"What a weekend," she said, getting out of her car.
I walk up to her.
"I'm waiting for my friend," she says and then a skinny girl gets out of the passenger side.
"We were at a Hindu festival. It was amazing. Sri Ma Kali Puja. We started Friday night at Rabbi ------'s house. I had to change the privacy settings on the rabbis on my friend's list so they could not see my Facebook status updates. I didn't friend them. They friended me."Saturday morning, we got in the car and drove down to Laguna Beach. We just got back. And now this.
"It was amazing. We joined in the worship of the goddess Kali. They covered up the goddess when they fed her."
"How did she eat?" I asked.
"I don't know. They covered her up.
"We got down on our hands and knees and touched the feet of the monks. And they held your head down for a few seconds until it was OK to get up."
"A lot of guys do that."
"It wasn't like that. These monks were celibate."
"I'm sure it was all very religious. These guys holding your head down there. I'm sure it was very spiritual."
"We got dots on our head. We didn't have a clue what was happening but we asked questions and we made new friends and they explained everything. They showed us how to worship the Goddess Kali."
She emails me later: my gf thought you were hilarious! she's like... you're rabbi friend is sooo funny! she assumes everyone that "looks like matisyahu" is a rabbi.
she LOVED it. she's never done kundalini, only iyengar. she really liked it alot.
the puja was a beautiful experience... i'm not going to start praying to God through an idol or anything like that... it was just a nice cultural weekend. would love to visit India.
even when i tried to be genuine in my devotion when we bowed down in worship to Ma.... my body and mind just reject it... it's a freakin statue. haha.
but all the rivers lead to the sea... so power to em!
