Goodbye Spain!
26 August 2024, Plymouth U.K.
I am back on my “home ground" in Plymouth, Devon. My parents (along with me and my younger brother) moved here in 1974. I was born in Exeter in 1970. I avoided coming back here for years, leaving in a hurry in the desolate 1980´s for the north of England where I “grew up” as an adult. Now it is a privilege to come back, the city having become more beautiful, lighter and brighter than I remember it; 50 years of investments and development. A seaside town in the summer months. The sounds of the seagulls around the house, the damp salty air, big skies opening to the Atlantic Ocean. We have been coming back almost every year since Satya was born. Becoming a dad and the dynamic of family drawing us back into familiar territory. There is this saying "born in Devon, die in Devon" but I am sure that is said about everywhere. My parents have been in this house for 50 years. It’s full of half a century of accumulated things. My mum at times lamenting what will happen to it all when they are gone.
I am relieved to be out of Suryavana for a few weeks. Suryavana is a lot of work and a lot of dedication, total absorption at times. This is especially the case given that we live onsite. Our good friend Padmashalin is looking after the place now and tells me he is enjoying it, enjoying a solitary time in the nature realm. Soon however to receive a large group of men from all over Spain for a long awaited Men´s event. We haven’t done one since pre-Covid days so it's a big deal.
We have been taking in the sights and sounds of the city and sea shore. We are dedicating a one hour slot to studying, focussing on English, the kids having been on holiday since the end of June, time for some structure and discipline, don’t you think?
I am getting into some reading. I came across "The Unwomanly Face of War” by Svetlana Alexievich in Waterstones, which by chance my dad had tucked away on one of his many bookshelves. The document is a remarkable one, giving an account of the Soviet women who fought against the German (Nazi) invasion of the USSR, 1941-1945, From snipers to tank divers to nurses, surgeons and telephone operators. One telling commentary was how one woman said she had been brought up on the idea women can do anything (revolutionary ideas), drive tractors and are equal to men and now is our chance to go to the Front! Die for the Motherland. And so many thousands of them did, entire companies of female fighters. The book is also an exploration of memory and how society chooses and is able to remember. The book comprises of hundreds of fragments of recollections from many women recalling events of some 40 years previous (in the 1980’s). These women were for various reasons unable to talk about their experience (the horror, the trauma) and unwilling to talk, Soviet society could only present the “Victory”, the glory, the heroism, the idealism and not the terror, the horror and basic earthy bloody human experience, that is war. It’s inevitably an anti-war treatise, at the same time giving an insight into what it means to defend your country against a catastrophic invasion.
Coming back to Suryavana. We have had a good run this summer and was great to see how the place works running back to back retreats. We received outside (non-Triratna) groups, Respiravida Breathworks, a project which I see as a Triratna collaboration, a Going for Refuge (GFR) retreat for women and a retreat run by the Valencia Buddhist Centre. The full range of Suryavana guests. By all accounts everything was a great success and it felt satisfactory to get Suryavana to this point after the four years I have been living there with my family. We really want to build on this success.
The main development I want to see at Suryavana is the construction of a meditation space. The current idea is to roof over the large back patio space (three walls are already there) and create an expansive (60/70 sq. metres) space, with high ceilings, insulated against the cold and the heat. I estimate a 30k job, as our neighbour has just done a similar refurbishment of one of his outbuildings. The next step is fund-raising!
I want to wish you all well, love Sudaka
