hindu holy city

Sat Nov 26-Mon Nov 28

We flew out from Khajuraho in the late afternoon and arrive in Varanasi around 3pm.   We thought our flight was in the morning…but it was delayed several hours.   

In Hinduism the number seven is very important.  There are seven holy cities and seven holy rivers.  Varanasi is one of these cities and Ganges are one of these rivers. 

We had been forewarned of the touts in Varanasi before we got there and I was glad for that because pretty much from the time we landed it felt like a constant bartering battle.  The area that our hotel was located in had all these little tiny winding streets.  The buildings go up about seven stories and the lane is so narrow N could reach his arms across and touch the walls on either side, in most places.  It is a claustrophobics WORST nightmare, it feels like being in a maze.  Oh and did I mention that I’m claustrophobic?!  Haha so unfortunately this greatly detracted from my personal enjoyment of the city since by the time we got to the hotel I was hyperventilating.  Once we got out of there and got out to the Ganges and got to experience the city a bit more it’s really interesting. 

It’s not my favorite place we’ve been but I think it’s a major destination for good reason.  It’s a really interesting place! 

Every night at 6pm on one of the main Ghats (which we think just means stairs down to the river) they perform the ganga aarti ceremony.  It last about an hour.  It was quite interesting. There are bells ringing throughout the entire thing and seven holy men dressed in orange sing om  chants and wave incense and candles etc.  It seemed like it was very meaningful to the worshipers there.  We went to it both nights.  Once we saw it from a boat and once we went right up on the ghat.  From the boat you can light a little candle in floating flower.  From what I understood people do it sort of the way that you might wish upon a star if you are superstitious.  Mine got sucked under the boat right away. 

Varanasi had some really fun shopping too. They had all these fixed price scarf shops with really beautiful things for really reasonable prices.  I like so much when you don’t have to negotiate and you get great deals! 

We went again for a boat ride in the morning.  You can see the Ghat’s where they do the cremations (photos are prohibited).  The river is a really central part of the Hindu faith.  As I understand it, being cremated here allows a person to reach moksha or liberation and escape the cycle of reincarnation. 

I always thought that they burned the bodies out on the water but they don’t they just drench it in the Ganges water before it’s burned.  And someone told us that babies prior to 8months old are believed to be without sin so they are not cremated they are just floated down the river. We are pretty sure we saw one.  And we also saw a few cremations.  If no one told you what it was it just looks like a bon fire.  Thankfully you can’t see anything gory or anything. Considering how public the cremation is it’s done really discreetly and respectfully.  We saw lots of men and women with shaved heads, in Varanasi.  When we asked about it, someone told us that it was done by the immediate family of the deceased. 

There’s a lot to learn! 

The Ganges were much bigger than N was expecting.  The city of Varanasi looks really pretty from the water, all lit up at night. 

We had a really cool answer to prayer on our way out of the city. 

We caught a rickshaw to the train station.  We were told it should not take more than half an hour to get there and had allotted just over forty-five minutes to get there.  Our rickshaw driver seemed in no hurry at all.  Which, in our experience, is a bit out of character for a rickshaw driver.  He stopped for gas, twice.  He stopped and chatted with friends a couple of times pulling right over on the side of the road and turning off the rickshaw.  And at one point he stopped to purchase a wreath of flowers.  We were trying to be patient but were also feel a bit nervous that we were going to be late.  About a half an hour in we realized that it was more like a 45 min to an hour drive to the station.  And that despite our rushing the driver we were not making good time.  I started praying like crazy that somehow God would intervene.  We had a lot of trouble even booking these tickets and I was not sure what would happen if we missed this train.  It was a long trip through the night ahead of us, it wasn’t going to work to try and grab a last minute seat. Unknown to me, the night before N and been praying that God would reveal himself to him in a very tangible way.  I began to feel reassured that things would work out, even though I had no sense of how.  We finally got to the train station.  We jumped out and were running around madly trying to find our platform.  The train was due to depart 15 minutes prior to our arrival.  We were really late!  I was pretty sure my legs were going to give out under the weight of my enormous pack as we tore up the steps.  We finally get where we need to be and there’s no train.  I begin to loose heart.  N asks an official about the train.  And our train is two hours late. 

In all the train trips we’ve taken we’ve never had a train even be more than five minutes late.  In fact I’ve never even heard other tourists comment on it before.  The trains here seem to run pretty much like clock work.  It was truly blessing.  I think these kinds of stories are never as meaningful second hand.  To read it maybe it doesn’t sound like that big a deal.  For N and I though this was a very moving experience.  It was a very power answer to prayer.  We really felt that God was making himself known to us in a very obvious way.  And we were extremely grateful!  Grateful, not only to have caught our train but also to have caught such a clear glimpse of the power and tender care of our God.