A quiet notice V2Melody closes at midnight on , Spanish time.

Closes

A note from Richard

V2Melody will close at midnight on 20 January 2028

This site has been a retirement project in musical poetry: poems chosen with care and set to music, offered freely for as long as it felt right to keep the garden open.

The work no longer holds the place it once did in my life. I have gone as far with it as I wish to go. Like a sand mandala, it was made to be completed and then released. I am not attached to its permanence, and I do not believe any of it needs to last beyond the time it was given. The poems were already here before I arrived and began to experiment with them. They will still be here when these musical experiments, and indeed myself, have been swept away, like the sand of a mandala. Nothing has been lost.

I want a simpler end to my life, days of simple love and enjoyment with my wonderful wife of 20 years. The work of maintaining a server, the monitoring, and the residual obligations that come with keeping a site alive no longer fit that life.

From 4 November 2026 I will not be adding new poems or musical poems to the site.

The experimental music I am making now is on my Suno profile. Those pieces stay there, and are not added to this site.

Until midnight on 20 January 2028, Spanish time, everything remains available exactly as it is. That is when my VPS server contract comes to an end, and it will not be renewed. After that, the server will be switched off and the site will disappear.

The Mandala Is Finished explains this more fully.

Thank you to anyone who found a poem, a track, or a quiet moment here.

The pleasure was in the making.

Richard

Home › Glossary › Letter D

Dharmashala

World Religion
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A rest house for pilgrims in India, often near temples or tirthas, providing shelter and community for travelers.

Detailed Definition
Dharmashalas embody the Hindu value of hospitality (atithi devo bhava—“guest is god”). Simple and charitable, they support spiritual journeys. In poetry, they appear as humble waystations—where strangers share stories, food, and devotion. Poets use them to symbolize compassion in action, the interconnectedness of seekers, and the idea that the path to the divine is walked together. They represent practical dharma: caring for others on their sacred quest.
Example
Example in poetry:
A travel poem: “Dharamshala is a town where prayer flags write poems on the wind”; A Tibetan exile’s verse: “It holds the scent of home in butter tea”; A minimalist lyric: “Dharma’s shelter, where mountains listen to sutras”; A modern note: “In Dharamshala, even silence speaks Tibetan.”
Additional Notes
Dharmashalas line pilgrimage routes across India, offering free lodging to travelers en route to tirthas (crossing places). Traditionally funded by kings or merchants, they foster community and rest. In literature, dharmashalas serve as narrative hubs—strangers share stories, saints give discourses, transformations occur. Tagore set scenes in such spaces to explore encounter and transience. For scholars, dharmashalas exemplify dharma in action: hospitality as sacred duty, infrastructure as spiritual practice, reflecting how religion shapes social architecture and travel literature.
Also Known As
Dharamshala Pilgrims' Rest House
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