A journey to India with Sharonji part 2

We flew out of JFK and there was a pigeon in the airport and of course we spent the first 10 minutes feeding the birds. Sharonji always has her seeds with her.

I always try to do at least a small practice when I fly. I was doing a headstand in the back of the plane and the flight attendant asked if he could take a picture of me and I said only if he would take one with my phone as well...

We arrived to Delhi on the 23rd of January. It was the first time either of us had been this airport in 17 years  and for me it was my first time back. 

Sharonji was taken aback by the modernity of it. Of course her remembrance of it was different than what she was now seeing.She was very into the huge mudras on the wall above the imiigration counters.

We took a car to Braj. It took 4 hours and on the way we got a flat tire. Our driver changed the tire by himself pretty quickly but did not even pull off the road.

Braj is an area in Uttar Predesh that is the home of many of the Krishna Lilas and it was home to Shyamdasji for over 40 years. We did not make it to India in time to be there for the cremation and that may have been a blessing. I was not excited to see the trauma from the accident and preferred to remember the Shyamdas that was in my mind. We did make it in time for the first of many ceremonies that took place at different locations in Braj. The first was a fire ceremony by the side of Surabhi Kund. It is famous in the lore of Krishna as the place where Indra asked for forgiveness from Krishna via Surabhi. (An interesting story if you care to look it up). Shyamdasji's son David, Vallabhdas, Adam, Govind and myself shaved our heads and bathed before the ceremony. Below is Govind getting his head shaved and the beginning of the fire ceremony.

The lady in the black hat on the right is Shyamdasji's mother Gloria Schaffer who was once the Secretary of State for Connecticut. In the picture below Sharonji and Radhanath Swami offering prayers during the ceremony. And below that is a larger picture of the Kund (lake) but I could not get a shot of the whole thing, but you can see the ceremony happening in the background.

The 2nd day took place at another Kund called Soron Har Ganga. It is honored and respected as the Ganga although there did not seem to be any inflow from the actual river. It was a 2 hour drive from where were staying. On the way we stopped for tea and I made some friends. After that I looked around a bit and was saddened by what I saw. Much of the country side including where we were staying had been very polluted by plastic and in some cases raw sewage. 

The ceremony took place on the steps and this is where some of the ashes from Shyamdasji's cremation were placed.

Each person touched another by the shoulder or arm so that each of us was in contact with those who leading the ceremony and with each other. It was very powerful.

The last image is a verse from the Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 Verse 13. 

Just as in the physical body of the embodied being is the process of childhood, youth, old age; similarly in the transmigration from one body to another the wise are never deluded.

Yogis strive to see the process for what it is...a process and that the essence of a being is beyond that.

Chapter 2 Verse 17

But know that by whom the entire physical body is pervaded is indestructible. No one is able to cause the destruction of the imperishable soul.

This was a powerful day and afterwards we went to Vrindavan and ate at the ISKON temple there. 

Day 3 needs its own blog.... 

  

A journey to India with Shyamdasji Part 1

People often assume that since I am a yoga teacher that I am a fan of India as a place. This is not true. Or at least it has not been true for a long time. My first experience in India was when I was 13. I asked my teacher and Uncle... David Life, if I could join him on a trip. Long story short, he said yes. Being in India is a bit of a blur. I remember going to Ashtanga every morning for two months and Shri K. Pattabhi Jois keeping me on baddhakonasa for many weeks and him standing, one dry heavy foot on each thigh, on top of me saying breath... I was 13 from from the Lower East Side of NYC, I was not really into it.

Afterwards we made our way north, with a few stops we arrived in Gokul. Birthplace of Krishna and home to Shyamdas. This was a highlight for me. Spending time by the Yamuna, Mohan (Shyamdas's friend, assistant, right hand) taught me how to cook different thing including bread in a cow dung fire. Tasted pretty good!!!! Once you get over the part about it being cooked in poo. Cow dung has played an essential role in India providing everything from fire for cooking to plaster for walls. Shyamdas would take David and I out to the river for long walks or through the town's bazaars.

Any way, 3 months  total and when I came back to New York and I swore off yoga. I thought it was terrible. Vegetarianism as well. It was for the birds and I was not really a bird person either. On one of our trips in Mysore we went to a aviary where a huge pelican type bird pooped all over me as soon as I walked in.

It was a while before I came back to yoga, a few years of not really speaking with Sharon and David. They knew about India and they let me go anyway. I was bitter.

Fast forward 17 years later and I am teaching yoga, vegan but still not wanting to go back to India. I also started speaking with Sharonji and Davidji again...notice the ji's...

Shyamdas had stayed a friend the whole time and a very dear teacher. We would always talk about me going to visit him in India or him coming with me on a trip to Japan. We would email each other every so often trying to make it work. But inside I did not really want to go back to India. I said to Davidji once that the only way I am going back to India is if Shyamdas promises to host me and look after me otherwise I have no desire.

I was open to the idea of traveling with Shyamdas because I knew something about him tha you might not pick up on right away. He was in touch. He was in touch in so many ways it would be impossible to really give a fair descrption. However two things always played in my mind to allow me to even contemplate a trip back. Shyamdas was in touch with the deep and esoteric teachings of Braj. He was part of a lineage that very few westerners get a glimpse of. He was the only westerner that I met that was translating the teaching of Shri Vallabhacharya. He spoke Hindi, Sanskrit and Braj Basi. After living in India for the better part of 40 years he was in touch with the people and the teachings but also the fruit the teachings talk about.

Every time someone came back from a trip with him they would always exclaim how amazing it was that everyone knew Shyamdas, the sadhus, the saints, the people in the shops, the priest at the temples. He was in touch with the teachings and the land to the extent that they were almost non-different. He was at ease everywhere because of it.

Shyamdasji left his body on Jan 20th. I received an email from Sharonji the night (NYC time) after it happened (Goa).

"Do you want to come with me to India Jules?" Sharon asked me the next day. Without a second thought I said yes.