Peace be with you

It only took 7 minutes to bring this site up at the super duper faster internet service place I found!

Greetings from the land of Buddha's enlightment. I stood under the Bodhi tree today! Feeling the awe, and also feeling a bit peckish, of course. 2 Rose Lassi's later, and I'm happy.

So to end the Ashram experience, several of us received our mantras, received darshan when Swamiji spoke and also, in receiving the mantras got to hear Swami Niranjan speak to the group, and the experience is somethng I'll be reflecting and processing for years to come, so a little difficult to sum up here. The last words Swami Niranjan said to us: "A parting shot; keep on trucking."

Fantastic. and true. What else is there to do?

The buddha said "All things pass. You must work out your own salavtion diligently," as his final words. On a large scale, this type of thing usually makes me panic. Those long dark nights of the soul I tend to be up late, pondering, and the thought usually occurs to me "Everyone I care about will die." It's not a helpful thought at 3 a.m.

Here, now, in front of my eyes, I'm seeing a completely different world, of living, surviving, dying, all things passing, rebirth.

I'd like to say something more profound here & tell you all that I wasn't panicking about all those mosquito bites I got last night. My comfortable hotel (family run and away from the hub-bub, in the 'hood where the locals live) is right next to a swamp pond. I just told myself that I'm in the north and the shots the travel clinic recommended, those were for southern mosquitos, who sound more intense, but this morning I had a moment of doubt.

Last night, coming back to the Guesthouse, I saw four kids all under the age of 5 playing in the garbage (not an uncommon sight, sadly) setting it on fire and chasing each other with it. I opened my bottle of water, ready just in case.

One thing I did get to do at the Ashram, was contribute slightly to the Christmas show, a combination of Solid Gold dancing meets Bollywood and Woodstock. There was quite a lot of juggling, hip-and pelvis thrusting and religious chanting from all over the world, just like I imagine there was at the birth of Yogi Hey-suess. Just about everything I wrote got rewritten or discarded, but it was still fun, to write about Peace on Earth, and the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, and to express the desire for peace, love and light to be shared and experienced by everyone.

Peace be with you.