It's a small world after all

I heard someone calling me in Nityananda's temple after evening Arti. I turned around and found Collette, a woman I met at Swami Sunday in Downingtown, PA. I remembered her clearly. She drove down from Connecticut for the program and left her house at 4am. It sounded like the kind of madcap adventure I'd embark on. How crazy that we'd reconnect halfway around the world in a tiny village in the jungles of India! Where Nityananda (the great saint that Ganeshpuri was built around) is concerned, things like this happen all the time.

One of the perks of staying at Yogini's is that I get to invite anyone I want over for a meal. I just need to give Pushkar a day's notice. I had Colette over for lunch. After lunch, we got to do some shopping in Yogini's living room. Jayesh, a local Warli artist, had set up his artwork for our perusal.

Rajji, Jayesh, Collette, myself, Pushkar, Premila and Jay Ram (another guest at Yogini's house)

Another funny small world story- In my first week here, I was invited to attend a satsang at a nearby guest house, Guru Krupa. The satsang was for a group from Italy and was hosted by Prasad, one of the temple priests.

As Prasad (standing) spoke, Roberto (seated) translated into Italian. Roberto was the leader of the group of 11 from Italy. I enjoyed listening to the Italian even though I didn't understand.

Fast forward to my side trip to Varanasi. You'll never guess who I ran into at the jyotirlingam temple. This same group! We had hugs all around, and went on our way. Then later that same day, we ran into them at the restaurant we take all our meals at when in Varanasi, Suryoday.

This time we got a picture!

My final small world story (for now) is about my lucky timing. Swami Shankarananda is the Swami that gave Gurudevi sanyass (the ceremony that makes you a Swami). He has an Ashram in Australia, the Ashram Mt. Eliza. I've read some of his books and am Facebook friends with several members of his community. I like to think of his community as our Guru cousins. Same lineage, as Swami Shankarananda's Guru was also Muktananda, my Guru's Guru. Swami Shankarananda has a group here in Ganeshpuri right now. About 50 people are on retreat with him, including Aussies, Brits and Americans. It's so fun to meet more of my Facebook friends in real life! And that group has a public satsang every night at 5:30.

It's been so sweet to listen to teachings, chant and meditate with this group! I am grateful for the generosity of the Ashram Mt Eliza in opening their satsangs to the community. Lots of locals come each night. I've been asked if I live here in Ganeshpuri. My response is "only in my dreams"!