Tiruvanamalai !!

Here in Tiruvanamalai I am staying at an ashram called Trveni II. An ashram is a kind of sanctuary for spiritual practice such as prayer and meditation and yoga.....something like a monastery.  Treveni was created by my teacher Lee Lozowick and it is about a block from the ashram of Lee's teacher Yogiramsuratkumar, a great Indian saint who lived most of his life as a beggar, a holy man hidden in plain sight. In the 90's, as more and more people recognized what he truly was, he got more and more devotees who eventually built for him a huge temple and ashram.  Believe it or not, allowing this to happen was a sacrifice he made.... he preferred to be an invisible, God-surrendered beggar but he put himself into service to his followers and participated in the building of a sanctuary for practice.
So.....what do we DO here?
In the mornings we get up at 5 am and go over to Yogiramsuratkumar's ashram to sing and do prayer and devotional practices for about an hour and then we come back here and sing some more and meditate for another hour.  Crazy Huh? 2 + hours  to begin each morning. But wait, that's not the end of it: there's more chanting and devotional practices at noon and again six.....and this is the quieter season!! In December and January things start at 3:30 AM.  India truly has set a high bar for what devotion can be. Not that I think everything should be that way back at home sweet home. But I  am glad India exists and I am feeling beyond lucky to be here, to be getting immersed, like swimming in an ocean of devotion instead of sprinkling myself with a teaspoon now and then.
By the way, I am traveling with 2 friends, Lesley and Nachama. We will be here in Tiruvanamali for two more days and then we leave for Tanjore.
Sending love from India and thanks for reading!!