"The Thackeray family strictly needs Art of Living lessons" -- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. This quote had a prominent place on the front page of the Telegraph in Kolkata a couple of days ago. A bit surprising, since the language and tone is most unlike Guruji's -- so I decided to verify it from an eyewitness (earwitness?)
The scene was the launch of Meri Dilli Meri Yamuna, a unique citizens' initiative to clean the Yamuna river, with the blessings and guidance of Guruji.
Some journos were more intent on playing the Thackeray-Rahul Gandhi card, and repeatedly asked Guruji whether or not He felt that the Thackerays should do the Art of Living course. Finally, on being repeatedly pressed, He casually replied in the affirmative. And the above (mis)quote was what the papers reported, while completely ignoring the actual issue of cleaning the Yamuna!
Such a stupid and cheap way to garner readership -- I have refrained from commenting on the Indian media so far, though I feel it is at its lowest point ever -- but this was just too silly. It would be sillier if the Thackerays were to read this and start bashing up AOL teachers in Bombay/Mumbai :)
And the newspapers would have a field day either way -- even if we printed an angry riposte they would still benefit from the ensuing war of words. Its the Indian media that needs Art of Living lessons. Strictly.
Sunday, February 7
Sunday, January 31
Coming unbinged: The story of my experiments with truth, food n samadhi
Sorry it's not at all controversial, nor does it contain any spicy material or even spicy food for that matter; it's just that the title was too good to pass up. That said, read on...
It began with a glass of coke (or pepsi or whatever, it didn't matter to me then, though I can now tell them apart -- and have grown to like thums up the best!)That was three years ago, on my honeymoon; and it was practically the first bottle of cola that I had drunk in my life.
I have been a healthy eater throughout my life, not by choice, but by design -- I have a somewhat rare congenital condition that many refer to as "geographic tongue". This means that I do not have a fully formed top layer on my tongue; it is deeply furrowed as though I spent my infancy chewing razor blades. The taste buds thereby are fairly exposed (or so I imagine) rendering me almost excruciatingly hypersensitive to all tastes -- and particularly to spices. Even the slightest hint of extra pepper or ginger is enough to ensure that I leave my plate untouched at best, or at worst gasp for water with involuntary tears and hiccups galore.
The benefit this had was that it never allowed me to indulge in most of the sinful snacks which make life in India such a treat. Coupled with a steady exercise regimen, it ensured that I never put on excess weight throughout my life.
"Your first coke? Like ever?!!!" my hapless wife was incredulous. As if it wasn't freaky enough for her to have married someone who, when not crisscrossing the globe with a small suitcase, lived in an ashram, preferred chopsticks to spoons, loved his guitars more than his parents, and routinely spent two hours in silence each day!
(to be continued)
Sent from my iPhone
It began with a glass of coke (or pepsi or whatever, it didn't matter to me then, though I can now tell them apart -- and have grown to like thums up the best!)That was three years ago, on my honeymoon; and it was practically the first bottle of cola that I had drunk in my life.
I have been a healthy eater throughout my life, not by choice, but by design -- I have a somewhat rare congenital condition that many refer to as "geographic tongue". This means that I do not have a fully formed top layer on my tongue; it is deeply furrowed as though I spent my infancy chewing razor blades. The taste buds thereby are fairly exposed (or so I imagine) rendering me almost excruciatingly hypersensitive to all tastes -- and particularly to spices. Even the slightest hint of extra pepper or ginger is enough to ensure that I leave my plate untouched at best, or at worst gasp for water with involuntary tears and hiccups galore.
The benefit this had was that it never allowed me to indulge in most of the sinful snacks which make life in India such a treat. Coupled with a steady exercise regimen, it ensured that I never put on excess weight throughout my life.
(to be continued)
Sent from my iPhone
Wednesday, January 20
Satsang
गुरु सत्संग में शास्त्रीय संगीत के स्वरों से मन के तार झंकृत हो जाते हैं. प्राचीन वैदिक मन्त्रों से चेतना खिल उठती है. और उनके बीच के गहरे मौन में अनंत की अनुभूति प्राप्त होती है. हमारी चेतना में निहित इस मौन की गूँज को ही अंतर्नाद कहते हैं. यह केवल स्वर और ध्वनि का स्रोत ही नहीं बल्कि समस्त सृष्टि का आधार है. इसी के स्पंदन से जगत की रचना हुई.
मैं अगर भजन गाता हूँ तो केवल इस प्राप्ति को सामान्य रूप से बांटने के लिए. यह मुझपर गुरूजी की विशेष कृपा रही है और हर क्षण मैं स्वयं को इसके लिए कृतज्ञ महसूस करता हूँ और गदगद हो जाता हूँ!
जय गुरुदेव
मैं अगर भजन गाता हूँ तो केवल इस प्राप्ति को सामान्य रूप से बांटने के लिए. यह मुझपर गुरूजी की विशेष कृपा रही है और हर क्षण मैं स्वयं को इसके लिए कृतज्ञ महसूस करता हूँ और गदगद हो जाता हूँ!
जय गुरुदेव
Tuesday, January 19
Monday, January 18
Notes from the hills 1
It is late evening by the banks of the Ganga in Rishikesh; the river is in spate, swollen with the rains, muddy with the mountain soil that she has washed down in her rage. We are used to a romantic Ganga -- this sight is new, and a reminder of the ever-changing nature around us. An old lady devoutly wades into the spate and floats a tiny oil lamp into the foam. Amazingly, the lamp stays alight for a long time, bobbing up and down, though the river is in full flow all around it. Finally it is extinguished and then washed away into the realm of memory. Tomorrow there shall be another lamp lit, set afloat and washed away.
"Ganga kinare vairagya ho jata hai, Abhyas ki zaroorat nahin padti," said Guruji this morning. (In the Bhagvad Gita, when Arjuna asks Krishna how to quell the restless mind, Krishna says, "Either through dispassion or through spiritual practice." Guruji was referring to the unique energy that the Ganga carries -- just being on her banks one experiences dispassion; there remains no need for any practice!")
Every morning and evening, as we dip in the holy waters, bits of charred wood, flowers and other debris float by. Some of them bump into us and then drift away as we stand waist deep in the river; they are the flotsam of the funeral pyres further upstream. "This is each one's final abode," Guruji had reminded us in Hardwar the other day -- "Amma, Nandita, Manu... " all our dear ones had come to rest in these waters, as will we all -- some day in the distant or not so distant future...
It is hard to fathom what is going on here. The river is at once raging and churning in furious motion, and yet timeless, as she has been flowing for countless years with the same enthusiasm. Guruji is like that. As He watches the river, it is difficult to guess who is watching whom, the river rejoicing at His presence or He lost in her love. For Shiva, the smashan (cremation ground) is the place to live, to rest, celebrate, to work, to play. For us, the Ganga embodies that final resting place which is permanent yet ever new. HE is at home here, and she has a sense of purpose, a functional energy when He is near. I am aware that my sense of past and future has somehow dissolved, and yet time seems to be moving very fast. How does the Master live, I wonder. Does He have a sense of time as we do? It's obviously just a game for Him, but Who is playing?
As Guruji sits meditating nearby, I experience a beautiful fragrance; it seems to be a mix of all the things I love. The first things I smell are incense and a funeral pyre. Then I smell flowers, then food and a hint of perfume. I look around, there is nothing close by, nor even a breeze that could have wafted these smells to me. It is changing again and seems thick and yet very very subtle -- I am unable to distinguish whether it is a fragrance, a thought, a feeling, an anubhooti.
Tuesday, January 12
Another recent Q&A from Guruji
I have always taken His suggestions and directly applied them to various situations in my life, and there has not been a single instance where they have not yielded results. I know many people who "hold on to the sutra" ie take guidance from the Guru but don't apply it in their lives; thus neither their situation improves and above all they have a delusion that they are actually following the knowledge, leading to further disillusionment!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Dharma and sanga. Our innermost nature is what dharma is. Yes, our innermost nature is dharma and sangha is our association, our environment. So events and attitude are influenced by only two things. The first is by your own true nature and another by your environment, the people whom you are with, you know. In a group if someone says, 'Come lets go and have a drink,' we will say, 'Ok, lets all go.' We will go. In a group if someone starts talking negatively, slowly another person will join a little later, then the third and the fourth. Soon you'll find that everybody starts talking negatively – this is the influence of the group A child is influenced upto 25 percent by the environment, by the friends in the environment and the school they grow up in. Another 25 percent is from the parents' genes and tendencies. The next 25 percent is their own originality, their karmas, their samskaras, the impression that they come into this world with. The remaining 25 percent is through their own self-effort and their understanding. So parents have got only one-fourth influence on their children. Only one fourth. Similarly, our sangha which means our association has an influence on us. Usually what we call sangha is a group of people who are on the spiritual path. People on the spiritual path can help you with that much-needed energy, biodiversity energy for you to move on that path. That is why when you sit and meditate in a group, it is better than when you are alone. How many of you feel that way? In a group you feel like doing yoga, pranayam, even service activity. When you are alone, you get tired. You don't feel like doing it. But few of you join together and you do a lot of work. If you have to wash the dishes alone, you will feel so bored. But if 7, 8 or 9 of us are washing the dishes, time just flies like that. You don't feel tired. I have told you don't feel exhausted isn't it? How many of you have this experience? At home if someone is asked to wash that many dishes, you would crib. And here you do it with the smile, you do it happily joyfully. So sangha can or the group sangha can help you move up in life. It puts you in touch with the dharma; and sangha only happen with the enlightened. That's why Lord Buddha said Buddham, sangham and dharmam. Three things - the enlightened one, the company of people and your true nature - all these things important and they all are one and the same.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You can meditate any time when your tummy is not full. When you have eaten, you are full. When you sit for meditation at that time, that is not good. Either you will not have meditation, you'll fall asleep or you'll have indigestion. There will some difficulty in metabolism.
Q: Why is there is a rift between migrants and local people?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Rift between the migrants and people living there... one of the reasons is that the migrants are not mixing with the local people. They remain in their own community and campus. They don't adopt the country they are in. This is a big issue. That is going to keep people separate. There is an old saying, 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do.' So if you are in a country, you should adopt that culture, you should be with the country, flow with the norms of that country. This is essential for migrants to know and understand. Secondly, the fear. Migrants fear that they will lose their roots. This they need not do. They should strengthen their roots as well maintain their original customs – language, culture, religion, tradition. That is fine. They should do that. On the other hand, there is much awareness about cultural diversity. There have not been many festivals which integrate all kinds of people, of all different cultures, civilization, religions. This multi-cultural events, multi-religious events need to happen more often. That would bring people together, their hearts and minds together.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well. I will leave that question with you. You may get some ideas. Share them with me too! We have to work on this issue. Politicians have lost the sense of belongingness with people. It has become another industry. Politics has ceased to be a place for responsibility and caring and protection of people's welfare. Rather it has turned out to be self-aggrandizement, an industry of power and position and money. This has to change. You know, politicians will have to realize that they are servants of people. They have a responsibility. There are some very good politicians. Not that we should put them all in the same basket. But those corrupt politicians are the one we really needed to address. That can happen only through education and rising awareness of human values among them. I am very much concerned, especially about Africa, where people have very little to eat. The country is really going down and the politicians of Africa have hoarded billions - $280 billion - in a bank in England. When I was speaking to politicians at the European parliament, they told me that, 'Guruji, we have good news. We have sent $79 million back to Africa to the people there because it's the people's money. But it's not sufficient. It's only a small portion of what presidents and prime ministers of the continent of Africa are holding there. Similarly, Indian politicians are holding huge amounts in Swiss banks. But it's all been hushed up. There needs to be a wave of spiritual awakening, moral and spiritual awakening in the whole world, especially in this field. Only then can this be corrected So, it's a big task. Everybody has to work for it. We need politicians like Gandhi and Martin Luther King who are spiritual and who care for people to uphold ideals in society. Isn't it?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There is only one air, one sun, one earth and one moon. and similarly one consciousness. In the inside of us, the consciousness which is wisdom, which is light is gurutatva. Tatva means principle. To begin with, the five tatvas are earth, water, air, ether and fire. These are five tatvas and then there is the mind, intellect ego. Then there is the maha tatva which is beyond the ego. The one who has gone beyond the ego is called Mahatma. Finer than the maha tatva is the guru tatva. The guru tatva is that principle of discrimination, of knowledge and when it dawns inside you, that is guru tatva. In knowledge then you have no dearth for anything. Life's mission is complete. Guru tatva always brings joy, freedom from misery and upliftment of the consciousness.
Q: Dear Sri Sri, please guide me on how I can serve humanity. Lots and lots of love.
Guruji: Yes, come join the band wagon. Come join and think about what we can all do together. See alone when we do it, individually, it is a small effort. There is not much result. In fact, we burn out, we get tired. But as a group we can do a lot. Ok?
Tuesday, January 5
Love game!
There's something about tennis that sets it apart from any other sport -- at least for me. From early childhood I knew that this was going to be "my" sport, though it wasn't until age 12 that I finally started taking lessons.We still used wooden racquets back then, and were brought up to honour what has always been regarded as the true gentleman's game. If we so much as kicked a ball on court or banged our racquet on the ground, our coach would ban us from the court for a week. We were reprimanded even if we failed to applaud an excellent winning shot by our opponent! The way one carried oneself on the court, the way we held our racquet, were all indicative of whether or not we were truly groomed in the sport. And yet, tennis has remained a game where idiosyncracy is the norm rather than the exception; every top player has a distinctive style and can be instantly recognized just by the way they swing their racquet. Also, the game has continued to evolve, with rules being modified over the years to encourage fair and consistent play.
The leading players look lean, fit, alert and focussed -- unlike some other sports where they all look beefy, brawny and brainless :) And still the debate rages on -- who was the greatest player of all time? Rod Laver, with his string of Grand Slam titles, the icy Borg, the consistent Sampras, the calculating Lendl, that maverick genius McEnroe, or the unflappable, elegant Federer? There are so many other legendary names, both male and female, whom tennis fans hold so dear, and whose exploits are recounted to this day.
Most of all, it is the unique combination of athleticism, grace and artistry that makes tennis the sport which always brings a smile to my face and a spring to my step!
Love all.
Sent from my iPhone
Monday, January 4
HNY!
Dear friends
Wish you all a very happy 2010. Tina and I took the last week of the past year off and had a truly pleasant rest in Sharjah and Dubai with her aunt's family and my uncle's family respectively. Returned and flew straight to Blore where Bawa, Dinesh and the Yes+ gang had put up a splendid youth camp (Winter Break) which, in addition to meditation sessions and service activities, also offered a plethora of workshops and interactions with several luminaries from different disciplines.
Did a rocking concert for them with my band, then hung out with Guruji practically the entire day yesterday. Today it's back to Bbay and back to structured activity within deep rest!
Many exciting plans for this blog/site this year. As I mentioned, I shall be turning it into a full-fledged website which will also feature my music and photography. March onwards we plan to monetize it as well, and hopefully have a distinct look as well. You may say that my New Year resolution this year is to post at least twice a week --
please do mail me a reminder if I'm slacking!
Anyways, we are just emerging from Rudrapooja with Guruji at Ashram,
and I'm off to the airport in some time. See you soon on this space :)
Jai Gurudev
Aal iz well!
Sent from my iPhone
Wish you all a very happy 2010. Tina and I took the last week of the past year off and had a truly pleasant rest in Sharjah and Dubai with her aunt's family and my uncle's family respectively. Returned and flew straight to Blore where Bawa, Dinesh and the Yes+ gang had put up a splendid youth camp (Winter Break) which, in addition to meditation sessions and service activities, also offered a plethora of workshops and interactions with several luminaries from different disciplines.
Did a rocking concert for them with my band, then hung out with Guruji practically the entire day yesterday. Today it's back to Bbay and back to structured activity within deep rest!
Many exciting plans for this blog/site this year. As I mentioned, I shall be turning it into a full-fledged website which will also feature my music and photography. March onwards we plan to monetize it as well, and hopefully have a distinct look as well. You may say that my New Year resolution this year is to post at least twice a week --
please do mail me a reminder if I'm slacking!
Anyways, we are just emerging from Rudrapooja with Guruji at Ashram,
and I'm off to the airport in some time. See you soon on this space :)
Jai Gurudev
Aal iz well!
Sent from my iPhone
Friday, December 18
Back home...
...to the Blogosphere! Where was I? Travelling? Not an excuse, thanks to iPhone and the Blackberry before it.
Thinking? Well, think out loud and share it with us then. Naah, I have been revelling in two critical aspects of human life which I have always tried to stay away from; Negotiation, and Human Relationships.
These two apparently contradictory but essentially complementary "disciplines" form the backbone of almost every serious interaction that we undertake; and I would be the first to admit that I have not only been traditionally weak in these two areas, but have downright avoided them whenever possible. Leave the fighting to others, leave the fretting to them too, just leave me alone in my room with some books and music, and a guitar of course, and I'm a happy man. For someone whose job often requires him to meet 5000 people a week, I am happiest when I have no human contact at all.
But the curiosity was always there -- I would pick up my camera and walk through crowded bazaars and rural settlements, and spend less time shooting and more time observing what makes people and relationships tick. How complex are our interactions as humans! For those of us used to a computer-driven WYSIWYG world, all these subliminal hints and innuendos are a pain. There is no one formula that can ensure success on this front, and anyone who claims to offer you the secret in a pill, bottle or self-help book is talking through his hat. When it comes to human relationships, there are no rules.
Somehow we keep trying to impose a sense of order into what we consider a chaotic universe, but perhaps we should be considering that it is our relationships that are random
and unpredictable in a universe that is a vast, organised system -- either way it's a paradox.
Guruji has often used the phrase "living the mystery of life" and that's the most fun way to go about it -- so much to learn and discover every day, so much to share and receive, so much food, so little time.... As for Negotiation, well I'm still working on it, reading up a bit --
it's a fascinating topic but guess it'll take a bit of time. Check
out a movie called The Negotiator feat. Kevin Spacey and Samuel
Jackson, it's awesome.
Thinking? Well, think out loud and share it with us then. Naah, I have been revelling in two critical aspects of human life which I have always tried to stay away from; Negotiation, and Human Relationships.
These two apparently contradictory but essentially complementary "disciplines" form the backbone of almost every serious interaction that we undertake; and I would be the first to admit that I have not only been traditionally weak in these two areas, but have downright avoided them whenever possible. Leave the fighting to others, leave the fretting to them too, just leave me alone in my room with some books and music, and a guitar of course, and I'm a happy man. For someone whose job often requires him to meet 5000 people a week, I am happiest when I have no human contact at all.
But the curiosity was always there -- I would pick up my camera and walk through crowded bazaars and rural settlements, and spend less time shooting and more time observing what makes people and relationships tick. How complex are our interactions as humans! For those of us used to a computer-driven WYSIWYG world, all these subliminal hints and innuendos are a pain. There is no one formula that can ensure success on this front, and anyone who claims to offer you the secret in a pill, bottle or self-help book is talking through his hat. When it comes to human relationships, there are no rules.
Somehow we keep trying to impose a sense of order into what we consider a chaotic universe, but perhaps we should be considering that it is our relationships that are random
and unpredictable in a universe that is a vast, organised system -- either way it's a paradox.
Guruji has often used the phrase "living the mystery of life" and that's the most fun way to go about it -- so much to learn and discover every day, so much to share and receive, so much food, so little time.... As for Negotiation, well I'm still working on it, reading up a bit --
it's a fascinating topic but guess it'll take a bit of time. Check
out a movie called The Negotiator feat. Kevin Spacey and Samuel
Jackson, it's awesome.
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