When I first started to participate in the Balinese ceremonies my mind was flooded with questions. I thought I must find one of the priests that speak English and that is willing to share the meanings of all of the ritual and intentions. But nothing ever happened with it and I kind of resigned myself to the fact that I will just have to pick up bits and pieces from whoever I meet at a ceremony, or the staff here, or….while hoola hooping on the beach!
That is how I first met Ketut. I was hoola hooping on the beach and he came by with his wife and 3 children and they spoke English and we struck up a conversation. They all joined in learning how to hoop and we had a lot of fun. He was in his 30's and spoke quietly, gently, and respectfully. I thought; "this is someone that could answer my questions!" but they soon went home and that was that.
Then about a month and a half ago I slammed my thumb in a car door and he saved the day, being a nurse, and lovingly and carefully headed me back to health. His wife applied to work as part of the staff here at the resort. I was so happy, since she is such a positive giving person who speaks excellent English. I was glad we would be in contact again. As the days went by she invited me to participate in a ceremony with them, and taught me how to make the palm leaf decorations used on full moon and dark moon offerings. As I struggled with the shapes and thin bamboo sticks used to "pin" things together, ketut happened to come by to visit his wife and knelt down next to me and quietly whispered words of encouragement. "When you make these offerings you can turn your attention inwards, instead of letting the outer world take our attention all the time. That is why we spend much of our day preparing offerings. it develops an inner peace and quiet. There we find God, as we look within." He began to explain why the shapes are the way they are and all about Hinduism and the Balinese lifestyle. His words were like poems….I tried to grasp on to them so I could blog about it later, but all that was left each time was a soft feeling, but no intellectual ideas I could quote.
Each time I happened to go to their simple home, where he took care of the children (12, 5, 2) while his wife worked 9 hour shifts at the resort, I would receive some more pearls of wisdom from him, in his humble, smiling way, since he knew that I was interested in the lifestyle here. The other day I told him about quantum matrix healing….which I had used on my foot for a fungus along with a cream he had given me. He could not understand how it had healed in only one day, instead of the usual week's time. I told him that I had also used my own healing method and together, it worked quickly! He was interested to learn about it, along with the Tibetan breathing exercises I do every day, since he believed that if we can breathe calmly and deeply we can live peacefully and have much inner power to live our lives with.
Today I wanted to help his wife as she made snowflake-ish Christmas decorations, Balinese style. And while I sat there struggling with that darn thin bamboo stick that always bends and breaks and splits as I try and connect a few palm leaves together (instead of our modern stapler that does it quicker and easier, but not as "authentically") he smiled and quietly said "One month, two months, slowly you will gain patience and skill and be like the Balinese. "
His wife asked me if I would like to be their adopted "mama", since her family lives far away, and so does his, and so does mine, and that way I wouldn't be alone for ceremonies….I told her I will think about it. She spoke seriously. I don't know if I am that serious…when her husband joined us a little later and was explaining to me the symbolic meaning of colors in Hinduism and the importance of the sun and moon ceremonies, I was so impressed, that I asked him how he knows all of this? He said that when he was a child in school he had a teacher that taught them all of this and he had always hoped that one day he would have foreign friends that he would be able to share it with….and now, 25 years later, when he met me hoola hooping on the beach, he thought "Now I will have my foreign friend that I always wanted, so I can share my lifestyle with them and they will share theirs with me!" He continued," To have a friend is much more important than having money. When it is raining and you are without an umbrella in a village far from home, and you are hungry, all you need is to knock on the door of your friends house. The sea is an example of friendship; always welcoming anything that comes to it, the waves, the rain, rubbish, naked bathers, offerings. Also friendship always welcomes whatever comes to it. We do not have money, but we are happy people and happy to have you as our friend."
So….i realized that I too was realizing my hope of having someone that was knowledgeable and could teach me in English all the things that I wanted to learn….and in such a lovely way. Thank you !
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