India
It's been said by everyone who has visited India that it is a place you either love or hate;
the country seems incapable of generating neutral feelings. I suppose in the end that this is a plus,
for it means that no one leaves the country unchanged.
For me, visiting India was a religious pilgrimage
of sorts. Of Buddhism's four most holy sites, three are in India. Following in the footsteps of Buddha brought me to the very same locales where he
was enlightened and gave his first public sermon, and that was compensation enough for the sometimes
overwhelming feeling that sanity was on the verge of being lost. Even now, years later, I still
marvel at the contrast of a place of unspeakable poverty and filth in which the highest forms
of spirituality openly coexist.
---------------------------------------
Below, the River Ganges, Hinduism holiest site. Throngs of the faithful swarm its banks to
bathe in its cleansing waters. To say that the river is hugely polluted is an understatement, but a
guide insisted that no sickness would befall the faithful. After watching birds pick at a cow carcass that
had just floated by, I opted to observe this timeless ritual from dry land.
---------------------------------------
Surveying the ruins at Naranda, founded in the 5th century BC and once one of the world's great
universities until it was sacked by Afghans in the 12th century.
---------------------------------------
After a flight to Patna and a meandering drive south for several hours, we at last came to
Bodhgaya, the place where Buddha became enlightened in 623 BC. Now, thousands of years later,
the city is a beautiful collage of
temples built in the representative styles of all of the Buddhist countries of the world,
manned by pilgrims from each. The four photographs below show various scenes of the city, including
the very same tree under which Buddha sat and unlocked the key to the universe.
---------------------------------------
A lone pilgrim meditates in the shadow of Dhamekh Stupa in Sarnath,
marking the spot where Buddha
gave his first sermon. Its present form dates from 500 AD.
---------------------------------------
Raj Ghat. The square black marble platform marks the spot where Mahatma Gandhi was cremated
following his assassination in 1948.
---------------------------------------
The Red Fort at Agra.
---------------------------------------
The world's embodiment of romance, the Taj Mahal, constructed by a grieving ruler in honor
of his queen after her tragic death in childbirth in 1631. The great travel writer Paul Theroux remarked that the Taj Mahal, along among buildings, "...is not merely lovely, it looks as if it has a soul." I couldn't have said it better myself.
