Well, as much as I may love the coming of spring in India, it appears I am severely allergic to it. My first couple years here it was tummy troubles that had me on meds, but my system seems to have adaped to local food and water (yay!). The last few years, however, I've been plagued with painful allergic bronchitis, which is hitting with full force as I type this blog. I was actually supposed to be at a wedding right now, in my beautiful new custom-tailored Indian suit, but instead I'm sitting in my room with piles of kleenex, coughdrops, warm honey water and nasal medicated inhaler capsuls. It was Swati's best friend's cousin's wedding - doesn't take much to get on the guestlist here! (Liv, you might want to reconsider your wedding location...)
The day after our "Jesus cave" outing, Julia, Eric, Anna and I walked up to the nearby Sivananda Ashram for some book browsing and meditation, then in the evening walked down to the Parmarth Niketan ghats for the daily Ganga Aarti (river worship ceremony). The following day was Eric and Anna's last in Rishikesh, before heading down south to Sadhguru's ashram. We all went out for a nice farewell dinner, during which I felt quite bizzarly high from my 2-hour ayurvedic treatment earlier that day. It started with a seated scalp, head and shoulder massage, followed by a full body, 4-handed sesame oil abhyanga, then a facial and shirodhara (constant stream of warm oil running side-to-side across the forehead, uuuuber relaxing), then a 10 minute eucalyptus body steam, and finally a cup of tea and chat with the two lovely ladies who were part of my teaching team during the ayurvedic panchkarma course I took here last year. Hence my totally cloudy and dazed state during dinner!
A few highlights from the last week: buying a Shruti box (a sort of mini harmonium with wind only, no keys); buying a stunning piece of natural himalayan blue quartz, suggested by my favorite rock vendor as an auspicious one to put in my new studio when our center opens this summer; buying a dozen new books to fill my brain with motivating thoughts and ideas... ok, moving on from purchases... semi-adopting a beautiful little black dog that hangs out near my apartment (and naming her Kiki); eating a scrumptious bowl of pumpkin-spinach kitchri at the Ayurvedic Café (which I'm delighted is the nearest resto to where I'm staying, a 5min walk away); going to a hangdrum concert on the banks of the Ganga (part of the new Rishikesh Art & Film Festival); going up onto my roof to watch the glorious Indian sun rise over the mountains in my backyard.
And now, the front-page-worthy piece of news: I'm meeting with a lawyer next week to discuss the terms of purchasing the apartment which I currently live in! Yep, long story short, it was bought by Swati's parents-in-law for Swati's little family of 4 to move into, but they ended up opting for a bigger place being built in downtown Rishikesh. So when she told me it was for sale, I said, "I'll take it!" For those of you who are into astrology, you'll understand the importance for cancerians like myself to have a place to settle into and call home, and you'll appreciate my overwhelming joy and satisfaction as I undertake this surprising, unplanned and uncharacteristic real estate venture! And for those who intend to be in India while I'm not, I will have a cozy, perfectly-located 3 1/2 to offer you at a very reasonable price ;)
I've (literally) blown through 6 packs of kleenex while writing this post, and I think my sinuses are finally running out of mucus (here's hoping, anyway). Gotta be feeling a little more human for tomorrow's special satsang with Prem Baba, followed by a vedic reading from Prateek, the local astrologer who I've seen a couple times before, but couldn't get a hold of last year. Always a pretty insightful half hour.
In closing, more words of wisdom to tickle your heart from the ever-inspiring Prem Baba:
"Peace and prosperity are only possible when you love... Peace and prosperity are a consequence of love being awakened... At the same time, in order for you to awaken love, you must go through the difficult test of relating... It's all mathematics. I'm just giving a math class. Can you see it?... The person you are having difficulty relating to is not your enemy, it is your teacher. It is your teacher... May we be able to feel free to love." (scribbled notes from satsang on March 4th)
The day after our "Jesus cave" outing, Julia, Eric, Anna and I walked up to the nearby Sivananda Ashram for some book browsing and meditation, then in the evening walked down to the Parmarth Niketan ghats for the daily Ganga Aarti (river worship ceremony). The following day was Eric and Anna's last in Rishikesh, before heading down south to Sadhguru's ashram. We all went out for a nice farewell dinner, during which I felt quite bizzarly high from my 2-hour ayurvedic treatment earlier that day. It started with a seated scalp, head and shoulder massage, followed by a full body, 4-handed sesame oil abhyanga, then a facial and shirodhara (constant stream of warm oil running side-to-side across the forehead, uuuuber relaxing), then a 10 minute eucalyptus body steam, and finally a cup of tea and chat with the two lovely ladies who were part of my teaching team during the ayurvedic panchkarma course I took here last year. Hence my totally cloudy and dazed state during dinner!
A few highlights from the last week: buying a Shruti box (a sort of mini harmonium with wind only, no keys); buying a stunning piece of natural himalayan blue quartz, suggested by my favorite rock vendor as an auspicious one to put in my new studio when our center opens this summer; buying a dozen new books to fill my brain with motivating thoughts and ideas... ok, moving on from purchases... semi-adopting a beautiful little black dog that hangs out near my apartment (and naming her Kiki); eating a scrumptious bowl of pumpkin-spinach kitchri at the Ayurvedic Café (which I'm delighted is the nearest resto to where I'm staying, a 5min walk away); going to a hangdrum concert on the banks of the Ganga (part of the new Rishikesh Art & Film Festival); going up onto my roof to watch the glorious Indian sun rise over the mountains in my backyard.
And now, the front-page-worthy piece of news: I'm meeting with a lawyer next week to discuss the terms of purchasing the apartment which I currently live in! Yep, long story short, it was bought by Swati's parents-in-law for Swati's little family of 4 to move into, but they ended up opting for a bigger place being built in downtown Rishikesh. So when she told me it was for sale, I said, "I'll take it!" For those of you who are into astrology, you'll understand the importance for cancerians like myself to have a place to settle into and call home, and you'll appreciate my overwhelming joy and satisfaction as I undertake this surprising, unplanned and uncharacteristic real estate venture! And for those who intend to be in India while I'm not, I will have a cozy, perfectly-located 3 1/2 to offer you at a very reasonable price ;)
I've (literally) blown through 6 packs of kleenex while writing this post, and I think my sinuses are finally running out of mucus (here's hoping, anyway). Gotta be feeling a little more human for tomorrow's special satsang with Prem Baba, followed by a vedic reading from Prateek, the local astrologer who I've seen a couple times before, but couldn't get a hold of last year. Always a pretty insightful half hour.
In closing, more words of wisdom to tickle your heart from the ever-inspiring Prem Baba:
"Peace and prosperity are only possible when you love... Peace and prosperity are a consequence of love being awakened... At the same time, in order for you to awaken love, you must go through the difficult test of relating... It's all mathematics. I'm just giving a math class. Can you see it?... The person you are having difficulty relating to is not your enemy, it is your teacher. It is your teacher... May we be able to feel free to love." (scribbled notes from satsang on March 4th)
Congratulations on the apartment. :) I hope your allergies clear up quickly.
ReplyDeleteThanks Marc :)
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