Saturday, August 15, 2009

2009 08 15. Saturday.

Had a nice talk with Ranjiv, an Indian man who works in Europe as a teacher. He's been helping out with the compost for the last few days. He has lots of western values and ideas so we could talk very easily. We talked about the intersection of our romantic relationships and spiritual life. I was happily surprised at how easily and naturally he could talk about relationships. Just like many of my American friends back home. Turns out we have similar experiences in our relationships. We both had a string of girlfriends and we're both very drawn to the spiritual life. Ranjiv is thinking of coming back to the ashram at some point and living here. He's had a number of European girlfriends and he said they really helped him learn a lot about western values and ideas, which he feels more in tune with than the traditional Indian values about relationships and personal freedom. A very thoughtful guy.

As I was leaving the compost area one of the Indians who works there offered me a coconut. Its full of coconut water and meat; I just have to break it open. When I got back to my building the chanting lady who keeps me awake at night (and told me "Go back to America!") was sitting in front. After getting the sand off my feet and sandals, I spontaneously offered her the coconut. I said "Here, this is for you. Its more than I can eat." She smiled and declined. I offered again and said "Sure? You and your roommates can share it." She just smiled and declined again. I shrugged and went back to my room. The spontaneous offer felt good. Helped clear out some of the negative energy that was there between us. She'll probably chant loudly again tonight and totally annoy me again. All part of the practice of living in the ashram of a true sat-guru. By facing my shadows and vasanas, I'm fulfilling the real reason to be here. Not much fun, but that's the real spiritual life. I did the same thing in the regular world, of course, but here I can work on myself with very few distractions. Much easier for me to keep in touch with my inner world and its constantly shifting weather.

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