Opening Eyes in India ~ Learning Experiences through Seeing Opposites 🇮🇳
Every moment of our lives has led us to this one right now. Sitting on the plane after the layover in Kiev, Ukraine, heading to New Delhi, India. Doubts, fears, insecurities, stereotypes, and belief systems start getting really powerful as we pay attention to them. There is an incredible variety of people on this plane. In a second they are bodies, and so the physical seems to be important. The next second, as we shift our awareness they become souls and we remember who we really are, we become courageous. We decide what, how, when, and for how long we see, feel, and do what we choose to. From here, aware of these thoughts, we start this new adventure. Every moment of your life, wherever you are, is a new beginning, a new opportunity to be who you want to be. If your thoughts are going one way, you catch them and redirect them the way you want them to go. You are in control and you have the right to choose, change, and evolve.
Arrival in New Delhi.
We feel a little out of it since we didn’t really sleep on the plane and have been travelling for the past 16 hours. However, the adrenaline and the excitement of being here are carrying us along. Nikhil, one of our Airbnb guests in the United States, came to pick us up. What an incredible difference when a local picks you up, drives you around, explains really cool interesting stories about the city and the history of the country. They are getting ready for the Dussehra Festival. In most places in India, the towering effigies of Ravana symbolizes that the evil is burnt, along with fireworks, marking the evil's, Raavan, destruction. The festival also starts the preparation for one of the most important and widely celebrated festivals - Diwali, the festival of lights. We will be back for that after Nepal!
We arrived at our Airbnb in the Greater Kailash 2 neighborhood of South Delhi and immediately passed out for a few hours. With a new found sense of energy, we made our way out the door. We made it to a small temple down the road and walked around the neighborhood to get a feel for the area. It is extremely impacting to see so much poverty and dirtiness, and smiles and kindness at the same time. It is very chaotic yet everyone seems to be very calm. They enjoy their teas and snacks in every corner and seemed to be very content with what they have. At the beginning it felt quite intimidating to walk around those areas. However, when you let go of the mundane and old thoughts, it becomes easy and natural.
We searched for a Brahma Kumaris center, which is a World Spiritual University with over 8,000 centers in the whole world. This has been the key to our spiritual evolution, understanding who we really are and evolving in many aspects. Wherever you go in the world they will treat you like you feel at home, and that’s exactly what we experienced when knocking on their door in New Dehli. They receive you with a big smile and an “Om Shanti” which means I am a peaceful soul. Among the noise outside, in their center you could smell, see, feel, touch, and especially listen to the peaceful and loving vibrations. We were able to have a wonderful meditation and were given a toli (a sweet), of course. This was an incredible recharge for the soul, which rejuvenated the body and allowed us to have greater energy to continue our day.
We experienced taking the metro, pretty good infrastructure, and a Tuk-Tuk to the Lotus Temple. This massive structure reminded us of the Opera House in Sydney, Australia. There were a lot of people walking around and taking pictures of the Temple. We had barely eaten any meal at that point (7:00 PM), so we found a nice restaurant for dinner. We were nervous about getting sick so we wanted to try to find proper food. We lucked out and had an incredible dinner. Afterwards another pretty crazy Tuk-Tuk ride.
With the little time remaining, we managed to see Lakshmi Narayan Temple and the India Gate. Full of history and stories of religions and spiritualities throughout the Temple and city center. Outside there is chaos and what seems to be completely lawless traffic. Inside, there are very specific rules, so much devotion, respect, and hope.
We made the most of our short visit to New Delhi, a quick pit stop in India before heading to Mount Abu, Rajasthan. The headquarters of Brahma Kumaris for “Peace of Mind” retreat. It has been a dream to go there and we are already feeling the pull to arrive.
At the moment we are in Kathmandu, Nepal. We haven't had good internet connection lately therefore we weren't able to keep our blog up to date. We will write about our experience in Mount Abu, which was very fulfilling. Here is a sneak peak:
TOMORROW! We have a long day of travelling to get to a really small village near Gorkha, where we will start our first workaway, volunteering experience. We are beyond excited since this really starts the true meaning of our trip. We won't have internet access until we go back to India on November 6th.
Until then, lots of love and Namaste.
- M&M
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