Last days in India..

Tomorrow we’re heading off to Thailand where we will spend a good three month for various projects. Hmm.. really looking forward to that, because compared to India, it will be peace of cake! ;) but then we still want to come back to India to see more of it. Actually, it seems to us that we didn’t do a lot of stuff.. for sure, we checked out Varanasi pretty good and had a lovely time there. We did Vipassana what was also a very deep and intense experience (and one of the projects we planned from the beginning). Then we were a couple of days in Delhi and the rest of the time we travelled around or tried to organize things.. so we haven’t done a lot.. there’s still so much missing (well, NOT the Thaj Mahal ;) but Goa, Rishikesh, Manali, Parvati Valley, Dharmsalah, Leh.. and so on. So we will be back next December or January. For we will “only” have a 6 month Visa for India and Nepal, we will have to plan carefully to see from which month to which month we will be travelling here. Once or Visa will run out, we will come back to Switzerland. This will be end of May or end of June (probably end of June). Meaning we will be doing Kung Fu in July in China, being in August in Japan and then having Sept – Dec. In the Philippines and Indonesia.. so far we’re using way less money than we planned and we could travel on forever ;) no worries.. we will be back in 2014, but not before. It’s so much fun travelling with Sky!!! We’re just the perfect match and yes, we will stay together forever, growing old, happy and wise together! Sharing wine and Women and things beyond all imagination! Being here in India, where arranged marriage is not uncommon and sex toys are still illegal, we feel sorry for all these people having no idea how great sex actually can be! The two of us are just sooooo much ahead of the average mind! being here in India, I was wondering a lot in what direction mankind will develop. There is one billion people in this country and it’s hard to imagine that everybody will enjoy luxury one day. It starts by the disease called “cast system” that prohibits equality in this country. Probably all the poor would have to stand together and raise up, overthrowing all the rich people and distributing things more evenly. But as everybody is so religious here, it just won’t happen. People make offering to some of their thousands and thousands of gods, instead taking responsibilities for their actions and changing their life on their own. In terms of environmental protection, it would be a good start to not throwing everything away, but also here, they are far away from any change. It even affects us, for we’re throwing also everything away (no trash bins in the trains and nowhere to be found in the streets). A guy said: “it’s a cultural thing”. So then you’re culture is pretty much fucked up, pal! I would get a manic habit of cleaning up here and if you’re a messy, then you’d be just fine in this country ;) another thing that you will inevitably confront here is a huge amount of beggars. Children, old people, handicapped people.. hmm.. also there we haven’t found the best solution. We’re just turning them away, because in my life I never felt like giving money to people. I don’t feel like helping by giving money to these people.. it’s like painkillers instead of fixing the cause of your pain. It is as picking up trash thrown away by locals. It seems to be a good act, but in the long run nothing will change this way. So I haven’t the final answer to the problem. Why are some people born healthy, others not? Why are some so fortunate and others not? What remains is the only fact that everybody can achieve happiness by walking the path of Dhamma. If you can’t change it in the outside world, then you can end your misery by changing your inside world (this is where Vipassana is very right about). So instead of being miserable, these people should change deep inside. Maybe this is why I don’t like to give them money. The miserable way they confront me with is not what I think you should life. I only feel like telling them: “Be Happy!”. How was it.. there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. Yes, yes and yes.. even if it seems almost impossible to see the glimpse of light at the horizon, it’s there and it will always be there for the eye that wants to see! Ah.. finally we’re almost in Kolkata.. only five more hours to go in this train (5 out of 30 hours :P ..at least there is a direct train to bring us there. In Switzerland, if you like riding trains, the longest you can do is 4 hours and then you’re from east to west and crossed all of it ;) let’s see what sky is doing.. still sleeping I guess, but maybe a chai (tea) can wake her up ;) ===== this you don't need to read.. is just our backup for next year ;) ========== Hindi for beginners  1 ek 2 do 3 teen 4 char 5 panch 6 tscheh 7 sath 8 ath 9 no 10 tus 11 igiarh 12 barah 13 terah 14 choudah 15 pandrah 16 soulah 17 satrah 18 atharah 19 ounish 20 biis 21 ekiis 22 bais 23 deis 24 chobis 25 pachis 26 chapis 27 sathais 28 athais 29 untiis 30 tiis 31 ektiis 32 batiis 33 detiis 34 chotiis 35 pentiis 36 chatis 37 seintis 38 artis 39 unchalis 40 chalis 50 bdschas 60 saad 70 sapptar 80 assi 90 nabbe 100 so 200 do so 1000 hadschar How much is this – howra? Cold thanda hot garam water pani food khana possible milega everything sab cooch nothing cooch nei lower niche upper uncha price paisa / kimat vegetarian sakahari non-veg manchan today aach (aatsch) yesterday bita hua kal tomorrow anew ala kal very good bahud acha very tasty bahud matscha very egdam later badme more adhik less kam grill tandoori egg adna fish machli (matschli) chicken murga tikka piece bread roti, chapatti rice chawal patatoe alu cheese ghee (ghii) tomato tomatr sugar chini milk doodh (dudh) salt namak [namag] chilly mirch, tikha (spicy) ocean mahasagar and or sky acaz

Be happy, be happy...

phew.. we are back from Vipassana. actually escaped to a luxury hotel, where we're giving us a good treat after 10 days of abstinence to all wordly pleasures ;) hmm.. this was probably the last Vipassana retreat I did in this life. I left the course again early before completing it out of the exact same reasons as 10 years ago. let me put this together as I think it's important to be written down for it represents my actitude to life! the idea of Vipassana is to observe your body to become aware of all the sensations and the nature of sensations (they all rise and pass away and so is life.. constant changing). the whole universe is built out of subatomic particles that appear out from nowhere and disappear again in a very fast velocity (this is quantum physics). So Vipassana teaches to not react anymore to this sensations (becoming equanimous). there is more to the theory (that I strongly belief in). our mind jumps continously from the past to the future while wether past nor future are "real" (future are just possibilities, past just memories). so the only time to life is in the present moment and the more aware we become of that, the happier we will be in life. so while jumping between future and past, we will find pleasant or unpleasant thoughts about it.. if we're not aware of it, pleasant thoughts can result in craving, while unpleasant thoughts result in aversion. and this state of craving and aversion is what makes us miserable. then there is the teaching of Dhamma - the law of Nature or universal truth and its basically the three things: Morality - Concentration - Wisdom Morality means: no killing, no stealing, no lying, no sexual misconduct and no intoxicants. Concentration means: becoming master of your mind and not being slave as we are most of the time (constant chatterin in our mind that we can't stop) Wisdom is what results out of it.. getting insight in the truth so when meditating you have to go really deep to purify your thoughts, because verbal action and physical action are just projections of your thoughts (everything starts in your mind). now Wisdom again has three levels: devoting acceptance - out of fear or blind faith intellectual understanding - you thought about, but still don't live it living it at experiencial level --> path to enlightenment by learning the art of living, you'll learn the art of dying and your mind will peacefully leave this plane, for it's said, that the new mind is a child of the old mind (reincarnation). so far so good.. but Vipassana tells also to get rid of passion (eradicate fear, anger, hatred and PASSION). so with the passion part I can't cope. In fact I see and live it totally different. While Vipassana says that not only "don't liking" (aversion) creates Sankara, but also "liking it" (craving). and Sankara is the root of our misery. In my life though, enjoyment is very important. it gives me energy and strength to smile and perform wholesome actions. I'd even claim, that things will not happen when the mind becomes equanimous (as Vipassana demands). So while I'm aware that nothing last forever and everything changes, I still want to enjoy the pleasures of the moment, being prepared to let go again. this of course is not always easy, but I think it's more worth to enjoy it and deal with the consequences than letting it out entirely!!! so what happened.. I didn't like the idea of Equanimity and therefore couldn't apply that practice anymore. could not meditate at all if fact. and Goenka Vipassana is really strict (silence, no writing/reading, not doing fun things..) and the more I needed to feel passion and joy in my life and the less I could get it, the more I started being unhappy and all the bad thoughts of anger and hatred started to arise in my mind. this REALLY freaked me out!! so while not just stopping it on day 7, I managed to get to day 9 but with a lot of turbulences and dramatic situations, shouting, crying, feeling as desperate as I can remember.. phew.. it was tough! Still, I learned a lot of it!! we're happy we went for the course, but it also gave me time to make up my mind again and becoming aware of the path I go and why I go it! ..so Vipassana is not my path at the moment.. but cultivating joy and pleasure how as we were doing it the last days!! ;D finally I was infinitely happy, where Sky took my out of this course! best decision ever!! I might apply the meditation technique in another way, being more suitable for me. now we are in Kanpur and waiting for 19th, where we have a train to Kolkata and then flying to Thailand.. woah.. it's gonna be a change. but still.. we're not done with India.. we will be back for another great adventure here before touching Swiss ground again ;) yesterday we had to go back to pick up laundry and while we were waiting for it to be delivered, we went to a walk along the Ganga Riverside. It's pretty lovely there, exept for dogs feeding on rotten corpses that must have flown down in the river for days.. what a freaking scary experience!! brrrrrr.. happy didn't get nightmares from this one!! then as usual, we gathered quite a crowd around us, while getting drunk and playing didgeridoo. Even if they couldn't say one word in english, we shared food together and I tried to teach them a few of my tricks ;) we had a totally wicked jam at the pagoda, while waiting for our Rikshaw.. was just awesome!!!! :D now we're hanging out and enjoying in the hotel room.. well earned!! :D hear from us soon and be happy! :)