In Banaras, no one preaches to you. You learn from its pyres and its people. The pyres tell you that no matter who you are, you aren’t ultimately worth more than a heap of ash. And its people show you that since you are anyway going to be a heap of ash someday, you might as well be happy. And the easiest way to be happy—as the retired peon I once met at the akhara taught me—is to be satisfied with whatever little comes your way.
