Devotion

When I arrived in India, the customs official asked me what I liked about India. Without a second thought, I said the devotion. I see it everywhere: in the many temples and sacred sites; in the offerings of flowers, food, and sacred greenery at the temples, and to the cows, trees, and holy sites. 

They start early here. I've seen infants handed off to priests so their head can be touched to a holy statue. I've seen older babies squirming as their parents push their head down to bow and touch their forehead to a holy statue. I've seen children barely able to stand, but they know how to bring their hands together in prayer, touch them to the ground, and then to their heart. I remember something Gurudevi told me on my first visit to Ganeshpuri. She said little children running away from their mothers will still stop to bow at an altar. 

The air feels thick with devotion here. It's everywhere I look, and so much of what I see. I believe that says more about my inner state than my outer surroundings. I remember something our retreat organizer said to me on my last trip at the end of Gurudevi's retreat. I was telling the owners of the retreat center what a lovely place they had. Iqbal told me I had lovely eyes. I thought he was complimenting their color or something. Then he said, "You have lovely eyes, so everything you see is lovely." Now my eyes are filled with devotion. And it's so easy to see and feel here. That's something I want to bring with me when I leave.