Yet another Act happened
in my life. This time it’s by something that’s available in abundance; that’s
available to everyone; its everywhere. Just that in present day we stopped to
respect it. It’s Mother Nature.
I always wondered why it’s called ‘Mother nature’.
Nature nurtures you like a mother. It’s eco-rich. We need to learn to respect
it, accept it, follow it and enjoy it. Everyone talks about the nature and
about what it gives and how it gives. It’s not a new lesson that I have learnt today: Nature gave me an opportunity. An
opportunity to experience its galore!
My interest in gardening seem to be growing by day and I decided to
something about it. At this point I need to thank two people who always encouraged
me. My dad and my husband; they always added fuel to the fire. A few knowledge transfer sessions with an
expert is what I want to do. While I was searching for one, I got an email from
Gopi, an enlightened soul, working in software from California who dedicated his
life to nature and helping people around him to enlighten themselves. I
enrolled for this 4 day workshop--- which means away from home for four days.
I didn’t know what to expect out of this workshop. All I
knew was that it’s a gardening workshop and that place has just solar power. No
Laptops as there may not be enough power to charge them. Charging phones may be
just about ok. One big hall and no beds – their website pictures portrayed this
image. No beds! No power! It’s going to be interesting.. ‘carry salt. There may
be leaches’ - Was a friend’s suggestion.
This added to the panic. The day of leaving finally came! My friend and I were
ready to leave.
There we go...The Navadarshnam farms.
The only breather was the real fresh air! It felt like the
air was untouched. It smelled very old
fashioned, a very rare smell for city dwellers. It was unbeatable. Dinner
followed with rotis and a very different kind of sabji. It’s cold and a tired
night for all 30 people who came for the workshop.
I was woken up by noises. It must be around 4:30 in the morning,
pitch dark outside, but very noisy! The old fashioned air is crowded with birds
to which life is full of songs. The singers of the paradise came out of their nests
to enjoy the light breeze, the swaying trees and awaiting the first rays of the Sun
God.
Its a luxury to be awakened by the chirping of birds
early in the morning. The freshness in the mind, the clarity in thought;
happiness that lasted all day; this is something that needs to be experienced!
Welcome to the Nature!
Lazy habits die hard!!! I continued to sleep till I heard
some other noises. A lady came to light a fire so that we can have a hot water
bath. It’s a cement construction to hold water with a metal lining. There is a separate
tap connected from this cement tank into the bathroom. This is the source of
hot water. Steaming hot water!
The rule of Navadarshnam: breakfast at 7:30am, lunch at
1;30pm, dinner at 7:30pm. The schedule has gotten into me easily. We were also
doing a lot of work.
The theory and practical classes were fun! Practical’s were
more fun! We became the children of dirt! The dirt that we need to be proud of!
Four days just passed by. I made some good friends. We danced at night (we had
a dance leader J
teaching us dance.), giggled and laughed a lot. It was a lot of learning from
every one. Learning from the lessons, learning from experience and learning
from the nature.
What an irony life has to offer! This is where we should be
living; Living with the nature; Living like free birds letting the breeze take
us into a world of happiness and health. At the end of these four days, we are
forced to leave this reality and go back in to the reality, which we think is
the reality! We have to go back to the reality of stress and pollution. How
Sad!
I just penned down a few of my learning’s and observations
about the four days with nature:
1. 1. Eating healthy: 4 days of eating healthy!
Navadarshnam cooks only from what they grow. They source very minimum stuff
from outside. Healthy eating included eating red rice, ragi mudde, sprouted
pluses and millet s etc. Absolutely no snacks. No sugary juices. Only herbal
tea. Interestingly, the food was very tasty and was made with very very little
oil. Eating at home is healthy but surely not to this extent. Hunger happened
on time here. I had lot more energy. We were doing a lot of field work and it
was tiring but the strength in the mind was still there.
2. 2. Sleep patterns: Regular times it always felt like I needed more sleep. Of-course I was tired every single day of these four days but I slept amazingly well at night. With the nature, the amount of sleep needed
was less and the little sleep was happy
and deep.
3. 3. Limited healthy eating and Lot of energy: Its
now a week since the workshop. Just 4 days of healthy eating and I can
still see the effects of it. I still have a lot of energy. I wake up reinvigorated,
I exercise better, I do a lot more things than I did before. It could be the
food and the fresh breathing or a combination. But I see a difference. If four
days can do so much, imagine a life time!
4. 4. Happiness in mind: Away from the hustle and
bustle, cute chirping of the birds will definitely bring happiness. But
surprisingly, it continues. I’m always happy but this happiness that I experience now is the happiness with energy. Happiness in-spite of stress. Clarity
in thought!
5. 5. Ego: The trees, small and giant sway for little
breeze. Eco system, economics, wild life, food, healing, spirituality,
breathing everything is dependent on trees. If trees show ego and stop responding to any
of the above, imagine the state of this world! Ego is something that’s killing.
Its already killing us internally and now came to a point of killing each
other. Think about it! Think about all the killing and greed that’s happening
in this world and if just there was nothing like Ego! This is my biggest lesson from nature.
6. Calming effect: Staring into the nature, into the green always left a calming effect. These four days of course created calm waves inside me.
Namratha.
photo courtesy: Prabeena, Eera, Ramya, Sapna. -- Thank you guys!
