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“Magic Carpet Ride”

As I was hefting my heavy day pack over my shoulder to get ready to leave for the airport, I said to my roommate for the week, “now is the time I wish I could just take a magic carpet ride.”

“It would be pretty windy,” he replied.

What I wanted from the magic carpet ride was not to have to sit in traffic to get to the airport or deal with the security check in and boarding and potential delays, etc.  The fact that the plane can get me from one climate to another in two hours is pretty magical.

I decided to play “Magic Carpet Ride” on my ipod while I was waiting for my flight to send it magic carpet ride energy–on time boarding, no problems with the plane, a smooth and comfortable ride, which it turned out to be.  Usually I listen to quiet music or recorded teleseminars for my studies with Paul Muller-Ortega when I am traveling.  Yesterday, I decided to see what ipod’s “genius” function would come up with following “Magic Carpet Ride.”  First came something by the Clash, not a bad segue. I wasn’t sure that fit my mood, but decided I would go with it until the plane took off.

To my shock, because one would expect a series of rock and roll songs, the next track was an invocation to Lakshmi–kind of rocked out, but still, not what I would have expected.  That was followed by a series of chants to Siva intermixed with three different versions of the maha mrityunjaya mantra.  “Ah,” I thought, “genius knows I have been practicing yoga all week and then celebrating mahasivaratri.  How very extraordinary sometimes the interplay of the subtle energies and technology!”

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    A Letter from Tamil Nadu

    The attached photo of devotees at a kumkum-reddened shrine to Hanuman is just a taste of the extraordinary things I have been privileged to experience and witness in this journey.  I think that there as many reasons to go on a pilgrimage and as many experiences of it as there are people.  For both the challenges and the wonders, I have been given a chance to feel and shift and explore myself at the deepest levels.

    As you know, I had planned to take a mini-sabbatical from posting photos and writing while I was on the trip.  I was faced with an opportunity, though, from a lesson in both non-attachment and gratitude that opened up this opportunity to share.

    On our first full day in Madurai, we went to see the famous Meenakshi temple.  The experience at this temple was different from that we had in other temples for two significant reasons.  The first was that the inner sanctum was rigidly restricted only to Hindus.  Ironically, this correspondingly led to a permission to take photographs within the temple (usually forbidden) because we who are allowed only in the other parts of the temple are viewed more like tourists than worshippers.

    Right before we went to the temple, my camera reported that the battery was exhausted; intermittent power the night before must have prevented my getting it properly charged.  I took out my Blackberry as a second best alternative.  It had somehow turned itself on and depleted the charge looking for a radio signal even though I had turned off both the phone and Internet connections.  I couldn’t imagine making it through the rest of day without being able to take another photograph, and it appeared that I had no choice other than to call in what I have learned from yoga practice about non-attachment.  (Yes, I recognize that for even the most avid of amateur photographers, this was not a big loss).

    As grace would have it, though, a fellow enthusiastic photographer on the trip hearing of my predicament understood completely.  He had three cameras and his fiancee also had one.  He handed me the extra camera and showed me the basics.  The next day, he uploaded the photos I had shot onto my IPad, giving me a lesson in technology, along with the loan of the camera.  I may have avoided having to practice non-attachment for this minor moment of potential disappointment, but I was definitely gifted with a big opportunity to practice gratitude.  Having been the recipient of this gift, I wanted to share a little with you.

    I look forward to sharing more images and stories when I return, especially with all of my students when winter classes resume in January.

    Devotees of Hanuman

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