September

Hey there my cosmic cousins.

How are you doing? How has your Summer been?

You may have noticed our prolonged silence but we are back now and we’re going to be loud and proud.

Every Summer the Ashram enters into a season long silence. It is truly wonderful and absolutely life affirming, and it really helps you to understand the real power of communication and relating to one another. When you aren’t relying on speech to communicate then you have to find other ways. Very quickly you begin to tune in more carefully to the people around you. You start to look deeper into the eyes of your friends and in doing so you can hear much deeper in to their hearts. Incidentally when you aren’t continually spouting rhetoric from your mouth, the mind soon loses it’s desire to chatter. Naturally the mind will throw all kinds of drivel at you as it attempts to overthrow it’s enforced retreat but without being able to outwardly express yourself and with a gentle awareness these games and tricks can be seen and not indulged.

You know silence is truly golden.

Something else that’s golden is Autumn. I truly love this time of year and while here at the Ashram we don’t experience quite the Autumn’s of my youth, my heart will always warm at the thoughts of autumnal England.  Who can forget the feeling you get walking down the street – wrapped up warm – hot breath misting against the cold air – picking conkers – kicking at the fallen leaves that gather on the pavement – standing in dog shit that the leaves have been covering – getting a bollocking of your mum for ruining your new shoes – then having to clean the doo doo off with a bucket of water and a twig. It’s an experience I will always hanker over and whenever I do return to England in September again I will be doing just that.

It’s a time of retreat, a time for reconciliation, a time for peace.

Can you hear September’s song? Listen carefully, it’s a gentle and beautiful ballad.

 

Peace. Om. Chaka Khan

 

Swami Cashinanda