Varanasi

Early in the morning we crossed the ghat,

Where fires were still smoldering, gazed,

With our Western minds into the Ganges,

Here religious feelings reigns supreme,

And no sensual thought ever seems to assail

These beauteous mingled forms,

They come into unconscious contact with each other,

But only heed the river, the sun,

And the splendor of the morning in a dream of ecstasy.

What always fascinates me is how the people

Always seem to step into their own time warp,

Each ritual in Varanasi is almost

A festival of Samridhi and Samigri,

And the pathways with their narrow gales

And steps leading to top stories as steep as a ladder,

The staircase is itself a story,

I would love to live near Haridwar

Or Varanasi since they are such holy spots for Hinduism.

The city illumines truth and reveals reality,

It does not bring new wonders into the scope of vision

But enables one to see what is already there,

Where this eternal light intersects the earth, it is known as Kashi.

I found Varanasi absolutely staggering,

I have never seen anything like it before,

The city just spills into the river Ganges,

It’s really really extraordinary!

Enlightenment and the death which comes

Before it is the primary business of Varanasi,

It is the headquarters of the Brahmin faith,

But it is not an overstock, for they have all India as prey,

All India flocks thither on pilgrimage,

And pours its savings into the pockets of the priests

In a generous stream which never fails,

Varanasi is older than history,

Older than tradition, older even than legend,

Looks twice as old as all of them put together.