Giant Smudge
•Posted on March 30 2022
Jan 2019 Varanasi and
The Giant Smudge!!!
Now, when I close my eyes, I can feel you and smell you.
My heart was called back to Manikarnika late last night, the holiest Ghat on the Ganga among the sacred river fronts.
I met an incredible local who guides the sick and homeless to the Gates of Death, a bit like palliative care, doula.
The smile on his entire face was contagious, enough to light a dark world.
After some very interesting chatting and learning he pointed up some stairs for me to follow, with him smiling, prodding & nodding.
A very special offering.
Now, the different castes burn on different levels of the river bank in a very small space.
The four classes are the Brahmins (priests), the Kshatriyas (rulers & warriors), the Vaishyas (artisans, merchants, tradesmen & farmers), & Shudras (labouring classes)
Once I got up this dark, from the fires over thousands of years, flight of stairs, I found myself amongst 9 burning bodies of high cast, Brahmi overlooking the waters.
Not what I expected.
No Westerners, and certainly no women here. Respect!
So so so so privileged and oh so calm.
This is why I do this alone!!!
I recalled.
I remembered.
I felt invisible to the eye.
The sight, the smell, the freedom, the acknowledgement, the respect, the stillness, the rumble of the hottest fires.
I bow!!
Hot tears....
Of blessedness....
Here it is believed that a dead human's soul finds salvation (moksha), when cremated here, in the public eye.
The elderly across India seek to walk up to its edges, and spend their last days absorbing the "charisma" of this part of the river, which makes even death painless and insignificant, to the point of not pondering it at all.
(a lot for me to learn here)
I had to leave the tower after 10 minutes of incredible heat up close.
Uttar Pradesh, I 💓 you!!!
