Wonderful story, Khazana108, thanks. I look forward to the next installment.
*** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, khazana108 <no_reply@...> wrote: > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@> wrote: > > > Very possibly. But to be honest I'd prefer to hear about > > your recent Road Trip. It sounds as if it may have been > > edifying. > > Yes. > > > If it's not classified :-), > > Some of it. > > > where did you go, > > and did you have fun there? > > Yes, some fun, and great experiences (I would have reported some of it > anyway), but also challenging situations. > > So places: All of it South India. Final landing place: Bangalore. The place I > stay most of the time is about 125 kms from Bangalore. I am there for doing > work, some overseeing works at several construction sites. Some working with > special machines, a heavy jackhammer, much of the trip about 3-4 hours > daily. There is a school, the school is being expanded, the additional rooms > being created are actually very much needed, as the number of pupils doubled > since last May. (I was there too 3 month in the school holidays). I usually > do the heavy work, as I am fit (doing running regularly) and strong enough. > Other westerners who live there, either teach at the school, mostly women, or > do supervising and just other works and the different building sites. > Somebody has to direct all the works, control the Indian workers organize > materials, another person supervises the activities at another ground, has to > be there. take deliveries, pay workers etc. > > We are here in rural India, not in Bangalore or Pondichery, there are almost > constant power-cuts, since some day in June or July, when almost all of India > was without electricity the situation has worsened considerable. On many days > we will have power only about 3 hours, and you never know when. This is a > major problem for all building activities. > > On the place itself, I have a bicycle to get around, I go for food outside, I > know all the places, simple Indian food, meals, very hot, lots of chilly. > > The children are absolutely sweet, there is a smaller group of children, > living on the site, the majority is brought by a bus or by their parents. The > children who live on the site, I know all by name, some of them for a few > years now. > > This basically is my second home, This year I was there more often than in > Europe. > > Since I finished my works early, I took a week off, I took a direct night bus > to Pondy, 4,5 hrs starting at 3 am, just to have some spiritual holiday, see > and bath in the ocean. It's not a new place to me, but it's more of a city, I > stay in a very affordable guest house, run and built by a German, I frequent > the Ashram places (Aurobindo Ashram), the Samadhi, and I want to go into the > Matri Mandir, the spiritual center of Auroville. I still don't know, if I > will stay three days or more, I am playing with the thought of going also to > Tiruvanamallai, which is on the way to Bangalore, where my flight will go > off. > > This time I want to go into the Matri Mandir, I was there last 13 years back, > on my last trips to Pondy I found the administrative hurdle always too much, > you have to phone a certain number in Auroville between 10 and 11 am, just > one hour, to be able to maybe get a pass for the next day. I missed this time > on the date of my arrival, but somebody told me, as I have been there before, > they would give me admission if I just go there on the next day. There is a > bus leaving to Auroville everyday in front of the Ashram at 8.15 am, but that > is Indian time. The bus brings you to the visiting center in Auroville, > where upon arrival immediately a long queu is being formed. There is an A > group and a B group, the A group are people who have an appointment to > actually meditate in the Matri Mandir, the meditation takes about 40 minutes > is in total silence, and is in the center of the building, starting from 10 > am. But I have no reservation! No chance, the Indian lady says in a stern > voice. I ask her if I can talk with her, then say I have been inside before, > she says its full. But I could make an appointment, calling this number for > the next day. If you want, she says, you can meditate in the petal. I > lighten up and immediately agree. The petals are small rooms adjoining the > main sanctuary of the Matri Mandir, the meditations are actually called > concentration. I now find out that there is actually even an email, to make a > reservation. So I walk the little path from the visitors center, and get to > the main entrance of the Matri Mandir. I tell my story again, and get a pass > for the petal, only two of the twelve petals are open for the meditation, 3 > times are fixed in the morning, I am already late. I have to choose, do I > want 'goodness' or ' courage'? I said, whatever, no I have to choose. > Courage, I respond immediately, and the Indian lady smiles. > > I walk there, again a lady receives me, takes the ticket, I am alone in the > room. It is breathtaking. The whole room is in a sort of orange crimson > color, there is a foggy light coming from below, no direct window, I hear a > reverberating sound, like coming from a motor, maybe the air-condition. I get > white socks, and sit on one of the cushions. I am immediately pulled inside. > The reverberating sound mixes with the sound of OM. I meditate on OM. Just > Ooooohhhmmmm, a long continuing OM, no repetitions, just that. It's the first > time I really accept OM as a mantra, nothing more just that. This is all that > I need. I am in the pure state of the mind. The Sahasrara chakra is being > felt, the heart is being felt, there is a state of total absorption. > > Later. when I told this story to a friend, she said, that when she meditated > in the Matri Mandir, she heard OM as from a thousand voices. This revelation > of OM is what I will from now on associate with the Matri Mandir. I feel that > OM is all we need for a mantra. It has always been the universal mantra, the > one talked about in the Upanishads. Sound is Akasha, space. > > I must have been quite spaced out when I walked back, had my coffee and > pineapple cake at the visitors center, and I make sure I will have an > appointment for the next day, for the main sanctuary. > > When back in Pondy, I went for food, a small meals place in the main road. I > had rented a bicycle. At the restaurant I saw a small prayer card, photo, > with some text in Tamil, and three photos of some saints, one I recognized: > it was Vallalar, saint Ramalingam. He lived in the nineteenth century, and > could have been a contemporary of Ramakrishna. He never became that famous, > because he obviously didn't have a Vivekananda. But he was a great saint, his > movement negated the caste system, cared for the poor, and obviously he > ranted against tradition and the Vedas. At the end of his life, he locked > himself into a room for many days, maybe month, I am not sure anymore, and > told people not to open the door. Finally, after a long time the door was > opened, and nobody was there. He is purported to have dissolved into the > grace light, the Arut Perum Jyothi. > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramalinga_Swamigal > > That room, is in a small village called Mettu Kuppam, near Vadalur. I had > asked one Indian at my guest house, and he told me which buses I could take. > Vadalur is about 60 kms from Pondy. That village, Mettu Kuppam, is somewhere > close, on the way to Vadalur. > > So, seeing the poster at the restaurant, I went with my cylce to the bus > station, took the bus to Cuddalore, and from there the bus to Vadalur, > telling the conductor, that I would like he stops in Mettu Kuppam. You see, > you have to do this communication with hand and feet, showing him the names > written, mentioning the name of the saint, using typical indian pronounced > English. It worked, the conductor shake me up, and let me exit, from there I > walked about 3 kms to Mettu Kuppam. > > Now, Barry, I am running short of time, and will finish this tonight. > :-) > > > > > We know in advance that the Needy Sisters have no similar > > adventures to relate. That's why they try to suck people > > into Nitpick World. But you actually got out of the house > > and away from the computer for a while. I find that somewhat > > admirable. What did you learn from doing it? > > > > But only if you feel like talking about it, of course. I > > just find myself these days more interested in the things > > that are actually happening in people's live than I am in > > the things that some use to hide the fact that not much > > *is* happening in them. > > >
