Fallen Woman

I got up in the middle of the full moon night on Tuesday/Wednesday to use the bathroom and fell face-first onto the edge of the wood bed frame. The impact was between the nose and teeth and the pain was immediate and intense. I fell onto the floor, woke Shambo and asked him to get ice, and got into child’s pose.... and proceeded to go into shock; the pain was profound. 

I spent Wednesday resting and applying ice (20 minutes on, 20 minutes off — as we learned in Sri Dharma’s 500-hour training). Tired and nauseous, I ended up watching a Hindi movie I’d downloaded from Netflix before I left — called Firebrand. It’s about a low-caste, successful women’s divorce lawyer whose past (she was raped as a child) keeps coming back to haunt her.  The solution was brilliant; her doctor had her write down what happened in detail and read it to herself in the front of the mirror - every night for a week (each night, she writes it down and reads it). By the end she’s bored with it; it has become just “a story” and loses its power over her.  Most important, her identity as a victim disappears. I thought that part was brilliant, given what we are trying to do in Jnana Yoga (stop identifying with our false identities, and realize our one single identity — the impersonal Self).

In any case I had plenty of time to hydrate (we can drink straight from the kitchen tap here, thanks to reverse osmosis filtration), use the bathroom and look at the mirror. At some point I noticed that my nose looked and felt a little off — kind of like someone else’s nose.

When Uma and Shambo got home from the ashram, they looked at the nose and thought it was fine. Nonetheless Uma - who lives here more or less full-time — made some calls and found an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist who was willing to see me on Thursday morning despite being closed for the Holi holiday. We took a looong rickshaw ride there and he confirmed my suspicion that it  needed straightening, which he did then and there. He also gave me a prescription for some tablets (for the pain and swelling) and liquid paraffin drops (to apply to the interior) — and would not allow me to pay for the visit.

Later I found out he’s a well-known neck surgeon and university professor and has many, many specialities and accolades. 

And he saw me with my comparatively minor injury on his day off.

Without being paid.

Jai Guru