You have a choice!

It was one more of those days in my college life, when I was interested in nothing (except some girls may be...!).
However I had one habbit of being with good teachers. And I was hanging around a nice maths educational institute after a class. My teacher came out and we had a conversation...
He pointed me to one boy almost of my age, working on a construction site. He said, "right now, that boy is better off than me, because he is earning, and I am not. That boy is not dependent, unlike me. However, he said, That boy will be working there itself, for years to come, but you have a choice, you can progress further in life. "

Years later, I still remember those words, and keep reminding myself that I still have a choice, to keep progressing further in life, instead of getting in a job where I plough the field like a bull.
Its great that such beacons of light still exist in the world, showing the right way to thousands of youth.

Nature of urge

Bondage is that which when not done, gives pain.
Have you noticed what happens when you get an urge/ desire?

There are three stages.
When the desire arises, it brings along excitation, promise of joy, a hope, anticipation and also some anxiety.
If you are lucky ( or unlucky! ask me later why!) enough, the desire gets fulfilled, and during its fulfillment there is a transient experience of joy, a thrill.
Lastly after fulfilling, one is tired.

If you don't necessarily run to fulfill a desire, be lazy in working for a desire, then you will see that desires rise and fall within you! They come and pass by.
Observing these three stages frees you from them.
jaigurudev.

Akhand-bhajan

From Narad Bhakti Sutras, a brilliant textbook on aphorisms of love and devotion...

Sometimes you tend to keep the divine away from a corner of your life... Then connection is incomplete. Share all the things, all aspects of your life with the divine. That is akhand-bhajan.Bhajan means sharing. Some people confuse it with singing for 24 hours. The point here is, share all, give all to the divine, and become empty!

Right attitude for any deficiencies

When you see some flaw within yourself, your life, what do you do? Do you hide/supress/ignore/deny it? Or do you blame yourself for it?

Neither thing helps. Denial will keep it going as it is, and blaming will keep you away from overcoming it. Just acknowledge that I have this deficiency or fault in my ideas/ way of living, and work to improve it without self-pity, self-blame or self-bashing.

You were not asked before being sent in this world ! Why to attach oneself with one's positive or negative qualities!

"Oh, you love me so much!" :)

There was a time when people were shy to express their love. So the "I love you"s became fashionable.
Now its time to recognise other people's love by conveying to them, "Oh, You love me so much!"
Often people are seen making effort to prove their love, and its nearly an impossible task, since its beyond proof or logic. If you recognize other people's love, then they will be free from a burden to prove it, and more love will flow to you!
Jaigurudev.

Health - I

If you have vomitting or vomitting sensation, take Jeera and Ajwain(Ova) and boil it in water and drink such hot syrup. You will feel better.

Stretching can keep you away from muscle pulls. Even in your workplace, keep stretching once in a while.

Cold(getting caught in rain, or driving in cold wind) can bring out suppressed body aches. Eucalyptus Oil by VLCC is good, massage and bath with hot water. Moov gel is good too. Volini gel is good too, somewhat artificial and strong in sensation. Volini spray can be used upon doctor's guidance. Theme here is to divert mind to other sensations. Taking attention to that part of body and breathing will also remove the pain.

Lots of water and Triphala will take care of constipation if any. Any stomach pain after it has been emptied could be due to pain to muscles in stomach also. Moov gel is useful. Stomach muscles do a lot of work to move around the food in the long intenstine. That's why there is a saying
"One who eats only once a day is a Yogi
One who eats twice a day is Bhogi (One who has learnt to balance between spiritual practise and worldly matters)
One who eats thrice a day is Rogi (sure to get diseases sometime in life)
One who eats four or more times a day, is ready to die!"
The science behind this is simple, unlike other organs, if one eats often, one is not giving rest to the stomach. Stomach keeps working over the dinner even in sleep. And then once in a while it rebels.
18-30 years of age one needs to learn how to 1. eat, 2. sleep and 3. experience the sense objects in proper manner. This if done with knowledge can save oneself from troubles and lay a solid foundation for the rest of the life.

In Ayurveda, any intake is called Food. Normal food for body, Food for thought you get from hearing to others, Food for all senses that you get from sense objects. Certain category of such intake can become poison, overindulgence or improper intake. And certain intake can become Medicine. Anything that uplifts the life within you is medicine, anything that puts you down is a poison. Anything that sustains your life is food. Ashtavakra begins with a saying,
If you wish to attain freedom, drop the objects of senses like poison.
Why so? Why would he call some objects of senses which seem to give pleasure as poison?
Because in your mind you will not have this craving or desire for something that is poisonous. When one thinks of objects of senses as sweets, mind craves for it.
In Narada Bhakti Sutras he says
Tarangapi Samudrayate
Even a slight indulgence in sense objects, which begins like a wave, turns into an ocean.
Hence keep distance from the sense objects.
Does it mean that you completely renounce them and cut yourself from the world?
No. This entire mechanism of sense objects and our interaction with them is explained wonderfully in Ch 2 of Bhagawat Geetha. May be sometime I will write a series on it. He says in verse 64, dropping all the cravings and aversions, experience the sense objects through sense organs.
jaigurudev.

3 visitors

A man named "SwayamVrata" had built a nice home on top of a hill. He lived noble life, served society and worshipped Divine. One day a young lady visited him, saying she is travelling and needs some rest, her name was Mediocracy. SwayamVrata gave her a room out of kindness. Mediocracy liked the place, and she visited him often. Slowly SwayamVrata's mind started diverting from his social service and noble attitude. He became more casual and unattentive.
One day, Mediocracy brought with her, her friend Lazyness. Lazyness promised SwayamVrata a lot of comfort, so he allowed her to stay with her friend Mediocracy for a few days. Lazyness pursued his mind to move from his present daily rituals to much comfortable ones, and to take less and lesser tasks in the day, and keep postponing those which were to be done today. To avoid climing everyday, he also gave up the beautiful house on top of hill, and settled in the hill's bottom in a small house.
Finally, the cousin of Lazyness, Uncleanliness walked in for some days. With Mediocracy, Lazyness and Uncleanliness around, the house was in a Mess, and SwayamVrata lost his control in his life.
Later that day, he saw his friend Anushasan, walking by happily, fit-n-fine. With help of Anushasan, Swayamvrata asked the three ladies to move out of house, and got back to his noble life.

Raising Valour

Raising the valour within is one of the ways to get out of any problems...
When you roar like a lion or walk with the majesty of an elephant, problems dare not stand in front of you.


This is a Marathi song...
Some of the lines mean...:

Brave we soldiers
Whom are we afraid off
For country, divine and righteousness
We have put our life on stake

From the womb of mother
We learnt the spirit of fight
We married the sword and loved it
Lacs of hits it can withstand, such a brave heart we have

Either win or drop dead in battle
This is all what we know
Fight and die, Live after death
This is all what we know

For the country
We gave up all the affection and relations
For country, divine and righteousness
We have put our life on stake

Brave we soldiers
Whom are we afraid off

Travelling Light

I had so much pain to transport my luggage from old hostel to new one, even though it was so close. First, I had to throw out a hundred useless things I have been keeping around. It seems there is abundance of Vishnu Shakti- skill of maintenance in me, and a budding Shiva Shakti - the transformation energy. So I had to invoke all the Shiva Shakti and select only few things to be taken further to the new hostel.

Still the luggage was HugE!! Some 7 Cartons. I shiped some on my Activa, and 3 had to go in Institute's Vehicle.

I recalled this story:- " Just Passing Through " from Bawa's Blog. Its so important to Travel light in the life! The incident made me aware of what all things I have been accumulating for no reason!

And this is just from one home to another. This body is also a home, I am temporarily living in here. When I have to leave it and go, will I be able to travel light!?

Wake up now!

It is never really dark out there,
The Sun's light is always available.
Wake up and go out now,
Since you know that there is light there.
Else the apparant night will continue,
Casting dark shadows from candles lit by self effort.
Let the self effort be to open the door
and go out, to bathe in the warmth of Grace.

Being Non-Sticky!

The events in life leave an impression on mind, and that causes lack of clarity in observation, perception, expression. To have a clarity, one needs to have a mind that is like a non-stick pan!

After an event, espacially a negative one, one needs to clean up the mind so that it doesn't stick on to the event, and one can move ahead fresh in life!

Photographic mind

Mind is like a Camera:

Whatever is observed through the five senses, it captures an image and stores an impression in the memory somewhere.
Due to over-exposure of the world outside on the same memory disc inside, there is confusion:- Has it happened to you in a film camera, that a part of film is double-tripple exposed, and it carries no real picture! Such is the overexposure of events to the mind, that causes all the confusion. Like to write something fresh on a blackboard, you need to clean it first. So also the mind needs to be cleaned up!

Kidnap

Saw Kidnap... my rating 6/10. As Bhawana says, I am used to find some thing sensible from non-sensical movies too!
Anyways, this post is not about the movie... But the actual story in which a guy almost kidnapped me and Sabari for few minutes, here is how!

We were returning late from Ashram, almost 11pm... Somehow got lift till Konankunte cross, few km before Banashankari. Then there are these office vehicles which take passengers on way to their night duty, and make pocket money for themselves. Its not a bad idea, as its not easy to get conveyance at that time. So we asked for travel to Koramangala. He asked for 100,and I said no then drop us at Banashankari, for 30 Rs. He agreed and we sat in. Then I made the mistake. I asked him, will you come for 70Rs to Koramangala. He didn't agree, and kept mum. In Banashankari, he didn't have parking place, so he pushed off a bit... Sabari got down, me too, and I had no change, so gave a note of 100, and asked for change.. but he didn't have it too, and started moving! then I got in and Sabari got in too, and as we moved further, looking for change, he started demanding more,something like 50 or so. After some arguments, I wanted to just get out of vehicle, and asked him to stop... But he wouldn't stop, and started moving much faster!!
Now I threatened to jump out by opening the door slightly.. this put him off balance further and finally when he stopped at a place, midway between koramangala and Banashankari, he was asking same high money...
Arguments continued on footpath, and I looked at the jeep number intending to copy it... That's it.. he was shouting and threatening to give a blow! He stood so close to me, my feet started trembling... At this time Sabari's coolness helped... He somehow convinced him for 80-90 bucks and we got in..
The part that I was angry at was that he was demanding us to take ride with him, when we didn't agree to. and then he was not stopping also when we wanted.

But his final avatar changed me. He threatened that he would follow us to home and come back and hit us! After that I was all soft, and asked him why he was so aggressive. He wouldn't talk... Sabari's kannada/tamil came to help. He found out that the driver was angry on me noting the number, since if we tell that to police, their job is lost for few years.

Finally we reached Koramangala, paid him handsome amount, thanked him to drop all the way, and gave him a packet of biscuit too. He left and then we walked to our homes. That night I couldn't sleep well!
Discussing with Sabari I realised and still remember one point which came up: I was wondering why such an incidence wouldnt even happen to Swamijis or teachers in aol. First was that their travel would be planned and they would have the conveyance ready. Second more important thing Sabari pointed out is that these Swamijis are so centered that they first think of the welfare of other person. What I was doing in my bargain with the driver was to make most of my profit, leaving very little margin for him.
This is where Saints differ, they think of others first.
Since then i have stopped bargaining. I just quote the rent I would give, if they agree yes, else I just say no thank you, please carry on. No further discussions.
Its great Sabari was there then, else I would have lost temper much more!

Skill in Action

In Gita Krishna says, Yoga Karmasu Kaushalam, meaning Yoga is skill in action. 

Where could I have seen it better than in Navaratri, when The Master displayed his skill in action by simply striking the strings of Veena and bringing out melodious music! He also played one more music instrument, I don't know its name.  Who will tell me!?

He once said, when you have rhythm inside, you can bring out the rhythm in any instrument or anything outside!

Its like this... He playfully, lovingly holds the Veena... He tunes it, playfully checks the sounds by pressing on different notes, and then his speed of striking those notes changes, it increases, he intermixes the notes and whoa! From nowhere a satsang song comes up! 

This process is very similar to the way the kid in Taare Jameen Par draws his final competition picture:- the colors re-arrange themselves to form a picture that is not planned beforehand.

Master displayed fantastic creativity, spontaneous impromptu performance!! HATs off!!

ps. pictures coming soon. may be tunes too! :)

pps. I attempted similar thing on my guitar, didn't work out so well! I think I need more training on it or more love for those notes!

Stick To Your Ground

Thanks for not using any (more) Plastic!

I read and heard about ill effects of Plastic usage, as its tough to recycle. Finally it all goes in ocean, and they have found huge floating plastic stocks, as it doesn't sink!

Lets look at history. Plastic was invented in 1862. Till then we would use cloth and jute carry bags, iron,copper and steel made utensils.  All these materials are recycled easily, where as plastic can be only converted from one form to another, and in every conversion it becomes harder and harder and finally it can't be converted further.

Store and transport of any useful daily life item was done to the minimum necessity. Local products were purchased (which is also good for local economy) and used soon. Now a days, even milk is available only in plastic, the "Doodhwalas" have almost disappeared! If you buy anything, unless you are carrying a cloth bag, the merchant is ready with a plastic "carry bag"! Especially in the malls and supermarkets, all items come covered with plastic for "keeping them new", avoiding dustiness. 

The combined effect of all this is that each one of uses on an average uses plastic worth 4 carry bags every week. Multiply that with the population, and number of weeks in a year, you will see that we create thousands of tons of plastic per year! 

Many people take resolves of not using plastic anymore, but then at some places like milk purchase it becomes totally unavoidable! So what I decided sometime ago is not to take any further carry bags from any shop. RE-USE the bags that I have already got. Still because of lack of awareness, these many bags piled up in my home in few months:

I have at last stopped throwing them, and use them well, until they are torn and of no use anymore. 

This habit was bit inconvenient at times, and you would sometimes see me walking in the lane of my home with a pack of bread, butter and a mixture in my two hands, since I refused the carry bag to the bakery merchant! And at other times my college bag would be swollen big because I have put all the purchased items in it, from milk and grains to clothes and stationary!

In Big Bazaar they give plastic even from procure section of vegetable to billing section, because they need to mark the weight of that vegetable. So I get that thing billed, then come out, put the vegetables in my bag, and return theirs! 

Another related hazard is that many cleaning workers tend to burn the garbage, and a good amount of it being plastic, it gives lot of hazardous smoke in the environment.

If your really look at it, this "user friendly" material is not so much wanted after the use. e.g. you don't want that plastic cover which your bike had when you purchased it. Neither you want the cover on the cd that you bought. I don't think plastic shoes are popular, and nobody wears a plastic suit!(Imagine yourself in a plastic shirt, pant, and hosiery!) So we keep plastic as distant from a personal use as possible, but use it so often for an intermediate use.

Thank you for not using any (more) plastic!

Terrorism, you and me

I woke up fresh and smiling on the Sunday morning
Only to hear the sad news of the Delhi blasts and killing
The Anger inside me started boiling
But sooner than I expected I got some healing

I went to the YES!+ Followup in Koramangala
It was so nice to catch up with friends who have similar agenda
The breathing was nice, a soothing feeling
Sorrow and anger was gone and compassion and trust started flowing

After the Kriya, Shailendra asked, which knowledge, tell me a page
Number 30, came a response. To my surprise it was this knowledge: 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Weekly Knowledge #324 Bad Antogast 28 Sep 2001 Germany

TERRORISM: THE CAUSE AND THE REMEDY

The act which is only destructive and inflicts suffering both on oneself and others is terrorism. In such an act, human values are lost in the process of achieving a goal.

Some of the factors that lead to terrorism are:

Frustration and desperation to achieve a goal

Confused emotion

Shortsightedness and Impulsive action

Belief in a non-verifiable concept of heaven and merit; a childish concept of God favoring some and angry at others, thereby undermining the omniscience and omnipotence of the Divine.

Terrorism induces fear psychosis in all, increases poverty, suffering and loss of life with no apparent gains. Instead of solutions the terrorist looks for destruction as an answer. If you simply criticize without giving a solution, know that this criticism comes from the same seed as terrorism!

Although there are certain qualities you can appreciate in a terrorist such as:

Fearlessness

Commitment to a goal

Sacrifice

You will have to learn from them things that you should never do:

Valuing some ideas and concepts more than life.

Having a narrow perspective of life and dishonoring its diversity.

The Remedy for terrorism is:

Inculcate a broader perspective of life -- value life more than race, religion and nationality.

Educate people in human values – friendliness, compassion, cooperation and upliftment.

Teach methods to release stress and tension.

Cultivate confidence in achieving noble aims by peaceful and nonviolent means.

Create spiritual upliftment which can weed out destructive tendencies.

Question: Can it be that terrorism need not be only physical violence, but also cultural or economical?

Sri Sri: Yes.

Solution for economic violence – "Think globally, buy locally."

Solution for cultural violence – "Broaden your vision, deepen your roots."

Question: How does one cope with the aftermath of terrorism?

Sri Sri: Faith and prayer. When disaster happens, anger is inevitable. To take precautions that one does not react wisdom is needed, not emotional outbursts. One mistake cannot be corrected by another mistake. Strive for multi-cultural and multi-religious education and spiritual upliftment to reach every part pf the globe. For the world will not be safe even if a small pocket of people are left ignorant.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So relevant, Guruji has spoken
Solutions given, much before the problem
As we were listening in rapt attention
We saw losing all our tension

Together we decided to wind up communal fights
By celebrating festivals with all colors and lights
Together we decided to break the walls
By greetings from hearts and waking up calls

YES!+ Awakens India...
Jai Bharat!

P.S. Here is an excellent Article by Bawa on What can I do.

Next 200 meters...

If you have to travel from Ashram to home in the night, all you can see of the road is next 200 meters, in your headlight of the car or two wheeler...

As they say in the movie the Secret, journey in life is similar, you have the goal, and the entire way to the destination may not be clear, but what you see is what you need to do next... and just like that is sufficient to drive a thousand miles in the dark night, so is it sufficient to live happily the entire life, and achieve the desired goals!

Chandan and Eyes!

The Chandan and Tilak was looking really good that day, so thought of staring in the camera! :)
Do you were Chandan/Tilak/Bindi/Kumkum !??

Do you know why in our culture it has been a tradition to put it on...!!!???!!!
Many think its not stylish, but I tell you it really adds a glory to your face! I like to see decorative bindis on many girls... And without Chandan and Tilak a guy's face looks rather blank!

Scientifically, application of these things is supposed to simulate certain glands that rule entire body...

Experiencially, I have always had an ease of decision making, an ease in concentration and focus whenever I put the tilak... In fact I feel something is missing, when I don't!

Second thing I wish to bring out is, look in the eyes of the people! They reveal everything you would ever want to know!
I do this exercise for few years now... Since I was in IIT for my Masters... I walk in the crowd and look in their eyes... and each person tells me a story! What's happening inside. Is that person happy or worried... Is thinking, planning, regretting, or enjoying. I walk like a King surveying his country... It showed me lot of reality in lives of people, without talking to them!

Happy Onam to all!

Onam celebrates the homecoming of the legendary King Mahabali. Celebrated with great joy in Kerala and other parts of South India, this is a festival filled with elaborate feasts, folk songs, elegant dances, energetic games, elephants, boats and flowers! www.onamfestival.org is an excellent website for the information on this festival.

The Legend goes that the King Mahabali ruled wisely and judiciously, and all the people in his kingdom were happy and prosperous. The King's popularity continued to go endlessly and it also gave him lot power and a big ego. The Gods requested the Lord Vishnu to control the King's power. The Lord Vishnu took form of a Brahmin boy and appeared in front of the King. He asked the King of a donation, and the generous King said ask whatever you want, I will give it. The Boy asked for the land that can be covered in his three Footsteps. The King agreed. The boy suddenly started becoming huge in size and covered the whole sky with one foot, the whole earth with another, and asked the King where he should keep the third footstep. The King recognized that the boy was the Divine himself, and said that please keep your third foot on my head. Lord Vishnu did so, and pushed the King to the nether world. The Lord was compassionate to the King and offered him a boon for all his good qualities. The King with all his love for his people, asked the boon to visit them once a year. The day of the Onam is the homecoming of the beloved King for the people to their homes. They rejoice and celebrate his return in this festival.

Our mythology is so nice. The King symbolizes the Ego, which when grown too much, can cause harm to oneself and others. The Lord Vishnu is the maintainer of the Universe, or the Energy within us that maintains a balance for existence and proper living. The Brahmin boy symbolises the knowledge of life. The knowledge of life shows us that life alone encompasses all realms, and then the Ego humbly bows down. Uncovered by the Ego, we would love to go and meet people, which is what the homecoming of the King symbolises! And devoid of Ego, the celebration is spontaneous!

Also, if we look at the timings of the Festivals in India, we will notice that the work and celebration is put together by wise men in this country. This is the harvesting time, and for a country with huge farmland and large population of farmers, this is a time of great hardwork. The wise sages have given the celebration to go hand in hand by choosing this time for Onam!
Don't forget to check out www.onamfestival.org for the amazing details, fun games and things related to Onam!

Work in Celebration! Celebrate your work!