Here in Rishikesh the holy Ganges River begins as it descends down from the majestic Himalayas. The water, for the most part, appears clean, beautiful, and strong as it cuts through the city. Ghats line the river and there is daily worship, offering, and bathing in the River.
Rishikesh is not known to be as spiritually auspicious as say Varanasi, however it is held to be the “Yoga Capital of the World”, with many ashrams, and a multiplicity of yoga and meditation classes. I believe I mentioned in an earlier blog about it being a New Age Centre. As Lonely Planet says “the exquisite setting on the fast-flowing Ganges, surrounded by forested hills, is conducive to meditation and mind expansion. Rishikesh has its own reputation.
I knew that many Hindus bathe in Mama Ganga on a daily basis. Just yesterday I found out that it is believed that your negative karma will be dispelled, and washed away by dunking your head under the water of the Ganges twelve times. I learned this from a fellow traveler from Norway, Elsie. She was planning on leaving Rishikesh today to attend an Indian wedding in the North, but wanted to make this karmic change. We were discussing this over fruit porridge and chai at our favourite restaurant. I said to her, and another traveler that I had been to the main waterfall, Neer Garh, a few days earlier. This waterfall fed into the holy Ganges. If we were able to be back by 2pm, when my daily Kathak dance class was, I would take them there.
Off the three of us went to shed our negative karma and start anew. As we traveled down the highway towards the waterfall we got stopped at a police checkpoint, which took quite some time. Although I was eager to get on our way I was also just enjoying the time with these other female travelers; listening to and sharing our stories. The lady from Norway, Elsie, was 31 years old and was telling me about her experience turning 30. An event I will be coming upon in just 6 months. Every time someone asks how old I am I sigh, or let out a sound of exasperation when I have to tell them that I am turning 30. Despite the fact that many of my friends have already turned 30 (and survived), that most people turn thirty, and probably more than 50% of the population is over and above 30 it is still daunting to me! It was good to hear another woman’s perspective about entering into her thirties and what her experience was.
Our taxi took us to the bottom of the waterfall, where he was going to wait for us to go and come back. That being said if we didn’t make it up in one hour he was going to charge us more. It would be impossible to make it up and back in one hour unless you ran, FYI! We paid our entrance fees and began the hike up! The views were absolutely incredible. You could see mountain after mountain, and Mama Ganga at the very bottom of the valley coursing through the lush green hills. Stunning.
We made it to the top in fairly good time. Once there I remembered a similar experience in Indonesia. One of my best girl friends, Tabitha, and I had been volunteering for Hand’s On Disaster Relief in West Sumatra. On our days off we would go to Lake Manninjau, which was formed in an inactive volcano. Pretty spectacular! One of these days Tabitha, myself, and another volunteer, Stacy, were lucky enough to be guided up to a nearby waterfall by a local guide. Once up there we all went underneath the waterfall and felt its intense pressure and force coming down upon us. Afterwards we got photos taken of the three of us doing yoga postures underneath the falls. Good memory. Here I was again, traveling, at a waterfall, and with two other women, about to cleanse ourselves in the local, sacred water. How auspicious!
We did it. The three of us waded into the pool underneath Neer Garh. We decided we would all go under in unison, it seemed appropriate. Although it took us sometime to figure out whether we wanted to go under head fist, or dunking our heads’ backwards. We went under. It wasn’t nearly as cold as I thought it would be. This coming from a Canadian who lives in the Rocky Mountains and who happens to LOVE cold bodies of water! I went in head first then did the remainder eleven plunges going backwards. If it is negative karma I was erasing it most likely happened in the past, and therefore behind me, right ?!?!?!?!
After we all finished our twelve submersion's none of us wanted to leave the water. We were all enjoying it too much. I don’t know whether we felt healed, cleansed, or a karmic release but we were all quite content to hang out in the cool and holy water of the falls, which looked out upon the vast foothills of India. Who would want to leave??? But we eventually did; I had to get to my dance class after all.
We made our way back down the hill where our driver was waiting, not for us, but for the 600 Rupees, plus an extra 100 for taking more than an hour. Back to Laxman Jula, and back to the ashram where I quickly changed and ran to dance class. I don’t know if our negative karma was erased. I don’t know if karma, whether negative or positive exists, or if any of the three of us had it accumulated? I do know that I really value the bonds created among female friends. I find my relationships with other women to be sacred and holy and I would not be the person I am today without them! If I can create any positive karma for the future I hope it is to always have strong, beautiful, talented, inspiring, tender, and caring women as my friends, companions, and sisters for the rest of my karmic life. Thanks Mama Ganga!
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