Reflections on Trips to India

The first time I went to India was in January of 1980 as an “adventure traveler”.  I was one of a new breed of tourists who explored remote areas by unusual methods of transport in hopes of finding adventure and excitement away from the normal tourist trails.  I rode a camel through the Thar Desert, bicycled from the Taj Mahal to New Delhi, trekked in the Himalayas, river rafted down the Trisuli River and rode elephants in Chitwan National Park.  By the end of the trip, I managed to find I had been transported on more than 20 different “vehicles” over the 5 weeks in India and Nepal including those already mentioned, as well as the odd dugout canoe and ox cart.  It was definitely an adventure.  I had never camped a day in my life and I didn’t own a passport before going on the trip. 

Over the past 36 years, I’ve traveled to India many, many times.  There is no place in the world like India.  It can be both maddening and appealing, both exhausting and exhilarating - in the same moment.  The whole of India pulsates with the dualities of life.  Sometimes I can’t wait to leave it.  I’ll tell myself I will never go back.  Then after a time, I feel drawn to return.  India lives in my soul.  How can I deny it?

But I no longer go to India as an adventure traveler looking for an unusual experience of in the world around me.  I go as an adventure traveler looking to understand the world inside me; the world of my personality, my thoughts, my feelings.  I go as a sannyasin trying to find mySelf.  I go to learn from my guru.  To receive inspiration.  To recharge my spiritual batteries. 

India and the ashram take me from the familiarity and comfort of my daily life and put me in a position where I more fully see the less appealing aspects of my personality, my habits, my likes and dislikes.  I learn so much about who I am, what progress I’ve made (or not made), and how to continue moving forward on this path.  It reinforces that I’m heading in the right direction.  Every trip provides the opportunity to come closer to experiencing the vidya, the higher knowledge of yoga. 

And so I will keep going back.  Not just to India and the ashram, but to my meditation practice.  Back to the adventure of seeing, discovering and knowing my mind.

(If you wish to truly engage the adventure of knowing your mind, consider training with the Yoga Academy of North America.)