A Record of My Trip to India: Too Much!

Man, every time I write I feel two conflicting things: (1) I am updating this Blog WAY TOO OFTEN! I'll never be able to keep this up. There just can't be that many interesting things to say. (2) I am not updating this Blog OFTEN ENOUGH! So much has happened since the last time I wrote, such as, Jean (the professor I'm studying under from UW) is here now!

Yay!

I'll try to just stick to what happened today ... er ... yesterday (it's 1:03 am here right now). First of all, the children are not at Roy's right now. They went home on Wednesday to celebrate Pongal with their families. My updated understanding of Pongal is that it's a mix between celebrating harvests and cows (with a heavy emphasis on cows). Today there was a flea market setup with mostly children's toys (video and pictures below), there were lots of gypsy children begging - one with a monkey (video and pictures below), and a stampede of cattle - unlike in Spain, they were running away from people (video and pictures below). Are you seeing a theme here? I cannot describe what I experienced today. I can only allow my videos and my pictures to do it half-justice. On the videos and in the pictures you will see well dressed Indians (they dress in beautiful clothes all the time and especially for Pongal), and you will see Indians dressed in rags. Those are the Gypsies who are begging for food, pens, money and water. You will also see beautiful street paintings called Coulums. I could not get enough of them, they are simply beautiful. If I heard right, they are made with colored rice flower. I probably did not hear correctly.

Lately I have been hit with a couple of difficult ones! One, what do you do about Gypsy children? Shouldn't they go to school instead of beg? Do they have a choice? What should I do, spend my Dad's money feeding and clothing them? Isn't that what Jesus says (whatever you do for the least of these - you clothed me when I was naked and fed me when I was hungry)? The other one that has really been hitting me I knew would be difficult from the start. How do I tell people here about Jesus. Of course I will tell them all about my own walk and the things that I do as a child of Christ. But when I tell people about my faith, all they hear is this really neat approach to the Divine that works for me. The moment I say, "Jesus is the only way to God," I am outright rebelling against one of Auroville's key tenants, one of its foundational principles. I know that for this reason, it would be extremely difficult to be an honest citizen of Auroville, but I don't care about that. What I care about is, how do I talk to an Aurovillian in a way that they will listen and hear their need for Christ. What a difficult thing! What a great struggle!

I have been reading more about Hezekiah in II Chronicles. Today I read about his great-grandson, Josiah, as well. Both of them, as kings of Judah, HUMBLED themselves and OBEYED God. God makes Himself known (in India, gods have many forms; in Auroville, no one can no God but to experience Him), and He is so simple and clear in his commands (in India, there are so many different gods to submit to, in Auroville, the Mother and Sri Aurobindo's writings are so vague and unhelpful). Indians need what I have. Aurovillians need what I have. I take no credit for it; I deserve no praise for it. God chose me to be His son, His heir. He bought me, and He is constantly seeking me. How do I tell the Indians and the Aurovillians that they need what I have?

Whew! I love it here! These struggles rock! I am so excited for the day I get to go home, but I definitely love it here too ( : I hope you enjoy the pictures and the videos. Oh, by the way, I made a SWEET slideshow of my time here so far. Enjoy!

Slideshow: Temporarily Unavailable (Look for it on my main YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/HeavenlyCrockpot)