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Published: June 19th 2006
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18th June 2006
This is my first such hike- a hike with Swami Sukhabodhananda, the author of the best seller “Oh, Mind Relax please”. Well! He is a Hindu monk from India who has written a number of books for the benefit of people like me :-)
This was a part of the completion of his first set of events in bay area. June 16th and 17th was spent very usefully with his Bhagavad-Gita talks in Sunnyvale.
We were more than 10 in number. At that time, I did not know it would be such a long day there. I was informed 2-3 hrs.
10.45 am: We started off from the parking lot of Sanborn Park in Saratoga. We planned to take the Peterson trail, move on to San Andreas trail for a bit and turn back. We did just that. This hike was different from all of my other hikes in a lot of ways, mainly 3.
One: Swamiji’s presence.
Two: Satsangs at almost every 15 minutes.
Three: First time hiking with 10 other like-interest people.
That pretty much covers it all, I should say.
The highlight of the hike was the 15 minute karate kick session he gave us half-way along the trail.
After a point, waiting for 15 minutes to ask Swamiji a question seemed long enough. I could not hold it for that long. So, Q&A was instantaneous.
I remembered my mother’s words “He has a meaningful answer for everything”. Well! Moms can never be wrong. Can they?
Questions like:
“How to improve my memory?”
“How to deal with a non-believer?”
“How to handle fear?”
“How to motivate yourself?”
“How important are rituals?”
Well! All these questions and their answers made it a very special day! A memorable one
too.
I did not feel very hungry, but lunch followed soon enough. Swamiji had given me enough food for my thoughts.
We shared the food and had a filling meal. Swamiji then narrated how they celebrate birthdays in his Nirguna Mandir. Mukul’s birthday was the closest, so had his gift time.
Our gift to him: Well! One important lesson we experienced and learned from our own life.
It was not for Mukul alone. There was wealth of information there that we took back home as memories.
With
final goodbyes and pre-prep for the upcoming events, we set off from there.
I am sure that all of us who were there, talked about the day, on our way back home.
I can definitely see the difference in me today. I hope I will digest all that he said in the days to come and make myself a better person.
As my note, its been an experience for me meeting this modern monk from India, who preaches, meditates, guides, sings, dances, practices martial arts & swords, entertains & eventually elightens. I want to thank my good karma for today.
Thanks, Swamiji for all the answers you gave.
Thanks for everyone who made it possible.
Hari Om!
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Ripu
non-member comment
So sweet :)
Very nice Meera and Ganesh. Thank you for capturing the hiking moments with swamiji so beautifully.