A few weeks ago, a Mumbai-wallah received a beautiful piece of prayer mandala art by snail mail - probably a personalized post he got in a long long time. It was signed off as "Sarjan" -- the act of creating the world, in this case with chants of love. No prizes for guessing who sent it - our loving sarjak Bhumika who created it during her stay at the Vinoba ashram, Baroda. The words weave a poem, a prayer expressing gratitude to the universe and celebrating its goodness which, as we a... read full story

A couple of days back, I volunteered at the David Sassoon Industrial school, Matunga in Mumbai - for the Green friends activity - an urban gardening project, run by Ashiyana volunteers. I have known from Sachi that it happens through the week, and specially on Sunday many volunteers join hands for more than a year. And yet, it took me really a long time to actually show up as a volunteer on a Sunday morning. I was unsure who I would find there as co-volunteers as I had not RSVP-ed in advance.... read full story

What does  it take for a tree to bear Fruits? Sun, air, water, fertile land, microbial activity below the earth, etc..and to top it all, a deep connection and harmony underlying the whole ecology :) What looks like a very typical process of flowering and fruiting on trees in nature by itself has the entire universe working in harmony behind it. 47 of us gathered in Sughad in Ahmedabad on a chilly winter morning with a very clear sky for a 3-day MBL laddership retreat. In fact, muc... read full story

The opportunity to hold an Awakin gathering at our home in suburban Mumbai presented itself silently around a week before it actually happened. The first response was the feeling of being blessed. Having been a part of the Moved By Love (MBL) family, we had spoken a lot about MBL and Awakin to our friends and acquaintances. My friends know of the weekly Awakin emails that I often forward to them, my constant recommendation of Walking Pilgrimage / MBL blog stories, and our repeated trips to Ahm... read full story

"Maganbhai, please meet Nipunbhai," is all I had said to introduce the two people at my office. And before I could finish the sentence, Nipunbhai rushed to touch Maganbhai’s feet. Not used to such attention, Maganbhai immediately stopped him half way. And the bear hug followed :-) I wondered that these two barely knew each other, they lived half a planet away from each other and yet they met like lost brothers. It was no surprise to me. What connected them, amidst the laughter an... read full story

[Recently, few of us had the privilege of spending some quality time with ArunDada -- and felt blessed by the stories he shared of his teacher, Vinoba.  Below are some of the stories we heard.] (1) Touchstone of spiritual progress (Mar 17, 2015 : 10 am session at Hridaykunj) : At one point, Arundada mentioned, that the touchstone of spiritual progress, was whether there was an underlying stream of prassannata (happiness, loosely translated) in our lives. This prassannata meant eve... read full story

After an hour of sitting in silence, Sheetalbhai opened the Sharing, welcoming Nimo – and the audience – home, and in gratitude for the people who were present in body and those joining in spirit from across the world. Nimo started with the birth of the Empty Hands music, his second coming to the world of music… his belief that music should be a conduit of service and not of self-promotion. And how each gathering would be seeded with the spirit of how to be of service to ... read full story