When I Walk

When I walk, I see a line of ants crossing the path.

When I walk, I wonder about the symmetry that the butterflies carry.

When I walk, I see the wildflowers sprouting from the rocks smiling wide at me.

When I walk, I see the wild lizard camouflaging among the dry leaves.

When I walk, I breathe in the smell of the wet soil and the leaves.

When I walk, I relish the wild berries fallen on the ground.

When I walk,k I connect to the tree by touching the bark.
Sometimes I pause to count the number of rings on the trunk.

When I walk, I hear the songs of the winds.
Sometimes when I pause, the stillness in the silence helps me to connect and listen to my own breath.

When I walk, I listen to the splash of the tiny fish.
Sometimes, when I pause, I see the ripples in the water created by the wind.

When I walk, I know whether the Sun God is gentler to me than yesterday.
When I pause in the evening, I see it waving goodbye to me.

When I walk, I am able to see, hear, touch, and smell the natural world, which enables me to wonder, be, connect, and slow down.

- Writing from Dhuadhar in the midst of a forest trail. I hear Narmadaji flowing some 30 feet down, gushing and dancing in between the marble rocks.

જયારે હું ચાલુ છું .........

જયારે હું ચાલુ છું , હું જોઉં છું કે કીડીઓ એક હરોળ માં કેવી મારા પથ માંથી પસાર થાય છે 

જયારે હું ચાલુ છું , ત્યારે મને પતંગિયા ની સપ્રમાણતા વિષ્મય પમાડે છે 

જયારે હું ચાલુ છું , હું જોઉં છું કે વનફૂલો પથ્થરો વચ્ચે થી કેવા મને સ્મિત આપી રહ્યા છે 

જયારે હું ચાલુ છું , હું જોઉં છું કે કાચિંડો કેવો પ્રકૃતિ સાથે એકરૂપ થઇ જાય છે 

જયારે હું ચાલુ છું , ત્યારે હું ભીની માટી અને પાંદળાઓ ની સુગંધને મારા માં ભરી લઉ છું 

જયારે હું ચાલુ છું , ભૂમિ પર પડેલા ફળો મને એક બાલ- સહજ આનંદ આપવી જાય છે 

જયારે હું ચાલુ છું , વૃક્ષો ના થડનો સ્પર્શ મને તેમની સાથે જોડે છે , કોઈ વાર હું ત્યાંજ રોકાઈ ને તેના વલયો ગણવા લાગુ છું 

જયારે હું ચાલુ છું , પવન ના ગીતો સાંભળું છું , અને કોઈ વાર હું આ નીરવ શાંતિ માં મારા જ શ્વાશ ને સાંભળતી હોઉં છું 

જયારે હું ચાલુ છું , ત્યારે આ ભાનુ કાલ કરતા કેવો સૌમ્ય લાગે છે અને સંધ્યાં જાણે મને અલવિદા કરતી હોય તેવું લાગે છે 

જયારે હું ચાલુ છું , ત્યારે આ પુરી સચરાચર સૃષ્ટિ ને મારામાં અનુભવી રહી છું અને જાણે એ તેની સોડ માં લઈને મને શાંત અને તેનામાં એકરૂપ કરી દે છે 

Translation by હિરેન ધૂળા

Rowing My Boat

While rowing my boat, what will keep me flowing and floating while being anchored in equanimity, love, and compassion.

Kindness Towards The Dead

While walking, we see many dead animals and birds lying on the road, mostly due to accidents. From the day we started walking, we would move them to the side and share prayers.

Yesterday, ay someone saw us moving a dog that was lying dead on the highway. He asked us why we do that. We did not have an answer then. One of the logics was to remove an obstacle for those who are driving. In retrospect, we realized that the first time we did this act was during our 30 days in an internship in 2014, when we were walking with a friend.

A bunch of us were walking along a canal when he saw a dead dog. He said, "Let's put a plastic bag on our hand and move him aside. We did it and shared our prayers. He added that every being has the right to be treated respectfully, even if dead. We think the seed was planted then. Since then, it has become involuntary. We don't yet know why we do this, but it feels satisfactory.

Sab Mein Narayan

Written by my co-pilgrim, Swara

This morning, as we left Saatdev village, a dog came running to us. I guess he figured out who the dog lover was and kept jumping on Trupti. He would keep playing with her dress and pulling it. In between, he would go and play with the buffalo until it got annoyed. Interestingly, he kept walking with us for a kilometer. 

With this playful morning, the chant that came to mind was: Hari Narayan... Hari Narayan..This prayer was introduced to me by a dear friend, who would replace the word "Hari" with a friend's name, like Trupti Narayan or Sheetal Narayan. It just points us towards seeing the divine in everything. 

In the tone of the playfulness of the morning, both Trupti and I started singing by taking the names of near and dear ones. And gradually it kept expanding: friends, family, teachers, neighbors, the do, the trees, and the birds.

And what happened next was amazing. There was a subtle encouragement we gave each other to say the names of people with whom we might have set some boundaries, and we saw the dance of sensation within us. Just observing it for sure was shifting something in us. And we continued sending love and prayers to everyone. What started as a playful chant ended in stillness and sharing metta.