When I saw that the Weekly Photo Challenge for this week was “Names”, I knew exactly what my contribution would be.
I laugh whenever I think of the name of this bakery in Vallikavu, India– and I thoroughly enjoy eating their ice cream sundaes. I, of course, had to buy one when I went to town to take this photo today. The sundae was called Chocolate Fantasy. Yummmm!
To see all of the posts in this Amritapuri series, click here.
Grace is Flowing
I have felt graced many times lately. The ones I’m remembering in the moment are:
-I wear a Fitbit that serves both as a pedometer and as a watch. For some unknown reason, the Fitbit hasn’t synced for the last six weeks, so I’ve had to add 1 ½ hours every time I looked at the watch. That has been a nuisance. One day this week, I looked at my watch and the time was correct. It felt surreal.
-Last week I made an appointment for a massage. (Various forms of body work and classes are available here. The proceeds help fund Amma’s humanitarian projects.) When I arrived at the session, the massage therapist asked if I wanted a Swedish massage or Reflexology. I said “Both!” That wasn’t an option so I got the massage.
When I was in Tai Chi class on Thursday, I started feeling the nerve pain I get in my toes when my low back muscles are too tight. Towards the end of the class, a friend who was on a break from the Reflexology class she was teaching, walked up to me and asked if I wanted to have a Reflexology treatment in a half hour. She had an uneven number of people in her class, and needed to have someone receive a treatment when the students paired up and worked on each other. I, of course, was delighted to serve in that way!
-Amma held darshan in the temple again on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. That felt like such a gift. Being in the temple brings back so many memories for me plus it feels more intimate than being in the big auditorium.
-I’d been feeling down for awhile and hadn’t been able to shake it. On Wednesday, the crowd was small so I decided to go for darshan and ask Amma, internally, to help me lighten up. When I entered the darshan line, I learned that the man next to me was from the UK but had been living in a Buddhist monastery for many years. He was on his way back to the UK, where he plans to start an intentional living community focused on mindfulness and sustainability. He had never met Amma before. I loved talking to him while we proceeded through the darshan line. When I reached Amma, she held me for what seemed like a very long time. I feel so blessed to have her in my life.
-Someone asked me a few days ago if I would be willing to be the first person to hand Amma prasad this coming Sunday. They always like to have an experienced person do that job at the beginning. Needless to say, I didn’t have to think twice before I said yes to that!
– Amma comes to the beach for meditation and a question and answer period on Monday and Friday evenings. I didn’t go on Monday, but I heard afterwards that instead of being next to the Ayurvedic building, sandbags had been put on the beach and the meditation was held there. I felt sad that I had missed that experience so I made sure I went yesterday. It was wonderful to be there although I was sitting on the side and much lower than most of the people so I could see Amma but not much else. I had no idea what a big area our group covered until I saw this photo on Amma’s Facebook Page. I will go earlier on Monday!
-Tonight Swami Amritasvarupananda sang a song that used to take me into such a deep state of meditation. I haven’t had that experience for many, many years, but it happened again tonight. I am feeling so much gratitude.
Saraswati Garden and Eco Textile Work Center
I’ve continued to work an hour or two in the Saraswati Garden and Work Center most days. On Wednesday, we harvested the rest of the turmeric. Yesterday it was boiled and today another devotee and I sliced it. It will then be dried and ground into powder for use in dying fabric. After two hours of slicing, my hands were even yellower than when I did it for the first time. I know from experience that I will be yellow for days.
I’ve seen big lizards in the garden several times on this trip, but they always move so fast that a photo is out of the question. Two days ago, one scooted in front of me and then up the side of a wall. It then stayed in one place while I took out my camera. As soon as I snapped the shot, it sped off.
The garden has lots of caterpillars. I turned over a coconut shell yesterday and it was filled with caterpillars. I walked back to the house to get mye camera. There were still a lot of them in the shell when I returned. I associate caterpillars with destroying gardens and trees but I don’t see any evidence that these are hurting the plants in any way. I wonder what they are eating.
Wrapping up
A week from today I will be in Dubai waiting for my flight back to Seattle. I’m starting to sort through my belongings and pack. Before long I will be cleaning my room in preparation for the next person that stays here.
Even though I’m starting my ending process, I know my trip is not over yet. I have almost a week of experiences still ahead of me. On Monday, I’m going to Vrindavan Gardens, the oldest of the tulasi gardens. I’ve heard new things are happening there and I’m eager to find out what they are!
To see all of the posts in this Amritapuri series, click here.
To see all of the posts in this Amritapuri series, click here.
The Amritapuri Christmas play this year was based on Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son; with the main focus being on the love of the father. No names are used in the parable, so for the play the father was called Jonas, and his sons were Jeremiah and Matthew. Matthew was the son who left home.
Here are a selection of photos from the production. (If you click on the gallery the photos will be enlarged.)
There were so many beautiful songs. I’m going to share the audio from my two favorites. This first one, “I Search My Soul,” was written by my son Sreejit. In it, Jonas, Jeremiah and Matthew are singing simultaneously as they look within themselves.
Most of the songs in the play are original. There was one song though, that is commonly used by churches in plays about the prodigal son. Some of the words were changed to fit the script for this production, but it is basically the same as When God Ran written by Phillips, Craig and Dean. The song is so moving. I still cry every time I listen to it.
I feel full of gratitude for everyone that worked together to create The Loving Father.
Thanks to Chaitanya who wrote the script and co-directed the play.
Thanks to Devapriya who choreographed the dances.
Thanks to Devika who co-directed the play with Chaitanya and played the role of Jesus.
Thanks to Jani who spends countless hours designing and sewing the costumes.
In most plays in India, the actors are not actually talking or singing. There is a group of musicians and singers who sit to the side of the stage who provide the instrumentation and the voices. So a special thanks to all of the musicians and singers who worked night and day to create and learn the dialogue and songs for this production.
And of course endless thanks to all the actors and dancers as well as those who sewed costumes, translated, created props, prepared power point slides, and set up and ran the lighting… and to anyone I forgot to mention.
To see all of the posts in this Amritapuri series, click here.
Choices Have Consequences
On New Year’s Eve, I decided to go to bed just before midnight rather than stay up for the end of the Amritapuri, New Year’s celebrations. When I heard the next day about the things I had missed because of that decision, I felt a bit sad.
The entertainment continued for a while after I went to my room. When it was finished, a video of Amma’s Christmas message was shown. The translation of her talk was projected onto many different screens. I know it was shown in English, French, German, Russian, and Malayalam. There may have been other languages as well. If you would like to see a transcript of Amma’s talk, you can find it here.
By the time the entertainment program and the talk were done, Amma had finished giving darshan. (Darshan lasted until 1:00 a.m. That meant she had given hugs for 14 hours with only a ten-minute break.) Amma then led a meditation and sang three songs. I know two of them were favorites of mine; I haven’t heard what the third one was.
The name of the first song starts with Kushiyom. Amma introduced it a few days before the 2004 tsunami. The song ends with the Lokah Samastha peace chant. I couldn’t find a recording of the whole bhajan, but I did find one of Amma singing the Lokah Samastha part. The video was recorded days after the tsunami hit the village where the ashram is located. It was a time of so much destruction and grief.
The last song Amma sang is the bhajan I find to be the most celebratory of all of them, Mata Rani. This video is a favorite of mine.
Amma returned to her room at 2 a.m. Sweet pudding was distributed to the devotees afterwards. If I had stayed for the entire program, I wouldn’t have gone to bed before 2:30 or 3:00 a.m.
While I felt sad, particularly about having missed those two songs, I knew I had made the right choice. I had been so tired that night and was also feeling very chilled. I had gone to my room to get a long sleeve shirt earlier in the evening and, as weird as it may sound, I also wrapped myself in a double layer fleece blanket.
While it was a bit windy and the fans in the auditorium were blowing, I could tell the the temperature didn’t justify the level of cold that I was feeling. I had the same experience before I got sick last week and also one week here last year.
I fell asleep the moment I laid down and didn’t even hear the sound of the loud firecrackers from the village across the backwaters.
So yes, choices have consequences. In this case I felt sad about what I missed, but when I woke up on Sunday morning, I was awake and healthy, and able to enjoy New Years Day. I was very glad I had chosen to sleep.
So many lessons
Since I knew I would be missing time with Amma by going to bed early on New Year’s Eve, I made sure I had time with her during the day.
Several years ago, Amma created a plan that gave all of the Western visitors and residents the opportunity to sit on the stage with her for 30 minutes on each darshan day. (The Indian residents have a similar opportunity but I don’t know much about their structure.)
Soon after I arrived in Amritapuri on this visit, Amma changed the length of the sitting shift to 45 minutes. On New Years Eve, I made sitting on the stage a priority. I didn’t think I could sit cross-legged for 45 minutes and was prepared to leave early, but I ended up staying for the whole time!
Later in the day, I joined the prasad line. As I went through that process, it occurred to me I have mentioned in past posts that the prasad-giver hands Amma the candy and ash that she gives to each person who comes to her for a hug, but I haven’t said anything about what that experience is like, other than I love doing it.
It took two hours for me to make it to the front of the line. Once there, I began handing Amma the prasad. We give her a group of three packets at a time, each containing ash and a piece of candy. It is essential that we keep our eyes focused only on Amma’s hand at all times, because if we start watching her, we would be very likely to miss the cue that she is ready to receive more packets from us.
When Amma is ready for the packets, she opens her hand a certain way. Sometimes, she may want even more of them. In that case she opens her hand a little wider and we give her three more, i.e. six packets in total. Occasionally, Amma’s hand is an easy reach and sometimes it is further away.
The process is further complicated by the fact that Amma often moves her hands when she talks with people, so you may think it is time to hand her the packets when in fact she is just gesturing to make a point. She may also reach to a nearby plate to pick up extra candy, a banana, an extra ash packet or a variety of other things.
This time, there were a few other factors to take into account. Whenever Amma is on stage there are many people around her. The prasad-givers have some designated space but it is small. When I was next to Amma, there was a boy around 10 years old who came to her crying. She held and talked to him a bit and then asked him to sit behind her. He took half of the space of the person who times the prasad-givers’ two minute shifts. When the timer moved to make room for him, she had no choice but to take part of my limited space!
Then, a woman in a white sari stood over me talking with Amma. The end of her sari flapped in front of me. That meant I couldn’t even see Amma’s hand. So I was trying to hold the woman’s sari away from me, ducking low to get some kind of view of Amma’s hand, and attempting to get the packets into her hand in the correct way and at the correct time. (Sometimes I think Amma is setting all of this up to play with me!)
When my two minutes were up, the timer tapped me. It is always hard to exit quickly so the next person can get into place before Amma wants more prasad. Once I get out of that person’s way I have to navigate around a fan and a whole lot of people who are sitting on the stage, without stepping on someone. I left laughing at the leelas and celebrating that I had been able to stay focused throughout all of these challenges.
I believe everything happens for a reason and that we can learn from every experience. In the two hours I was in line, and in the two minutes I had handed Amma prasad, I could see that I had been given lessons in patience, focus, flexibility, letting go, equanimity and no doubt many other things. Amma teaches us through her every action.
To see all of the posts in this Amritapuri series, click here.
Saraswati Eco Textile Work Center
Since my first visit to the Saraswati Garden, I have struggled to know what to call the house where devotees are working with dye, sewing and weaving. This week, I saw a sign inside the house that gave me the answer!
On the wall next to that sign was a prayer written by Amma:
I’m going to do this work.
Please give me enough mental, emotional and physical strength to do this as a worship of you.
Help me to do this with the right attitude knowing this is yours, not mine; I’m doing this with your power, not mine.
Help me to work sincerely, with concentration, and as best as I can, without thinking of its fruit.
Help me to derive happiness from the spirit in which I am working.
Thank you for your blessing and your guidance.
I now surrender both the actions and the fruit at your feet.
Amma models living this prayer every day of her life.
Turmeric
You may remember, about two weeks ago, we harvested turmeric roots from some of the Saraswati garden turmeric plants A day or two later, another devotee and I scrubbed them in order to remove more of the sand and then Padma boiled them. On Christmas Eve, I helped cut them into strips; afterwards, they were put outside to dry.
This is what my hands looked like after slicing the roots. Days later I was still very yellow.
Last weekend, one of my Tai Chi teachers noticed I had another color change. My Fitbit, which I use as a watch, needed to be charged so I wasn’t wearing it when I went to class. The area where my Fitbit normally is was so white compared to the rest of my skin. (The white part was even whiter than this photo shows.) Since then I’ve noticed how different my face and neckline are as well. This may be the first time in my life I’ve had a bit of a tan. It is mainly from walking to and from the garden. I suspect my dermatologist won’t be happy about it but I like it!
Sick
I was up until 2 a.m. for the Christmas Eve program and then stayed up until nearly midnight on Christmas so I could get Amma’s darshan. I felt exhausted on Monday and by the end of the day realized I was getting sick. I slept most of Tuesday and Wednesday and stayed in my room, except for meals, until Friday morning.
There has been a cold going around so I thought I was getting that, but it moved through me way faster than what I would have expected. I began to wonder if I was detoxing instead of having a bacterial illness.
I started going to Tai Chi again on Friday and yesterday (Saturday) my Tai Chi teacher observed that my practice was much better than before I got sick. I loved hearing that, and it also supported my detox theory!
Moping
Word Press offers a daily prompt for bloggers. Because India is 13 1/2 hours ahead of the U.S. where the prompt originates, I receive the morning prompt at the end of the day. I laughed Friday night when I discovered the prompt for Friday was “Mope.” I won’t go into all the reasons I was bitching and moaning to myself on Friday, but “Mope” was a perfect word to sum up my experience of that day!
Crowds
There were way more people at the ashram on New Year’s weekend than for Christmas, and the crowds were big then. I heard there were 1850 Western visitors here on Friday and that many more were expected to arrive on Saturday. The number of Western visitors was expected to surpass 2000 for the first time. (On my first trip in January 1990, there were 30 Western visitors in the ashram!) Thousands of Indian visitors have poured in as well. So, needless to say, the ashram is a sea of humanity.
New Year’s Eve
Last night was New Year’s Eve. In the evening there was an entertainment program that started around 9 p.m. and consisted of dancing (several Indian groups and a French group), a mime, and a rapper. A big instrumental group started to play about the time I went to bed. I don’t know if they were the end of the program or if there was more entertainment that followed.
Since I have been sick and was feeling exhausted, I decided it would be wise for me to not stay up. I think I went to bed about 11. After the entertainment, Amma would have given her Christmas message, sung some bhajans and then passed out some sweet pudding. She would have led the peace chant at some point in that process. All of this would have been amplified but I didn’t hear a thing once I laid down and closed my eyes. I feel sad about what I missed but think it was a good decision.
New Years Day
I’ve really been looking forward to joining in the Lokah Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu chant that will be held in the temple from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. today. I know I will come and go from it, but I have no doubt that it will be a very powerful experience for me.
Weather
Saturday morning, I heard someone say a cold streak had gone through the previous night. I remembered it getting windy but didn’t feel cold. When I checked, I learned that the low temperature for that day was 73 degrees. What is considered a cold streak in India is certainly different than a cold streak in Seattle! It looks like next week it will continue to be in the 80’s and then during my last week here the temperature is expected to be in the 90’s.
Rupees
The rupee situation is still bad although I did see my first 500 rupee note this week. If those get into circulation then it seems it will become easier to get small change. I’ve heard a rumor that the 2000 rupee bills may be recalled since they are so hard to use. I hope that is not true. It seems this whole fiasco would start over again.
Christmas play
I think I’m going to be able to write my main Christmas play post in the next few days. I’m looking forward to sharing more about it with you! I will also post photos of last night’s New Year’s Eve entertainment once they become available.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU!
a) Banana palms are not trees. There is no wood in a banana palm.
b) The stem is made up of gigantic leaves so the banana palm is classified as an herb.
c) Three years ago, I read that the banana palm are classified as a grass, but I am unable to validate that information.
d) Banana palms only produce fruit once. The palms die away and new shoots spring up. Those shoots can be replanted in other places.
e) Banana palms grow quickly in the tropics. The first photo below was taken on the day the shoot was replanted. The second photo was of a shoot that had been replanted three days prior, and the third photo was of a shoot five days after replanting.
f) Banana circles are a permaculture technique that is most often used in tropical and subtropical regions. They help create humus and water retention where soils are either sandy or heavy clay. This photo shows a banana palm circle with a compost pile in the middle.
g) Banana palms produce very unusual flower buds. One day, I saw a squirrel like this trying to get into one of the buds but I couldn’t take a photo quick enough to catch it in action. I haven’t seen an open flower yet this year but here is a photo I found on Wikimedia.
h) The banana palm leaf has an intricate series of veins running through it.
i) The path to Amritapuri’s Saraswati Garden is lined with banana palms. I can imagine what that path will look like next year!
j) I think banana palms are so beautiful.
For more information or to see beautiful photos go to: A Banana Plant Is an Herb (Or, Little Known Banana Facts)
Be Like a Bird Perched on a Dry Twig
I’ve mentioned before that Amma teaches us to be like a bird perched on a dry twig, ready to fly at any moment. That lesson has been front and center for the play cast during the last three years.
Five or six years ago, when the play was on a darshan day, Amma said to hold it on the auditorium floor since she would be using the main stage for darshan. The participants built a small stage for the performance.
In December of 2014, Christmas Eve was again on a darshan day. Since the cast believed the play would be on the auditorium floor again, they were very creative in how they built the stage. It had three levels so that three scenes could take place at once.
Amma is asked where she wants to hold the play 3-5 days before the event. In 2014, they were shocked when she said that she wanted them to perform it on the main stage. She would finish darshan early, and watch it with us. While everyone was delighted that Amma wanted to watch, they only had 72 hours to adjust all the backdrops and choreography to fit on the smaller stage.
In 2015, the play was once again on a darshan day. While they knew they couldn’t count on it, they planned for the play to be on the main stage since Amma had wanted it that way the previous year. Days before the performance, she told them they would need to use the auditorium floor since she would be giving darshan on the stage. Everyone flew into action, building a stage for the auditorium floor and adjusting everything that needed to be adjusted. That year they just took it in stride, seeing it as the opportunity for growth that it was meant to be.
The December 2016 play would normally have been on a non-darshan day but, since it was a Leap Year, it ended up being on a Saturday, another darshan day. This time the play was planned so it would fit on either the stage or the auditorium floor. The leaders kept in mind that Amma could come up with an unexpected third alternative and that is exactly what she did. When asked where the play should be held, Amma informed them she would let them know on the day of the program.
While they were jolted by this response, they went on preparing the play, envisioning it in both places. The day before the event, thinking Amma, because of the size of the crowd, would most likely choose to hold the play on the auditorium floor, they installed the lighting and the backdrop. The gigantic backdrop was rolled and hoisted 30-40 feet above the auditorium floor.
On Christmas Eve morning, Amma was asked once again where she wanted the performance. She said she would decide later in the day. They still didn’t have a definitive answer at 6:00 p.m.
It soon became obvious that Amma wanted to see the play with us, so the backdrop and the lights were taken down around 7 p.m. I heard that it took 30 people to remove the huge structure of lights and carry it to the main stage. Both items were then reinstalled on the stage, while Amma was giving darshan.
Soon the cast were in their make up and costumes. All the props were ready to be put on the stage. Nothing else could be done until Amma finished darshan and the stage was cleared.
Darshan was over at 10:30 p.m. It usually takes hours to do the play set-up but they accomplished it all in an hour; the play started at 11:30 p.m. and proceeded without a hitch. The music was wonderful, the acting was wonderful and the dancing was wonderful. Never has one of their plays gone so smoothly.
The cast had handled all of the challenges with such grace, knowing that everything they experienced had purpose. What a lesson it had been in flexibility, persistence, patience, non-attachment, equanimity, and being like the bird perched on a dry twig.
I will write more about the play in a future post, but for now I will share some pictures I found on Amma’s Facebook page today. They will give you an idea of the quality of the costumes and backdrops and even glimpses of the acting.
The story was about Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son, with the emphasis being on the loving father. The first photo is of the father, the second Jesus, the third of one of the piggies, the fourth is a village scene and the fifth is of the prodigal son in despair.
After the play, Amma sang some songs and led a meditation. The photo below was taking after we sang a very rousing bhajan. She often ends those kind of songs by saying “Mata Rani Ki Jai” (Victory to the Goddess/Divine Mother) over and over and we respond “Jai” (Victory) each time with arms up. That is what you are seeing in this photo.
If you look closely you can see Amma. (The picture also shows you what the auditorium looks like and gives you a sense of how many people were present.)
Amma ended the evening by passing out Christmas cake to the thousands of people who were present. What a day it had been.
Prasad Giving
When I arrived at the head of the prasad giving line on Christmas Eve, Amma started hugging people faster. Our “shift” for handing Amma the candy and ash she gives to each person who comes to her for a hug lasts either two or three minutes. Usually the prasad giver only has the opportunity to hand her a few packets. Because she was going fast at that moment, I was able to give her many packets. I had a lot of fun.
I handed Amma prasad again on Christmas day. This time when I reached her, the person who was being hugged asked Amma a question. Amma had lots to say so I was able watch. I didn’t get an opportunity to hand her packets during my time, but I didn’t care. It was nice to be so close to her and after all, I had handed Amma so many packets the day before.
Karunalaye Devi
When I left the stage where Amma was sitting, one of the brahmacharis (male monks) started singing Karunalaye Devi, a song I mentioned in a previous post. Hearing it again felt like a gift.
When I returned to my room, I looked to see if the song was available on YouTube. I was surprised to discover that Amma has a YouTube channel that contains videos of many of her songs.
A version of Karunalaye Devi had recently been uploaded. The singing takes place in the Amritapuri auditorium, but there are also darshan scenes from her Indian tours. The man in the photo below is Swami Amritasvarupananda, one of Amma’s senior swamis.
Christmas Surprise
The afternoon of Christmas Day, I participated in the play cast celebration. It is always so much fun, and, considering all the challenges, they had even more than normal to celebrate about. At the end of the party, we heard that Amma had said any ashram visitor who hadn’t had darshan during the previous week could come for darshan that night. Since the crowds are so large at this time of year, we hadn’t even considered going until January.
It made for another late night, but it was so worth it. What a wonderful Christmas season it has been.
To see all of the posts in this Amritapuri series, click here.
One day, in my second week at Amritapuri, I visited Amma’s College of Engineering. It is located in Vallikavu, the town across the backwaters. As I left, I took some photos of the college’s beautiful grounds.
On the way back to ashram, I decided to go through the College of Biotechnology grounds. I saw some interesting plants there too.
To see all of the posts in this Amritapuri series, click here.
It has only been three days since I visited Kuzhitura Farm but it feels like it has been much longer than that. I decided I’d better write about the trip while it is still fresh in my mind.
I left the ashram soon after breakfast on Tuesday morning. I’ve been to the farm before but wasn’t sure where to turn off the main road, so I decided to take a rickshaw there and walk back to the ashram after my visit.
The Amritapuri farms and gardens have been through so much in the years of their existence. The close proximity to salt water, lack of fresh water, poor soil, and disease have all caused problems. When I visited this farm last year though, it was obvious that a major change had taken place. I remember feeling as if I had entered paradise.
One of the first things I noticed this year was the extensive network of paths. Any path I followed led me to beauty. I found an altar on one path.
After years of trial and error, and the gardeners persistent effort, the tulasi plants are now thriving. Tulasi is also known as holy basil. It is a component of many Ayurvedic medicines.
I saw one garden bed that looked like it had been recently planted.
One of my goals for the trip was to go by myself and sit quietly. I wanted to take photos of birds, butterflies and bugs.
I saw beautiful birds, butterflies and the biggest bumblebee I’ve ever seen, but they all moved so fast I couldn’t catch them with the camera. One insect seemed like it was playing with me. Every time I got close to snapping the picture it flew a few inches away.
I only took one photo of a bird and, even if it was in focus, you wouldn’t be able to see its beautiful colors.
I did take a picture of one bug!
Part of the problem was that I didn’t have the patience to sit. And I was so hot. The kind of experience I had originally envisioned will have to wait for the future. This time, I was content to immerse myself in the flowers and other sights. (See Flowers at Kuzhitura Farm.)
Adjacent to the farm are the ashram’s food composting and vermi-composting facilities. West of those buildings were other gardens. Amma is committed to serving as many organic vegetables at the ashram as possible. I had no doubt that some of those vegetables come from this garden.
After taking the photos above, I started my walk back to the ashram. I noticed numerous houses that Amma had built for the villagers after the 2004 tsunami. Seeing them brought back memories of my own experience during that disaster. The tsunami occurred on December 26, so it is always on my mind at this time of year.
I also saw a cow scratching its head on a tree, some pretty flowers and friendly people.
Before long, I was back at the ashram, feeling happy about my morning adventure.
To see all of the posts in this Amritapuri series, click here.
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