Rishikesh

Rishikesh, twin city to Haridwar, is at the confluence of the rivers Chandrabhaga and Ganges and the starting point of pilgrim route, and is considered to be one of Hinduism’s holiest pilgrimage centers. We wanted to have closer experience of this ancient cand holy city.  So after our stay at the Ashram, on Sunday Susan and I came to Samanvaya Vidhya Dham, at the invitation of Fr, Davis Varayilan.  Located right in the heart of the city, this place provided us with great vantage point to study and explore the magic of this place.  It is said that Rishikesh has this innate quality  about it that sends out certain positive energy vibrations.  This city is spread out few miles on either side of river Ganges and is connected by two suspension bridges called Laxman Jhula and Ram Jhula. Jhula means bridge in Hindi.  We strolled along the streets, lined with eateries and stalls selling ritual paraphernalia, leading to Laxman Jhula. It is fun to watch foreign tourists in Indian clothes mingling in abandon with Hindu holy men or men appearing to be holy and roaming cows.  From the suspension bridge you get a nice view of the river and the city with all its many temples, ashrams, yoga places, Ayurvedic massage parlors and hotels.  Once we reached the other side, we kept walking by the side of the river but without the advantage of seeing the river due to all the shops. By the time we got to Ram Jhula, we were dead tired from heat and exhaustion.  That was when we came upon Café Day, the Indian equivalent of Starbucks. The coffee tasted especially good, as we didn’t have coffee at the ashram; for some reason they served only tea.  With energy coffee provided we went down the steps to the river and got our feet wet in the cool waters of Ganga, much to our surprise the water was clean and very clear. We made a full circle by going over Ram Jhula and walking back to our place of stay.  Though it was tiring, it was good experience. 

We are surrounded by many ashrams.  The two ashrams I was corresponding with while in the US are next to the place of our stay.  Sivananda Ashram is a big one that can accommodate hundreds of people at the same time. We went took a tour of the place and bought couple of books.  Swami Sivananda who started this ashram was a great man, and his followers continued to keep this place going strong.  In addition to this ashram, the society runs couple of hospitals and is involved many other charitable institutions in the city and outside. All these ashrams are based on Hindu philosophy and ancient practices in attaining moksha or salvation.  Salvation is understood as liberating the soul or atman from the endless cycle of reincarnations or rebirths to become one with God or paramatman .  Yoga helps one to meditate with concentration, and such concentrated meditation without any undue attachment to empirical things one will be able to go beyond body, breath and mind to the fourth and fifth dimensions.  This is what human beings are capable of and what creator had in mind at the time of creation.  It reminds me what Jesus says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.” And what apostle Paul says in Romans, “For the creation waits with eager longing  for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of glory of the children of God.”