Puttaparti

My first shock was at the Bangalore bus station - I hadn't been on the bus from Bangalore for 4 years and the ticket price was then Rs60 - we were charged Rs450 for 2. I nearly fell over. Then we saw the bus - 2nd shock. A new Volvo luxury air conditioned coach - the only concession to Old was the 1960 Bollywood B & W movie. The 3rd shock was that we were here in only 3 hours. But the ashram here still has the same energy permeating the entire place, no matter what changes might occur on the outside. An Indian sage once said "All the religions are made up of words - take away the words and what remains?" Well, what remains can be directly felt in the silent unspoken presence of someone like Sai Baba. It is felt as Deep Peace, vibrant and dynamic. There are so many teachers who have lots to say, but when the words are taken away there is nothing left. Here that essence is felt powerfully and sinks in deeply and permanently. The same sage said "Real help is never repeated", and so it is. The sore bum from sitting for hours goes away, but the positive energy continues. At a place like this not a lot happens on the outside (apart from the occasional illness), but much happens within.
On our first evening here, we were walking along the street when I said to Cathy, "I haven't met anyone I know", then within a few seconds we met my old friend Maggie Wallace who I have known for nearly 30 years, but only seen a couple of times in the past 20. Maggie was teaching at a school for indigenous kids at Alice Springs for many years, so it was a lovely reunion - we'll be meeting up for lunch today. And then last night we met up with Evie Borowski who came over to Australia to visit Christmas before last.
A cloudy day today has taken the edge off the regular 36 degrees.