Enlightening Adventures
Blogs on the different experiences of living an enlightening life
We share enlightening insights, discoveries and wonders here!
A Spiritual Swim with 70 million people!
Kumbhu Mela in Haridwar India
The Kumbhu Mela is an amazing event!
110 million people attend over the month that it is running. It is the largest gathering of humanity in the world, and obviously the largest spiritual gathering.
The whole purpose of the Mela is to celebrate special cosmic solar convergences that happen every 12 years at a specific place on earth where the sacred Ganges River reaches the plains from its Himalayan beginnings. This event has been celebrated for an estimated 5,000 years!
The flow of humanity is awesome; pilgrims, yogis, sadhus, and just regular folk from all over India have come. The trains had people riding on the top of them, or hanging on the side of the engines. I went there by train and had a reserved bed in the sleeper car, however that did not mean anything. I woke up with a strange lady sleeping next to me on my bunk, and Tavi, my stepson, had 2 people sharing his bunk. There were 5 people sleeping on the floor between the bunks! The hallway was stacked with people, and when I opened the door to the washroom 5 sadhus (wandering monks) almost fell in!
From our hotel we could watch the streets full, yes FULL of people every hour of the day walking, as there are no cars allowed. Most people carry their basic needs wrapped in a cloth on their heads, so the streets are a sea of luggage with people underneath!
The main event at the Mela is the Royal Parade on the special day when the stars are in alignment. There are an estimated 70 million people attending this parade, so the whole route is lined with millions of people. This started right outside our hotel, so Tavi ( who was making a documentary on the event) and I were out filming and we realized, “Hey we could just stay near the front of the parade, nobody seems to notice.” So there we stayed.. Pretty soon Naga Babas, Sadhus who wear no clothing but are covered in ashes from their fires, came running in thousands to the front, as they are the leaders of the whole parade. There were all sorts of Babas, many very simple, innocent and spontaneous, some quite fierce, and in every shape and size. Their hair is worn long and matted, sometimes tied in buns that can look more like huge round bee hives. Their hair can reach their waists or even their knees! Next entry to come
Once the parade started we were swept up by the press of bodies as it moved forwards. I had positioned myself by two bands with all the instruments of a classic northern English marching band, drummners, bugles, trombones!!! The bands were dressed in a mix of English marching band costumes and jazz concert, the drummers formal in their shiny gaitors and maroon uniform jackets, the trumpeters looking like they had just staggered out of an all night jazz gig, leather jackets crumpled, ties askew. Add in Indian spontaneity and it produced pounding rhythms, and dancing and general fun to be had as the drummers went wild, the trumpeter’s berserk and the dancing hilarious. Behind us the chariots with turbaned enlightened Sadhus, blessing the millions, in front the Naga Babas with their spears, clubs and tridents waving in the air. There were elephants and parades of camels ridden by uncomfortable looking nagas and sadhus, more bands and thousands of floats with different spiritual masters on them.
What if you had 5 minutes to live?
A great way to check in on your spiritual state is to answer the question “What would you do if you had only 5 minutes longer to live?” The answers I have received from others ( I will tell you my answer at the end of this story) have ranged from “Scream the whole time” to “Laugh the whole time”. Some people would go into panic, fear, rebellion and intense anger. Others would spend those 5 minutes expressing gratitude to the people around them. One person would get on the phone to their family and let them know that all is well and not to grieve or worry. Another would hug everyone around them.
One surprising response was from a young man in his mid 20s, a swear word tattooed across his knuckles, a former roadie and homeless bum. He explained that he would explain to everybody around him that he was comfortable leaving the body and that they should learn how to be comfortable too, so that they could live a completely joyful life.
My answer when asked this question was to express immense gratitude to all those with me at the time, to laugh and enjoy those final moments by hugging each one and letting them know through my blissful body language that all is well in the universe and in my inner space with or without a body.
When I did this exercise with a group who have been meditating together for some months we had so much fun. As we each spoke there was the marked increase in appreciation and gratitude for each other, a depth of feeling that was tangable, like deep meditation.
My question for you is “What would you do with your 5 minutes?” If it is going to be nasty fearful 5 minutes then as quickly as possible start a meditation practice and decide to learn all you can about death from the best sources.
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Prison Can be Bliss!
As a Canadian citizen we have shared entry privileges with US citizens. I was given entry to the USA on Aug 28th and told to leave by Sept 12th, which I did.
Yesterday my computer screen was not working so I decided to cross the border from Mexico and go to Best Buy to see if they could fix it, and return the same day.
At the border they looked at my passport, handcuffed me and put me in a cell with about 14 Africans and Haitians. They told me I would most likely be deported back to Canada and barred from the USA for 5 years,
that it would probably take 4-5 days to deport me, and I would be in the cell until I was deported.
After about 20 hours in the freezing cold cell, on the floor with a "holy" blanket and no vegetarian food they brought me for a meeting with an inspector.
The first guy I encountered 20 hours previously had hardly let me speak. He read my file and immediately had me handcuffed, but not giving any reason, and I could hear the other Customs people saying "What is the cause for holding?" Eventually I heard them say "Canadian Overstay" meaning that I had been too long in the USA on my visa, which was not true, and I had proof.
The second guy read the docs and I pointed out that I had been given entry on August the 28th and followed the rules and left on the 12th. So he rescinded my 5 year ban to just deportation.
Then I said "Well, can I just exit back to Mexico and make my own way back to Canada rather than all the cost of processing, holding and deporting me? I am happy to look after myself." They said "No, we cannot put you back into Mexico, that may put you at risk and we would be responsible." That did not make sense...
Then I said "Well how about I just get my own plane ticket from LA back to Canada?" They said "Yes that is possible, we can parole you and that may work. The Chief Supervisor will decide and she will be back in tomorrow."
So back to the cell I went. I was really enjoying chatting to the different Africans there about their journeys, some had paid up to $30,000 total, over 2 years to travel from Eretrea, Sudan and Ethiopia to South Africa. Then to fly to Brazil and then walk/ travel from there to Mexico, and spend 3 months in a Mexican jail before catching the 5-day bus ride to Tijuana and the border.
They had very wild stories.
I was also enjoying great meditations and doing yoga on my own. In fact, the space I was in was truly great, I felt so complete and blissful. I was able to do the guru puja for hours at a time.
Some of the guards came and took me out of the cell to ask me about meditation because they had heard me speaking about it. They wanted to know the benefits and what books to read.
I was about to be sent off to the next "prison" when the Chief Supervisor appeared, like some sort of angel, really! She was really excited to tell me that she had looked at my documents and seen that i Iad a green card back when I was in Santa Fe, and handed it back in when I moved to Canada because the border people said I had to. But I had not given up the card willingly, so that meant that I was still a US immigrant, and could come and go as I pleased. She was astonished that others had missed this and treated me so badly.
She then led me back to the Mexican border and showed me how to come for the meeting next week without going through the big line up. I was not allowed into the USA yet but was at least out of the cell! She gave me a big smile and sent me on my way!
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Enlightening Garbage!
There was once n enlightened master who when he went out walking, collected garbage from all over the town and brought it to his very simple house and put it outside so that it piled up into big piles of bags.
When people would ask him “Why are you collecting so much garbage?” His reply “My garbage is here to remind you that you too collect garbage.” “The problem is that my garbage does not bother me, and yours wrecks your life.”
This was one of his many methods of reminding people that we all have the habit of collecting junk thoughts in our minds and keeping those thoughts around us.
The enlightened masters name was Ram Surat Kumar and he lived until recently in the town of Tiruvanamalai in South India. He was known far and wide for his presence, humour and wisdom. Each year there was a huge festival in the town that over a million people would come to the town to attend. The procession went past his house. The local organizers of the procession would clear and clean up the procession route, but when they would come to his house they would move his garbage gently back from the road, and then after the procession gently put it back where he had put it..
His mounds of garbage was a beautiful constant reminder to all who knew him to keep a clear inner space.
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Survival Brain/Creative Brain.
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We either function from Survival Brain or Creative Brain. In Survival Brain we operate from fear
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North Pole Joy!
The North Pole journey is from my perspective one of the wildest, toughest journeys in the planet.
The North Pole is in the middle of an ocean that is partly frozen much of the year, the ocean currents cause the ice to constantly push and crack and refreeze. The immense pressures turn the landscape into a maze of tilted pushed up ice that can reach ridges of 60 feet high. It is a photographer’s delight, towering sharp crystalline blocks backlit by the orange sun barely above the horizon, but a traveller’s maze.
Now the trick is to enjoy mazes!
One day in 10 hours of stupidly hard work 3 miles could be
covered if the pressure ridges are frequent and high, the next day 13 miles could be possible. You just never know! Now the mind loves to know, so there is a lot of suffering from those who attempt to figure out what, and how, and why.
Enjoying the beauty of not knowing is the most wondrous thing. If you can fall into appreciation for the moment and not have the mind jump into the future it is the most delightful, juicy journey. Constantly changing landscape, intense physicality, ice moving, water appearing, and weather changing.
We would stagger into our small tent in the evening, after a day hauling a 150 lb sled at minus 50 degrees cold, the toughest days of our lives, and once the door was zipped up, and the cook stove was lit to cook supper, burst into the most intense laughter! We were laughing at the stupidity of doing a journey like this, at the intense beauty we had witnessed, at the love of moving our bodies so fiercely for so many hours. At the joy of being alive and living intensely… our laughter would go on for 10 minutes, total appreciation for life on earth.
The Ten Million Dollar question
This simple very revealing question, “What would you do with $10 million?” causes the answerer to experience a huge exploration into human nature, the mind, and enlightenment.
We have been experimenting asking this question to different groups of people, and then watching the sequence of emotions that the group goes through as they share and discuss their answers.
For many people to have $10 million in the bank would alleviate all their financial fears, a core level of fear. In the group participants would suddenly feel free, and the change in their energy was palpable, from constricted to expanded. Their shoulders would relax and their hearts would open. Smiles would break out on faces. It was wonderful to see and experience.
We would then often witness the participant’s minds kicking in, and a list developing of all the items that would need to be obtained to feel that feeling again. Waves of greed, lists of purchases, often portrayed as the external items of pleasure or status, the fast car, the expensive dresses. Discussions would then center on external objects that actually bring temporary happiness.
Then we observed another wave of discussion emerging. Participants started throwing ideas about how they would like to help others. Ideas from teaching meditation, to helping homeless, to feeding impoverished people all emerged. You could feel that heart-expanding feeling again in the room, joy was written all over people’s faces, enthusiasm overflowed, conversations were animated.
Then the conversations shifted again to realizations. Realizations that in fact the fulfilled state is available all the time and can be accessed with some awareness. There were “Wow” moments in the room. Realizations that simply deciding to help others and enrich their lives increases fulfillment. The decision to do so is all that is needed, and then a willingness to overcome inertia and take action causes such benefit to oneself. These realizations caused a shift again in the room, as many individuals experienced increased completeness and quietness inside. We started the formal meditation with deep silence already present!
For you the reader:
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Suggest you write out what you would do with 10 million dollars; give yourself just 5 minutes at the most to do this.
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Note the feelings in the body; observe how your body chemistry changes to positivity.
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Allow that feeling to radiate out to the world.
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From that feeling of completeness observe how you find yourself wanting to help others?
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What you would like to do to help others? It could helping animals, helping the homeless, or so many other unique expressions of yourself.
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Decide to take action:
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Self expression- Decide to feel that completeness that comes from 10 million 2 times per day for 5-10 minutes. This is imprinting that energy in your body.
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Helping others- Plan on taking the first steps in the next week that would help others, and share those first steps with a friend who will encourage and support you.
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Discover how to be Coached for Enlightenment with us.
Haritaki Adventures!
I highly recommend that you check out the organic herb from India called haritaki. It is referrred to in India in the Indian system of health called Ayurveda as the "King of Herbs" That is of prime importance for health and longevity. It is also known as the herb for enlightenment. You can find out more at the web site www.haritaki.org