Chapter 12: The Lunch
The first thing about my stay I had to look forward to, after the Sunday Service, was “the lunch.” While we were communicating by e-mail, Nabha told me that there would be a lunch on Sunday at the Meditation Retreat, and he kindly arranged for Anandi to ride me up there and back so I could assist to the event after the Service. This event consisted on a lunch and then a concert, all organized and prepared by the young people of the community. Nabha had told me Swami Kriyananda would be there, and the opportunity to see Swamiji during the first day of my stay was just too good to be wasted! I would, however, have gone anyway; let that be clear!
After the Sunday Service I met Anandi at the gate of Hansa Temple and, after she picked up a few other people, we departed for the Meditation Retreat. The trip took maybe ten or fifteen minutes, and it was there that I met Matt for the first time, and also (of course) Anandi and two other people I don’t remember their names.
Upon our arrival there, I saw a lot of tables and people already sit, some already eating. I watched curiously around me, looking at the decorations (of which I remember nothing, since it was Sunday and I was as extremely tired due to lack of sleep) and at the people. There was a building inside which food was served to the guests, with a “donations table” at the door, where people left a $20 donation in order to eat (I remarked it wasn’t very controlled; may be that they trust people or that it wasn’t mandatory. I gave my $20 anyway).
Before entering the building, Anandi spotted Amanda, who is the leader of the Spanish ministry, and introduced me to her. Amanda remembered me, due to a short contact I had with Ananda Spanish in the past, and we talked for a little while, after which she asked, “shall we go in?”
After a brief exchange in which she introduced me to Swami Kriyananda (I’ll go into this in detail in chapter 18), she went in and I stayed at the door, unsure of what to do. A few moments later, I entered the building hesitatingly and, imitating the people I saw around me, picked up a dish and went toward the boys and girls who were serving food. I got pascualina and spaghetti, and some bread, too. Going back outside, I searched for a table at which I could sit; looking around, I spotted one that had only one occupant so far, and he was a guy that seemed to be about my age, so I walked toward him and asked if I could sit there, “of course,” he replied, and I sat down.
That’s where I met Tracer, and also a few other people that came to sit at the same table later. Three of them were talking almost exclusively in Italian and I could make out a few words. The man next to Tracer was very attentive to Swamiji’s table, looking for a chance to come up and talk to him and ask him to autograph his books. The woman next to me was the man’s daughter, and a yoga teacher of the community, if I understood well. Tracer and I talked quite a bit: we found in each other another soccer lover, but we never got the chance to play together. A pity!
About the food… it was just delicious: one of the best meals I’ve ever had. And it’s not that the dishes themselves were “exotic” or “elaborate”, they just tasted a thousand times better than the very same dishes prepared in other places, by other people. If I ever had a proof that the consciousness of the cook influences the quality of the food, this was it. Nabha, in his latest blog entry, helps to understand why the food was so good! You can see it in Ananda’s Future (don’t be scared, it’s a short entry!).
After the lunch was over, it was time for the concert. Nabha was singing there, along with many other young people from the community; most of the songs were Swamiji’s compositions, and the singing was just very, very moving. The bad thing was that, in my current state, I couldn’t take very well staying sit in one place, just listening; the last minutes of the concert I spent half listening, half fighting to try to stay awake. Just to make sure there are no confusions, though, my sleepiness was due to the fact that I had been 25 hours awake and traveling the previous day, and slept less than five hours during the night; the singing was wonderful! They sang some of my favorites, including “I live without fear”:
After the concert, Anandi rode me back to The Expanding Light. There concluded the second of my many experiences in Ananda.
Previous: Chapter 11: The People
Next: Chapter 13: Sadhanas
