A Room of Her Own

My room, right now, is in Pokhara, Nepal. I took a room before trekking through the Poon Hills, and when I came back to the Noble Inn hostel, vacancy was up so I was demoted to a darker, ground level room. The old lungs didn't like it so much, so when I had the chance, I asked to be moved back to my sunny 3rd level room with windows and a view, so that's where I rest. It has a solar-powered shower that is HOT water (why don't we always use such brilliant technology?)

I had grand intentions of blogging all the way through my trip, but I found that wasn't what my heart really wanted most of the time, to be sitting at a computer reflecting on my journey rather than out doing it. Now though, all these images and experiences are banked up in my brain, and my typing fingers are hungry for a good run across the keys. I can't catch up on yesterday, as can none of us, so I'm starting in the ever-present NOW.

There is a huge lake on the corner of Pokhara. It is the second biggest city in Nepal, where most of the trekking ventures start off from. It's a tourist town, and the locals push their wares on you with a friendly "Hello" or "Namaste," but compared to the soul-drilling intensity of India, it's pretty laid back.

Yesterday, I took a walk around the edge of town, determined to find the trails that lead up to the mountains overlooking the lake, so I could visit the beautiful white Peace Pagoda, built by the Japanese, that rests there. It's a lovely Buddhist monument, with a helicopter landing pad right beside it. Touche. A touch of class, those Japanese always like to imbue. It was a sweaty trek through the jungle to find this place, but I found a nice wide open path, and met a few people passing by on the way, who of course graced me with a "Hello" or "Namaste" on the way, as well as several tough little old women with bunches of firewood on their backs, picking their way through the roughage to seek their woodly jewels.
On the way back, I had planned to circumnavigate the lake in the other direction, but couldn't find a nice wide path. Instead I beat my way through with a stick, trying to knock down the lacy spider webs that I was getting covered with before I got covered with them. 45 minutes and a couple of spider bites later, I decided to retrace my steps and get to the nice, clearly-marked path that said "Boats - This Way." Another 45 minutes and I was down at the lakeside, and for 250 Nepali rupees a friendly local rowed me across back to town.
The air is so clear and fresh, I just sat in silence most of the way, sitting in the middle of the boat as I was asked. I did wonder about the fish in the lake, and was told that of course, yes, there were many fish. How big are they? Oh, 25-30kg. Seriously? Not putting my toes in there anytime soon.
I remembered the lake in Neyyar Dam, near the yoga ashram where I spent a month. Us melting students would go jump in the lake any chance we could on our few minutes of break time. Have any of you experienced "Dr. Fish?" It's a phenomena sweeping Europe first I believe but took foothold as a craze in Seoul, Korea. You can sip tea and dip your feet into the pools, where the fish nibble at the dead skin on your feet. Not a venture for the faint-hearted, I say. It wasn't til my second visit, and a couple of stiff cocktails actually that I got the gumption to actually do it. It was enjoyable, if not a novelty to knock off the list of life's must-tries. However, at this lake at the ashram, the fish were HUNGRY, and the more they tasted human flesh, the more they wanted it. I kicked them away when they got too feisty, because I saw the marks left on other students. Gouges! It's true. So the moral of the story is, don't try finding "Dr. Fish" at the lake in Pokhara, Nepal. They must be verging on the size of Loch Ness monsters, I'm sure.

That's my fish story, for now.

So much time, so many books..

BOOKS on this trip:

Sivananda Yoga Teacher's Training Manual

The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga - Swami Vishnu Devananda

The Bhagavad Gita - S.S.

Radha's Prem - S.S.

Moksha - S.S.

Practice of Devanta - S.S.

Thought Power - S.S.

Hindu Gods and Goddesses - S.S.

India Lonely Planet, 2009

A Room of Her Own - Virginia Woolf

The Cobra's Heart - Ryszard Kapuscinski

Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts

Commited - Elizabeth Gilbert

Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger

The Seven Bhoomikas

As promised, here are the seven bhoomikas (stages) of knowledge, according to Jnana yoga:

1. SUBHECCHA - longing for truth. The desire for enlightenment.
2. VICHARANA - right enquiry. (Who am I?)
3. TANMASA - tenuous mind. Attenuation/thinning of thoughts.
4. SATTVAPATHI - self realisation. The attainment of purity. Sanchita and agami karma are no more; only parabdha karma remains.
5. ASAMSAKTI - non-attachment. The yogi plays their role in the world.
6. PADARTHABHAVANA - non-perception of objects. The yogi takes action only when prompted.
7. TURVAGA - transcendence. No karma remains. The body drops off within 3 days.

Most awake people are living in the first three stages. A sage makes it to the fourth. A person in the final four is titled, respectively: Brahmavid, Brahmavidhara, Brahamavidyavara, Brahmavidvarishta.

The purpose of my journey in India is to discover, Who am I? I am a worldly person, with spiritual inclinations. I want to cultivate some habits and awarenesses on this trip that will point me in the right direction. I want to use all of my energy for whatever my soul mission is. Is that too much to ask?