Baha'i on Life

Lotus Temple, New Delhi

The Lotus Temple is a place of worship for people of the Baha'i faith, who follow the teachings of Baha'u'llah, whom they believe is the Promised One of all ages. The aim of the Baha'i faith is to unify humanity. [Fun fact: one time I had a special friend, WPC, and when I found out she was Baha'i, I spent hours that night teaching myself about the Baha'i faith so that I could come across as ever so slightly more worldly than I really am. Which I think I did (we ended up having a great conversation about the commonalities between Islam and the Baha'i faith) but it probably didn't make a difference anyway.] This was the one place I wanted to make sure I saw while I was back in Delhi.

I was so set on going to the Lotus temple because I had read that all were welcome to come sit inside and pray/meditate/sit in silence. And at this point in my journey, I really needed some mindfulness time. It's been rough. Don't get me wrong: I'm so glad I'm taking this trip and I've seen so many things and have already had so many experiences I'll treasure forever and it's definitely broadened my perspective, but there are definitely parts of it that have been tough.

My feet are burning in this photo

The Lotus temple is one of the most uniquely-designed buildings I've ever seen. It's (surprise!) shaped like a nine-sided lotus flower. Nine is a special number in the Baha'i faith: it is the highest digit and symbolizes comprehensiveness, oneness, and unity. The temple is surrounded by a huge, pristinely-manicured garden. Shoes aren't allowed inside the temple. I came prepared this time (unlike at the Kali Temple where I had to tuck my flipflops under my shirt) and brought my daypack backpack. Unfortunately I wasn't prepared enough, or I would have brought some socks because the stone walkway leading up to and surrounding the temple was scorching hot.

There is no talking allowed inside of the Lotus Temple. Or picture-taking. Which is a shame because words couldn't do justice to the architectural poetry that is the geometric design of the Lotus Temple from the inside. The ground floor is covered with pews made from solid marble. There are about 20-50 people inside the temple at any given time. Most people come in, sit for about 2 minutes, then leave. I went up to the front-row center seat and sat. And stayed. For about two hours.

Impeccably manicured garden
outside of the Lotus Temple

This was the first time I've ever tried meditating for more than maybe five minutes. It was both more difficult and easier than I thought it would be. The first few minutes were really tough. Time seemed to be moving at a glacial pace. I closed my eyes and tried to clear my mind over and over and over again. After what felt like 15 minutes I looked down at my watch and it had been about four minutes. Ok, time to try again. This time I sat cross-legged on the pew. My legs started hurting pretty quickly and then falling asleep but I decided to stay in that position and just sit through it. I had a lot more success this time around and think I really did find some mental peace. Before I knew it, another 45 minutes had flown by.

I thought about a lot of things during that time. It's interesting sitting alone with your thoughts. I wasn't actively trying to think or not think about anything, I was just sitting there letting thoughts come and go. I don't remember most of what I thought about. But I do remember wondering to myself what this experience would have been like if I actually had been here with WPC. A lot of life probably would have been different if it had eventually led us to share this experience together. As I'm sitting here writing this, I'm wondering why we actually we didn't end up sharing this experience together. Someday I hope to internalize the fact that some things in life you just don't have the power to change, no matter how hard you try. My friend BP tried to teach me that once. A few times, actually. I think she gave up on trying eventually.

Pool outside of the Lotus Temple

I stuck around for a Baha'i prayer service at 3pm. It was only about 15 minutes long and consisted of recitations from the Baha'i scriptures. The acoustics of the building are phenomenal. When the first guy started reciting, it literally sounded like there was music accompanying his voice. I've never heard anything like it, even in choir halls.

Afterward, I went outside and for whatever reason made it a point to circumnavigate the temple. The stone walkway was so, so hot that I needed to stop every 10 seconds and rest my feet on the grass, but I eventually made it.

I definitely got what I came for from the Lotus Temple and for that I am very grateful. I think the world would actually be a much better place if more people adopted the principles of the Baha'i Faith. The temple guides that were there didn't speak much, but there was a gentleness to their souls that came out in the way they carried themselves and how they interacted with everyone around them. You know how sometimes you can just tell what's in a person's heart without needing to really know all that much about them?

Could you lend me a foot?

I still had a few hours of daylight left, so I decided to go to Haus Kaus Village, where my Indian friend KB had originally recommended I stay while in Delhi. After walking around there, I can see why she recommended it; it's definitely a young, hip area that does a good job of catering to tourists. I walked through an area with a bunch of shops and restaurants. As I kept walking straight, the tourist area slowly transformed into a housing village, and then I stumbled upon a dirt path that led into a forest-looking area.

[Aside: on my auto ride over, there was a guy in a bicycle rickshaw pushing this heavy load of wood up an incline in the road. My driver saw this and decided to help the guy out, so he stuck his foot outside the left side of the vehicle and used it to help push the cart. I wasn't even mad at this total compromise of my safety due to his divided attention because it was such a genuinely nice and unnecessary action on his part.]

Haus Kaus Village

The start of my jungle adventure

The end of my jungle
adventure

Against my better judgement, I decided to walk down the secluded, dirt path. In retrospect, walking alone, through a foresty area I didn't know, immediately after having walked through a slum-ish village was probably not my best idea in the world. But whatever. I started walking and about 10 seconds later I found a wild peacock! Awesome. This bodes well. Of course, as I kept walking, I began to further and further psych myself out. "This is a terrible idea. What if I get eaten by a tiger? No one would even know where to look for me. Ok, there probably aren't tigers in New Delhi, but a venomous snake wouldn't even think twice before biting me and leaving me for dead. And I'm wearing flip flops!" You get the picture. But I pressed on. Because how much jungle could there be, really? And if a troupe of bandits wanted to rob me... there's nothing on me that I couldn't live without. After about 20 minutes of walking through increasingly bushy bush, I found a path to a more legitimate walkway. The problem was there was barbed wire between me and the path, which I assume was actually meant to keep people out of the area I was currently in, but was effectively doing the opposite of keeping me out of the real path. So I kept walking for another 20 minutes before I literally couldn't see the path anymore and decided to turn around and head back. I did get back to that barbed wire fence and I did crawl through it. Which is the second time I've crawled through barbed wire in India, thank you very much.

Don't mind me, I'm just hanging out in a tree

That new path I found was part of a pretty nice park. In it I found some primates of an unknown species (unknown to me, at least). They were eating naan that a security guard had thrown to them. Non-human primates eating naan. It happened. I myself, a human primate, hadn't eaten yet today, so I made my way back to Haus Kaus Village and found a restaurant. I decided to try my hand at a burger here from Fork You. The burgers in Bangladesh had been terrible. But wouldn't you know it, this was actually a pretty decent one! It was done in the style of The Counter in Palo Alto, where you have a card and you build your own burger by penciling in all the options you want.

Back at the hostel I met an awesome French woman in her 30s who was just finishing a month-long vacation backpacking through India. I'm excited to meet more hostel folk throughout my journey.