Advertisement
With school holidays here, it’s stepping up finishing school extensions and also stocktake time. We’re preparing metal boxes for resources in the school. All going well, there will be a place all teachers can access these from in the new school year and I might even have more of a bedroom than a resource office in the future! The cleaning team at the school have been having many laughs at my expense and delighting in dressing me up ‘deshi’ style. My words fall on ears not ready to listen when I try to express the fact I am unworthy to wear traditional Indian dress until I learn to speak the language! They go to all lengths to dress me up including the dark under eyeliner and expressive jewelery. One of the senior students from our hostel said to me "You're the first foreigner to come here and actually like us Indians. You can see it in your eyes. Why do you like us?" Hmm... Nothing like being put on the spot. I replied with "Vishwa Prani Meri Atma Hai" (all living beings are myself).
I found so much joy in the bhajan learning and singing. As I learn the meaning
of the Sanskrit words and develop the understanding, the experience becomes even more uplifting. With such concentration you really can feel the entire universe manifested inside! Now to take home a harmonium and see if I can continue the practice. Aiden and Callum have been enjoying some creative time, preparing masks and stories and the cubby house atmosphere of the room upstairs that is an air conditioned retreat for the heat of the day. The boys, like all of us, are finding it rather warm as the temps reach close to 50 degrees these days. The water level is really minimal and I wonder about the coming monsoon. Swamiji is surely anticipating a decent rain as the whispers begin about a massive tree planting in the near future.
So here I am in the desert oasis that is Jadan Ashram, working on understanding myself and making a contribution to the world. Ah the Karma Yoga factor: Action without the expectation of fruits of action! This is not an easy task while working in the school when as a result of University training I am in a constant state of reflection as to the effectiveness of my lessons. Inside I
am laughing at the fascinating plethora of small jobs people have given me over the time here, you would laugh at the absurdity of the individual needs we have. Here in the Ashram are we strangers forced together in a seemingly yellow submarine? No, I think not. More so one family, trying to digest what it means to be of the one human race, mirroring to each other our best and worst characteristics and inspiring each other forward toward improvement!
It’s late on my last evening here and it’s been, like most of my evenings, rather eventful. I took a short reprieve from the demands of packing to enjoy the half full moon. Ended up on a rickshaw adventure with Ram Puri Ji and had lovely Satsung late in the night with Yogesh Ji in the Om construction site. Eating watermelon under a starry sky while trying to see the need for reason and pragmatism well into the morning hours seems hardly a viable excuse for not being ready and packed to leave. I breathe in the silence of the night and contemplate the details.
So, Hum…. What to say?! How to even attempt to put such a
divine experience into words?…. Successfully through another time warped Jadan experience. The most recent time here is behind me and then my intellect is fascinated that only seven months have passed. The intensity and learning of this place is several years worth packed into the standardised box we measure time with. In our head we are measuring and defining time though the real truth lies in inner time. It’s much more expansive and much more difficult to conceptually measure. Suffice to say that I have undergone much learning here in this Spiritual University and processing all of it is still a work in progress. There is only one remedy. Renounce and Enjoy! In breaking attachments to this world we can attach ourselves to God. Good Karma; doing something for ourselves and others is all that really goes with us. Now to take this outside and endeavor to keep the Peace for longer. And so very grateful for yet another wonderful opportunity to be here in Jadan.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.081s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 14; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0488s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Marg
non-member comment
The Next Thing to do is Teach?
Kath, with all your great spiritual learning and experience, it would be lovely to see you teach YIDL next. You will have so much more to offer. Marg.