Tradition and Culture

Namaste. We're here to talk about Indian tradition and culture on a pilgrimage. When you're pilgrimaging to India in a land that's so vast, you might wonder what you'll experience first and what the culture will be like. Which of the traditions will you encounter on a journey? India is such a melting pot. You have a lot of Hindu traditions. You have Muslim traditions. You have Buddhist traditions. You have Jain traditions. And in all of this, you have so many people that are on their own spiritual quest. In India, you have this amazing opportunity to experience spirit in a different way. It's lived so much differently and so much more out in the open than in the West. On your pilgrimage, it's very important to observe the traditions and to feel them and to allow them to touch you and to respect them. The respect that you offer, the traditions that you encounter will be received one thousandfold by the Indian people. People in India are so excited to meet people from other places who've traveled all the way around the world to encounter their traditions. You might be wondering what's the difference between the North and the South? In North India, you have a lot of Persian influence. In the South of India, it feels a lot more tropical. You might go to Kerala where you see palm trees and can ride on boats and there you have a lot of Muslim as well as Hindu traditions. Or you might be in the North in Rajasthan and experiencing the land of Krishna and men wrapped up in gorgeous turbans and women dancing with bangles all the way up to their shoulders. Or you might be in the East crawling through the mountains of Darjeeling. So who knows where you are but along the way you will experience spirit. The ritual clockwork of India is one of the most remarkable things to witness on a pilgrimage starting with the bells at 4.30 or 5 a.m as the sun rises and pilgrims making their way to the holy rivers to do their first sun salute to the evening arati rituals where the priests are waving fire in front of the goddesses. The days of the week in India are very important because they honor different gods depending on the tradition.

For instance, Ganesha is honored on Wednesdays and you could witness a beautiful Ganesha puja on a Wednesday. Or Fridays are the days for the Namaz, the Islamic temple day. As you witness these traditions you'll notice that some days are more fancy and fabulous than others. The festivals of India happen all the time throughout the year and there are more festivals in India than I think in any country in the world. If you're on a pilgrimage my suggestion is that you try not to travel on a festival day because it can be made difficult by roads being closed or travel gets delayed. But if you do travel to India to witness a ritual like many people do like to witness the Kumbh Mela festival that happens just give yourself a lot of time because this level of devotion is something that we're not used to in the west and it's new for us. So give yourself space and time to absorb as you move and to really let it integrate so that you can offer your best self. On your Indian pilgrimage you'll probably learn a lot and one of the best things that we say when we talk about ritual is we learn to say jay which means praise.