What India Taught me About Healing: Blog #3 India Turning Things Upside Down

When I shared with friends and colleagues that I was headed to India, often the reaction was exceptionally positive. Looks of enthusiasm and vibrancy, followed by people sharing”I love India.” One dear friend make a poignant comment “India has a plan for you and when you get there, you just have to let go and see where she takes you.” I felt fine with this. Most of my travels to far off lands have been adventurous ones, so I felt a sense of ease with her comment…little did I know her comment was foreshadowing upcoming events!

I knew why I was going to India. It was following a deep inner call. There is something special about engaging in a journey that feels like it is answering a call of the soul that is beyond anything that you can describe. That is what going to India felt like for me. Epic to say the least, and I was prepared to rise to the occasion and fully step into her teachings.

I believe in the path of ease, grace and non-suffering. Of course life sometimes has other plans for you, but I am clear internally in what I am aligning myself with. So fortunately, our sideways India fiasco ended with a cherry on top! 🙂

Once we arrived at the monastery, we were greeted with a welcoming like no other. The monks took us in like family and were delighted to have us.

The locals were super friendly.

I was blessed to be sharing a room with 2 amazing women, Dr. Devon Christie and Michelle Staples. We made a dynamic trio. We were looking forward to our first day at the teachings with 25,000 monks and His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama. A dream come true for each of us.

When travelling to a Tibetan colony in India, one needs a PAP (Protected Area Permit). We were informed that this rule was somewhat flexible in previous years as the Indian government seemed to have many applications to process and little time…so we thought our PAP application confirmation was sufficient temporarily. It seemed a bit up in the air about how strict this was, so we went to the teachings on our first day carrying the paperwork in case we would be asked for it by Indian security. The folks at the monastery told us to carry our applications with us until we received our PAPs. In the morning of the first teachings, we were informed that the office was working on getting us our permits but no one seemed to know when they would arrive.

As a result, we were unable to sit in the monastery where the teachings were taking place, but rather sat outside in the courtyard and could hear the teachings via FM radio from there. There was a little more determination to get out permits as we all really wanted to get inside the monastery. The first day was profound- monks chanting, and listening to important transmissions by His Holiness. We felt blessed to be at this place learning about the nature of enlightenment.

After a rich and full day, we enjoyed a vegetarian dinner and started to get more settled into our home for the next week.

The Dining Hall is the picture above.

After dinner we headed back to our room to unwind and shortly after got a tense knock at the door. “We have an important meeting for all foreigners right now. You must attend.” Myself, Devon and Michelle were somewhat surprised by the intensity of the fellow named Norbu, but I was intent on understanding what was going on, so I hustled myself to the meeting.

Norbu clarified one major point: Unless you have your PAP, you must leave the monastery by 7am tomorrow morning as the Indian police will raid the monastery of any tourists who do not have a PAP.

Well, it was clear. Time to go and do some serious inner work…

We went back to our room and felt unnerved…all kinds of thoughts running through the mind, and the most important one: “What are we being asked to learn here?”…Michelle, Devon and I began packing our bags and brainstormed what was going on. Each of us being intuitive had a similar read on the situation. We skyped some of our most trusted advisors back home and got a similar read on the situation. Hang in there, this is a test. You will be back.

So the adventure really begins…monks were pacing up and down the halls of the monastery all night as there was an intense seriousness in the air. At about midnight we heard a bus pull up, and found out that the tourists from Spain were leaving right there and then.

Morning came around, and as we split our group into 3 vans driven by the monks themselves, we were on a mad dash out of Mundgod. Once we finally got out, there was a sigh of relief. And then off to Hubli where we would figure out a plan of action.