Farmshram

 The first guest of the season
had been released earlier that day,
fully restored
to his original condition,
and a new guest had just arrived

 Good beautiful morning

 Good morning

 Welcome to Rishimukh
Are you a doctor or patient?

 Um,
are there any other catagories?

 Most people seem to be
mostly one or the other,
although it is sometimes hard to tell
the difference between them
and everyone seems to be
a bit of both

 I’m not sure
which I am

 Don’t worry
While you’re here
you’ll find out
who you really are
I’ll show you to your hut

 And so the farmer led the guest
to a hut near the aqueduct

 ♫ ♫ ♫

 Darshan with nature
is one of the best medicines

 Sitting quietly under the soap nut tree
does one a lot of good

 Listening to the crickets and toads
sing lullabies at night
has cured many people

 Hanging out
with the wild pig and the monkeys
and all the other animals
can be quite therapeutic

 Watching and listening
to the birds and the butterflies
helps to still the mind

 Pulling weeds and watering the flowers
and helping out in the garden
is a good way to reconnect
with earth

 We grow most of the food we eat,
without chemicals,
and we make everything fresh every day
We don’t have a refridgerator

 Enjoy the fragrence and the feel of the flowers
as well as their elegant beauty
Some of them
are smoother than silk

 Please feel free to sing, dance and make music
whenever you feel inspired

 Try to avoid using any electronic devices
while you are here
And please leave your telephone turned off

 I suggest that you get up early enough
to watch the sun rise,
that you make sure to see the sun set
and that you go to bed early,
advised the doctor
And don’t miss the stillness
inside

 The farmer then left the guest
to suffer or to explore
as she liked

 ♫ ♫ ♫

 Hello

 Hello

 Would like to watch an ice cube melt?
asked a man who was staying in a hut nearby

 Okay

 Come
I brought one from the village

 The man led the guest
over to his hut,
from which he took a rapidly-melting cube of ice
He placed it on the ground
and together they watched it grow smaller
in silence

 ♫ ♫ ♫

 Are you a doctor
or a patient?

 That depends
on your point of view,
and that point of view may change
with time

 Would you like a tour of the land?

 Sure

 And so the man began
to show the guest around
and to explain to her a few things
about her new home

 We have coffee at breakfast
made with milk from our buffalos,
a tender coconut in the late morning,
freshly-pressed sugar cane juice
with just the right amount of lemon after lunch,
lemon juice with a hint of cardamon at three o’clock,
the best chai around at 5.20
and an herbal tea with all meals

 We haven’t yet had
lemon juice and sugar cane juice on the same day,
but if that ever happens,
I think we’ll all imagine
that we’ve died and gone to nirvana

 And the food here is the best in Karnataka
Everything is made fresh each day
We grow our own rice, corn, peanuts and sugar cane,
we cook with cold-pressed peanut oil
taken from our peanuts
We have mango, coconut, avocado, cashew, lemon, jackfruit
and many more trees
We grow our own papayas, bananas, pineapples and sugar cane,
and eggs we get from our ducks

 Be mindful of what you do
and how you do it,
and you’ll have no problems here

 The cobras are pretty shy
and would prefer to avoid your company
as much as you’d probably prefer to avoid theirs
Just be aware
that they’re around
and of where they’re likely to be
and you’ll be fine

 Leave your story behind
Don’t worry about the future
Just be

 Feel free to borrow an instrument from the music room
and play with the band
before and after meals in the dinning area
and at the evening fire

 The forest is down there,
the river is on the other side
and lunch is at one o’clock
I’ll leave you now
and see you at lunch

 Thank you
for showing me around

 The guestt then began
to wander around on her own
and greet all of the flowers,
admiring their colors and forms
and breathing in their scents

 The scent of honey
wafted through the air
and blessings began to flow
in her direction

 ♫ ♫ ♫