30 hours later, we've arrived in Puri! The train was not as bad as the horror stories that had been shared with me beforehand. The passengers we sat near were very nice, the bathrooms were pretty darn clean, and we had some good time to get to know each other. I went on the trip with an older woman and another girl my age, both from Costa Rica. The older woman has been living in India for many years and has also lived in many places all over the world.
Puri is beautiful. The Sea Palace, its actual name, is gorgeous. One thing is that it's not the easiest thing to use the internet, so I don't think I'll be able to post much while I'm here. If I can, I'll try to at least put up some pictures, maybe on facebook so I can share more. That will possibly give me good reflection time and I can share when I get back to Vrindavan.
I've shared this with a few people already, but one thing I've learned here is you really can't make plans. One second you think you'll be doing one thing, and the next second life takes you in a new direction. Fortunately for me, I'm plenty prepared to go with the flow.
hugs, kisses, and delicious indian sweets,
Kayleigh
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Movin' On Up, to the East Side
Technically, I will be moving southeast (http://maps.google.co.in/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&q=Puri,+India&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Puri,+Orissa&ll=21.820708,81.870117&spn=18.249868,28.256836&z=5 , I'm currently about 3 hours south of Delhi). On the 16th I will be leaving for Jagannatha Puri to spend the month with one of the most highly renowned disciples of Gurudeva. It's sad to leave Vrindavan again, especially since I was just getting settled, but I am beyond excited to visit Puri. Everyone says it is one of the most beautiful places. The temple there used to be a hotel that someone gave to Gurudeva. It is located right on the beach. Most people describe it as a "Beach Palace." Mainly the trip is special because of the Vaishnava that will be leading the trip. It's hard to explain the extent that spirituality permeates everything here (especially because I haven't really done it yet), but people say that this disciple can see in to your heart, and thus can help you grow and clean it out. Perhaps I will fulfill my promise once I get there and take some time to explain in more detail what spiritual life really means here.
In the meantime, I forgot to mention some important points about my trip to Delhi over a week ago. On the bus ride there I was fortunate enough to have the breakfast of my dreams. Two slabs of white bread with about 2-3 tablespoons of butter slathered on and topped off with fried wanton-esque noodles. I'm not proud of it, but in a strange way, I enjoyed it. The other very important event that occurred on the bus was that Luxembourg was described by someone as a "popcorn fart." Please begin to use this phrase widely.
Well, my days in Vrindavan are coming to a close again. The days have been full, but peaceful. I've finally been getting up a little after 4am to be ready for morning arati, which is defined by a random website as "the ceremony of offering articles to a Deity, such as incense, fire, flowers, and a fan, accompanied by the chanting of devotional hymns." Basically, it is greeting the Deities and showing appreciation and respect. This takes about thirty minutes and is followed by a bit of free time, during which most people chant the Holy names of Radha-Krishna on beads, a tradition I believe the Catholic Rosary initiated from. At 6:30 there is singing followed by a class and then breakfast prasadam (the term used for meals). During class I usually help one of the bramacharis string garlands, which is a lovely activity. After breakfast, I usually help clean up and then sometimes help cut vegetables for lunch. There is a lunch arati at 12:30 followed by the most delicious meal ever, EVERY DAY. Singing, class, and dinner repeats around 4:30 in the afternoon, with a longer break between class and dinner. Since dinner is so late, you really have to take a nap at some point in the day to be able to maintain the schedule. I'm not so good at this part, so I usually just end up passed out at various times during the day, but I'm working on that. In the spare hours of the day, I end up wandering through the market looking for random items, cleaning, doing laundry, doing a little reading, things of that sort. A wonderful older woman who lives in the Ashram has taken a liking to me and enjoys teaching me Hindi words, upon my request. So far I've learned some numbers, colors, foods and...that's about it.
So the 16th I'll be on a train for around 20 hours and then will arrive at the beach palace. I've heard so many magical things about the program there, so be excited!!! Visuals should also follow.
Much love and respect,
Kayleigh
In the meantime, I forgot to mention some important points about my trip to Delhi over a week ago. On the bus ride there I was fortunate enough to have the breakfast of my dreams. Two slabs of white bread with about 2-3 tablespoons of butter slathered on and topped off with fried wanton-esque noodles. I'm not proud of it, but in a strange way, I enjoyed it. The other very important event that occurred on the bus was that Luxembourg was described by someone as a "popcorn fart." Please begin to use this phrase widely.
Well, my days in Vrindavan are coming to a close again. The days have been full, but peaceful. I've finally been getting up a little after 4am to be ready for morning arati, which is defined by a random website as "the ceremony of offering articles to a Deity, such as incense, fire, flowers, and a fan, accompanied by the chanting of devotional hymns." Basically, it is greeting the Deities and showing appreciation and respect. This takes about thirty minutes and is followed by a bit of free time, during which most people chant the Holy names of Radha-Krishna on beads, a tradition I believe the Catholic Rosary initiated from. At 6:30 there is singing followed by a class and then breakfast prasadam (the term used for meals). During class I usually help one of the bramacharis string garlands, which is a lovely activity. After breakfast, I usually help clean up and then sometimes help cut vegetables for lunch. There is a lunch arati at 12:30 followed by the most delicious meal ever, EVERY DAY. Singing, class, and dinner repeats around 4:30 in the afternoon, with a longer break between class and dinner. Since dinner is so late, you really have to take a nap at some point in the day to be able to maintain the schedule. I'm not so good at this part, so I usually just end up passed out at various times during the day, but I'm working on that. In the spare hours of the day, I end up wandering through the market looking for random items, cleaning, doing laundry, doing a little reading, things of that sort. A wonderful older woman who lives in the Ashram has taken a liking to me and enjoys teaching me Hindi words, upon my request. So far I've learned some numbers, colors, foods and...that's about it.
So the 16th I'll be on a train for around 20 hours and then will arrive at the beach palace. I've heard so many magical things about the program there, so be excited!!! Visuals should also follow.
Much love and respect,
Kayleigh
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Whirlwind
Well, Kartika ended on November 2nd, which I believe I already mentioned. Since that time things have been quite a whirl. I was quite depressed the last day of Kartika. All of the faces I had gotten used to seeing were starting to disappear and the comfort of knowing what to expect was slipping away. I cried and cried, fearing that all of that special love and energy would be gone too. Afterwards, I moved my things in to a room in a temple in Vrindavan. Two days ago a bus full of people here loaded up and headed to Dheli to celebrate the anniversary of a temple there. There was a parade in the evening, complete with a marching band and two elephants. It was only natural that Natalie and I climb to the top of one of them and ride it for a majority of the parade. I kid you not. We got back to Vrindavan very late that evening and I spent all of yesterday in bed, except for the hour or so I wandered the market in search of elektrolytes, bananas, puffed rice and water. It was not such a good day, but I'm feeling much better now and I'm hoping that by tomorrow I will be back to my normal self.
So now that Kartika is over, what will I do? I'm guessing I will be doing almost exactly what I did the past month, except with far fewer people. All of the temples have the same schedules, with prayer, singing, and class in the morning and evening, three meals a day, and the opportunity to visit temples and dieties the remainder of the day. I will also be doing a lot of service in the temple- cleaning, helping in the kitchen, stringing garlands and anything else I volunteer to do. Right now I really enjoy doing the dirty work because it cleans all the grime in the heart. I'm considering attempting to fundraise a tiny bit of money ($100-200) to fix up spots that are somewhat deteriorated - mainly the bathrooms and showers - but we'll see. A lot of the faucets are broken, paint is stained and chipping, and it'll take a lot of acid to clean the tiles.
There's really no telling what is in store. I hope that once I'm a bit better situated I can share more details and photos with you.
hare krsna,
Kayleigh
So now that Kartika is over, what will I do? I'm guessing I will be doing almost exactly what I did the past month, except with far fewer people. All of the temples have the same schedules, with prayer, singing, and class in the morning and evening, three meals a day, and the opportunity to visit temples and dieties the remainder of the day. I will also be doing a lot of service in the temple- cleaning, helping in the kitchen, stringing garlands and anything else I volunteer to do. Right now I really enjoy doing the dirty work because it cleans all the grime in the heart. I'm considering attempting to fundraise a tiny bit of money ($100-200) to fix up spots that are somewhat deteriorated - mainly the bathrooms and showers - but we'll see. A lot of the faucets are broken, paint is stained and chipping, and it'll take a lot of acid to clean the tiles.
There's really no telling what is in store. I hope that once I'm a bit better situated I can share more details and photos with you.
hare krsna,
Kayleigh
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Belated Blogging
Hello all! So I see it has been a while since I've posted. Parikrama ended two days ago and I am very very very sad about it. I don't have the time or energy to update currently, but in the meantime, I highly HIGHLY recommend checking out my friend's blog who is here with me. She has an excellent explanation of why exactly we are all here together, along with some more pictures from my camera. The site is http://thanktherain.blogspot.com/ Enjoy!
I left Govardhan for Vrindavan today and have a room in an ashram. Tomorrow a few buses will leave from here to go to the temple in Dheli where there is a huge festival so I'm excited to sing and dance in the streets of the big city. More info soon....
love,
Kayleigh
I left Govardhan for Vrindavan today and have a room in an ashram. Tomorrow a few buses will leave from here to go to the temple in Dheli where there is a huge festival so I'm excited to sing and dance in the streets of the big city. More info soon....
love,
Kayleigh
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