India Journal #3: Plans
"Life is what happens when you're busy making plans," says a sign we have. This sentiment echoes in Robert Burns' quote "The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, Gang aft agley" - meaning the best-laid plans often go awry. These ideas connect deeply to the Buddhist concept of dukkha, particularly our attachment to certainty in an uncertain world.
Being in India provides fertile ground for practicing with this kind of dukkha. Upayadhi is a master planner when it comes to travel, and I've surrendered to her knowledge of India in planning this whole trip. As she mentioned at Friday meditation, our Buddhist pilgrimage will involve a dizzying number of trains and accommodations over these two months spent in three different Indian states, and Nepal.
Yesterday and today were perfect examples of letting go into uncertainty. Our 11-hour overnight train from New Delhi to Varanasi was an additional six hours late, following our train from Jaipur to New Delhi which was also an hour late. While this wasn't part of the plan, one thing is sure: nothing will go exactly according to plan! Another uncertainty of Indian Rail sleeper cars, sharing rather close quarters with strangers, worked in our favor. Instead of epic snorers, rambunctious toddlers or loud phone talkers, we shared our bunk cabin with a lovely woman from Varanasi who is a doctor and a quiet young student, as 800 km of Northern Indian landscape flowed by at our train window, sometimes quickly, sometimes very, very slowly. At times, we pondered just getting off the train, but the right thing to do was surrender and accept that we would eventually, get to Varanasi.
Then there are the unplanned surprises of an especially delightful nature. Despite our short time in Delhi and some errands, we went walking afterward in a city park with no particular agenda. There we stumbled upon a wonderful concert-- a multigenerational group of ten to twelve singers and instrumentalists performing ecstatic Qawwali music. It was the perfect medicine for weary travelers. If you're interested in listening to bit of this concert recorded by Jon there is a link. The group's name is "The Nizami Brothers." Upayadhi was able to capture here and there some of the Urdu-Hindi in the inspiring Sufi songs.
This evening we started to recover from our 21 hours on trains as we got our first gaze of the Ganges from the roof our guest house, with both the Muslim call to prayer from a minaret in the distance and the sound of Hindu bhajans (devotional songs) happening down on the ghats. Not far, we know Sarnath awaits, the very place where the Buddha offered his first sermon.
But for now, we look forward to some rest, and to re-connecting with you all very soon for meditation and a Dharma reflection, this time from the ancient city Varanasi (ex-Benares).