Thursday, April 7, 2011

Teachings always available if you are present in life




Just hanging out is an amazing opportunity for teachings. Watched the guys in red outfits rehang the new flowers and go through the lengthy ritual. Not sure how they can keep it all straight. It takes 3 hours in the morning and another 2 hours in the evening to go through the process. Wonderful to watch and absorb the energy from their practice and the presence of the spiritual beings they are honoring.

During the early afternoon, two native men and a foreigner showed up. I was watching the two native guys go through their bowing (pranaming) respects and I was struck by how sincere the one man's body language was. It was similar to the woman who had been bowing full out all the way up the steps of the Kali Temple at Amber Fort. He spoke English and we had a moment to chat. He had known about the ashram for 10 years and had wanted to come. He is dedicated to going to the Krishna Temple everyday and talked about how it changed his life. He was driving the foreigner to the temple and felt so blessed that destiny had brought him there. What a great teaching for me to observe and then hear the person's feelings. I also had a chance to speak to the foreigner. He shared that his spiritual beliefs were in nature and he had uncontrollable moments of tears while looking at the glaciers in Iceland. Two beings looking very different and from different lands, but sharing an emotional reaction to something striking an internal chord.

Speaking of chords. I was meditating in the area of Gurudev and I started to hear this sound. It was so clear and so "angelic" (whatever that really is) that my first response was to look up at the sky. Sort of an odd reaction, since music doesn't usually come out of the sky. As I continued to listen, I realized that it was Gurudev. It was very soft, but of such pure quality. Ethereal is all I can say. On a more comical note, I took a couple of photos while he was on the phone, playing the keyboard, and having his feet messaged....life in a body stuff.

As I hear stories from his disciples, his purity of love and humbleness is remarkable. He truly is on this planet to serve each person who he has contact to with the purist of intention. As a skeptic, you could say that about a lot of people's intentions, but I think the limit is the being. If we were all lent screens, I don't think anything would be stuck on his. He doesn't appear to live a double life: one with orange cloth and clogs vs. fancy cars, big house, etc. He has one, small personal room to sleep in, eats the same food as everyone else, and is on the premises almost 24/7.


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