Cleaning the Guru's Garage

As I did in 2006 and 2007, I spent Saturday in San Ramon, preparing the house in which Amma will stay during her visit to the ashram in early June. Now that I have begun attending church again (St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Orinda), I have my feet firmly planted in two religious camps.

My wife is a follower of Amma, and I find the idea of seva (selfless service) to be appealing, so I do support work for Amma's semi-annual visits. In addition to cleaning out the garage in late May, I also volunteer to handle the walkie-talkie base station. And, of course, I get hugged by Amma twice a year.

This spring, some other people had done part of the work in the garage--cleaning out the cabinets--but we still had the floor to sweep and wash, the cobwebs to remove (while not harming the spiders), and the garbage cans and fluorescent fixtures to wash. All while being careful not to use too much water--they buy it by the truckload at the Ashram's rural location.

In addition, I tithe to St. Stephens. Not the biblically suggested 10%, but a significant amount, because I don't think any church should be totally dependent on whatever randomly drops into the collection plate on Sunday. As time goes on, I hope to add personal involvement in the church's good works. And let me say I am proud of the role the Anglican Church (the mother ship, as it were) has been playing in providing asylum to persecuted foreigners in South Africa. I like being part of the St. Stephen's community too, in part because the Episcopal Church was the church of my youth.

Ever since my irregular heartbeat and my solo car crash, I have been asking myself why I'm still here. I look for the answer in many places, among them religious faith, mine and my wife's.