Two weeks ago a passage Preparing For The Extraordinary: An Essential Practice was read out at Awakin Circle. It made me think of all those extra-ordinary incidents that have led to who I am at this very moment. In a few days, I and my sister will be embarking on a walking pilgrimage circumventing the river Narmada.
Many people asked what inspired us to do this. When I think of it, my very first association with the river Narmada was because of my grandfather and his forefathers who chose to stay on the banks of Narmada.
As children we spent our summer breaks there with my cousins eating mangoes, swimming in the river, sleeping under the open sky at night gazing at the stars and constellations. The huge banyan tree that you might see in the picture used to be our second home. We would climb the tree, play around it, swing on the roots coming down from its branches.
Besides that huge tree is an old Shiva temple. I always felt that this place as my second home. As a child, I use to inside the temple, clean a little bit, and observe the oil lamp burning in the dark. Something which has constantly stayed with me in all these years is the stillness and peace that I have felt in these old rustic temples. I remember telling my mother that when I grow old I will spend my last years in a similar temple on the banks of Narmada. And I still feel the same. This intention I feel is now manifesting into our walking pilgrimage. I feel grateful to my grandfather and his lineage for choosing this place as there home which became my home too:)
Talking about Reva which is another name for Narmada, I feel her as a live entity and not a river. Around her, I feel like being around my own mother. While growing up, every time I use to visit her, I kept telling her that I will come back and stay with you someday. Here I come:) Someone asked me if I was worried and I said not at all. Do we worry when we go to our mother's home, we don’t? In fact, her warmth and love melt's it all. I surely know she is going to take care of us with her deepest compassion.
And as I grew up a little more I heard about pilgrimages taken by few friends with the intention of finding God, good in the others. I got an opportunity to spend some time with these people and I realized that they are like you and me but they definitely took an extra-ordinary path to serve the world with their ordinary ways of being. Their journey has gently intersected with mine in different ways and I feel them walking ahead of me in this pilgrimage. And their presence gives me the strength and courage to walk the path ahead.
With all the happy stories, I feel equally grateful for all those people who walked in my life with sandpaper and helped in rounding my edges. The hurt that my heartfelt, the rejections that my ego felt was all a blessing in disguise. I saw beauty in being vulnerable. It showed me the depths of my resilience and the tenderness of the heart. Grateful to the U-turns, dead ends and certain crossroads that brought me to the right destination. All those people who have walked into my life have woven a thread into this intention and they would be walking with me on this pilgrimage.
As I close this note I am reminded of this poem by Rev.Heng Sure he wrote on his bowing pilgrimage:
Many people asked what inspired us to do this. When I think of it, my very first association with the river Narmada was because of my grandfather and his forefathers who chose to stay on the banks of Narmada.As children we spent our summer breaks there with my cousins eating mangoes, swimming in the river, sleeping under the open sky at night gazing at the stars and constellations. The huge banyan tree that you might see in the picture used to be our second home. We would climb the tree, play around it, swing on the roots coming down from its branches.
Besides that huge tree is an old Shiva temple. I always felt that this place as my second home. As a child, I use to inside the temple, clean a little bit, and observe the oil lamp burning in the dark. Something which has constantly stayed with me in all these years is the stillness and peace that I have felt in these old rustic temples. I remember telling my mother that when I grow old I will spend my last years in a similar temple on the banks of Narmada. And I still feel the same. This intention I feel is now manifesting into our walking pilgrimage. I feel grateful to my grandfather and his lineage for choosing this place as there home which became my home too:)
Talking about Reva which is another name for Narmada, I feel her as a live entity and not a river. Around her, I feel like being around my own mother. While growing up, every time I use to visit her, I kept telling her that I will come back and stay with you someday. Here I come:) Someone asked me if I was worried and I said not at all. Do we worry when we go to our mother's home, we don’t? In fact, her warmth and love melt's it all. I surely know she is going to take care of us with her deepest compassion.
And as I grew up a little more I heard about pilgrimages taken by few friends with the intention of finding God, good in the others. I got an opportunity to spend some time with these people and I realized that they are like you and me but they definitely took an extra-ordinary path to serve the world with their ordinary ways of being. Their journey has gently intersected with mine in different ways and I feel them walking ahead of me in this pilgrimage. And their presence gives me the strength and courage to walk the path ahead.
With all the happy stories, I feel equally grateful for all those people who walked in my life with sandpaper and helped in rounding my edges. The hurt that my heartfelt, the rejections that my ego felt was all a blessing in disguise. I saw beauty in being vulnerable. It showed me the depths of my resilience and the tenderness of the heart. Grateful to the U-turns, dead ends and certain crossroads that brought me to the right destination. All those people who have walked into my life have woven a thread into this intention and they would be walking with me on this pilgrimage.
As I close this note I am reminded of this poem by Rev.Heng Sure he wrote on his bowing pilgrimage:
"Being brittle and hard is easy;It takes courage to be kind.Being stingy and selfish comes naturally to the weak;It takes strength to be compassionate.Holding on to the self is not wisdom;It takes faith to let go.Doubts and fear are greed for benefit;It takes giving to be happy."
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