Kund Cleanin'

I made it to Vrindavan and my journey has progressed immensly since reaching this lovely city. Having met fellow white people who are familiar with India, I've learned much in how to avoid being scammed and where to the non-tourists go. I've sat in tiny little temples listening to a world-reknown devotee play wonderful kirtan on his Spanish Guitar, eaten Indian pizza (different, yet not entirely better than American pizza) and played a funny game of catch with Indian orphans. It's been a great time and I'm afraid I'll never see more of India and only remain in Vrindavan.

For those of you unfamiliar with Hinduism or India, Vrindavan is the boyhood home for Krishna--the ultimate personification of Godhead, according to Gaudiyvan Vaishnavism (or the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) led by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada for those of you who may recall the 60s.). According to legend/scripture, there's tons of stories of different "pasttimes" of Krishna around Vrindavan; one, for example, is him leaping on top of a three-headed snake which was threatening the village in order to vanquish it. Those sort of supernatural childish pasttimes. Anyway, around Vrindavan, even today, are different Kunds where these particular pasttimes supposedly took place.

Today I spent the majority of my day sweeping one of these Kunds. There's a LOT of trash in Northern India and littering is everywhere. I suspect it's a combo of the same idiocy that we Americans litter so much, but also the lingering sentiments of the Caste system: no one wants to be seen sweeping floors and picking up garbage. However, me and some folks I've met decided to go clean up one of these Kunds which had become overrun with trash, dust and dirt. It was a HUGE area dug into the ground with staircases 360 degrees around. It reminded me of a Colisseum. Anyway, we swept all the trash down from each step to the next until we reached the dirt at the bottom. It took us about 4-5 hours. 4-5 hours of just sweeping stairs. Boring? sometimes. Tiresome? definitely. However, my professor-friend enlightened me with a good something to meditate while doing such mundane work: as I swept down the staircase, it was as if I was sweeping the trash out of my heart. Take "trash" to be whatever you want, but it was a nice liberating feeling having a sort of physical manifestation of guilt or vice or whatever and being able to see it being "swept out." It all felt rather Buddhist--sweeping a giant staircase with a handbroom, which was really just a bunch of bamboo strips bound together at one end. It's these lovely little insights and enlightenments which I hope to carry with me back home. As I'm washing dishes or sweeping out the garage (or whatever), I--we--can all meditate on sweeping out all that which collects in our hearts (and arteries!).

The trip has been lovely and I'm surrounded by friendly folk. I can't describe the smells, sights and sensations of going to the world's biggest HARE KRSNA temple at 7AM and being surrounded by a bunch of lunatic jumping singing devotees. It certainly isn't Kansas anymore. It's Vrindavan.

Until next time. Hare Bol!
Dylan