Parthajeet Das's blog: Jajabara Trips III (the pillion rider and the art of meditation)

Notes from Day 2 at Jaisalmer and SAM Sand Dunes

We wanted to start early, but one of the best sunrises that Sachin (aka TBK) would click on this trip, delayed the start. The silhouette of Umaid Bhawan of Jodhpur captured my attention as I climbed up to the roof of our heritage hotel, Juna Mehal. The changing colours on the horizon told me that the sunrise was going to be special. I rushed down to wake up Sachin and used the only medicine that could get him up in one call – photography!

Ben was surprised to see us start at the same time as his. We all started at the same time.

Remember I had no helmet, so I took some time to figure out the best gear for my head, face and throat. I would keep on the experimentation for the rest of the trip. Once we were set on the highway and we ‘tanked up’, there was a silence and we kept on riding without talk for fifteen minutes first and then thirty. TBK would occasionally pass a remark and I would nod. Later, he would remark that he tried to have a few conversations but I simply did not respond.

‘Were you doing meditation?’ he asked.

‘Yes!’ I replied with a grin.

He had a look of disbelief on his face. Then, he walked over to me and saw me make the first entry in my diary ‘Biking and Meditation’.

Riding on a bike, especially as a pillion rider is like meditation, and if you do it consciously: you could really meditate.

To start with, you have the right posture or what the scriptures call ‘Asana’. ‘Asana’ is a posture where one can sit comfortably, with one’s back (spine), neck and head straight for more than an hour or two without physical restlessness and disturbance. That is easily achieved on a bike as a pillion rider. You don’t even have to shift gears, accelerate, take turns or maneuver the road.

Next comes calming or subjugation of the senses. Riding at a good speed on a Royal Enfield (popular in India as Bullet) there is very little chance of you hearing anything other than the uniform sound of the Royal Enfield’s revolutionary Unit Construction Engine. Also, though you tend to see many things as you fly past them on a bike, you just register them and simply acknowledge their presence. There is no fierce reaction, attraction, repulsion or excitement that would make the heart restless. Other senses are not in any significant threat on a bike ride and nor do they stray often.

The important one is mind. To put it simply, if you know that there is not much to engage your mind and you do not take assistance of memory of past or fancies of possibility, you would rather engage it in something which is vaguely called meditation. Most seers say that you cannot ‘do’ meditation, it happens to you. It is not a verb, rather it is a state.

I had in the past used this kind of an analogy for one of the trickiest, most mis-understood word of our times – LOVE. ‘You cannot love somebody; you are in love.’ I had written.

In either of the cases, you are driven to state of meditation, so why not do it of your own volition! The other important aspect of meditation, or any act of concentration, is breath. The slowing down of breath, and the rhythmic flow therein, is something one becomes more aware on a bike ride, and even that is a form of mediation.

We reached Jaisalmer and paused briefly to head to SAM sand dunes. I ran out of gumption at Jaisalmer and wanted to have food first or freshen up before moving, TBK insisted otherwise. SAM was a rather disappointing pit stop for us. The camel ride was short; the sunset interrupted by clouds; the food bad and oily (so much so that I wondered if they get that free); and performers of the folk dance and music disinterested. The only thing I picked up was a local song ‘Jhini re Jhini, Bhabhoot me Jhini’, which evoked instant smiles wherever I hummed it again.

Ben, meanwhile had met with an accident, just when he thought he had achieved his goals in life. (Read blog)

I was reminded of Richard Bach ‘There is a test to find out if your mission on earth is fulfilled. If you are alive, it isn’t.’