Alleyway of Benaras
No matter how much time I take cleaning my shoes, tomorrow, I still must go out onto the streets of Benaras. There, I will step in shit, spit, piss, dirt, and other ‘unclean’ things. If you live in a city such as Benaras, it’s literally impossible to walk the streets without stepping in shit. Not big piles of it, but the spread out, rolled over, swept like sand, and general covering of whole stretches of cobbled streets and narrow alleys where it is impossible not to touch.
No wonder, at every house or store I would be expected to take off my shoes when I enter. In this world, one can understand a deeper meaning to washing someone’s feet; it means to ‘remove the shit of the world with water’ and with your own hands.
In Benaras, I understand that to take the dust of someone’s feet- (a saying and action of respect and honor or worship), was to say that the very ground you walk on, the very shit you step on, has become holy or sacred by the touch of your feet. It is in this world of India, where shit is so obviously everywhere, that this older saying and custom reveal their original and more humble meaning.
When I was younger, I tried to make my tennis shoes so clean that they would never get dirty. I wanted to make them perfectly clean, to clean them so perfectly that they would remain absolutely clean, no matter what I stepped in. But I failed in that. I'm unsure if I failed due to a flaw in my approach, a lack of effort, poor karma, incorrect practice, laziness, or some other issue. Perhaps I was fundamentally and utterly ‘wrong’ about the whole attempt. But I noticed that my white tennis shoes would always, inevitably, become dirty, again.
Tennis Shoes, Dirty and Clean.
As I have grown older, I noticed that someday, everyone must step in shit. Everyone must go out beyond that bend in the river, as a sadhu said to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi when they sat together in a cave above the upper Ganges, and the Sadhu gestured to a bend in the river, spread out below their mountain cave; he said that ‘Beyond that distant bend in the holy river, as it descends down onto the plains, we do not go, it is all mud.’
One day, every day, today, there is a world that has a lot of dirt and shit in it and we will step in it. . . that world is where we are, everyone we love is, that is where those who need our help are, that is where we all need help and love. Where else could we walk?
Benaras Alleyway
I am reminded of a story, told at the very end of the Mahabharata: Krishna has died and the Pandava brothers and their wife, Draupadi, have retired from the world, renounced their kingdom, and begun to walk up into the Himalayas- towards heaven itself, accompanied by a loyal and helpful dog.
The Pandava brothers, Draupadi, and their dog walking up into the Himalaya
As they proceed up into the Himalayas, one by one, they begin to weaken and die; some lack of Dharma is given as the reason for their deaths, some wrong action in deed or intention. First Draupadi, their common wife, then the twins, Sahadeva and Nakula, born of the twin Gods, the Asvins. Then the skillful warrior, Arjuna, close friend of Krishna and son of the Lord of the Gods, Indra, followed by the immensely powerful Bhima, son of the God Vayu, each of them falls and dies because of some lack or fault in their life. Finally, all that is left is Yudhisthira, the son of Dharma himself, and the dog.
Yudhisthira and the dog
The two of them arrive at the gates of heaven, where Lord Indra, the King of the realm of heaven and death, comes to greet Yudhisthira. “Welcome, O’ great King. Welcome to Heaven. No human being has ever arrived at these gates in their bodily form. Come in.”
Yudhisthira begins to enter the gates of heaven, and the dog follows after him. But Indra stops and says, “Yudhisthira, this dog is not pure enough to enter heaven with you. He is not eligible. You must leave him behind. There are no dogs allowed in Heaven.”
Yudhisthira and the dog at the gate of heaven
Brought up short by this, Yudhisthira replies, “This dog has been a loyal and true companion. He has stood by me through this long journey from my kingdom in Hastinapura. It is not right to just leave him now. I will not abandon him.”
“But you cannot come into heaven with this dog,” says Indra.
“Then this is not heaven for me,” replies Yudhisthira. He then turned away from the heavenly gates, the very gates he had been striving to reach for so long, beyond, where all those whom he loved were waiting for him in their celestial bodies. Yudhisthira began to walk down the long path he had come, accompanied by the dog.
After they had gone a little way, Yudhisthira looked back at the dog, and there, instead of the dog that had been turned away by Indra from the gates of heaven, appeared Lord Dharma, riding on a chariot; righteousness incarnate, Yudhisthira's Father, now looked at him with a bright and happy countenance.
Indra, with his charioteer, reveals himself to Yudhisthira
Yudhisthira sees that the dog has transformed itself into his father, DharmaRaj. The God of Dharma says to his son, “You have done well, my child”. You have upheld Dharma and passed your final test.”
Then, Dharma took Yudhisthira onto his chariot, and they passed together through the gates of heaven, praised and worshipped by Indra, the King of the Gods.
DharmaRaj and Yudhisthira enter heaven together on a Divine chariot
Yudhisthira was the son of Dharma. He, too, was often called DharmaRaj, as he always sought to do what was right. He was known for his adherence to Dharma, no matter what the cost, and he was the first human to walk into heaven.
So, what does this have to do with shit?
Shit happens. We cannot avoid it. And, we cannot and must not abandon the ‘lower’ realms of the world. We must not abandon the earth and the things that live upon it. We must not abandon the trees and the rivers. We must not abandon the meadows and the high mountains. We must not abandon the animals. We must not abandon the dog. We must not abandon people. We must not abandon the poor, the sick, the needy, the mad, the sensual, the intellectual, the beautiful, or the ugly. We must not abandon anything whatsoever.
We must recognize that wherever we go, whoever we are as human beings, there is shit in the world and we will step in it, and we must recognize that we have, always and already, stepped in it and are tracking it around. We all must wash our feet and have the humility to bear with the dirty feet of others; and even wash their feet. In this way, like Yudhisthira, we hold fast to a great Truth, and our love and care for a dog will honor God and Dharma.
To appreciate this beautiful tale and the Truth it conveys, makes no difference whether one believes or does not believe in Jesus or what is said to be the Truth in the various churches of exoteric Christianity. let me share that story from the Bible:
Jesus washes the feet of his disciples
Jesus tells a parable in the New Testament (Matt 31-46). :
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
For I was hungry, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, ‘When did we see you hungry, and fed thee? Or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When did we see you a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when did we see you sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And ye shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.
Jesus washing the feet of Judas at the Last Supper
“So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent thee greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”
We must love God (Reality), and wash our feet and the feet of others; for in Reality . . . Shit Happens
For a related post on Benaras:
Manikarnika Ghat in Benaras
Benaras- the ‘Ras,’ ‘taste or essence,’ of 'Bena,’ ‘all things mixed together.’