Journal entry, March 4:

"Last night I slept to the hum of the ceiling fan, and the shoosh of waves on the Arabian Sea . . . charming. .
Prakash keeps the place clean, the sanitation is alright, I don't worry about a fly having stepped in shit before landing on me.
I'm starting to "get" India--one mustn't be in a hurry here, all things in time, and so it is. No bother, I've always had that sort of streak in me and it is a bit like coming home in that respect. .
The whole seaside is like a gigantic Rainbow Gathering. Each hut-like restaurant and bar is run by a different family or group, yet there is, at least here at the Villa Elena, a sort of loose affiliation.
There are half-feral dogs and a couple of cats, all well-adjusted. Talli, the half-grown kitten has to be the cutest animal around here, we play, and though I miss my own kitty, at least I have a little buddy to play with.

India is a place of acceptance. Even the animals accept what is. CatsandDogsandPigsandCowsandElephantsandBirdsandFishandElephantsandPeople all live together in the same space, none preaching to the others on how to live .
There are those that do, however, and none of them are Indian. The only people I have seen complain at all are the Westerners, and even then not much.
The Indians just do the best they can with what they have, but are always striving to bump up a notch.

Everything thatis for sale is sold--they are capitalist to the core, and in the markets, fairly aggressive, but one must learn how to ignore the sales pitch and only buy what one wants truly to buy, and even then haggle the price. Every price is negotiable.
Joy comes only with acceptance. No-one here fancies himself a guru except for Westerners. So many try and try, in yoga, buddhism, meditation, etc. searching for a opeace taht can only come from the core of one's self, and even then in finding the center of one's being and real-izing one's interdependence and connection to all things which we can see, and that which we cannot see.

It is very simple, and yet, no dogma, no religion, no "practice" boils it down to that sensible conclusion. Why? People crave power over others. They want to be considered "gurus" "shaman" "priests" and the like.This preys on the searchers, in a way.
The true guru would not want to be called one, he/she would only tell you how they found their own peace, and the student would only take what fits, thereby getting closer to the self and it's interconnectedness to the Oneness of All.

There is much wisdom in finding a way through these "practices," but the danger is that one will become stuck there and not get the self-sense that is necessary to find one's own true way. Getting stuck in these tools only makes preachers, not true teachers.