Speaking Marathi.....
We are beginning to break through the language barrier a little each day here in Maharashtra as we finish our fifth week of Marathi classes. Three times a week we meet for two hours with Gita, a Elementary Teacher who was trained in English-speaking Convent schools for her entire education. Marathi is not her first language, but she had to learn it when she married Pravin 22 yrs ago. She says it took her 12 years to master the language, but since it is not her first language she has an idea of what it takes to learn it as an adult. She primarily teaches English to children, so she is interested in languages and how best to teach languages.

We are her first Westerners, and maybe adults as well, so she is having to adjust to our desires and needs. Dewa (Dahvee) does not want to sit on the floor as it hurts his knees. I like sitting on the floor for it made of tile and offers some refreshing coolness in the heat of the day. She is most comfortable sitting on the floor as are most Indian people we have met. Chairs are uncommon. This has impacted our instruction in that Dewa is higher than the teacher. Also he is an older male, and women have to reduce their contact with men, although they would tell you this is not so. It is just in the culture. So we have had to take this into consideration when participating in the instruction. Dewa can be left out if we don’t make a point to include him. Things one takes for granted can become a challenge to overcome.

We started with learning to hear, pronounce, write, and read the 12 vowels. With each letter, she assigns about five words to memorize. Now we have begun to learn the 24 consonants. Last weekend went to the beach for two nights. Along the way we were able to read the mileage signs and the name of our destination. Made us feel we are learning something. On the way home, we played a game with our two drivers. We spoke the Marathi words we knew, hoping that we could pronounce them correctly and they would recognize them. Their challenge was to interpret it correctly into English. The four of us got the pleasure of practicing our language skills with each other. I think we probably pronounced 80% of the words correctly.

Yesterday a woman came up to me saying “Aunti, Aunti.” I turned around to meet a woman I had seen the night before in the Nityananda Temple. I asked her for her name in my limited Marathi, but I must have gotten it right, for she told me her name. It always feels exhilarating when somebody speaks back to you. They light up to realize that you just spoke to them in Marathi. Of course, then they go on to speak so rapidly you don’t stand a chance to answer. This is when I have to pull out the standard phrase, “Me Marathi bolto nay,” which means I don’t speak Marathi. This too usually gets a laugh out of everyone. One person told us it will take us 4 years to learn Marathi. Neither Dewa nor I ever became fluent in Spanish and only speak like children, but it has always opened doors for us that we can do that much. Maybe in the next six months we will be able to have some little conversations with our neighbours.
India is a land of many languages and so it is very common that everyone speaks two to four languages. Here in Maharashtra, Marathi, Hindi and English are most common. A lot of the Indian people we meet are from a different state, and that means their first language is from their home state, and Hindi, Marathi and English are added on later. Actually, I feel a lot of admiration for these people who can speak four languages and it inspires me to make the effort to learn Marathi as well.
We learned the other day that Marathi is a derivative of Sanskrit. Here is what Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia had to say:
Marathi (मराठी Marāṭhī) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of south western India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are 90 million fluent speakers worldwide.[2] Marathi is the 4th most spoken language in India[6] and the 15th most spoken language in the world.[3] Marathi is the oldest of the regional literatures in Indo-Aryan languages, dating from about AD 1000.[7]
Marathi is estimated to be more than 1300 years old, evolving from Sanskrit through Prakrit and Apabhramsha. Its grammar and syntax derive from Pali[citation needed] and Prakrit. In ancient times, Marathi was called Maharashtri, Marhatti, Mahratti etc.

Marathi
मराठी Marāṭhī
Marathi written in Devanāgarī and Modi

Pronunciation
[məˈɾaʈʰi]
Spoken in
India , Israel and Mauritius[1]
Marathi speaking population is found in United States, Suriname, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Netherlands, Canada, UAE, South Africa, Israel, Pakistan Singapore, Germany, UK, Australia & New Zealand
Region
Maharashtra, Goa, parts of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Sindh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu
Total speakers
Total 90 million speakers[2]70 million native, 20 million second language
Ranking
15[3] (native)15[2] (combined)
Language family
Indo-European
· Indo-Iranian
o Indo-Aryan
§ Southern Indo-Aryan
§ Marathi
Writing system
Devanagari script, Modi script (traditional)
Official status
Official language in
India (State of Maharashtra, Union territories of Daman-Diu)[4] and Dadra Nagar Haveli[5]
Regulated by
Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad & various other institutions
Language codes

Marathi is spoken in India, Mauritius and Israel. Marathi is also spoken by emigrant Maharashtrians worldwide, especially in the U.S. and Europe.

FIRE MOUNTAIN ANIMAL REFUGE

Many of you Fire Mountain Fans already know a feline being has been added to our sanctuary at Fire Mountain - - the name, Kalidas, a fitting handle for this sleek, agile, sensitive, playful, deep jet black handsome cat creature. Kalidas is both affectionate and independent. He plays happily and stalks the kitchen for rodents like a pro. He is appropriately intense and severe and will also climb into you lap and up your chest and rub the side of his head against your chin mixing his energies with yours in an unusual and endearing way.
Now we have a new canine entry into the family by the name of Bhiwandi, after the Goddess Bhiwandi, who we went to visit on our recent trip to Tuljapur. Bhiwandi is cute as can be. We picked her out of the litter because she seems to reside in deep peace and emptiness. We are hoping to learn from her. White with light coffee patches of color, a shortee tail, and a little tank body, she is a survivor just by her looks and attitude alone. Fearlessly innocent, she launches into experiences without a thought of safety or consequences and is determined to chew the world to bits. Protect your telephone and computer cables ladies and gentlemen - - they are fair game and will quickly succumb to Bhiwandi’s merciless attacks. Toes and fingers are in danger as well, and watch your step as unwanted gifts lay about for the unwary. She’s cute and can get away with anything because of it. Bhiwandi and Kalidas are working out a friendship at this time and have graduated from hesitant approaches and timid swipes at each other to some actual playful animal run, jump, attack, retreat, tease tactics and the promise is one of a good friendship to come. Kalidas, a very capable warrior could make quick work of Bhiwandi if he so chose and we are delighted with his kindly restraint. More to come on these encounters. The frogs and snakes and crabs seen in abundance at the start of Monsoon have receded and have taken their places in the background. The crows, birds, egrets, and big white cranes are still around in force.

However,there are rumours of further additions to the Fire Mountain Zoo population, so stay tuned for recent developments in this area.

Fire Mountain Retreat Center...A Sacred Destination

Mark Griffin, founder of Fire Mountain Retreat Center, tells us why the center is a sacred destination.

This place where we are sitting is Siddha Loka; this is the abode of the Guru here on earth. It is ruled by the collective spiritual power that we call the Guru Lineage. The recitation of the Guru Gita in this place is profound beyond belief.

This has been a center of spiritual activity for 500 centuries, even during the previous age. In fact, it went through a heyday in this earlier age. When Bhagavan Nityananda came her in 1937, he reactivated it and brought it to its highest operation. I think it's higher now than it has ever been. This is one of the centers of the world. One of the strongest operating guru lineages on the planet is based here. That's why we care about this place. That's why we come here. That's why we built Fire Mountain Retreat Center here.
....Mark Griffin

Celebrating Guru Pournima in Ganeshpuri

The time of celebrating Guru Pournima is approaching in the village of Ganeshpuri. The temple of Bhagwan Nityananda was being decked out with flowers yesterday as we stopped by for a meditation at his Samadhi Mandir. The outside has been made into a large covered patio with bamboo and plastic. They are expecting around 700,000 devotees to arrive on July 7th. 24 hour chanting starts today and continues until that date. Already we have seen some new faces of beautiful visiting saints. There have been so many people all over India, and beyond that have been touched by Nityananda. We have the constant pleasure of meeting them. Buildings are getting new coats of paint, such as the Shiva Temple, which seems additonally charged with a blessing. I have been told it will be a special time for us.

My Iindian friend, Geeta, asked us to come and meet her parents when they come for Guru Pournima. They used to live next door to Nityananda and cooked porridge and lemon pickle for him, which he supposedly loved. Her parents also took care of one of Nityananda's major devotees, and then inherited his house when he passed on. This house is next door to Nityananda's ashram and Shaligram's Samadi Mandir. Geeta and her husband and son live there now.

This photo was taken of our Puja Altar from one of our Thursday Guru Pujas held in the dome during pre-monsoon weather. It rather looks like a collage and I am using as my computer desktop. We can no longer meditate in the dome do to the rains. We have removed the dome curtains so that they will not be spoiled during the heavy rains. But where are these heavy rains? Tomorrow is July 1st , and still only mild rains have come.

We have been busy creating a special meditation room to be used daily by all those living and visiting us at Fire Mountain. The air conditioner can keep us cool in the hot humid weather. Inspired by our time in Thailand, we have painted the walls gorgeous shades of gold, deep blue and magenta. We bought thick fabrics of rich texture and color to match the walls. A lending library and bookstore will be housed in the bookshelf and recordings of Mark Griffin's (http://www.hardlight.org/) meditation instruction will be available to listen to during certain hours. We wanted to create a handsome indoor space for meditation when the dome is unusable, as it is during the monsoon season.

EVERYTHING HAS BEEN DOWNHILL SINCE.....
Everything has been downhill since we left Doi Suthep Monastery in both senses. It’s on a high hill and can easily be seen from below in Chaing Mai at night because of the brilliant lights reflecting off of the gigantic gold-plated stupa, (center of the mandala-designed inner courtyards and home of the Buddha bone relic). Our 7 day Vapassana meditation retreat at Doi Suthep changed our consciousnesses in some wonderful ways, and we just plain had a fabulous stay there. 700 years of Buddhist Monks chanting every morning and evening and the Buddha bone relic has created a spiritual heaven here. We come away with regret at leaving and very happy to have had the experience.
What was it? The glorious rich golden light from the stupa at night and the first morning light for chanting in the vaulted sanctuary – the presence of so much condensed Spirit Presence over so many years? The humble, “detached from the world” natures of the monks – the golden Buddha statues everywhere - - the chance to meditate for hours without interruption or impending responsibility? - - the simple Vapassana technique of watching the belly move in and out while noting rising, falling with the breath, hence learning a whole lot about quieting the mind and staying out of the way of ONE.
It isn’t like the monastery didn’t have psychic thickness of all kinds of beings, attracted and remaining there for centuries on end - - it did. It wasn’t that there weren’t hundreds to thousands of gawking tourist every day pouring through this Holy place with probably very little consciousness of where they were - - ringing the bells as much as possible, hanging on the bells for pictures, cuddling up to the dragon statues like they were best friends (I did this too, but perhaps they are) - - and the throngs of devout Buddhist lay peoples who bowed and proffered candles and flowers and prayers with profusion. The daytime circus of visiting people was handled superbly by the monastery and by the evening and morning chants the psychic air was cleared and pure again. We received blessings from the monks many of which really were strong and true. It’s nice to buy a gift and have the seller bless and chant over it for several minutes with pure heart and beautiful being - -we went back several times to one beautiful love and kindness being.
I very truthfully love the place and will always remember it. I have a much better understanding of Buddhism and have a lot more questions at the same time. Jennata had the huevos to ask our Vapassana monk teacher if he knew about and gave shaktipat - - he stuttered a bit and said something about having to practice for years and years, and we felt so lucky.
The practice he gave us of watching our belly rise and fall and repeating “rising, falling” with the cyclic breath, and repeatedly going back to this with each monkey mind deviation from the routine was very helpful mind training, and the walking practice with four part, “lift heel, lift foot, transverse forward, lower foot” all done in very slow motion and with utmost consciousness, really showed me how much “monkey” is still running loose in this mind - - very embarrassing and helpful - - this one, at times looking a bit like a drunken sailor, is now a great fan of walking mindful practice. We’ll do “around the dome at Nimboli walking practice” with a lot more consciousness now. The no talking and separate rooms helped the practice as well.
We visited quite a few “golden monasteries” in Chaing Mai – easy to do, as they are around each corner, just about. The openness and welcoming presence of all of them is impressive - - loving kindness on a stick - -well done. The statues of Buddha were so tall and so Gold and so lit, and so imbued with presence, that bowing the forehead to the floor three times, the standard practice, hardly seemed enough. And then there were the statues of the lineage and the statues of what appeared to be Patanjali and the 5 or 7 Nagas forming a Naga crown over his head, and the statues of the revered elder Monks, and the beefy protector guys who looked like a slightly historic Nordic powerhouses, and Manjusri cutting everything to pieces into One . There was a guy sitting in focused one­-pointed-meditation in one of the galleries of an especially impressive black and gold decor temple, who i respected very much because of his one ponted concentration in the midst of the big influx of Buddhist devotees during a holiday celebration. Jenatta says he was a statue, but i must insist she objectified the guy and couldn’t see his real nature. We shall have to return and pinch him to find out. I hope he is alive and doesn’t flinch with the pinch.
After months in Nimboli, which we love dearly, it wazzzz a joy to have coffee houses and great restaurants on every block. The Thais know how to cook. You probably knew that, and so i had heard, but proof is in the pudding, and we had some great meals. If i really liked to shop, i could go on and on about the silk and the fashions and the clever designs, and on and on, but since i really don’t get off on it that much, this is as on and on as i get about shopping, but check in with Jenatta, and know that a shopper, even though there are great price deals here, should arrive with lots of dough and suitcases.
The Thai people have beauty coming out of their pores which shows up everywhere. Orchids greet you as soon as you exit the airplane and flowers are everywhere. And they have some very admirable cultural traditions. Children are taught to remember to be happy whenever they hear a bell ringing, which must keep them happy all the time because of the heavy density of monasteries and trigger happy rope pullers. It really makes one want to ring a bell if it’s going to make everyone happy. Another is, respect elders, and monks, and anyone who is politically advantaged to you. The bowing with respect can be very wonderful and also an impediment at times. Who to bow to and how low to bow and how high to place your prayer hands gesture is complicated. We were excused as ignorant foreigners, so anything we did was appreciated.
A language where you have to change pitch and do variable stretches of duration of different sounds to get the meaning across is just too much to contemplate - - might as well sing - - and the writing, forget it - - adding little dips and swirls and circles everywhere made me dizzy just to look at it - - it does make English look and sound kind of boring though.
We did take a 5 day course in Thai massage and I’m hoping Jenatta remembers it well so that I’ll get the benefit when we get back to Nimboli-ing. Not like any massage I’ve ever known, is Thai massage – possibly the best. We had a great time and a great teacher - - her name is OM – and that probably had a lot to do with it. I now know how to step on your body, sit on your body, place my knee in the most excruciating samskara loaded places, and yoga stretch you out of your monkey mind – -get in line.
Well, it is nearly time to board the big Thai bird to Mumbai for re-entry to India. We are returning with a great dose of the more feminine Thai nature and some great ideas for implementation at Nimboli. Please check in for further blogs from the “get your visa stamped adventurers” - - Jenatta and dewadas. Love and impermanence and happiness and rising-falling bellies. J and d

GODOT FINALLY ARRIVES, MONSOON THAT IS

The Land and everyone on it breathes a sigh of relief now that the monsoon, two weeks late, has

finally arrived. The stress of enduring the buildup of heat in the hottest May-June in 50 years is finallly broken. The final days were difficult even for local people. Shortly after the rains started the sound of laughter rang through the valley from adults and children playing outside in the rain celebrating monsoons arrival. The bells of the temples rang in happy celebration, and the temperature dropped with a thunk. Body heat stress is difficult to imagine if never experienced, but suffice it to say that great relief is felt as systems return to moderate levels.

But Wait!! New adventures await one in monsoon. If never experienced before, like us, nature has some surprises for you. We had just stepped out of the kitchen on the night of the first heavy rain and plofp, ploffp, ploffffpp, they were jumping everywhere - -Jenatta screamed like a good girl would and Dewa stood frozen in that time warp when you don't know what is happening yet, but it's real wierd and your body knows before your mind has got the picture.

Yes, you guessed it, big shiny slimy green bull frogs with also celebrating monsoon by jumping out of hibernation in the mud onto the front porch and into the dinning hall and going for the kitchen and the bedrooms. Brooms and shouts and hysteria did channel them off the porch and the cowardly crew retreated inside to escape possible frogilation. The next morning, peering out onto the porch, none of the celebrants were in sight. Looking over the edge of the porch, a mass of protoplasm at first unrecognizable, gave way to a vision of two who had found each other and were not pleased with my flashlight glare. Monsoon celebrations come is all different styles.

Two days before, we experienced the first wave of pestilence. a very light rain had occurred, and no one could say the monsoon had arrived -- just a dusting, a hint, a tease of the heat suffering ones. Lawho, our gardener, shouted out something unintelligible in marathi, which is easy for him to do as we don't yet speak the language, and we hurried to see what up. Snake - - very dangerous snake, "one bite you die, nothing can be done, no need to go to hospital" says Roidas, the other gardener.

We learned later that this is not true, but the snake found was a Russell's Viper, one of the most poisonous and feared snakes of the asian areas. It was small - - a baby -- only 15 inches, but very potent we are told. The gardener has helped this one off to the happy wriggling land. We went to question the doctor at the nearby clinic. Reassuring us, he said he had anti-venom shots for forty patients and had never lost a snake bite client. We felt relieved. He also related that 40% of his snake bite patients were out at night with no flashlight or boots looking for crabs, frogs, and fish delicacies and were under the influence of alcohol - - drunk dummies. Running a quick poll of friends and workers, further relief was given by the fact that no one had ever been bitten, and these creatures only come out during the first part of monsoon. By this time we were way relaxed about the whole thing.

We didn't like the "one bite, you die" prognosis. Well, let's count. Today marks the 5th day of snake finding, and today the number is ten. 9 of the baby Russel Vipers and one big fat, 5 foot long non poisonous serpentine visitor that only the gardener saw. In between snake one to 10 we had a morning of the invasion of the big ants - - the black rather harmless ants, but big and awkard to continuously be stepping on in the kitchen and the veranda. Desparate, i tried the only thing at hand, "Pril" our sink soap bubbled them off and they have never returned. Pril - - keep some on hand.

We vacilate now between some anxiety about the invasions and a keen suspense about what surprise Monsoon Goddess has in store for us. Grateful for the entertainment and excitment, we are a bit widgy about the next waves on the beach.

All in all Nimboli is a wonderful, peaceful and very spiriually powerful place. we are grateful to be here. Come and visit.

MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL,

WHO HAS THE BIGGEST SAHASARA OF ALL?

YOU HAVE PROBABLY BEEN WONDERING

HOW OUR MEDITATION PRACTICE IS ADVANCING.

WE JUST WANTED YOU TO SEE FOR YOURSELVES!!