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The place I stayed in India during my spiritual retreat did not have hot running water.
My bathroom was a small, very simple cement room that included a western style toilet and sink, a water spigot, and a cold water shower. Below is a picture of a tiled room with Indian style toilet.
I really did miss having hot water in the bathroom. Towards the end of my three-week stay at the retreat, I found I could get a bucket of hot water from the kitchen. From then on, I happily chose a warm, bucket bath over a cold shower.
Perhaps because of my preference for warm water, I thought a lot about my bathing experience. When I felt sorry for myself, I reminded myself that I was lucky to have a private bathroom, with or without hot water.
Not having what I was so accustomed to gave me particular sympathy for the orphan girls' situation: They had no shower facility, hot or cold!
About the Orphanage Ashram
Sri Lalita Mahila Samajam is an ashram run entirely by women monks, or "virgin yoginis," to be more precise. I believe it is the only community of its kind in S. India.
The nuns have dedicated themselves to providing schooling, as well as health & medical facilities for destitute women and girls. They house 150 girls in an orphanage, and run a school for 400 females, which include the poorest of girls from the community. The place is unusually well tended, bright and clean.
I was most interested when I had the opportunity speak with the nun in charge.
Jayamba willingly answered my many question: what their daily spiritual practices are, what the daily routine is, how successful the schooling is for the girls, etc.
Then I asked, "What is your most pressing need at this time?"
Jayamba replied that other than sponsors for the girls, she wanted to build a bath house.
She told me that the girls now bathed in an open area. Hearing "an open area," I formed a picture in my mind of many girls bathing in one big room. I thought she was talking about wanting privacy for the girls when she said she wanted to build 15 showers and 5 new toilets.
But no! Then she took me to see where the girls bathed.
Down by the road there was a large pipe that brought water to an area used for washing clothes in buckets. It was here that the girls took "bucket baths," in their clothes, for privacy. They had no shower room.
I was undaunted when I heard how much it would cost to build a new facility with proper water and drainage.
I told Jayamba, "I don't know how I will do it, but I will raise money for that shower building!"
As soon as I told our pilgrimage group, one generous woman named Sally reached into her purse and gave me $100 in Travelers Checks. I am so thankful for her immediate response; her gift became the seed of all the money to follow.
Since then, I have raised about $2000, and I need your help to make it all the way.
Please think about my request for your donation the next time you're in the shower.
Imagine not having a shower or bathtub for bathing. Our building codes require bathroom facilities before a house is even considered habitable.
But you can relate to this: When you last took a bath or shower, were you able to adjust the water to a perfect temperature?
Do you take that warm shower for granted?
Have you ever been showering when the hot water ran out, and you had to finish up quickly with only cold water left to rinse yourself?
Now imagine if there wasn't even cold water.
What You Get
I must tell you this unfortunate fact about the donation you make to this worthy cause: You will receive no outward monetary advantage from your gift. I am not a tax-deducible institution; and therefore your contribution will not be tax-deductible.
But please, do not let that diminish the amount of your giving. Please give fully.
In return, I will do this: I'll add your name to the list of donors and ask the yoginis to keep you in their prayers.
And I will update you on the success of the mission.
Who knows what we can accomplish when we put our minds and hearts into creating something worthwhile like this project.
My Next Newsletter
When one travels to exotic lands such as India, there are revelations that take one by surprise. From past travels to India, I knew to expect chaos and confusion, mystery and awe. Anyone who has traveled there knows what I mean.
But in the midst of chaos all around, there is a place that is the center which is "I", a center of peace and presence (just as the eye at the center of a hurricane is a place of powerful peace and stillness).
My experiences in India have taught me that regardless of what is happening around me, I can move into a center that is perfect peace. I can meet others who live from their center.
Those meetings are extraordinary, transcending ordinary time and space.
I'll tell you more about one such experience with a beggar woman in my next installment.
Here is my favorite temple elephant.
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Here is an elephant who comes to one of the temples in S. India where thousands of people make daily visits. 
Though the elephant at the temple was huge, I waited with eyes closed for the elephant's "blessing." I felt no fear as I waited my turn and then moved into place near him.
Though crowds of people surrounded us, in my mind, the place became silent. All my concentration was on that ephemeral caress. 
