Love and Playfulness in the Sweetest Form

March 1, 2009

Aum Amriteshwaryai Namah,

What a day this has turned out to be. I was never expecting to travel across the backwaters to have a semi-private tour of the Ayurvedic College and Hospital followed by a special Darshan with Lakshmi (the female elephant) AND Ram (the male elephant).

I had the great good fortune to feed Lakshmi some bananas and she danced and danced in joy and then I was allowed to climb up on her back and there are pictures to prove it. The skin of an elephant is quite course, sort of similar to dry human skin. What a trip that was to spend time with these gorgeous animals who are treated like Gods and blessed by Amma.

Ram is a little more fierce so we were only able to feed him and take a few pictures quickly with him. Somehow, they really resemble (energetically) that of the male and female human. Males are more sun energy (projective) and females are more moon energy (reflective). This was certainly the case with Ram and Lakshmi! Ram was very sweet and devoted in his own right. He would respond with a loud noise when we wished him an "Aum Namah Shivaya Ram"

God, I am so blessed. I don't know anywhere else in the world that I would be able to have these kinds of experiences. It is so hot here that when just a simple breeze comes through it's like a blessing from God. The things we usually take for granted are becoming more and more clear to me here in Amritapuri and it's allowing me to have more appreciation for the "small" things in life - like a fresh breeze of air to freshen us up in the sweaty, scorching heat of South India.

I have been invited to come to the Kali Puja (for purification) on Tuesday from 8:00 - 9:30pm and take pictures of that puja. All pujas and homas are held in the Kalari and for the most part picture taking is frowned upon here at the Ashram, but you can get a few in here and there (if you are discrete about it). In this case, I have been invited by Gireesh, the Head Priest (Pujari) and he is allowing me to take pictures of the entire puja and the inside of the Kalari. I wish that I had a camcorder with me as that would be a great thing to capture. Pratechas was able to capture a few minutes of the Shivaratri Puja and bhajans on his camcorder (which I now have on my computer as I burned copies for Gireesh). When I watch these little clips, they are just so powerful. The energy of those ceremonies is so tangible in these short clips that I wish I could capture the same with the Kali Puja. No doubt it's gonna be a really powerful one too!

Amma is still going strong right now as I sit here in my room with the small plug-in fan on me and type my blog. It's 7pm here on Sunday night. She started giving Darshan (as per my previous post, at 11am). There is speculation that She will go on until about midnight or so tonight.

I am feeling a bit hungry and thinking that it might be time to consider going down to the Canteen for some dinner. I have spent a lot of time out in the sun today which is quite draining so regular food and hydration is a very important aspect of being in India.

I leave you with thoughts of dancing elephants, chanting Aum Namah Shivaya (in their own words) and making offerings to these glorious beings on this earth.

Aum Lokah Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu
Aum Lokah Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu
Aum Lokah Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu

(May All the Being in All the worlds be happy and at peace)

Aum Amriteshwaryai Namah!