I have a Guru! A music Guru anyway... Her name is Anita and she is so beautiful and kind. She is my teacher for voice lessons and I have decided to study with her for my duration here (it was an easy decision to make; Ben and I both adore her). We went to her concert last night, with the three teachers performing classical Indian music. Her husband teaches tabla and djembe and I am going to start studying with him in a few days. The third teacher teaches flute and all three are masters of their craft. I am really loving the lessons and find singing classical Indian deeply enjoyable.
The concert was really wonderful, and I left feeling high and pretty much floated out. We almost didn't make it as it was pooring down rain, and we had a twenty minute walk, but it was our "Guruji" performing so we braved it and were so happy we did.
We have made new friends with a couple from Canada who are studying Ayurvedic massage. Unfortunately, they needed some folks to practice on, so we nobly volunteered ;-). We have enjoyed their sweet energy and it was really a blessing to try out the Indian style of massage after so many Thai massages.
One of our most esoteric adventures, was a trip to a Vedic Astrologer. His name was "Jai"... :-)...Ben went first and I had an opportunity to see if it was something i wanted to pay for. It was about $14, and after he amazed us with his accuracy in Bens reading, I jumped at the chance. He talked about my past, present and future using my astrology and some of his intuition. He was right on! I was really impressed. In Vedic astrology, I am not a Gemini; I am a Taurus, with a Taurus moon and an Aries rising. What he read to me felt so much more accurate (at this time of my life) than previous readings I have had with western astrology. How is vedic different from western? In western astrology, we do not take into account the tilt of the earth... Which makes a big difference! So what did he tell me? That I would make a good clothing designer; and I would be good in the holistic sciences; I cannot be happy if my life does not involve travel and change; that it was a good time to be studying; I would have a long, fruitful life and die peaceful; and some other things which are secret ;-)
We are reveling in the sweet and pure Tibetan energy; embracing these beings and their struggles. We found a nice female tibetan tailor, and had her make us some wool coats. We had tea with her and discussed her experiences in these hard times. She came to India 8 years ago, and had to leave her 3 children back in tibet. She has only seen them one time since came here, and she and her husband are working and praying to bring them here. Being here, really feels as though we are suffering along with these people. It's very tragic, their plight in Tibet... A few days ago, two 20 yr old boys, self immolated in Tibet, in protest to the Chinese occupation. It was very sad here, and we joined a march with the local Tibetans... carrying candles and chanting, for the freedom of their nation and culture. Afterward, we went to our Tibetan monk friends, at the volunteer center, and had Tibetan pizza and watched a movie about the Dalai llama and his current situation with Tibet. It's such an old story... This taking land and freedom from undeserving people, in order to gain power, resources, or control. When will we learn that the way to ever really receive... Is to give? That when we take from others, we take from ourselves?
It's not for us to hate the Chinese either. As the Dalai llama says... It's not about Tibet being its own country .. It's about humanity being united and living together in peace on planet earth. It's about Tibetans and Chinese (and the rest of us) living in harmony without a need to create borders; control culture and religion; fear and fight for power... Its about Coexisting. All of us.
It's time for these struggles to end. The fear that there is not enough... There is plenty for all. When we all stop hoarding what we have in fear that we each might lose out on something... We will find all our brothers and sisters on this planet are warm, fed, healthy and happy. And by we, I mean me too. I am also working on letting go of the fear that there is not enough. How can we share what we have with those who are less fortunate? Can we choose to have just a little less? A few less things, and give to others what will be worth so much more to them than to us? How can we better unite our world, by starting in our own community?
One step, is to care. To remember our brothers and sisters of the world, and to let ourselves care about them as if they were as close to us as our own family... For in fact, they are. They are you....You are them... We are all One.... We can never truly experience peace within ourselves until all beings are peaceful....
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