 Diversity and Continuity
Hinduism historically had no scriptures to expound its doctrines
and no concept of paganism. It is a religion of everyday life that
governs the life and soul of India. This religious outlook is like
a great river that flows along unobstructed, absorbing all things
and developing them together. It is also connected with the unique
optimism of the Indian people. For thousands of years their souls
have been soothed by Indian music, played on a few instruments
without fixed rules, ringing out eternally like an endless echo.
This music is symbolic of India itself, a country that has absorbed
all things yet has'nt stood still; a country where memories of
empire, prosperity, and colonization are jumbled together. It's
a country to watch in the 21st century.
 Desire and Happiness
Human happiness rises close to heaven only when we love unconditionally
or give unstintingly. Just as the true self is attained by forgetting
the existence of the self only when we abandon desire does happiness
seep into our hearts like the first rays of dawn. It sometimes
seems as if all that the Indian people have is the vestiges of
a glorious history, and in their eyes it is hard to see the burning
light of desire. People from countries in which the standard of
living is much higher than that of India nevertheless come to this
land to learn how to overcome desire.
Heaven and Utopia
The buildings that Indians have erected in this land give full
play to visions of heaven. The dazzling marble and glittering gems
that rise from the soil tell of the flower-strewn path to  the land
of the gods. The desert flowers that bloom on this arid land are
beautifully embroidered on palace walls and brightly colored carpets.
A Koranic text inscribed on the red sandstone at the entrance to
the Taj Mahal raises one's heart toward a utopia close to paradise. "Souls
at rest, return to your lord and rejoice in Allah. Give Allah cause
to rejoice. Join my chosen followers, and enter my paradise."
Delhi: a teeming jumble of the sacred and profane
The vast land of India is home to one-seventh of the world's population,
seven major religions, and over 300 languages. It is both the oldest
cradle of civilization and a newborn nation not long past Independence.
Only a small percentage of its people have computers, yet its level
of software know-how is second to none. This is a land where elementary
school children learn not just the nine times-table but the nineteen
times-table. And the capital of this land is Delhi.
Diversity and continuity, the twin hallmarks of India, appear
to the full in Delhi. If you want to meet the pandemonium of Indian
street life head on, try immersing yourself in the crowds of Chandni
Chowk.  Here, everything from jewelry to magnificent wedding goods
are sold here, while places of worship for Hindus, Jains, Sikhs,
and Muslims cluster together in one place. People live their whole
lives on the street, eating, sleeping, buying, selling, cutting
hair, telling fortunes, even going to the bathroom. Cows and horses,
motorbikes and rikshaws, pedestrians and cars all mix chaotically
together, and as you pass through this street, you feel that your
standing at the heart of India, the land of Hindusim that has rejected
nothing, accepted everything, and has never had a concept of paganism.
The Mughal Empire established its rule in the 16th century, calling
its kings "sultans," and for 200 years it imprinted the
grandeur of empire on Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. At the Jammi Masjid
mosque, whose name means "the place for bowing to the ground," devotees
wash their hands and feet before prostrating themselves in the
lowest possible position. Mosques are never decorated with images
of human beings or animals. Instead, simple Islamic designs adorn
the walls and floor, the corridors and the exterior. The regular
repeated patterns and the Koranic texts engraved on the doors are
imbued with the humble spirit of Islam. On the other hand, we can
readily imagine what heights of luxury were reached when we see
the inner precincts of Shah Jehan's palace, the Red Fort, designed
for the performances of beautiful dancing girls in the soft silvery
moonlight.
Agra: a warm welcome to the city of love
 The Mughal Empire had its capital in Agra in the 16th an 17th
centuries, before moving to Delhi. The world-famous symbol of Agra
is , of course, the Taj Mahal. Built by Shah Jehan as a tomb for
his second wife Mumtaz Mahal, the Taj Mahal took 22 years to build
and emptied the coffers of the kingdom. On this spot, visitors
from all over the world take photographs and stand speechless in
wonder. The marble wals, so white as to be almost blinding, are
inlaid with flowers and designs executed in more than 35 kinds
of precious stone brought from neighboring countries, as if to
portray a vision of heaven. The Mughal Empire treated flowers as
symbol of the kingdom of Allah. The colorful floral designs are
produced by grinding gemstones such as amethyst, ruby, sapphire,
and amber, mixing them with spices, and inlaying a thin layer of
the mixture into the walls. They are especially bright and lustrous
in the moonlight.
But after Shah Jehan was deposed by his son Aurangzeb, he spent
his old age in Agra Fort across the Yamuna River. To this day,
the view of the Tag Mahal across the river has heartfelt sadness
in its beauty. Perhaps it's an after taste of the tragic love and
obsessive devotion of an old man who lost everything and kept only
his passionate love for his departed wife.
Jaipur: a festival of glory and victory
Founded in the 11th century by Jai Singh II, Jaipur is named the
City of Victory, but is better known as the "pink city." Along
with the landmark Hawa Mahal, the Palace of the Wind, all the streets
are pink. The maharajah (meaning "great king") fought
against the Mughal Empire to the end and kept his independence,
and when Prince Edward (later King Edward VII) visited during the
British Colonial era, the whole city was painted pink to welcome
him. The state of Rajasthan lives on.
The maharajah still lives here. The City Palace where he used
to live is now open to the public as a museum, but the palace beside
it is his home. It seems the epitome of splendor and luxury, but
11km away is the Amber Fort where past maharajahs used to live.
Today's visitors are dumbstruck by the magnificence of the building
and its furnishings. the reception room is so lavishly spangled
with gems and mirrors that if you light a single candle, thousands
of flames glimmer. With its garden laid out in star shapes and
the geometrical designs, and a special bedroom where the maharajah
liked to make love by moonlight, the fort makes you marvel anew
at the scope of the human imagination.
The place that makes you appreciate the potential of today's
India, a country fast emerging as an IT superpower, is the 300
year-old observatory Jantar Mantar. Here, the world's largest sundial
still keeps accurate time, and not only are the constellations
observed, but a separate clock is provided for a number of the
constellations, laying the foundation for the development of astronomy.
This was not just a place for observing the stars and the time,
but for predicting how hot the summer would be, when the monsoon
rains would come and how long they would continue, and when there
would be floods and droughts. It leaves you marveling at Indian
ingenuity.
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