Vrindavan was filled with beauty and chaos. Throughout the day and night there were so many things happening. My senses were inundated with smells of chai, burning ash, incense, flowers, delicious food being made at all hours of the day, and garbage.  Sounds of monkeys fighting, honking horns, people chanting, bells, and laughing children. The feel of satin scarves and beautiful rosewood Malas, combined with visions of cows wandering into stores to be fed breakfast, the brillant gopi skirts, flames at the aarti on the Yamuna river, and the smiling eyes of the open Indian people.

One morning we went to the Ashram of Neem Karoli Baba in Vrindavan. It opened my heart to tears of love and joy. I brought my friends Srutih, Carol, and Jana there with me in my heart as I walked in.  I fed the baby cows with everyone, and then sat and meditated in the room where Neem Karoli Baba stayed. I am new to meditation. There I was, calm and grounded. I saw visions of blue water everywhere like the Pacific Ocean was all around me. I didn’t want to leave that room. That morning something shifted. I was open and present with myself in a way I never had been before. I’m not a person that believes in gurus. I believe in myself.  In that place I could feel the overwhelming love and acceptance of a light being, and the love that oozes everywhere in that city.

There is so much more to say about Vrindavan… Amazing women, monkey stories, Krishna temples, camels, pigs, and Kirtan dancing…but this will do for now.