Nadaist principles: revision

I'm once again breaking my nadaist principles. I've joined a yoga course and I'm already at the 10th lesson.

In my defense, there's a couple of things that I can say.

First of all, I'm a very bad yoga practitioner. Whomever knows me long enough, or has played basketball or football with me, is perfectly aware that I can be more or less clumsy or effective, but anyhow my hips are like the trunk of a tree, and flexibility is not my asset. There's around 50% of the yoga positions that I cannot make, and for the ones I'm able to get closed, I suffer quite some pain. Thus it is not that I'm learning a lot.

But, most importantly, it does not matter. The point of going to the yoga class is exactly that: going to the yoga class. There is no long term or even short term objective. You go there and do your practice as good as you can and try to focus on your body and on your mind, and you have to let go at the same time. I'd say it is a sort of nadaist activity.

I'm in a very cheap but nice guesthouse by the Ganga. It's very quiet and it has a beautiful garden. I spend most of the day after my class there, I write, read, and listen to music, I go for a swim to the river even if the water is very cold. When I'm hungry I knock the door of my neighbour and we go together to the restaurant. It's a wonderful life, and even if I'm still working in the novel most of you know about, (another breach of the nadaist principles), I'm trying to do it in the yoga way, in the nadaist way if I may say, focusing on the page I'm at, even on the sentence and the word I'm at. And when I'm finished I could either throw it to the trash or try to publish it, it does not matter.

It may look as if I'm trying to find a way to excuse myself. But honesty, even if I'm kind of busy, I feel as closed as ever to be doing nothing, and it feels really really very good!.

Sadhu's fashion statements

You see the sadhus all around in India, they are the ascetics, have taken a fully spiritual path and they've given up any material possession and live maybe in a cave or go around travelling or I don't know. Buddha was actually a sadhu. Besides it is supposed to be the last stage of the live of every brahmin (higher cast). Anyhow, in particular in holy places, you see lots of them, e.g. like in Haridwar where I am now, (Uttaranchal) - bathed by the river Ganga, same as Varanasi.

I was having a tea at the (holy) promenade by the river, taking a look at the scenes. A guy came and asked for a chai. He was telling off a sadhu that sat down with him and shared the chai. I did not understand a word, but it was obvious the guy was upset. It seems some sadhus are not so genuine and try to cheat people in different ways, maybe this was one of them, anyhow the sadhu eventually stood up, said his last words, and left on his own.

Sadhus are poor since they've renounced to everything, they're dirty since they've given up soap. Their hair is a mess how knows if they ever wash it, or themselves, (except in holy rivers and lakes). They spend a lot of time in the open so their skin is really dark and some of the hair looses color; some of them look as if they've been to the hairdresser and had it done rasta style. But then, I realised that this sadhu possibly a cheater who was leaving had actually a perfect rasta hair, which could not be just the effect of dust and dirt, wind and sun, but had to be the work of a professional!!. Besides, he had several necklaces and his loincloth was shinny orange.

I started looking around at the sadhus with my new eyes, and indeed, this one had bracelets at his forearm, the other one was wearing his shabby pieces of cloth with lots of style, and most of them used that kind of bags that the westerns half mystics like so much (see previous posts, and by the way I have one of those bags myself), they all painted their faces a bit... I went for a short walk around the Ganga and yes it was confirmed, every one of them had a peculiarity, something nice even if humble, bracelets or necklaces or the hair vogue or the smartness of the rags or sunglasses.


The western half mystics don't look like indians nor western, the sadhus are actually the only indians that dress in the same wave as the half mystics. (However, of course, it has to be the other way around).


I don't know if the indians manufacturing clothes for the half mystics (there is already a kind of industry around it) have realised this fact. They should come to the shores of the Ganga as if the sadhus were on display in their catwalk and take ideas and create fashion.

Spiritual materialism

Pushkar (Rajasthan) is a small town beside a lake somewhat related to Brahma the Hindu god. The water of the lake is holy for the religious crowds and they go and bath and drink from it, (it looks quite greenish by the way, and big big fish lives in it since fishing is not allowed - they survive despite the amounts of incense and flowers that are thrown daily from the shore).

When I arrived in the late afternoon I thought of going to watch the sunset, but there are lots of warnings in the magic guidebooks about touts that want to "help" you to make a pooja (offering). Thus I looked for a quiet place, (actually there was not even a direct view of the sun setting down). A guy here and there would come and do their ablutions in the green water. Then a priest came and cleaned up (indian cleaning) some of the steps by throwing buckets of the holy water, and then his gadgets for the ritual. Afterwards he went for a bath himself and, since at that moment I was the only alive person around, he asked me if I could stay at least for a few minutes and then I would look after the gadgets - in case a doggy would come I should keep them safe.

The guy even swam a bit and went to change loincloths and came back and started his pooja. An old man joined him with a cymbal and a stick. Eventually they needed somebody to wave a kind feather duster (holy one) to welcome the gods - they asked me as a last resort. I joined and we did the thing and tossed flowers to the lake and the priest sat down and started singing (praying). It was nice, relaxing, lonely, even if his voice was not melodic. Pleasant. When the fire was finish the priest stopped. Then we talked a bit, he explained me that he was praying for shanti, (calm, meaning non-aggression). His english was crap, when I asked something the answer made no sense to the question (or maybe it was mysterious), and I guess he got a similar impression of me since I did not understand when he was asking something. At the end he recommended me a couple of simple mantras. I'd guess he was a honest hindu believer.


The ritual was kind of nice, curious, as I say the full scene was peaceful, agreeable, and maybe if I tried the mantras I would feel ok with them. It's quite common for we westerns to have those kind of feelings. There's a buddhist writer who explains it using a very good example: some meditation techniques are supposed to bring boredom to the practitioner but actually for the foreigners are enjoyable, they say they find them "an amazing experience". This guy (Trungpa) calls it "spiritual materialism", a mistake of even truthful spiritual seekers, who try a technique and find it nice and get a result, but then their rational mind makes a full setup about it which has nothing to do with it, (since it has nothing to do with anything rational), and in the worst cases there is a masala mix of rituals and details that he/she likes or finds powerful, of several religions and woodo and shamanism.

Of course the half mystics of Leh and Pushkar and all around India are the perfect embodiment of it. But nobody seems to be free: myself if you would had asked me only a few days before I'd told you that no no way I would never be the altar boy of a priest, whichever religion it was...

Leh is cool

Leh, (Ladakh, J&K, north India), is for sure a cool city, a touristic city.

After some wandering around you realise that the residential area for locals occupies hardly the same surface as the section for hotels and guest houses and restaurants and travel agencies. Luckily is the low season now, not too many people, although still you can find the main kinds of touristic subspecies.

There's the Israelis, (not all of them of course, it is always wrong to generalize), with their very long and tough military service, 2 years, and after that they're crazy to take a holiday at least as long, and they come to India since it is such a cheap place to go around, and they smoke joints and drink and do nothing. On the other hand, it's important to note that the Israelis (the ones of this kind) literally don't move around so much, they don't get out of hotels and restaurants, thus unless they are exactly in the same as the one you've decided to go to, (since it is said in the magic guidebook the food is good), they will not bother you, you won't even notice them.

There's the half mystics as well. They are easy to identify for their clothes, which in Europe would look a bit like Indian, but in India they just look weird. Lots of colors, loose garments, which appear to be worn out. (It seems Indian recycle old sarees for the manufacture; they've realised there's a big market for the half mystics' peculiar style). Anyhow, besides the clothes, the half mystics are interested on anything that may sound spiritual and religious and traditional, although make no mistake, just interested enough, not going much into details that would be boring.

Besides in Leh there's lots of the specie of trekkers, who all dress as if they were going to go on a trek, (of course). It is true they're going to go on a treck, sooner or later, but not necessarily in the next five minutes, as a neutral uninformed observer could think when looking at them. "Wow, all these people in this city just about to go on a trek at this moment, how many there will be then in the mountains".

And there's plenty of shops of handicrafts and clothes, (in particular for the half mystics but also for the other travellers), and bored and somewhat but not too much annoying shopkeepers, and low business in low season. And plenty of restaurants and different kinds of good food. Well, and Buddhist monasteries, surely too many.

So it is a weird cool city, and it is good luck there's not so many tourists now. Since I don't know what day is it today, you could probably convince me that I've been either 2 days or 1 month here, or both with only a few hours' difference.