Rota is an old English army word for rotating work assignments. At The Palyul Center everyone who visits or goes on retreat shares the responsibility for the care and maintenance of His Holiness' retreat center. This helps the monks keep down the retreat costs because otherwise it might be necessary to hire workers to maintain the center and the cost of the retreat will have to be increased substantially. Plus, it is a sign of gratitude to His Holiness who is providing us with the chance to go on retreat here in the United States without having to travel all the way to India. A job can only be considered "rota" when they directly affect the care of the center. The only exception is transcription duties.
Everyone is requested to spend a minimum of 8 hours per week on rota.
In rota, everyone contributes by performing mundane chores, monks and participants alike. So, no one is excepted; there is always a way to contribute. If you have physical limitations that might prevent you from performing certain activities, this is respected in setting up work assignments. If you have skills or desires that match certain needs, the monks try to take advantage of your preferences. Please make your desires and your physical limitations known to us ahead of time on your registration form.
Common rota jobs:
- bathroom: cleaning duty
- bathroom: supply replacement duty
- garbage: pick-up duty (placing in dumpster)
- garbage: recycling duty
- garden: watering duty
- garden: weeding duty
- kitchen: chopping duty
- kitchen: serving duty
- kitchen: sweeping duty
- kitchen: washing duty
- maintenance: repairing broken fixtures, replacing lightbulbs, etc.
- temple: vacuuming duty
- temple: trash pick-up duty and window-washing