Life Is An Arragement
ServiceSpace
--Pancho Ramos Stierle
6 minute read
Oct 16, 2012
 

Last Sunday at the Kindness Temple we had the opportunity to interact -- here's the whole audio!-- with one man whose love for humanity emanates in every breath. No exaggeration. I was enchanted by the aroma he emanates and the sweet breath of this 91 year old abuelo. Molded by the guidance of Gandhi and Vinoba Bhave, grandpa Dwarkoji is a fierce embodiment of compassion and ahimsa. [Here's a whole movie by our brother Madhu about his work Samanvaya: Balance Between Science and Spirituality]

As usual, sister Pavi captures the essence of our collective encounter with her poetic ways:

"Thank you for joining us for a profound evening with Dwarko Sundarani this past Sunday. His stories and his spirit touched and perhaps transformed us all. It is not often that one has the opportunity to sit in the presence of someone who has lived a life of such purity, simplicity and steadfast service -- someone whose life trajectory was shaped and molded firsthand by Vinoba Bhave (the man widely considered to be the spiritual successor of Mahatma Gandhi).
 
The wisdom Dwarko-ji shared with us went beyond words. As he talked of leaders who found freedom in jail, who always practiced before preaching, who never took more than what was absolutely required, who demanded of themselves and others an awe-inspiring standard of integrity, it became clear that this humble man was cut from the same cloth as the giants he spoke of. This man who so many decades ago followed his mentor's directions, arrived at that train station in Gaya, gave away the last six rupees he had to his name, perched all his worldly belongings on his head and walked to the barren land he had been given charge of. This man who had worked those rocky fields unquestioningly for eight hours a day, for eight years straight ... as he described his journey and how it was that he came to be able to accomplish all that he had without ever asking for anything, it became abundantly clear that lives that are lived in grace do not take shortcuts. 
 
In our era of efficiency and instant gratification, what a gift to be reminded of that. That gift and so much more was embedded in our time together."

As I sat to be in receptive silence in the morning, the loving-kindness "remnants"  after Wednesdays the Mehta family often make reference to, were palpable in the living room.  :-)

Unnumbered intimate stories about the Mahatma and Vinobaji flow with a joyous energy from this radiant being. As he was holding "Infinite Vision" in his hands as a present from the smiling author, he later shared a 16 rupee story: 

"16 rupees instead of 500 rupee" said Gandhi in 1927 to an eye surgeon, and two years later the same eye surgeon made the same amount of money as he did when he charged 500 rupees but he healed a lot more people than when he charged 500 rupees.



As an unexpected gift, or rather, as a arrangement of life ;-), last silent Monday, I played to be his shadow for close to 12 hours.

His hearing is almost gone, not his understanding. We made a great team writting back and forth. I wrote to him many questions. Like: what was the best advice he got from Gandhi and Vinoba: "Live a pure life. Live a spiritual life. Search for truth."; regarding learning: "Most schools now are anti-human and anti-nationalist. We need to learn the art of living."; about selfless service and transcendental gratitude: "For 57 years, I only did the preparations at the ashram. Now it is the time to get to work and do the real work!";  about a peace army, a Shanti Sena: "We want a shanti sena, but are _we_ shanti? Once you change the atmosphere of the community with your self transformation, it will manifest."; how to convince parents to leave the government schools to join our spaces where we foster friendship? "It is very hard. That's what we've been trying to do and both Gandhiji and Vinobaji failed because they didn't have enough teachers. We have to keep trying. We need to teach the teachers"; how do you transform your sexual energy?: "By finding your purpose in life. Why are we here? To have sex? What are our higher aspirations?" Living- Truth. Science, Spirituality and Mutual Trust; about people who are not embracing our shared values but that would like to form part of a young community: "Once Vinoba was in jail and a poisonous snake, a cobra, entered the cell. It was late at night, no one was around, the cell was completely closed, no way to go away. And no indication of where the cobra came from. Alright, Vinoba said. And went to sleep peacefully. Next day the cobra was gone."

Pouring wisdom from his gentle voice.

One particular story of Shanti Sena became one with my heart after sister Pavi's question "How do you develop equanimity?":

"During the Hindu-Muslim massacres, a Hindu village was supposed to be raided by some paid dacoits who were ready to steal and physically and verbally abuse the villagers. The potential attackers were Muslim and got to the first home. A man greeted them and the first thing he did was to offer them food. "What?!" They said surprised. "We don't want your food but we want you to sing a religious prayer." The man led a Muslim song that left them even more perplexed. They were very happy that a Hindu brother knew by heart a Koran prayer, and he said: "now you came to my home, heard us singing, now you have to eat with us!" And they did.

Then the man stepping up his generosity invite them even further: "here's a lamp and look around my house and anything you want you can take, anything." They couldn't do it. "Alright" the man said, "then go all over the village and take anything you want but don't touch any women, any children, just take anything you want." Then the men said:

"How could we take anything from you or your people? You sang us from the heart, you fed us, we ate your salt, we cannot take anything from you. We won't take anything form this village."

Grandpa Dwarkoji finished up the story with a big smile and shining a victorious light from his eyes, then he said: "that's true equanimity!"   :-)

All day was full of stories and blessings. As we were leaving him in the airport, one of Dwarkoji's students showed up to connect with him for a few minutes. Then he shared a million dollar story:

I remember I was in the ashram with you, Dwarkoji, and someone introduced to you, I didn't noticed anything particular about the presence of this westerner but that name got my attention: "I'm Marlon Brandon". I looked up and yep, it was him! He together with Elizabeth Taylor and other actors were offering you $1 million dollars to alleviate the brutal famine in Bihar as he saw the work we were doing. But you replied: "I can't spend all that money, I only need a jeep. That's all we need." The famous actor tried to convince you about all the great things you could do with that amount of money, "you could even get a helicopter distribute food, and use the engine as a pump to pull water from the ground." But you said: "No. I don't need all that money, we only need a jeep." He said he wanted to give all the money at once and that he was not splitting it. You still said no. He left a bit disappointed. Then, a few weeks later, this woman showed up to the ashram [in the part of the Planet we call India!] in a land rover. "I just left everything in the UK where I used to live. I drove all they way from London to work with you."

Arrangement, arrangement. Life is an arrangement! :-)

 

Posted by Pancho Ramos Stierle on Oct 16, 2012


9 Past Reflections