prasad1
Active member
How a holy place and its people helped a Western woman find wholeness
Story by Jessica Ravitz, CNN
Photographs by Chiara Goia for CNN
Indian Awakenings -- CNN.com
I got this article from a friend. It is long but very powerful.
.............................................
Then a sobbing woman asks a question that reels me in.
She says she can't have babies and wonders: What's the point of my life?
That's pretty dramatic, I think, but I recognize her pain. I've already mourned that I won't have babies myself.
The swami nods to his sidekick, a disciple called Sadhviji, a woman about my age. She, too, never had children.
"Just because our bodies can give birth doesn't mean that's what we're supposed to do," Sadhviji answers. "Everybody's put here on the Earth for something very, very special.
"You've come onto this Earth with so much.
"A womb is about this big," she says, making a fist.
"What else have you come onto Earth with?" she asks, reminding the woman of her other attributes: a heart that can love, hands that can cook and caress, a mind that can create and plan.
I fight back a sudden welling in my eyes. I'm a journalist on assignment to observe others, raise questions, take notes — not cry. Why is this happening?
"Through your mind, with your heart, you can give life that is so much more than having one baby or two babies come from your womb," she says. "Life is more than a heartbeat. Look how many hearts are beating but don't have a life. ... So many people's lives are empty. So even though you didn't have a baby in your womb, you can bring life to so many people."
I hang on her every word.
I thought I'd already come to terms with the loss of that dream, but I hear something that resonates for me in new ways. Tears aren't always sadness; they are truth, she says. Her words comfort me, help me move deeper in self-acceptance.
In this moment, 8,000 miles from home, I realize this journey may be as much about me as those I meet along the way.
Story by Jessica Ravitz, CNN
Photographs by Chiara Goia for CNN
Indian Awakenings -- CNN.com
I got this article from a friend. It is long but very powerful.
.............................................
Then a sobbing woman asks a question that reels me in.
She says she can't have babies and wonders: What's the point of my life?
That's pretty dramatic, I think, but I recognize her pain. I've already mourned that I won't have babies myself.
The swami nods to his sidekick, a disciple called Sadhviji, a woman about my age. She, too, never had children.
"Just because our bodies can give birth doesn't mean that's what we're supposed to do," Sadhviji answers. "Everybody's put here on the Earth for something very, very special.
"You've come onto this Earth with so much.
"A womb is about this big," she says, making a fist.
"What else have you come onto Earth with?" she asks, reminding the woman of her other attributes: a heart that can love, hands that can cook and caress, a mind that can create and plan.
I fight back a sudden welling in my eyes. I'm a journalist on assignment to observe others, raise questions, take notes — not cry. Why is this happening?
"Through your mind, with your heart, you can give life that is so much more than having one baby or two babies come from your womb," she says. "Life is more than a heartbeat. Look how many hearts are beating but don't have a life. ... So many people's lives are empty. So even though you didn't have a baby in your womb, you can bring life to so many people."
I hang on her every word.
I thought I'd already come to terms with the loss of that dream, but I hear something that resonates for me in new ways. Tears aren't always sadness; they are truth, she says. Her words comfort me, help me move deeper in self-acceptance.
In this moment, 8,000 miles from home, I realize this journey may be as much about me as those I meet along the way.
