It is funny to find people living in an artificial world where one's own perception lies deep in a bin and all that matters is the world's perception about you. I am sorry folks, but life isn't a "Truman Show".. I refuse to live my life according to someone else's policies, I have the strength and the guts to say "No". It is rather weird that we end up agreeing to someone else's opinions just to keep them happy. Kill our mind and do things that someone else wants us to do, accept a life full of despair coz someone somewhere will smile, but ultimately whom are we bluffing? The person who is temporarily happy that you accepted their whims, but will be hell shocked when realises the truth, or you who in the eternal quest to become the sacrificial hero, let go of the fundamental parameter that defines life "Happiness". You need not be self centred, but being practical, isn't necessarily being selfish.
Keeping others before you when you take a decision is selflessness, but to create a mess out of everyone's life, just to satisfy someone's whims is absolute freaky behaviour. I always believe in constructively discussing a problem situation out. Two mature and rational humans can always solve their difference of opinions by talking it out. There can be no problem which does not have a solution. Sacrificing and then ending up self sympathizing is not a solution, it is just a foundation to a whole new world of problems. I am a "Raat gayi, baat gayi" believer. I prefer ending a problem with a solution which is discussed about, then carrying its emotional baggage all through my life.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
A voyage undescribable!!
Travelling has always been a favourite past time of mine!! Discovering the unknown and doing something that you can never dream of, excites me more than anything. One such itch, led me to this Dindi yatra.
Although the goal of this journey was spiritual, the experience was divine in its own way. Dindi is a piligrimage undertaken by Maharashtrian warkaris, from Alandi and Dehu road, carrying the Padukas or sandals of the great marathi saints, Jnyandev and Tukaram to Pandharpur, the abode of Lord Vitthala. This piligrimage is done on foot, by thousands of devotees in the month of Ashadha, when the gates of heaven are considered open. The piligrims, reach, Pandharpur on Ashadhi Ekadeshi, where they take darshan of their Lord and thus fulfill, their desires. Being a mumbaichi mulgi, I have always been enchanted by the devotion and determination of these warkaris, and when I got a chance to be one amongst them, I jumped with glee..
Around 850, sai devotees from Maharashtra, walked from dharmavaram (in Andhra Pradesh) to Puttaparthy, the abode of Sri sathya sai baba. I was lucky to be one of the volunteers, taking care of these people while walking this distance of close to 40 Km. Although compared to the pandharpur dindi, which takes about 15 days to reach, we reached in a mere 2.5 days.. But the experience was beyond description.
Maximum crowd for the dindi came from rural maharashtra, from remote villages of Chandrapur, Parbhani, Wardha and also from cities like Nasik, kolhapur & Jalgaon. Being the youngest lady volunteer, I got a lot of chance to interact with these people, to know about their likes and dislikes. It is truly said that India lives in villages. To know the real Indian culture, one needs to visit and spend time in the hamlets of India. I always knew about virtues like humility and forgiveness in a very abstract manner... But I understood the real meaning of these virtues when I got a chance to mix amongst these people. Purity of heart is resplendent in every act of these people. We had women over the age of 60's walking as if there was no tomorrow. Singing the devotional folk songs about Lord Vitthoba and dancing in His glory, they made every minute of this endeavour rejoice able. we used to walk in the hot afternoons, and "Miss Fussy Unlimited" as my family knows me, when I saw the simplicity of these people, I didn't care about any of my logics.. Gone were my sun screen lotions in the depths of my bag, our legs ached, our bodies were sore, yet we ate only after confirming that every villager was fed to his heart's content. I never knew that I could manage to clean after walking for 16 Km, wait till 800 people ate, served them and then have food. It was as if all of us were rediscovering ourselves.
On one particular occasion, after walking a distance of 16 Km, we reached a hamlet, not far from our destination. The food arrived very late that night, we were all extremely exhausted, all the children, old women everyone was very hungry. But not a sound of cribbing anywhere... When we apologised to them, about the delay in the food a very old lady, with a smiling face said, "Vitthal has called us and he is the giver", you and I are mere instruments in his divine hands.
With tears in my eyes I served the lady food. She had said the summary of all our Vedas and Upanishads, in one line, that God alone is the doer and He alone is the bestower. She didn't have knowledge about Bhagvad Gita, about the chakras, about the shakti, yet her simple faith on her Vitthala spoke volumes about her heart's beauty.
These uneducated women understand the Lord and his ways, more than us, we who consider ourselves, so educated and scholastic. That night as I slept I muttered a silent prayer of gratitude to the Lord for making me understand the beauty of his creation.
At the end of the trip, I learnt to value everything in life... Good, bad, joy, sorrow, everything is a gift from the Lord. Only when we have the serenity and humility to accept everything as a gift from him, do we actually finish our pilgrimage from the Jivatma to the Paramatma....
I returned home, tanned, tired and wiser!!
Although the goal of this journey was spiritual, the experience was divine in its own way. Dindi is a piligrimage undertaken by Maharashtrian warkaris, from Alandi and Dehu road, carrying the Padukas or sandals of the great marathi saints, Jnyandev and Tukaram to Pandharpur, the abode of Lord Vitthala. This piligrimage is done on foot, by thousands of devotees in the month of Ashadha, when the gates of heaven are considered open. The piligrims, reach, Pandharpur on Ashadhi Ekadeshi, where they take darshan of their Lord and thus fulfill, their desires. Being a mumbaichi mulgi, I have always been enchanted by the devotion and determination of these warkaris, and when I got a chance to be one amongst them, I jumped with glee..
Around 850, sai devotees from Maharashtra, walked from dharmavaram (in Andhra Pradesh) to Puttaparthy, the abode of Sri sathya sai baba. I was lucky to be one of the volunteers, taking care of these people while walking this distance of close to 40 Km. Although compared to the pandharpur dindi, which takes about 15 days to reach, we reached in a mere 2.5 days.. But the experience was beyond description.
Maximum crowd for the dindi came from rural maharashtra, from remote villages of Chandrapur, Parbhani, Wardha and also from cities like Nasik, kolhapur & Jalgaon. Being the youngest lady volunteer, I got a lot of chance to interact with these people, to know about their likes and dislikes. It is truly said that India lives in villages. To know the real Indian culture, one needs to visit and spend time in the hamlets of India. I always knew about virtues like humility and forgiveness in a very abstract manner... But I understood the real meaning of these virtues when I got a chance to mix amongst these people. Purity of heart is resplendent in every act of these people. We had women over the age of 60's walking as if there was no tomorrow. Singing the devotional folk songs about Lord Vitthoba and dancing in His glory, they made every minute of this endeavour rejoice able. we used to walk in the hot afternoons, and "Miss Fussy Unlimited" as my family knows me, when I saw the simplicity of these people, I didn't care about any of my logics.. Gone were my sun screen lotions in the depths of my bag, our legs ached, our bodies were sore, yet we ate only after confirming that every villager was fed to his heart's content. I never knew that I could manage to clean after walking for 16 Km, wait till 800 people ate, served them and then have food. It was as if all of us were rediscovering ourselves.
On one particular occasion, after walking a distance of 16 Km, we reached a hamlet, not far from our destination. The food arrived very late that night, we were all extremely exhausted, all the children, old women everyone was very hungry. But not a sound of cribbing anywhere... When we apologised to them, about the delay in the food a very old lady, with a smiling face said, "Vitthal has called us and he is the giver", you and I are mere instruments in his divine hands.
With tears in my eyes I served the lady food. She had said the summary of all our Vedas and Upanishads, in one line, that God alone is the doer and He alone is the bestower. She didn't have knowledge about Bhagvad Gita, about the chakras, about the shakti, yet her simple faith on her Vitthala spoke volumes about her heart's beauty.
These uneducated women understand the Lord and his ways, more than us, we who consider ourselves, so educated and scholastic. That night as I slept I muttered a silent prayer of gratitude to the Lord for making me understand the beauty of his creation.
At the end of the trip, I learnt to value everything in life... Good, bad, joy, sorrow, everything is a gift from the Lord. Only when we have the serenity and humility to accept everything as a gift from him, do we actually finish our pilgrimage from the Jivatma to the Paramatma....
I returned home, tanned, tired and wiser!!
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