Indian Hospitality

This week has been a long week here in Mysore..I have seen so much this week that I can only say my love for India is more intense than ever..I know I am constantly writing about how the Indian people are so beautiful but they really are and I am surprised everyday with the love they show me and one another..I was riding the bus this week into Mysore City to get out of Gokulum for the day..It was 97 degrees and I ended up on one of the older buses which is great because it shows you how we take so much for granted like cars and transportation with AC...The busses get packed tightly and you end up hanging out of the door of the bus holding on to the door rail so you won't fall out..This bus was very crowded but not to the point where you had to hang out a window or an open door..I was standing closer to the middle when the bus stopped and a young mother got on..There is no where to sit so she has to stand with her young child pressed against her chest...the next thing I know she hands her baby to a woman sitting down and pushes her way a bit further through the bus to make room for other people..The lady she handed her baby to holds him close and smiles very gently as she rocks the child back and forth...About ten minutes later the mother pushes her way back to the front of the bus and the lady holding her child hands back her little baby..The grateful mother nods and smiles at the lady who was sitting down holding her chlid and than gets off the bus..It was so beautiful..A mother can trust another human so much she will hand off her child to a complete stranger on a public bus to hold while she travels to her destination..I think this shows how magnificant and loving the Indian people are..I think to myself that this country is magical but in reality.... this country is just more evolved in many ways compared to other places in the world..


This week is also a bit sad because I am seeing some of the people I consider family now leaving and going back home..The shala is becoming more crowded and the faces are becoming more and more unfamiliar..I know I should practice detachment but it is hard because in reality I will never see some of these people again..It is bitter sweet because even though these people are gone in the physical reality I have many great memories that I will keep with me forever..I also know many of these beautiful people will be with me in my heart everytime I put my mat down and practice..I am beginning to understand the idea of connection in the spiritual way but there is the emotional attachment to the faces and voices that you get used to hearing and seeing on a daily basis..These people become your family when you need a safe place to go or just need to laugh out loud or sit and have coffee..It is a sad yet happy and beautiful thing..You know some people you have known before from another time..some people you have known for many life times...and some people you have never met and never will again..These people become your family...these people become part of your heart and part of your being...It is a lovely and special thing.
 

In saddness there is always a bit of happiness and in happiness there is always a bit of saddness..I will remember the joy in my heart when I think of the young lady on the bus on the way to Mysore City or the beautiful people I now consider my family I have met here in Gokulam..We are all family and we are all love...We are all one another in each other...and in one another we are love.

Om Shanti Shanti