Ashrama

It turns out that there´s a Ramakrishna Center in Buenos Aires. Of course, I had to go check it out since I can´t think of any other instance where I would hear bajans sung in Spanish and see Vivekananda´s Karma Yoga written in Spanish. The center (they call it the Ashrama) is located about an hour and half (by train) outside of the main city, so it´s a beautiful sprawling property. (Unfortunately my camera battery died Saturday night, so I don´t have any pictures.) I think I was somewhat of a novelty there since the Argentinian devotees were really excite to meet a real-life Indian. (By the way, one of the things I haven´t written about is how in Spanish, Indiano is actually a really pejorative term for Native Americans, and so Indians have to refer to themselves as Hindu; I´m not sure what an Indian Muslim would do).

Anyway, it was a really interesting and fun experience to hear readings and Sanskrit words in Spanish. Plus, their songs are much more fun than the songs at the center in New York. They´re also much more laid back and Latin American about the whole affair, starting whenever they please and kissing everyone hello. I´m sure Swami Adishwarananda in New York would have a fit. There´s also an Argentinian swami who´s much too good looking to be a swami; if he starts taking on disciples, they´re going to jump off of cliffs like lemmings for him.