Inner India TEXT, IMAGE/ 圖、文：Johannes Pong
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Travel writer Johannes Pong embarked on a two and a half week pilgrimage with his guru all over India. Here he recounts the madness of Mumbai, meditating in Jain caves at the UNESCO site of Ellora, and moshing in a Hindu temple near Udaipur during Holi.
t took me a month to digest my trip with Shubhraji, one of my regular teachers of Advaita Vedanta (Indian philosophy). It took a lot longer to dissect the deep complexities of my inward journey. As it was a hassle to explain during casual conversations, I told most people that I was going on a "yoga" trip, acquaintances probably envisioned me on some terribly hip and self-indulgent "Eat, Pray, Love" sort of holiday. A pilgrimage is the oldest form of tourism. There's really nothing "New Age" about it. Before the commercial age, the only reason people took time off to travel was to meet God. And before shopping malls and Michelin-starred restaurants, the only architectural marvels worth visiting either belonged to the rulers of the day (private property), or were dedicated to a manifestation of the Divine (accessible to the public). Shubhraji's orientation email read: "As the journey is a spiritual one, participation in daily sadhana (practice) and attendance of teachings is vital and needs your total commitment." Plus, "no meat/eggs/alcohol." Before joining my guru and ten fellow pilgrims, my first day in Mumbai was spent cloistered in five-star comfort at the Four Seasons Mumbai. India's poverty was not hidden from that lofty tower of luxury. From my "Sea View" room, I gazed at the Arabian UPSIDE:
By the banks of the pristine Ganges in Rishikesh, by the foothills of the Himalayas
MOUTAI Magazine
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