it in its smoothest possible version, so for us it is fine just the way it is.

We decide to go up to Conaught Place for a bit of sightseeing and to grab a bite before going back to the hotel for an early night in – we have to be at the airport at 4.30 am.

After a walk around, we buy a few local pasties – sorry I can’t recall the names – and a shake and go and sit in the centre of the round “square”, so to speak. A strong wind starts whipping up and the air is so hot and polluted it becomes hard to breathe, the sun is dimmed by a greyish haze and after a short while amogst the local youngsters, who are lying and sitting on the grass, some playing music, others just hanging out with each other, we decide it’s time to call it a day and head “home”.

I love this feeling of “home” being wherever we are. It’s safe, welcoming and always the only place to be at any given moment. It completely anihilates homesickness and it creates a bond with each place we are at, now.

See you tomorrow…

Well, actually I have already told you about tomorrow in my first post of this series, so see you the following day 😊

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Read Post 1 of this series here.

The Bliss and the Ordeal of Free Will / O Êxtase e o Infortúnio do Livre Arbítrio

The Bliss and the Ordeal of Free Will 

 O Êxtase e o Infortúnio do Livre Arbítrio

The bliss and the ordeal of having Free Will is that we can choose to accept that we are God also, or we can choose to deny it. 

All of our experiences are a result of this.

There is no lack of evidence of the existence of God (in whichever way Divinty is conceived by each one of us), inasmuch as there is no lack of evidence of the opposite.

The difference is that the choice of Divinity dissolves duality, whilst the choice of oblivion perpetuates it.

When living in total surrender to our Divine nature, experiencing this Human Life in Graceful Joy, Love and Gratitude, Free Will becomes obsolete, since All is Here, Now, always. All there is left to do is flow in the immense river of our Essence. 

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O êxtase e o infortúnio do Livre Arbítrio é que podemos escolher aceitar que somos Deus também, ou podemos escolher negá-lo.

Não existem falta de provas acerca de existência de Deus (seja qual for a forma em que a Divindade é concebida por cada um), da mesma forma que não existem falta de provas do contrário.

A diferença é que a escolha da Divindade dissolve a dualidade, enquanto que a escolha do esquecimento a perpetua. 

Quando se vive em total entrega à nossa natureza Divina, levando esta experiência de Vida Humana em Alegria, Amor e Harmonia Graciosa, o Livre Arbítrio torna-se obsoleto, pois Tudo está Aqui e Agora, sempre, basta deixarmo-nos fluir no caudal imenso da nossa Essência. 

Choosing Love - Thank you Mother India/ Post 1

Maa Ganga's Bounty

Day 2 - 21st of May 2018

This is the story of a journey with our Souls, Pedro and I letting ourselves be offered life on a golden platter, experiencing our love in bountiful freedom and sharing it with the whole world.

This journey started a few months ago, from the very instant we envisioned the possibility of coming to India, both of us for the 2^nd time, though our first was at different times and to different locations.

And what spurred this possibility? Coming to the Women Economic Forum (www.wef.org.in) organized by Dr. Harbeen Arora and her beautiful soulful creation: All Ladies League, born in India to connect the whole world as One through the empowerment of feminine leadership, to walk hand in hand with the masculine, finally.

So here we are, looking at the map, exploring possibilities of where to go.

Six days for WEF New Delhi, 26^th April to 1^st of May, plus around 12 days for the Wonder-Bike ride (will tell you all about it later on).

Then I receive an invitation from Confluence Foundation to go to Varanasi to a three-day trade fair, five days before WEF, which I initially decline because I am not into textile and handicrafts trade. Nevertheless, Smita, the organizer insists that I should come anyway for India has a tradition of receiving all as family and that the Foundation will pay for the air fare from Delhi to Varanasi and back, plus hotel and meals. Since I am travelling with Pedro I ask whether he can come along also, which is, once again accepted. Thank you Smita Shrivastav for being the conveyor of this God-given opportunity.

This is how both Pedro and I got to visit the Indian Mecca city of Varanasi – tagged as the holiest city in India - with the added bonus of meeting some absolutely fantastic people who are now our friends for life. Thank you Amit Talwar, Anu Vittal, Sanjay Goyal, Nitin Nagrale, Mansi Mahajan and Byron, Carol Hanlon amongst others, for the excellent company, shared laughs, love and wisdom.

At the airport a van picks up around 15 of us and we realize many of the people on the flight were meant to come to the same Event as us. 

On the way to the Hotel, Nitin tells us that anyone who gets to go to Varanasi will surely go to Heaven and has surely been doing a lot of good deeds to be bestowed with this honour. Humbled by this knowledge, our hearts sing with glee, ready to live up to the blessings that have been showered upon us.  

Nitin asks the driver to stop at a street stall on the way, for us to try some good Chai and some fried pastries I cannot remember the name of. He advises us, however, to be careful with street food and to never eat raw vegetables. Sticking to either boiled or frozen drinks is also a strong recommendation we intend to follow.

We are then taken to the fabulous five star Gateway Hotel Ganges, where we are received with ceremonial grace, following the Indian tradition of offering a gift to guests in this case in the form of a handmade necklace as well as the Tilaka on our foreheads, made with a fragrant paste - possibly sandalwood, in the round form of a Bindi, representing the cosmos as the berth of all creative unity allowing us to see beyond the limitations of physical form and recognising each one’s divinity.

We are invited to the hotel’s restaurant for a hearty breakfast and refreshments as well as establishing the first long-lasting bonds with other guests.

Time to be at the opening ceremony is long overdue but we are eventually transported there, where there are also ambassadors from several countries, which the organization hopes to create good trade relations with in order to expand the local hand-loom weavers’ art.

Pedro and I smile at each other, not really knowing why we are here, other than the fact that being at Varanasi suffices itself.

After lunch we enjoy a relaxed afternoon at the hotel and before sundown we receive another magical present: a boat tour on the Ganges, to witness the rites and rituals performed on the Ghats and absorb the full power of centuries of devotion right to the core of our cells.

A few children come our way asking for coins and one is selling small cups called diya, made of leaves and orange flowers with a candle inside, which are used for the Ganga Aarti Ceremony, a fire ritual whereby one lights the candle and lets it float on the Ganges river, as an offering to the Goddess Ganga. I get mine, which I offer to Maa Ganga in the name of Isness.

As the large boat we are in moves away from the shore, the rituals begin, fire, incense, clanging bells, chanting… getting louder and louder as we approach the main Ghat - Dashashwamedh Ghat.

On the way we behold ceremonies of varying grandeur and are bemused by the eternally burning Ghat where funeral pyres are reduced to embers and ash, in a sacred ritual of death and rebirth. Here, hundreds of bodies are burnt day and night. Hindus believe that when the ashes of a deceased one are laid in the Ganges at Varanasi, the holiest of grounds (which is believed to be inhabited for 5000 thousand years and thus one of the oldest cities in the world), their soul will directly access Heaven and thus be relieved from the cycle of rebirth. This is called moksha and it is draped with the beauty of completeness.

Of course not all can afford this, for funeral pyres require much wood, which in turn is also taxing forests. But India is the land of all contrasts and on this journey we choose to feel, observe, accept and compassionately Be.

Witnessing the intense sacredness of all that is going on ashore, feeling the power of just Being totally here, in this extended moment of awe, my eyes fill with tears of wonder and I smile, my heart pounding strongly though fully at peace and it’s as if I am holding my hands clasped in thankful prayer for the entire length of this Ganges spectacular ritual. In complete surrender I melt into the whole scenario and become one with it.

If nothing else, this experience alone would have justified coming to Varanasi – nothing left to do or to say, such is the purposeful bliss of receiving, allowing, flowing with Life’s pure magnificence, both physical and non-physical.

Whilst on the boat we are served some delicious vegetable fries on leaf plates, which would have sufficed as dinner but much to our surprise, after the blissful boat ride we are still taken to a restaurant for a round of Indian vegetarian delicacies!

Some years ago when I was still doubting that life could be infinitely grand, and my Essence kept on telling me about Abundance’s true nature – an intrinsic reflection of All that I Am, All that We All Are – I could not have brought myself to even imagine what She meant. She (I will address my Essence as a She for the sake of being in a female body now, but Essence is genderless) would smile each time I asked my endless questions, my hows and my whys, tangled in my impossibles and She would answer “I have so much to give you, if only you will open up and accept the Love that Is All there Is, All You Are…”.

Now I am absolutely sure. There is no doubt in me whatsoever as to the profound Truth that it is our Divine nature that infuses Human experience with meaningful bliss, when allowed to, and each day is living proof of this to such an extent I have surrendered my Free Will to my Essence and know that nothing can be less than perfect, not even needing to know what perfect is.

Tomorrow I will tell you about yesterday, the day we arrived in India for what turned out to be 28 extraordinary days.