The Accidental Caregiver: A Sacred Journey of Caregiving

Estimated reading time: 14 minutes

Caregiving and grief connects a young woman to her rich ancestry and an unexpected soul calling

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Through the noise, purpose was born.

Priya Soni

SACRED BEGINNINGS

The moments that define our perspectives about life are not always discernible. In fact they can be as soft as a whisper, a waft of a childhood memory. Nonetheless, they leave their imprint. There is one defining moment for me that has remained throughout some of my most challenging times. It was the first time I felt like I was being held by a force larger than me.

Temple on Sundays was a sanctuary for my family. As I entered what I considered, in my 7-year-old eyes, ‘a gigantic room’, I immediately felt at home. The room was full of men, women and children focusing their energy on several kirtans — spiritual stories voiced or sung, that convey a collective feeling and connection that we receive from a higher power. Music accompanied the kirtans. The drumbeat of the tabla attracted my attention.

A man with long jet-black hair, tied in a loose bun veraciously played his tabla, eyes closed, swinging his head left to right, harmonizing to its rhythm and sound.

His adoration to his faith was palpable. I was enamored by him and his effortless comfort with expressing his devotion. I wondered what it felt like to feel even a sliver of the joy that emanated from him.

Being a shy child, my mother escorted me to the front of the room at the end of each visit. She softly voiced, “Put this dollar in this pile here. That helps the temple with their services. Drop to your knees. That shows respect