Meditating With The Beatles

Sorry for the long gap between posts, I haven’t been able to make it to an internet café lately due to traveling, and to be frank, laziness. This past week was great, as I got to better understand the alternative medicine that is widely accepted and practiced in India. I worked with one of the most successful doctors in Dehradun, Dr. Gandhi, who in 10 years has built a hospital consisting of 100 beds with $400 in his pocket coming out of medical school. I greatly respect his keen business sense and ability to remain deeply dedicated to each and every patient he admits and cares for. Throughout the week, I constantly heard patients say, “I hope you know how special Dr. Gandhi is. He runs this high quality hospital, comes in at any hour of the day for all emergencies, and remains sincere and kind.” I hope that I too will remain dedicated to my patients and astute in my business decisions throughout my career. My next rotation of the day was actually a lecture given by a 100 year-old-man named Dr. Prem Nath. He has been practicing Ayurveda, Reki, and Accupressure/puncture for over 70 years. He spoke with flawless English in a Yoda-like manner. Although I had some difficulty grasping some of the theory behind Reki (taking energy from the universe and focusing it into the appropriate Chakra, or energy center, most closely related to the problem that the patient has) and Accupressure (putting pressure on designated parts of the body that are connected to the health issue at hand), I found it all fascinating and eye-opening. Genetics is a large age-determining factor, but Dr. Nath must be doing something right to reach 100 with a healthy mind and body!

After getting my Chakras checked (all of which were healthy, except my digestion Chakra, I could’ve called that one), I headed to Dr. Nanda’s Homeopathic Clinic for two hours. While waiting for that rotation to start I would go to my favorite baker in town, Kumar Sweets, and get a cold coffee. By the end of the week, the whole store knew my name and story of coming to India (I definitely attended to my sweet tooth that’s been demanding some attention throughout the whole trip). I’ve now got some favorite Indian sweets and a good friend, Krishna, who has told me all about his life in India and how he prefers to be single over “tied up” because he thinks being single “has its more better benefits.” I would then leave Kumar Sweets while hearing a superbly warm but strained, “See you next time my bro” from Krishna to go play Cricket with a few kids I met while waiting for Dr. Nanda to show up. They thought I was an amazing player. I’m either a Cricket prodigy or a very shameful 20-year-old taking advantage of his 8-year-old opponents. Nevertheless, I enjoyed getting in my 25 minutes of Cricket with some newfound friends before another sedentary two-hour clinical rotation.

I went into Homeopathy not having a clue as to what it was about, so I was looking forward to learning a lot. More so than Reki and Accupressure, I could wrap my head around homeopathy and found it to be a very fascinating and effective treatment style. Homeopathic medicine essentially gives the body’s repair and healing systems a “push” in the right direction to heal the patient’s ailment. As Dr. Nanda described it, homeopathic medicine “would make a healthy person feel pain or extra feeling in the location where the sick person feels the pain or sickness. In this way, the body brings more attention to this area of the body, therefore healing the patient with its own abilities, not with a foreign chemical’s abilities.” I was very curious to see some patients and ask them questions about their experiences and was simply blown away. Just in this week, I saw five cases that appeared groundbreaking to me, but very average to Dr. Nanda. One man came in who had had terrible migraines for 10 years, to the point where he would become unconscious due to the extreme pain. He went to an allopathic doctor for most of this time. Eventually, after the prescribed morphine was not helping, he decided to try homeopathy. Dr. Nanda has been treating him for the past two years, in which this man has had only one migraine.  Dr. Nanda has been giving this man a placebo the past few months because his body has done its job in healing itself. He will be off all medicine after this month. I saw a couple other similar cases where allopathic treatment failed (in treating a woman’s growing benign brain tumor and a boy’s life-threatening asthma), and homeopathic treatment completely succeeded in curing the patients. While some aspects of homeopathy are difficult to grasp, its effects are evident. I could see myself practicing both as an allopathic doctor and homeopathic doctor. If one treatment style isn’t working, I could suggest another. I think this would be very interesting and more beneficial to a greater number of patients.

I am now in Rishikesh for the second time this summer, and this second trip has been very different. After one week of monsoon rains, most of India, Rishikesh included, looks very different. The first trip was hot and dry, with most of the flora consisting of browns and light greens. Now, I feel as if I’m in the jungle (which I am), with dark, deep greens with a roaring Ganges river alongside. While the mosquitos are more prevalent, the cooler temperatures and the enhanced aesthetic beauty more than make up for the few itchy spots on my skin. I went along with the group to go shopping on Saturday telling myself I would not buy anything as I’ve been here before. That failed. Miserably, in fact. Oh well, YOLO. This morning (I’m writing this on Sunday night), we went to the ashram where The Beatles spent much time meditating and composing music for The White Album. I was so excited to go, and I must say that the experience exceeded my expectations. For those of you who have seen my room and known me for a while, you probably know that I have always been a huge Beatles fan, so this opportunity was incredibly exciting for me. I was expecting a busy and commercialized tourist attraction, but fortunately I was wrong. We had to find our way to this uninhabited ashram via a very poorly marked, rugged path. When we finally found it, there was one man standing there collecting money to enter (50 Indian rupees, or about 90 cents). As we walked up the mountain heading deeper into the jungle and ashram itself, we found a multitude of cone-like structures scattered throughout the deserted ashram. We ran into a man who was standing outside of one of these edifices with a paintbrush in hand and “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” playing off his laptop. As I was both excited and curious, I asked him what he was doing. He went on to explain to us that each Beatle had his own “dome” to meditate in, and he was painting the inside of George Harrison’s at the moment. Without hesitation, I walked up the very sketchy set of stairs and peered into this meditation dome where George Harrison spent much of his time. It was spectacular. I got chills thinking about the fact that I was sitting in the same spot George Harrison once had, looking out at the Ganges and Himalayas, listening to the album he was working on while sitting in this same spot. It was a memorable moment to say the least. I really don’t think I’ll ever forget it.

We then proceeded to look at John Lennon’s meditation dome, which was just as amazing. The whole time there were monkeys jumping and playing all around us. As if the experience couldn’t have gotten any better, we walked into this very large building that had the most beautiful murals covering the interior walls. The building was falling apart (and had been for quite some time), but some very talented and united artists from around the world once again made this structure beautiful. The old building had flora growing through its floor, water dripping in through its already fallen apart ceiling, and some of the most inspiring and enlightening works of art scattered across its walls. I will be here in Rishikesh this whole week, and I will for sure be returning to this very serene, peaceful and inspiring place. I can’t wait to go back already and it’s only been 10 hours since I left.

I’m 5 weeks into this 8-week adventure. I am consistently being shocked, encouraged, and loved by the people and things that inhabit this wonderful country. I still haven’t gotten over the immense poverty or the filthy conditions, but I’ve tried to remain focused on the deeper, more foundational aspects of the country and people. It’s been such a great a great trip learning about a culture first-hand. I know it’s cliché to say as an abroad student, but I’ve learned so much about this culture at an immensely personal level, much more so than any class has taught me about any other culture.

To my family, girlfriend, and friends: I miss you very much and can’t wait to see you in a few weeks.

Clayton

Much greener and wetter than before.

Feeding a baby monkey! I was so excited.

The entrance to The Beatles Ashram.

Exploring some of the old buildings in the ashram.

The artwork inside John Lennon's meditation dome.

Standing in front of the dome where John Lennon spent much of his time meditating and writing lyrics.

Anna walking up the steps into George Harrison's meditation dome.

The many "meditation domes" as I've decided to name them.

Me, Roshan, Alex, Claire, and Anna in "The Beatles Cathedral"