Home » Sri Lanka » July 12, 2005 – back in Unawatuna

I have officially been absolutely crap about emailing. When I go to the Internet cafe I end up doing charity updates and by the time I am finished, I am too tired to write home. Thanks for all your emails. India was great - fabulous food, interesting modes of transport, nice people. India is much more conservative than Sri Lanka (women all wear saris - no western clothing, restaurants have separate areas for women and families).

July 12, 2005 – back in Unawatuna

Lasulo
2006-01-06 19:42:47

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I have officially been absolutely crap about emailing. When I go to the Internet cafe I end up doing charity updates and by the time I am finished, I am too tired to write home. Thanks for all your emails. India was great - fabulous food, interesting modes of transport, nice people. India is much more conservative than Sri Lanka (women all wear saris - no western clothing, restaurants have separate areas for women and families).

Most interesting experience was visiting an ashram, which is supposed to be a retreat, but was more of a cult experience. This ashram belongs to a woman, who is a spiritual guru, named Amma, the Hugging Mother. According to the people who live there permanently (many Westerners), she is pure consciousness. There was lots of chanting going on from the disciples who all wore white. One girl I spoke with taught English in a school on the Lower East Side, not far from where I lived, for five years. One day she went to see Amma, who was doing a tour and was in New York. Neemamba (her new spiritual name) said that as soon as Amma hugged her, she started crying, and it changed her life. She has since broken all ties with her family and friends and is now living at the ashram. Before you start saying that is crazy (well it is a bit), you have to understand how many lives Amma has changed. Unfortunately, she was not at the ashram so I did not get a hug. She is, however, in New York on July 16 - 18 and I would love for someone to go, have a hug, and report back... please........ Not joking. I would definitely go and see what all the hype is about. Hey, not to be blasphemous, but people thought Jesus was a kook too!

Anyway, India is certainly a spiritual supermarket that I will have to dip into again in the future.

The following is an update from Friends of Unawatuna about our recent work in the village.