Post 5

June 15 -- Well there IS a concept of weekends here, but it seems only the bank observes it in the ashram.

Let’s see, where do I start? I have so much to tell. I had another great day! I bought about $40 worth of ayurvedic medicines. It is all natural so I don’t have to worry too much. I did tell her I was already taking medication, so she said we would watch my reaction to this ayurvedic medication and if I have any side effects we’d lower the dosage until I felt okay with it.

Nicole and I went to the beach today just to hang out. She bought a papaya fruit and we ate it on the beach, watched the waves, and read our books. The coolest part was that this young Indian college student who was dying to talk to us and teach us a little Malayalam (the language spoken here) talked to us for almost an hour and answered a ton of questions we had. So we learned some really useful things. Most important is that I learned that the website I found that had Malayalam phrases was incorrect. What they said was “goodbye” is actually “yesterday”. So I was saying “yesterday” to people. :) Namaskaram is used as a greeting, Veratte is used as a way of saying goodbye, Nanni means thank you. There were others, Nicole has the paper they were written on. She is going to make a copy for me to keep. It is so cool. Whenever we use these words, the people get such a kick out of it. They really love it. We chatted with the guy for a while and learned that he is 18 years old and already one year or two years into his bacholor’s. He told us he was in town for his aunt’s wedding and that it was an arranged marriage. He said that the custom is that the parents choose the guy, but the girl can say no. However, she cannot choose herself without her parents’ blessing. No one would marry them without the parents’ blessing. He said that here there is a phrase they live by (it is written on that paper, so I don’t have the words in front of me) that loosely translates into= parents, teachers, God. He said it means that parents and teachers are equal to God and should be revered and respected like a God. I said, Maybe I should move here and teach English!

Nicole and I went to the Ecology Shop here and I bought some beautiful smelling, organic, homemade bug repellent. So far, I think it is working. It stung like HELL on my neck because I didn’t realize that it got sunburned today at the beach. It’s not a bad sunburn, but enough to be sensitive to that oil.

We went back to the beach this evening. Deklin (sp?), the blind guy who plays the flute, drums, and sings for us, came with us. It was absolutely gorgeous! The sun was setting, the waves were crashing, the wind was blowing, and he was playing his flute. I thought to myself -- I’M IN INDIA!!!!! Then a young girl and her younger sister came along and started talking to me. We sang “twinkle, twinkle, little star” and she knew “One, two, buckle my shoe”. She taught us how to say beautiful in Malayalam. Again -- it is on that piece of paper and I don’t have it with me.

Most importantly, though, is that I’ve been talking to people about shaving my head. They’ve all said the same thing that I was saying in my last post -- my hair is already so short that it wouldn’t be that much different, and that it is very cleansing. I talked to a lady who has shaved her head for the treatment and she said it is so worth it. So, I’ve made my decision and I’m going to shave my head!!! Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! :O

I want someone to video tape the process or take a picture of it happening, but I don’t know if they’ll let me, since I’m inside the ashram. The treatment is call Panchakarma, if you want to look it up on the internet. Pancha means 5 and Karma means action. So, if you read up on it, you’ll learn about the 5 different actions or treatments that are included. I don’t know too much about it myself. Luckily she said I don’t have to do the one that includes vomitting. There are some crazy restrictions with this treatment. I have to cover my head, avoid wind, fans, and mental activities like reading/writing (I don’t know if I can do that one). They also want me to avoid the beach, stay on the ashram premises, don’t go out in the sun, and don’t drink cold drinks. During some of the treatments they don’t even want me to shower! I want to take this whole thing seriously so that I get the maximum benefit, but at the same time, how can I stay away from the beach??? Honestly, that and the diet, will be the hardest things for me. Since this whole process is meant to purify and cleanse the body of toxins, they want a light, easy to digest diet. Of course all the foods on the “Foods to Completely Avoid” list are all the ones I LOVE to eat -- sugar, fried foods, tea, peanuts, potatoes, etc. Good news is that during this treatment, I’m not allowed to do seva. In other words, I get to be lazy.

Here at the ashram there are a lot of people who will say, when there is a coincidence, that Amma made it happen. For example, we were stuffing envelopes the other day (part of my seva) and two times in a row, we had the exact amount of books for the exact amount of envelopes. They said -- it was Amma. There are many other examples like this. Of course, I rolled me eyes at it and thought these people are really taking this too far. But.... (you knew that was coming, didn’t you?)... I have seen a lot of this happen since I’ve been here and it recently happended to me. I’ll explain, but first let me say that I totally realize that this is probably all just a matter of me paying more attention to coincidences and not that they are actually happening more often. Still, it is pretty neat that I looked in my spreadsheet that I use to keep track of my grant money. Jesus and I had used some of the money for personal reasons, knowing we’d have the money to replace it when I needed it. So, I was looking at it last night, because I worried about the expense of this Panchakarma treatment. It turns out that the exact amount that is owed back to my grant fund (minus what is set aside for taxes) is the exact amount that this doctor is charging. Most of you would say it was God’s work. I really think that is what they mean when they say it is Amma. I don’t know what it is, all I know is that it makes it all feel meant-to-be.

I’ve had some really interesting conversations about religion, philosophy, etc. with some of the people here. It turns out there is a really good reason why Hinduism reminds me of Catholisism. Many of the Caltholic rituals were adapted from the Hindus. For example the prayer beads and the Holy Trinity. I’m horrible at remembering these kinds of little facts, but I know there are three main Gods in the Hindu religion and these three correlate very closely, if not exactly, with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Also they do this thing where they touch the floor, then touch their heads, and then their chests. This reminds me of the Catholics making the sign of the cross. Also, they have holy water and they have the mark they put on their heads (between the eyebrows) which is very similar to the cross that is placed on the Catholics foreheads on Ash Wednesday. Anyway, it’s interesting I think. I love that there are so many people here who have the same idea that I do -- which is that there are many paths (religions) to God and not one way is better or more correct than the other. The Hindi and the Buddhists believe that you don’t have to give up your way of worshipping God to join in on their ways of worshipping. In fact, the Dali Lama encourages you NOT to give up your way of worshipping, but to simply take what is useful to you from Buddhism and add it to your way. These religions are some, if not THE, oldest religions exsisting today. I’m not sure where we went wrong with all the newer ones. This inclusiveness, this way of accepting all ideas, THIS is what I think it is all about.

I haven’t told you all about the Eagle, have I? I call him/her Pizza, because that is her favorite food. She hangs around the dining hall (usually around lunchtime) and dive bombs your food if it is some type of bread -- and ESPECIALLY if it is pizza. She is beautiful. She is small for an Eagle and I don’t think she is considered a bald eagle, but she does have a white head and chest. The other day Nicole and Carol ordered and shared a pizza and I’m telling you, they could barely sit down with it before Pizza came swooping down, trying to steal it. They ended up having to eat it under the table!

So, I could go on and on about a bunch of other tiny little things that don’t really matter -- like my dirty nails, and hairy legs, but I think I’ve written enough for now.

Love you all and miss you!!