The values which are instilled in you during your childhood has never-ending impact on you, right!
I was a Swadhyayee, we had Satsang each Sunday in the temple close to my home at Mulund, where I lived with my grandparents. It was a Shivalinga temple. In the garbhagriha (the room where the idol or symbol of the central god is set) was the Shivalinga, outside it on the left side the idol of Lord Ganesha and on the right, the idol of Lord Hanuman smeared in sindoor and oil. Before the garbhagriha was Nandi and the tortoise.
We kids used to assemble in the temple for Satsang, chanted shlokas, sang bhajans and did pravachan. Possibly it’s here I persuaded to be an orator. We had seniors giving us pravachan. They used to talk about values through models and stories. It used to be a one-hour session. We were taught that in each and everything around us abides God. We used to greet each other by joining hands together and saying “Jai Yogeshswar” (Lord Vishnu), which implies I greet the God in you.
We were permitted to go to the Satsang held for seniors and my Granny insisted that I ought to do. I was impressed by the narratives of the incomparable Rishis and saints that I too thought of doing as they did. I wished to go deep into the forest, do Tapassya, chant God’s name for the day. It went to the degree that I began boasting to my companions that Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati were my parents and that Lord Ganesha was my sibling. My friends ridiculed me, yet it never troubled me, I was consistently in bliss.
I was always prepared to do pravachan in Satsang held for kids or elders. We were asked to sit on a raised platform before everybody. I recollect how pleased I used to be while I bowed to God’s image put close to the stage, give pravachans by totally engaging in it.
Simple Living 
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