Kanti Kaka
AHMEDABAD, GUJARAT - Ami and Swati Buch's grandparents... Bhalendu Uncle's parents... commonly known as "Ma and Dada" are here in Ahmedabad. So, Sampat and I took out some time to go visit them.... it's always good to see familiar faces... especially faces that you've been seeing since you were reallly young!
We called Ma at around 4 pm, and she said that they were leaving for Vidhyanagar at around 6 pm... so, if we wanted to come, to come right then. We were off.. and got to their place around 4:20 pm. Chit-chatting, drinking sherbert, eating snacks... we told them how we want to go to Saurashtra and visit Swadhyay ghams. As soon as the word "Swadhyaya" came up... they thought of this "Uncle" named Kanti Kaka who lived about 15-20 minutes away.
They called him and told him that there are two youth here who's grown up with Swadhyay, and want to know more, etc, so would he talk to them and give them advice on how to possibly go to Saurashtra, etc. Kanti Uncle didn't ask to talk to us... instead, he said he'd come over, right then. Ma told him that they'll be leaving in about 20-30 minutes... but, he had no problem... he wanted to meet us and talk to us.
Already, this man seemed to be doing everything out of real devotion. The CATCH is... he has a disability in both his legs! He walks on crutches.. and even struggles to do this. Yet, he still jumped on his scooter to come see us. At first, we asked him practical, logistical questions on what gham we could visit, who we should contact, etc. His responses were just so genuine and pure, it was awesome. He replied, "Oh, if my legs were good, I would come with you, and take you right now!"
Eventually, we started talking about Swadhyay, God, self-development.. everything. Ma and Dada's ride didn't come for another hour... soo, we talked with Kanti Uncle for an hour. We asked him about some of the questions we've had recently. For example, "It seems like people are starting to separate "Swadhyayees" and "non-Swadhyayees"... what do you think?" And his genuine reply, "A Swadhyayee is anyone who has contentment on his face, anyone who is striving to live a good life and towards self-development. Some people that come to kendra every Sunday, they are not Swadhyayees. It is liking dipping a container into the Ganga... it's only going to get filled with water if the lid is off. Many people come to kendra with the lid on and don't get anything out of it." He also stressed not to look around you and judge other people... he said look at the faults in yourself and try to improve them, but, in others... look at their qualities and see how you can develop them. In the end, Swadhyay is for your own self-development, if you let others affect you negatively, then you are the only one that loses. We continued to talk about seeking God... in which, he responded, "Many people seek God... but never find him. Instead, live your life such that God will SEEK you."
Powerful stuff. It reminded me about the strenghth that lies within the "vichaar" (thoughts) that I've grown up with. We went to Swadhyay again today, and are headed out to the Swadhyay ghams, tomorrow. We're going to try to be as honest as we can be with the people we meet about our questions and concerns... at least once we have formed a relationship with them. I think the greatest "teacher" is going to be just seeing and experiencing the work in action.
We called Ma at around 4 pm, and she said that they were leaving for Vidhyanagar at around 6 pm... so, if we wanted to come, to come right then. We were off.. and got to their place around 4:20 pm. Chit-chatting, drinking sherbert, eating snacks... we told them how we want to go to Saurashtra and visit Swadhyay ghams. As soon as the word "Swadhyaya" came up... they thought of this "Uncle" named Kanti Kaka who lived about 15-20 minutes away.
They called him and told him that there are two youth here who's grown up with Swadhyay, and want to know more, etc, so would he talk to them and give them advice on how to possibly go to Saurashtra, etc. Kanti Uncle didn't ask to talk to us... instead, he said he'd come over, right then. Ma told him that they'll be leaving in about 20-30 minutes... but, he had no problem... he wanted to meet us and talk to us.
Already, this man seemed to be doing everything out of real devotion. The CATCH is... he has a disability in both his legs! He walks on crutches.. and even struggles to do this. Yet, he still jumped on his scooter to come see us. At first, we asked him practical, logistical questions on what gham we could visit, who we should contact, etc. His responses were just so genuine and pure, it was awesome. He replied, "Oh, if my legs were good, I would come with you, and take you right now!"
Eventually, we started talking about Swadhyay, God, self-development.. everything. Ma and Dada's ride didn't come for another hour... soo, we talked with Kanti Uncle for an hour. We asked him about some of the questions we've had recently. For example, "It seems like people are starting to separate "Swadhyayees" and "non-Swadhyayees"... what do you think?" And his genuine reply, "A Swadhyayee is anyone who has contentment on his face, anyone who is striving to live a good life and towards self-development. Some people that come to kendra every Sunday, they are not Swadhyayees. It is liking dipping a container into the Ganga... it's only going to get filled with water if the lid is off. Many people come to kendra with the lid on and don't get anything out of it." He also stressed not to look around you and judge other people... he said look at the faults in yourself and try to improve them, but, in others... look at their qualities and see how you can develop them. In the end, Swadhyay is for your own self-development, if you let others affect you negatively, then you are the only one that loses. We continued to talk about seeking God... in which, he responded, "Many people seek God... but never find him. Instead, live your life such that God will SEEK you."
Powerful stuff. It reminded me about the strenghth that lies within the "vichaar" (thoughts) that I've grown up with. We went to Swadhyay again today, and are headed out to the Swadhyay ghams, tomorrow. We're going to try to be as honest as we can be with the people we meet about our questions and concerns... at least once we have formed a relationship with them. I think the greatest "teacher" is going to be just seeing and experiencing the work in action.
posted by Raj Kanani | 1:44 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home