Tirupati, India
Bats All About
Bats were all about on the veranda I was pacing on while
doing my japa, at 2:30 a.m. Then
a power-outage occurred in the whole neighbourhood. The lights failed us for a minute or so. Imagine what life was like before
electricity. Night was night. Day was day.
Fire was an important commodity then.
Two hours later, mangala aroti began: the first
ritual, prayer, mantra, and movement of the body.
Anuttama gave the Bhagavatam class. Before he began, he insisted the room be
divided, one section for men, one for the women. I assisted in this. Let’s go for fairness.
I’m meeting old friends—Niranjan Swami, Radhanath Swami, Pragosh,
and Kalakantha from Gainesville.
Kalakantha is one of those activists promoting women to be gurus. I’m with him for that approval.
I managed to give one of those talks, “Tales From Trails,”
to a number of local, white-clad monks. It
certainly is another world for them hearing about bears, cougars, antelope and
the wildlife of Canada in their regimented monastic setting. They were in a wonderland.
At the end of today’s second session of discussion, four mahants
(priests) from the Balaji temple, came dressed in their traditional unsewn
cloth, with boldly marked tilak on their foreheads, and chanted ancient mantras
in unison. We were transported to
another world.
May the Source be with you!
5 km
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