Doesn’t Everyone,
including the yogis or perhaps especially the yogis, Patanjali’s urging to avoid getting caught up in the pair of opposites, pleasure and pain not withstanding,

including the yogis or perhaps especially the yogis, Patanjali’s urging to avoid getting caught up in the pair of opposites, pleasure and pain not withstanding,

It’s a call for these times.

Today, instead of going with the group to visit a Hanuman temple a couple of valleys away (which entailed at least two hours each way of hairpin turns and going through a construction zone so dusty tying a t-shirt or scarf around my head would be necessary and having almost no opportunity to take care of biological needs), I chose to stay back. I honored the spirit of Hanuman with seva in the form of a morning helping tend the grounds.
In the afternoon I will walk into the village with two others who are in residence here. One a Canadian Indian who is a Kabir scholar, the other a Dutch woman who has been spending a month or two every year for the past decade.
There is a Siva festival going on. It is loud even up here on the hill. I will have my earplugs.
I am appreciating getting to connect to the space and the people who live and serve here in a way that I could not when surrounded by the rest of the group. It was very grounding for me, too, to spend a few hours gardening.