Episode 24

After a long week in Dehradun and an interesting weekend adventure, we all bundled into a jeep and headed for Rishikesh, the yoga capitol of the world. Rishikesh is a few hours from Dehradun, and serves as a spiritual hub for many Hindus as well as a tourist attraction for westerners in search of a yogic retreat. Rishikesh is truly breathtaking. Set beside a beautiful stretch of the Ganges River, this little town is filled with an unavoidable sense of spirituality. Its spectacular temples, meditation trails through the Himalayas, and car-less (honk-free) streets made for a spectacular week.

We arrived on a Sunday, and within 20 minuets of getting situated into our Ashram, we saw a large crowd of Tibetans next to one of the religious buildings by the Ganga waterfront. True to the nature of India, we decided to stand around with the crowd to poke our noses into what was going on. We soon found out that the Dalai Lama was about to make his last appearance before leaving Rishikesh. The travel gods were truly on our side that day, and sure enough within 10 minutes of arriving on the scene, the Dalai Lama came out of the building and greeted the adoring crowd. I couldn’t believe it, how on earth did we just stumble into such an auspicious occasion!

We then continued to explore the rest of Rishikesh, and in the evening decided to check out the prayer ceremony at the Shiva temple by the Ganga. As you step foot into the white marble structure, incense fills your nostrils and you are greeted by an enormous Shiva statue. The statue sits with the Ganga at his feet and the vast expanse of mountains and cliffs at his back, another image that I will forever have ingrained in my mind. We came to the temple right before the sun was about to set, and the ceremony had just begun. Hindu prayer ceremonies are extremely musical with Gurus chanting their prayers and thousands of Hindus singing and swaying to the hum of the sitar. The sights, sounds, and smells of this evening were enough to make even the most secular newcomer drift into a mystical state of meditation. Once the ceremony finished, we said goodbye to a flaming pink and orange sun, and spent the rest of the evening listening to Sufi tunes and watching a beautiful Indian dancer enact tales from the Ramayana. I couldn’t have asked for a better start to our Rishikesh adventure….