Namaste to you all, well I left Mamallapuram with a sense of excitement and relief. Excitement knowing that I'd be in one of the most awe inspiring places in India, the Ajanta Caves. I use the word relief because I had, had enough of Tamil Nadu, for some reason this state just didn't agree with me.
I felt that the government had not tried hard enough to preserve its ruins and tourist sites. It seemed to be way behind alot of other states in India with its Internet services, the rubbish problem seemed to be worse then alot of other places, I guess it just wasn't my place. Yes I know that what I wrote in my other post was all about how we see the world is usually whats going on inside, and I guess around this time maybe I'd had enough of the hustle and bustle of India. Maybe it was a past life that was playing out, there could be a hundred reasons why I just didn't feel comfortable in this state.
I caught a local bus on the main road and travelled north to Chennai. Once I arrived I got the normal run down with there were no sleeper buses going to Hyderabad, yeah yeah, I've heard it all before, the hotels burnt down, the hotels closed down, there's no more trains, buses and that you'd better come with me and stay at my hotel and so on. Well for once these Indian touts weren't lying there really weren't any sleeper buses at all in Chennai. If your wondering what a sleeper bus is, its a wonderful invention(not quite sure what country invented them)they're a bus with beds down either sides and a row or two of lay back chair's in the middle, great way to get around if there's no trains. So I had to take a ticket I couldn't be bothered going to the train station, as some of you might realize just doing simple things in India can wear you down.
At this point I was a bit upset that I had to travel overnight for twelve hours sitting on a crowed bus. Then as always and especially when your feeling a bit low in India, someone always comes to your rescue. A young man must have picked up on my frustration he came over and politely asked what was up?I explain how I was not looking forward to traveling on a seated bus,'come and have a chai my friend, there's nothing you can do about it, so you might as well just except it and be happy anyway', he was right, sometimes we can get into such an illusion about what's going on. I mean here am, I'm travelling around a foreign country for five months having the time of my life and I've gotten worked up over a bus trip and a few bad experiences over the past week.
We chatted for hours about his life and mine, the time certainly past quickly. It was a stimulating conversation, I witness how myself and I guess alot of people can sometimes get so caught up in trivial things and not be aware of the big picture, the real picture. We really can get so caught up in nothing, things usually created by our mind to keep our focus on petty little things, things that stop us from becoming and remembering who we truly are. I mean there's people all over the world dying and starving and in situations that we in the West couldn't even fathom, that we in the West take for granted everyday. And here was I playing out poor me or victim role over nothing. I'm glad when I have these realizations, it snaps me back into the now, into reality. I know for myself and probably for alot of you that sometimes I let my mind run riot for periods of time. I allow it to control everything, I fall into a dream state if you like not really being present just letting life pass me by. It certainly isn't a place that's healthy, that mindless chatter, the illusional dream.
So have a look at how you've been behaving over the past week, have you been caught up in trivial little experiences? have you been worrying about your future, regretting your past? playing the blame game on someone or something outside of yourself? All these things keep us from the truth, keep us in the dream, keep us from reaching our full potential and opening up to love and the joys of life. Remember to step back as often as you can and have a check on where your at, be the witness of your mind and life, see life from your true nature, your divine self, your god presence. Most of us let our mind and ego weave a web of illusions, we let so many things distract us, I feel in this way we become so self absorbed that we forget what we are really here for. When I take that step back, I soon realize its not all about me, its about everyone, its about how I can help my fellow brothers and sisters, its about giving and loving yourself and everyone else on this planet.
I read a speech yesterday from
Mahatma Gandhi and one also from
Mother Teresa, these people understood it and they were no different then you and me. Alot touched my heart but there was a few towards the end of Mother Teresa's message they went something like this, 'It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving','Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting'. The part about let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier, that really struck a cord with me, just imagine if we all applied this philosophy, wouldn't the world be an even better place. So I'm going to try it, I'm going to be conscious of putting a smile or making someone feel better when they leave my presence.
I finally arrived in Hyderabad, it was about seven in the morning. I had a few hours sleep and like usual the trip wasn't that bad, I'd met some wonderful people on the bus and it made the whole experience alot more enjoyable. Well it took me just about all day to workout that there were only local buses to Aurangabad. I was starting to run out of money so I took the chance on riding one of these beasts, they're about an eighth of the price of private buses and trains. Hyderabad was just another big Indian city, there was really nothing I wanted to see there, my focus was to get to the Ajanta caves, so I left that afternoon.
What a ride, the seats were like bricks, the road was like a goat track and to top it off it was crowed like no other bus in the world. You all must realize that if there's a spare inch on the bus they just keep cramming the people in, the back seat that I was sitting in was for about four people, most of the time we had eight or sometimes even nine. I'm pretty sure I had about one hour sleep, Indians aren't the quietest people, especially the young ones. So did I get upset you ask, no not at all, all I could do was laugh, at myself and the whole situation. Its so freeing when your in an overwhelming set of circumstances and all you can do is laugh. I thought as I was sitting on the bus with my back just about broken and my bum non-existent, its all about choice, everything! every single thing, person and experience we have twenty four hours a day is our choice, no one else, OURS. Its when we don't take responsibility for OUR choices is where the problem lies. Its also when we take it all to seriously, ourselves especially is when we fall into to poor me syndrome, and once we do that, that's when we give our power away.
So always remind yourself when your complaining about some aspect of your life, that you and you alone chose every experience that you have ever had and will ever have for the rest of your life. Some of you would already know this and some not, but I tell you, boy is it freeing when you fully realize that you are in control of everything, you are the captain of the ship. What does that fully mean, it means you can recreate your entire life if you chose to. You can chose allover again, the whole lot. Some of you might say, 'but I cant, its to hard, I'm to old, stupid, poor, I have other people to worry about, my husband, wife, children' and so on. Well for some of you it certainly is a bit harder to change your life, but as I say to people its as hard as you want to make it. Take baby steps, change your attitude for starters, lets say from negative to positive thoughts, that alone can make a hell of a difference, but start somewhere or just simply be quite, stop your whinging and whining that's just victim consciousness and unfortunately most of the world has it in some form or another.
Here's some pictures, of one of the most spectacular places I've been to and no its not the Ajanta caves, its the Ellora caves which a situated just outside of Aurangabad. I only went there because they were so close, I think and hour's trip in a bus. I spent hours there, meditating, healing and doing the tourist thing. Enjoy.
Shiva temple, Ellora.
Me playing with my camera.
As you can see in this photo, they are huge.
Shiva temple.
These girls came from a Muslim school, a few hours away from the caves.
These were the first caves of Ellora, the Buddhist were the first to start building they're temples.
This statue of Buddha was very impressive, I was alone here for quite awhile, so I got to meditate, as you can image the energy was very calming. Monks had been chanting and meditating in here for hundreds of years.
Just look at the roof, the detail in the carvings were incredible.
I wouldn't have a clue how they carved the roof like this in 600 AD, its just fascinating how skilled people were so long ago.
One of the many huge halls, that the Buddhist monks prayed at.
Another view of the caves.
