Tataji
Jai Maa Jai Gurudev,
Thank you Acharya Shunyaji for sharing the documentary (13-minute documentary) you made about your father. Even through this video, without having ever met him, I feel inspired by the gentle, dharmic life he led. I love how you describe him as a simple man who did his dharma without thought for his reward. It seems he gave throughout his life until the very last moment. What a delight to have such a father, an shining example of how to live.
Many blessings as you navigate grief until you come to the beauty of grief. Who knows how long that will take, but when you arrive there I hope you will speak to us about how it feels in a satsanga and along the way I'm sure you will use this learning to teach us.
With much gratitude for all that you have already given to us.
I also wanted to reflect on my experience of when I am aligned with dharma, but wanted it seperate that from my sentiments about Shunyaji's father.
When I was a home birth midwife, from the beginning, I practiced as a spiritual practice. I'm not sure how I came to this, it just seemed to be a part of me (maybe from sadhana in a past life). I could make a deep decision before I went to a birth to "serve" (do my dharma) and give my very best. Being a midwife and sitting with women in labor taught me to be still. It truly was a spiritual practice. The rewards reaped, not because I was looking for reward, but as a reflection of how I had chosen to "be" were such a delight to me. I was so grateful that G.O.D. gave me this profession - although it was long hours and at possibly inconvenient times in relation to the rest of my life, it never felt like that. It did not feel like work.
This is what I gleaned from what Shunyaji said about your father. It seems that his work was not "work" for him, but a pleasure and a gift from deep within to the world (and even himself).
I am so grateful that for a portion of my life I got to experience something similar. When I was "being" a midwife I was dropped into that space. I only wish I could have made the rest of the time throughout the days as full of dharma as when I was serving women. But at least it gave me a taste of what it is like to be aligned with the Divine and a reference point to move ahead with sadhana to bring each moment of my life into alignment with the Divine.
Jai Maa, thank you to this community and our teacher, and the Sadhvi's and all the folks who make it possible behind the scenes, for this lovely gurukulum!