A Mind is a Terrible Thing

This is mainly for those folks signed up for and attending the upcoming Guru Purnima program here in the Shiva Sai Mandir Ashram in Penukonda — but it could certainly be applicable for other times.  Following are some of those things I’ve found a comfort to have.  Call it my "Ashram Survival Kit", and it consists of just those things most useful for someone staying a week or two or three.

In no particular order, first the essentials:

• Insect repellent:  If you can handle the types with DEET or Picardin, bring a bottle.  Or non-DEET, if you have something that really works (thanks, Grant (from comments)).  I’ve seen people try to get by with the purely organic repellents, like with neem and citronella oils — but the mosquitoes around here drink that stuff for breakfast.
• Calamine lotion & Benadryl tablets:  Despite the repellent, the mosquitoes will likely get you anyway.  An antihistamine topical lotion for the skin and some Benadryl tabs really help keep the itching down.
• Sunscreen:  Few things can ruin an experience worse than getting a bad sunburn.  A good hat isn’t a bad idea either, especially for those like myself who can sunburn right through one’s hair.  Me, I often wear bandana kerchiefs or a large floppy hat.
• Small First Aid Kit:  Just get a ziplock bag and put some Band-aids (adhesive bandages) in it, along with a small tube of topical antibiotic.  Aspirin, Tylenol, and/or Ibuprofen.  Sinus meds, if you’re prone to allergies.  Your regular vitamin supplements.  Imodium for the nigh inevitable intestinal troubles (trust me on this one).  Motion-sickness pills.
• Hand fan:  Just one of those cheap Chinese-style folding hand-fans.  Often, I’ll be sitting in stifling heat, waiting for some talk or other to begin, and a simple $2 folding fan really makes it more bearable.  Battery-operated fans are too noisy for temple use.
• Notebook or notepad and pens:  For taking notes during talks.  Bring some colored pens, too, because you might need to draw something (and black is not recommended for such).
• Flashlight, with extra batteries:  A small 2-AA battery Mag-Light is good enough, or some other inexpensive model.  The kind with LED bulbs are best these days.  Reason?  Sometimes you gotta get around at night, and I have seen snakes…
• Footwear:  A pair of comfortable but easy to put on & remove sandals or flip-flops.
• Small day-pack, tote or shoulder bag:  For carrying the aforementioned items (the stuff, not snakes).  You can get cheap bags in Bangalore, on Brigade and MG Roads, or over on Commercial Street.  Get one big enough to carry a liter bottle of water, along with the other stuff.
• Extra Rupees cash:  You’ll need cash to buy bottled water for drinking (count on a couple liters a day, minimum, at about 180Rs/12 bottles), and it can also come in handy to buy snacks, drinks, and other stuff from the ashram dhaba store.  (They even sell clothes, towels, cleaning supplies, toiletries, and more.)  Often, there are things happening, processes during a program, which can require donation payment.  During one program, for example, we had a thing involving dozens of lotus flowers per person, and those were 20Rs each.  Also, there are usually books, CDs, DVDs, pictures, posters and more available from the Student Bookstore, many available only here in Penukonda and nowhere else.  And there ain’t no ATM, save back in Bangalore…so you figure it out, eh?

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Remember what I said before about being busy?

Cube that, run it through a tesseract, and add 42.

On the plus side, life’s gotten very interesting lately.

Well, that was kinda fun, and a different experience, getting to do most of our travels with a good friend.  The flights were on-time and all right, the food varied (I liked it; Stephy didn’t much care for the veg offerings on SA), and we enjoyed shopping at the Singapore airport.

Today, after a couple days’ worth of trips to Nilgiris and another supermarket up on MG Road (Gourmet Food World), we returned to Penukonda with a car full of groceries.  Tonight’s dinner: Corn on the cob, and a fresh salad.

I’d also like to mention that I’ve gotten some feedback lately, first-hand, indicating that more ashram-related posts would be appreciated.  (One of my Imaginary Readers became unImaginary during the last few weeks…)  Anyway, I’ll try to meet that request.  Mayhap I’ll write more about my teacher, too…

…no change in the weather.  Still hotter than Hades, although I know there are plenty of people around the world who would note temperatures well over 100F (or higher) as being worse.  Here’s it’s only 97 or so.  (Only…)

Yes, yes, yes — I’m a wimp when it comes to heat.  I’d like to mention though that my western Pennsylvania upbringing, plus Irish & Polish (along with several others…yep, I’m a mutt) genetic makeup, do predispose me to preferring cooler temperatures.

Plus, for what it’s worth, the other night, even Sri Kaleshwar commented on the heat, and suggested to all of us students we try to spend the middle part of the day indoors.

Supposedly this’ll end in about 3 1/2 weeks, with the arrival of the regular monsoon season on June 1st.  Sure wouldn’t mind if it came early.

Meanwhile, this coming weekend, we’re heading off to Singapore for a couple days.

Hello friends & my ever faithful Imaginary Readers (the ‘IR’ thing is an old joke by now; more than a few people have introduced themselves to me as one of my fabled ‘imaginary readers’…).

It’s been a few days since my previous (and somewhat acerbic) post about April Fool’s Day, prompted in part because the usual gamut of Fool’s Day pranks tend to be unimaginative, but also because that day I had a migraine.  The last week, I’ve had several more bouts of headaches, which I think have been due to the increasingly hot and humid weather, and due to the higher pollen count resulting from the heavy rains last month.  In truth though, what I think I really need is a good bone-cracking chiropractor…

The real reason though that I haven’t written has been sheer busy-ness.  Here at the Penukonda ashram, I’ve been enrolled in the ‘Soul University‘ the last couple years, each of which run from roughly July to July, corresponding with the annual Hindu ‘Guru Purnima‘ holiday.  The first year concentrated mainly on ‘knowledge’ topics, including Vaastu, spiritual techniques and meditation, mantras and yantras, and the philosophies of the path taught by Sri Kaleshwar.

More after the break… (more…)

Okay — it’s clear enough from the comments and feedback I received from folks visiting the Penukonda ashram that those of you who wander this way via various links, recommendations, and Google come not for my political commentary or tech reviews, but instead to read more about what life is like here.  (On the other hand, I’ve noticed a definite but not exclusive progressive-left tilt among the people I run into…)

Let me start by saying that this past Shiva Rathri program was big.  Really big.  In fact, I’m told there were more visiting students than ever before.  The place was jammed packed, and it was a darned good thing the new northwest apartment building (the SriSai Mahal) had all its rooms completed.  (Mind, there is still some work yet to do to finish outfitting the last of the apartments, and the decorative work isn’t quite done.  Plus I think they’re planning on another coat of paint.)

More after the break… (more…)

It’s happened a few times before, but this program was the first time I’ve had a lot of Shiva Rathri ashram visitors come up to me and say they first really got to know the place through my blog posts.

I promise to try to put up more of those in the coming days, including some thoughts about this year’s program.

By the way, I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least MENTION the fact that the Hindu high holiday of Shiva Rathri is fast approaching – new moon is this Friday, the 7th.  Life here at the ashram is 250% of what I said before about "program time" — it’s crowded, crazy, and with a schedule packed full of activities, processes, talks and whatnot.

As is common, we long-term ashram residents have been asked to take in guests, and the rest of the rooms are pretty full up, too.  We’ve three ladies with us, all of whom are good friends.  Two we knew from before in the Santa Cruz, CA area, and one we happened to host last year and got along so well, we keep requesting her.  The apartment’s crowded but we get along very well.

Have to admit I myself am having not so much fun though.  The migraines have been hitting pretty hard of late, and I’m fairly sure that some of it’s due to stresses and some’s due to pollen & dust in the air.

A great man of peace has passed…

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Dies
By MIKE CORDER, Associated Press Writer Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Netherlands (AP) — Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a guru to the Beatles who introduced the West to transcendental meditation, died Tuesday at his home in the Dutch town of Vlodrop, a spokesman said. He was thought to be 91 years old.
"He died peacefully at about 7 p.m.," said Bob Roth, a spokesman for the Transcendental Meditation movement that Maharishi founded. He said his death appeared to be due to "natural causes, his age."

For what it’s worth, many of Maharishi’s students have found their way here to Penukonda, to this guru, Sri Sai Kaleshwar. 

His message was also one of peace, spiritual liberation, and divinity — something we need far, far more of in this world.

Well friends, while the political commentary can be fun, especially with the current crop of presidential candidates (think fish, barrel, and a double-aught shotgun), I know that some of my Imaginary Readers like to hear more about life in this part of the world.  And particularly, what it’s like for a middle-aged American at an ashram in rural south India, from the perspective of someone who’s been living here most of the time for the last year and a half.

For those who may be new: An ashram is a spiritual retreat center, usually consisting of one or more temples, some places to stay while there, and teachers.  Some ashrams are very ascetic in their situations, and I’ve heard tell of ashrams where there’s little more than a bare cubicle, a mat on the floor, and simple, spare meals.  Also, in some ashrams, they’re run by students of a long-departed spiritual master (like Yogananda, for example, and the usual term isn’t departed or died, but rather "taken yoga samadhi" or more commonly "dropped the body").  Others, the spiritual master might be there, but he’ll not interact with students or visitors very often.

The Penukonda is a very different place, with a very different spiritual master, Sri Kaleshwar — who is very much still here in the world.  For an idea of what the ashram looks like, what Swami is all about — and also to get official information about it — I do recommend going to the main website, http://www.kaleshwar.org.  What you might read here on my blog is just my own personal subjective impressions and opinions.  More after the jump.
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