Mochi Ashram Pup – Part 2

Mochi

Following meeting Mochi the first time, I started my day off looking out for him at the ashram. Every morning and evening I would wander into Ramana Ashram searching for him. There were about 5 or 6 spots where I’d usually find him and if he wasn’t there, I’d be patient and wait for him to appear.

Turns out, he was a popular pup. I would find him sometimes surrounded by packets of dog food or a kind soul, young or old, giving pats and love. A lucky pup indeed.

One evening I was laying on my bed when I felt an intuitive voice, “Go and feed Mochi.”

I got up, got ready, and headed towards Sri Ramana grocery store to buy him a tub of curd. A small tub costs 10 rupees and a larger one costs 25 rupees so not expensive at all. Plus, there was something deeper going on here.

I still had two vet visits before I left for Greece and made sure that he would be fed and looked after before I left.

One morning I was sitting at the Ramana ashram when I saw a lady I had seen briefly around Tiru. She looked about my age, and I could tell she was in a different state of consciousness. I could feel her blissing out.

I went to get Mochi a tub of curd one morning and bumped into her at the grocery store. Her name was D, and she was from Spain. We slowly became friends. I told her about Mochi and she told me she had been giving him pats and looking out for him too.

D told me she would come with me to the vet and could look after him when I left for Greece, as she would still be in Tiru for a few months.

One morning, after Mochi’s third vet visit and my last, D and I wandered back into the ashram to drop Mochi off in the bushes. I could sense over the last two weeks that some of the security staff really didn’t like him. I was cautious when I came to feed him or take him out and back, but this time there was a big issue.

We placed Mochi down gently and decided to go wash our hands after applying his skin lotion. As we were walking off, I heard some yelling. I turned around and saw about ten people all standing there, motioning and yelling at me.

Okay, I thought.

I went over to see what the commotion was about. I noticed D had disappeared. I walked over and asked what the problem was. This pack of people clearly weren’t happy with me at all. They were yelling in Tamil, I was speaking English, and then some more people came over. One of them started mediating and translating.

He told me, “Sir, you must remove the puppy,” and I said, “No. I’m not doing that.”

He asked why not, and I said, “This is his home. He lives here.”

The group started yelling in a mixture of Tamil and English, saying that I must take the dog and leave immediately.

I said, “No. That’s not happening.”

They all looked at me shocked. It was ten onto one and I wasn’t budging. The environment was heated but I couldn’t feel it. I had orders from God.

If I took Mochi out of the ashram, he wouldn’t last outside, he could be killed. Love was guiding me. I didn’t care what they said.

One of the guys started getting aggressive and told me to take the dog out now and that he was ordering me to do it. I said, “On whose orders? Yours?”

Someone else told me he was the manager and made the rules. I said, “If you want to take him outside, you can do it. I won’t be doing that. He lives here. This is his home.”

They were still standing there, shocked. I wasn’t budging.

I asked if he was the president, and he said no. So I said, “I’ll speak to the president,” and he said, “Fine.”

The crowd dispersed, and this guy took me over to the president’s office. He told me to wait. I said to him, “I don’t have an issue with you personally,” and he replied, “No problem,” and walked away but he wasn’t happy with me, speaking in Tamil to someone else pretty robustly.

I didn’t give a fuck, to be fair. They were doing what they thought was right. And I was doing what I knew was right.

God speaks in love.

Do you speak the language of love?

I waited at the front of the president’s office but decided in that moment this wasn’t a safe space for Mochi right now. I had to take him home and wait for the correct way forward.

I went and found him and took him home. As soon as I got him home, he went straight to sleep. I laid on my bed, feeling into the next steps.

I got some messages from my friend D telling me she got scared after seeing the confrontation and yelling between me and the group of men and apologised for running away.

Fair enough, I messaged her.

I started working on my documentary and messaged a few friends telling them about my puppy situation. One of them told me there was a Tiru dog group, so I put a post in there and immediately, a kind lady messaged me privately. She said she’d seen my post and thanked me for taking him and asked if I could bring him back to the ashram and that we could visit management together to put a case forward.

Perfect, I thought.

I took him back and met her at the front of the ashram and gave her Mochi. We went and saw a gentleman by the name of Dr. Murti. He was patient and kind. He asked what the story was, and I explained I had been looking after him and told him about the vet visits.

After I finished, he told me: the ashram was his home.

He could stay.

While this was happening, D made her way over to say hi and give Mochi some pats.

Finally, I got official approval.

I thanked the kind lady for messaging me and left D with Mochi’s injection sheet, gave her the tablets he needed for the next three weeks, and the lotion she could apply to his sore spots.

We don’t have any right to the fruits of the action.

We must try and leave the results to God.

My service was complete.