And I said that if you sit in the open air, it’s even better for meditation. And in case if it’s hot, like the weather keeps getting more and more hot, you can do that. (Yes, Master.) But of course, you need blankets and all that inside in case it gets cold. (Oh, yes.) And you always have to sit under the roof, otherwise you have to buy also an extra piece of plastic sheet and cover on top of that tent, in case it rains. (Right.) Anyway, it depends on what you want, sincerely.
Anything else? (That’s all from us, Master.) Any of you, others, no? (No, Master.) OK, good. That is that. And are you OK with the villas and all? (Yes, Master.) It’s not too hot yet? (No, Master. It’s fine.)
I am kind of worried. You just put some more fans. (Yes, Master.) And in front of all the villas there is always some water with the hand washing sink. (Yes.) You get a bucket and you get some cold water from that water tap and then you throw it on yourself before you go to sleep. It’s cold. (Yes, Master.) I am worried you might not need any more fan after that. But you always have to dry yourself with a towel before you dress. (Yes, Master.) Especially in the summer, because in the summer your pores open more and any cold water can seep in easily. And if you don’t wipe yourself dry and just put the clothes on then the clothes will get damp and wet. It’s not good. (Yes, Master.)
I saw some people do that. Some idiot machos, I saw. But I didn’t say anything. It’s not my business. But you are my business. So, I have to tell you. Like it or not, I always say something. (Thank You, Master.) I say whatever is good for you, but I cannot force you. But I tell you. (Yes, Master.) In case.
So, you can easily catch a cold if you don’t wipe your body dry. (Yes, Master. That’s true.) You don’t have to have a big towel like those on the beach. Most people in the house have a big towel also, I never had it. Sometimes they bought it for me and it was already in the bathroom, but I don’t use them. I feel it’s too heavy and too wasteful. I just use a couple of normal towels. Either square or a long one, it depends. If I wash my hair then I use the longer one. (Yes.) Just to wrap my hair, long but not that long. Not like those big towels. (Yes, Master.)
Long is like those that you wipe your hands with, that you put on the rack near the sink and you wipe your hands dry. Not that long, maybe 30 centimeters long. That’s what it was. (Yes, Master.) Or 30 or 40 – something like that. And the other is just about 20x20 – the square face towels. (Yes, Master.) So, either this or that. A couple of them and it’s done. Because I don’t like such a big thing. For what? It’s more difficult to wash – it fills up the washing machine too quickly. And if you wash by hand, then oh my God it’s even worse. I can’t handle that, it’s too heavy for me. I would not be able to wring it dry. (Yes, Master.)
If it’s too hot, you have another solution: you get a tent which you can open four sides, with just netting on it. (Yes, Master.) That kind of single-person tent with a little pocket that you can stretch your legs out. (Yes.) There are two kinds – one doesn’t have the ring on top of your ankles, that one is uncomfortable. Because some, they make the ring on top, some make the ring below. The ring around the tent to make the tent stand up – that should be underneath your ankles. That type is better. (Yes, Master.)
I used the one before also with the ring on top, and your legs underneath, your feet underneath, that’s very uncomfortable. The ring of the tent, the structure should be under your feet, when you open that pocket. Then, it doesn’t feel like restricting. (Yes, Master.) And there is more room. Recently, they bought some for the sisters, if you want to know which one that is, you ask the girls. (Yes, Master.) You ask the girls, they bought some before, for when they want to sit outside. And if you open all the material outside, all the plastic cover outside, then there is only mosquito screen around it. Just like a mosquito net that you use to sleep in some Asian countries. (Yes, Master.) And they’re very cool. And if not cool enough, you just plug in a fan outside of your tent. (Yes, Master.) Or if not enough, then two fans. Oh, you’ll be too cold.
And one of your brothers before, he went home to take care of parents, because nobody is there, but he sits like that, he told me, for many years already. He sits outside under the plastic. In front of the villa there is a protruding roof, a small one. (Yes, Master.) And he made it with clear plastic. There is some plastic which is ultraviolet-proof. Meaning also kind of shady, even though it looks also clear, like normal plastic sheets, but it’s a little bit anti-sun. (Yes, Master.) So, it’s cooler. And then he sat under that and in a tent.
He said he has always been doing that for years. And only now he knows it is really different. Really good. But I said that a long time ago already, many years ago in a text with my phone when I didn’t have all the landline phones. When I was in the remote mountain, where I could not even call, I had to go around looking for bars in the phone and then stop wherever I can reach. (Yes, Master.)
And I said that if you sit in the open air, it’s even better for meditation. And in case if it’s hot, like the weather keeps getting more and more hot, you can do that. (Yes, Master.) But of course, you need blankets and all that inside in case it gets cold. (Oh, yes.) And you always have to sit under the roof, otherwise you have to buy also an extra piece of plastic sheet and cover on top of that tent, in case it rains. (Right.) Anyway, it depends on what you want, sincerely. (Yes, Master.)
Concerning the heat, and if your villa is too hot… I don’t know how I lived in India. I never felt anything bad, except only one time in the summer, at midday I walked to Bodh Gaya. I walked. It was too hot, too hot. And that was the only time I felt uncomfortable. Not that I complained – my body gave me trouble. Only that time. (Yes, Master.) And India, it should be hotter than where you are. I’m not sure anymore, nowadays things change. (Yes, Master.) Hot areas become cold, cold become hot. Maybe hot altogether – in the ocean, it’s heating and all that. And it’s very dangerous. (Yes, Master.) The ocean water becomes hotter. And the North Pole, is 38 degrees. (Wow.)
“Media Report from Money Talks News – Oct. 18, 2022: Forecasters warn Earth may hit critical warming threshold before 2026. “Time” reports that the Earth is inching closer to a warming threshold that multiple international agreements are aimed at preventing.
According to teams of meteorologists around the world, there is almost a 50-50 chance that the planet will reach that threshold within the next five years. The warning prediction was issued by a team of 11 different forecast centers working with the World Meteorological Organization. In this year’s report, the team also predicted that there is a 93% chance the planet will experience five years of record-breaking heat.
‘We’re going to see continued warming in line with what is expected with climate change.’ ~ Leon Hermanson, UK Met Office senior scientist, via ‘Time’
The world has already warmed approximately 1.1 degrees Celsius since the late 1800s. In 2018, the United Nations warned of dramatic and dangerous effects on the world if warming exceeds 1.5 degrees Celsius.
‘Regardless of what is predicted here, we are very likely to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius in the next decade or so, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that we are committed to this in the long term – or that working to reduce further change is not worthwhile.’ ~ Gavin Schmidt, NASA top climate scientist, via ‘Time’.”
And anyways, one of your sisters feels it’s too hot. So, you can have more fans if you want. Please. (Yes, Master.) That I told many times already, not just this time. (Yes, that’s true. Yes, Master.) Have more fans, and then also take a cold shower in front of your villa before you go to sleep. (Yes, Master.) Don’t take a shower in the shower area and then walk back up the steps, then you will sweat again. That is a normal shower. But before you sleep you just splash some cold water from your face to toe, and dry and then go to sleep. (Yes, Master.) And then you have fans as well, so it’s cool. After you take a shower, don’t go in front of the fan right away. Wear your clothes first. (Yes, Master.)
And, I asked her, “You must have more fans. How many fans do you have already?” She said three, and she would try four. I said, “You can have as many as you want. But I don’t know if you can walk in with the four fans – if there is room already or not. (Yes, Master.) The villa is small and you have your stuff as well. And some are working in there even. I don’t know where you do hang the four fans.”
It’s OK. It cannot be worse than India. (Yes, Master.) In India, I lived anywhere, and I had no fans. Some. Some areas, they had a ceiling fan in the meditation hall. (Ah, yes.) A small meditation hall and one fan. But they put it slow. I never felt too cold, too hot, or anything. In the Himalayas, yes, yes. Then I didn’t have anything. I didn’t even have a tent. I had just an umbrella and a coat. But slowly I had to sell the coat, because it was too heavy for me to take to the Himalayas when I had to walk up. And there are places in the Himalayas that don’t have any buses. (Yes, Master.) Don’t have anything. You have to be careful where you walk. Some people have horses in some areas only and some people have laborers to carry their things for them, or carry them even on their back. But I couldn’t afford all that.
And I lived in New Delhi also, for some time. And that was an urban area. (Yes, Master.) Very hot, very hot. So, extremely hot in New Delhi, and then extremely cold in the Himalayas, I’m still here. (Yes, Master.) So, at that time I sold the coat, I sold the bag… I sold anything I could and I kept only a little handbag. And even my spoon I had to sell. If I had two spoons, I sold one. Yeah, it gets heavier if you go a long distance. (It’s true. Yes, Master.)
And in India they buy anything from you. They buy anything. They don’t ask questions. See? Anything could be useful in India. They buy and they resell again even. Imagine. Imagine, your second-hand stuff becomes third-hand, fourth-hand – and still OK. Anything you sell, they take it. They just give you a price and they take it. It doesn’t matter if it’s so valuable or not. Like my old jacket, it’s very thin, like just plastic, and zips on, that’s it. But when it’s windy, it stops the wind. Those? (Yes, Master.) But just like thin plastic. Nothing more. And I sold it. They took it right away, no problem. And before I left India, I even sold my umbrella, OK too.
But that umbrella was very good. That was my house. Because I could not afford to go inside to rent a room or anything sometimes. And in Kashmir, they have boat houses. You can go inside the rooms. There are rooms built on top of boats. (Yes, Master.) But I could not afford it at that time. I just stayed under an umbrella, just covered my face only when it rained. When it didn’t rain, I didn’t cover. It was OK too. It was cheap. It was just safer to sleep there like that on the boat. I liked it on the boat also. Otherwise, if I was with a big pilgrim group then I just stayed outside, nearby, like a protruding roof out outside the corridor and all that. (Yes, Master.) It was cheaper. You didn’t have to pay much. Some you didn’t have to pay at all, if you didn’t go inside the room or didn’t rent a blanket or anything, then it’s OK.
Some time, long before that, I had a little bit more money so I could rent a mud house, mud room and all that. But after a while, no more. Not even a mud room. When I was in India, I didn’t know what a fan was, how to spell it. I never thought about all this or air con or anything. We didn’t have any of that in any ashram. Not where I went. Maybe in a master’s house, but I am not sure. But where we were, there was nothing.
And sometimes it was too crowded, so whenever I go I just… I have a coat – you know, a coat for winter. (Yes, Master.) Just a cheap fleece coat. Everywhere I went at that time, I took it with me. And so, I just covered the corner of the balcony and I sat under there. (Oh.) At night and day time. When it rained then I ran under the outside roof, and sat there for a while. I just had a chair. Ashrams do have some chairs, like those big plastic chairs. (Yes, Master.) I just sat there. And in front of me was my small luggage, so sometimes I put my feet on the luggage like that, and sat under that coat.
And when I was in America a long time ago, I gave initiation to somebody. And then I sat all night like that, because that sister offered me the bed also with her, but I didn’t want to. So, I sat in the corner of her bedroom with a coat to cover myself and meditated there all night. Often, I would do that everywhere I went, before. (Yes, Master.) And then in the morning I felt so happy, I said, “Oh, you told me you don’t have neighbors, how come I hear a lot of music nearby? Where is your neighbor?” She said, “What? Not for half a mile at least.” (Yes, Master.) I didn’t know. I thought there were neighbors making a party. I said, “They made a party all night. Lovely music.” She said, “No, no, no way. No way.”
Because she lived in a remote area. In America, you can have a big land, and not that expensive. And she had a private, small lake even. (Yes, Master. Wow.) And she told me, “Oh, very quiet here. Very private. There’re no neighbors, nothing.” And I said, I heard music all night. I didn’t have to do the meditation of the inner (Heavenly) Sound to hear it. (Oh.) That’s why I told her in the morning, “You have neighbors, they made a party all night long.” She said, “No, no, no way, no way. You must have heard the inside Music, not outside.” I said “Really? Wow! It sounds so real to me, and very beautiful.” I guess I wasn’t even outside. I was inside also but I didn’t realize where is what, and inside, outside – nothing.
