We surely can say that each one of us have returned with “something” else from there.. and we’d like to express here our thanks to Madhuri, Maíra and Bruna for letting us guide them throughout this amazing journey.
In brief this Tour was a great experience for all the participants to learn about Indian history and spirituality, enchanting nature, Yoga along with rejuvenating Naturopathy treatments. Visit to Gandhiji’s Ashram and Museum was an eye opener of Gandhij’s life, philosophy and achievements in the political, social and spiritual fields. It was a fortune to be present there watching the people spinning the hand spun spunk and participating in the evening prayers.
The atmosphere served as a tranquiliser to our senses and mind. It really seems that Gandhiji has left his influence there. Its not an exaggeration to say that one can really experience that how divine and pure a life can be there in Sevagram. The setting of the traditional cafeteria serving some fresh juices out in the green was so cute!!
We also had a great time at Magan Sanghralaya where we witnessed the cotton processing at the factory, and, the Khadi and the Village Industry took us to a ride to the rural technology of bee-keeping, bamboo, stone, metal and palm leaf handcraftism, natural dye, natural soap industry and the list goes on.
Seeing the village women spinning the thread was indeed a treat for both mind and heart, after knowing what Khadi represents for the poor of the Indian villages.
Pavnar Ashram and exquisite Geetai Mandir revealed the great personality of Vinoba Bhave the "Walking Saint" as he became known during his "Boodhan Yajna" or the "Land-Gift Mission" for the poor farmers.
That was not all. Then followed a visit to the Buddhist Stupa and Japanese Temple in the begining of the evening.
There is much more to share which was the best part of the tour. The nature walks in the 220 acres of fields during the sunrise was a delightful experience for us. Bird watching, visiting the Goshala (cows home), walking through the flowery pathways and experiencing the early morning mist seemed like a beautiful episode in a quiet and green village life.
Philosophical studies took place before lunch including discussions on the different streams of Yoga, being those: Karma Yoga (Path of Action), Bhakti Yoga (Path of Devotion), Jñana Yoga (Path of Knowledge) and Raja Yoga (Path of Psychic Control) also known as Ashtanga Yoga (Patañjali Eight-Fold Path) and how they relate with the main aspects of Gandhiji's Philosophy and Life. Also took place a general introduction on Bhagavad Gita and Vinoba Bhave's Life.
All the days our participants practiced Yoga Asanas and Pranayamas after a short morning walking. And till then they were all prepared and hungry for a nutritious breakfast with hot herbal tea. Followed by this were naturopathy treatments.
Above is Maíra doing Jalaneti Kriya and below facial massage.
Mud bath was loved by our participants and a new experience for each one of us!
Something suprising was the laughter session in the last day of practices. Madhuri and her husband Dr. Madan Kataria are the founders of Laughter Yoga with laughter clubs spread all around the world. If you want to know more about this check out the session "Friends & Partners" of this blog.
It was pleasure to relish the delicious lunch and dinner which was made in a Maharashtrian style served with nutritious chutneys. What more can you ask for?
At last during the visit to Bor Dam, hills and trees, lush green forest and the large expanse of calm waters didn’t want us to return from there.
Before our return we stuffed our bags with some Khadi products, books of Gandhiji and kilos of fresh Amla from the fields. With lots of knowledge, sweet memmories and some gifts we had to finally depart…
Posts
1 comment:
Hi, thanks for this post. I am from Wardha and all these images took me there instantly. I know many of the people in the snaps :) My grandfather, Thakurdas Bang, stays in Sevagram Ashram, and who knows, you may have met him on this trip!!!
Post a Comment