83. Pilgrim on the path of Joy

Thousand Full Moon: Shrimati Prabha Pardikar

Contributed By: Dr. Raghunath Boradkar

Shrimati Prabha Purushottam Pardikar was born on  Makar Sakrant,ie 14^th January 1931 in Hyderabad  in  Andhra Pradesh [ It was the Princely State of Nizam then]. She did her B.A. with Politics as a special subject from Ferguson College Pune. Even at this age she is quite active and keeps herself busy by undertaking various activities.

Shrimati Pardikar is an accomplished writer. She has written several books including Novels, collection s of short stories, children’s books and poems. She is versatile and is at ease with all forms of literature. [A list of her published work is enclosed].

Her husband was a professor of Physics in a Government College and was frequently transferred. Shrimati Pardikar has therefore stayed in Nagpur, Amravati and has finally settled in Pune. She has three sons one in Pune , one in US and one in Australia.

Here she tells us about Joy and how to obtain it. In the first part of her write up she analyses Joy and in the second part tells us how she obtained joy in adverse circumstances by striving for it. This is what she has to say and lets have it in first person singular.

Me a Anandyatri[Pilgrim on the path of Joy]

The basic driving force of life is Joy.  It provides the energy for living. Joy is an experience beyond pain and pleasure. Joy comes in many ways and has different shades. To appreciate this joy one has to turn inwards with a crystal clear mind for the spring of Joy is inside us.

Joys may be short lived or could be long lasting. Its difficult to express how you feel when you are joyful  and still more  difficult to put the feeling in words. May be joy is a feeling that one likes to go on having.

Some joys are spontaneous. A beautiful song .an eye catching painting, an inspired poem or a new idea all give joy and it is bilateral. A two way reciprocal transfer of joy between the performer and the spectator.

But one has to strive for some joys. Knowing how to turn adverse circumstances in to favorable

ones and getting the key to do it gives a joy that could be called heavenly. As I have experienced this I will narrate my own experience. I got married and within a few days I learnt that my husband was very fond of playing cards to the extent that it could be called an addiction. He used to go to the club for playing Bridge at about six thirty p.m. in the evening and would return home after one a.m. well past midnight .We never even went out for a walk in the evening. I was so unhappy and angry too. But because of his temper and aggressive nature I could not do anything.

Rather than feeling sorry I thought a little differently. I was fond of reading.  Now I started writing stories for small children .Then I started participating in story writing competitions. I got a good response. I also got some prizes. I also participated in some Radio programs. All this encouraged me further. My husband’s going to club for playing cards became less painful. I had found an eternal source of joy. I would have been miserable if I had gone on endlessly complaining about his going to club. I learnt the most important lesson in my life that we can’t change people but we can definitely change ourselves. I had found the key to my joy and happiness.

I would like to narrate another experience here. We were in Amravati [Vidarbha]. The campus where we were staying was far away from the main township. There was no phone and TV had yet to make its appearance.  The campus was surrounded by small houses of villagers.  Some girls from those houses used to come to me. The girls were studying in municipal schools and sometimes they used to accompany their mothers and help them to pick up cotton. I started teaching them. I also purchased foe them books notebooks pencils etc. The girls were really clever and honest. They started getting good marks in the examinations. Once the mother of one girl said ‘I have simply given her birth, but you are her real mother. You looked after her well fare. I will never forget this and I will never be able to repay you.” This was the moment of fulfilment in my life. I was overjoyed.

Apart from writing which has given me immense joy, I seek joy in everything that I do. Dasbodh and Bhagvadgita are my favourites. These books have given direction to my life.

In Aurangabad I started an Abhivyakti Mandal for children. The idea was to get the best out of children by exposing them to reading writing entertainment and what not? Overall development of the children to make them good citizens was the idea at the back of my mind. I also used to narrate stories from Sane Guruji’s writings to the children. Doing some thing creative gave me a great joy.

I am thankful to God for everything. He gave me power to think and ability to ride over difficulties. At this age I am happy. Anytime a poem suddenly comes to my mind I experience abundant joy and say to myself,

हे मना सम्मित्र हो तू देई मज सद्भावना

सत्य सुंदर आणि शिव ह्यांची असो आराधना

बुद्धी दे तू सिद्धी दे मज तू कल्पना

सृजनतेला फुलव माझ्या देई मजला प्रेरणा

संकटे येता धरी रे कवच ध्येयाचे मना

दुःख आणि कष्ट साहण्या ताठ राहूदे कणा

निर्भयाचे दान दे तू निश्चयाची भावना

तृप्ततेची मधुर गोडी शांतीची संवेदना

ढग निराशेचे कधी झाकूनी टाकी तनमना

अंतरीचा दीप होऊनी देई तू मज चेतना

तूच ईश्वर तू महेश्वर जाण माझी कामना

हे मना सम्मित्र हो तू अर्थ दे मम जीवना

-    श्रीमती प्रभा पार्डीकर