We Made It, At Last

To Stupa Guest House, that is. To the mandala that is Sherabling. We're in the sacred space, and we're pretty exhausted. Almost three days to get here from Los Angeles, a total of about 19 or 20 air hours, three flights, sitting, waiting, rushing, additional hours riding in cars, crossing 12 hours of time zones.........and I'm feeling my ageing body more acutely as well. I know I'll recover and rebalance and reorient in the next few days, my bodily systems and functions adjusting to the upside down flip of things; starting to get some excercise by taking my morning 2 mile walk up and down the hills, resting, absorbing the substance of where we now are. Grace and gratitude, my functional mantra at this stage of my life. We're both very happy, and very grateful to be here again, and we're looking forward to allowing the reality of this place to sink in, and to take us over. Ahhhhhhhhh.

That was yesterday upon our arrival. This morning, after a very early retirement last night, and a mostly good on again/off again sleep, I was up early to catch the shift from dark to light, to watch the bright light of Venus rise into the sun's obliterating brightness, and to spend some focused time chanting through it all. 

Giving thanks and devotions to Tara, and bowing vocally to Shiva, the Maha Deva, Lord of this region of India, welcoming us back yet again.

              our room on 2nd floor far right

Safe and sound we're back! 

all my senses enlivened 

protected with love 

 This and that involved in getting settled in: the morning walk; kora (circumambulating the eight beautiful stupas outside our door); restaurant meals of good Indian or Tibetan food prepared mostly by our friend of some years now, Sonu; a comically aborted attempt to get a sim card in Baijnath at a sim card shop that our new preferred driver, Kala, took us to and tried to facilitate for us (the government requirements for sim cards, at least for foreigners, are sufficiently convoluted so as to make it virtually impossible to achieve, and the flustered young woman who did her best to make it happen could not navigate the system any more than we could have ourselves, leaving both Kala and herself, from my point of view, a bit ashamed and in her case, relieved that we finally said "no problem, forget about it", scooped up my passports and left. We'll try again next day in Bir, where we were able to achieve this otherwise herculean feat last year by using the services of a fellow who enjoyed the capacity to circumvent all government regs and give us both (I assume inappropriately registered) sim cards. Hopefully he's still in business! 

         lovely outside dining patio

 We catch village scoop 

marriages, babies, good health; 

impermanent joys 

 So we're step by step making the transition from "the world" to "the retreat". Today, I'm told by Miss Nancy, our previously favored driver, Bihari Lal, a local villager whose home we were invited to take dinner in and meet Mrs. Bihari Lal and the two little ones a few years ago now, will come to visit us this afternoon. Coincidentally he is home for two months vacation from his current work as a driver in Kuwait, to where he will return. We've been in touch with him over the years via WhatsApp video calls from time to time, and we'll meet in person today after probably 5 years.

        Bihari Lal and wife years ago

 One word to describe

 this deep feeling of heart home: 

love, pure, and simple