Living and Learning in Amritapuri, India: December 8-11, 2016

Tai Chi

We’ve had three Tai Chi classes so far. I so appreciate having the opportunity to take the daily class. In 2015, it lasted an hour; this year it is 1 ½- 1 ¾ hours. Needless to say, I’m in heaven. Being able to do Tai Chi near the beach with beauty in front and over me makes it even more wonderful.

Seva

Devotees are encouraged to do seva while they are here. Seva means selfless service, i.e. volunteer work. There is a seemingly endless number of seva opportunities at the ashram. Think about the fact that five thousand devotees live here and there may be a thousand, or more, visitors every day.

Closer to Christmas there will be 1600 Western visitors plus thousands of Indians. Imagine what it takes to feed and house them, and you will get a sense of the amount of work that needs to be done.

My seva has taken an unexpected turn. For many years, I have helped sew the costumes for the Christmas play. I have experienced an increasing amount of resistance to that job over the last few years, but have continued to do it because the work needed to be done and I wanted to support Jani who is in charge of the costumes and Chaitanya who produces the play.

A few days ago, two friends of mine invited me to join the Sanskrit class they are taking. I had stopped studying Sanskrit about eight months ago. The Indian students learn so fast, since their native languages have a lot of Sanskrit in them, so no matter how many times I take the classes, I reach a point where I am unable to understand the teacher or the students (the classes are all taught in Sanskrit).

My friends’ invitation re-ignited my desire to learn that language. I knew there was no way I could add anything to my schedule without giving something up. I was also concerned about how I would fit in the significant amount of homework the teacher gives.

As I pondered this situation, I started ripping out Velcro from old costumes. My head was lowered as I used the seam ripper on the tiny stitches. My neck started hurting and before long I had a painful headache. All of a sudden, I was flooded with, “I DO NOT want to do this work (i.e. sewing) anymore.”

My desire to stop was stronger than my desire to help Jani and Chaitanya. I told both of them what I had decided. Neither of them was upset that I was not going to help. I was filled with relief and felt so much lighter. (I generally have no trouble saying NO but this situation was an exception!)

I’m still deciding about the Sanskrit class. I have the homework for the next class and will see how long it takes me to do it. The class meets for an hour on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Now that I have stopped sewing, I will spend time every day working in the Saraswati Garden. I am very excited about that seva.

Schedule

My schedule is becoming more settled.

6:00-7:30 Wake up, shower, clean room, do laundry, check email, check CNN, check blog, work on blog posts or other computer projects.

7:45-8:30 Breakfast

8:45 -9:20 More of the above

9:30-11:30 Tai Chi (every day but Tuesday) I consider Tai Chi to be my form of spiritual practice.

12:30- 1:00 Lunch (On Tuesday Amma comes for meditation, question and answers and then serves lunch. That process generally goes from 11:00-2:00.)

1:00-2:00 Watch play practice

3:00ish-5:00 Saraswati Gardens (If I take the Sanskrit class I will start earlier and leave earlier on those days because it is a 20-minute walk to the class.)

5-6 Sanskrit class on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday

5:30-6:30 Meditation and Q and A with Amma at beach… on Monday and Friday

6:30-8:30 bhajans (singing)

8:30-9:00 dinner

9-10:00 check email, work on blog

10:00 or 10:30 bedtime

Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday are Amma’s public darshan days. They start around 10:00 a.m. and can go until 1 or 2 the next day; they rarely end before midnight. My goal is to give Amma prasad and/or spend some time watching her at some point during each darshan day.

Breakfast visitor

A Kingfisher bird was perched near the table where I had breakfast yesterday. I thought it was stunning. I found a photo to show you on Wikipedia.

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White flowers of peace

Every time Amma leads a mediation, she asks us to visualize white flowers of peace falling onto every person, animal, and plant on earth. When she does that, I always think of all the beautiful white flowers I have seen in Amritapuri.

Saraswati garden

I love the path that leads to the Saraswati garden.

In a previous post, I mentioned that the garden staff had tried to harvest turmeric root earlier in the week but when they only found a few small roots they decided it wasn’t ready. The next day, they realized they needed to dig deeper. When they did, they found lots of roots; roots that were ready for harvesting.

Yesterday, Padma cooked and then sliced them. When I went to the garden today, I saw that she had set them in the sun to dry.

Some days I work in the garden and sometimes I help Padma with the dye project. Twice, I’ve gathered and petaled marigold flowers.

One of the items they are making in the Saraswati center are prayer flags. If I remember right, the material at the top of the photo below was dyed with marigolds, and the one on the bottom was dyed with turmeric.

The last two days, I’ve helped research ways of making paint from marigolds.

Christmas Eve play

The play preparations are well underway. There are rehearsals going on all day, from morning to late at night. (Play participants also do their sevas so they have a very full day.)

Individual scenes are being rehearsed now and then the week before Christmas they will all be put together. I have watched at least part of a rehearsal every day, and when I am in my room at night, I can still hear the singers practicing. For a few minutes tonight, I watched the cast practice one of the dances.

The backdrop for the play is being painted on the porch of the Saraswati garden so I have been able to watch that process as well. I think it is beautiful.

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To look at previous posts in this Amritapuri series, click here.

Be Like a Bird Perched on a Dry Twig

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Amma tells us to be like a bird perched on a dry twig, ready to fly at a moment’s notice. That doesn’t mean that we should live from a fear based hyper-vigilance but rather we need to learn to live consciously, adapting to each change that comes our way.

Amma gives us a plenty of opportunities to learn that lesson, some directly, and some indirectly. I am going to share two recent experiences that were, in my mind, chances to practice that teaching.

Giving Prasad

In an earlier post, I mentioned that we are able to hand Amma the prasad that she gives each person who comes to her for a hug. For as long as I can remember, the type of prasad she has given in India has been a piece of hard candy wrapped in a packet of sacred ash. We have handed her those packets three at a time.

When I received the instructions for giving prasad on Wednesday, I was told we would be giving Amma chocolate Hershey’s kisses wrapped in an ash packet instead of the hard candy packets. Those would be given to her two at a time since the Hershey’s kisses are so much bigger than the hard candies.

When I joined the prasad line on Thursday, I was told that we would be alternating what we would give Amma. The first time we handed her prasad, we would give her three packets with the hard candy and ash. The next time, we would give her two packets with the Hershey’s kisses and ash.

When I reached Amma, however, I discovered that the devotees were handing her two packets, one with a Hershey’s kiss and ash, and one with the hard candy and ash. Amma had changed the instructions yet again!

I laughed at the leela. I laughed even more when I received my own hug that night and Amma handed me a flower petal and a Hershey’s kiss. That is the type of prasad we receive during the North American tour, but to my knowledge it has never been the custom in Amritapuri.

To me, this was a good example of being the bird perched on the dry twig. We had to be ready for the type of prasad to change at any moment and adjust accordingly.

Tai Chi

The second example occurred during my Tai Chi class. Soon after I arrived at the ashram this year, I visited the beach area we had used for the class last year. I found it full of construction debris. A few days later, it had been cleaned up so it seemed like we would be able to meet there after all.

Even in the best of times, the class is interrupted by an occasional truck, bicycle, or bus that wants to go through that area. Today was one of those days when so much came our way that it got funny. It was another darshan day, but this time the crowd was huge. When we arrived for the class, there were already two parked buses in the area. They bordered the space we were planning to use. Once the class started, two more buses drove onto the grounds and parked nearby.

About half way through the class, a truck with some construction supplies tried to go through our area to the building beyond. There was no room for them to do that, because of the parked buses, so the driver just parked in the space we were using and started carrying the supplies to the construction area. Clearly, we had no priority.

There are two other areas on the beach that could potentially work, but there seems to be a new routine at the ashram. When the ashram cows are walked in the morning, they are taken to the beach and tied to trees, where they “hang out” for hours. Today there were eight cows in that area of the beach.

What could we do? We would have to hold our class a few feet from the cows. So we did just that. And I loved it!

When we become like a bird perched on a dry twig, ready to fly at a moments notice, we are able to adapt what comes our way. Each challenge is an opportunity to practice detachment, surrender, equanimity, patience, persistence and flexibility.

To look at previous posts in this Amritapuri series, click here.

A Visitor Came

This beauty came to visit Advait and me as we were creating a new compost pile in Saraswati Garden today. I believe it is a Dhyal bird.

Advait has been talking to it daily, but he said this is the first time the bird hasn’t flown away. It seemed to me that the bird was enjoying posing for photos!

The breast of the bird is white; as is the underneath portion of the tail. At one point when it was posing, it turned around so I could see the white part of its tail. I regret that I wasn’t quick enough to take a photo.

To look at previous posts in this Amritapuri series, click here.

Making A Difference

Many years ago, at the the end of the programs in each city on Amma‘s North American tour, there was an announcement that contained a story about a squirrel who contributed to the building of the Rama Setu bridge. The squirrel participated by rolling in the sand and then going to the end of the bridge and shaking the sand off, chanting the name of Lord Rama throughout the process.

Lord Rama rewarded the squirrel by picking him up and stroking his back. From then on, this type of squirrel had three stripes on its back, stripes that went from head to tail. The stripes are seen as Lord Rama’s fingers. At Amma’s programs, this story was used to teach that everything we do to contribute makes a difference.

I remember thinking that what was called a squirrel in the story must be what we call a chipmunk. Since then, I have learned that the squirrel is a palm squirrel and it the same size as a large chipmunk.

On one of the first days I was in the Saraswati garden, I heard a sound. I thought it was a bird at first, but when I followed the sound, I discovered it came from the squirrel in the picture at the top of this post. I didn’t know squirrels were so loud! Here are two more photos of that squirrel:

A few days ago, I saw another squirrel in the garden; or maybe it was the same one. I feel so privileged to have been able to watch squirrels like the one in the story I have heard so many times.

To look at previous posts in this Amritapuri series, click here.

Living and Learning in Amritapuri, India: December 5-7, 2016

Time with Amma

Amma has been coming to the hall for bhajans ever 392459_424932434197260_100000415226106_1515768_2126126191_n y night since she returned from the Europe and U.S. tour. On Monday evening, we thought she would also be coming to the beach to meditate with us. Traditionally that gathering occurs at 5:00.

I left my flat late, so expected that Amma would have already started the meditation. When I walked by her house, though, I noticed quite a few people were standing at the bottom of her stairs. That meant she was still there.

When I arrived at the beach it was 5:30. About 15 minutes later, someone either heard or made up that Amma wasn’t going to come and got up to leave. That rumor (if it was a rumor) spread quickly and many people headed back to the ashram. I decided to leave as well.

As I was stacking my chair on the others, I heard someone say, “Amma is coming.” Everyone started running back to the beach creating a lot of chaos. Amma arrived soon thereafter, laughing. There is Sanskrit word that means God’s play. That word is leela. This whole thing felt like a leela to me.

Once Amma arrived at the beach, she led a short meditation and sang one bhajan. She then gave darshan (hugs) to the people who were leaving that evening. Afterwards, she walked to the auditorium for evening bhajans. (Note: Amma has given hugs to 36 million people!)

On Tuesday, Amma came to the auditorium around 11:00 a.m. for meditation and questions and answers. She then served lunch to all of the residents and visitors. This happens every Tuesday that Amma is in the ashram.

Normally, everyone comes to Amma to pick up their plate. This time she passed the plates to the people in front of her and they handed them back until everyone in the auditorium had a plate of food. There were at least two thousand people there, and probably more. It took a lot of time to do it that way, but probably less than the time it takes for everyone to walk to the front. No one eats until everyone is served the the meal prayers are sung.

Today (Wednesday) was the day I planned to get my hug. It seemed like a comparatively small crowd so I thought it might happen. I knew from experience though, that there was a good chance it would be another leela.

In the morning, I waited in the long Westerner’s token line. We were told that anyone who hadn’t gone on the autumn tour could go for darshan today. Just as I got to the front of the token line, the directions changed. At that point, we were told that we should wait to have darshan tomorrow unless we were leaving the ashram today. This was definitely a familiar leela for me and a chance to practice letting go, equanimity, and seeing the humor in the situation.

During the afternoon, I walked by the area where Amma was giving darshan and noticed the prasad line. I had forgotten all about prasad giving even though that is one of my favorite things to do. Prasad is a gift to or from a spiritual being. Amma’s form of prasad is the sacred ash and piece of candy she gives each person who comes to her. The prasad giver is the person who hands Amma that prasad.

Before long, it was my turn. As always, I enjoyed being that close to Amma. Often the word “home” goes through my mind each time I hand the prasad to her. I love that experience.

Tonight, Swami Pranavamrita, who is one of my favorite singers, sang Amme Yi Jivende, which used to be one of my favorite bhajans. I still remember a time in the early 90’s when I was sleeping on a devotee’s roof during a program in Trivandrum. As I lay there, I heard a Swami singing that song in the nearby ashram and it felt like he was singing a lullaby to the infant part of me. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I listened to the song and recalled that long ago incident.

As I am finishing this post, Amma has been giving darshan for 10 1/2 hours with no end in sight. I am likely to be asleep long before she finishes.

Saraswati Garden

I’ve spent some time in the garden almost every day. One day, I watered most of it. I really enjoyed giving attention to every plant. An edible plant was pointed out to me. I ate two of its leaves and loved it. Do any of you know anything about the plant in the photo below? I want to grow it in Seattle!

In one of my last posts, I mentioned salvaging bricks from the construction waste. They will be used for projects in the garden. Here is a photo of one of those waste piles:

Yesterday, the garden staff planned to dig up the root of a turmeric plant so that they could make dye from it. They checked two plants and decided that the roots weren’t ready for harvesting yet. I was able to take a photo of the root before they covered it up again. There is a lot of turmeric growing throughout the garden.

Tai Chi

My Tai Chi class will begin tomorrow. I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO happy. I was given a special gift yesterday. The teacher was going to check out the room we will use and asked if I wanted to go there with her. She said we could do some Tai Chi together while we were there. Needless to say I jumped at the chance.

The room was in the Ayurvedic building which is located near the beach. It would an okay room, but the car traffic was VERY loud. (Everyone incessantly honks in India as the drivers weave in and out of traffic. That happens even on the small beach road.)

We practiced the full 108 moves of the Yang Tai Chi form. I was in heaven. She does the moves a little different than we do in my Seattle class, but the Tai Chi I learned in Amritapuri last year came back to me so fast. My body definitely has memory of its own. My mind just has to catch up. I suspect I’ve been doing Tai Chi for many lifetimes.

As we left the building, we saw a place outdoors where we will probably hold the class. I am excited for tomorrow to come.

Play preparations

The preparations for this year’s play are underway. When I was walking back to my flat two days ago, I heard Sreejit singing. I followed the sound and found the musicians practicing. I listened awhile. The music was so beautiful.

This afternoon was the first time everyone participating in the play met. Chaitanya went over some logistical information and then talked about the play. She told the story, scene by scene. If you haven’t seen the photos from last year’s play that I posted during my layover in Dubai, take a look.

There are some pigs in the play and this morning Jani and I went to the kitchen to see Chaitanya with pig noses on. She started laughing when she spotted us. (Jani designs and sews most of the costumes. I help with the sewing.)

Rupees

I was asked to give an update on the money situation. It is difficult to get the 2000 rupee bills cashed and the banks and ATMs only give out 2000 rupee bills. I have found a few ways to get small change so I’m okay, but it isn’t easy. Everyone certainly has to think twice before spending money. This problem has to be hurting the merchants so much.

Weather

Last year, the weather at the ashram was hotter than I had ever experienced in December. When I reached the ashram this year, it was hot again. Over the next two days it got considerably cooler. One night, I even put on a long sleeve shirt when I went out. That night I didn’t turn on the fan in my room for the first time in memory. The next night during bhajans, the fans in the auditorium were all on and I got really cold. I didn’t want to walk out, but towards the end I went to the back of the room. I eventually returned to my room and put on a flannel shirt. That’s a first!

One afternoon, it rained hard. After ten minutes, it was over and the sun came out. The last few days it has been back to hot.

Exercise

I’ve noticed more and more people are exercising by circumambulating the auditorium. Each round is about 1/5 of a mile. Some people walk casually, some jog. A few days ago, I saw a woman around my age power walk around it for at least half an hour. I tried circumambulating it one day but stopped after four rounds. It was too hot for me!

Yesterday, I heard that Amma had told the brahmacharinis (female monks) that they should circumamulate the temple and the auditorium 9 times a day. That would double the length of the walk. I wonder what directions she gave the men. They can’t walk the same route the women are taking because it goes through the brahmacharinis’ living area.

I don’t concern myself about exercise here. I walk more than double the distance I walk in Seattle just in the normal course of living. Once the holidays come, the crowds will get big. At that point, I will start walking up the stairs rather than waiting for the elevator ,so that will add even more exercise to my day.

This post is long enough, and it is time for me to go to bed so I will stop for now. I hope all is well for you and yours.

To look at previous posts in this Amritapuri series, click here.

Wordless Wednesday

The Amazing Kapok Tree

he kapok-pod

One of the trees in Amritapuri’s Saraswati Garden is a Kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra) I have learned that these trees can reach a height of 200 feet. My guess is that the one in the Saraswati Garden is 125-150 feet high. It is the tallest tree in the garden.

When I looked for photos of Kapok trees on Wikimedia Commons and Google Images, I saw that the trunk of the trees can be gigantic, such as the one in this photo:

Photo Credit: Wikipedia — Photo Credit: Wikimedia

They can also be small like this one in Amritapuri.

I stood by the Kapok tree in the Saraswati Garden and looked up. Notice how the building’s metal roof has been cut away so that it doesn’t impact the tree.

I looked for a place to take a photo that showed both the bottom part of the tree and the part that was above the house.

I still couldn’t see the top of the tree from where I was standing, so I found a different vantage point.

Seed pods, like the one at the top of this post, drop from the tree when they are ready. Inside, there is a substance that is very silky. It also bears resemblance to cotton and wool. Notice the seeds that are scattered throughout the silky material.

A Rainforest Alliance article said this about the Kapok tree:

The majestic kapok tree has many uses for humans. Its wood is lightweight and porous; good for making carvings, coffins and dugout canoes. The silky fibers that disperse the seeds are too small for weaving but make great stuffing for bedding and life preservers. Soaps can be made from the oils in the seeds. Other parts of the giant tree are used as medicines. In ancient times, the Maya believed that the kapok tree stood at the center of the earth.

In Amritapuri, the pod contents are being used to stuff meditation pillows. I look forward to telling the devotees who are working in this garden that the oil in the seeds can be used for making soap and that pillows stuffed with the silky filaments will float!

To look at previous posts in this Amritapuri series, click here.

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Shared on Senior Salon

Living and Learning in Amritapuri, India: December 1-4, 2016

Surrounded in Beauty

Amma’s ashram is located on a peninsula between the the Arabian Sea and the backwaters. The view from my room is of the backwaters. The photo above is of the Arabian Sea, which is a five minute walk from my flat.

A Fascinating View of Construction

When I returned to my room on Thursday night, I heard an unusual sound, the sound that men sometimes make in unison when they are doing heavy lifting or other repetitive jobs. (There may be a word for it but I don’t know what it is.) I looked out the window to see what was going on.

A structure in the courtyard, which I soon realized was one of two bookstore stalls that had been there for years, had been turned on its side. (I’d say each stall is around 20 feet long and 10 feet wide. The floor may have been made from concrete.) The men were now surrounding the second one and they were trying to push it over as well. Once they had accomplished that goal, the men returned to the first one that had been over-turned.

Some long rails were brought to the courtyard. The men laid two of them down 6-8 feet apart. Somehow, they up-righted the bookstall and got it onto the rail. (I think during the time it had been turned on its side, something had been removed from the roof.) Then one group of men pushed the bookstall, while another group of them pulled it with ropes. In so doing, the bookstall moved along the rails. Each time it reached the end of the rails, more rails were added. That process continued until the bookstalls reached the end of the courtyard. Then they did what it took to turn it 90 degrees so it could move in a different direction.

There is a new building in that area. The backside has a big slab of concrete, with pillars along it. That part of the building looked like a veranda to me. As I continued to watch, the men put the bookstall up onto the veranda. Once it was there, they pushed it to the end of the new building.

I left my room at that point, but when I returned, I discovered that the second bookstall had also been moved to the veranda. When I looked closer, I realized the bookstalls would still open onto the courtyard, they will just be part of a building now rather than free-standing in the courtyard.

I was thankful to have been given the opportunity to watch that process. (Note: I don’t take photos on the main ashram grounds. I hope you were able to “see” it in your mind’s eye from my description.)

Wi-Fi

Obtaining Wi-Fi was an opportunity for me to practice flexibility, persistence, equanimity, letting go and patience. While it only took a week to get my personal Wi-Fi system fully functioning, it sure felt like a lot longer than that to me.

I made some helpful discoveries because of the wait though. One day, I used the ashram computer room. There we have a 30 minute limit and the connection is very slow. It was helpful for checking my email but not for blogging. The next day, I walked over the bridge to town and found a travel agency that had computers I could use. The connection was a bit slow, but reasonable, and it only cost me 10 rupees for half an hour. (67 rupees= $1).

As I was walking out of that building, I noticed there were people working on their laptops on the porch outside. I realized the travel agency also had Wi-Fi, which is what I really needed. When I returned the next day, I found out that the speed was very fast. I used it for one hour, for 30 rupees, less than fifty cents.

Then someone suggested I use the Personal Hotspot on my iPhone. I knew I had one, but I had never checked it out. Once I set it up, I was shocked by how fast the connection was. The only downside was that it used a lot of data.

Waiting for the MTS Hotspot to be activated no longer bothered me. Between the iPhone Hotspot and the travel agency Wi-Fi, I had the ability to do whatever I wanted/needed to do.

As of Saturday morning, the MTS Hotspot process was complete, so I can now do computer work in the comfort of my room without using as much data.

Amma

amma-singing

Amma returned to the ashram around 3 a.m. on Saturday morning. I did not see her come but I loved knowing that she was here. As anticipated, the ashram began to fill with people as soon as she returned. Saturday night she led bhajans (devotional songs). She sang two of my favorite songs; Karunalaye Devi and Radhikesa Yadunatha. Needless to say, I was in heaven.

As I was writing this post today (December 4), I heard singing coming from the auditorium. Amma wouldn’t be holding a large public darshan on her second day back from the Europe and U.S. tour would she? Then I heard the bell that sounds when Amma is coming outside. I headed out to see what was happening. The post could wait!

It is now three hours from when I wrote the above comments. I never found out what the music in the auditorium was, because it became abundantly clear as I walked down the stairs from my flat, that Amma was in the temple. She talked with us for awhile and then led a meditation. Afterwards, we were told everyone could come for darshan (hugs).

The instructions kept changing. The first change was that the Indian visitors should go first and Westerner visitors could go afterwards. (That is because many of the Indians visitors come just for the day and the Western visitors are staying here.) When the Western line started, we were told people who were meeting Amma for the first time should go for their hug, and the rest of us should wait. Then it changed to anyone that wasn’t new and will be here on Wednesday should wait to get their hug on Wednesday. I was not surprised by any of this, but the possibility of receiving darshan that day had kept me in the temple with Amma, which is a good thing!

On the way back to my room, I ran into a woman that a man in my Tai Chi class in Seattle had asked me to give a message to. I found out that she is only here for one day and will go back to the U.S. tomorrow. If I hadn’t stayed in the temple all that time, it is unlikely our paths would have crossed this year. That kind of synchronicity is the magic of being in Amritapuri.

Saraswati Gardens

After my first visit to the gardens, I decided I would do short periods of work at the gardens throughout my stay. One day, I helped spread coconut coir in the garden beds; it is being used for mulch. I raked up leaves two other days. I laughed as I raked the small number of leaves, thinking of my yard in Seattle which I know is covered by big Maple and Magnolia leaves. The second day, I helped the other garden workers create a sitting area in the garden.

We constructed this circle for the center of the sitting area. The brick is salvaged from construction site waste. Yesterday, I helped Advait gather pieces of brick for future use.

One of the main purposes of the Saraswati Garden is to grow plants that can be turned into dye. Padma showed me some of the materials she has dyed from flowers in the garden.The dye made from the rose was mixed with alum. It looks mostly silver in the photo but when you handle it you can see tinges of pink.

I haven’t seen the actual plant that indigo dye is made from yet. Padma said the plant substance in the bucket is living and it can last for a long time. When she wants to use it to dye something indigo, she strains it. I watched as she sponged it onto the white part of a fabric, turning it bluish. I believe she said the indigo fabric on the right was silk.

Dye can also be made from avocado peels and pits. You can see both of those in the photo below. I haven’t seen any fabric dyed with avocado dye yet, but I understand from what I have read that the peel will produce a rusty red color and the pit will produce a light to medium pink dye.

Chaitanya is back

My daughter Chaitanya returned from Germany on Wednesday. It is wonderful to now be with both of my adult children. Chaitanya writes and directs the Christmas musical each year. Yesterday, she gave me the script and asked me to edit it. I love having the opportunity to read it ahead of time, and then to watch as the play comes alive once the practices begin. Sreejit and his friends have been working on the music for some time.

Tai Chi

My Amritapuri Tai Chi teacher and her husband arrived several days ago. Yesterday, she talked to the person who organizes classes in the ashram. I should be able to start doing Tai Chi soon. I have seen the wait as a chance to practice patience, but I am excited, and so ready to start!

Jet Lag

As far as I’m concerned, it is a miracle. I have had NO jet lag this year. When I travel to India in the future, I will definitely arrange for a layover in Dubai.

To look at previous posts in this series, click here.

Early Morning Mystery

When I looked out of my flat’s window in Amritapuri, India this morning, this was my view:

Then I looked to the left and saw this:

Three suns, one to the right and two to the left. That was a bit disconcerting until I realized when I looked to the left, I was seeing the reflection of the sun in two different windows.

I looked back to the right and this time I saw:

What was going on?

I decided to go outside to see what it looked like. That way I would be away from all windows.

But when I took a close up shot, I saw:

So is that an orb to the right? It certainly isn’t due to a window. I’m done with guessing but I sure would be interested in knowing your theories. This was a fun way to begin my day!

To view the rest of the posts in this series click here.