Kia ora, Namaste, my name is Akshobhini, I was ordained 3.5 years ago at Akashavana, Spain. I live in Auckland, New Zealand, where I have lived for the last 10 years. I live with my husband Dh Sujiva and our 8 year old son, Kabir. I am a Dharmacarini (Order member) of British East-African Indian (Gujarati) descent, a mother, and a medical doctor (Paediatrician). I attend a weekly Chapter (Order meeting) and have a creative practice of making malas in my (very little) free-time.
In the last year, as a doctor, I have kept working through the lockdowns, and juggling home life, with home-schooling, and family life. I am immensely grateful for the situation in New Zealand, gratitude for ‘what is’, has been a strong practice. I have felt deeply the pain of the health sector as frontline warriors, in the global coronavirus pandemic.
My Dharma lifestyle is to be active in the world, to have a right-livelihood of working with vulnerable children, young people and families in the field of child abuse. I attempt to bring qualities of grounded-ness, clarity and compassion to the work. Another practice is to be there for my family, to bring mindfulness to parenting, and to be kind to myself when the juggle gets too much!
This last year has been challenging for me in some ways, and for so many globally. I have been heartened by the amazing resources made available in the Order in the last year. I especially look-forward to the weekly Bodhicitta Practice (meditation practice developing compassion for all beings). Connecting with the Order in this way, has kept my sense of our global Order alive, with us all there together virtually ‘turning towards suffering’, I connect to universal suffering and can ‘share the load’.
The conversations in the Order about race and diversity have also been very moving for me personally as a woman of colour. I am grateful for my friends in the Sangha, and the support of Dharmacharinis locally for allowing a space for deeper conversations about race to take place.
May we continue to thrive as women supporting each other, as an international sangha that is unique, precious and connected, collectively we bring diversity to who we are. With gratitude to my teachers, and those whose shoulders I stand on today,
yours in the Dharma,
x Akshobhini.
International Women's Day 2021: Akshobhini