Vinn's Journal
January 2009 |
Auroville, India, the City of the Future. There are ways, internal and inspirational, in which this is certainly true. I have difficulty with the unpaved, pothole, red dirt, jump in your nostril dust roads used for transport in this city of the future. However, the people I met possessed a saintly sweetness and a secure surrounding field that was permeable and powerful. There is a development of spiritual straightforwardness and traditional tenderness exhibited by the people that placed all in a cocoon of care. This space held very little sway for deadlines and agendas.
My journey to this spot of devotion and duty is continuing to charge my cells and hold this erratic mind and weary heart in a place of longing to return. I spent only a little over two weeks, not a significant time on the calendar, yet the eternality that is in the stale air and the infinite sense of life experienced in the throngs of families lined up on Sunday to receive darshan told another story of impermanence, timelessness, duty, and service. There is recognition in my bones and comfort in my cells, despite the many inconveniences experienced. An avalanche of reinterpretation and unfamiliarity is cascading throughout this everyday world I return to. This world is vanishing, and in its place a dream of madness and mystery; devotion and duty.
As we embarked from a plane ride across half a world, a sea of small dark faces huddled together for what seemed like miles holding placards scrawled with names of those seeking cab rides met us. Our close to three- hour ride through the narrow and dark roads toward our destination was like no other. Zipping to fill the empty space and avoid cow herds, families of four riding a motorbike, shuffling saddhus, grazing goats, village dogs, and the oncoming traffic complete with hi-beam in the eye, informed me immediately that we were “no longer in Kansas, Toto!”
Yet, it all seems to work, it seemed to me as if there is a refusal to get rattled or panic at the numerous near-death experiences of vehicle, animal, people, and dust. I spotted a tranquil demeanor and a spaciousness between thought and action that allowed for an unknown third way to uncover the stale and steady. All this in the midst of high cacophony, with relentless and maximum decibel levels.
It occurred to me that as I was not being harangued to buy the latest and the greatest, there was more allowance for the greatness of people interacting with one another to unfold, even as the protocol was completely foreign. Nothing seemed to work and nothing seemed set; arrival times, working water pipes, electricity pushing the lights to flicker on and off. All the while this weary westerner found a welcome in the respite created by this inoperative field of energy.
The bombardment of environment upon individual is everywhere present, in this case, however, the commercial, cataloged, and entertained diversion is not how it reveals itself. Here there is dust, heat, swerving objects, beggars, and babies lying on sidewalks in Tamil villages being watched by toddlers. They provide landing stips for the omnipresent flies. Here, the bombardment comes in the guise of everyday up-close and personal human condition; suffering, gaiety, festivity, and mundane maneuvers of basic survival.
Through it all there is a desire to return. There is a knowing that this path is just beginning to reveal a direction for my later years. I trust that vision, viewpoints, and impressions will continue to be balanced by an understanding of the politics, history, and culture of the people. To move within this field of conscious everyday dance and devotion is providing a centered point shifting toward an edge. This edge has a sharp sheen that is mirroring the experience of unity with all people regardless of cultural conditions or lifestyle.
I remain unsullied and inexperienced. Yet, the spirit, prayers, and presence that imbue nostril and cell cannot be mistaken. This is a seismic shift in consciousness and grace and faith and duty that is undeniable. This journey to India has set this soul in motion toward a direction ancient in origin and I remain in awe of what is unveiling.
vinn, in love and gratitude