Blogs from Pali, Rajasthan, India, Asia - page 3

Feb 22nd commemorates Thinking Day in the world of Scouting and Guiding. Cal and I had our investiture!!!!! FINALLY!!! Even though Mum took me to my first Scout Jamboree in Canada before I was one and I swapped badges with my Grandpa at another one in Victoria, we finally 'officially' became part of the Scout Movement! I am in Cubs and Cal is in Joeys. We have badges on our uniform now and had a little ceremony in the garden with Mum and Dad and a couple of our friends. We made a little Promise and Prayer. Scouts are into fun, freedom, friendship, excitement and challenges. And traveling to big Jamborees for camping. adventures and to swap badges! I'm working on my Bronze Boomerang badge which has lots of parts. I've done the knots, first aid ... read more

We celebrated the Holi festival, also known as the festival of Colours, honouring the value ingrained since time immemorial of evil overpowered by love, truth and devotion. It also commemorates 'Ras Lila' - the enduring love saga of Radha and Krishna. Holi is a uniting festival in India, participated by all the various religions and castes. There are numerous legends and stories associated with this day. Here is one version: Long ago there was a King and his name was Hiranyakashipu. He asked God for immortality. Although God said it was against the natural and cosmic laws, the King was persistent. He insisted that God bless him so that he would not die either in or outside his house, by day or night; that neither weapons, humans, animals, illness or elements be the cause of his ... read more

The first group of Karma Yogi's has come back from the Kumbh Mela after an inspiring, transformative time setting up the camp, uniting and dipping in the River Ganges. Here, our preparations have been diverse and plentiful for Swamiji and the expectant group of about another 60 people, mostly European; such as late night carpet laying, sewing, flower arrangements, laying of pipes and of course more than a little bit of cleaning. Cal's contribution was a Jadan classic: making OMs' in the sand! Mark is busy working in the hospital. He's fixing up some doors and windows. Some of the windows were put in the wrong way so he's changing them around to fit fly screens in. He says he thinks the reason he came here is to learn how to use all the workshop tools ... read more

“The children in our School are bused in, coming from villages in the surrounding area. The School aims to first give them opportunities to understand Indian culture, become confidant rural people, able face the problems and competition in all the fields. We are helping them become competent with real life skills" School Principal. We had an excursion to the Hospital today. It came to my attention late last week that the lower primary classes had not yet had a check up with our resident Dentist, now active in the Ashram Hospital. The 50 odd children from one of the Kindergarten classes were so excited to be out of the classroom. We sang the "Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy" Mantra on the dusty walk over from the School and I enjoyed the walk as much as the ... read more

Yashodaji and I have been having our share of Jadan moments and adventures. We were walking around searching (stalking) Swamiji and ended up at the OM Ashram. Had a feeling Swamiji was there. We did a bit of the boundary walk and then asked the guard if he knew where Swamiji was. He said in Guruji's Samadhi. So we headed that way. Now that there is a big hole in the wall, from afar you can see the big photograph of Guruji and of course, with all the neon lights around it, it was well lit up. We were walking in the gorgeous moonlight to the picture, though I could hear Swamiji's voice and knew he was not actually in that direction. We kept walking and finally, he called out from the side "Hey girls! What ... read more