"Consistent acts of love, no matter how small, mean everything to the ones on the receiving end."

Our 40th or so Maitri Space gathering began with this thought in the center. How do small consistent acts of love and service, eventually create a big shift in our own lives and the world at large.

When Ishwar Dada took up a broom as a child to sweep his street in a competition, did he really know that eventually this broom would become his daily consistent act of service to cleanse and purify hearts and the world at large through his constant efforts at creating awareness on Sanitation within the country?

As they say, Rome was not built in a day. The ESI campus lovingly built by Ishwar dada and further nurtured by Jayesh bhai is an exemplary space which reminds us of how small, consistent acts of love not only create magic within the space but also fill our hearts with awe and inspiration on a daily basis as we stay here. It reminds me of a quote," Planting a tree under whose shade you may never sit."

Our circle of sharing started with a wonderful reflection by N2 (Nipun Shah from Surat). He lovingly shared how his mother for years had a practice of keeping aside food for the house help first, before even serving her own family. This was her daily practice of love with her staff, to ensure they had fresh food first, before the rest of the family sat down to eat. This small act of love seeded a deep impression in N2's heart.

Kishan shared how he watched Mahesh bhai, the inspiring painter at ESI constantly applying a coat of paint to one particular patch of the wall. Every time he did it, every time it got spoilt again, until he noticed there was a nail in the wall. Once he pulled it out, he felt as though the wall breathed a sigh of relief and he immediately felt a connection of love with it. He resumed his painting with care again.

Trishala shared how her mom gave water to plants and all beings who came to their home with love everyday, while Bharat bhai was inspired by his parents waking up at 4 am daily to work on their farm. Linki shared how smiling at strangers was cultivating deeper shifts within her, while Brijesh shared how maintaining silence every saturday as a internal practice gave him a lot of strength. Infact on day 2 of the retreat was a Saturday, and he maintained his practice with grace.

Meghna shared how her grandfather, who was a freedom fighter would always wash and iron his clothes himself, even when he turned 95. He was inspired by Gandhi ji who said that one must always do one's work by themself. Pawan shared how the book ' Tuesdays with Morrie' was a huge inspiration to him and how he too teaches slum kids once a week, whilre Kunal shared how his teacher said this line,' You will be the change agent of society in the next 5 years' which completely altered his thinking. Deepika shared how an uncle on the farm she stays at always looks at life very positively and constantly inspires her. If the tea spills over or even if he fainted, he would always jump in joy and say 'very good mazaa aa gaya' :) Anand shared how we must not underestimate anyone, as even a stopped watch shows the correct time twice a day.

Sheetal shared the story of how his own mom fed every cleaner, postman, delivery boy with love whoever came home and how he was blessed by these people whenever they came home now, while Parvati shared that how her mom saves her salary and helps one person every month. This has inspired her to also save her salary and help at least one needy person every month. Ruchi shared how her nani at 85 has the sharpest mind and never forgets to feed pigeons or pray daily.

After a wonderful presentation of Moved by love values, by Meghna and Sheetal sharing stories of kindness from all over the world, we broke into smaller groups 'heart circles' where the intention was to share with each other from the heart, with no agenda or topic of discussion. Some wonderful stories and moments emerged from the heart circles on both days.

We left for Seva cafe in the evening where Pratik anchored a beautiful evening of spirited talks and music by the participants themselves. Greg shared his journey of learning from life itself and staying childlike always. Deepika shared her own deeper understanding of the soil as she practiced Naturopathy and wanted to find a deeper relationship with food and healing. Diken shared his learnings from his travels and service work.


 Day 2 started with a  wonderful Sound  healing session offered  by  Dipti, Aman and  Gagan from Delhi who  were participants in the  retreat and were  moved to offer this gift to the group. It was deeply relaxing and healing for most.

Post breakfast we took a deep dive into our relationship with our hands, as Devendra bhai who has spent more than 20 years working with Ishwar dada on sanitation shared stories of their early days in villages, how it was important to connect with people's hearts and working with our hands to create an alignment of Head, Hands and Heart.

 One group took to  cleaning the walls of  the water tank with  gusto :) while another  learnt how to make  brooms.
 Yet another  learnt how  to sew heart  pins with
 behno's from  the Rudra centre and another group went to cook and decorate at Kabir ashram. 3 hours of hard work paid off as we were welcomed by the crew at Kabir ashram with songs, warm food and lots of love.


Anar didi shared her life journey with such authenticity that all of us were in awe of her raw honesty. She shared nuggets of wisdom - Reaching a turning point in her life as she chanced upon a book where she read
 "If you judge people, you have no time to love them" this changed her perspective in life and she took a deeper dive into finding herself. Finding her own Swadharma which was different from Jayesh Bhai's. In Vipassana she was moved by Goenka ji sharing that if we cant find solace in our own company how could others tolerate us.





Jayesh bhai moved us  all with the power of  love from his own  personal journey on  day 3 with his heart  talk which paved the  way for a deeper dive  into surrender, faith,  hope and trust as everyone took 5 steps and a bow in gratitude for all that we are.


As we hugged each other after the closing circle, we realised how a family based on values was created with love at the center. It was to be a long and deep journey with Kin :)














Here's a slideshow of photos from this retreat.

Posted by Khushmita Sanghvi on Apr 17, 2016 | permalink