I had a dream. I saw myself in a big beautiful house. It was set somewhere on the globe against a backdrop of a mountain range. It was a sweet dream filled with bliss.
I arrived in New Delhi in the light of dawn. I had closed my clinic and given myself time off, a lot of time, endless time it seemed. Two days in Delhi was on my agenda to prepare for the tour to my destination Dharamsala, a hill station at the foot hills of the lower Himalayas. My plan was to see a doctor of Traditional Tibetan Medicine. Her name was Lobsang Dolma. She was well known worldwide for her healing gifts. I would ask her if i could visit her in her clinic as a student. I envisaged the two of us in the house of my dream.
I passed a bookstore, saw an enticing book displayed. It caught my attention. It was about a very young english woman who had followed her inner calling and traveled to India to become a nun. She was given the name of Tenzin Palmo. She spent thirteen years in the Himalayas in the midst of snowstorms and wild animals studying and meditating. I was in awe. Courageous out of believe, I thought. When she felt ready she came back down with a determination to do everything in her power to improve the conditions for the nuns in the monasteries in India and worldwide. Her book ended up in my backpack.
After some time in Dharamsala I was honored to be able to attend a seminar with His Holiness The Dalai Lama in his temple Tsuglakhang. I listen to him attentively for ten days. I so much yearned for knowledge. The last morning I got up early to get a good seat close to His Holiness. I felt embraced by his kindness and love. In the afternoon when it was time to move a woman came up to me and expressed her disappointment. She said i had taken her good spot. Taken aback I wondered who she might be. To my astonishment she asked me whether would like to visit her and her husband. I did not know what to think but took notes how to find their home up in the mountains. I had a bit of a problem to make up my mind whether to go or not but my inner soft voice told me to go, it might be important. The road was beautiful to walk, uphill and into a pine forest. I had arrived. The house was exactly like the house in my dream with galleries alongside the length of the house. I always thought that would be the house of the Tibetan doctor and that we would practice together in those galleries. She had passed! She was no longer amongst us. I had received information from her daughter who run a memorial clinic in her mother's name.
We spent a very pleasant afternoon together my new two friends and I. When it was time to bid farewell I was asked if I would like to house sit for them for six months while they were abroad.
This is how I learnt to know Tenzin Palmo.
She was a close friend of my hostess who had helped her to set up her cave in the mountains. She later came as a friend and a teacher to spend time with me in 'my' house. The saying is absolute right: "When the student is ready he teacher appears".
During my stay in Elysium House all my needs were taken care of.