All good things come to an end

I am writing this on a train from Kings Cross to Cambridge. On the final leg home. I got up this morning together with Adityabodhi in a very high tower block in central Mumbai - soon to be the world's largest city. It's a monster of a place. We stayed with a wonderfully kind Buddhist family there last night in their flat. I have been awake now for 22 hours.The flight to Heathrow from Mumbai went well, and was smooth. It was hard saying goodbye to AB after nearly 5 weeks. How lucky I am to have a friend like him.

Since leaving Nagpur it has been seriously busy in Pune. Apart from leading another much-appreciated 3 day workshop for Order members on the Four Tantric Rites, AB and I did many 'house programmes', i.e. visiting Buddhist families in their homes for meditation, puja and a Dharma talk. These programmes usually last over 2 hours and can be very enjoyable and satisfying. These Buddhist families are so welcoming and appreciative. 

I have totalled up our entire tally of programmes over the last 35 days. It is 51. So that's a Dharma event we have led that is more than 90 minutes long but could be as long as a day. I'm amazed at what we have done. I didn't enjoy all of it, but mostly I did. Some of it was a peak experience of my life, e.g. the huge Mitra day at the Mahavihar and my giving a talk on the Convention.

AB and I also found time to attend an Indian classical music concert which we totally loved. There was 5000 people there. Even more important was a visit to 'Pule Wada' Mahatma Pule was a Victorian social reformer who was based in Pune. He

was one of Dr Ambedkar's 'Three Gurus' and a personal hero of mine. Visiting his house was very important to me.