Gifts

Yesterday I was thinking a lot about gifts, and tonight at dinner it occurred to me that being Christmas day, it would be a timely blog post...

The last few months have been such a gift. It took a lot of work and planning to make this trip happen, but I also got a lot of help from supportive friends and family (especially from my family). All along my travels, I have been making new friends and received such wonderful gifts from them: hospitality, tasty meals, beautiful days, and most of all, excellent company. Yesterday was really an incredible gift from so many people: my teacher, who invited me to come meet his tour group; the members of the group, who became fast friends; the priests at the temple, who welcomed us so graciously and warmly. It was a rare opportunity, made even better by the community that shared it. Sometimes it’s trickier than it seems to receive gifts. Who doesn’t like getting gifts, right? But its not always easy. We get in our own way.

My teacher invited me to spend the day with them, but I sort of checked a few times to be sure it was ok. After all, this was an arranged tour group and I had an entire day with them, rode the bus, had two meals... all that on top of a once-in-a-lifetime experience at the temple. My teacher just said, “You are our guest for the day. Enjoy the gift.”

But what made me really able to enjoy the gifts was being able to give my own. (What you expected something shocking or profound here?) It gets said all the time that giving is better than receiving. Well, what I gave yesterday doesn’t even come close to what I received, but I’m glad I could give it just the same. Little things like showing Siri how I tie my sari and helping her do hers (she looked beautiful), having Maddy shove her bag into my hands and holding it for her as she got herded through the crowd into the inner sanctum with her dad (my teacher), offering everyone Odomos when the mosquitoes suddenly came out while we were at the temple to Mars.

Come to think of it, I’ve been listening to my teacher’s lectures on my mp3 player, and he tells the story of Patanjali finding the Shiva lingam in the tillai forest. It is adorned with beautiful flowers, and Patanjali tries in vain to find the flowers so he can make an offering of them as well. He can’t find them anywhere, and finally realizes he should give the gifts he is suited to find. And so, being half snake, he burrows and brings incredible seeds that no one else could reach. What Patanjali didn’t know at the time is that the flowers were brought by Vyagrapada (Randall, are you reading this? Is that the correct spelling?), who has tiger paws and can climb the great tillai trees and bring the orchids from the very top branches of the forest.

To receive gifts gracefully and to value the unique gifts that we have to give. I hope this entire holiday season has been filled with the very best kinds of gifts for each of you, my beloved friends and family.

Merry Christmas! (again! But I have an excuse to be online twice today... it’s night here, so it’s finally morning at home and I wanted to call my family on Christmas morning. Thank you, Skype!)

Love,
Bri