Saints and Robbers
Thursday evening Dona showed us pictures from her tour to Rishikesh and the Kumbha Mela 2010, a great meeting of saints and sages which takes place every 12 years in Hardwar, India. It was very impressive to see these holy men who often live very secluded in the Himalayas. And next morning I was taken on a photo-tour to Mount Kailash and Manasarovar in Tibet where she had been the year before on a pilgrimage tour – very touching impressions.
A naked saint covered with ashes at the Kumbha Mela
Friday the sun didn’t come out so easily from his bed behind the clouds, but when we were taking an early morning bath he finally radiated its whitish light over the waters.
Though there was no wind the seas was agitated and the waves were rolling against the rocks. A statue of Jonathan Livingston Seagull was reminding of the “real seagull within each one of us”. our soul.
In the afternoon we departed together with Dona to our next stage, Barcelona, where we wanted to meet Valentin at the Plaça Catalunya in the centre of the city. At a red traffic light three bike riders appeared behind our car. One was tapping on the roof of the car and gesticulating, pointing to the right back tyre. Dona looked out and there was something wrong. A fourth bike rider, who seemed not to belong to the other 3 told her that there is a tyre repair shop nearby and indicated to take the next street on the right side. The lights turned green. He then disappeared quickly, but stopped again and pointed to the street at the right. I drove on, the other three quickly disappeared. The car started wobbling a bit and I felt that the air was going out of the tyre. When I turned into the next bigger street I had to stop, for we were driving on the rims. At that moment we discovered that we had stopped directly in front of a small tyre shop on the other side of the street which otherwise we would not have seen. I drove in. All the air was out of the tyre.
The mechanic in the shop told us that the tyre had been pierced several times with a knife and that some criminals are attacking tourists like this. They create a situation of confusion and use it to steel things from out of the car. They have to deal with 3-4 such cases per week. We had to buy a new tyre, and while it was replaced we took a cup of tea in a nearby cafe.
Our car with the new back tyre
There were 3 holes in the old tyre. We were absolutely amazed about the inner guidance leading us to this place, how well we were protected and how fast things were arranging themselves again. Just before the “accident” we had been talking about trust and guidance and now we experienced an incredible series of “co-incidences”. I jokingly said, I must have been a street robber in a past life and now experience the bad karma of these times, but is a very soft way.
We then met Valentin and went into a nice restaurant in the Music Hall.
The entrance of the music hall
Valentin is a very loving person who is linked to the WTT-Spain since the beginnings. He now is the responsible of Ediciones Dhanishta and we had a very lively discussion about how they arrange the work – all done by volunteers – of the many publications they are realising. The work has grown a lot and includes now a team of about 40 members. I wanted to know more how they manage to integrate all these persons in the work, and Valentin showed me their way of working. Dona helped as a translator.
Later we drove to another part of the city to see the centre of the WTT-group of Vasantha. Pilar and Cristina were giving us a warm welcome. They showed us the rooms – therapy rooms, but one reserved to group work. We had a short meditation together and Pilar explained us a bit about the work they are doing there. They are conducting group meditations and study groups and are doing a profound, silent work there.
Buddha greeting the visitors at the entrance
We afternoon went to a nearby restaurant to have some pizzas – and afterwards we sat under plane-trees drinking horchata or eating ice-cream. It was already late when we left for Madatepera, about 30 km away. Aurora and her husband Josep had invited us to stay in their house and they just arrived half a minute before us – having doubled us on the way. Again a magic co-incidence of timing. A warm welcome, carrying the luggage to our room and then we dropped into sleep.
