Sunday 05-DEC-2010
One of team members from Europe who went back to Bangalore because of blisters returned to Guntur as his foot was healed. He could stay away from service (seva). He took a 12:30hrs bus from Bangalore to Guntur. He immediately joined us for seva after a long bumpy drive.
Morning:
1. Visited Pedda Vadlapudi
2. Pedda Kakani (or Kakani)
Evening:
1. Village: Sangam Jaagarlamudi
We left Guntur around 5pm and went to Sangam Jaagarlamudi. We were received by the elders of the village at Sai Baba Temple. For lack of advance notice, it was not a big group. There were about 70 people for the evening Satsang and people were coming in as we started to leave for Tenali. We had a good satsang over the mic system which is heard by most of the village. We shared our experiences and said positive things about Indian culture and value system, etc. They would not let us leave but we had to move on. They packed prasadams for all us.
I met a very interesting elderly gentleman (Shri P.Naada Rao or Nanda Rao) in his 70s or 80s full of wisdom. He had hard hearing and poor eye sight. He was so charged up after our talk that he held my hand and would not let me go. He talked about Bhagavadgita as a syllabus to life, about Gandhiji, about Krishna in practical ways. He was amazing. He spoke VERY good English. I said that he must give discources to the villagers and youth. He said, "nobody will listen. People are busy running." I wish I could spend 2-3 hours with this noble person. He was very inspiring full of enthusiasm and zeal to share his wisdom and experience. He was soooooo concerned about India, it's culture, it's wisdom getting lost. You could see all that concern and care in his eyes. I took a picture with him. He heard us on the mic system and came upstairs to meet us. What can we do to make good use of the wonderful life experiences of our elders? In olden days, it was easily passed down to the next generations but now, we pretent to know better until we grow old.
I had met a few other similiar people whose life experiences are getting wasted. We do not know how to tap into the wisdom of our elders. Yes, there are some superstitious people but for the most part, all the wisdom from India is very scientific, universal and nature supporting. I met another 74 year old doctor in Hyderabad who hails from Srikakulam. I will write about her another time.
Under the BTTR Project, we are coming up with ways to seek the help of our elders and also give them an opportunity to serve the society. Next to food, clothing and shelter, every human being wants to be useful to someone or society. If we can provide this opportunity, there will be so much contentment in people's lives.
2. Tenali:
We reached Tenali by around 7:15pm. As communited earlier, we did not go to Kanyaka Parameswari Temple. Because poor communication, we were not notified that we did not get approval because it was a last minute request and some other event was happening because of the last day of Kartika Maasam. We were taken to Teja School where less than a 100 people gathered over roof top. We had an amazing satsang and talk. The children of most of the parents who gathered there live in USA. They are going to connect us with their children in USA. Majority of the participants were active women in that area. After satsang, a few ladies wanted our help to adopt a few colonies (slum areas are called colonies it seems) or a village to connect with the poor sections of the society. They invited us to come and do Pada Yatra in the slum areas. If time permits we will go this year or it has to be postponed until next year.
We headed back to Guntur for a late dinner.
We are trying hard to eat early in order to avoid indigestion problems while moving from place to place so fast.
More tomorrow.
-BTTR Team.
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