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Swargarohan was also a place of service. I am talking about physical
labor. As the days became slightly warmer Maa decided that it was time
to clean the gardens and spruce up the grounds. The whole of
Swargarohan is a garden, there are trees and roses and a bunch of
other plants EVERYWHERE. Maa wanted all the dead leaves and branches
to be cut and dying flowers to be trimmed and leaves to be racked and
……well basically it was spring cleaning. So Maa gets the youth
together (a handful of adults were involved as well) and tells us what
to do and how to do it. She of course does not stand around and watch,
Maa gets right into it Herself!! There was this one tree that had many
dead leaves and branches and Maa initially told the girls to leave it
as the boys would take care of it, but then She changed Her mind so
between 3 of us girls we climbed the tree and started jumping around
in order to shake the dead leaves off and then Maa passed us these
long sticks so we could whack the dead branches. (Yes, it was as fun
as it sounds…when else are we going to get a chance to climb trees and
act like children???!!) Maa stood by us and watched our every move,
then She would wave Her hands around as if to shout directions and we
would just keep jumping on the branches and pray that they wouldn’t
break!!!!!
Many more days of such type of service followed. Maa decided to make a
few renovations around the grounds, so everyone (young, old and in
between) went to work. There are stacks of cut wood and branches kept
on the grounds to put in the boiler (hot water for bathing!)…well Maa
needed all of wood moved from it’s original location (behind the rooms
beside the office) to the back of the grounds. So everyone formed a
human chain and just started passing the wood down. The whole time we
were singing dhoons or doing Mantra Gān and laughing, we didn’t
realize where the time went. All of this helped keep our minds off our
hands and arms. No one was wearing gloves so most of us ended up with
splinters in our hands and scratches everywhere. The guys that were at
the start of the chain were cut and bleeding but they kept working.
(Many pieces of wood had nails in them as they were left over scraps
from something…and usually the guys didn’t realize this until the nail
has punctured their hand!) Of course every once in a while Maa would
come out with prasad to help keep us going!!!!
One day we had to empty 6 rooms, all the furniture, lights and other
accessories had to go. So once again everyone went to work. Everything
was transferred from Maa’s building, to the third floor of the other
building (above yog-tirth). So first came the chairs and then night
tables and then the clocks and light fixtures…. then the mattresses
and bed frames. We had Maa’s blessings…. though She did warn us that
things were heavy and that we had be very careful as to not damage any
of the Yog-tirth building…. basically don’t bang anything against the
floor, walls, railings…anything!) Anyhow, we got to work…. so what if
it took 2 girls per mattress and so what if we sometimes had to rest
in between mattresses and so what if one or three of the mattress
slipped from our heads (yes, they were balanced on our heads)…but in
the end we got all the mattresses to the third floor. The same
situation occurred with the bed frames. In the beginning we were all
gung-ho and practically running up the stairs but in the end, I swear
the bed frames got heavier and heavier. Maa kept watching and laughing
at us…as we must have been a sight to see!!!! There was this one time
when we were carrying bundles of sheets, pillows…etc (all balanced on
our heads) and Maa decides that She would run after us. We were barely
walking straight, forget about running…..well, Maa got a kick out of
seeing us attempting to balance the bundles and pick up our speed!!
The major renovations to Swargarohan are to Maa’s building. There are
6 guest rooms beside the office and above them is the huge balcony…Maa
wants to expand the guest accommodations so there will be two floors
of rooms now. Before the bulldozer came in, Maa has us move all the
plants that were in front of these rooms. We spent the day digging
plants, trimming bushes, relocating trees and all the while trying not
to kill anything. Have any of you been stuck in a climbing
rosebush???? Not a fun experience, those thorns can be a real pain
(literally!!!). Then we had to move the soil (once again the human
chain was formed and we passed along buckets and huge bowls of soil).
This garden was lined by bricks which were embedded in the ground…. so
Maa gets Her hands on a mallet/hammer and starts hitting the bricks to
loosen them from the ground.
Finally when Maa was satisfied that nothing was left in that area
except for walls, the bulldozer came in and flattened everything. For
those of you who have been to Swargarohan…. rooms 1-6 and the balcony
where the birds are fed is now gone…just a mass of rubble! Maa said
that it would be about 6-8 months before the new wing is ready.
One day during satsang Maa began talking about the importance of doing
seva at Swargarohan. We had already undergone a few days of seva. Maa
explained that this land (that which defines Swargarohan) is very dear
to Prabhuji. Anyone who offers seva for/at Swargarohan will
automatically receive the blessings of Prabhuji. Maa said that
offering seva there is equal to, if not above, doing sadhana. She went
on further to tell us that our every act of seva would bring us one
step closer to Prabhuji. Seva encompasses any and all seva (from
picking up garbage from the ground, to serving food, to sweeping and
mopping the floors, to answering phones in the office to moving bricks
from one side of Swargarohan to another…of course all the rules about
leaving the ego out of it and having a pure mind apply…but I think
that it still shows the power of seva and more so the power of
Swargarohan. So if any of you have a chance to come to Swargarohan (I
know you all will wish) get in and start working. You will be
surprised at how much fun it can be to perform 'Shram Yagna'.
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