By Barbara Smith
Today I am in Agora and it feels like this journey has already taught me so much and also just begun. From the day of extreme heat in New Delhi, to the bustling lanes of Uttarkashi, and now to the tranquility of the lands of Agora. I have seen so much. I have managed to put myself before an almighty endeavor, to understand the culture, religion, and context behind the many flowing parts of India.
I have already observed and recognized the importance of duality alongside non-duality in this country. Duality here, where the cultures, religions, and the ways of the people are at once separate and connected. You can break each piece of the puzzle apart only long enough for them to mend and shape into a single whole. I felt it in New Delhi, where it was absurd to my Western eyes to see the many independent minds, businesses, and ways of life wrapped into intersecting districts of a city of 25 million people. I feel it already here in the interconnectedness of Agora, where everyone is HERE in the now as a whole. Sitting in Suman’s front yard, I hear the laughing and giggling of children from the hills above. I watch the dogs find cool, soft spots to lie down as we all regale tales from the day. Here, it can feel like the dogs might even be listening to understand, so connected to this place and our experience.
We are all here as one and I know it will continue to be that way. In the small circle. Independent and the same.
The reality of my world is so clear here in such a completely different one. So different that it becomes the same, where I can find a similarity to every part of life here. I have been inspired by so much.
Yet, I ask myself why. Why exactly the context of India? And I believe it is because I could never put myself in these shoes or understand fully why people here live their lives the way they do. I can come all the way here and still know I can never fully understand. We will be different. But non-dual.
I sit and compare what I see to what I know of myself in America. I come away not quick to judge but quick to curious and ponder this place and myself. I can write many questions. I can deeply connect myself with this place. I can continue searching for some enigma I am unsure of. But being immersed and confused lets me walk a path that makes sense here. A path of expedition and inspiration. The next step of an almighty endeavor.
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