Early in the month of April, Sheetal Vaidya decided to set off on a journey of love across India - or what she called the Bhav Jatra. We're blessed to be sharing updates from her journey across communities with updates every week!

​Bhaav Jatra- Week 2


​Bhaav Jatra moves to interior parts of Saurashtra. The first day we have Satsang with an 80 year old man about who shared stories about his guru. At a remote place called Dhari that is in middle of the Gir forest we are hosted by a friend. One of their friends invited us over for some herbal tea at his home and to our surprise we find out pictures of Sri Aurobindo and mother in his sitting room. Upon asking he takes us to Sri Aurobindo ashram space right there in Dhari! This place is blessed by relics of Sri Aurobindo and mother and offers a serene meditative environment. He also gives us the ‘blessings packet’ the mother as we depart.

From there we reach a town named Sutrapada. This town houses Gujarat Heavy chemicals Ltd. Factory and most of the residents work in this place. Bhupat our host for the day takes us around various places one of which is a siddi community. They are people from Africa but speak colloquial Gujarati. They were brought to India some 500 years ago by the king as slaves and they stayed back as they found the land more rewarding and liveable. This again proved the openness of our land in accepting people from all over the world as one of us.

We then found ourselves amongst a bunch of men who belonged to quarry workers families. They have worked hard and studied to become teachers, MBA’s, Engineers and have formed a forum called “career group” to help the youth who are currently in their high schools. We conducted a small circle of sharing where we asked them what service meant to them and slowly shared the 3 key aspects of service space- no fund raising, completely volunteer driven and focus on small. They picked up the idea quickly and we had a discussion around how they can frame the career group based on these principles. As we were sharing, my heart was in deep gratitude to noble friends who shared this with us. What we received from that circle was a lot of joy, hope reflecting in the eyes of the group members and love from them. One of the volunteers openly offered to conduct trainings for them and also help them select and source appropriate books needed to prepare for exams.

Thereafter, we reach Gandhiji’s birth place - Porbander. We come across some magical experiences here. To start with we were hosted at a home that was frequented by Vimala Thaker, Ram Dulari and Swami Vivekanada! I was humbled by the mere thought of sleeping in the same room that Vimala Tai had stayed in, I prayed to Lord to make me worthy enough to absorb the energies coming my way. Our hosts Dr. Pathak had invited a few of his doctor and professor friends for a circle of sharing. We were speechless to hear some stories of RAK from them as we learned that there are people who have been doing this as a daily practice for more than 15-20 years! One of them just like our service warrior Raghu - is delivering lunch boxes everyday to the relatives of people admitted in the hospitals. He doesn’t know who will eat today but every single day he is there to serve. This group of friends also do so many things anonymously one of being free medicines, surgery and education for the underprivileged. We also shared some of our MBL stories and as we were sharing, one friend and a disciple of Sri Aurobindo suddenly offered us a blessing and an invitation to speak to his students the next day.

Before we knew, we were in front of 100 to be teachers who were a couple of months away from graduating. We had no preparation of what to say or even a presentation, we visualized our dearest friends and started with a question “How would today’s Gandhi be?” based on the question we shared how small acts can bring big change, inner transformation and a little on Bhaav yaatra. This group is super inspired and two women come up to us and share that this is the first time they have seen that out of Gujarat there are people who think about all this and there’s so much hope. In a couple of days we find out that one of the students who is also a reporter with a daily newspaper has printed an article about this whole talk! We thank him for the hard work and share that this is not about publicity but about ripples to which he replies that this talk has given him a chance to create ripples in this way! We receive this with grace and move on.

As we move towards Dwarka – A holy place of Lord Krishna, we come across 1000’s of people on walking pilgrimage on the occasion of holi. One of them was bowing on the road at every step - This is called Dandvati yaatra. We bow down to take his blessings and offer him some sweets in that one moment there is exchange of energy and well being and we are left motionless absorbing that energy. Faith can indeed make anything possible.

Bhaav Yatra – Week 3 & 4: From confusion emerges clarity

My pilgrimage was going in its 5th gear when suddenly I had to slow down as my parents fell ill and needed care. I was confused and felt stuck when I had to be home, I had all thoughts coming about when and how I will proceed. A noble friend helped me a lot when he messaged me “Taking care of family is purest and holiest pilgrimage just like Lord Ganesha”, this changed my perspective and everything became clear and I started flowing once again with love and prayers of healing for everyone around me.


Then we were invited at Baroda for a Karma kitchen we were hosted by Pandya family. The warmth and hospitality that flowed for the next couple of days was mind blowing. I was at receiving end when everyone showered love and care constantly. For the preps we went to another volunteer’s home only to find out that they had done almost everything. The most touching moments arrived when we got to know that her father chanted the whole day so all food is blessed. They also refused to eat till all of us finished our food. We were all deeply moved by the humility that they showed and again a question popped up in my brain..do we need training to be humble? Isn’t it about who we are? At the karma kitchen we had 5 enthusiastic kids who took over serving all the guests! Their fervor kept us all going till the end of the evening and for me the learning was to keep the child within me alive to absorb, learn and also find true joy in every bit.

The highlight of this trip to Baroda was a chance meeting with a Lama who had come all the way from Hawaii at one of the friend’s home. We got about an hour with him and he spoke about faith being the fuel to everything. He shared his experience of coming to India in 1959 just a couple of months before The Dalai Lama came, he said he walked from Tibet with one pair of clothes and a bottle of water. When they came there was nothing and now there are monasteries and dwellings for people who have come from Tibet. He said this is the result of faith on Universe that keeps them going. When we asked “how do you know that now you have the grace of God in your journey”, he smiled and replied “God’s grace is flowing forever, the moment you doubt it is lost, so have faith that it is there always”.

We spent a day at Ahmedabad recharging our soul batteries in the company of MBL family. Here we learnt that a lot of friends are going on different journeys this year, instantly this line came “all roads leads to Lord”. As I proceed to leave Nimeshbhai (Nimojiiiiiiii) bows down in front of my car the group hugs the car and blesses my journey ahead. It felt like the entire universe has embraced me and is holding me at all times. Wishing Nimo a blessed “Empty hands” tour.

Spent next three days in silence with Mukeshanandji, experienced the depth of silence when mind was rested and there was peace all over. Met a lady just outside the ashram who sells snacks, after a brief conversation she looks into my eyes and says “please pray that I can go on a pilgrimage to Mecca soon, I believe that Lord listens to prayers of a pilgrim quickly”, her faith made me promise her that I shall surely pray for her. We visit another saints place called “Maun (silence) madir (temple)” so literally temple of silence. This is the space where there are rooms where people meditate in silence. The beauty of the space was a banyan tree that had grown multifold and one could not make out the origin of it all.

Back to Baroda I stop and join friends who have offered to clean Arundada’s home. Arundada who’s Volunteered with Vinobaji in Bhoodan movement. He shared beautiful songs. One of his experiences that he shared was about his neighbor who once tried to encroach upon the house Dada lives in and Dada at the age of 80 stands up to his bullying with peace, firmness and compassion. Arundada cultivates a loving relationship with him and now he daily wishes dada a good day before he would proceed to work. Upon hearing the story we were asking how can you be compassionate to someone who is a drunkard wants to beat you up? Dada smiles and asks “If he were my son will I condemn him for what he was doing?” he adds “If you treat everyone as a loved one it becomes easier to forgive and be in a state where compassion keeps flowing”. Indeed, that is what the purpose of my yatra is. Feeling one with everyone and seeing my loved ones everywhere. Feeling deep gratitude to Dada for this reminder. If all this is not enough he offers his space for a circle of sharing about the pilgrimage with other friends in Baroda. He smilingly adds, this is not to honor you as a person but this is for the pilgrim within you who will share experiences that can inspire other friends too.

~ More Stories to Keep Flowing ~ Jai Jagat ~

Posted by Sheetal Vaidya on Apr 10, 2014 | permalink