Not sleeping with the enemy; not sleeping with the fishes; not Dances with Wolves; but sleeping with goats. Goats in the bedroom!  The school is nearly, nearly finshed; really, really! But until the painting's finished and the windows are in I'm sharing a room in Mahavir's house with his son and 3 baby goats.  They were 2 days old when I arrived last week and in order for them to stay warm, and to avoid accidental damage from the older goats they are placed on a sack and covered with a large round basket. It's kind of homely and smells warmly earthy. So the kids are safe and warm. Meanwhile Mahavir shares the living area with his wife, one son, the builder and the carpenter - the last three sleeping on the floor. It started me thinking of the variety of accommodation I have enjoyed in the last year or two. 

The variety of transport, too, is exceedingly interesting; trains, planes and automobiles; auto rickshaws and a motor scooter - not to mention walking the mountain paths and the 50 minutes climb up the steep hillside to get to the road at Mahavir's village, Purmushi.  But, for interest, travelling the mountain roads in Indian buses is hard to beat.  Last week I caught the 5.30am bus from Rishikesh to Pauri.  Although it's only about 90 miles it takes 5 hours including a 20 minute breakfast break. It was still dark when I boarded the bus and I was lucky enough to get the back seat in the middle.  It bounces more at the back but there is also more leg room.  Bus seats are spaced for the average Indian of 5 feet 5 inches with short legs, and the seat width for the average Indian buttocks - equivalent to that of an American 5 year old.  Pleased with my shrewd seat choice I settled down for an hour of meditation - not an easy proposition as we started bouncing along.  Then the bus interior light went on as the conductor came round for the fares.  That's OK I can cope with that.  Then the driver decided that we would like some music (at 5.45am??) and it was then I discovered the loudspeaker was 1 foot above and behind my head. Now the music itself is quite enjoyable.  But the only volume control in all India is MAXIMUM.  However,as I was getting Bengali rhythms pounded into my crown chakra I smugly pulled from my rucksack my secret weapon - ear mufflers - the kind that you see workers wearing as they operate pneumatic drills. I sometimes use them for meditation if there is a lot of extraneous noise. As the only white face on a full bus (25 seats,30 passengers!) I must have been a strange sight.

Two thirds of the road is along monsoon-damaged, rutted and narrow roads, often with steep drops a few feet away.  They should have road signs  indicating "S- bends for 50 km".  As the bus swings round the bends the passengers swing from side to side, squeezing shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip and not infrequently being bounced right out of the seat to come down with a grunt almost on a neighbour's lap. Meanwhile the terraced mountainside plunges in steep terraces to the river 1500 feet below. Look down if you dare! I used to get quite nauseated (chewing fresh ginger really helps), but now it doesn't bother me. But I still don't look down for more than a few seconds.

I returned to Rishikesh a few days ago.  A friend from Delhi was bringing some books for me (books which had been sent from the UK).  Mahavir and I left the house at 6.30am and arrived in Rishikesh at at 3.30pm.  I met my friend from Ananda that evening .  She gave me 2 books, though not THE books.  My books were still in Delhi with another friend who had borrowed them,with my permission. It had not been possible to effect the transfer from one friend to the other.  A wasted journey then? Not at all. My return to Rishikesh coincided with 2 groups of Ananda pilgrims, a large group from Italy and a small (but beautiful) group of 5 people from America and Canada.  I joined the small group at 7am this morning for energisation exercises and meditation beside the Ganges. At coffee afterwards the conversation turned to philosophy and Heraclitus' statement "You could not step twice into the same river; for other waters are forever flowing on to you." For me the analogy with life can go further.  We can step into the river, we can experience the river, we can flow with the river - - and we can become one with the river. We can allow life to flow through us. In the river you can flow with the current or fight against it. Life can be so much more joyful if we surrender; if we allow life to flow through us. Many want to be in control and may fight against what is trying to happen through them; yet we cannot be in control of anything. To surrender, to become one with the river is the ultimate aim. And so with life; if you can flow with life, or, more rightly, if you let life flow through you, if you allow to happen what is trying to happen in your life, your life will become easier and more joyful.

We can choose to live our lives consciously.  We can be conscious and careful of what and how we think. Our thoughts create our reality - this is not new teaching. Remember the film "What the Bleep do we Know"  or the scientific proofs in "It's the Thought that Counts" or the work of Dr Masaru Emoto and "Messages from Water". And in the higher practices of meditation the meditator becomes one with the object on which he meditates - whether that it a goat, a candle, - or God. Do you want to become one with God or one with a goat?   Mind your thoughts. We are actors in the play of maya or illusion; an illusion created by our mental thoughts and ideas. Surrender to your HIgher Self, it wants the best for you  If you meditate, or pray, then you might like to focus on surrendering - surrendering to God, spirit, your Higher Self, or Higher consciousness - whichever term resonates with you.

I believe that everyone's life is a great adventure; but many people are not conscious of the adventure. By surrendering to the flow of life, by letting go, you can have a greater adventure than you can ever imagine.  It's the journey of the Soul.

With warmest blessings

Stan