1/20: Last day in Anjuna

Me with Tina, Hila, Eugen, Jakob, and Sarah at dinner

Yesterday, my last full day in Arjuna, I read the last chapter of Adyashanti's Emptiness Dancing, called "Fidelity." He writes about fidelity to Truth - a commitment each moment to the moment, to trust completely, to surrender completely, for all our attempts at control are just attachment to an illusion. And then his words played out perfectly in my last full day in Arjuna.

Everyone was supposed to converge on Anjuna yesterday. Eugen, my German friend who has been living in India for the past five years and I had met two and a half years ago when I was traveling in India, was supposed to arrive. Hila, the Israeli woman I first met at a cooking class in Pushkar, and then ran into her on the street in South Rajasthan and then again in Panaji, was finishing up her week long yoga and meditation course and was coming. Tina and Jakob, who I met outside the airport and became my restaurant buddies, were supposed to arrive.

And then communication fell apart. Eugen wasn't answering his cell phone. Hila did not email confirming that she was coming, and Tina and Eugene came to my guest house and I missed them by about five minutes.

I went walking down the beach, looking for Tina and Jakob. There I ran into Amy, the New Zealand woman I had met on the bus to Anjuna a few days ago. She was reclining on a lounge chair on the beach, which seemed like a pretty good idea to me. While lounging, Sarah, the German/French woman who I met outside our guest house the evening before, walked by and joined us. As we were about to leave to visit the Wednesday craft market, Hila walked by along the beach. So she and I went to get something to eat, and while sitting at a restaurant on the cliff over looking the sea, Tina and Jakob wandered through the restaurant. They joined us at our table, and while texting Eugen, who should walk into the restaurant but Eugen. So Eugen, Tina, Jakob, Hila and I went to dinner at another restaurant. Sarah walked by and joined us, and then a little later, in walked Amy.

Since this was my last day in Anjuna, I really wanted to see all these friends one last time, but had no idea how it would work, or if it would even be possible. And then all my attempts at control failed. And then it all worked out anyway - all seven of us ended up eating dinner together and having a great evening. The evening was a perfect metaphor for what I had been reading, thinking and writing about - control, desire, and just letting go.

Eugen and I

Hila, Eugen and I

Jakob, Tina and I

Sarah, Amy, Hila and I

All 7 of us: Jakob, Tina, Hila, Amy, Robert, Eugen, and Sarah