Keshav Srushti ....January 11, 2015

Oops, again this time I was undecided about the trip. To go or not to go, When I told Bhagwatiji, that I will not be able to join, he said If I need to learn and connect with the group, these are the occasions I should not miss, Heeding his advice, gave a call to Amit late at night for joining the trip. 

We went by car to Keshav Srushti.

Attendees: Sir, Uttarika, Malvika, Neeta, Amit, Chaitali, Ajay, Siddhi, Vandana, Anant, Manish, Iswar, Mukund, Sunanda, Bhagwati, Pradeep, Suparna, Toshali, Anish, Gordon, Seedon, Newcy and Gangadhar.

Anyone missing???.

Cheese please

Anant missed his morning exercises???

waiting for Sir's instructions

It was one hour drive from Borivali. The place is located at Bhayandar, closer to Gorai Beach.
As we reached the place, first thing we did was to attack the breakfast!!!It was sumptuous breakfast.Upma, wada, Idli, Sambhar, Chutni, Jalebi, Papdi, Tea. After the breakfast, it was task time for everyone. For me, it was a mixed group. some new, some from the classes. some had seen at Rajan Vakil Sirs lectures. 

Since there was some awkwardness among the group and some still didn't know the other person well, Sir made four groups and told us to explore the place as well as the group.Chaitali, Newcy, Sunanda, Toshali, Uttarika, Suparna explored the fields. 

So we all went on different directions to be away from the other group. I was with Gordon, Malvika and Gangadhar. I met Gangadharji for the first time in person. While conversing with him, came to know that his brother and my brother work at the same place in Dubai!!!

As soon as we started exploring the place, we were welcomed by a snake, insect(s), chameleon, trees,  flowers, kids of the staff who managed the place.....

Smile please

babe's in the woods!!!

After exploring the place it was time for exploring ourselves. Since Gordon was the leader of our team, he took the initiative of starting the discussion. We started with our 'Fears'.....Gordon said initially he had difficulty in remembering, relating to the things, family but now with the exercises, he can go back to the roots recall / relate to the things. Gangadhar was worried about wanting to have bigger house. He said post both his son's marriage, he may require a bigger place. He feared whether he will have enuf resources to be able to buy a bigger house. I fear about darkness. Once there is darkness, the known place becomes unknown, I fear that. Malvika said, she may not be able to stick to one job..what I realised from her talk was, she was unable to decide what exactly she wanted in her life from her life....Most of us don't know what we want from life or rather what we want to do in life ...Sir, please help...But after attending the 3SRB sessions, she is now able to analyse herself,,Since the group was small, I decided to discus jealousy. Malvika very beautifully helped in understanding how to deal with jealousy. I knew only the names of the people in my group and had never interacted much with them.  But after some time, I was totally relaxed with the group and later had some personal chat with Malvika also. I think this was the reason why Sir made groups so that we get to know each other and help each other in having clarity of thoughts.

After an hour, we all came back to the central place. Then suddenly from nowhere, Amit called us to play Frisbee. We all joined him to play the game. Ofcourse, after few shots, Sir, decided to apply some techniques to the game, First the throw were random, then they were specific to the people,, then the throwing technique was changed.....two things came out of this play..one was sharpness / alertness of the mind and the smooth throw in spite of having trees in between...

After the game, we had a lunch. Post lunch we went to see the Gaushala. Honestly, there was nothing to see..only the cows in different shapes and sizes!!!

Amit imparting the lessons?

Hi, How do I look???

Click me, please!!

After Goshala, we decided to visit the Pagoda. It was 7 kms from the Keshav Srushti. The Global Vipassana Pagoda is a Meditation Hall near Gorai, North-west of Mumbai, India.The pagoda is to serve as a monument of peace and harmony. The Global Vipassana Pagoda has been built out of gratitude to the Buddha, his teaching and the community of monks practicing his teaching. Its traditional Burmese design is an expression of gratitude towards the country of Myanmar for preserving the practice of Vipassana. The shape of the pagoda is a copy of the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar. The center of the Global Vipassana Pagoda contains the world's largest stone dome built without any supporting pillars. The height of the dome is approximately 29 metres, while the height of the building is 96.12 meters. Has two meditation centres. One is 10 minutes meditation centre where as the other is an advanced meditation centre. One has to do undertake one day meditation course to go for the advanced one. Its' a beautiful place surrounded by structures and a fountain. When I observed people at Pagoda, I felt they came just as a picnic spot sans realizing the importance of the place!!!

Pagoda

Entrance of the Pagoda

One of the structure at Pagoda

Small Meditation centre

From Pagoda we went to Gorai beach. I always keep hearing that parents are busy with their kids exams...However when you see the beaches, they are full of people, all the resorts are occupied on saturdays, sundays and public holidays!!!Gordonji booked one shack for us to enjoy tea, snacks and the scenic beauty surrounded by the beach. Our trip ended by Sir giving a final talk on the day's activities. First, he asked us to narrate our group experiences. Each one shared their experiences. Amit was asked to bond with pradeep ji and Ishwar and had done the job quite successfully. One of the group discussed on rigidity. One of the topic currently being discussed in the Saturday class. 

Enjoying snacks@ Gorai beach

Finally, Sir beautifully summarised the entire day's event. 

Sir, giving the final talk

Malvika, thinking on.....

Day's lesson: One of the thing was to learn to say NO. He gave an example of food. If your stomach is full and still your host insist on having some more, politely refuse it by saying NO. 

Secondly, be polite with your family members. Chartity begins at home.Family people are the most near and dear ones, and these are the people most neglected..We experiment all the learnt lessons outside our family without realising these are the people whom we first come in contact with. Be courteous and polite when you talk with your family members. 

Keshav Srushti: www.keshavsrushti.com