From Hampi to Gokarna

Cliff jumpin in Hampi!

So this instrument I am playing here makes the most beautiful, perfect, heavenly harmonics that an angel weeps everytime someone plays it.  It is called a Hang drum.  My buddy showed me this youtube video <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LfJLvuZqmQ>online about a year ago and ive been obsessed.  I frequently meditate to this music.  To get one of these instruments is nearly impossible.  There is only one manufacturer in the world and he lives in Switzerland.  To actually get one of these you need to make a pilgrimage to the inventor.  Talk with him and get him to put you on the waiting list.  Then it takes about 4 years for your hang drum to be made.  

I happened to be cutting up some food for lunch and heard the hang drum outside, thinking someone had just put in on the stereo.  Because i never thought in my whole life i would see one of these instruments in real life. When i walked out of the kitchen to see the young deadlocked hippie playing this drum, i nearly dropped all my food.  I just stared at the man and smiled for he is the MAN for being able to get one of these drums.  I sat there half dreaming half meditating not eating my food, as he played for close to an hour.  Feeling like i had achieved perfect concentration I stolled over to an near by slackline and cruised it, back and forth, then attempted some yoga moves and bailed.  when i fell i caught the hang-man's eyes again.  When he finally finished playing i asked him all about the drum. and he ended up trading me a lesson for a slack lesson.  So i taught him how to slackline and i got to play this sweet ass instrument.

I had talked to him about filming him play.  And we decided that one of these days i would film him on top of the rocks at sunset.  But my other friend Matt bought us tickets to gokarna so i left before i could get some good footage of the hang.  but i bought his cd and maybe one day ill will be inspiredto get one myself...i also need a spare 10grand.

Some lovely travelers...Simone(Holland) and Matt(Australia).

Sweet sunset at hampi!

Last day of climbing...rage hard...found a sweet crack and destoryed my hand. but it dont matter, not gonna be climbin again till i get back to the states.

GOKARNA...beautiful beaches!!!!  This morning I did this 2 hr Kundilini course...and woooowww.  So amazing.  Kundlini revolves a lot around breathing as well as your sexual organs.  It is a tantric breathing excercise.  I recomend everyone try it.



PEACE and LOVE folks i cant wait to come home miss ya all

IM-GE-S

Yea mom and dad i got a tattoo, hope u dont mind...i mean your body is a temple so paint it, right?

This little girl is no more than 4 years old and she does this while her father plays the drums, so the family can make money.  

Beautiful Hampi!

Me and my buddy Matt gettin up close with an elephant.

Have u ever seen down an elephants nose, well now u have.  These elephants stick the bananas in their nose then fire them into their mouths...its pretty cool.

Hampi Temple

Me, Matt, Yusef at the Hanuman temple.

Cute monkey!

Hanuman Temple

 

The great Pilgrimage boulder Chris Sharma climbed on in 2003.  I couldnt even get off the ground.

 

Current picture of me.  We were playing poker this was my poker face...it worked i won 500 rupbees.  (shaved everythin but the sweet stash im rockin)

My Thesis haha

Climbing is my freedom, my religion, it is my divine. 
My temple is the cliff, the boulder, the pebbles. 
My god is me.
My idols are the pilgrames before me.
My messenger is the monkey.
My tools are made of metal and rubber, sometimes herbs can help.

Climbing is not just a sport, or a hobbie.  It is a way of life.  A search for something greater.  A mediation, a form of yoga.  Within this religion/subculture (whatever name fits you, though through any word you only limit it) there are ethics, values, mysticism, highs, lows, rituals, family and community.

Mysticism/High/Divine:

With every movement, every breathe, energy flows through the body with as much power as a flash flood.  Enough energy to levitate, or at least enough to make one think so.  This energy is commonly seen in imagery of the snake in Kundulini.  Yet where as in kundulini one has to meditate for hours on end, in climb one simply has to follow the bodies natural tendency to explore the above.  Ecstasy was created by the ancients to describe climbing [meaning freedom the body]. Death is not an issue because it doesnt exist.  Some people think of heaven as living high up in the sky, with the clouds, among the birds and the ether, but climbers dont believe in heaven.  For they believe in earth and they are living what heaven should be like.

Rituals (a few to wrap your mind around):

Some rock addicts chant sacred folks songs or rap lyrics before an ascent, in order to initiate a specific mindset before take off.
Other muckle-crushers part take in ancient Sadhu (hindu holy men) rituals reuniting with the holy spirit of the great GanjA.  Creating a union with the spirit allows one to induce relaxation and pure awareness of the now. 
Another common ritual is that of starvation.  Some cliff-pushers are simply baddass and reached a higher level of enlightenment where they dont need food or water...Jon Tierney being one of them.  Others who havnt reached that level yet, try anyway in an attempt to test their will power and strength.

Values/Ethics/Morality:

Well rock-smokers come in all shapes and sizes.  Some have seen the darkside and climbed past it, and others are dick holes stuck behind their own ego.  So I can not speak for the dick holes, but for the true sky-climbers there is much respect among fellow searchers because one knows that we are all on the search for climber enlightenment and inherently at different stages of evolution.  Some outsiders may look at a climber and call him a bum.  But those outsiders dont know the whole story, for if the outsider or the rich business man/woman saw the buddha he/she may also call him a bum.  But a crimp-chaser lives by their word.  If they do something they take full responsibility.  If another needs help, the climber gives what they can.  The "bum" image of a climber may beonly what you can see, but realize behind all that is a story of someone who has given away all their love to other sentient beings, surviving only of the pure energy of nature and its beauty.  For beauty is what drives the climber.  And flowing within the current of beauty is morality itself.  Good and bad are relative terms, but morality is when beauty reaches our hearts and can be shared with others.

An Ancient Paradise

I live in a TP among millions of boulders.  Palm trees and brush fill the excess space, created an environment that seems dianosaurs would roam.  Been doin yoga at sunrise as the birds fly over head.  Pretty much livin the life, smokin da herbs and chillin out. 

Climbing some rocks

 

The is Rishi, a rainbow brother who runs the Arba Mystica...the place where i am staying.  Cool fella.

 

Hampi Temple!

 

More climbin...havnt lost it yet.

 River which isolates hampi's natural beauty from the rest of india.  Supposedly there are crocodiles in there but i havent seen any when we went swimming.

LOVIN LIFE...i think i may move here for a long period of time in the future.  Hampi is so beautiful and there is so much to do.  The people are great and everything is relatively cheap.


"Why do people fear death so?  Because they realize, unconsciously at least, that their lives are mere parodies of what living should be."  -Tom Robbins

Dont be a Menace in Sadhana while Drinkin yo Pineapple Jiuce in the Woods

Well Ill try and get up to date with my travels till now.  After Nepal we went to Darjeeling and drank a lot of tea.  Darjeeling is another beautiful city that is set along a mountain range.  We didnt do much there.  Sikkim is right new by with some great treks, but we decided not to push it and just relax.  But while we were there I learned a lot about tea. 

Toy Train...

From Darjeeling we went to Kolkata then flew to Chennai.  We didnt spend too much time in either of those cities, but thats okay cause im kinda getting tired of the Indian cities.  they are too chaotic and crazy for me, I like the small villages where you dont get ripped off as much and the people are nicer.  then we spent some time in an ashram in Pondicherry before we came to Sadhana.  The ashram had this beautiful garden.

Sadhana life has been flying by way to fast.  So many people come and go, its kind of sad.  Cause you meet great people and then poof, you will probably never see them again.  But I guess that is the nature of all traveling.  You meet interesting people from all over the world, with different backgrounds, lifestyles, skills and when you travel with them you learn so much.  Then at some point or another all the good people we have met split up.  On a more postive note I now have friends from all over the world that will house me if my travels venture to their neck of the woods.

This week im working on protecting all the huts from bees and termines...which is the coolest job we got here.  I get to climb up and down all the huts putting the putty over holes.  The putty doesnt kill or harm the insects in anyway, it is simply an eviction notice...we dont hurt anyliving species here, remember we are vegan.

Last week I worked on compost, which was not a hard job but could make your body odor 100times worse and your close stink for a week. 

Last week was pretty intense here.  First of all the week long festival called Devali was going on everywhere in India.  For indians this holiday is like christmas so indians go buckwild.  All the children have fireworks...aka shitty make-shift bombs, i think fireworks are too expensive...and these bombs are going of 24-7.  When you ride your bike past a local village the kids throw them at your bike.  It is a game for the kids, to see how many white people they can scare.  And boy is it scary.  I had a bomb thrown at me and I lost hearing for about 2 min and almost lost control of my moped.  (oh yea i rented a moped and it sweet...thinkin i might get one back home).  This one family that was driving by a village got hit by a bomb with the whole family on the moped.  The father got off and started yelling at the kid who threw the bomb.  Then the kids mother come out and started hitting my friend with a stick.  It turns out the kid who threw the bomb was the son of the chief of the local village.  And he threatened to shut down all the roads to Sadhana unless my friend apologized for yelling at his son.  I think that is one of the lamest and childish things I have ever heard.  The chief just had to exert his power even though his son was in the wrong.  I hate it when adults act like they are children. 

So pretty much that whole week we were warned not to leave Sadhana...but of course we did, it was kind of exciting driving through smoke bombs and loud noises.  The worst is at night when you are going and a dozen cows are plowing through the middle of the road and you dont know which way to go because they have taken up the whole road.  So you beep your horn as fast as you can and close your eyes and hope they move, cause if they dont your gonna get flipped...just kiddin.

Other than Devali, we also had a cyclone here.  Cyclone Jall, i think.  But our huts are made up bamboo, so everyone was freaking out saying the huts were gonna be torn down.  So we moved all the electronics and backed out bags.  When the rains came everyone stormed out for the fight.  The pouring rain and 100 mph winds we dug tons of trenches to keep water out of the huts and away from their central beams because if the ground gets soft enough the beams will fall over and the hut will collapse.  All the intensity really brought everyone in the community together.  Everyone helped out as much as they could, running around and helping anyone who needed it.  Nothing got destroyed and all in all it was a good growing experience.

To add to the intensity, the day before the cyclone we were swimming in the ocean.  Because of the cyclone the waves were uber big and the current could take you 100s of ft in a minute.  Deep in coversation with my friend Benny, we didnt realize that the waves had slowed down and we had drifted out to sea.  Realizing how far we were, both of us started swimming back to shore.  The harder we swam the more we were getting pushed back out to sea.  We were making a little progress but only enough to get us in more trouble.  Giant waves started coming and taking us for an underwater tumble.  I would try and come up for air and then another wave would take me under before i could even get another gasp.  So underwater and with no oxygen I tried a meditative-like technique of not moving my body, thinking that if i kept everything still i would use less oxygen.  Either way, I would come up for air and my whole body would cramp.  At that point I had all but given up.  With no oxygen, no muscle and no mental energy, i looked at Benny who was struggling just as much as I was and told him I was gonna die.  That was the scarriest moment of my life.  I could visualize myself sinking to the bottom of the ocean.  In this type of situation you really realize the power of the ocean, and that the simple thing called water can produce such intensity.  A funny thing popped into my head at that time, which i later told benny.  I thought to myself at least I wasnt gonna die alone.  And I probably wouldnt have made it back if benny wasnt there next me, saying, "we're gonna make it, we're gonna make it" inbetween each studdered breath. 

Finally making it back to shore, I collapsed.  Trying to get catch my breath i still couldnt. My head felt like I had just fried it in a pan and drained it of all its contents.  My body could barely move, when i tried to stand up my legs could not hold me and i layed back down. 

From indian bombs to cyclones to giant waves, I had an intense week. 

Good quote from Tom Robbins to change lighten the mood:

"Water-the ace element.  Water dives from the clouds without parachute, wings or safety net.  Water runs over the steepest precipice and blinks not a lash.  Water is buried and rises again; water walks on fire and fire gets blisters...It has even been said that human beings were invented by water as a device for transporting itself from one place to another, but thats another story.  Always in motion, everflowing, rythmic, dynamic, ubiquitous, changing and working its changes, a mathematics turned wrong side out, a philosophy in reverse, the ongoing odyssey of water is virtually irresistable."

Feeling good now.  Doing yoga everyday and also working on the tantic breathing called Pranayama.  I am still learning a great deal about these excercises but everday I grow ever more.  Also learning some Capoeira and Judo.  The city of auroville has anything you could want to learn about.  Im finally understanding this idea of "the world as a classroom." 

Much Love folks, cant wait to be back home and be with everyone I love.

Playing games with some locals...got the classic high five shot...i swear it was not planned.

Posing with the bras, brahhh.

Cavemen night.

Energy...

One of the main purposes of my trip to India has been in search for this new type of spirituality.  Because so far no religion has done it for me.  I seem to pick and choose certain aspects from various religions that I put into my own spirituality.  In my own search for this I have many of my own theories but I will not bore you by restating my whole life philosophy.  But if you are interested in me babbling on about a current religious/philosophical debate then read on.  And if you want to comment, dont hestitate cause I would love to hear another persons perspective on it.

Energy...?  Scientists have determined that there are these tiny balls of energy called atoms that make up everything and are essential to all of life.  They are the invisible force that moves everything...(i know interesting way to phrase this uhh)!  Though energy is present everywhere, are you able to see it?  Can you feel it?  Many people in this new age believe they can feel it.  For all those people who are reading this blog, I do not intend to discredit energy feelers (I copywrite that name by the way) and or give it absolute truth, I merely intend on exploring the topic that has been bouncing around my own head.

So energy.  What a cool thing...a tiny nothingness that moves everything.  In physics the study of this energy has become so abstract that it has turned into philosophy.  Feeling energy fields have become a common practice.  Many people can see other humans energy.  I have met and talked to many people who can see auros around others.  This new age thinking is present in various books, horoscopes, and other texts.  The book "The Celestine Prophecy" talks about seeing energy fields not just around humans but around all living things.  And for anyone who is intersted in this type of spirituality that book is a great one to read.

Unfortunately I cannot say that I see any energy fields.  But I can say that I can see the effects of energy...energy transfer, or contact high.  So for example say someone walks into a room and they are bursting with excitment and ENERGY.  Their pure joy and love for life can make everyone in the room just as happy simply by spreading that love with them.  So is that energy...and can other things do that to people?

That gets my into crystal spirituality.  If everything contains little molecules moving rapidly then crystals/gems do as well...right?  In the world of new age crystallography every kind of crystal gives off a different type of energy.  Certain stone may help you find love, or find contentment, or wealth.  Ive become passionate about this crystal I found in Agra, called Cornelion.  This beautiful crystal is hand carved into the Taj Mahal, along with various other precious and semiprecious gems, which make up much of the appeal and expence of the Taj.  When a lazer pointer is shone at any point of the cornelion, the light refracts and the whole crystal illuminates.  No other crystal in the Taj does this.  I have been searching all through india and for this crystal, and though I have found it meshed into other pieces of art I have not found a single solid crystal.  I found out by taking a tour of a marble making shop (a shop that created marble crafts with engraved gems, similar to the way the Taj was built...because the taj was also made of marble and has hand carved gems within it) that each crystal had a certain emotion.  Cornelion is supposed to give peace of mind...again that attracted me because though I may be searching for love or wealth or whatever, right now I am trying to focus on my own personal growth and happiness before I can search for anything more complex.  And to do that I need to be content and with myself...quite my mind of all the other bullshit that is clouding my thinking.

Again is that energy at work...or is it something else?  Is emotion also connected to this thing called energy?  Is emotion the by-product, or the reaction to different energies combining?  I think energy is very powerful, whether you can see it or not.  But to be conscious of how you are pulled toward and against various things is something that everyone should be aware of.

Not to end on a negative or critical note, but I was recently turned a little bit off by crystal spirituality.  As someone who is intersted in this type of spirituality and is always looking to learn and understand more, I was aware that this women at the register of this pizza joint had some crystals lying on her register.  So I asked her what crystals they were...though i have forgotten now what they were...and i asked if i could hold them.  She said yes but as soon as I went grab it she, gasped and grabbed my hand.  In a tense and louder voice she asked if i washed my hands...nope, so respectifully i did and came back.  She handed me the crystal.  I held it in my hands for a few moments, closing my eyes and attempting to feel the crystal.  Feeling its smoothness shape I could tell that it spent some time within water...yep i learned a lot in my years of geology.  Opening my eyes I could see it was a cloudy pale color, yet you couldnt see directly though it.  The lady at the register asked my how I felt.  Well...I didnt answer right away...but i felt a sudden urge of contenment and happiness. Standing their pondering how I felt, I said i didnt know how I felt. Thinking about if that happiness was caused by the crystal or if I was feeling that emotion prior.   But before i could say anything more she snatched it out of my hand and angrily said "well some people cant feel it anyway."  My mood suddently dropped.  This woman was making me feel guilty for not being on the same spiritual wave length that she was on.  What I hate most of all in all religions and spirituality a stuck up-ness involved within all of them.  People deep in any religion, no offense, seem to hold themselves above others thinking that they are more enlightened.  But if someone is more enlightened and or conscious and aware of all their surrounding, then they should be able to communicate and talk with a spiritual peon like myself.  But i aint perfect, I dont expect her to be either but i couldnt help but think about the Celestine Prophecy.  After reading it I am kinda stuck in the mindset of the book, but in this book it talks about how everyone has these control dramas that we come always come back to.  These dramas play out in your minds and we use them to control a situation that we are afraid to put all our energy toward.  In this book it even mentions a specific "guilt me" drama, which came to me after I thought of this interaction later.  I dont know, I am not even sure how much I believe this book to be pure truth, but is nonetheless a good thing to think about.

For all those folks reading this, sorry about babbling on so long and never concluding anything.  I kind of feel like i am writing an essay for a religoin class.  But all I can truly say I have learned from this trip so far is that it is good to try and become aware and conscious of everything around...and if energy ever comes up in conversation, keep an open mind.  And if you feel a strong connection to something, go for it.  I am still working on doing this myself, of getting rid of my inhibitions and growing as a person.  But i guess that is the constant stuggle of life, ever evolving and growing as a person.  "Change is the only constant"...a good friend would always tell me.  Much love, and sending some love energy into my blog via interweb so it can spread to everyone i love out there...hehe.

Nepal Recap

Nepal is one of the most beautiful countries I have yet been to.  And right now I am planning on going back.  The culture is way cool.  If India and China mated, its baby would be Nepal.  Nepal has this mix of Hindu and Tibetan culture, and even the people look like a mix of Indians and Chinese.

The roads are rarely paved, and when they are they are covered with potholes.  So whenever you take a bus it is like going on a rollarcoaster.  your head hits the ceiling and body flings foreward against the seat in front of you.  And it doesnt help when a nepali is standing over you, with his armpit in your face, and another nepali on the floor grabbing your leg.

The mountain culture is sweet.  It kinda makes me want to live in the mountains and start a bed and breakfast that only trekkers can get up to.

Me and Pheebs.

Early morning view of the mountains.

Cool bridge with prayer flags.

Small Buddhist shrine high up in the Nepal Himalaya, about 4600 meters up.

The Tea house we stayed at at Gosainkund lake.  In Nepal you can trek from tea house to tea house, where the family that lives there houses you and cooks you food for a small sum.  These families are the ultimate of badasses.  Since their are no roads up there, they trek all their supplies up thousands of ft.  So all the food and all the supplies was carried up here by badass sherpas.

Gosainkund lake.  A glacier lake where pilgrims, Hindu and Buddhist, come to bathe...and it is freeeeeezzzzing.  though this place seems amazingly beautiful, both of us got altitude sickness and after a night up here had to descend.

Sunset at Gosainkund.

Prayer flags and Gosainkund.

Trekking through some grassy tunnels.

Nepali village.  You can see tons of rice patties along the steep hillside.  From afar it looks like the whole mountain is melting...kinda cool.

Little children carry heavy loads up through the Himalaya, probably close to 50lbs.

Recap India

Da airport in Delhi...way cooler than art in US airports.

Lotus Temple in Delhi created for the Bahai faith.  This temple is amazingly beautiful, but the religion itself is pretty much no different than the western religions.  Though Bahai is relatively new because it started in the past 100 years it is not a huge break from Judeaism or Christianity.  The whole idea of Bahai is that Moses, Jesus, Mohamad were all legitmate messengers of God, all sent down at different times in order to teach humanity something.  It is kinda cool and I believe it could be good for uniting various faith in the future.  But it is too god-oriented for me, I think that what we really need for the future is a religion/spirituality that breaks entirely from old traditions, one that has less limitations (which all religions have) and one that connects us with our biological nature. 

We feed some monkeys on the road.  They may look cute but they all have rabies and as soon as you throw them some food all the monkeys start to attack you.  I didnt have my rabies shot so I droped my food and ran.

So in India, especially in the big cities, we were conscidered celebrities.  Indians would come up to us and ask us to take a picture with their family.  Then they would shake our hand and say thank you.  It is kinda fun being a celebrity for the first few days, than it just got annoying.  Everywhere we went tons of people would want our photograph.  Then when we would ask to take a picture with some Indians they would demand a tip after we took the picture...hell no.  We had to explain to them that they didnt deserve a tip for simply getting a picture of them.  Everytime we entered a hotel, there would be a doorman, and when you go by he asks for a tip.  then the bellboy grabs your bags and at your room asks for a tip.  I started opening the doors before the doorman could and not letting go of my bags...and in doing so got dirty looks from the workers.  Sometime they would yell at me for not letting them do their job.

 Thats right this is a snake charmer.  He tried to get me to sit next to him but i denied, even though the snake has its poison removed.  Funny thing is that the snake is deaf and cant actually hear him, so he smacks the snake and forces him to stand up.

 this is just a beautiful door in the amber fort.

Taj Mahal!!!! kinda overrated. 

the monkey temple in Jaipur...camera died so i got barely any pictures.

80ft tall Buddha in bodh Gaya.  We stayed at a monastary there.  Met up with the Antioch students who were studing their and also met some cool locals.  Outside the city there is one mountain, and that one mountain has possible climbing on it.  I guess i gotta come back and explore more.