Letter 4 ~ Living Meditation

India is like a living meditation. To be interiorized in India can be both easy and difficult. One big help is to let go of having to be in control. And let go of critical judgments about how things are done – or not done. We’ll come back to this concept in a little while. . . .

It is different there. The efficiency of the West is not directly transferable as you might think it should be. If you are not flexible you will not get the most from the pilgrimage. Even Indian nationals have to hassle with and for everything on a day-to-day basis. Unless and until you experience it, words scarcely convey the Indian experience. Unless you can be flexible and take everything that comes as part of the richness of the experience, you will spend much time in a negative state of consciousness.

For instance: know that animal rights, children’s rights, and women’s rights are not operative. Hot water is something you have to ask for; bathtubs are nearly nonexistent except in the best tourist hotels, dishes are only marginally clean in most places, linens are usually something you replace with your own. The pillows are abominable; napkins, Kleenex, and toilet paper are rarely found. Communication is never straight forward. Delays and changes are a foregone conclusion. Lizards and roaches share most real estate. Trash is everywhere. Traffic is scary and incomprehensible. A dose of Delhi belly is practically inevitable, and so is constipation. Crossing the street on foot is an act of sheer fortitude. Bargaining is a necessity and tougher than playing poker with the pros. Beggars are ubiquitous in an infinite variety of modalities; most of them either bogus or part of a mafia stable. Trains are never on time. People wearing a uniform usually use it as a means of intimidation. Banks are truly laughable – after you get over the inherently frustrating procedures. Most temples are noisy and all swamis are not yogis.

It is all surreal and bizarre and if you try to make it fit into your concepts of what should or should not be, you will be lost in an endless no-win, no-peace vortex of delusion. Like life.

However, in meditation, with determination to interiorize, we can relax knowing that God is taking care of things in the world according to His Divine Plan. Our job is to see Him (or Her) behind it all. Our job in meditation is to Practice the Presence, to love and trust the Divine Beloved; to forget about the ills and seeming injustices of the world; to lift the consciousness beyond this mayic plane of delusion. This is precisely what is required of the pilgrim who wants to taste the spirituality of India that is just beyond the grasp of the senses. India is like a living meditation.

Going with a small group makes it a lot easier to let go and let God; you don’t HAVE to worry or fuss about making the arrangements and haggling with every vendor; your Quiet Heart Pilgrimage escort will take care of that for you. You can think that you are a little child of the Divine, holding Her hand trustingly, appreciating every experience as having a gift within it ~ just for you from the Divine. For, indeed it does, if you but look for it!

One might ask, with all of the intensity and difficulties of being in India, why would anyone choose to go? It does defy logic. For me, the mind says but, but, but. . . while the heart and soul are experiencing an irresistible pull.

I try to make sense of it this way: there is so much in this limited consciousness that is unknown to us except through intuition dimly lighting our way. I don’t think any pilgrimage is based on logic; my theory is that it is an intuitive pull of the Soul for contact with the Divine ~ in a place once known to the pilgrim as a place where God-contact occurred in a previous lifetime.

Pilgrimage is about spiritual focus and perception. Pilgrimage is about consciousness and loving God. Pilgrimage is like a living meditation… if you make it so.

🙏

With you in Guruji's Perfect and Constant Care,

Brenda

QuietHeart.India@gmail.com