Page 38 - GOTIL (ENG) Sample

6 Glimpses of Traditional Indian Life

Often an entire village would turn out to greet us with a
kīrtana procession and a profusion of flowers. They would
smear sandalwood paste on our foreheads — a sign of
respect offered to honorable persons — decorate us with
flower garlands, and throw flowers at our feet or over our
heads. The ladies would reverberate ulu-ulu by moving
the tongue against the palate to make a loud sound that
is considered auspicious.

People expected to have an opportunity to touch our feet
and take dust from our soles, to touch to their heads and
tongues. We sometimes found ourselves in the midst of
a frenzy of people eager to get at us. After every man,
woman, and child in the village had touched our feet, a
foot-washing ceremony would then be conducted. It was
embarrassing because we ourselves were fresh out of māyā.
We certainly felt unworthy of such worshipful treatment,
but there was no way to avoid it. The simple village people
were anxious not just to see us, but to venerate us as their
honored guests. They considered that we, having given
up the opulence of the West to come to remind them of
their own culture and religion, must be highly advanced
souls. They would tell us that their homes, villages, and
very lives had been purified by our presence.

We held festivals in the evenings — long functions of
kīrtanas and lectures with a movie show and sometimes
dramas. The local people would eagerly help to erect
a stage with bamboo and wooden planks, from which
we would show Bhagavad-gītā in English, holding it up