Varanasi and Sarnat ..... Jiva

May all be fed


May all be healed


May all be loved






..... and the flip side of poverty










.... and in the blink of an eye, back to poverty

Priests performing evening healing ceremony at River Ganges

Sitting on the steps of main ghat

waiting for sunset ceremony

Homes of the untouchables ..... the lowest of India's caste system, something I found unbearably unbearable. With all the positive changes going on in India and the vast reach of the economic power the country now enjoys, I wish with my heart, that this horrid caste system will work it's way out of the system. It is a shame for India and should be wiped out completely. It is more than ironic that so many foreigners make their way to India to study issues of the heart and spirit, to pursue peace and harmony on the spiritual front, when in fact, the Indian gurus are themselves seemingly doing little to eradicate such a deplorable social condition. Feels hypocritical to sit in quiet meditation in some temple, praying, when all around me is such abject poverty ......

This child appeared to be about two and I waited for some time, but no adult ever appeared anywhere near him ... I walked up to him and he ran away.

Exact location of temple at Sarnat where Buddha first preached to the masses

More remains at site of temple

Buddhist Temple at Sarnat, constructed near original site of Buddha's first preachings

Saffron-robed Sadhus are everywhere at River's edge

Streets up from the crematorium ghat area
This wood is grown specially for the cremations .... the trees are fast growing and plentiful around Varanasi

Our rower, Vinay and I just before sunrise on the River Ganges