Kapshi : Guru's Little Abode!

8th July 2015 

Kapshi : Guru's little abode

The moment we came out of it, sitting on the roadside facing the board welcoming visitors to Kapshi, I realised that the visit to this little village of people with big hearts was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.

We left from Phaltan taking the regular bus, seeing the best of heavenly views on the either side of the road, when we discovered that the conductor forgot to stop the bus at Kapshi. Within five minutes of getting down, we got a jeep to Kapshi which directly dropped us inroads. Even that five minute walk on the road was memorable.
As part of our 15-day rural Maharashtra internship, we visited the Art of Living's Model Village - Kapsi, Phaltan.

Like any other Art Of Living visit, we were warmly recieved, feeling totally at home. "Jai Guru Dev" heard was much more warm, 100%, and with much more honor and pride here, as compared to cities. Vaibhav Bhaiya, a YLTP(Youth Leadership Training Program) teacher led us on a village tour which started with venturing through the sugarcane farm to Vishalakshi Bandh, a check-dam constructed by the villagers through ShramDaan and inaugurated by Gurudev in 2005. We also visited Gabrain Bandhs, learned about underground dams, got an idea of area measurements which we never understood otherwise, got an insight into the earning sources of the villagers, saw SoapPick toilet's advantages over normal ones and saw multicropping.

Despite travelling in rural India since so many days, now we were actually getting the taste of the village way of life to which we all really belong to. The pulling water out of well, Gaushala, the farmlands, to even that single hitting of the axe meant for a picture, something was constantly touching. Guruji says there are three steps to God : Peace, Joy, and Love. It was just an hour in the village and I could experience a bit of all of three, which kept on growing with each moment. The winds, the scenery and the skyline were all adding to the heavenly virtues of this land.

We happened to meet an old couple in the village. Like all the elderly in the village , they had this very strong presence, as if one would just start worshipping them, or sit close to them near their feet for love and knowledge. A treasure house of experiences and life, full of divinity. When we all touched their feet, they touched our feet back!! Which almost made me cry.. There is a tradition here in the land of Vitthal, originated in Pandupur, that since God is in every being, why should only young get the opportunity of taking blessings? Everyone has an equal right to Darshan. Just one of a million examples of deeply beautiful values that our imbibed in our culture.

Besides the eye-candy views and photoshoots, and the spiritual dwellings happening, we made sure we bombard our guides with all possible questions - from the farming methods to the temples to the economic mechanisms and the history of the village - asked as much as we can.

For the dinner we arrived at Praveen Bhaiya's place,another YLTP teacher. If for a moment we digest the fact that our super-materialistic super-packed-accommodation way of life - full of consumerism where our happiness is measured by the abundance of commodities in our house, I tell you.. They are living life king size. Vast farmlands, natural clean water, divine skylines in the day and blanket of stars in the night, pure chemical-free nutritious food, desi cow's amrut milk, and a giant pucca house to live in. The best things in the world are so freely accessible.. The nature really wants to give us.. And that too in abundance.. What are we running after in the cities!? So so away from where we all came from.

In the cities we have this perception that the life in the village is tough. Even when they have all modern facilities of telecommunication, laptop, personal conveyances, televisions etc., I think it really is, if one cannot understand the underlying thought of village life. Just one night in the village and it hit me so hard in the morning that we are mere visitors here. Here, on Earth. There is nothing to get attached to, nothing to lose and nothing to fear about. What is there to accumulate? How much will we keep...

The Guru story session in the night was a lot of goosebumps. Never heard before stories of Guru's infinite Grace and Care. Specially the Dinesh Bhaiya in Navratre one. And the Mahesh Giri one.

Doing all the morning chores in the open was also an amazing experience. Felt so free and open.

Doing Sandhyavandanam in Vaibhav Bhaiya's place was yet another memorable experience. I didn't plan to do Agnihotram but was gifted with cowdung, desi ghee, Chandan and even smallest of things like the newspaper and matchstick. It was so much pampering and honor at the same time. With Bhaiya's little ones - Siddharth, Shaurya and Mauli around , teaching them Om and their playfulness in the whole process was so sweet. Also was worth noting the fact how much respect we give in the villages to such holy processes, their mother was continuously instructing them to sit , with their hands folded. The 105 years old grandma who cant walk and can hardly listen, was sitting with her hands folded. Doing Sandhya in Master's village with all the perfect ingredients was special.

A completely nutritious breakfast was followed by perhaps the most enriching conversations of the entire internship - meeting the present Sarpanch, the previous Sarpanch and the Gram Sevak. The one hour discussion with them gave us deep insights into the Panchayati Raj functioning on-ground. Many conufusions and doubts got cleared.

Thank you Gurudev! :) <3