Expect the Unexpected

I forgot to mention in the last post about how our ricksha driver, Vijay, was concerned that some locals might “want to play Holi” and throw colored powder on us during yesterday’s trip to the clinic.  I told him we were wearing old clothes and it would be fine. Nonetheless he carefully  unrolled and snapped in the covers for the sides and back of the rickshaw so no one could see us.  At the end of the odyssey — which included stops at the pharmacy and a fruit stand —  I asked how much we owed him.

“As you wish,” he replied.

* * * 

Shambo and I had a deep, dreamless sleep-type nap after our morning session and lunch at the ashram.  We were both still groggy when Uma came and told us that Gurudev would be away from the ashram at a special Kriya Yoga camp outside the city from that afternoon until Sunday night.  

Flummoxed, we weren’t sure what to do - since he’s the reason we’re here. I’d been entertaining thoughts of taking Shambo to Ramana Maharshi’s ashram in Arunachala in Tamil Nadu for his birthday next week (since he is a disciple of Ramana) -- but had decided against it since we’d both rather be with Gurudev. 

But now it seemed like it might be a good idea. So I spent some time trying to get logged  onto Yatra.com to research flights and accommodations (not easy with broken reading glasses +  no WiFi +  limited bandwidth; finally I realized I could use my phone as a hotspot and do the research on the iPad). Meanwhile Shambo spent some time digging up the contact info for a travel agent he’d stayed with years ago. After our research, we decided to let the idea percolate while we took a walk along a nearby “nature trail” that leads to a small, very dear Hanuman temple. 

We’d turned down the road and were heading towards nature when I had a strong feeling we should turn back and go to the ashram.  

“What time is aarti?” I asked Shambo. 

“Right about now,” he replied. 

“Let’s go,” I suggested, and he agreed.

When we got to the ashram, we were surprised to see that it was just as busy as usual. 

And then we saw that  Gurudev was still there, radiating peace.

Not only did we get to spend more time with him, but also got to enjoy aarti *and*  see him off.

Jai Guru!