Adyar, 9 June 2013

Buddhist stupa at TS campus in Adyar

Adyar, Sunday, 09 June, 2013

This week we could do some reading in old Theosophists on the TS website. Most of the issues are not available on the site, which is a pity, because if they were, there would be a large public who could read all these old issues, which generally keep their actuality.

We started to make a systematic footnote scheme for the thesis. First we made an excel sheet, but that did not have enough functions, then a table in word, which was much too small. At last we started a database. This is the best solution, but needs our self-training on the job, which is a task without end. We have started though and that is the most important step if one wants to arrive at a chosen end.

When we make progress even if it is just a tiny little bit, we have a general feeling of satisfaction and well being, which does give the worker some courage to continue. Also the health is becoming better.

On Monday at half past 3 pm there was room cleaning again and this time with water mopping of the floor.

At the after dinner study group sometimes there are eleven participants. That gives rise to somewhat more lively discussions. The participants were talking also about their health and one remarked, that workers at TS in Adyar are cared for so they do not fall ill.

We have conversations with our co-resident at LBC about that we have no urge to leave this place.

In the beginning of the week, the walk to the beach was very hot, because there practically was no wind. Later there was almost tropical rain and it became cooler.

On Wednesday there was office cleaning at the work place and we had to stay on the balcony. Thus we could have a social exchange of information with the colleagues, which was nice.

We work from 9 am till about 2 pm. One day after work, we went to the bookshop to buy “A study in consciousness” by A. Besant.

Another day began very warm and sweaty with now and then clouds. At work everybody was about half an hour later. In the afternoon we did some reading in “A Study in Consciousness” by A. Besant. She starts with a very summary of the beginning of a Solar System, as explained by H. P. Blavatsky in the Secret Doctrine based on the Stanzas of Dzyhan, and goes further in the traces of C. W. Leadbeater’s teachings on the Holy Trinity.

One day around four pm there was heavy rain pouring down for about half an hour or so. That was really cool and it stayed so the rest of the day and evening.

For most of the participants of the study group it is very intense to hear, that we have to give up all our personal interests and only be concerned with the suffering and needs of others.

At the end of the week, we had to go out of the campus to buy shampoo and to pay for the Internet connection. We had an orange juice in the fruit juice shop and bought a watermelon in the fruit stand in Besant Nagar.

After that in very sweaty condition, we managed to do just a little bit of study. During the day we also manage to do sometimes meditation with attention to the breath and concentration on the nose tip as advised by the Buddha. One does not look cross eyed at the nose, but it is with the attention of the mind that one remains at the nose tip. We have to tell one of the study group members about this, because this member complained about headaches caused by looking cross eyed at the nose tip.

Friday at 5 pm we went for a bath in the ocean again, which was a greater success that we expected, because without throwing us over the ocean let us calmly progress into the deeper water and we could have a real swim for the first time. The water current to the North was not too strong and by swimming against it with not too much force, we managed to come ashore some twenty meters upstream. The danger was therefore not too big, that day. The water comes very high on the beach, so we thought that it might be the New Moon.

Friday evening, after the study, together with our commensal volunteer worker here, who will start on Monday to work as teacher in the Olcott School, we ate the whole watermelon of two Kg . It was a nice evening.

Only half a workday on Saturday, so the workweek is not that old fashioned here. When we were at primary school, our father had to work on Saturdays morning and afternoon, but we went to school only in the morning, just like on Wednesdays.

We started editing our article on a certain religion, which is not so well known, but called a theosophical religion.

The citations, footnotes, bibliographies for our thesis and publication are beginning to form a real nightmare. Still we seem to be pushed with determination in the direction of establishing an integrated database for notes, citations and bibliographies. The problem is to find a suitable piece of software, which is user friendly enough for our uninitiated mind. We have tried several library databases for foot- or end notes and bibliographies. The one from Wiki seems to be OK.

The weather is not too hot and with the doors and windows closed, we can keep the room cool enough to continue working on our studies. This is also because of the rain from the last few days. Saturday we saw the water flow steadily into the ocean, but on Sunday evening the sandbank was blocking the river again.

We have worked on an article practically the whole Sunday, except for the meals and the morning and evening walks to the beach. So much, that we forgot to ask our mate at the dormitory if we could play a game of chess again. Anyhow, he has his first working day tomorrow, so he was probably busy with his preparation.

Laundryman, who did not come this week is now promised to come on Monday. Hopefully we shall have clean clothes, before we leave on holiday. This sounds strange, because life begins more and more to feel like one long holyday.

Good bye,

Mr Brooder