Patshala

Our first Sunday in Mumbai, and Sampat and I both thought it would be a good idea to go to Patshala. Over the years, my involvement in Swadhyay (www.swadhyay.org) has had its moments where I've been heavily involved... and other times, when my involvement has waned. However, regardless, it has been a huge part of my life since I've been about 5 years ago, and I attribute a lot of the way I think, and the person I am today to that environment I grew up in, amongst the Swadhyay thoughts and people.

Recently, my involvement has waned for various internal and external reasons... but it was still very uplifting to be at Patshala amongst that environment. Mitul gave us contacts of a few of his friends that he went to Vidhyapeeth with, and we called one of them before we went to Patshala. "Pravachan" (discourse) was a videocassette of Dadaji, and it was about "dukh", and being able to stand up and face "dukh". Didiji spoke briefly after the "pravachan" as well. After that, we met Mit's friend, Jitesh, and all the NRI Vidhyarthees that decided to come to Patshala that day. It was very refreshing to see them and talk to them. Through Swadhyay, we've been able to create this network of people that think along the same lines, which is really amazing and has been very comforting and valuable over the years. We tried to explain to them what we were doing out here... and it was definitely much easier explaining it to them, than it has been explaining it to others out here in India. A lot of the difficulty in explaining thought is because we're still trying to explain it to ourselves. They even invited us to join them on their travels to East India (Calcutta, etc.) during their Diwali break. We probably won't join them... but it's an option, and it was a warm, genuine gesture. Hopefully, I'll be able to go to Vidhyapeeth this week, and be able to talk with them a little more. I also want to meet more of the people that were a part of Mit's life while he was out here. =) Supposedly, there are legends of Mit still lingering amongst the new NRI batch at "Pit".

At some point during this journey, I definitely look forward to doing "real" Prayog Darshan... and actually staying in these Swadhyay ghams for a week, or so. There are many questions I have about this... and I could go into more detail in emails. Most people that I've talked to say that to see real "Swadhyay" kaam, you have to go to these villages and see the effects.

"Swadhyaya" literally means "study of the self"... and that's what's driven me here.