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rob and rylans passage to india s01e03
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00:10Some say the best way to understand life is to take it in your hands and live it.
00:19That's exactly what we did on our grand tour of Italy and it changed our lives. I gave Rylan a
00:27crash course in art appreciation. And I showed Rob how to let what's left of his
00:33air down. Our cultural odyssey taught us new things about ourselves and each other.
00:39I have been looking at a painting for half an hour. The experiment is working.
00:45Now we want to take it to the next level. You're stunning. We're getting out of the
00:50galleries and right to the heart of the art. Sort of surreal don't you think? Crazy.
00:55And culture of one of the oldest civilizations on the planet. Just walk. Just walk. We're in India.
01:02We have no taboo. You know our gods make love. You know he can't get me. Oh that's a big
01:09one isn't it?
01:09We're following in the footsteps of E.M. Forster who a century ago changed the way
01:15the world saw this country in his dazzling novel A Passage to India.
01:20That's here. That's exactly. That's literally here.
01:27You have a slightly psychiatric problem. Psychiatric problem.
01:32Yeah. We're on our own passage to India.
01:35Oh look Rob. Come on. Come on.
01:37Through India.
01:39You know I think I've got diarrhea.
01:41And out the other side. To see if the art and culture of this amazing country.
01:47Look at the detail.
01:48Can show us how to live our best lives.
01:51This is incredible.
01:53Why am I doing? Do you know I do anything stupid that what?
01:58That is the most beautiful art that I've ever seen.
02:02What a huge clock.
02:03I feel like as the trip's going on. It's getting better and better.
02:07I don't know what's coming next.
02:11Don't read it. Do it.
02:20Be quiet.
02:21Beb all you want.
02:24We're on the final leg of our Indian adventure.
02:28Oh, Tuk Tuk Rabashin.
02:30Oh, what is this driver doing?
02:35We've left the land of the kings and we're on our way to Varanasi,
02:39where Hindus head to cleanse their souls before they die.
02:44We've just reached the village of Kajuraho.
02:52We're trying to see what the art and culture of this amazing land can teach us
02:56about life, love and death.
02:58Excuse me, madam.
03:00Thank you. Namaskar.
03:03And I don't just mean on the roads.
03:05Roundabout ahead. Roundabout ahead.
03:06Where are you going? To the left.
03:07Stay here with me a minute.
03:09And then we're actually going to cross, but we're just going to have to wait a minute, Rob.
03:12Yeah, we've got round the roundabout.
03:14Being in India has gifted me the sense of being alive more.
03:18And that's been beautiful.
03:21Let's go.
03:21Let's take your arm out.
03:22I can't imagine anything I wouldn't do if I felt that it would help me find what life's purpose is.
03:29Coming around.
03:30Being in India, I'm starting to realise that all the Western technology I own,
03:35maybe I could live without it.
03:37I'd hope to think in a place like this where everything's so spiritual,
03:41maybe it is the start of a different way of thinking.
03:45We've been following in the footsteps stroke bike tracks of the author of A Passage to India,
03:51my literary hero, E.M. Forster.
03:54So we had to stop in Kajiraho because something here blew his mind.
04:00I'm taking you to a sex temple.
04:01Oh, really?
04:02Yeah.
04:03A sex pole.
04:07Forster took his inspiration from the sculptures that cover these magnificent temples.
04:13There's loads.
04:14I know.
04:14It's not just one.
04:15It's a whole complex.
04:17These temples date back to 950 A.D., when the area was ruled by the Chandela Kings,
04:23a Hindu clan known for their love of art, architecture and sex.
04:31Today, they may sit in manicured gardens, but after the fall of the Chandela dynasty,
04:37these temples were abandoned and lay hidden in the overgrown jungle,
04:41only to be discovered by someone uptight in English.
04:44In this case, a Victorian explorer who called them indecent and offensive.
04:49But this didn't stop the whole area being cleaned up and becoming a major tourist attraction.
04:55There's lots of carvings about sex in these temples.
04:59Oh, is it a bit dirty?
05:00Yeah, there'll be quite a few arousing chiselings, I would have thought.
05:03Oh, I love an arousing chisel.
05:05In Hinduism, there are four goals that teach you the right way to live.
05:09Before you reach the final step of liberation, there are the other stages.
05:14Righteousness, prosperity and stage three, karma, the pursuit of pleasure.
05:20Now, you know you've got very big legs.
05:22Yeah.
05:22Well, I feel like you could at least be gentlemanly and help me out.
05:25Come on.
05:29We've called in an art historian as an expert to help us get to grips with it all.
05:36My name is Alka Pandey.
05:38Alka Pandey.
05:39Yes.
05:40What a beautiful name for a beautiful woman.
05:42Really beautiful.
05:43As you grow older, you love compliments.
05:46And getting it from a handsome young man and a mature man, what would be better?
05:52I love you already.
05:54I love you so much.
05:55Yes.
05:55This is beautiful.
05:57Yes.
05:57So, I call them the first art installations.
06:01How wonderful.
06:02So, this is all dedicated to the god of love, Kamadeva.
06:06Karma would mean love itself, which includes lust.
06:11He looks the image of Kamadeva himself.
06:14He looks the image of lust.
06:15Yes.
06:15I've been told to you.
06:16Of love and lust.
06:17Love and lust.
06:17Love, lust, longing, desire.
06:20That's me.
06:21Yeah.
06:21There I am.
06:22With that lovely transparency.
06:26These are people indulging in the joy of sexual activity.
06:33And without any sense of shame.
06:35I love it.
06:36No, we have no shame.
06:37Isn't that wonderful?
06:38Good.
06:38We have no taboo.
06:39You know, our gods make love.
06:42Mmm.
06:42We enjoy that.
06:44Of course he came here in 1912.
06:46I mean, look.
06:46He's had kids.
06:46Have a look at this.
06:48He said it was wonderful, but nightmarish.
06:50It was just so prude back then.
06:52Between beginning and finishing a passage of India,
06:54he wrote a book, Morris, which was never published in his lifetime
06:58about a gay relationship.
07:00And so he was so full of shame.
07:02It's the stuff, right?
07:03That's informed my life to an extent yours as well.
07:06Yeah.
07:06Yeah.
07:07And for him to come here and see all of this sex just out there,
07:11Yeah.
07:11Must have been nightmarish.
07:13Well, it's a culture shock, isn't it?
07:14Definitely.
07:15Precisely.
07:16That's time of Edwardian England when he enforced to came here.
07:19When they looked at this with all of their buttoned up shame around sex.
07:22He must have been shocked out of his trousers, if you please.
07:27Imagine seeing naked bodies.
07:29Right.
07:30Where they were clothed in layers of petticoat and buttoned up in India, sweating away.
07:36It is tight.
07:36And here you see women standing, showing their bodies, showing their breasts.
07:41I mean, I can see her vagina.
07:43Do you notice you're whispering?
07:44For us, whether it's the vagina, whether it's the breast, whether it's the phallus, we talk about it quite openly.
07:52But we're not very demonstrative in public, unlike the West where people are touching each other, kissing each other.
07:59You won't see that.
08:00We call it the Western way.
08:03But don't forget, the erotic and the spiritual go hand in hand.
08:07Well, a lot of people say sex can be very spiritual.
08:12When you are climaxing, that, it says, is unity with Godhead.
08:16You have to go through these processes to reach the ultimate liberation.
08:20So basically, I have to have sex.
08:21Every day.
08:22Oh, you ain't got to tell me twice.
08:23Come on, let's go.
08:25Every day?
08:26Twice a day, maybe, if you're lucky.
08:28What about once a year?
08:29Oh, my God, you'll turn into an ascetic.
08:36The fact that these depictions are thousand years old and they're showing people getting
08:42noshed off, it's like, well, then I'm doing the right thing, clearly.
08:46And actually, as I've gotten older, I've got less worried about feeling the need to hide talking about sex.
08:53I think sex can be casual.
08:55I think sex can be loving.
08:56I think sex can be an activity to do on a Friday night, if you would.
09:02Here, sex and the body are celebrated on the walls.
09:07And not just for reproduction, either.
09:09And not just for pleasure and the idea that sex can also elevate you to the divine.
09:15And it's so beautiful to know that that existed a thousand years ago, way before we were taught
09:23that sexual pleasure was something we should be frightened of.
09:26Think about being gay.
09:28It was something we were taught to be dangerous, dirty, furtive and wrong.
09:33Wrong.
09:35What a load of bollocks.
09:36I guess it teaches me that I can have more fun, I can be more open, that I can delight
09:41in sex.
09:42And most importantly, it validates that sense that all shame is bullshit.
09:52The importance of all this karma business in the Hindu philosophy of life led to one of the most
09:58significant books in Indian literature, and it's one even I've heard of.
10:02Has any of you been interested in telling me to read books?
10:05Well, I haven't actually read it, but I've seen some of the pictures.
10:09Can I have a look at the conversation?
10:11Yes, sure, sir.
10:11Thank you so much.
10:12It's on the top shelf.
10:13Thank you, of course it is.
10:15Ancient Sanskrit text, believed to have been written almost 2,000 years ago.
10:20It made its way to Britain in 1883, after it had been discovered and translated by Richard Burton.
10:26No, not that one.
10:28This one was an explorer.
10:31Burton distributed it secretly because of prudish Victorian attitudes,
10:35and strict obscenity laws, and it became the sex bible for the educated elite,
10:40particularly when later editions were graphically illustrated.
10:44Oh, perfect, 69.
10:46The last time somebody enjoyed 69 was in 1969.
10:50Oh, no, it weren't.
10:52It was about two days before I came here.
10:53But in fact, the British did the book a disservice,
10:56because everyone concentrated on the sex and ignored the other 90%,
11:00which was actually a guide to living well.
11:04I'm not sure Rylan's found those chapters.
11:07If she stands four-footed with both palms laid flat on the carpet and you mount her like a bull,
11:11it's known as the milch cow.
11:13It's also fun to mimic animals like dogs, deer and goats,
11:17copying their movements and their cries.
11:19Arch your backs like two voluptuous cats.
11:22Yes, I couldn't imagine that.
11:23Grind like a wild boar, mount her proudly, like a stallion.
11:28These games teach new tricks, even to experts.
11:32Would you consider yourself to be an expert?
11:34I wouldn't say I'm an expert, but I'd say I'm good at it.
11:38That is sexist poetry.
11:40It's very arty.
11:41Exactly, beautiful drawing.
11:42They've literally wrote the book, worn the T-shirt and carved it in a temple.
11:47Mm.
11:47There's nothing to feel shame about here.
11:49Yes, we might not see people being touchy-feely on the streets,
11:51but behind closed doors they're freaky in the sheets.
11:56I guess me and Rob can be trusted to master the love part of our life goals in our own
12:01time.
12:02We're heading to the final destination of our cultural odyssey.
12:07And appropriately, it's also the final destination for millions of Hindus seeking the perfect end to their life.
12:16Here on the banks of the Holy Ganges is a sacred city of Varanasi.
12:23Millions of people come here to wash away their sins.
12:26For Hindus, it can help them achieve their ultimate goal of life, moksha, the liberation from reincarnation.
12:34After a life lived so well, you don't have to start again.
12:37Namaste.
12:39Namaste.
12:43People come here to purify their sins and also they believe that if you're cremated here and your ashes are
12:48spread into the water,
12:50you'll achieve enlightenment, the end of the cycle of reincarnation.
12:55So everyone can see that?
12:56Oh, yeah, they burn them in the open.
12:58That's a lot.
12:59It is a lot.
13:00You're not worried to see that love, are you?
13:02I don't know if I'm worried until I see it.
13:04Do you know what I mean?
13:05Yeah.
13:06I'm more worried about, like, if we're near it.
13:09Yeah.
13:09Like, bits.
13:12What do you mean bits?
13:13Well, I don't want to inhale Sandra.
13:16Yeah, I suppose not.
13:17She wants to go in the Ganges, not down my throat.
13:19Yeah, I suppose so.
13:25Ian Forster came here, you know, love.
13:28Can you see?
13:29Look.
13:31That's that, Rob.
13:32It's exactly the same.
13:34Forster was really confused by it.
13:36It was such a kind of cacophony of stuff.
13:38It was like, I genuinely sort of arrived, and he couldn't quite believe it.
13:41I was like, what's going on, as well?
13:43I mean, he obviously wrote it much more poetically than that.
13:46What?
13:48Oh, yeah.
13:50That's somebody's end, my dad.
13:57One of the things that I often read is they say, ah, so-and-so died magnificently.
14:02I'd love to be the type of person who could confront death with that same cigarette flourish.
14:09You know?
14:11Fuck it.
14:12I hope I learned something here in the heart of so much confidence in reincarnation that helps me deal with
14:21my fear of death.
14:23I think in the West, you start talking about death, people get uncomfortable.
14:27It's like, I'm not talking about that.
14:29I'm like that.
14:31You ask me, when do you think you're going to die?
14:33I'm not going to say 90, in case someone's listening and they go, right, 40, bang.
14:39But I think it's going to be really eye-opening, actually.
14:43Maybe there is beauty in death.
14:49When E.M. Forster was here, he said the only way Varanasi could ever be understood was to go among
14:55it.
14:57It's just so surreal seeing these people pray, bathe, offer offerings to the Ganges,
15:08and then there's just tourist boats just literally meters away from them while they're praying.
15:14There is a spiritual energy here.
15:16Oh, you can feel it.
15:17Right.
15:18It's pretty special, isn't it?
15:19While bathing in the Ganges is more a spiritual cleansing than a physical one,
15:24physical purity is not overlooked.
15:28Hiya.
15:28How are you?
15:29You got treated.
15:31You clean ears?
15:32Oh.
15:33Oh, Rob, I think you should do it.
15:35Why am I doing it?
15:35Do you know what?
15:36I do anything stupid that...
15:37What?
15:38Do you think E.M. Forster did this?
15:40I reckon.
15:42I bet he had ears clean as a whistle.
15:43This is a traditional way of cleaning the ears.
15:46You will feel the vibration of ear also.
15:49Oh, yeah, you've got a nice bit of wax there.
15:51Oh, yeah.
15:52This is lovely.
15:53Why are you so into this?
15:55I'll get off on it.
15:55I'll watch ear cleaning videos online.
15:59Oh, whoa, look at that.
16:02What will you do with this now?
16:05Oh, just on the floor.
16:07Oh, that was fun.
16:08Come on, Rob.
16:08But you seem to be terribly loud all of a sudden.
16:10There you go.
16:17Varanasi might be a city that's focused on the art of death,
16:19but here, in order to die well, you have to learn to live well.
16:25Oh, I might do it.
16:27All good things come to those who wait, though.
16:30Now, I will admit, neither of us is particularly sporty, but this isn't sport, it's culture.
16:40I found a group of semi-naked men who come together every morning to train their bodies and their souls.
16:48Oh, that was a slap.
16:49Oh, my God.
16:50Oh, I love it.
16:51Oh, my God, it broke his neck.
16:53Come on!
16:54Varanasi's original mud wrestling fight club is thought to have been founded by a famous 16th century poet, Goswami Tulsidas.
17:02There are thousands of gods in Hinduism, but Tulsidas was a big fan of Hanuman, the monkey-like god of
17:09strength.
17:10Tulsidas believe wrestling developed physical strength, mental discipline and spiritual growth,
17:16necessary for a fulfilling life.
17:19Come on.
17:20Come on.
17:20Oh, Gory.
17:25This gym, or akara, has been run by members of Pushka's family since it began, over 500 years ago.
17:32So, for me, in the morning, I like to go and do some exercise for my mind and for my
17:38body.
17:38Is it a similar thing, the wrestling?
17:40Yeah.
17:41We have Lord Hanuman's statue there, which we worship before starting wrestling.
17:47In one of his texts, he says,
17:49Give me strength, power, wisdom, so that I can overcome all my sorrows, all my problems that are happening.
17:56Through physicality.
17:57Through physicality, through workouts.
17:59Yeah.
18:00You should join akara, though.
18:01You mean have a go?
18:02Yeah.
18:02I mean, I've never wrestled a man in a proper setting.
18:06Yeah, in a proper setting.
18:08You should try, because if you don't try, you'll never know.
18:10Exactly.
18:11Like, how it feels to wrestle in front of the god of Balbuddi and Vidya.
18:20You've got shorts, Rob.
18:21I've only got my lucky pants.
18:23I always wear red pants.
18:25I don't think you can wrestle in that.
18:27It's a little bit like...
18:28Why don't you see why not?
18:29I'm a bit worried about them being ripped.
18:30I think it might be...
18:31I think we should get you some shorts, because I don't need to see that.
18:34Can you put your willy away?
18:44Let's go.
18:45Our wrestlers are ready.
18:46Okay.
18:46Yeah.
18:47We're ready.
18:47We're ready.
18:48Give it a little bit.
18:50That's good for the skin, also for the grip.
18:52Oh, yeah.
18:52Great.
18:53Oh, good lord.
18:53Oh, wow.
18:54One, two, one, two.
18:58Continue.
18:58Yeah.
18:59Wow.
19:00This is what I'm wearing before.
19:01Try pinning him.
19:02Yeah.
19:03Good.
19:04Very good.
19:05Hello.
19:05Fine, fine.
19:07I think, Brandon, I think you ought to go.
19:09No, no, no.
19:10It's wonderful.
19:11Yeah.
19:12There.
19:12Yeah.
19:13Very nice.
19:14Yeah.
19:16Nice.
19:16This is so fun.
19:19Listen, I'm not going to lie.
19:20There is not a lot of places you can get me rolling around in mud.
19:24But you've played a blinder by having that bloke.
19:27Nice.
19:28You're learning more from us.
19:30Hmm.
19:31You're taking it from us.
19:33Continue.
19:34He's saying you have a better speed.
19:36Oh.
19:37Yeah.
19:37Power.
19:37I'm not always quick.
19:39Power.
19:39Power.
19:40Yeah.
19:40Other things.
19:41Okay, thank you.
19:41Slow.
19:42Slow.
19:42Slow.
19:43I understand what the wrestling is, and how it's an art, and how it's a form of worship.
19:47But on a personal level, if I get to wrestle with that man every Sunday morning, I'm coming back.
20:00Thank you so much.
20:01I think we should try one move, though.
20:03No.
20:03We'll kill each other.
20:04Let's just enjoy it.
20:05You know what?
20:05Let's wrestle.
20:06You.
20:06Go and do me.
20:08What are you doing?
20:09That was a bit like a grudge match between you two.
20:11Find the eight grips on each other.
20:29There was definitely a little bit of underlying sexual tension, I would say, between us.
20:35Maybe once I did.
20:41If I was going to settle on a god, Lord Hanuman might be my guy.
20:47As well as running a gym, Pushka is the spiritual head of a temple dedicated to Lord Hanuman.
20:55Inside, Pushka says there's an insight into how Hindu culture considers life and death.
21:01This is our temple, Sankat Mochan temple.
21:03Amazing.
21:04I think my socks are on, actually.
21:06Yeah.
21:06I love the fact that there's a tree inside.
21:09Of Lord Hanuman.
21:17What is he doing?
21:18Yeah.
21:19So he's just worshipping his god.
21:22Wow.
21:22Different people have different ways of calling their gods.
21:26And then?
21:28The paintings in the temple depict the various incarnations and adventures of the gods.
21:34So these paintings are all painted somewhere around 1850s, and it has never been repainted.
21:47It's from a church in Europe.
21:48Somebody might have restored it.
21:50We have a very different idea about restoring old things.
21:54It's like you disturb the originality of it.
21:57And I feel that we are very small people who have a lifetime of 100 years.
22:03And we don't want to spoil something that has been going on from 14 generations.
22:07To clean it or to paint over it would somehow be rude in some way.
22:13It's a way of showing respect to the artist that he has done a great job.
22:18And we should never edit it or do any modifications.
22:21It's quite something, isn't it?
22:22There's something about it being very dark.
22:24It almost feels a little bit more holy.
22:26Do you think?
22:27Yeah.
22:28Those paintings are just fading away.
22:31They're dying in a city that's devoted to death.
22:34And I think that's rather wonderful.
22:36People come and they say, actually, the initial hand of this artist might have been here,
22:40but he's not going to be here forever, and neither will you be.
22:45What this invites us to do is to remember, actually, we're all going to fade.
22:49We're all going to disappear.
22:50We're all going to die.
22:51So delight in the present, and there's something poetic about that.
22:57We're all going to die.
23:04Hanuman's a god of strength.
23:06Yeah.
23:07Do you come here and get strength as well?
23:09It's more about having that motivation to understand that everything in your life
23:16should work in a balance.
23:18And in the Western world, a lot of people are not really doing that.
23:22They are just lost in that hustle of making money.
23:25Everyone is just doing that.
23:27So balance?
23:28Yeah.
23:29That balance you'll only get in India.
23:39For many Hindus, the way to achieve balance is through music, as it's both an entertainment
23:45and a spiritual pursuit.
23:47Forster called it complicated yet passionate, like Western music reflected in trembling water.
23:54And it's this music that brought the Beatles to India, inspired George Harrison to study
24:00with Varanasi local Ravi Shankar, and turned him Hindu, which led to his ashes being scattered
24:07into the Ganges.
24:10Rob's obsessed with classical music, and that's why we're heading to a music school
24:14where one of Varanasi's traditional quartets is rehearsing.
24:19I'm really excited about this.
24:21My great passion, although I'm rubbish at it, is running an orchestra and classical music and conducting.
24:26So to learn about a totally different tradition of classical music, and where it comes from,
24:31and how it's based, and how it's structured, is like everything.
24:34And Ryan, if you were at home and you waft on something in Yume, what would you put on?
24:38Probably Pussycat Dolls, Dry Ho, or Chuckalaka Baby, Punjabi MC.
24:46Who's Punjabi MC?
24:47Maybe other bogey...
24:58Hi.
25:00Hi.
25:00Hey.
25:01Hello.
25:02This is amazing.
25:02Can we sit down?
25:03Please sit there.
25:06Is it okay for you?
25:08Yes, this is lovely.
25:09I'd love to hear something, if possible.
25:11So, please.
25:13Let's start.
25:34Indian classical music is arranged around an ancient system of rags,
25:39melodic frameworks of notes with unique moods and energies.
25:44This is unlike Western music, with a beginning, middle and an end.
25:51A bit like how Indians think about life and death, rags are played in cycles and are constantly reborn.
26:01I know that was like one song, but it felt like a story.
26:05Mmm.
26:06It felt like the story began and it was all like this, and then all of a sudden there was
26:09a bit of chaos,
26:10and then it came back again, and then you started getting higher and higher and higher and higher.
26:17Ahhhh.
26:32Performances are improvised and can go on for hours.
26:36I can ask you about the spiritual connection.
26:38There's a component that's not just about the music, there's some other dynamic that comes from here, right?
26:44Every composition dedicated to God and Goddess. So it's a prayer.
26:49Whenever I practice, first I have to connect with my God, like we call our musical God Saraswati.
26:56First we feel like, hmmm, yeh naiwaan.
27:05We have to eliminate every outside things, all the thinking.
27:10So it's not just singing, you're communing with the Divine.
27:13Yeah, Divine.
27:29I know that there are sounds and different influences to be sure I've heard in Western classical music,
27:35but there's a whole universe of sound here, of ideas, of shapes, of colours, of textures, of music,
27:44that I've just never heard before.
27:46And you totally get why people like the Beatles come to this part of the world, sit down and go,
27:53fucking hell.
27:54Like, let's take it and learn.
27:58And something that he explained was that for him, music is divine.
28:03So this is not inspired by God, it comes from God.
28:12Just like no other musical encounter I've ever had, you come away feeling energised,
28:17in ways that you can't possibly express.
28:22Oh, it's so good!
28:25That's...
28:26Oh my goodness, that is so good!
28:28It's beautiful.
28:30Your vocals, your vocals are incredible!
28:32The music is just so incredible, and just to sit in that room as well,
28:36you sort of feel the love of it.
28:38And it's storytelling via music as well.
28:41It's not just a three-minute track.
28:43And it seems like there's like four or five different songs in one.
28:47It's a mash-up.
28:48It's like Girls Alive Biology.
28:49Shouldn't work, but it does.
28:57The whole of India is actually a bit of a mash-up.
29:00Take religion.
29:01Even in Varanasi, you'll find a mix of Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists,
29:06Sikhs, Jains, Christians, and loads more.
29:11E.M. Forster actually found it a bit overwhelming.
29:14In search for tranquillity, he escaped five miles up the road to the village of Sanath,
29:20where a simple life had taken hold, because this is the birthplace of Buddhism.
29:27Some lovely bits here.
29:29Oddly, for a philosophy where giving things up is essential,
29:32it has an awful lot of gift shops.
29:34Oh, I love all this, Rob.
29:35Jones, what are the sort of images of the Buddha?
29:38Do you think it's a bit tacky?
29:40No, I quite like it.
29:42Yeah.
29:42I've got one of these in my garden.
29:44What have you got in your garden?
29:45I've got that, but it's about that big.
29:47You've got the head of the Buddha in your garden.
29:49Yeah, I built a meditation garden.
29:53Do you meditate?
29:54No, I've not used it.
29:56So what are you going for?
29:57I just like the fountain.
29:59Two and a half thousand years ago, a young prince called Siddhartha Gautama
30:03turned away from a life pursuing pleasure and invented a brand new way of living.
30:09Later known as the Buddha, he would become one of the most recognisable icons of devotional art.
30:19His first sermon was actually only to five disciples.
30:23Hello.
30:25Hey, Zappi.
30:26But it happened right here.
30:28Oh, gosh, it's beautiful.
30:30This is nice, isn't it?
30:31To mark that momentous event, in the fifth century, they built this, the Dharmek Stupa.
30:38Stupa is Sanskrit for a heap.
30:40I don't think you'd be that big. That's really quite impressive.
30:43That's really big.
30:44The stupa is a 43-metre-tall, solid brick and sandstone structure,
30:49believed to represent Buddha or his upturned begging bowl.
30:55As one of the sites where it's believed his ashes may be buried, it's now a place of pilgrimage.
31:03They're doing a foster game here. These are his photos.
31:08Oh, wow, look. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
31:10Exactly the same.
31:11It's like there.
31:12Right there, look, there's the indentation.
31:14Yeah.
31:15Look at the quality of the carving.
31:16Look, it's just so intricate. The flowers and everything. It's just so pretty.
31:33So the other thing is we're supposed to walk around it clockwise. That's a tradition.
31:36It's about thinking and reflecting on living a righteous life.
31:41Well, let's go reflect.
31:43Not everyone can find enlightenment in a 90-odd-metre stroll.
31:47But if you're devoted enough and take Buddhism seriously, there's a different,
31:52more extreme option. It just takes longer.
31:57Nyingmappa is a monastery where families send their sons to train as Buddhist monks.
32:03For the first step, they're removed from the world for eight years.
32:07And they start as young as eight.
32:10Look at this.
32:13Hi. Nice to see you.
32:18Where are we going?
32:20Now we do prayer and meditation.
32:23It's for actually cleaning and it's bad energies.
32:26Oh, bad energy.
32:27Yes.
32:28How long do we have?
32:30It may take 20 to 25 minutes.
32:32I might need a couple of hours.
32:35That idea that you're so passionate about the idea of enlightenment,
32:40that you'd sacrifice the connection with your own child for eight years.
32:45That's such devotion.
33:00There's an art in this, from the music to the instruments that are being played,
33:06to the sound and the vibration of the chanting,
33:09to the colours that people are wearing in the room.
33:11It's an entire cacophony of art.
33:15It's spiritual dance.
33:20That's why whoever you are, you're immediately trying to find some semblance of inner peace.
33:44What would a normal day be for these children?
33:47In the morning, they do prayer, meditation.
33:50Daytime, they have a class.
33:51So like school?
33:52Yeah.
33:53As I understand it, Buddhism is not a religion.
33:55It's a philosophy, maybe.
33:57Yeah.
33:57It is like science, because if you know everything, then you don't do the wrong thing,
34:03because you understand everything, right?
34:06To help them reach enlightenment, the monks chant mantras that contain the teachings of Buddha.
34:11Do you have a mantra?
34:13Live, love, love.
34:15Prosecco made me do it.
34:19Even he got it.
34:23So if I was to want to become a Buddhist monk, what would I need to do?
34:27An exorcism? Maybe you need to leave what you are doing now.
34:32What would I need to give up? Are you allowed to have a partner?
34:37Actually...
34:38Like a wife, a husband?
34:40Not in the monks. They can't do that.
34:43So is it celibacy?
34:44Celibacy, yeah. Yeah.
34:47I'd probably be prepared to sacrifice a few things to find enlightenment,
34:51but I'm worried the main one...
34:57Do you know what I mean?
34:59I don't think I can give that up.
35:02Mind you, the time we've been out here, I'm basically a Buddhist.
35:09Of course, the other thing that Buddhists would make Rylan give up is his ego.
35:14What a vast ego. You want an ego...
35:17Do you want a mirror?
35:18But why do you have make-up and stuff? That's ego.
35:20That's not ego. That's essential.
35:22But that's egomania.
35:23It's about wanting to be loved and demanding and expecting certain things to be done at a certain
35:28time, and if it's not done, that interfering with your emotional chemistry...
35:32Is that me, do you think?
35:33I think you're a very exquisitely funny, benign diva, which is ego with jazz hands.
35:39I think you're talking about yourself.
35:41I don't deny it.
35:43I definitely have a huge ego.
35:46Yeah.
35:48The whole point is if they took all that away tomorrow, or your makeup and hair and...
35:55God forbid the tan...
35:57You'd, um...
35:58Perish?
35:59No, but it'd interfere with your sense of happiness.
36:02You would be really troubled, and that's all about ego.
36:06How you're perceived in the world matters to you in a very deep way.
36:09I mean, I feel the same.
36:11Yours is bigger than mine, though.
36:13What are we talking about?
36:14Ego.
36:16Ego.
36:18Clearly, Rob and I can't be trusted to find the answers on our own without him annoying me.
36:24We need help, and Varanasi is full of people offering it.
36:30Even Forster met a fakir here, a holy man who tried to sort him out with a bed of nails.
36:36Forster refused.
36:39Luckily, I'm not travelling with Forster.
36:41I've got Rob, who found us a Hindu guru called Shailesh.
37:13Hi.
37:15Honesty.
37:16Honesty.
37:16Purity of thought.
37:18Control over your senses.
37:21Courage.
37:22Knowledge.
37:23Truthfulness.
37:24Defo.
37:25And last but not least is control over your anger.
37:31Oh, no, look.
37:32I'm out.
37:33Deborah Meadon.
37:34I'm out.
37:35If anyone has all these ten qualities, they can attain salvation.
37:38But if any of them is missing, then the substitute is Varanasi.
37:43The beauty of Varanasi is that for those who haven't successfully managed to achieve the
37:48ten goals of life, the holy city is a bit of a shortcut to a successful death.
37:54Because bathing in the Ganges helps remove your sins, and dying here guarantees you salvation.
38:04It's very peaceful here.
38:06Yeah.
38:07It is.
38:09Every Hindu have the wish, if they cannot die here, at least they get cremated on this spot.
38:15Can anybody come?
38:17Anyone can go to the cremation place any time of the day.
38:23Wow.
38:23We don't have the concept of funeral directors.
38:26Yeah, yeah, yeah.
38:27Everything is done by the family members.
38:29Oh, wow.
38:30I didn't know that.
38:31It takes about two to three hours, complete cremation.
38:35Nothing remains except very, very tiny bones and ashes.
38:40Where do the ashes go?
38:42All the ashes go to the river.
38:44So within five minutes, it will be out of the city.
38:47Look at him.
38:48Who is he?
38:49He's a kind of monk who is on the way to become a big monk.
38:55And why is his body covered in this?
38:57It's all ashes of the dead bodies, you know?
38:59They take the ashes from there, put it on their body, to show the world that one day we are
39:06all going to be the ashes.
39:08Death is like a celebration in Varanasi.
39:11Yeah.
39:12It's like a party.
39:13Definitely it's like a party.
39:14Sometimes when people carry their dead body, you have music, they're dancing.
39:20My cousin Karen at my uncle Bob's funeral put on a black bag and did Tina Turner.
39:25Yeah, exactly.
39:26Ultimate aim everywhere, if you will go to the person who is talking about Hinduism,
39:31the one thing he will tell you, no fear of death.
39:36I don't like the thought of my mum not being around.
39:42Like, it's something I don't like talking about.
39:45I'd rather block it out.
39:46I've nearly lost my mum a few times before.
39:50And, yeah, I can't.
39:56I'm fearful of my mother's death to the point that I can't even imagine the magnitude of that
40:02and how it will affect me.
40:06Do you believe in an afterlife?
40:08It's something I really struggle with.
40:10You know, as a person of Jewish faith, um, there's no concluded view about that.
40:16But I've also been present around dead bodies and you feel a sense of lifelessness
40:24which helps you come to this really solidly concluded view that there was something inside
40:31it in the first place, a soul.
40:34It's the ultimate unanswered question.
40:36When life is so full of stuff, negative, suffering, all, all of it,
40:42it's the absolute crushing terror of finality, of oblivion.
40:48That's the stuff that our human minds can't possibly grapple with, I think.
40:53How could we achieve that spiritual enlightenment?
40:57The first thing what you have to do, you have to make a harmony
41:01between the mind, heart and soul.
41:03Okay.
41:04And for that, we have an ancient tradition that is called yoga.
41:08Yoga?
41:09Yoga.
41:09I've never been yoga.
41:10Oh, you would never?
41:11No.
41:12I'm going to go yoga.
41:13True.
41:14Please.
41:14What about him?
41:17And for you, to achieve the spiritual enlightenment, walk barefoot, without shoes.
41:23You will find millions of people are walking in the street barefoot.
41:27Because the natural vibration of the city will penetrate inside yourself,
41:32and your balance between the heart and mind and the soul will come automatically.
41:38Well, what about if I did the yoga and...
41:40No, no, no, I'm going yoga, babe.
41:42Walk somewhere barefoot.
41:43That can just but remove your negativity and give the positive energy more.
41:52Get rid of your neck.
41:54Shaelish is so celebratory of death.
41:57It's almost a release from this bad world to go to a better place.
42:02So, yeah, I mean, it's one way of looking at death, to not fear it, to actually embrace it.
42:09I'm not ready yet.
42:30All right.
42:33All of the religious figures in Christianity and Judaism are depicted either in sandals or in bare feet.
42:41So, there's got to be something in it, right?
42:46There's a pile of rubbish there. There's a cow down there.
42:49I mean, there's human feces more or less everywhere.
42:52I mean, Rhino's basically spending an afternoon doing fucking yoga.
42:56And meanwhile, I have to sort of avoid getting cholera or necrotizing fasciitis in order to find some vibration or
43:02humility.
43:03It's absolutely typical.
43:04My name is Ashwani.
43:06Nice to meet you.
43:06Nice to meet you.
43:07Where are we going?
43:08We are going inside.
43:09Let's do it.
43:09Let's do it.
43:11Rob might think he's got it hard, but I've got to lose my yoga virginity.
43:15And this is Hatha yoga.
43:18So old, it was practiced by the Hindu gods.
43:22This is the yoga that apparently gets the yogis levitating.
43:26The art is learning to master the slow movements that will transform not just your body, but your mind.
43:32You can take your left heel.
43:34My left foot?
43:35Heel.
43:36Heel.
43:36Left heel.
43:37And you place it at the perineum.
43:39Oh, the gooch.
43:41Perineum means that spot which is in between the anal outlet and genital organ.
43:45We say gooch.
43:46Put it in the gooch.
43:49Only in Baranasi.
43:58As it is an art form, as any other art forms,
44:01you need a keenness of attention to do the simple basic movements.
44:06And it has to be done the perfect way.
44:10First, focus on the point directly in front of you.
44:15Bring the palms together.
44:16Sorry, it's my pants.
44:17My collar.
44:18That's okay, that's okay.
44:19You take your time.
44:22Slowly, slight tension in the hands.
44:26Exhale.
44:27Take the hands back.
44:28I genuinely feel like sometimes when I'm trying to relax, I actually shake.
44:33Like my hands physically tremble because my brain is still going.
44:39That's what goes into my head.
44:41I'm going to fall out.
44:42It's okay, it's okay.
44:44Part of me would love to switch the noise off.
44:46But maybe I'm frightened of silence.
44:51Forehead and the hands to the floor.
44:54Obviously, there's more to my task than just breathing and lying on a mat.
44:58I don't see why Rylan's the only one with a mentor.
45:02Hello.
45:03Namaste.
45:05You're Lucy, yes?
45:07Yeah, I am.
45:07Lucy used to be a high-flying city trader in London, but in 1999 she quit and moved to India.
45:15I've got no shoes on.
45:16I met a guru earlier who said it was a wise idea for Varanasi.
45:20I see you don't as well.
45:21Yeah, it's a great thing to do. I've done it for maybe like 20 years or so.
45:26I might jump over this wet patch.
45:33You're walking with a stick, are you okay?
45:34I had an incident with a motorbike and avoiding a cow as these things happen.
45:43Sometimes it's very messy.
45:44Cow accidents, yeah.
45:45Yeah, so I crushed my spine.
45:49So you were a trader?
45:51Yeah, I was 28 and at that time it was like 200,000 a year.
45:56And you gave it all up?
45:58Yeah.
45:59In the blink of an eye.
46:01From the outside, life seemed to be what everybody would dream of.
46:06But it was like having everything here in your hands, but feeling empty inside.
46:11None of these things were enough.
46:16Lucy, help me understand what I should be experiencing wearing no shoes.
46:21In this modern life, we don't take time to experience the here and now.
46:27So when we're walking without our shoes, it enables us to be present in the here and now.
46:33And then we can experience what you are.
46:37What I am?
46:38Yes.
46:39It's not about not having these things, but it's about not being attached to these things.
46:43Through meditation and yoga, everything in every moment seems perfect as it is.
46:49You do this every day?
46:50Yes.
46:52For how long?
46:52Four to five hours.
46:54Every single day?
46:55Yeah.
46:57It's just my life.
46:58It's how I find fulfillment.
47:02To be able to do yoga next to the Ganges is so special.
47:07It's just the noise sometimes I need to learn to ignore.
47:10Whether that's social media, whether it's friends, anything.
47:16I just sometimes need to be alone in my own self and maybe think nothing.
47:21Think absolutely nothing.
47:24One of the things is I'm weak.
47:26I need encounters with music and beautiful things.
47:29Do you think there's a way that I could find connection without any of that stuff?
47:33I have also loved all of these things.
47:36Yeah.
47:36But through this culture, I found the actual art of living because our life is a living art form.
47:43So you're happening or being in Varanasi is almost like a work of art.
47:49Yes.
47:51That's how I experience it.
47:54If somebody had told me about Lucy in London, I'd have probably dismissed her story and shrug my
48:00shoulders and go, oh my God, another Westerner going to India to find themselves.
48:04But I feel like she's found something here.
48:07I believe her.
48:08And I spent a career weed whacking my way through bullshit.
48:12And what Lucy did was remind me that so much of the stuff that I think is important really isn't.
48:19All of the commercial success, all of your stuff, ultimately, when you end up in the Ganges,
48:25you're not going to be burnt or buried with it.
48:32With fires burning 24-7, roughly 30,000 people are cremated in Varanasi every year.
48:43Every night, there's an arti ceremony.
48:46That's arti spelt with the double A.
48:49In this ceremony of light, the rhythmical waving of flaming lamps attracts the attention of the gods,
48:56meaning darkness can be dispelled, ego can be eradicated,
49:01and peace can be brought to the souls of your ancestors.
49:07It's very different from a finger buffet at the golf club,
49:10listening to a CD of Robbie Williams' Angels,
49:13or if they're a bit older, Frank Sinatra crooning my way.
49:23Oh, my goodness. Look at this, Rob.
49:26No, it's the last moment.
49:30It doesn't feel sad.
49:32No, it feels celebratory.
49:34Joyful.
49:35The end of a life and the beginning of something else.
49:43I don't know what happens when we die, but when I die, I'd like to be able to see my
49:48nan again,
49:48or if my mum's not here, see my mum again, and yeah.
49:52I'd like to think that there is some afterlife where you will meet up and go,
49:57oh, weren't it a laugh?
49:59Didn't you say you were going to bring your mum here?
50:01Oh, no, Linda wouldn't like it.
50:03Why?
50:03She's not a fan of the water.
50:05Oh.
50:08This feels like such a beautiful expression of why it's important to give someone you love,
50:14even though they're not aware of it, a happy ending.
50:17I know.
50:21One thing I've always known about my dad, he's always been totally proud of me,
50:24but we had absolutely nothing in common. And he has dementia, lewy body's dementia,
50:31and he's reached the stage now where he's in a home. And he knows me and remembers me and all
50:38the
50:38family, but there are days when it's a sort of jumble sale of disappearing into another place,
50:48where he's not necessarily present. And bearing in mind the gradual descent of the quality of his life,
50:57actually, there's a sense in which, when you love somebody and you watch their demise in that way,
51:04with such cruelty, yeah, I'm not afraid. Quite the opposite. I think it's time.
51:17God, it's so peaceful.
51:19Brilliant.
51:20The final journey of someone is a public spectacle, but in a really respectful way.
51:28Mm-hm.
51:30You know, some places, when they have festivals, they're quite sombre, and this is
51:33a place full of life and energy and colour. That's really strange that you've said a place
51:39of death is full of life. That's something to take away from here.
51:45That the final resting place of so many is full of so much life.
51:50Yeah.
51:51It really is.
52:01E.M. Forster's Indian Adventures lasted almost two years.
52:06His novel, A Passage to India, was controversial for its time.
52:11It radically changed the way Westerners saw Indian culture and presented a new perspective
52:17of what really matters in life. He died in 1970. In one of his last interviews,
52:23he said that it was his heart, not his head, that had taken him to India.
52:28And that was where his heart remained.
52:34My heart is coming home with me. But I also want to take something back of India.
52:41Welcome, sir. This is beautiful.
52:43Look at these. What are these?
52:45This is Murti.
52:46Murti.
52:47Murti.
52:47Murti.
52:47Do you carve it yourself?
52:48I do myself. Come inside.
52:50Can we have a look?
52:51Yes, please.
52:52Wow.
52:52Murti are not just souvenirs, and they're not just sculptures.
52:56They're seen as an embodiment of the divine, and are made in memory of not just gods,
53:01but also departed loved ones.
53:04Ganesh is a very special god. I make a big one.
53:08That is very big.
53:09It's the real sandstone.
53:11The Varanasi stone.
53:12The Varanasi stone.
53:13Could you make one of me?
53:14I do.
53:15What about that then?
53:17You give me a good price?
53:18Good price.
53:19Yeah.
53:21I do it.
53:22Where's your workshop?
53:23I have next buildings.
53:25I'll show you.
53:25Can we see?
53:26Yeah.
53:26After you?
53:27Sure.
53:27It's like a legacy thing.
53:28When people die at home, you have a little photo on your grave or something like that.
53:33Whereas here, they have them.
53:35And I just think it would be just a nice thing to have.
53:37And I'm going to have it as you go in my entrance hall.
53:40I've got a nice table.
53:41I'm just going to have it there.
53:43And it's like I'm guarding my own house.
53:46Look at this.
53:47You see the moment how the faces are here.
53:50How do I make like the live faces?
53:52Can I touch?
53:53Yes.
53:53You touch it in the sandstone.
53:54This work is about people remembering people who have passed.
53:58Well, why wait till then?
53:59Well, why would you want to worship yourself?
54:01You're telling me, right, a couple of up lighters, a little bit of LED backlighting.
54:06Might be lovely with me.
54:07Might be lovely too.
54:08See, he agrees.
54:09Sold.
54:10You're actually going to do it?
54:11Why not?
54:12Are you doing a good one?
54:15I know you will.
54:16And with that, our own passage to India reaches its final chapter.
54:21I really wanted to see if I could experience a culture that I really didn't know that much about.
54:30And I didn't know if I'd be able to handle it.
54:33Oh, my God.
54:34We are in the middle of the road, Robert.
54:37Oh, hello.
54:38I think I'm going to miss it.
54:40Don't be a prick.
54:41Don't be a prick.
54:42You're such a dickhead.
54:45I feel you've changed.
54:47Oh, look at that.
54:48You've definitely become more relaxed about the world around you.
54:51I have never, ever been more embarrassed.
54:55It's India.
54:57It's a land of excess.
54:58Yeah.
54:58Yes.
55:00There we are.
55:00Just cast off things that maybe would matter a lot more in Essex.
55:06I mean, you can't see my hands, but I've definitely found myself.
55:10What about you?
55:11You know, what I take from the art and the people here and the devotion is that human life is
55:19exactly this.
55:20It's about what you make of it.
55:22And that when you find yourself in too much dark, remember that there's always hope.
55:26There's always a little bit of light.
55:28Precisely.
55:29You know, I think I've got diarrhea.
55:31This isn't the place, Robert.
55:33Everything here is a walking, breathing piece of art.
55:39And I love that.
55:40There's actually something quite, I can't even say this, but gorgeous about the chaos of it all.
55:46Am I working?
55:47Yes.
55:47I'm working.
55:48Gorgeous because like you, despite all of the outward vestiges, underneath it all, it's all real.
55:55I love it so much. Thank you.
55:57Where we live, there's order, there's rules. So much of it is artifice.
56:02Here in India, no one bloody pretends. And there's shit on the street.
56:07They die on the Ganges. They tell you the truth.
56:10It feels like a place where the chaos represents something true.
56:15And if life is about looking for truth, then you can find it here, you know?
56:22We're about to go home, but wait there one minute.
56:29I got these made.
56:31That's you.
56:33And that's me.
56:34I've got my teeth spot on.
56:36I'm going to be sick.
56:40And I thought we could leave these here so we can say this is our offering to the city for
56:47everything it's done for us.
56:48I'm lost for work.
56:50We've got a flight to catch. Come on.
56:54That is our legacy in Varanasi.
57:19That is our legacy in Varanasi.
57:21That is our legacy in Varanasi.
57:25That is our legacy in Varanasi.
57:27That is our legacy in Varanasi.
57:30That is our legacy in Varanasi.
57:31That is our legacy in Varanasi.
57:32That is our legacy in Varanasi.
57:34That is our legacy in Varanasi.
57:37That is our legacy in Varanasi.
57:40That is our legacy in Varanasi.
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