Guruji’s Birthday!
Guruji’s Birthday!
As I sit in bed Guruji’s birthday celebration is still underway. Luckily, I was able to attend the initial ceremony from 10:30-12:30pm. However, as soon as that was over I had to bring myself back home to lie in bed….The celebration was interesting, and it was very nice to see so many of Guruji’s students attend the ceremony. The Puja lasted for the duration of the 2 hours I was there. I got to see some of what was going on, but it was quite difficult to see much given that there were so many people there. Guruji sat in a chair nearby while Sharath and a number of other men conducted the Puja on the floor. So many of Guruji’s students came dressed in their finest Indian garb, while I, on the other hand, wore a white T-shirt and jeans. I felt a bit underdressed for about a minute, and then reminded myself “who cares!” I only got sick once during the ceremony, so I counted my blessings for being able to make it through the important part. I took some pictures but asked Kwang to do most of the photography so I could just bury myself in a corner and hide from the crowd – I felt like people could see how much pain I was in, and that is something I preferred to keep to myself.
Once the Puja was over, a group of six of Guruji’s students put on a ‘show’ of sorts – a song and dance…Guruji and Sharath seemed to enjoy it, so that was good. Next came Guruji’s birthday cake, and I was lucky enough to be in the right spot at the right time, for once. We had been hiding out on stage in the corner, and when the dance was over Sharath had everyone clear the way so Guruji could take a seat in his throne for the first time that day. I moved from the stage to right beneath his feet!!! Lucky for me and the pictures I got 
They brought over a table with the birthday cake, and then Saraswati, Sharath, Sharath’s wife and daughter, and Saraswati’s daughter (don’t know her name) and her son crowded around Guruji for the lighting of the cake. It was quite nice to watch. They cut a slice of the cake and everyone in the family fed Guruji a bite from the slice. Then they cleared the area and Sharath explained that if any students wanted to give respects to Guruji they needed to form a line…And so that took place – again I was rather lucky to be sort of close to the front (such a good thing b/c I was beginning to feel quite ill and needed to get myself home). I gave Guruji some flowers and paid my respects, and then Kwang and I quickly made our way out of the Shala.
It’s a little after 1pm now and I feel like total shit! My body is aching again like it did yesterday, and the nausea is back full swing. I assume that maybe all the smoke in the shala was not good for me…Oh well. I really just pray that I will feel like myself again tomorrow. I absolutely cannot stand feeling sick, especially not this kind of sick – something I don’t think I’ve ever felt before. I do count my blessings though – that the absolute worst of it took place yesterday…I count my blessings for being able to attend the ceremony at all….
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4 Responses to “Guruji’s Birthday!”
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July 11th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
Would love to see some of those pictures, we in the states are all in the dark without you fellow yogis taking pics.
Hope you feel better.
July 13th, 2006 at 5:38 am
Hope you feel better soon!
July 13th, 2006 at 7:10 am
krista so sorry to hear of your illness I really hope you are recovered by now but it was really amazing that you made it to Guruji’s birthday at all! take care and rest now!
abbyxxxxxxx
July 14th, 2006 at 3:17 am
Oh – I hope you are feeling better now! I am back in the states and will send your regards to Greg when I speak with him latter today if I ca(I am totally messed up about time and just called a freind at 11pm thinking it was 8 am…)