New Year Resolution - Keep Your House Neat & Clean!

This is a Guru Story narrated by Guruji himself:

Guruji:

You know what happened when we were coming to Surat* from Mumbai in train for Mahasatsang. There were two ladies in the same train as we. They were longing to meet me.. They couldn't meet me in Mumbai and thought it would be almost impossible to meet in Surat.

Few devotees where scheduled to meet me at Valsad station. Before we could finish the train started. Me and Rishi Nityaprogya ji (Nitin Bhaiya) ran and jumped into one of the bogies. It was a ladies coach [Huge laughter]. The two ladies were sitting in the same bogie. They started crying like anything after seeing me. Then I sat with them for half an hour and spoke to them. Longing always increases but never gets completed. Love increases but never completes. During my agyatwas*, I asked our driver, to drive the car in some remote village. I asked him to take left and right, here and there. Then I asked him to stop in front of a small house. It was a farmer’s house. Once I entered the house, everybody saw me. The whole family was so happy to see me. The farmer said he wanted to see me since such a long time but never knew how to reach me. Then I also visited a few farmers near by, they also wanted to meet me since long but would never get a chance due to their duties and work. I spent some time talking to them. They all became very happy. So you never know when I'll go where. I can come anywhere, anytime.

So Keep your House Neat and Clean & Keep Longing for him....You never know when Guruji will turn up there!!

Read Bhagvad Gita till Jan 31st!!

So here are a few things which Guruji said in Jalna:

• Sankalpa - Clean your slate (mind) and put a sankalpa in it, it has to get siddh (manifest)

• Gyan, Gaan aur Dhyan karo - Is se Karmfal ki siddhi hoti hai

• Sanskrit padhne se, ganit (Maths) aur computer science ki vruddhi hoti hai - that's why india has been ahead In maths; scientists have researched and found out that by reading and writing sanskrit, neurolinguistic skills develop quite fast

• If you ask a Christian, he will have read the Bible. If you ask a Muslim, he will have read the Quran. Then Guruji asked how many of us had read the Bhagvad Gita and very few hands went up. Guruji then asked how many had not read the Bhagvad Gita and almost 80% of the hands went up. He asked each and every one of us to read the Bhagvad Gita once before Jan 31st 2010.

• You do my work, I'll do your work; give me all your botherations

• B R Ambedkar after 15 years of our independence proposed Sanskrit as the national language and Nasruddin Ahmed seconded it. Very few people know about this.

• Every employer should incorporate the habit of M&M - Meals and Meditation.

• 10% of money into Seva/Charity purifies money.

• Ghee se Anna ki Shuddi hoti hai,   Daan se Dhan ki shuddi hoti hai, Gyaan se Bhuddi ki shuddi hoti hai,  Dhyaan se Man ki shuddi hoti hai, Ayurveda se Tan ki shuddi hoti hai

• Ghee purifies the Food,
  Charity purifies the Wealth,
  Knowledge purifies the Intellect,
  Meditation purifies the Mind,
  Ayurveda purifies the Body
  

Every one must have one spoon of Ghee every day and read Bhagvad Gita till Jan 31st!

Best Moment of my Life!!

Something totally unbelievable happened to me during the last week which will be etched in my memory for lifetimes! The two days I spent in Jalna with Guruji will be the two most memorable days of my life!

Going to Jalna itself was a question mark for me...I was contemplating between going to Jalna, following Guruji for two days and doing an advance course on the other hand... How foolish of me to even think of it as a choice..... Thankfully for me, common sense prevailed and I chose to be in Jalna!

We reached Jalna on 22nd morning, checked in, took shower, did kriya and went straight to my cousin's place whose home was supposed to be Guruji's hangout in Jalna.

I went along with the team who went to pick up Guruji from the Helipad at 1pm. As soon as he landed and got out of the chopper he met all the devotees who had come to receive him (me included). I simply bowed down and Guruji gave ashirwad. After meeting all he got into the car and headed to my cousin's place.

He had lunch, took rest and went for Shetkari Melava (Farmer's Meet) in the afternoon at 4. In the evening there was satsang at 6.30 where at least 30,000 people gathered to see him in action. Being in his convoy I got entry to the stage and got to be there for the entire satsang.

The entire day I was doing dwaarpal duty (door guard) as well to his room and was lot of responsibility and fun as well.

Next day on 23rd December, apart from the regular duty we got to meet him leisurely after lunch. I hugged him twice and of course bowed down and offered pranams at his feet. I shared with him the fact that a hundred plus of our company people were doing advance course simultaneously and he seemed pleased about that. We told him about the baby and he remarked - "You have a very good baby".

Come afternoon time around 4, I got to know that one seat on the flight from Aurangabad to Mumbai was vacant. All favored me going on that flight (Divya, Ma, Pa, Radhu and others included) so I happily agreed.

The convoy of cars travelled along with Guruji from Jalna to Aurangabad where he had a couple of stops at devotees' homes.

Me and the troupe which was supposed to fly with him to Mumbai, took off straight to the airport to check in and waited for him to arrive.

It was a fun wait for an hour and a half. He finally arrived and his asana came first with Mahesh Giri Ji. He came over to me and asked me to fold it.... :-)

You can imagine the smile on my face... I obliged and took Guruji's asana with both hands and gently and carefully folded it away. I held it in my hands until Guruji arrived inside the waiting hall and handed it to Girin Bhaiya when Guruji indicated he wanted to sit. As Guruji sat down, after greeting others his eyes finally landed upon me and asked me how I was, addressing me as a Prince. I replied in affirmative, shared that I was feeling great and bowed down to receive his blessings again.

The wait for the aircraft to take off and the walk to the aircraft was certainly eventful... (You'll have to listen to it from me in person).

When we landed in Mumbai, Guruji went off to meet the entire crowd who had gathered outside to meet him. He then took off to a devotee's home where he rested until his early morning flight to Frankfurt. I reached the devotee's home and met him again.

Listening to him and watching him in Action during these two days was most delightful and satisfying! Here was a man who tirelessly walked and talked without resting and least caring about his own comforts - his single most thought in each and every moment was - "What can do for others? How can I contribute?" - Always helping people come out of their small minds into the big mind -

Wow! I was filled with gratitude and tears at the same time, over and over again on several ocassions during these two days! What a Guru I have!! I was amongst the few fortunate souls on this planet to have a living Guru - was able to watch him live life selflessly and effortlessly!!! Wow! Wow! Wow!..... I could go on until eternity in amazement!

The best moment of my life came when he was about to leave the devotee's home for the airport and as he coming out from a door, he saw me as I stood waiting for him with my hands folded in pranam and came over to me and said "Ha.... abhi tak gaye nahi tum, Piyush?" I smiled and hugged him - he had fulfilled a long long awaited wish!

Having been in AOL for such a long time, I had always experienced miracles in my life and always felt connected to Guruji; I knew Guruji was taking care of me all the time although he didn't know me in the physical form.

But, alas he had fulfilled a long awaited wish!

What a wonderful feeling it was to know, that the Divine knew me personally now and even remembered my earthly name!!!

Jai Gurudev!

Follow Your Guru!

Dear Ones,

These are some websites which can help you follow Guruji, his words, his actions, his smile, his presence.... everything!

www.wisdomfromsrisri.blogspot.com - Subscribe to this blog to know what Guruji has said recently at satsangs and public gatherings

www.twitter.com/srisriontour - Where is Guruji Right Now? What is he up to?

www.youtube.com/artoflivingtv - Watch more than 800 videos posted there! Guruji's talks, seva project updates and many more things!

Recently Guruji was in Melbourne and here is a guy who made this website and uploaded tons of pics taken during his visit -

http://rick.evertsz.name/melbourne2009/index.html

Jai Gurudev!

P.S. You can also follow me on twitter to get the latest updates on www.twitter.com/joshmeyosh

:-)

BATIQ (Beautiful Answers To Interesting Questions) Part 1

Beautiful Answers To Interesting Questions (BATIQ) is going to be a series and this is Part 1. Here I have collated some beautiful Q & A s from Guruji's talks in December 2009. Enjoy! -

Q: Can charity grant liberation?

Guruji: Charity purifies Wealth. Ghee purifies the Food. Knowledge purifies the Intellect. Bhajan purifies the Mind & Service purifies the Actions.


Q: Tell us something about ‘nadi shodan’ (alternate nostril) pranayama.

Guruji: There are 1,82,000 nadis/ energy channels in our body. When we breathe, these are activated and that is why we are alive. When we breathe through the left nostril, certain nadis are functioning and others function when we breathe through the right nostril. So when we alternate the breath through the nostrils, certain changes happen in the body and in our system. Our system gets purified. Fresh energy moves in the system and the stress is eliminated. The left nostril activates the functioning of the right brain and vice versa. So when we alternate our breathing, all the brain waves get synchronized. Biochemical changes happen in the body. The Endocrine glands function better and any imbalance in body is rooted out. There are many benefits of pranayama.

Q: They say cats are fiercer than tiger. I am relating this to women. Women nowadays are not open to accept men’s opinion. I am concerned about the male species.

Guruji: You mean we should start men empowering seminar. (Laughter). Perhaps!!

Q: Guruji, if souls are immortal does that mean there are finite number of souls on the planet?

Guruji: Have you seen that signboard for advertisements? So many lights are there on it but not all are lit at one time. At some time some patterns of lights are there on board and at some other time some other patterns. Same is with the souls. It all depends on what souls are exhibited at one time.

Q: What are the three most important values? (Asked in a Youth Forum in Melbourne)

Guruji: You want to limit it to three?!
A sense of belongingness with the whole world. You have to take this stand, feel that you are part of the whole world and all are part of you.
Commitment to whatever you take up, and an integrity inside of you which says you are going to see your commitments through.
The third value is living in the present moment, not holding onto the past and getting into trouble in your own mind. Do you know how many problems we can create for others when we hold onto the past?

Q: How does a youth handle the ups and downs of life?

Guruji: I am a youth myself! Life is a mixture of everything: failure & success - they complement each other. If you fail, then you know the value of success, it is a stepping stone.
You need to move forward: ask yourself, what did I learn from the past, and then what is my vision for the future? This will keep you going. For this, you need presence of mind, and for this, you need to get rid of stress.
You are the player, not the pawn. If you are a pawn, someone else is moving you, and you have no control. You have to be the player, empower yourself, and that’s how these Art of Living programs can help you.

Q: How do I do charity?

Guruji: Three quarters can be given to your children, and one quarter to the child next door. Your first duty is to feed your children. As they say, there is enough for the need of the world today, but not enough for one’s greed.
Our centre in Bangalore is surrounded by villages. Unless the villages are kept clean, we cannot keep the centre clean and pure. So I said we need to build individual toilets for each family, and help to clean up the villages. Our center administration said we are always short of rooms in our center, we should build rooms in our centre rather than spend resources on cleaning the surrounding villages. And I said, the number of rooms will never be enough, the number of people visiting our center is always growing. We cannot wait for our needs to be fulfilled, and then one day start working in the village.
You cannot wait until all the needs of your family are met, and then do service. It has to be simultaneous.

Q: Can the common man attain spirituality?

Guruji: Only the common man can attain spirituality! If someone thinks they are very special, they cannot!

Q: I have started schools across the world. Please bless me.

Guruji: Very good. Make Sanskrit compulsory in your schools.A few days ago it was in the newspaper that three schools in the UK have made Sanskrit compulsory as a subject. After so much research it has been found that studying Sanskrit brings brilliance and once learnt, it is very easy to learn any other language. Studying the Devnagri script is very good for the brain.