My Journey Pt. 2: Nepal Yatra

Tired, burnt out, and eager for change, I decided to leave my job, quit drinking, and head to the Himalayas. This is an approximate account of the first few months I spent in Nepal and some of my realizations while away. I hope to convey some of my newfound understandings and show an authentic account of my experience going from party fanatic to a dedicated spiritual aspirant.
This track contains ambient sounds in the background

Transcript

All right,

So part two so I Was gonna go to Nepal but before that I had been Working a lot.

I learned to program Do like mobile development?

Because I had taken about a year and a half off school to try to do a startup and I don't know.

I just Was doing a lot of school After coming back to school and I was working in a company and I was I did an internship and I was working a lot So I was kind of really in that grind mode And I kind of just need to do something different so that was when I was like,

All right,

I just finished school I'm gonna I'm gonna just go figure out What this spiritual stuff is all about.

I'm gonna go try to find a guru I'm gonna go try to figure out if it's worth just sending it fully and Dedicating my life to enlightenment or spirituality.

I was trying to figure that out Because it was out of that or just keep trying to do startups or work at a corporate job or something Which I mean I can still do but the trip definitely changed me.

So anyways,

Let me get to it I'm gonna backtrack again,

Actually so it's kind of relevant but While I was still in college.

I ended up going to this Buddhist temple and I Met this lady there and she was she slept in a hearse which was kind of interesting but She was telling me how she would go to all these different temples and places and she said she stayed at these place called Hare Krishna temples and I didn't know what that was and she was just telling me that basically they just Chant the Maha Mantra,

Which is Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare and they believe that just by chanting that mantra is enough to Become enlightened and maybe even if you chant it once the right way it's enough For your lifetime,

So I was like,

Well,

I'm gonna just chant this see what happens But I don't know that was that was just one one little thing that happened at a Buddhist temple and Then I would sometimes I mean that that Mantra specifically is also in the George Harrison's my sweet lord But I would listen to this dude named Krishna Das Who I believe also was a devotee of Neem Karoli Baba who was Ram Das's guru But anyways,

I would listen to Krishna Das's Hare Krishna song before my exams in college and So that that's just a little bit of backstory but There's this guy in my town.

Who's a he was a yoga teacher and his name is Raghunath Das and Raghunath Das is Guru's Radhanath Swami who wrote this book called a journey home and so Raghunath Das Was He'll actually turned out I I was on he I'd taken some yoga classes from him and He was like cool he'd always tell me oh you should be a yoga teacher and I was more into meditation and I just thought kind of event like I don't know Physical yoga and I'm not I was interested in that but not as much as it meditation but anyways Fast forward a few years.

I'm on YouTube and I just see this dude It looks super familiar and I realized it's the guy from my town and he was on a Joe Rogan and he was talking about like bhakti yoga and the Bhagavad Gita,

Which is the spiritual text and He was talking about how he went to India And just like left everything and stayed in an ashram in India and that kind of also sparked my interest And now I'm ready to get to the point where I'm going to Nepal so I I Decide okay.

I want to go somewhere like India maybe and just find a guru,

But I didn't know where to start Well,

Maybe I just book a ticket and fly out there and I wanted to be super authentic too Like I didn't want to go on some like I don't know yuppie thing but I ended up Calling up this guy Raghunath Das because it seemed like he had a pretty legit experience and he was telling me He didn't really know exactly where I could go,

But he he was doing a Trip like he was leading a trip.

And I mean it was I was definitely Something that I was totally interested in because he could at least Introduce me to to a different place and but his trip was in Nepal.

So that's right above India and So he's like you can come it's in April or something like that and it was March it was like I only had a month to decide or not even decide like a few days I guess to decide something like that So I was like,

All right,

I'm in and I booked my flight and everything Didn't know what I would to expect but I definitely the trip was only 15 days and I definitely want to stay longer and so I just Flew out a few days early with Raghunath and some other people that were gonna do the trip and We visited a Hare Krishna temple.

So the mantra that I was saying before and I didn't know this at all,

But Raghunath Das was Krishna devotee so that means like he just chants the Maha Mantra and stuff like that So he got me this like chanting bag for Japa Which is like where you hold the beads and you chant on each bead 108 times and then like the real devotees do it like at least 16 times a day So it's like a hundred and eight times 16 times.

They say the mantra Maha Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Rama Rama Rama Dehari and And Yeah,

So he started me on that and I could barely even do it one time and I mean I could but it's just like took a lot of a lot of effort sort of I in the beginning at least and then We just visited some temples out there.

He taught us a lot about bhakti yoga,

Which is devotion.

So it's like you are Everything you do like if you're bhakti you're everything you do is for Like,

I don't know for him.

It would be Krishna.

Everything he does is for Krishna,

But the idea behind Like God,

I guess at least in these viewpoints is that everybody Is part of God.

We're all like a piece of God So when you're doing something for God,

You're doing something for everybody So if if I'm a Krishna devotee,

It doesn't mean I'm just worshiping a statue Or I'm just working worshipping this Entity Krishna.

It means I Every person that I meet like I see Krishna in them.

I see the God in them So that's like bhakti is everything you're doing It's like you're you want to serve you're I'm a servant to the world Everything I do is like I want to humble myself more I want to do the best I can do and he taught us about like guru would have meant to be a guru and Guru just means teachers.

So he's like talking about the different types of teachers There's the guru that leads you to your true guru.

There's a guru that brings you on to the path of spirituality and then there's like your sat guru or true true girl guru who is like The manifestation of God or enlightened master that Is specifically based on your karma Aligns and makes the most sense for you the most relatable to you the most like easily kind of Like you guys just jive.

I guess I use that word maybe too much,

But So that so he taught us some of that and he taught us a lot of different things like give us some stories Of Krishna and all that sort of thing and it was really cool.

It was an awesome experience I met so many cool people on the trip to From like all different walks of life and we kind of just had a basic tour of Nepal to and Just saw some stuff there and I was like I had gotten when I flew in I got a 90-day visa And The trip was only 15 days and it was such a different experience Like even just being there wasn't even like I don't know I just felt like I was in a different world sort of so I was like,

Okay What am I gonna be doing once all these people leave?

I had no idea still Yeah,

I was I was a little nervous for sure and the whole trip And my flight my flight was only a month later,

But I wasn't expecting to take it I made it so that I could change the ticket to whenever I just Made it a month or later So that I wouldn't have to like explain too many things when booking the trip and getting insurance and stuff like that Which I only got insurance for a month because they required it for the trip.

But anyways Back to the trip.

So the trip was amazing.

I highly recommend checking out Raghunath Das and Yeah,

Maybe taking one of his trips but after that I Decided to go.

Well,

There are some people staying in Nepal still and I was gonna do this thing called Vipassana Goenka's Vipassana,

Which is all around the world,

But I was gonna do that in Nepal because apparently it's like really hardcore Nepal and this girl was gonna do it with me too,

But the Nepal ended up going into like Number four,

I don't know severity of the country's like a do not travel or something like that So she was like I need to get out of here before they ban flights everywhere which was a smart decision on her part,

But I Ended up going back to this Hare Krishna temple for a bit before the Vipassana Because I was like,

I'm definitely gonna do the Vipassana I guess I don't I didn't really care if they closed the country down for good.

I need to do this spiritual journey.

I need to Figure out what to do with my life kind of So I went to this Hare Krishna temple And I was like,

All right Since I'm here.

I'm gonna do what they're doing.

I'm gonna just keep an open mind I don't know if I like I don't know if like this chanting thing is my thing But I'm just gonna try it And I noticed like my mind was like judging too and it was like judging me Like what are you doing?

And like what are these people doing?

But then I was like,

No I'm I'm gonna just do it and I'm gonna be like chill and I'm gonna be open-minded and Even this guy at the temple He was like your mind is like a parachute It doesn't work if it's not open so that I kind of took that to heart for the rest of the trip,

Too But I would wake up at 4 in the morning and I would start chanting and and doing this thing called Mangalati,

Which is like a dance I don't know.

I'm not really good at explaining this stuff,

But we would dance For like an hour or two hours or something like that and do singing and do like these rituals and then At 9 we'd eat food and then I'd do some like Seva which is selfless service and then We would eat dinner or there'd sometimes be like this snack in the middle of the day.

I don't remember what it's called But yeah,

Then I don't know how to explain more about this stuff later because I go back to the temple,

But That was kind of like that and I did that for 10 days and then everybody had basically left by that point and it was just me out in Nepal and I was going to this Vipassana thing and the Vipassana was only like two miles away from or a mile away from the Hare Krishna temple,

So I just walked there and Yeah,

It was it was pretty cool I so I went to this Vipassana thing by myself and then Yeah,

It was interesting and so basically what it was is like you just Wake up again super early 4 in the morning and you sit and meditate for from 4.

30 to about 6.

30.

I want to say and then you have breakfast and then you meditate for another Hour,

And then you have like a little break and then you meditate for like another hour and a half And then you eat lunch and then you meditate for like an hour and then you meditate for an hour and a half and then you meditate for another hour and then you have like tea and then you meditate for an hour and Then you Maybe meditate a bit more and then we do this discourse where the guy Goenka it's like a video of him talking and explaining everything that we're doing and And then we meditate for another 30 minutes and then we go to bed at like 9 30 10 and then wake up at 4 So,

Yeah,

It's pretty intense and you can also ask the teacher's questions,

But it's a silent retreat So there's no talking between students.

You can only ask the teacher questions at a certain time But yeah,

That was way different no phone obviously or anything like that So it's like I hadn't even not had my phone for probably a day I mean on the trip,

I definitely didn't have my phone a lot But before that before coming to Nepal,

I probably hadn't had not had my phone for a day for years Since I was little so just I don't have a phone now and I can't speak I don't know.

I don't know when the last time I went like one hour without speaking was I mean before that trip,

I guess I I don't know that there's probably a lot of times for that like when I'm sleeping,

But Anyways,

It was just crazy And that was definitely an interesting experience Looking back.

It was definitely a little bit more intense than I I needed.

I probably would have benefited more from something more Expansive and peaceful and just like sitting by the ocean and getting a massage and meditating on my breathing But I think the intensity was what I needed at the time to to get myself I don't know together sort of and and and realize The the type of mind I was holding is what going go and say a lot He'd be like this will help you realize what type of mind you're holding and then you'll see Oh,

No,

What what mind am I holding?

It show it shows you like kind of what's been going on your head and if that if that's not a Functional then it can be very Mind opening I guess or or or maybe not mind opening but definitely it's a different experience sort of And and it's good if you never if you if you don't believe in like Meditation or you don't want to meditate or you have no motivation and any of this stuff I think it's really good.

But if you are motivated,

Then I don't think you really need to like go so intense unless Unless you want to Yeah,

But basically the idea is that By focusing on her breath.

We begin to still our mind and we begin to like Be able to have the stronger concentration and be able to like purifier ourselves more So when we just focus on her breath,

We're naturally letting go of Emotions and and the habit patterns that don't serve us anymore But then what goes even deeper and this is like shadow work.

So it's more like I don't know.

It can be more more difficult Mentally and emotionally but it's like these body scans that you do like all day And so you're like just scanning every part of your body and it's just making your subconscious mind conscious So any pains you might have in your body are now like very conscious.

It is so I experienced I guess But it also allows you to be more aware of these things so it's like say you like it's your Your shoulder every day like or you have these habits of itching yourself or something like that Then after doing this with pasta thing,

It's like,

Okay,

You know that you're gonna itch yourself and you can easily choose not to do it So that it's like it allows you to be more conscious of different things But that can also be difficult because like the reason we're unconscious is Because we chose sort of in a way to like not pay attention to certain things that we didn't want to pay attention to So then when we become so conscious all of a sudden it's like well I have a lot of things that I need to deal with sort of And that was kind of my experience and I would I don't know if I was ready to deal with all those things Especially being in a foreign country Without anyone that I really knew but it ended up being very like transformative as Yogananda says Suffering can be Your greatest teacher if you if you choose for it to be I guess so it's like all how you look at it,

I think But yeah,

That was pretty intense and crazy and different experience and taught me a lot about Meditation and Different techniques and stuff like that.

But then I ended up going back to the Hare Krishna temple And and it was interesting because at the Hare Krishna temple they're like don't go to the past now It's it's not the way it's not the right way to do it.

And then at the past now It's like don't chant these names don't do this devotion stuff.

It's not the right way to do it.

So it's like these two These two fingers these two people these two traditions these two paths They're pointing to the same place,

But they're like now you can't use this other path Which made sense the way that going explained it was that like if you're trying to stand between on two boats at the same time to get to a destination then I Don't know you can get into some trouble but I think it's like if you use your common sense and you're sincere and you really Truly are sincere and you just mean the best for yourself and for every Everyone else then then I don't I don't think that it's harmful to pick and choose and and Like use your intuition obviously and respect the advice of Teachers and masters and everything like that But it was just interesting how they kind of were at against each other in a sense and they like sort of it felt like they didn't really believe that the other one was a valid path is My experience that that's not necessarily true But it just felt like that and that was like interesting because because when I was at the Bapasana I really did feel okay.

I was kind of dumb for doing the Hare Krishna stuff But then when I was at the Hare Krishna temple,

I'd think like well I was kind of dumb for doing the Bapasana stuff So it's like the consciousness of the people around you and the environment really does affect what you believe And that was like I guess a really transformative Experience for me because that now I do believe like both have a lot of value But it's like we also want to keep an open mind.

I think To everything I Think I don't know.

That's just my my understanding So then I went back to this Hare Krishna temple and I just went even I got even more serious about it I'm like,

All right,

I'm definitely gonna do this chanting more.

So I chant like Yeah,

I chant the 16 rounds at least every day and then they do like all these different fasts like dry fasting for these events called the Kadasi so I Would dry fast and you're just not eating or drinking so I would not eat or drink water for 24 hours And there was one time we didn't eat.

We didn't sleep and we didn't Drink for 24 hours,

Which is a new new one for me pretty intense Yeah,

I'm not I'm not too big into the austerities but they're good for like cleansing us and purifying us not in like a weird way,

But just like When your body is not using its energy on digestion and stuff like that then It goes towards like upkeep Which I don't know.

It's just scientifically proven already.

So I don't need to talk about that.

But then I would do I want to learn how to cook and Do that as my Seva And so the chef was like my dude,

You got to do chanting before you cook And so he's like I suggest you wake up at 2 or 3 So I started waking up at like 2 30 or 3 and chant chanting most of my rounds and then doing Mangal arti for and then going to help cook and then like sometimes I would be able to take a nap after but sometimes I wouldn't and that was that The lack of sleep.

I think it did a number on me,

But I didn't really realize it till later on in the trip And people were just telling would tell me all these really cool things and I learned a lot about like the bhagavad-gita I learned a lot of cool spiritual spiritual things Yeah,

I learned the chanting is really really cool and I believe in it like so much more than I did before because when you chant there it works on so many different levels It's like you're chanting one you're worshiping these like either enlightened masters or Avatars like people or not people but like manifestations of God personalities of God and Then so that like just in and of itself if you believe in that that has a positive effect but then the sound Vibrations themselves have an effect of like cleansing our bodies like and I mean this is science too But not as like well documented that like different sounds like have different effects on Our bodies and on like the environment around them So this these sound vibrations in Sanskrit like really have some sort of like healing effects So you don't even need to like do anything besides just chant the mantras and then there's also like the aspect which is similar to like breathing meditation where it's like Focus if you can focus on this one thing then focus in it of itself start begins to expand your mind because you're focusing on one thing long enough your mind stills and then when your mind stills you all of a sudden have this huge expansive space of Awareness open to you,

But until we can just focus on one thing and still our mind We're kind of just at the mercy and the whims of our thoughts But when we when we focus on one thing since we're just focused on one thing our minds like,

Okay I don't need to do anything anymore.

And then it allows us to see the reality of what what we're actually living in So,

I don't know.

Those are just three components,

But there's many more benefits of the chanting So I'm definitely a big believer in chanting now As before I wasn't I didn't really know anything about it,

Honestly Yeah,

So it's a chanting school and then they they do this thing called prashadam or prashad,

Which is like offering the food So before we eat any meal,

It's like offered to Krishna or Radhe or like some some deity but I think there's obviously like the benefit of the that deity or or just like The Aspect of God or the qualities of God just kind of cleanse the meal in like a literal sense Which you don't have to believe in but if you if and if you don't believe in it I think that the significance of it is still like very profound It's just like when we offer the food,

We're just showing that we're not eating it just to eat it We're eating it because it nourishes our body.

It's it's Help like it's helping us to like be able to fulfill our duties in life,

But then it's also like we're we're recognizing the process of what has gone into To bring this food to our plate and no matter what no matter how hard you try There's gonna be some something maybe we'll have to like have some sort of suffering or some sort of Suffering or some sort of Like I don't know there'll be something that Goes into this food Something had to be sacrificed in order for you to get your meal no matter how how hard you try Unless maybe you just like eat fruit like directly from the tree without like plucking it off I don't know.

Maybe even that would probably But yeah by offering it we're just recognizing that kind of and being grateful For for it,

So I think I think even if you don't believe that God is cleansing your meal there's a huge benefit in offering your meal or at least praying before before your meal is to just recognize well,

Like Thank you kind of Yeah,

So then there's like a lot of cool rituals and stuff that happens or festivals and stuff and meanwhile Like while I was at this Vipassana place earlier The country went on lockdown,

So There is no domestic or international flights and my and my plane ticket had gotten canceled So that was that and I just been at so I was like,

Okay,

I'm just gonna stay at this Krishna temple I don't know how long and then the flight seemed to like open up.

So I booked another flight to go back Home like a month later.

I was gonna stay at the temple for a month But I still felt like I needed some authentic more authentic spiritual experience like staying at the temple showed me so much it taught me like like many things but some of the my realizations were that Like I can I can just live like this.

I it's like very simple life and Maybe it's not like so stimulating per se in in the traditional sense But I didn't need anything like that.

I was happy.

It was cool to like be in that Environment.

I mean it was difficult for me because Not many people spoke English Like super well,

Like everyone spoke English,

But it was it was different everybody's like Grew up in a different way.

So I didn't feel like I could 100% relate to people But it just showed me like I don't I don't need to like Grind my whole life There's no purpose in that unless like you're doing something good for the world or you really enjoy it But I didn't really enjoy grinding so much So I I was like,

All right,

This just showed me without a doubt I don't have to live the way that I was living.

I can I can choose to Like be happy and and live how I want to live I can be a homeless hippie for my whole life if I want to that's not what I wanted to do or want to do now,

But it's just like There's like mental like veils,

I guess on on my mind that were lifted by doing something different Whereas it's like it's easy to get caught in these Ideas that I have to live life this way,

Even if it's not exciting for me,

Which is complete bullshit,

But Yeah,

So then I Was doing Sava one day like washing dishes selfless service and oh and by the way Sorry,

But by the way Sava It's really cool because it's selfless service.

So you choose to do work that might That you might like have been paid for I don't know in a different circumstance or you might not Actually like to do but you're choosing to do it and you're doing it for nothing like you're you're doing it for God You're doing it for I don't know the God within everybody whatever it might be You're just doing it out of devotion.

And so you're washing a dish and you think oh Why am I doing this?

Like I would much rather be doing something and then you realize no This is what I want to be doing and then you just that simple change of mind frame makes it into like a Meditation and then you're like you notice every time you you started feeling like you don't want to be doing it and you just let It go and it's so cool because then it's like I started actually enjoying like washing dishes and stuff There's nothing else to do.

It's not like I need to be anywhere.

That was just I was just washing dishes That's just cool,

But anyways I was washing dishes one day doing Sava and I see this dude and I'm like well,

This guy's like a little bit different because everybody's like I hadn't shaved heads and stuff and this guy it was Wearing some dreadlocks and he looked like What you might call an authentic yogi Or I guess everybody's authentic,

But he looked like what I would imagine a yogi to be and it reminded me of how Ram Dass explained Meeting the bhagavan das the the guru that or not I guess it was a guru the guru that guided him to his satguru.

I think The guy that brought him to Neem Kurali Bhabha Bhabha,

It reminded me of that a little bit Because I was like,

Well this guy like makes me feel different sort of in a way not Romantically but I just he made me feel like well This is there's something special about this guy and there's something special about everybody obviously But this guy I felt more connected to in a way,

Even though I didn't speak to him at all But there's one guy who is helping me a lot While I was at the temple and he's like yo,

That's it.

That's a yogi He went into the woods and he prayed and the teacher came and taught him yoga and stuff like that And I was like,

Whoa,

I want to go into the woods and pray for a guru and so I was like,

I need to hang out with this dude and My friend was like,

All right,

He'll teach us some yoga later and I was like,

Okay cool and so he came to The room and he or my room and he taught me and my friend some some yoga asanas And some pranayama like breathing techniques and he's like guiding me and Telling me what I was doing wrong sort of but he didn't speak English So I didn't really like I mean we couldn't really communicate but I was definitely well,

This guy is different and then I went So then that was like the last time I saw him for a bit,

But I still was thinking okay I'm I'm I think I learned a lot from this temple,

But I need to go live with this yogi,

Dude And so I kind of took a page out of his book and I started praying Like if this is the right thing for me to do God like or I'd pray didn't shrink a day of this Manifestation of God and also to Krishna like if this is what I'm meant to do Like please make it happen.

Like please help me connect with this guy and stay with him and so I Eventually Like a few weeks later.

He came back but before that I I'd remember.

Oh,

Yeah,

So he came back and He's like He had a friend with him actually to that spoke English like more English He's from Spain and he's like,

Oh you want to stay with us?

Okay,

Cool And then he's like maybe you want to check out the place that we're staying at first and then decide later So I went to the place and it was definitely a very different vibe like a small hut and like a run-down clay house sort of thing But it was pretty cool and I was like,

Yeah this is definitely what I more of the vibe that I'm trying to like get after it feels very authentic and Yeah,

So then I went back To the Hare Krishna temple and he's like,

All right in like one or two weeks you can come stay so then one or two weeks I was gonna go stay with him,

But I'd I'd been thinking about bhagavan das because I wanted to like feel more connected to like name Crowley Baba the guru of Ramdas and Krishna das and bhagavan das and Ramdas had passed away,

But bhagavan das the guy that led Ramdas to his guru is still around and I just felt like okay I'm in Nepal where bhagavan das and Ramdas met So I need to connect to this guy And so I found his email online and I reached out and he's like,

Yeah Like you can set up a meeting with us.

And so I ended up setting a meeting with them With him.

Sorry bhagavan das and his wife Okay,

I can't I'm forgetting the name now Yeah Anyways,

I met with them and They're just so much love.

I felt like right away.

They sang like a little Invocation to name Crowley Baba and I just felt so much love from them And it was just amazing They There wasn't like a lot of like words and like ideas that we shared But it was just like more kind of like love and support and they did share like a lot of insight,

Too But it was more mostly like love and support and singing and mantras and stuff like that But they're also telling me like because I wanted to like figure out what my sadhana was That was part of the reason I went there to like figure out what practices I should do And they're like you should set up a puja Which is like a table like a puja table,

Which is Kind of where you put like Deities or pictures of like gurus and stuff like that that you can just kind of that helps you feel love And helps you feel like more connected to everything and so That was something I wanted to do,

But I didn't really have a stable place yet And so I have that set up now,

Which is awesome but then another thing that was cool is like They were saying that you don't have to pray to a To like a deity you can pray to like a tree or something like that.

Like God will meet you anywhere and That was like,

I don't know.

It's just really insightful too and helpful because sometimes like No matter how much like I want to feel love for for these like deities and stuff like that Like the like actual statues sometimes it's like more difficult for me and probably a lot of like Westernized people because of all our like misconceptions about them and and Anything that we might have thought before Realizing that it's not like there's not like superstitious or anything like that And so,

I don't know it's just cool to like know that like God is everywhere or or this like consciousness or whatever you want you want to call it But that God will meet you anywhere and you can pray to anything And yeah,

There's just so much love from them it was awesome and Definitely recommend reaching out to them To they do like different workshops and stuff like that But anyways,

That was like a day before I was going to to hang to live with this Nepali yogi and I I thought that this is gonna be a lot shorter,

But This this is a long journey.

So I'm gonna leave this next part for a part three and And yeah,

Much love And yeah much love.

Hey all beings be happy