July 31, 2006
I realized since writing my journal about Varanasi....the people here are so poor and have had so much suffering over the centuries...if they didn't believe in something-- be it the holy Ganges river, karma, reincarnation or whatever-- they couldn't go on. If they had no beliefs, nothing to cling to, what would the meaning of their lives be? It's easy for us to be logical and see the truth about how "dirty" and "polluted" things are, because we don't need anything, because we often have the power to change things in our societies. But for them, most dreams are not going to come true, they are not going to change their societies. They have nothing but the everyday joy of believing they are purified by bathing in the river, the everyday joy of playing cards along the river, washing their animals, taking a massage there. This simple beliefs and pleasures keep them going. And the burning corpses, the river that takes everything in into itself, accepts everything as would a god...this is the cycle of life, the cycle of the earth. Living things, dying things....burning corpses, bathing children-- drinking, washing their animals, their clothing. Every stage of the human existence is showing its face along this river, all of them, together as one. We have become so separated in our developed world rat-race lives--- from the earth, our natural environment, animals, each other....I don't think most of my students have even seen a cow...most of us go home alone at night and close our doors, oblivious to the person living next door. our landmarks of birth and death take place in institutional places nowhere near where a person actually lives one's life. here, it is all taking place together, on this riverbank, without fanfare, without lament, all of it wrapped up in one big bundle called "life." it really is beautiful, actually, seeing the people here being so natural with the earth, the animals, everything. I suppose I kind of began to understand it a bit more yesterday, as I just sat and watched....
