I dreamed this morning I had shot a partner who was also in the work of security with me and because some how he had gotten programmed to go bad I had to shoot him down to stop him from continuing. I shot him so that he could be shut down from the bad programing and be erased to start over with his family as a normal person again.
I laid on my bunk awake and thought about how heroic it is to be a monastic. What does it mean to have blessings and conditions. It really does take a lot of taking care of business with everyone to be successful at anything. It really requires everyone’s agreement to support and give their blessing. It really takes the effort of a community for anyone to succeed at anything.
This morning the alcoholic army man packed up his bag and I jumped thinking it was time for us to get off. He was suppose to go to Ahmedabad too but he decided he would get off 6 hours early instead at another station. This man was a nice man but he drank the whole time he was on the train. He would pour it into a cup and then drink it. People would join him as he poured it for everyone else who passed by.
I got off at a station to buy food since Linda was still got her face against the wall on her bunk. I got roti and potato but the potato turned out to be cold. I got what I thought was string beans but turned out to be fresh green chili. Since Linda still felt ill after last night she did not eat any of the food and there was plenty that was left over.
During stops on the train, people would get on and off to buy things or vendors would get on to sell chai tea or fruits. A fruit lady came by and asked for the food that was sitting by the window and I gave it to her. The the other fruit girls all came by to do the same. The first fruit lady refused to share with the other girls. So I gave them chips I had and crackers. They too also refused to share. Then more and more fruit girls came by and wanted the same but I was out of food to give. They refused to leave and when they were done eating the left a mess of garbage behind, there were crumbs everywhere and trash.
“What a sight! How was that possible,” I wondered. “If they were that hungry wouldn’t every crumb be precious.” These girls were covered in dust. There were other children who came by to perform acts and beg for money. There were also older children who came around to shine shoes and sweep the cart clean. It was sad to see. I live in the Silicon Valley, everything is pretty Heavenly compared to this.
