To embark on a pilgrimage requires a willingness to suspend judgments, to dispense with the familiar, to get over the idea of seeking comfort, and to embrace change. For starters, flights from New York to Mumbai require about 35 hours of stops and plane changes. This one left JFK, routed through Paris for two hours, went on to Abu Dhabi for another stop, and arrived in Mumbai in the middle of the night, with a ten and a half hour time change mixed in.
When I think about dispensing with the familiar and embracing the unfamiliar, I am reminded of the way I learned to take a bucket bath in India. My place of pilgrimage, Meherabad, is in a drought-stricken area of India, and therefore, water is precious and must be used sparingly. With a bucket bath, a faucet, not a shower head, is turned on and the bucket is filled with warm to hot water. In the early days of my pilgrimages, there was no hot water available via a tap and getting the hot water required taking my bucket to a place where a large fire heated the water, filling the bucket with hot water, and bringing the bucket of hot water to a bathing stall. Now, however, hot water emerges directly from the tap, a decided improvement that lacks the charm of the old way. Also, in the bathing stall is a plastic cup with a handle to scoop the hot water from the bucket for pouring over the body. After a dusty day walking via country paths to get from one place to another, my skin feels dry and dust ridden. The relief of that first cupful of water on my head brings a welcome even though temporary relief. Soaping up my hair and body is next accompanied by additional scoops of water. When the water level in the bucket registers near empty, I pick up the bucket and pour what remains over my head.
As it trickles down, and releases any remaining soap, I experience a sense of well-being from the inside out. This practice helps me to remember some of the luxuries I take for granted at home, and I tell myself to remember this when I return stateside. However, I only seem to do this remembering at the time of my first shower back home. It seems amazing to have water of any chosen temperature release itself from the shower head with a simple turn of a handle.
My pilgrimages to India are full of experiences that bring up discomfort and a longing for the familiar but that also become the trigger for opening me up to new experiences that are bigger than I imagine, that invite in new feelings and reflections about my life, that inspire me to want to help others, and provide a deep desire for connection with the divine. These waves of experience find expression in poetry, music, and stories in many unique voices and languages. On this trip I listened to fifteen different languages being spoken and sung. A morning and evening devotional time brings people from all faith groups together with their tablas for drumming, guitars, flutes,harmoniums, cellos, keyboards, violins, and an Iranian drum called “the daf” into the space, along with expressions that rise up powerfully from the heart. As Meher Baba noted, these expressions of love help to bring greater balance between the mind and the heart, and have great value when offered back to the world in ways that help others.
With all these inspirations and a strong desire for a service project, I returned to Pumpkin House Orphanage for an encounter with younger-aged orphans. My resources included some wonderful supplies from Hull’s Art Shop in New Haven, and two skillful assistants from the U.S., Justine and Rabia, both of whom also follow the same spiritual path as I do.
The children were ready for their session with me. I asked them, after they sat down on the floor in a circle, to introduce themselves one by one. Their faces were like delicate flowers, open with wonder and expectation. I shared with them a material for sculpting that was safe for children and invited them to sculpt an animal that they liked. What emerged was a giraffe named Arnold, several dogs and cats, a deer, a snake, and some butterflies.
Then I invited them to create a mural that depicted the world in which these creatures would live. What ensued was so creative! They constructed a three-dimensional tree house, and additional trees within a garden atmosphere that included bright flowers. I was particularly touched to discover that all the creatures they had sculpted were given homes that looked very inviting. Some of the animals ventured out from their homes to play with each other. The tour de force was a large rainbow that extended across the mural, a symbol of hope and promise for perhaps a bright future. I asked them to stand up and slowly walk around the mural to see the entire piece. This is an important practice, as it gives each participant a chance to see the whole mural, rather than just viewed from where they were sitting when they created it. During the art making, Stella, the Director, stopped in to see what the children were creating. The local priest also stopped in to observe, and then shook my hand.At the end of my visit, Stella told me that she wanted the entire school of 700 students to participate in mural-making, and that this future mural would extend around the perimeter of Pumpkin House, using a roll of strong drawing paper that I was leaving for them. Clearly, these children discovered the power of art therapy. For me, working with the children from the orphanage created a friendly bond between us, made it difficult to say goodbye, and reinforced the power of art and its capacity to create change and well-being.
On another day, I created a different art therapy experience related to the acquisition of English language skills for Indian teenagers a few miles away in a rural school in the village of Pimpalgaon. To get to this village requires riding through bumpy, dusty roads, speckled with tiny farms and open pens with farm animals. Families were out of doors cleaning dishes, grinding flour, or sitting. After we arrived at the school we checked in with the school administrator and headed to the classrooms. I was assigned a group of 14-year-old girls and worked with Shelley, a long-time friend and collaborator in our spiritual community. She had met the girls the week before in an earlier English teaching session. Fluency in English is perceived as a valuable educational and vocational tool.
I presented the girls with mandalas, which are circular shapes, and asked them to do the following: “Write your name in the center of the circle, and above it, write down the career you want to work toward.
A girl’s empowerment group uses art therapy at the rural high school. 
Professor Lindemann and a student discuss her mandala drawing, which depicts her future career.
Use any of the art materials to express with color and shapes, the steps you will need to take, and your feelings about it.”The emotional tone in the classroom was supportive and enthusiastic, and the girls chatted with each other as they drew. In this group of girls, some of their career aspirations included becoming medical doctors, veterinarians, accountants,soldiers, and policewomen. Then, for a particularly feminine touch, I had some paper lace doilies in my art supplies, and suggested they attach it to their circles.
Each student came to the front of the room and in English described their art work, what they most wanted to become as adults, and the steps they would take to reach their goal. We created an installation in front of the classroom with all of their drawn mandalas, which looked beautiful when grouped together, and their enthusiasm grew in both volume and energy. We discussed them again, and I made sure that they took their art work with them.Afterwards, we were invited into the principal’s office in a cordial exchange involving tea and cookies with him and with the English teacher.
This pilgrimage and the opportunities to share art therapy group experiences with children from far across the globe gave me a deep welling up of appreciation for my spiritual teacher, Meher Baba, for the value he placed on selfless service, and for all the companions who have enriched my understanding throughout the years.
About the Author
Evie Lindemann is an Associate Professor in the Master of Arts in Art Therapy and Counseling Program at Albertus. Prior to her joining the faculty in 2007, she conducted research at the Yale School of Nursing on pediatric type 1 diabetes. She is a fifth generation Californian, a Marriage and Family Therapist, and a board certified art therapist. She is also a printmaking artist, and regularly exhibits her work at Open Studios in New Haven, CT each fall. She has worked with combat veterans, hospice patients, families, and students, all of whom have helped her to express the creative impulse inherent in being human.