September 10, 2008

The LOTUS temple




The lotus temple is large temple that celebrates the Bahai faith, in Delhi. It is surrounded by 8 bodies of water and is extremely large in size.
I did not know anything about the Bahai faith until I visited the information center. I learned that the Bahai faith is an independent religion, and anyone can follow it. The purpose is to create one religion for all, and is a concept that I respect.

September 9, 2008

The Gandhi Memorial

This memorial was an intense experience. The memorial contains the room he was living in before he died, and the rooms still have his remaining possessions in the room, including his glasses, cane, silverware, and bed. He was such a simple person, and one of his quotes states, "Simplicity is the art of the universe".

It's very haunting to go throughout the memorial and be so close to so many of his possessions and wander through galleries of artwork and lists of his quotes.. his death becomes the most depressing experience. It is hard to fathom that anyone would kill a person that aimed so highly for peace. Yet I was amazed to discover he actually saluted his murderer, and I realized that Gandhi held no contempt for his murderer, or for anyone. He believed that God would take his life away at the right time, and he believed that it would happen in the way God had planned.

This is the ultimate example of a true character; to be able to forgive the person that murders you, and even salute them. The only way a person can reach such levels of forgiveness is by looking beyond the material and physical world to realize that there is an infinite intelligence behind everybody and everything. Everything happens in a much more elaborate and gracious way than we understand, if only we had faith.

Gandhi's impact on the world was a miracle, his actions would have still been nothing short of a miracle if they were performed by millions of men instead of just one.

September 8. 2008

The Tibet House

The Tibet House was created by the Dalai Lama in 1947. I am very passionate towards Tibetan people and have been impacted tremendously by the history of their events. The Dalai Lama is someone I respect in many ways, and everytime I read anything he has said or written, I feel as if my soul has been cleansed.
The Tibet House contains artifacts that are thousands of years old that Tibetan refugees kept and gave to Indians. There were monks in the house, and it was very calming to be around them. They don't have much to say, but their presence says so much. I feel very quiet today... as if my heart has settled a bit, seeing paintings and statues of Buddha that have existed from 14 AD.
Looking at paintings of Tibetan religious institutions and statues of Lama's and Buddha is interesting because they are beautiful physical manifestations of a spiritually proggressive culture.. but realizing that the objects in front of me are not American products, but rather material objects that have existed for thousands of years causes me to realize the permanence and importance of maintaining and learning about the culture even more. This is a way of life that has existed beyond my time and beyond any human being's time on earth- this is a way of life that has existed through the face of oppression and war.. and yet the house contained not one form of self defense or armor, everything was peaceful and artistic. The peaceful way of life is the hardest to maintain.. but seeing this house was motivating because it was proof that peace can last if we preserve it.

September 8, 2008

Random thoughts driving around the streets of India . . .

Driving around the streets of India causes me to realize that I am really confused about India. I was told about the immense levels of poverty, but never realized how confusing the juxtaposition of dirt and beauty coexisting in one land can be.
I have an entire different vibe when driving about in India. I feel like eighty percent of what I see is hungry families living in villages, but I feel so much love and culture. Driving in LA is the opposite, eighty percent of what i see is clean and organized- but I rarely a vibe of love or culture.
I sat in the car and stared at colorful clothes, beautiful children, and protective parents and wondered how I could feel such a sense of contentment from what was really in front of me. Empoverished bellies, scars, straw huts, and hard labor is what was really in front of me.
This caused me to realize that although Mother Theresa once quoted " The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread".. a hungry heart is truly as deadly as a hungry stomach.. both will kill you. The western world lacks spirituality- love.. while the Eastern world lacks so much technology. The greatest paradox is to understand how these two can coexist. Neither world will truly progress until this paradox is solved.

Saturday Sept. 6

JALLIANWALLA BAGH

We took a train ( 6 hour journey there and 8 hour journey back ) to Amritsar, Punjab. The first stop was Jallianwalla bagh, a memorial in rememberance of the massacre that took place during the time of Gandhi ( if you have seen the movie, you should already know what I am talking about ). The original gathering for Baisakhi ( the sikh religious new year) caused thousands of people to visit this place annually.. Jallianwala Bagh is where the tenth sikh guru, guru gobind singh, created the khalsa and added the name singh or kaur to every sikh's name.

On April 13, 1919, 1000 men, women, and children were killed and 2000 were wounded. They were performing a peaceful protest, and British Indian Army soldiers opened fire on the unarmed crowd.

History aside, the energy around the entire location is very morbid.. The martyr's well is a large well where almost 200 bodies were recovered after people starting jumping in to avoid the open fire. There is a small gallery that displays important people during the time, and I felt the worst energy from this room. There were children and women hiding in the small room the entire night waiting for the soldiers to leave, but noone would help any of them.

The eternal flame burns bright and is the most beautiful aspect of the memorial.. many people gave their respects to the victims by praying around it.

This memorial caused me to realize how valuable and mortal we really are.. and how cruel people can become. I could never understand how a man could open fire on an unarmed child in the name of war and I never will. Greed is the worst case of fear, because billions of people have been killed throughout history out of greed. The peaceful way is the hardest way, but it is the only way. No soldier involved in that massacre could have lived without guilt and nightmares of their actions and I will never believe that a human can find pleasure in the activity.

I believe that everyone knows by intuition that peace is the only way of living- but that we choose alternative methods out of fear and tradition.. we need to question those around us and start finding our answers if we want things to be different for children. I do not want my kids to live in a world full of murder.


THE GOLDEN TEMPLE

We stopped by the golden temple in Amritsar at night.. absolutely beautiful. I have never seen so much gold in one place. We returned the next morning to see the temple in the daylight, and it was even more amazing.. definetely one of the most incredible sights I've ever seen. I sat down near the enclosed water and just stared at the sunrise and the colors that reflected off the golden temple onto the water. People bathed in the water and it seemed that every single class in India was in the temple. That was the most beautiful aspect to me.. to finally see every caste and class in india coexist in a temple. Although the temple was Sikh, there were many hindus in the temple as well.. actually, there were a large variety of both people and religions in the temple.

My mind couldn't help but ponder.. the rupee worth of the temple was so ridiculously high, it could obviously save India of poverty. This was the highlight of my confusion of India.. it has the worst aspects of a third world country, and yet the most beautiful buildings in the world. Crazy.

September 7, 2008

India/ Pakistan Border Crossing Ceremony


This ceremony brought tears to my eyes.. peace is felt everywhere in the air. The years of toil between muslims and hindus, Pakistanis and Indians has caused stress for so many.
The point of the ceremony is for the soldiers to cross the borders and shake hands, but the ceremony is so beautiful.
There were at least a thousand people that showed up, from young children to old soldiers. Some of the soldiers fought in wars, it is not hard to distinguish these people because they wear an entirely different expression on their face from many of the other people. It's a look of long awaited contentment and hope that they probably thought they would never experience.

People can live in peace with each other, if we try to respect each other. Religion and culture aside, we are all the same.

September 4, 2008

BEGINNING OF THE JOURNEY...

I decided to create a blog of my journey so that I can record every important event in order to maximize my experience of the trip, so that I don't forget anything and that other people can understand in detail what happened during the trip.

First day

- It felt amazing to take off. L.A. was becoming a very empty, superficial environment for me and actually flying off the ground almost put tears in my eyes. I know this trip is going to be amazing, and I can already feel a more positive, creative energy awakening within me.This trip will help me remember who I really am, and see sights that I have only seen in pictures for twenty three years.. I am going to connect to a culture that I have always claimed, but never even experienced. I am sure that visiting a "third world" country for the first time will help me appreciate material luxury a little bit more, and if not that, then at least motivate my natural humanitarian passion to give to others. I am about to arrive to Seoul, Korea any minute.
There are so many things that I want to let go of, so many negative attachments that I want to finally release from my mind. I want to be able to feel with my heart more and connect to a higher part of myself. I have expectations for India, and I know that India will raise more than just the bar. I cannot imagine the architectural and natural miracles I am about to see.. because I've never known them.
I have a few goals on this trip. The first is to release my past attachments. The second is to restore my soul and repair my heart. The third is to find creativity for my goals. The fourth is to find appreciation in not only the obviously beautiful areas of India, but in the less recognizable elements and people around me. There is so much more to my personality and life than the parties activities at home. UCLA is just a school that I stress about all the time. I want this trip to help me remember that I am smaller than I think, and that my life is more valuable than I treat it. I want to remember that I am a global citizen,and that there are problems that are much larger than mine. I want to know that my problems are merely issues that can be fixed and I am absolutely capable of fixing them in order to become successful and help people with theirs.
I want to cut things out of my life when I get back to LA. Anything that does not agree with my replenished set of expectations and values should be quickly let go of and erased from my life. I trust myself to know the difference between right and wrong.

I truly appreciate this trip and experience and am prepared to embrace a new chapter of my life.

I am ready to use this trip as a stepping stone to tap into my true self and progress towards the success of my future.
I really miss my dad a lot, I keep looking at my mother's face and remembering the flight we took when he passed away. I look at her face now, 11 years later, but I feel as though I am still caught in a moment many years ago. I really wish he was here with me on my first trip to India, he would have loved to see his princess finally experiencing this culture. He always encouraged my passion for Indian culture, and now I am finally visiting my " home " without him.
... looking out the airplane window at the universe below me helps me realize that the world and the universe is so much bigger than i think. Sitting on one small part of land closes my mind, but experiencing the globe makes me realize that my father's being is somewhere in this infinite structure, and perhaps he is not as far as I think. Regardless, I will make him proud one day.

I am so lucky to have such a beautiful mother and father.. and I am excited to finally see my brother and his girlfriend.. hopefully I will visit my sister Sheena next year.
I am so excited that I will be with family in India.