Spiritual Highs and Lows

Captions Please...

Room 7 : Not the Honeymoon Suite

Scenes from a Procession that went noisily by at the Bazaar

Today was my last in Pushkar and I didnt get up early this time. Instead I  had a nice leisurely breakfast of muesli with honey and yoghurt as well as coffee and fresh juice - pineaple and mint, and finished "Eat Pray Love" - I found it even worse than I had at first thought it to be - this womans trip to India consisted of getting a taxi from the airport that landed her here to the Ashram, and staying there for a few weeks with an assortment of equally self absorbed europeans and americans, the Guru she had come to learn from was actually in New York!!  - and most of her learning she got from a Texan in his 60's.-such as it was - but she did get to the point where she understood perfectly how the entire universe worked - wish I could have asked her about quarks and bosons and dark matter - but after that she went to Bali and eventually hooked up with a Brazilian guy, and I think thats probably when she got over the divorce - she had been told she wouldn't get over her ex until she got under someone else. This was how deep it got. God help America is all I can say if this is what they think is great autobiography. Actually I thought it was so typical of American evangelical religions obscene preoccupation with personal salvation and self gratification - she actually wrote a lot more about pleasuring herself than she did about the poor indian women smashing rocks on the road outside the Ashram - she just didnt get it. I see Margaret gave the movie 2 stars -  maybe the scenery was nice!

I circled the lake after breakfast and saw a snake charmer with a cobra, was offered Hash, and resisted another charmer, a self described Gypsy who liked my hat and invited me back to her camp outside the town.

I wasnt going to say anymore about that because i thought it would be obvious I didnt go.!Later I went with a guide for a walk round the town and we went into the nearby hills to a temple where I met a really interesting Saddhu at a small temple up a ravine full of monkeys.

 The Saddu seemed wonderfully happy and talkative - he told a story about a guy at a movie for the first time who attacked a tiger on the  screen with his knife.He was quite amazing actually.

 He showed me pictures of his previous life as a completely naked Saddhu for a few years.He has been at this little temple for 4 years and stays there all day long - people bring him stuff - he never goes to town.Mind you it was beautifully quiet there and he had a nice view across trees  to the town in the distance and there was a permanent spring of fresh water.But poor Saddhu - my guide exlained he had "never touched a woman" but the Temple was actually dedicated to a female God and there was a very interesting stylised vulva as part of the altar region - or whatever they call that bit where the incense and flowers go.