The smells of India are strong – long streams of poured chai tea mingle with waves of petrol and sideways drafts of exotic spices all jumbled together with car horns and bicycle bell ringers.
Ganesha the elephant god is the remover of obstacles and Saraswati is the muse of the the arts, Lakshmi grants wealth of all sorts, and Mahavatar Babaji is the ever-manifesting human aspect of Shiva.
Let’s not over-glamorize India or look at it with rose-colored glasses – the caste system is still oppressive, its reverberations still affecting the ability to climb social and work ladders – and respect for women can still be a big problem.
The heat and humidity can be off the charts in summer.
Monkeys are a nuisance too … and yet …
… something ancient and magical floats through the air in India.
What is it?
India is aswirl in color and sound and broadcasting to us from ancient times and places – the country’s informality and lack of adherence to rigid time schedules gives it an air of being in a kind of permanent festival mode.
India has an amazing variety food textures, cooking techniques, flavors and colors – naan bread, tandoori ovens, paneer cheese, Punjabi eggplant with potatoes, mango lassi, the list goes on and on.
However, curry is is something different in India than in US. In India, curry is a generic word that could apply to any sauce with spices.
India the birthplace of yoga, Hinduism and Buddhism.
The original historical (Gautama) Buddha came from India as did Nagarjuna – the most important Buddhist philosopher after Gautama Buddha himself. Nagarjuna took the insights of the Buddha to a whole other level – his little-read and misunderstood Fundamental Verses of the Middle Way should be required reading for anyone with an interest in spirituality or diving into what the Buddha was trying to convey.
Although this is not widely known in Western countries, the largest gatherings on the planet happen every few years in India at the Kumba Mela, which attract religious pilgrims to holy sites throughout the country. Check this out – according to Wikipedia (I kid you not, you can read it for yourself):
“An estimated 120 million people visited Maha Kumbh Mela in 2013 in Allahabad over a two-month period,[4][5] including over 30 million on a single day, on 10 February 2013 (the day of Mauni Amavasya).[6][7]“
I am not sure if Indians invented mathematics and music (did the Arabs invent these or just refine what the Indians invented?) but I know their tonal scales have many more notes in an octave than we do in the West.
Paramahansa Yogananda came from India and he wrote one of the greatest books of all time: Autobiography of a Yogi. George Harrison loved this book so much he had multiple copies around the house so he could always hand them out to visitors. Yogananda came to the United States in the 1920s to try to spread the refined spiritual teachings Kriya Yoga and meditation but he faced a lot of discrimination from the press.
India is the birthplace of Ravi Shankar and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi – both massive influences on the Beatles, especially George Harrison. John Lennon wrote a great little tune about India that was never released, but you can check out his demo on YouTube:
So what does the future hold for India?
For sure technological rebirth (solar to software) and perhaps a spiritual one as well. Let’s hope those broadcasts floating in the air in India from ancient times and places remain to help anchor our little blue marble floating in space.
jedbonniwell 