Well, I have been in India for 19 days. It has been extremely busy; gathering interviews for book and making arrangements for assistance with book, it will probably take most of 2019 to complete. I was delighted to have Sister Shivani agree to an interview. She is a BK, but is known worldwide as an inspirational speaker and draws thousands wherever she goes. Shivani is a very clear young woman, who is very logical and practical in her advice. She has quite a following on Television all over the globe.
I have stayed in a new part of the BK complex that I have never stayed at before. It’s at the bottom of the mountain, and it is not my favorite. It is very busy, large, with many people and because most of my work was up the mountain which is an hour straight up, I was spending a lot of time going up and down in taxis.
But in saying all that it was also lovely to see everyone from the BK’s and also my friends in Mt Abu.
I was treated to many lovely lunches and experiences.
Dadi Janki, CEO is here as busy and active as ever giving classes at the tender age of 103, with a mind that is sharp as a tack. I leave in a few days. I am going back to Dorset and awaiting time for a little hand surgery. My little finger is very crooked and my tendons are affected, so am told it is better to get it corrected. I will be in the hospital for a day, sling for 2 weeks, some therapy and I can’t fly for 6 weeks. I am hoping to have this done early December.
In November, I will visit Barcelona and Venice for few days. In Venice I will meet up with friends Greg and Victor from Canada, as well as travel with UK friend Pauline.
Believe or not I just had my teeth cleaned and polished for 500 rupees, about 8 Canadian dollars, at the Global Hospital. The dentist was excellent. Also a little warm 40 degrees, hot, hot.
PS: I decided to add more on India, every time I am here I ask myself, WHY?It is difficult and also magical! Food, travel, and heat, can test every part of you!
I have just finished meditating for an hour on World Peace, which the BK’s do every month right around the world in 150 countries.
I have an air conditioned room with a private bathroom, a shower with buckets, and 3 mattresses on my bed, without that my back wouldn’t survive the trip. The environment for the campus of the BK’s, extremely clean and minimum of dust, with thousands of people, who somehow all get fed and housed, not all in the type of room I have.
My breakfast consists of fruit, which I have in my room, yogurt , toast, tomatoes, and cucumber usually, as everyone knows Indian food and I do not get along.
When I get a longing for a green salad, I sneak to the best hotel in town: The Hillock Hotel and they will make me a wonderful salad.
India for me, I love the sunrises, sunsets and the sun in general, I always say you get different suntan here (as crazy as that sounds).
I am not a BK, but am a close friend and they allow me to be part of their community which for me is special.
But, every time I come I always question WHY? It isn’t a walk in the park!!
Beautiful gardens!
Friend Kirti in her beautiful garden
Old friend, the eye doctor, many years ago my little charity funded the first Cataract surgery at the Global Hospital in Mt Abu
Hall at BK complex which holds 25,000 when chairs are placed
Bk photo of Call of the Time meeting, with guests from all over the globe
Peace Village in upstate NY near Woodstock
This the Buddha lounge at my favorite hotel in Mt Abu, Hotel Hillock
Poem I love, written by a Canadian
The Invitation
by Oriah Mountain Dreamer
It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon…
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shriveled and closed
from fear of further pain.
I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.
I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.
It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.
I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”
It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.
It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.
It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.
I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.
