Rain

And a rainbow

It has been raining here in Govardhan almost every day for the last two weeks. This morning it pours. For about three hours, the rain beats down relentlessly, soaking the earth and stopping construction on the Anu Giriraj Mandir.

Dark brown rivulets run through the newly backfilled earth outside our quarters, and soon the whole yard is muddy. The mud is thick, soft, and sticky; it clings to your sandals in gobs, and if you don't watch where you are going, it can pull the sandal right off your foot.

In the afternoon, after the downpour has stopped, Srila Gurudeva goes up on to the flat roof above our living quarters. A huge rainbow — one of the biggest I have ever seen — fills most of the sky, its iridescent colors forming a vivid contrast against the dark nimbostratus clouds low on the horizon. Srila Gurudeva says: "Rainbow. We call it Rama's bow."