We Remember You And We Feel Grateful!

Posted by Swara Pandya on Jan 31, 2019

[This note was originally written to Rev. Heng Sure.]

Dear Service Space monks and pilgrims,

Every single day we think of you, your pilgrimage, your songs and your photography :-).

Today only we were thinking of how the path that we are walking has been a pilgrimage path from hundreds of years. There is a strong context here which makes our journey easier. We feel Rev. Heng Sure, Nipun bhai, Guri di and many others made a unique path by "walking it yourself" as the title of their pilgrimage stories suggest.

Because we are walking we have been able to slow down in many ways. At times the mind races and we see that our normal walking speed either exceeds or slows down with it. And few glimpses of awareness puts our feet back to normal motion.

In the evening when our feet hurts we think of how it would be to bow down after every three steps :-)

We hear the dedication of merit while walking and try to imbibe that as a practice. When we feel scarce, Trupti says especially around food:), we sing we have enough, we are grateful, let’s share the blessings. :-) In our first few days, we observed that we would stop to rest and not remove food till there were people around. And around the same time Trupti and I felt something off about it. And in the next stop, we just put the bag of groundnuts in the centre. It was shared with kids, women, men around. It felt so wholesome and abundant. And we felt it’s so true that in giving we receive. It has stayed with us. Post that as both of us left that place we were singing loudly.

I have enough, I am grateful, Share the blessings hallelujah. May all be fed, may all beings flourish, may all awaken, bodhiswaha :-)
Swara and Trupti walking pilgrimage

We have been seeing so many birds, big old trees, river streams, hills, sky full of stars especially Venus that keeps shining bright when we wake up. Before starting our pilgrimage we spent few days at Brahma Vidya Mandir (ashram set up by Vinoba Bhave for women) where a nun, Usha Tai showed us Venus when we met her early morning for a circle. It feels like a guiding star whenever we see it now.


We walk through highways, jungles, river bank, farms and villages. Very few times we walk through cities.

There are times when birds pose for us :-).



While we were walking from a long forest stretch we saw this bird. It kept looking at us. It felt like a grandfather.

Swara and Trupti walking pilgrimage

Some birds keep reappearing almost each morning (a big brown bird and a blue-grey bird but refuse to pose for us :-).

Like we share aha moments at Awakin circle our aha moment is to share this message with YOU.

with gratitude,
Trupti & Swara

Posted by Swara Pandya on Jan 31, 2019 | permalink


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Previous Comments
  • Parag Shah wrote ...

    Lots of love to Pandya sisters.:)

  • Gayathri Ramachandran wrote ...

    Swara and Trupti - thank you for this blog-post. You are often in my (and our :) thoughts. Sending lots of gratitude and love for the path you are walking and for taking us along with you.

    PS: What a gorgeous Kingfisher (the blue grandfather bird)! May he bless your walk.

  • Nisha Srinivasan wrote ...

    Swara and Trupti, feels so good to see glimpses of what you are seeing.

  • Meghna Banker wrote ...

    Dear Swara and Trupti, thank you taking us with you on the journey of so much inner and outer unfolding! Deeply grateful for your kinship :)

  • Suratvanti Ashwin wrote ...

    In tears and smiling, simultaneously. Grateful. Immense love and respect for my all Pandya sisters. <3

  • Nipun Mehta wrote ...

    Beautiful. And Rev. Heng Sure wrote back a long note, with all kind of bird photos from Austria, but also adding,

    "I want to remind you to look long, and while miracles feed the heart, you can't set up miracles. I went looking for miracles on my pilgrimage and wound up giving away sleeping bags and clothes that we needed. The guy I gave them to only wanted attention; I mistook him for a saint/deva come to test my sincerity. In fact he was a drugged-out beggar but I was blind to the reality, wrapped up in my wish for Bodhisattva-test miracles. So make sure you both have sufficient food "I have enough..." means enough! Too little and too much amount to the same thing. What sustains in the long run is the Middle Way! Feet firmly in the Middle, heart bent on generosity as conditions arise, the wind at your back and the feet of the eternal pilgrims meet the road as it rises to greet them."
     

  • Deepa Balakrishnan wrote ...

    Swara & Trupti - thank you so much for sharing glimpses from your journey. Love & safe travels!

  • Pavi wrote ...

    You are in our hearts and prayers. Thank you for this beautiful glimpse of the path you are walking with such sincerity.

  • Siddharth Sthalekar wrote ...

    More power to the Pandya sisters! :)

  • Deepak wrote ...

    Swara and Trupti , blessings to you on this journey of discovery of not only your outer physical journey but also of your inner journey too . You both are courageous . Gandhiji would be smiling and and also would haven given his blessings .