A PHOTO ESSAY IN RURAL TELANGANA
Members of the Heartfulness Media Team traveled with DAAJI to rural Telangana on the Deccan Plateau, to document the meditation sessions he has been conducting with the villagers in Mahbubnagar District. Here MONU SINGH treats us to just a glimpse of the silent revolution that is sweeping the villages of India through meditation programs in the heartland of the country.
Clean air, green farms, simple hearts and village life … it sounds so idyllic, but rural life in India can be very difficult. Here are some snippets from conversations with eight local villagers in Mahbubnagar District, about their lives before starting meditation and how Heartfulness has transformed them.
Elderly lady: “I had so many fears about finances, family matters. I
used to fear seeing everybody, I was scared of everything.”
Potter: “I was always scared that other people may harm me.”
Farmer: “It has been a long time since I slept well.”
Mother: “I would get very angry without realizing it.”
Elderly gentleman: “I was losing my confidence.”
Mother: “I don’t know how to change.”
During our conversations, they said that in the past they tended to solve their problems only with their minds, and using the mind they were stressed. They came to understand that they could try a different approach. They all decided to try meditation, with the hope that the mind would also follow the direction of the heart.
Potter: “When I would see the picture of Shiva, he was in a meditative
pose. I would ask myself, ‘What is God doing?’”
Elderly lady: “We used to do what everyone did, puja etc.
Husband of a married couple: “People used to say that meditation is only needed once you are old,
so why do you want to do it now?”
Potter: “I never really understood what meditation was.”
These villagers learnt about meditation, experimented and had experiences in meditation. After a while, they also shared the changes they found in themselves.
Second elderly gentleman: “When I make the suggestion that there is
Divine Light in the heart, I feel like a bird escaping the cage and flying freely. I do not know what happens after
that.”
Potter: “After I started meditating, I lost most of my fears.”
Elderly lady: “Even when there is a problem, we don’t feel its presence.”
Potter: “I started noticing everybody around me after I started meditating.”
Shopkeeper: “After starting meditation I felt many changes and began to develop myself.”
First elderly gentleman: “Now I can do a lot of things with courage.”
The mother: “Anger has decreased to a great extent.”
Farmer: “I have been sleeping peacefully ever since I started
meditating.”
Husband: “We will be peaceful only with meditation. We will develop mentally, and the family will
become peaceful too.”
Elderly lady: “When we are meditating there is no need for fear.”
Potter: “You will not get the same happiness anywhere in the world that you get from meditation.
Happiness is within us. The only way to be happy is to meditate. It is inside us. That’s all.”
Elderly lady: “Meditation need not be restricted only to our families or a few of us.”
Husband: “Everybody needs meditation.”
One lamp lights another lamp.
One heart inspires another heart.
From one house to another.
From one village to another.
Elderly lady: “Now it is the heart’s turn.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPJFnqeVVQ4
Article by MONU SINGH
Photos by the HEARTFULNESS MEDIA TEAM
