Moments so Far ...

Can you ask the mind? Do you mind if I take a dig at you? When you want somebody’s attention you will do all gymnastics to draw their attention. You will jump, crack joke, act funny, push yourself through to be noticed for a while. When you look inside. Do you find somebody sending thoughts to allure you, grab your attention, a bait to hook you? If you are attracted to the thought then the thought stays and links up another and then another and … a thought leading onto another — courtesy Indrayani the elephant at Art of Living international ashram If you let the thought go then it goes away just like the cloud. Have you wondered to explore who is that that sends the thoughts. First randomly and then sequentially, logically… Or thoughts just come for you and there is no force behind it. What’s your take? No matter if there is a single thought or flood of them, why do humans aspire to be free of thoughts? Is our real nature t...

If you were a child going to a fair with your father and in the hustle bustle of crowd you lose contact with your father. You were holding your father’s hand and somebody came in between and then a stream of people rushed in and you were thrown in different direction. What will happen to you? You will search for your father.  Then the colors of fair might attract you and you will be lost in them for a while.  You will suddenly remember your father and run around to find him. Then the sounds of fair might attract you and you will be lost in them for a while.  You will suddenly remember your father and run around to find him. Then the lights of fair might attract you and you will be lost in them for a while.  You will suddenly remember your father and run around to find him. Then the circus in fair might engage you. You may come into the act of the circus and then go elsewhere and then come again. In between you may remember your fat...

Where is shiv ? It is said that the entire universe is materialisation of one shiv sankalp (thought). But what happened to the creator after the world was created on his behest. Did he disappear? Did he hide? Is he dormant? शिव कहाँ हैं? कैसे हैं ? कौन हैं? कहते हैं यह सृस्टि एक शिव संकल्प का परिणाम है. लेकिन फिर वह कहाँ चले गए या फिर यहीं कहीं हैं, छुपे बैठे हैं। It is said that it is in everything but its not everything.  it can be found only via Guru (an enlightened master). You dont have direct access to shiva principle. only grace can bring it forth to you, no effort or manipulation can influence its decision to reveal it can come in  a form which is dear to you शिव तत्त्व के बारे मैं कुछ मान्यताएं हैं , जैसी की  सब उसमें है पर वह सब मैं नहीं हैं  वह सिर्फ गुरु की सानिध्य मैं मिलते हैं।   सिर्फ कृपा से जागृत होते हैं , अकारण , अकरम से  अक्सर तुम्हारे पूजनीय रूप मैं प्रकट भी हो सकते हैं  So what do you do in the meantime...

Why is there so much trouble and pain in and around us? It's simply to keep the compassion alive. Otherwise compassion will be a thing of past. How about a movie where the actor gets up, gets ready, goes to work, does work, comes back, eats and then sleeps. And this continues for many days. Would you like such movie? Chances are that you will not like it. How about a villain in movie or a tough situation? Then the movie has action and excitement. God also loves fun. In that sense, he is just like you. He gives just enough trouble so that you experience the opposites. Even in a natural calamity when people perish they go and merge with him, they they come back again based on their karmas. In marriage too we are engrossed with what the partner does and behaves? We go to extreme and bend over hell to change and transform them. But what happens? Either they change or they remain same . Its not important what happens to them. Its what happens to you that is more important. G...

भाव से भव  होता है। भारत मैं सदियों से गाय को माता का स्थान दिया गया। इसलिए आज भी गाय के दूध को माँ के दूध की जगह इस्तेमाल करते हैं। इसलिए देसी गायों मैं जो प्रोटीन/ protein पाया जाता है उससे हमारे स्वास्थ्य को लाभ होता है। जबकि विदेशी गायें जैसे जर्सी गायें मैं जो प्रोटीन पाया जाता हे उससे तरेह तरेह की बीमारियाँ होती हैं। लेकिन बेवकूफ इंसान को यह दीखता नहीं और वो धंधे के चक्कर मैं ज्यादा दूध वाली गाय के पीछे दीवाना है। देसी गाय के मूत्र से भी कई प्रकार के कैंसर को भी दूर किया जा सकता है। Faith brings forth life. The indian faith in the cows have created a breed that has superior quality of milk. The milk is considered equivalent to mother's milk. The type of protein in desi cows is beneficial to human growth and health. The cows from foreign lands like jersey cows contain a protein that is harmful to human consumption and is responsible for many a disease. There are three types of faith that we need. faith in the self faith in society faith in the unknown/God ...

Today saw the video in which Dr. Eben Alexander described his near death experience. Gurudev has been citing his example in last few satsangs as to how an ardent christian went into coma and found that heaven is pure bliss, a light and sound show. Tremendous light and continuous resonance of sound of OM. In the video poor Oprah is dramatically asking and interrupting with nonsensical questions like How does God look like? What is his face like? Is it it or he or she or no gender? Bhagvad Geeta says only fools limit the God into human face or appearance. She further probes the sound of OM as coming out of OMniscient, OMnipotent etc., Nice try but silly question. OM has no beginning and no end. Our true name is OM. We are born out of OM and we merge into OM. In between we are given a name in this human form which we wrongly attach to and consider as our identity. Buddhist have called OM as अनाहत। The sound that is made by single hand clap.  आहत  is the sound of clap mad...

Idol is representative of what is attractive to us. We have made Radha-Krishna to be so beautiful, cast in marble, with silken dress, jewellery, with lots of flowers and fruits and food in and around them.  It is simply to arrest the busy mind. To stop it. So that it can close it eyes after witnessing the glamour and see inside. The real beauty within. The godliness within. The beautiful self.  मूर्ति प्रतीक होती है एक विस्वास की। इसलिए उसे प्रतिमा भी बोलतीं हैं। सब धर्मों मैं कुछ न कुछ प्रतीक है। यह सिर्फ हिन्दू धर्म मैं ही नहीं है।  पहले मंदिर भी ऐसे बनाते थे की उनमें सरे आकर्षण बहार होते थे। पहले परिक्रमा लेने से बहार के आकर्षण से थक कर जब तक मंदिर के गर्भ मैं आते थे तब उधर कम अँधेरे मैं कर्पूर के प्रकाश मैं परमात्मा की मूर्ति के दर्शन होते थे। यह प्रतीक है की तुम भी अपने अन्दर के ईस्वर को प्रकाशित करो। उसके पश्चात बहार आकर बैठने की प्रथा थी। बैठ कर ध्यान करते थे आँख बंद करके। तब जेक अन्दर के जो दैवी गुण हैं वो उजागर होते थे।  अब तो फटाफट का काम है...

All marriages have good and bad patches. An young AOL devotee from Mumbai is doing AMC (Advanced meditation course with shakti kriya) in presence of Gurudev. He had this concern. My parents have been married for 25 years now. When I am with father I feel he is right. When I am with mother I feel she is right. But they still keep fighting and are still not able to maintain harmonious relationship.  To this Gurudev replied Let them continue the way they are. Be totally with each of them. Do not overdo to change them, unless ofcourse the fight is beyond control. Only then you use your strength to stand in between them. They have continues like this and probably will for another 20-25 years. Don't loose your peace on their marriage. Let me tell you about a man who kept fighting with his wife. When asked "Why he fought so much with his wife" he replied "If I have to love somebody and fight with somebody else then it will be all the more challenging.So I am bett...

A lover is rough translation of hindi word प्रेमी। तुम प्रेमी कब बनोगे? अच्छा, प्रेमी कैसे बनते हैं? How do you become love? Do you need a degree? Do you need special coaching? Do need separate schooling? प्रेमी बनने के लिए कोई डिग्री चाहिए क्या? किसी विध्यालय मैं पढाई करनी होगी क्या? None. कुछ भी नहीं चाहिए। तो फिर क्या चाहिए। सिर्फ यह मान लो की तुम प्रेमी हो। प्रेम मानने से शुरू होता है। आस्तिक कौन होता है? वो जो मानता है की परमात्मा हैं, अभी हैं, यहाँ हैं। जब सब मैं हैं तो मुझ मैं भी हैं। जब हमेशा रहें हैं तो अभी भी हैं और हमेशा रहेंगे।   मेरे दुःख दर्द दूर करने मैं सक्षम हैं।  परमात्मा सर्वत्र हैं, सर्वदा हैं, और समर्थ हैं।  नास्तिक यह नहीं मानता और खुद मैं उलझा रहता है। लोगों मैं भाव तत्व या फिर बुद्धि तत्व अधिक होता है। जो भावात्मक होतें हैं उन्हें सत्संग, भजन, अच्छे लगते हैं। वो एक ही नाम को बार बार दोहराने मैं मजा लेते हैं। अक्सर हम देखतें हैं की प्रेम मैं प्रेमी प्रेमिका "मैं तुम्हे प्रेम करता/ती हूँ " जगह जगह , बार बार लिक्तै...

We look for surprise or wonder in the unusual. The things that are not common are termed miracles. If a mango tree gives mango its not a miracle but if a coconut tree gives mango then its miracle. हम अक्सर आशर्य/अचरच/अद्भुत उस घटना को मानतें हैं जो असाधारण होती है , जो रोजमर्रा मैं नहीं होती। जैसे एक आम के पेड़ पर आम का होना या फिर नारियल के पेड़ पर नारियल का होना साधारण बात है, लेकिन एक नारियल के पेड़ पर आम होना अद्भुत घटना होती है। परमात्मा सर्वत्र हैं, सर्वदा से हैं और समर्थ है।  यह नहीं की कोई इंसान ५ हज़ार साल पहले हुआ था और जिसके हाथ मैं बांसुरी थी वही परमात्मा था, वह तब भी था और अब भी है। यह नहीं है की वोह सिर्फ गुरु मैं हैं और मुझमें नहीं है. अगर वोह सर्वत्र है तो जितना मुझमें हैं उतना तुझमें भी है।फर्क इतना है की गुरु मैं दिखतें है। यह नहीं की तुम अपनी कमजोरियों मैं खोये रहो। परमात्मा उन सारी  कमजोरियों को दूर करनें मैं सक्षम हैं। वो समर्थ भी हैन. यह भी नहीं की शिव कैलाश-मानसरोवर मैं ही हैं. थोडा सा डेहर जाओ, थम जाओ तो परमात्मा अभी , येहीं तुझमें हैं। संत...

The skies were getting dark. There was a gentle breeze. The dark clouds simply stopped to move over head. There was no sign of the bright moon. Gurudev's hair were gently floating around. A time to sit back and enjoy his mere presence. The satsang today was several notches higher than yesterday. Yesterday Gurudev had to intervene to give it some life. Gurudev was enthusiastic about the rapid fire questions on Sunday Satsang. The team asking the questions went overboard. Sometimes in over enthusiasm we are not able to sense the guidance provided by the master. First sign. The master was eager to come and sit. Second sign. Even during his meditation the master was capturing the minds of his devotees. Finally, when he brought the mike closer he wanted to stay in the moment. A time and sign for the restless to display some patience and wait. Such is the time when knowledge directly comes from the master without any questions. Third sign. The people asking question said...

On a lazy sunday afternoon when most people hit the bed after watching movies like Jolly LLB, I too was at the crossroads. The choice was Agree to tamas (तमस) and allow the human body to sleep in the day  Go to ashram and witness satsang in Gurudev presence The family said No for accompaniments. They went to sleep. The other usual suspects were not going or were in Ashram. I said, I have to go (commitment) . Anyways its 3 hours and its worth spending in the company of the master. The tamas vaporized. The decision made. The movement began.  I did not want to take my car ( enthusiasm ) as I was alone. When I was walking towards the main gate of the apartment complex, I was wondering about the 3 km walk to nearest bus stop to take the BMTC bus (public transport -  commitment ) from konankunte cross roads. I remembered another soul which has moved in Brigade Gardenia (apartment complex) recently. I had earlier messaged him and did not want to disturb t...

The fundamental fear is of death. Let us prove it. Death by definition is dying of human body. When this body becomes lifeless, it is called as death. It is fearful because what you witness as lively human being is suddenly motionless and cold. Sometimes it's painful and other times its unnoticeable. If you want to know what happens, before, during and after death then find time to listen to Katopanishad - a commentary by HH  +Sri Sri Ravi Shankar  ji. Here we will work on the premise and try to prove it. Yes, the first sentence in this blog. For proving, I will borrow a term "mini death" from the commentary. It will  differentiate death from the one that signifies loss of human body. "mini death" is not the loss of human body, clear. Ok, lets continue. If I want Masala Dosa, the restaurant does not have it. What happens? If I want promotion, the manager ignores me completely? What happens? You are offered fruit after you had heavy break...

At times you wonder, do you create thought or are they created for you? If I am not the thought generator then how do they come into existence? If its a mystery still, then read on, you may stumble on some truth. Thoughts have a certain purpose. They express in words. Words have their limitation but thoughts are made up of words and thus have limited expression. There is an urge to express and that urge is fulfilled via the thought medium. Now, what is that urge to express? Why is it so strong? Why can't it be controlled, regulated? It is said that thoughts simply come. You cannot regulate or plan for your next thought. They just pound and pouch at their own leisure. Its a beautiful phenomenon if you love laid back experience. These days nobody wants to touch the remote or the mouse and change videos, they should simply keep playing, changing as we warm the couches. Today in sahaj meditation similar curiosity arose, a question to know the origin of thought. And some insig...

Why is passion not understood well? What is passion? Is passion destructive to spiritual growth? Is passion one sided road to hell? Passion can confuse. When you work in the world you will get into many types of people. Some intelligent and some foolish. A misguided passion/जोश may want you to be jealous of intelligent and make mockery of the foolish. Jealousy could lead to unhealthy competition. Mockery could further dip their morale. In your drive to success become aware of what you ransack. Your bulldozing attitude may have been hard earned but may not be the way of success. Success happens when you gain and everybody around you also gain. It is not when other around you are crushed. Their evolution is as much your responsibility as theirs. Seeing God in Guru is simple, anybody can and does experience divinity in the realized masters. Seeing God in foolish person around you is challenge and requires effort. These are the people who dwell in your mind and in your m...

Love It is your very nature. If you do not have tension then you express love. You are made up of love.  Young ones watching TV Kids till 5-6 years of age should NOT be put in front of TV. The cartoons and other programs activate their brain more than their age and later they become dull for life. If necessary, beyond six not more than one hour of TV per week for kids. Surrender What is yours that you can surrender? This body is Gods. Everything in and around you belongs to THE GOD. When I say Surrender it only means to unload yourself of the weight that you are carrying, the lack that you are experiencing, the worry, the botheration, the tension that you are living with. Offer it as आहुति to me, into the feet of your Guru, your loved one, anybody who is very dear to you. Just feel the release, let go.  Types of questions You know there are five types of questions that people ask. Out of misery, pain Out of Anger Out of the space that they know and to check if...

The life brings responsibilities. Life also brings attractions. Mind loves playing with attractions. As kid toys and ice creams were attractions, responsibility was none. As boys and girls friends were attractions and responsibility was their well being. As teenagers rebellion was attraction and education was responsibility. Early in career short term relationships and money was attraction and loyalty to company was responsibility. Early post marriage spouse was attraction and taking care of her was responsibility. Parenting created children as attraction and taking care of them was responsibility. Now the attraction is spirituality and responsibility is family. If you consider repayment of your home loan and generating education funds for your children as seva then it becomes easier. If you consider profession or career as burden then it becomes pain. You may love satsang, you may love your sadhana and you may have your definition of seva. If your definition of...

The mobile phone rings. Some phones are on vibration mode. Some have crazy tunes. Some have pleasing tunes. There are so many of them these days. They were not always there. They exist now, everywhere, everyone. Today, during long sudarshan kriya followup,  three phones played their tunes. Some got distracted, some ignored it. Some did not care. Some were agitated. Some were releasing emotions. Some were in bliss. Every mobile phone tune is like the emotion that we experience in our daily life. They are so powerful. They overpower us. They disturb our sleep. They interrupt our family talks/meals.They bulldoze and wipe out our very existence. We experience the extremities of emotions more often than not. They interfere and can be destructive at times. I presume this was observed by HH  +Sri Sri Ravi Shankar  ji also. He saw that many were meditating but they were not able to get the deep experience which meditations gave in earlier ages. He got su...

Karma is impression to act. It is an act. An act is something which is not natural. It is a put on. It is not your nature. You know actors act. It is the same act. Most acts driven by law of karma are inevitable. They need to be performed. They need to be experienced. It is like a dish which needs to be consumed when you are hungry, you have no choice. During the performance you can choose to participate or complaint. When you participate in action the karma dies a natural death. When you analyze,complain and make a noise about it then it keeps on adding to the chain of karmas. As long as you have karma in your account you will come to this world. This world is imperfect and it will remain so. Your urge to correct and make things alright is a sheer waste of time for your evolution. The more you want to correct the more you will fall in trap of karmas. There is no such thing as perfect world. There is only perfect spirit, a perfect self. You have sever layers of existence as per...

The last words of  +Michael Fischman  before we parted to our individual destinies were "Enjoy your family". Thanks to him the bonding with the spouse have improved over the last few days. She is wondering "Why didn't I met Michael many years ago". She has been struggling to put good sense into my head but has failed miserably. A gentle collection of wordy slap from the conviction of Michael has brought me back into the path. What is your family? At first shot it looks your spouse if you are married, your kids if you are parent, your parents, your siblings, your cousins. As you meditate more on the term "family" it gradually gathers momentum and expands to fill the universe. It simple is a reflection of your sense of belongingness. If you think your neighbors belong to you , they become your family. If you think your neighbors neighbors belong to you then they become your family. If you think everybody connected to +Art of Living   belong to ...