brazil 9 [eng]

hello dear friends

Today, there are some news for you. i arrived in vitoria a few hours ago. here I stay until friday when my flight to buenos aires starts.
my third week in the source temple ashram was really wonderful again, have fun reading.

16.9. - 23.9.

on sunday morning there is always a joint action here in the community, we all sing mantras together, but before that we meditate together. that is a really nice experience, you can almost hear the love and hope in the common voice of all people.
it all takes place in the old community hall.

then we have breakfast together and we sweeped the rooms of the guest house thoroughly.
I wrote a blogpost in the hammock and read some pages of the book, which john had sent to me yesterday.
in the afternoon we all got into the car and drove to the pedra de marcela, the highest mountain of the two states rio and são paulo, in clear weather you can probably even see the sea. For us it was cloudy and after a brisk climb of about an hour. we reached the summit slightly above the clouds.

The outlook was incredible, something like the view from the windows of a plane. Later, when we reached the ashram after the return in the dark, we drank a good tea and, a short time later, welcomed silva and aurea, two new volunteer girls. aurea is from the south of brazil and silva comes from the region around cologne in germany.

#silofashion

Early in the morning the alarm rang and I walked to the upper room, a yoga and meditation room above the kitchen, because there would be a morning meditation at 6 o'clock. Together with Silva and Aurea, we tried to focus on our breath.
Afterwards we had a kind of power yoga with sit-ups and pump-jacks, which makes you really awake and hungry for the delicious banana sandwich breakfast that awaited us at the guesthouse.
then I ran with the girls to the silo and they looked for work things from the fundus, before they went to the garden and I headed to the workshop to cut the feet for the office chairs and milled the corners round. in the photo you can see the almost finished result.

In the afternoon I didn’t work and walked into the library, here we would all read together the book of the community: "a course in miracles"

it is a book or curriculum that will help readers or students in the spiritual transformation. the underlying doctrine is that the greatest miracle one can achieve in one's life is a full consciousness, the presence of love in one's own life.

that sounds like hippie shit again and culty, even if you keep on exploring it, you will doubt it quickly, but it is a kind of bible for the people who live here firmly and it is just unbelievable what has been built, preserved and is passed on. It is one of the most beautiful places on my whole trip and I would like to take the prejudices from you and invite you to deal with this topic. If all this love and place were created by a book, then it is probably one of the best books in the world.

https://www.acim.org

Even if the text itself is written in relatively simple English, the understanding is not always easy, so at some points, special explanations or a group discussion takes place to understand the detail. it would go too far for this blog to carry out this, but there was a lot of explanations that in their truth and logic in the good sense, simply pulled the floor under my feet.
a basic idea is to put off the ego and fight with your own fears, as well as forgiveness and love. i hope this belief grows and more people can experience what i experienced. the whole reading was special for me.
then I just wanted to make my way to dinner, but because the beamer was built, while I just explained the one reader, why that has touched me so, i got curious what will follow.
Following the reading, there was another group meditation, although I may now bother other readers with spiritual scribbles, I want to tell you exactly what happened in those 15 minutes.
Who has no interest in it can just fast forward to the next photo.

So I sat down again and sat on a sofa at the door, no one told me what to expect me. there were about 20 people in the library and the beamer showed a picture of adi da, the guru, all of a sudden everyone started to say a prayer that i think came from one of his books.
then a video was played. it shows how adi da, in an ashram in fiji, steps in front of a group of followers and looks at it objectively, just standing there, nothing happens for about 8 minutes. the camera zooms on his face, you see his eyes, his wrinkles and for whatever reason, i have seen or felt so much more.
all the other friends in the room were deep in the contemplation of this video and sat cross-legged with their hands raised in front of the image projected onto the wall. For the first moment, I thought to myself, it's just the guru?! , probably a very special moment, for the group. I looked around and all of a sudden my eyes got stuck on adi da’s face. I can not rationally explain why, but I saw movement in his face that looked as if I were just looking at him through a wall of water. slightly blurry and still clear. At the same time, I felt a presence of power or energy in this small room, as with electrical voltage, I got goose bumps and it was like walking through cold and hot winds. but I could intensify or weaken those states with my thoughts, depending on how much I concentrated. I dived for about 5 minutes, but felt like. then i got out of it and considered objectively, what happens here.
all of you know the warning people, that tell you, this brainwashing-sect-stuff, is dangerous and that they could make you believe everything they want.
all i can say is, it did not feel compulsive, but it was a strange new feeling, maybe you can describe it like this: it's like the feeling you would have when you suddenly see a new color. Surprisingly, one wonders why this is there, what is happening here. everyone else was completely focused and so i also sank back into contemplation in the video and woke up again when the video was over and all together said another prayer before they finished and i went to the guest house.
I just thought all the time, what kind of experience that was, definitely something incredibly strong, but I can not say if I would be positive or neutral. I believe it is an interplay, between the magic of the place, the love of the people and nature, which has triggered such an experience in me.
if you're curious, but just not near the ashram, here is the link to the video we watched, even though I think it will not work without the rest, you're welcome to check it out:

After the extraordinary experience we started exchanging with the other volunteers, drank teas and ate a delicious dinner, later we went to sleep.

due to the detailed explanation I summarize the rest a bit shorter.

Today, Tuesday, I completely finished the two office chairs and also cut the foam cushions to fit the slightly angled back wall. They are later held in position with a string and were painted later today.

In the afternoon we drove into the city to buy some fruits and also because madalina would like to cook something big for everyone the day after tomorrow and also had to go shopping there. So again in the car we drove the bumpy road to Cunha. I sent off my postcards and we enjoyed a terribly sugary açaí that gave us so much energy after the many raw and vegan, sugar-free food in the ashram that we did not came down.

Back in the ashram before I fell asleep, I prepared a washing machine with my cloth, to drive away with a few clean clothes.

even today, work continued at the hall, I now copy the cutouts that I made for the inside, on the outside, to prevent the penetration of insects, and to make a beautiful conclusion.
it is a bit monotonous work, choose the matching inside part, look how it fits from the outside and then transfer the wave form to a fresh board, sawn with the jigsaw, re-adapted and sawed more appropriate, while the girls begin with the painting of the other parts.
After lunch, I also went a bit further with this, before I started a small new project, it was about the missing handle of the small espresso coffee pot, from our guest kitchen. So I draw the shape that I imagined and then looked at the left over wood for a good piece of eucalyptus. sawed out and milled the edges off, a lot of sanding awaited me, but each of us volunteers, dealt with it a little to give the piece a dreamlike baby skin delicate finish.
I also built a small phone holder for bruno, before I went to sleep after a movie.

Today, after breakfast, I was finally able to complete the finalization work on the roof and declare this project as finalized. there are still two internal parts to adjust, but there is no more wood, so pablito must probably take care of it himself.
At lunchtime I met the other volunteers and after the cafe break we all planned to walk together for the waterfall, yes they have their own waterfall on the property here. a really beautiful half hour walk brought us to this natural spectacle.
it is really a very special place, from here, the water which distributes the whole ashram and if it had not been so rainy you could have even gone swimming.

on the way back we came pass the workshop and I wanted to continue to build the chest, chai helped me, it was fun to explain to him what I had thought while the construction. I still do not know why, all people here wonder where I learned this, I've never built something like that, but apparently my head can put the constructive and creative together and i can use that in this way ... crazy.
Later I helped make a cake in the kitchen and had a lot of fun decorating a banana crumble together with Marie. she is another true sunshine of love.

In the evening I planned my further trip and when I wanted to make my way tomorrow.

my last day here in the ashram starts with the morning breakfast and today even with pancakes. I finished the wood box this morning by putting everything together and fitting the hinges for the lid, screwing on the feet and grinding the whole box a little finer. it has become a beautiful chest, and I am proud of the result, everything fits together, no gaps in the wood and best, it does not wobble.

https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQma36xMNo4XAjDr1qrmW6NX6YiC6NpKFbL8Sp!YJUGyA45b / 1A0921A5-C245-4F1D-930F-B2156CFF705F.jpeg

I also adapted the can handles for the coffee pot and gave it a little varnish.

then after noon the hardest part came, i said goodbye to all the people i've felt so connected in the last few weeks.

thanks for all dearest friends!

the winding road led me back down the mountain and I reached paraty in the early evening. Here I covered myself with some food and then I searched again on my offline map for a waterfall to spend the night there.
I also found one that was only half an hour away.
the way there was again very adventurous, winding and steep it went on dirtroads in the mountains. Suddenly I was standing in front of an open gate and the waterfall was marked on the map behind it, so I thought, what the hell's I drive in. I saw some houses and buildings glow in the dark.
car turned off and went out to find someone I can ask if I can sleep here. my spanish saved me again and so i found myself a bit later with a plate of steaming soup in the middle of people living together in a hare krishna - ecovillage.
again a very nice surprise.
I took a shower and then I went to sleep in the car.

I woke up early in the morning and immediately went in search of the temple that everyone had been talking about yesterday.

I also looked at the new warehouse, which they assemble with a bamboo substructure. exciting, because bamboo is often found here as a building material that grows almost everywhere like weeds.
After breakfast I drove off to the main road and realized first, where I drove over here in the dark yesterday everywhere, adventurous way in any case.

A few miles later, I decided to stop at a beach and go for a swim. I found a small, which again was only on my map and was not signposted.
I scrambled down a narrow trail and kept clinging to trees, then bumped my head against a branch and suddenly something fell down.

I could hardly believe my eyes, it moved, a snake, about as thick as my forearm and as long as my leg.
I stood on the path with a mediocre shock and waited until she had moved in the undergrowth.

shortly thereafter, I reached the beautiful little beach and bathed in the cool water, after I had pulled a small tick out of my shin with my chain. such a beautiful necklace that saved me again.

the further road led me to rio and the mambembe hostel, which I reached in the early evening.

Here I got to know nils quite fast, he also came from Germany and discovered a great place of interest on a great website called atlas obscura.
there is an abandoned amusement park nearby and an abandoned hotel that we might look at together on monday.
after some good drinks we went to sleep.

I woke up late today in the bed of the hostel and after a delicious breakfast, I helped another German girl, to paint the mural, which she was just about to finish.

then we went together a bit up the mountain and ate delicious açaí and pao de queijo. When we arrived back at the hostel, edda had just come back from her 10-day meditation seminar. I was very happy to meet her again.

I saw this great painting in the hostel on one of the stairs, somehow I could not pass without taking a picture of it.

then we went shopping together and later we drove all together with bruno to a mountain in the middle of the city, it's called dona marta, and from here you have a breathtaking view over Rio’s bay and the ocean.

For dinner edda and I cooked a mango curry with rice and we were looking forward to our tomorrow's happening, the hotel...

Many thanks to all who have stuck to this point. I am very happy that you are taking part in my journey and i hope i can keep your curiosity for new stories of south american adventures

love
pauli

here my current contact data:

mail: [email protected]
Phone: +55 (11) 98842-2617
whatsapp: +54 9 11 2693-6601
blog: https://steemit.com/@schningelnatter
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