Hello again
I do like the daily events that remind me of how easily I fall into the trap of making (mis)judgements.  A few weeks ago I left the house at 8am for an appointment with my physiotherapist (I'm doing some back repair work).  I found that  the seat of my motor scooter which sits outside the house was soaking wet. The Indian lady next door was hosing down the road to keep the dust down and had obviously sprayed my scooter.  When I asked (mimed actually )if she had hosed my scooter she indicated "No". Wondering why on earth she would deny her obvious mistake I went back in the house to fetch a cloth to dry the scooter seat.  I arrived at the physio a few minutes late and explained what had happened.  Oh yes, she said, it rained during the night. CLANG!!!

Riding a motor scooter in Rishikesh is something of an act of faith.  There are no rules.  I am hoping there will come a time when I can ride through Rishikesh without swearing under my breath at yet another seemingly crazy manoeuvre. That will be a sign of real spiritual progress.The swearing is simply my fear response kicking in.    There are no pavements and people walk as many as 4 abreast on the road.  So a  Vikram (3 wheeler taxi) may suddenly swerve to avoid  them; or to avoid a cow in the road;  or a pothole of which there are many. Or he may suddenly stop to pick up a passenger (no bus stops!) Sometimes it seems like a game of chicken as, for example, 2 Vikrams  and a motorbike bear down on me leaving me the narrowest of spaces to get through.  Bicycles, scooters and motorbikes often turn into the main road on the wrong side until there is a space for them to join the stream of traffic in the right direction. Vehicles in front of you may turn right with no or minimal indication. Often a motor bike pillion passenger will wave his right hand a nanosecond before the bike turns right. Yet people  seem to get upset when I forget to cancel my indicators - men and women,even children, will flap their hand at you to let you know that your indicator is still on.  Indians have such wonderful spatial awareness and judgement of speed that they are quite happy to miss each other by just a few inches. I have only seen one very minor accident during my 9 months in India. In fact I think there is more danger of dying from the pollution which the diesel taxis and trucks belch out than from a collision. 

I think my mom must have been an Indian in a past life.  She rode a bicyle when she was younger and would simply stick out her right hand and go, expecting anything behind to avoid her (she never looked behind).  So of course, I did the same.  I must have been 14 when I had the indignity of being stopped by a police car for turning right on a bike dangerously.  Can you imagine?

This reminds me of the story of the Catholic priest who  died and went to heaven.  He got to the pearly gates and St Peter asked him to wait a few minutes as they were expecting a special guest. As the minutes ticked by the priest became more and more irritated. Then in the distance came the hum of a motorboke getting closer  and closer till at last this Hells Angel, all leather, studs and tattoos, roared up on his Harley Davidson and was immediately waved through by St Peter. Somewhat miffed,the priest demanded an explanation.  Why should he, who had preached God's word for decades have to wait for this thug to go through.  "Well",  said St Peter, "you must realise that in just one day  that biker puts the fear of God into more people than you have in 30 years as a priest."

Yesterday I was listening to a recording of a talk given by Paramhansa Yogananda back in the 1940's.  He was telling how this black American janitor in a church in the States begged the priest to let him sit in the pews during service. The priest was a good man but knew it would be a major problem .  He asked his congregation if they should allow the janitor to sit  with them in the pews, but they all said theywould leave if that happened.  So the priest told the janitor he could not join them in church.  Deeply distressed, the janitor prayed "Oh Jesus, why can I not sit in your house?"  A voice replied "My son do not be upset.  That church was built 3 years ago and I'm still trying to get in there too".

I've been reading some of the spiritual writings of India - Vedanta.  This section of the Upanishads -thousands of years old - deals with our Self and our search for joy.  Everyone ultimately wants happiness.  Everyone wants to feel secure in themselves. We all try to escape from our feelings of inadequacy.  Many people try to find security in possessions or jobs or money.  But only temporary upliftment can be found in material possessions.  The gleam of a new car soon fades. With uncompromising logic the Vedas show us that joy is our nature. We all have times - often short-lived -  when we feel completely happy, completely secure, completely happy, without concerns. Some people call it "being in the flow",  others may call it a "state of grace".

 Man's search, my search, our search -  whether consciously or unconsciously -   is to experience this state more deeply and more consistently - no matter what challenges we are facing. What we need to know, says the Vedas, is that this fulfilment does not lie outside ourselves, it is already with us.  Like the man searching for his glasses, only to find them perched on his head - they are already with him, they are not "out there", and he won't find them "out there".  What we need is knowledge of ourselves - the knowledge that adequacy is already with us.  And for this it is helpful to have a guru.  "Guru" means "one who removes the darkness of ignorance through the light of knowledge".  Inferential knowledge about the world is obtained through the senses.  Unfortunately our senses give us only a partial picture of the world. For example, Indian people have difficulty saying the letter "W" as in "Where", "What" or "Will", because they don't even hear the sound - it is not in their experience and so appears to them not to exist aurally.  I cannot distinguish between non-aspirated and aspirated "d".  I repeat a Hindi word exactly as I hear it and my young Indian teachers laugh at me as time after time I say it incorrectly.  I just do not hear the difference. Similarly with vision. We can only see what we have learned to see. So our perception of the world is only partial or distorted even before we apply our minds to it.  Our minds further filter and distort till the information fits our conscious or unconscious templates. So how reliable is inferential knowledge - the information we derive from the world around us?

On the other hand, you know that you love your children, or your dog, or newborn babies.  Or you know that you do not love them. You know that you believe in God, or that you do not. This is direct experiential knowledge, not dependent on the 5 senses, nor on logic nor on inference.  What we want is direct knowledge of our adequacy as this keeps us in Joy.  Direct knowledge, experiential knowledge, inner knowledge, is most easily reached through the teaching of a guru - someone who already has direct knowledge of himself ; someone outside yourself to give you the knowledge that your glasses are on your head.  And which guru, which teaching, should you follow?  There are a great many paths to inner wisdom and joy.  But if you are in a dark house with many doors  you can only reach the light outside by going all the way through one door. Running from door to door will keep you in the dark.

And how do you find a guru?  The Vedas say that first you must be in a state of seeking - seeking truth, joy and your highest potential; or seeking God.  It's not the choice many people make.  It's a rocky ride.  But it sure is exciting.

I have always enjoyed the writing of Dr Wayne Dyer.  I particularly like the title of one of his books - "You'll See it When you Believe it".  I hope you find your glasses!

Love and Best Wishes
Stan