“A Deep Sense of Fulfillment”

In our occasional series on ‘Couples in Seva’ we bring you first-hand accounts of Sudhir and Vandana Balwalli who share their experiences and joyfully declare how being in seva leads to                                                                                                          (January 2021)

Sudhir speaks:

During Swamiji’s maiden visit to Mumbai in 1998, we got our first opportunity to have an audience with Swamiji. Swamiji has been visiting Talmakiwadi every year for Dattajayanti Utsava since then.  After joining the Grant Road Sabha committee in 2003, I worked as a programme- secretary for many years and later, as President for four years. My involvement was spread across organising cultural events, writing and presenting skits for children and Yuva-s and later,in the overall management of the Dattajayanti Utsava.

In 2007, preparations for Sadhana Shrinkhala began in Karla under which Abhyasika-s for Gurupujan were conducted. I got an Adesha from Swamiji to join the Abhyasika and train Yuva-s in our Sabha. That was the first time that I got involved in seva under Swamiji’s instructions.  With the help of other volunteers like Rupa Mankikar and Kanchan Haldipur pachis, I also trained Grant Road’s Prarthana children in Gurupujan. 

In 2010, Prarthana gave me a project to conduct  Samuhik Gurupujan by children from all Sabha-s in Mumbai, during Swamiji’s camp in Santacruz. Not only was it conducted in Mumbai, it was simultaneously organized at other centres outside Mumbai and also in the USA! It truly was a big project and great learning for me. With excellent cooperation from  Prarthana teachers, all tasks right from creating a training manual, training the teachers, monitoring the progress to selecting and procuring the best samagri from Karkala and Mumbai and distributing the kits were fulfilled without any glitch.  Swamiji’s Guidance was always there at every stage. This activity was repeated in 2014 in Santacruz during the Kanakanjali Utsava.

In February, 2009, ‘Pratyushotsava’ – the grand culmination of the tercentenary year of SCM was held in Talmakiwadi. The concept of an all -Mumbai Prarthana- varga play was implemented for the first time in  that year. With the help of Prarthana Varga teachers I presented a play ‘Bhavanishankar Mahatmya’ which had more than 150 children from across Mumbai sabha-s. With the Blessings of Swamiji the experiment yielded good results and it set forth a new norm. Each year, I got an opportunity to write and direct a play to be jointly performed by all the centres of Mumbai Prarthana. I continued to present such plays until 2018.

Another interesting project for Prarthana was based on Adi Shankaracharya’s charitra.  The project included an all- Mumbai Prarthana play and an exhibition of paintings and sketches on the life of Adi Shankaracharya sent by Prarthana children from all over India and abroad. Likewise, a CD was published containing audio recordings of Shankaracharya virachit stotra-s. There were eighteen tracks recited by different centres. A unique shadowgraphy puppet-theatre on the life of Adi Shankaracharya was devised and created by Chetana Kadle pachi and Deepa Murdeshwar pachi for which I did the script writing and direction.

I got involved in Yuvadhara since its inception in 2008, as a coordinator and facilitator. One major project for Yuvadhara was organising workshops on presentation skills conducted by Late Arvind Nadkarni maam and creating presentations on the Math, made by Yuva-s.  It was a great  learning experience for us, the senior volunteers as well. 

Other activities tha I got involved in include participation in Karaseva Shivir as a Sanchalak, coordinating cultural events for Karla Chaturmas, conducting theatre workshops for Prarthana teachers and Karla school teachers.

From 2017, I got involved in website- related work and more so in the group ‘Parichayanam’ formed to create website content for Hindi- speaking Saraswats. With Swamiji’s Anugraha, I made two short films ‘Karla Pahunchane Par’ and ‘Shirali-Ek Aur Ayam’ in Hindi. I got excellent guidance, help and encouragement  from all the volunteers in team ‘Parichayanam’. Darshan Kulkarni has been the most important resource-person for me in cinematography, editing and music. The most recent project I have completed is ‘ChitrapuraTeru’ a Konkani documentary on the Rathotsava in collaboration with Anushravas.


Vandana’s story:

My journey in seva began with me designing event collaterals requested by the Grant Road Sabha which hosted ‘Pratyushotsava’ in 2009. In subsequent years, I offered to create visual themes for the Datta Jayanti celebrations at Talmakiwadi.

The truly defining year was 2013 - when I took a leap as volunteer in the team that handled the kitchen and procurement tasks for the Datta Jayanti fest. It was a first-hand experience of serving and managing in a mega- kitchen and connecting with people who worked relentlessly to enable such events to run smoothly .

One day in that Datta Jyanti celebration, during tirtha-vitaran Swamiji queried if I could illustrate for children’s books. Since then, I have been part of an enthusiastic women’s team of Parijna Books. It has truly been the experience of a lifetime. Under the Parijna series we have published several story and activity books.  Led by our chief coordinator Chetana Kadle pachi, it is fun-plus -learning working with Jyothi Divgi pachi, Archana Savanal pachi and Shailaja Ganguly pachi.

A need was felt to familiarize young ones with our very own Hindu festivals which also includes the Math festivals. This led to designing the book-Utsava. The book was designed, taking inspiration from Prarthana Varga plays where children from various Sabha-s collectively perform in front of Swamiji. This exercise inspired devotees, mainly children and Yuva-s from different Sabha-s, to do illustrations of the various festivals and in 2014, this popular publication became our offering to Swamiji at the Kankanjali Utsava.

I also get opportunities to create publicity material for Samvit Sudha.

The Prarthana plays presented at the Datta Jayanti festivals over the years,were the result of a  team-effort of teachers, spearheaded by Sudhir. I would provide him all the support needed for visualizing and executing the props to help enhance the final presentation. A unique opportunity I got was to create a storyboard for the short film ‘Karla Pahunchane Par’ as also to contribute stills and footage for Sudhir’s documentary ‘ChitrapuraTeru’.


Both:

I (Sudhir) have been visiting Shirali Math from early childhood during which time I attended the Rathotsava-s as well. A strong connection with the Math, like most Amchis, was inherited by both of us from our parents. As parents, quite honestly, we did not have to make extra efforts to pass this on to our daughter Vaishnavi. Staying in Talmakiwadi has the benefit of being blessed by Swamiji’s visit every year. Vaishnavi has thus seen Him from the time she was just a year old. From our side we only had to ensure her participation not only in Wadi, but also in Rathotsava, Chaturmasa and all major events in Karla. Above all, Prarthana and Yuvadhara have strengthened her bond with Swamiji and the Math. During our visit to Mallapur Chaturmasa 2007, she had expressed her wish to take mantra-diksha. Since she was just ten then, we were not too sure . During tirtha-vitarana she expressed this wish to Swamiji. On the very next day Swamiji blessed her with mantra-diksha. 

Today, due to her preoccupation with higher studies and uncertain exam schedules, Vaishnavi is unable to visit Shirali or Karla as frequently. Often, seeing either, or both of us involved in some ongoing Math project, she says how much she misses the activities she used to participate in regularly. We, as a family, value this connection the most. 

We are exceptionally fortunate to have a Guru under whose Guidance we are learning to understand the true purpose of human life and the role played by everything from idol worship, rituals, japa, vimarsha, to meditation and last but not the least seva, towards realizing that. We have to take the first step in seva to enjoy the rest of the journey. Nothing fails in seva, as everything works under Guru-Sankalpa. Swamiji creates opportunities for each one of us to utilize whatever skill we have. This leads to a deep sense of fulfillment which we had never experienced  before. While we enjoy this, the Guru takes care of our spiritual evolution which we need not and cannot evaluate. We only have to hold on to shraddha, be regular in our ishta-mantra-japa and continue doing seva.