I've been waking up hell of early since being in Rishikesh and I'm starting to like it. Today I got up at 5:30 am and went to morning meditation in the ashram basement with a few other westerners. When I came back outside the whole landscape was laced with mist. The Ganges even had its own stream of fog flowing over it, though this street sweeper seemed disinterested.
At sundown I went to check out the Ganga Aarti, which had a lot less pomp and circumstance than the one in Varanasi and was conducted by Brahmin children. However, the most interesting part was the sprawling temple across from the Ghats (stairs leading down to the Ganga). There were loads of statues, many of which were quite striking.
Piles of coin offerings laid next to better liked deities. It was interesting to see which gods got the most: a sort of Divine Idol contest. I was surprised to see Shiva (above) didn't win, given most Hindus here are Shaivite. Krishna (left) was probably the most popular, followed by some Tamil gods I didn't recognize.
2 comments:
Early morning is my favorite time of day. But people tend to fall into one camp or the other. This has been studied and confirmed. To change from one to the other is not easy. It could be the trip is making you more flexible.
I used to get up early all the time but since the birth of my daughter I find sleeping in is much more preferable.
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