We went on a hike to the top of the mountain visit at temple. Very unfortunately and quite sadly, the Yogi died just 10 days before we left for our study abroad trip. This trip to the temple was one of my favorite moments from the trip so far.Everyone was given a bindi to serve as a way to open our third eye. We learned about the third eye in our prep classes when we learned about Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva is able to use his third eye to destroy evil. It was a very cool experience to see and take part the religious beliefs and ceremonies that we learned about in class. It was also great to see the influences of Hindu mythology in Indian life. We were fortunate enough to have a Q&A session with the Babus. This was a really enlightening session and I feel very lucky to be able to hear their perspective of the world and explanations for various occurrences in terms of their beliefs. The wisdom that they imparted to us will remain with me forever.
I especially loved what the Babu said about everyone having a piece of God in their soul and that the existence of lies and evil are necessary to distinguish the truth. The two things (lies and evil) exist to give people a choice in how they want to live their life.
We were even lucky enough to get the opportunity to meditate with the Babu for a few minutes. It was such an amazing and unforgettable experience. I wish everyone had gotten the chance to meditate with him because the people who were outside the hut weren’t meditating and their voices were quite loud and the sounds were carried into the hut making it hard to concentrate.
I took some very valuable tips away from what the Babu revealed to us about meditation. He said that it’s best to meditate between 3 and 4 am for 20 minutes every day. He said that this time is ideal because there is less distractions and noise at 3 in the morning than there is during the day. I really appreciated this session because this past semester I had been trying to meditate a little bit every day. I’m going to use his techniques of focusing on a candle flame to improve my concentration during meditation.
It was also interesting to hear about the Yogi’s life (the one who had died 10 days prior to our visit). We learned that the Yogi was basically destined to be where he was and to do what he did. What was even more extraordinary to me was that the Yogi had built the temple and surrounding buildings all by himself by hand. This whole day was truly an unforgettable experience.
I have found myself getting frustrated by the language barrier. Often times I have wished to be able to communicate with some of the villagers or bazaar merchants and to understand what they are saying.
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Learn more about studying abroad as a Walton college student at: http://walton.uark.edu/global/
