2009 07 29. Wednesday.

2009 07 29. Wednesday.

Saw a dragonfly buzzing around my room. Yay! If I understand correctly, one of the main things they eat is mosquitoes. So I will treat the little guy like royalty.

I was washing some of the compost buckets after the work today when I heard the nearby clinking of some heavy chains. I glanced up and the was Lakshmi right there in front of me! She could have reached out with her trunk and grabbed me. Her handlers had moved her near the wash area so she could grab the hose and get a drink. I figured she was safe so I casually finished my work and then gave them the hose. They turned on the water and handed the hose to Lakshmi. She popped it into her mouth and drank contentedly for a few minutes before dropping it.

At one point at the compost work today I was with 3 of the yellow robed brahmacharis (yerbs). They were laughing and joking and telling me stories about when they were younger. Apparently one of them was a wandering begging sadhu in the north of India for a number of years before meeting Amma and for some time afterwards. One of the yerbs pointed to Mukhunda (who's also a yerb) and told of how when Amma first met Mukhunda, She said "I want him!" and then took him right away to Her room and gave him deeksha (mantra initiation). It would be great to sit down with the yerbs and hear stories of their spiritual adventures before and after meeting Amma. I bet they have hours and hours of fascinating tales.

Shortly after that Gerhard came by and said that Amma is giving darshan in the Temple. Cool! I quickly finished my work and walked quickly to my room and then discovered that I lost my door lock key! Poo! I don't want to miss darshan! So I went to the admin office and they said to write down the serial # of the lock and take it to the Indian Accommodation office. I did and the guy there reached into a big jar of spare keys, looked around, pulled one out and handed it to me. I thought it would be a minor miracle if it actually worked. It did! Wow. I quickly got a shower and got to the end of the darshan line. Only about 40 people ahead of me. I chanted my mantra and about 10 minutes later was in Amma's sweet arms. Ahhh! Amma whispered 2 or 3 "My Darlings" in my ear, handed me a small packet of vibhuti (sacred ash) and a piece of prasad candy and let me go. Wonderful. I then waited in the line where Amma was going to walk back to Her room. A few minutes later She walked past and I got to touch Her right hand. Then I popped Amma's prasad treat (orange flavored hard candy) into my mouth and went back to my room. I think westerners who live here are usually allowed only 1 darshan per week. I'll have to check. I put the vibhuti into a small container. Gotta remember to use it!

I went to the Amma bhajans in the big hall shortly before Amma Ararti. The Arati was very nice. They turn down the lights and wave the camphor fire in front of Amma during the song. With a thousand or more people in the hall the energy is very nice. The compost work sometimes keeps me busy till 6pm or more but I'll see if I can make it to bhajans when my backlog of work gets taken care of. Still trying to catch up after getting behind when I was sick.

One thing about living in a building with a metal roof and no sound insulation is that when it rains its really really loud. Forget about trying to sleep. Like trying to sleep in an oil drum being showered with steel ball bearings. Maybe I'll get used to it. There's only about a month or so left of the monsoon season anyway.