Barefoot in the ashram

September 30, 2010--outside Coimbatore, Isha Yoga Center, early afternoon

I arrived early--sped by car from Coimbatore to the ashram for a retreat that my friend has just said needs to be experienced without expectations. Checked with another participant here and he said he was told the same thing by his cousin. Seems to be pretty common--no answers, no reactions, don't set up expectations. Find this just piques my curiousity. Maybe that's the point. To learn you have to want it--there must be inquiry and desire.

The setting here is just startling--we're in the Velliangiri Foothills, spiritual territory. I have never seen land like this--lush green mountains, coconut palms (forests of them), thousands of dragonflies and butterflies everywhere. Their flight is mesmerizing and I watch them for long moments, captivated with the dance, rhythms and colors. Find myself just breathing deeper here. It's so quiet compared to Chennai (many things are quieter than Chennai mind you), so fresh an green--lotus flowers scent the air all around me. In my homesick moments India gets to me--the noise, the chaos, not entirely understanding the rules--but here I feel so at ease and like my head can just let go. It's the green, the hush of the breeze, the scent of the air--flowers, wet earth. I may never want to go back to Chennai.

A trek outside
We explored the temples at the ashram this afternoon and then headed outside into the surrouding countryside. I wish that I'd brought my camera--palms, farm land, ancient trees, huts, cows with painted horns...beautiful. We forded a stream and as we walked a few meeters downstream we saw three snakes fighting to get out of a pool created by a dam. and A few more meters away two children played in the grass outside their house. Each person reacted the same--protect the kids. This raises some questions about the role of the individual and their responsibility to act. As we were thinking about what to do and getting increasingly uncomfortable in our inaction, the sky opened up and we were hit with the type of rain that only falls in the tropics--sudden, furious and long-lasting. Our road turned to thick red mud. A few people had umbrellas, I had a rain coat and became the mobile phone porter. One of my friends shared an umbrella with another hiker. Soon his companion offered to hold it for him. Then his companion disappeared. Poor Ravi was left to hike back without shelter and wondering if he'd ever see it again. We took a shortcut through a farmer's path, and as we headed back on to the ashram property the roads were all under inches of water--they looked like streams. They feed us well after the trek and we all start to get to know each other--mix of old and young, singles and families. Only two westerners besides myself. One has lived at the ashram for the past 3 years. The other is Indian, but lives in London. My best friends so far are a spiritual-seeking engineer and a skeptic who is about to start work in California. Not sure what to expect. I'm getting a little hung up on the delivery. Lots of either-or statements and some misrepresentations of science. I can't exactly turn off the ToK side of me that gets all alert when I hear these types of things. It sort of is getting in the way--ironically enough--of trying to hear the message. Want to be receptive, but this might be more of an effort than I thought. Need to put aside the Zen filter, the ToK filter, the western filter and listen. If this is a part of the great conversation about spirituality or my own journey I'll need to put aside some things and be present. Judgment can always come later, but you can't rebuild the present moment. If you can't be in that moment, you just may miss something.