This is first hand learning...

           


                                                            LEARN                                             

         

            

Time  - 24 x 7

Place - anywhere / everywhere

Book - Awareness  

Tool  - positive attitude

Learning has no age and no particular way. What we need is- to be willing, open and adaptable, under ALL circumstances.

Travelling with katha is tremendous learning, always original and full of practical applications. Let me show you how.....


katha at Pipavav , a small town
accommodation - a tent, under the open sky

Learned the lesson of community living. Hardship teaches endurance, but this does not mean suffering.
Now i can sleep under the sky with the minimum requirements. Like, only a small pocket mirror to get ready, share the public conveniences with a group of people, with varied age and backgrounds. Living in this small village, buying the daily requirements from the village shop, going to the community temple and attending katha. 
Just being one among the thousand gathered there. A minuscule in the vast ocean of humanity. I could never imagine i could stay this way. The safaris in Africa and the Himalayan trips which i had done in the past were also frilled with luxury, which included 5 star tents. But to experience true life, hotels don't help! One needs to go out and be with the people, the common man. 

I come back home and bring with me memories of a washing soap which was locally made and cost only Rs.5 ( yes, that's right! a big detergent cake that cheap). I tell my parents," Ma we don't have to buy that expensive detergent, the inexpensive variety is as good if not more". The small village life was self-sufficient in itself and i understood why Gandhi Bapu put so much stress on gram udyog (village industry).

                                                            ж

Katha at Mumbai, a cosmopolitan city
accommodation - a small flat, a loving family

I am staying with a family in a one room kitchen apartment. So we are 6 people in this small flat. Normally i would do anything to avoid such a situation, but somehow destiny played its part and i was stuck!

But the learning was great; the couple, the owners  were sweet and the katha avenue was close-by. We all share the house work including the cleaning and cooking. I experience something i thought i would never be able to do - share this small accommodation,  attend katha, do my writing, and very important- stay happy and satisfied after accepting the given situation.
I come back home and tell my father," you know what, i'll never fuss about our home. It is BIG and we are blessed.
                                 
                                                                ж


Katha at Gangtok (Sikkim), a beautiful hill city
accommodation- a hotel

Don't want to say much, just look at the pictures and let them speak for themselves. 
                                                       

view from the hotel road 

                                             

beautiful calm serene

                                     

valley view

                                 

a stadium right in the center

                                   

kanchenjunga mountain range 

                                           
All this beauty in our own country. Sikkim is one of the smallest state and least populated.
The people are as beautiful as the place. Beauty always touches the heart and teaches in its own silent ways. Fortunately a airport is coming up soon, so the connectivity with rest of the country will be very easy, in near future.


So when people ask, " You attend kathas, isn't it the same stuff all the time".
I reply, " It's never same. Each place something different, each day a new learning ."  
I'm learning, I'm evolving and I'm sharing.

                                                                         

                                                                  ж     

                                                           
Master says, अध्यात्म का सबसे बड़ा सूत्र  है ' स्वीकार ' !
                  Acceptance is the biggest thing in spirituality.