Looking and Sensing Through The Lens

Fabric of Humanity

One of the camels

The lessons from living in such a diversity of countries has been remarkable. Like a family or friends that you don't see for a while, there is a sense of community as an individual who even just drops in yearly. This is the sixth year that I have walked the streets of Jaipur and I have a community: the bottle collectors, the Babas, the elephant people, the camel people, the school children, the shop keepers, the exercisers, the hill people, the going to work people, the road workers, the tent community, and people who just see me on a regular basis and wave.  Without the living and walking at such an intimate level (I have done this wherever I have lived...), I couldn't have gotten to know the oneness of it all. We are all just two-leggeds living out some variation of survival on the Earth.

In India, starting as a white, woman walking with a shirt that said money or sex, to a white, woman walking who is here with a spiritual intention has been a remarkable teaching. I never had an intention to fit in, I just wanted to survive, focus on my inner work in the ashram, not get sick, or be molested. To see this community grow without intention, just presence of being my self, setting boundaries, consistency, and staying the course is fascinating. It has even started to happen in Carbondale, Colorado with the pattern I have of working at two ranches, gym, coffee shop for wifi, and the grocery store. A community is started through eye contact, patience, routine, and small interactions. I think of myself as being invisible, but I am not. People are watching, assessing cues, and taking action accordingly. I am part of the community whether "invisible" or not.

Every day, four times a day, I talk to a particular camel who is tied alone. He has a very damaged nose, so I talk to him and wish him well every time I pass by. He knows my voice now and lowers his head towards me, (I don't know camel language, so I am hesitant to try and touch him), so simple. Now I better understand that it is that simple with two-leggeds as well. A head nod to the man who pushes his bike up the hill with full jugs of water while I am finishing my run down the hill. A wave to the man who drives down the hill with a loaded motorcycle of cut grass as I walk up the hill. An exchanged smile with the woman who is going about her morning chores as I walk by on the street.

Something about this new homework assignment to move more deeply inside has softened the exterior world. I have been given permission to make it my secondary focus, but still interacting from the vibration of what is growing inside. Another veil has shifted. Feeling very blessed to feel this sense of oneness from now the outside as well as the inside. Beautiful conversation about it with Gurudev and he also helped me to see the oneness of all exercise as yoga whether sitting on a mat with an awareness of breath or running up the hill with an awareness of breath. Breathing and living. More circles.

Sorting through the stream of refuse in a local waterway

Morning rituals as part of the morning fabric

Living Grace

Living Grace

Contemplating

Phone intervention

Deep contemplation

Anything is possible when the newspaper is up.

2016

More Grace

I couldn't help but post all of these knowing there are people around the globe who don't have the chance to visit Jaipur, but would love to have a current photo of Gurudev. Grace. Pranam. 

Language of Silence

Cooling off

What a beautiful concept--I am going to become a more focused student of the language of silence. While sitting in the ashram with the presence of Gurudev and everyone focused inwardly, the inner texture is exquisite and inebriating even with the distraction of traffic sounds, power saws, humans coming and going, and more.

Heading home--me too!

Unstacking Homework

Excited for the new homework assignment! In the West, it is always about mentally stacking and being good at it. Now to spend time where the mind doesn't stack! This is going to be like reverse or inside-out living. The place is familiar, but I haven't made a point to live from there. What an incredible journey! More grace! 

Walking Home From the Jaipur Airport

Only a three hour walk, but it was a nice reminder of the city and the architectural diversity.

Noticing that sitting in the ashram and walking outside are more similar in a strange way. A band of energy with different obstacles floating in their respective streams.

Visited a Baba on the hill who I walk by periodically. Still interesting to experience the different beings who live with orange clothes.

Fortification for the Disparity

Just finished a book on the current state of affairs for elephants.  Elephantoms

Reading a book on the current state of affairs for Muslim women.  Infidel

Liquid gold is the touchstone as I examine the current state of affairs. How different to read about both while living in direct contact. It helps to provide a mental construct for the felt sense I experiences daily. Ugh! Darker then expected. Agonizing reality.

Was asking Gurudev about reading the Quran, so I could better understand the religious differences and it resulted in a quiet stare and sigh! He talked about the state of humanity, religion, and how FEW can walk a true spiritual path.

The enormity of it is staggering. Feels like living as something to grind with a pestle at the bottom of a mortar. Nice to have this awareness opened after the visit to the homeopath in Mumbai.

Happy pig

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