temples and frogs

going up?
Mon, 19 Sep 2005

The morning began with a long trek north across town (involving much gridlock) to visit an amazing temple of the Sri Vidya Tradition. This day is hugely significant owing to some astrological transit (something about the planet Guru moving into Virgo) that Shyamala was privy to. The first thing I noticed about this temple was that the priests actually look happy (this is extremely unusual).... which makes me happy! The main murti (focus of devotion) is a 3 dimensional green granite Sri Chakra (yantra), looking like a mountain of triangles. To one side was a trio of Naga (snake) deities and to the other side a series of 18 siddha saints, there was a homa (fire) burning in the center of the temple into which all sorts of sacred offering were being given (rice, ghee, gallons of honey, flowers, coconuts, camphor, etc.). A few of the dance students in Boulder had asked me to have pujas (ceremonies) conducted for them if I got a chance and whoa nelly! Did I ever get a chance! The priest was very nice and took care of everyone's requests...

Let me make another note of the local fauna here-- while the puja was occurring a chubby frog, about the size of an orange, jumped across the temple floor and placed himself squarely under the Ganapati (Ganesha) shrine and looked out at everyone. I was doing my giddy, "How cool is that?" thing to which the priest replied the frog lives there because its cool.... yes! Just as I said...COOL! I so enjoyed watching him hop across all of the kolam designs, smearing rice flour all over his belly. If none of this speaks to you let it be said that the entire thing was my masala cup of tea!

For many years India has been recognized as having the most effective recycling program in the world and I would have to attest to the truth of this....NOTHING is left behind. From the moment our trash bag hits the garbage man's hands the process begins. He comes by at 7am each morning and yells for us to bring the 'rubbish' outside. He then stands on the sidewalk sorting all of the various materials into tidy piles (which can prove to be a little embarrassing but I try to convince myself that he's seen it all), which he carries away on a (non-polluting) bicycled lorry. Not a single shred of paper or banana peel (given to the cows) escapes his keen eye.

And a couple days ago I was trapped in one of those famous Indian lines, the sort that move 3 inches per hour. I spent the entire time transfixed by the "Saga of the Paper Cup". The cup in question was perched on top a 5 gallon water jug and was used by no less than 50 people before I finally had to move on and let the conclusion play out on its own. I've no doubt that the cup is still there, waiting to hydrate the next person. People simply don't touch the cup to their mouths; they hold it high up and pour. ...In theory this seems to work nicely but let me tell you a secret-- I think I may have been the only person watching when a flock of children used to cup as a soccer ball for a good 5 minutes.... and then placed it atop the jug again (they've been trained well!) when finished...of course!....

Shyamala's quote from dance class last night:
"Don't think and everything will come out right."

That's all for this evening from Shakti Transmissions