the healing guru?

(It’s a long entry...but hang in there; it’s been an interesting couple of days. Actually, I think this could be the beginning of my 1st screenplay)

It all started Tuesday evening (Guru Purinam), when a fellow intern, Justin and I walked to the Ashram near Unnati. Since it was Guru Day and Purinam (full moon), thousands (we were told 8,000) of followers had come from all over to visit this ashram and be in the presence of this guru-Shri Ram Lal Jai Siyang. It looked like a festival with buses and tents…we were intrigued and wanted to check it out.

Within in minutes of walking in, we were greeted by some of main disciples who worked at the ashram and spoke English. We were ushered into a room to hear the story of the guru…He’s a healing guru. He heals people from cancer, AIDS, diabetes, etc and all you have to do is meditate on his picture repeating your mantra for 15 minutes twice a day and you’ll be healed. The guru is the 13th (or 12th) reincarnation of Krishna (I think) and has many disciples in India and Israel and even from the US…. Dennis Kucinich (the democratic presidental candidate from ohio) and his wife are followers (we saw pictures to prove it!).

All the sudden, there was a lot of commotion and we were told… “He is coming!” We jumped up and all the disciples grasped hands to form a human chain so the guru could enter the meditation hall without being mobbed by his chanting raving fans. He sat on a platform in front of the hall while hundreds crammed in and sat in meditation in front of him. Justin and I were escorted to the front to sit. People around us were crying, moaning, swaying, shaking, and smiling. It was so surreal. After about 15 minutes, they came and got us and told us to wait because the guru would meet us after the sitting. We giggled at the randomness of this all and decided to just go with it and see what would transpire…I was waiting for my 1st “meet and greet” with a guru.

After a while, we were escorted “backstage” and had to walk along a balcony over looking hundreds of followers who were sending us the evil eye wondering “how do those 2 white people get to meet our guru??” After some brief instruction (you may take pictures, the guru is just a normal guy, don’t worry), we were brought into his “bedroom”. The room was the coolest room I had been in since being in India (actually it ended up being the 2nd coolest as my hospital room was the coolest…more on that later). The floor was painted a bright blue and sitting on a white bed was a round old Indian man dressed in white pjs with very thick gold eyeglasses. We touched his feet and sat before him in silence. With the loud AC blowing, the guru asked….

Guru: Where are you from?

Me: America.

Guru: Where in America?

Me: Nashville, TN

Guru: hmmmmm…. Never heard of it. Dennis Kucinich the famous US presidential candidate is my disciple.

Me: I heard….and saw the photos.

Guru: Something in Hindi…. (His disciples told us that the guru wanted to watch us meditate. Close your eyes.)

Justin and I settled in and closed our eyes to the hum of the AC. After a bit, the guru said “bus” (which is “enough” in Hindi-you learn that word as Indians are famous for force feeding their guests) and handed me a book, which was authored by him. I was told to read 2 paragraphs. The reading was about the importance of a mantra and that everyone has they own special, unique mantra that will help them connect with the Divine. The guru then said something in Hindi…that was basically translated to us as “if you come back July 30th to our new followers orientation workshop, the guru will give you your secret individual mantra”. And with that, we touched his feet again, said thank you and were escorted out of the guru’s bedroom.

Truly one of the most unusual experiences of my life. Part spiritual adventure…part comedy sitcom…part pyramid scheme. We were told you can check out the guru on his website www.the-comforter.org and that he even has video on YouTube!

The story continues….

In the middle in the night, I woke up with a fast stomach (Indian term for diarrhea…much nicer way of saying it right?) and was sick all night long. I decided to stay home from work Wednesday to rest and let whatever had taken hold of my body run its course. I couldn’t get really sick…I just met with the healing guru, right?

Unfortunately, I got worse and by 6pm that evening, I was being taken to the doctor and then hospital with a 102 fever. I was in bad shape…intense headache and body pain, blacking out, burning up with fever and my stomach was still “fast”. Walking into the Indian emergency room I felt like I was in a movie. Thank God my friend Michael was with me to share the experience. I was “examined” in the ER and was told I had to be admitted and spend the night. The tears came (only a little). “Wait… I need to call my American Doctor!” I called Bruce and he sweetly coached me thru while I laid on an ER bed with 15 people staring at me with tears in my eyes.

Me: “I’m afraid they’ll give me an IV”

Bruce: “They need to….”

Me: “but I’m in India…its dirty”

Bruce: “But the needle will be clean. Watch them take it out of the package. Kim, think of all the Indian doctors in the US who were trained in India and all the Indian doctors in India who were trained in US. You’ll be fine. You have to do this!”

So…I bravely staggered thru the “waiting room” of lots of brightly colored Indians sitting on the floor, saluted the many statues, wall clocks, and posters of Ganesh (the elephant god who removes obstacles) and began my adventure in the Indian hospital.

Emotional relief came quick as I was brought into the “penthouse suite” of hospital rooms (at least by Indian standards). I had a clean, private room with a little balcony with a western toilet, AC and a fan! Exhale. Understanding every 3rd word… I had great care!!

After over 24 hours in the hospital consisting of 6 bottles of IV fluid (antibiotics and “liquids”), a shot in my bum for pain relief, 10-12 pills, blood work, urine test and special Indian medicine mixed in curd, I was discharged.

Smita (FSD’s Program Coordinator) and Michael tagged teamed babysitting me so I was never alone and always had someone to laugh with…when I finally felt like laughing…and there was much to laugh at.

I was at the expensive hospital that was ranked #1 in Jodhpur in terms of cleanliness. Knocks at the door and in would enter a boy with a broom to sweep my room, another knock and a lady would come in and empty my trash (even though there was nothing in the trash can), another person would come in and clean my bathroom, another knock and another person with a broom. My favorite was when a man with a backpack of chemicals came in and sprayed my tiny room for mosquitoes. Twice a woman came in and said,…”Room clean? Toilet clean? Ok, please sign” and my “keeper” of the moment would have to sign to verify that the room was clean.

The medicine process was that a nurse (most of them were male) would come in with something that looked like a yellow post-it note and hand it to Smita. Smita would read it and then crumble it up in a ball and throw it over my balcony to someone who would go to the pharmacy and then bring it up. The crazy thing was that after about 8 pills and lots of IV fluids, my stomach was still “fast”, so I agreed to Indian medicine, which were physillum (sp?) husks mixed with curd. It tasted horrible but after 2 servings my fast stomach slowed down! (I guess 5,000 years of Ayurvedic medicine has wisdom)

I felt very loved and cared for as my Indian Aunties (Smita and Veena) rubbed my feet and back and snuck in good curd… and while Michael sweetly helped me keep my mind off the pain by letting me babble and with her beautifully critical eye oversaw all needle sticks and made sure that we knew what I was taking and why I was taking it. I even had 3 of my work colleagues from Unnati come and visit me! It was so sweet and funny since none of them can speak English. They just came in and sat on my little sofa and smiled while I chatted. After an awkward 10 minutes, they said “OK”, got up and left. So nice!!

I got home last night around 10pm with the doctors instructions to rest and stay off Indian food for 24 hours. So today I’m home from work (I hate that I’ve had to miss 3 days…I’ve never stayed home from work for 3 days sick back in US) eating bananas, plain, white toast, sipping tea with no milk or sugar (no fun) and forcing down curd to replenish the good bacteria in my tummy. I’m on the road to recovery!

Even though I was very sick, my Indian hospital adventure was a great experience. I was totally dependent on others, which is not something that I’m used to or comfortable with. I learned I had to let go and trust...to ask for help (which is difficult for me to do) and was once again reminded that the Universe provides (as It always does!) I sat for hours looking out my window into the other windows of the hospital and felt connected. Many others were going thru the same experience…sick, afraid, worried and in pain. Just because I couldn’t speak the language or that the standards were unlike what I was used to; I was no different than my fellow Indians. It was an uncomfortable, foreign situation for us all. It turns out that getting sick and the beautiful people who helped me thru it were my true gurus. Thank you for the lessons learned.


PS. Little Anuashree came home from school today with stitches in her chin. She fell and hit her chin on a desk. It seems like after my meeting with the “healing” guru, a black cloud has fallen over our “family”. So much for the healing guru, right?? At least I have someone to play Go Fish with while I’m in recovery! xoxox