The Light Within!

Which is more important - Seva or Knowledge?

2010-02-09T08:49:00.000+05:30

Often we face dualities in life - one or the other - and it becomes seemingly difficult to choose because both are good options. Mind is divided because both are good choices; if any of them was a bad option, it would be a very simple decision.

Seva or Knowledge is one such choice. You have only limited time or some time restrictions - what to do?

Both are important! Neither can be skipped!

Without Seva, knowledge has no application. When you know something, your first impulse is to act on it. Without Action, without Seva, knowledge has no end. You will not get satisfaction.

Without knowledge, Seva will become dry. Whatever seva you do, if it does not help you reinforce the knowledge, then you will feel empty from within. You will feel sucked out of energy. Without knowledge, seva will become an effort and that will weigh you down.

Hence both are required! Both go hand-in-hand!

If you are unable to do both, means either you are not managing time properly or you are not being creative enough to find a solution.

For example, Swati has to maintain certain time at home and if she does both seva and knowledge session then she is practically unseen at home. One solution could be doing Seva with the group and listening to knowledge individually. Another could be Knowledge in a group and Seva individually. Both could be accomplished!

Jai Gurudev!

Acceptance - The Key of All Keys!

2010-02-05T22:04:00.000+05:30

If you study the Course Sutras carefully you will notice that there is a common thread amongst them all - and that is Acceptance!

Acceptance is at the heart of all the five sutras!

'Opposite values are complimentary' is nothing but accepting that life is full of opposites! Sometimes high, Sometimes low!

'Accept People and Situations as they are' is definetely about accepting whatever comes your way.

'Don't be a football of other people's opinions' is about accepting other's negative opinions about you and not getting pushed around by them.

'Don't see intention behind other people's mistakes' is all about accepting other people's mistakes.

AND

'Present moment is inevitable' is all about accepting the present moment as it is - whether pleasant or unpleasant!

All the five sutras are, in this perspective, off-shoots of the common underlying key in life - "ACCEPTANCE"!!

Jai Gurudev!

Sri Sri University Update!

2010-01-31T08:24:00.000+05:30

Dear One

Jai Gurudev

It is our great honour to share with you that the Sri Sri University is taking majestic strides towards its launch in the academic year 2010-11 in August this year.

In its inaugural year the following programs are being launched
1) Post graduate program for MBA in Agriculture
2) Undergraduate program for Bachelor of Science in Agriculture/Horticulture
3) Post Graduate certificate program in Osteopathy
4) Certificate program in Training for Ayurveda Therapy
5) Centre of Excellence in Vocational Training for rural youth

-All the above are handpicked based on a number of wide ranging criteria. There is a robust plan to launch programs in medicine,engineering,management, vedic sciences, governance & law etc in the coming years

-For the programs being launched this year, subject matter experts have begun to craft the curriculum. We have also begun filling key positions with best in class talent.

-A leading architectural firm has been identified to conceptualise the master plan for the grand SSU grounds. Construction is 85 % complete for the facilities required for the programs this year

All these efforts are getting further catalysed by the upcoming 4 day Orissa state visit by Gurudev starting on 30th of Jan.

This is a mammoth project and huge work still needs to be done to ensure that Sri Sri University becomes a truly world class university!

Your active engagement and involvement is critical to the success of this project. You have been a great supporter until now and we are confident of it in the times to come too

You can participate by,
- recommending professors/faculty/experts for the courses being launched this year
- raising funds, identifying grants , looking for support in kind ( eg computers)
- offering your time on a sabbatical /permanent basis towards the set up/as a lecturer/as a domain expert etc
- any other ideas/information/advice/suggestions

Write to us about your interest and we will share more details with you. Whatever you can do and how much ever you can do, is important and significant. So join in right away

Look forward to hearing from you

Let us create History together!

Please share and contribute by sending me an email @ pcrathi@gmail.com

Jai Gurudev!

Piyush

Everything is Possible!!

2010-01-28T22:11:00.001+05:30

Here's a Guru Story that's been one of my favorites.

This was a few years back, at a time when I used to frequent Bau's residence @ Parsi Colony every few days. I used to land up in the evening and all the old timers (Upasana, JD, Anjana, Nihar, Rashmin, Manisha, etc) used to be hanging out there.

Once I was there and at 12 midnight, Bau had a sudden urge to eat Shrikhand. Me and Hetang very eagerly ran down to the nearest shop and came back empty handed in 10 mins. Seeing us return so soon was enough for Bau to use his discretionary veto powers. He simply asked us to go search again and not come back until we had Shrikhand in our hands! With a big sigh, and an even bigger sleepy look, we headed out to King's Circle to search for our sleep-saviour - the Shrikhand!

We searched and searched and searched and kept searching for at least a couple of hours. With Bau, Failure was simply not an option! We simply dreaded returning home without being successful!

We asked every person on the road about the clue as to where we could find Shrikhand at this late hour in the night! Driving from one place to another, we kept our eyes wide open to see if there was any dairy shop open at all!

We came across at least three dairy shops which had milk in them but no Shrikhand. The search continued....

Finally, to our surprise (pleasant one that is), we happened to cross a half open shutter in Dharavi! I suddenly put the brakes on and the car came to a screeching halt. We looked back and saw that it was indeed a dairy shop. We drove back and asked the shopkeeper if he stocked any shrikhand. Much to our delight he said "YES"! We screamed a big "Yeee!!!" and felt a big lift in energy!

We couldn't contain our excitement and bought two packs of Shrikhand and rushed home. We felt we had climbed mount everest and felt completely on top of the world!

I realized four things in the process:
1. With Patience & Perseverance, Everything is possible!
2. Overcoming a challenge brings enormous energy and confidence!
3. When Failure is not an option, you end up finding ways to become successful!
4. When you have a task at hand, all inhibitions break and you break out of your self-limiting boundaries!

The anti-climax to this episode however, was that Bau, had gone off to sleep by the time we reached home with the Shrikhand!

We did feel a bit disappointed, but, the lessons were learnt nevertheless!!

BATIQ (Beautiful Answers To Interesting Questions) Part 2

2010-01-26T13:23:00.000+05:30

Q: Can we chant sanskrit mantras without knowing their meanings?
A: Yes, something is better than nothing. Initially one uses mantras, then one progresses to meditation, kriya etc. Ultimately, one needs only silence to realize the divine.

Q: How does God appear?
A: How does the sun rise? Have you seen a sun rise? No? Then you must get up early & see how the sun rises. The universe is a complex thing, full of mysteries...

Q: There are people who are in the wrong path. How can we change them?
A: If you want to change them because you get hurt, you cannot change them. If you want to change them because they will get hurt, they will change automatically. (Thunderous applause that kept resonating for a long long time. People were lifted straight to the heaven with his reply)

Q: If God resides inside our hearts why should we go to the temples?
A: When God resides in your heart you can take God along with you and show him the outside world including the temples. There existed a practice of sitting in the temple for some time after the darshan. This is mainly to close ones' eyes and spend time with the Lord inside.

Q. What does one do when spirituality starts disturbing your social life?
A. Spirituality can never disturb social life, it is a matter of managing your time skilfully.

Divine Wit & Humour - Part 2

2010-01-22T07:49:00.003+05:30

Q: You are so full of knowledge that is equivalent to gold.
Where does it come from?
A: I have a mine with me.

Q: Have you ever had a question that you didn't have the answer to?
A: Yes, this question! (Laughter)

Q: I keep forgetting you. What should I do?
A: See when ever you know you have forgotten me, you are reminded of me and that's good (Laughter)

Q: Guruji who are you? Mahatma or God?
A: I am your servant. You make me run for all your small small works. (Laughter)

Q. Guruji kya aapke man mein hamara hridaya hai?
A. Sirf man mein hi nahin tum poore ho mujhme! Ab agar tum apna man kahin aur rakh aaye ho to alag baat hai (Laughter)

Q. Guruji main apne Aham (ego) ka kya karun?
A. Kuch mat karo usko apne paas rakho , wo meri hai. kyunki agar aham ko chod doge to aham chodne ka aham ho jayega (Laughter)

Q. Guruji do u have any worries?
A. Do I look like worried man to u?(Laughter) My only worry is that you should not worry.

Q. I want u to be forever with me
A. There is no choice for you !!!

Q. Guruji I want to get God
A. Do u have nothing else to get? (laughter). Good to have this thought- how much u want - how intensely u want God which matters.

Having fun with your Guru?

Rishi Vidyadhar Ji - A Rishi and Disciple in Letter & Spirit!

2010-01-20T07:46:00.000+05:30

I have been wanting to put up this blog for quite a while now and now seems to be the perfect moment - I just completed an Advanced Course with Rishi Vidyadhar Ji on Sunday and what an amazing experience it was!

Rishi Ji is simply fabulous! I used hear about him from an old friend and teacher, Bhavesh, when the latter used to work with us in Thane. Bhavesh used to share experiences of advanced courses with the erstwhile Raju Bhaiya (now Rishi Ji of course) and how superb he was. I used to be in awe but never got (rather took! - disempowered speech you see!) an opportunity to be with him on an advanced course.

Finally the opportune moment came when Rishi travelled to Mulund and conducted the advanced course in the Gurudwara hall. Knowledge was simply flowing (it was no wonder having done 361 advanced courses at the time of this post) - What deep insight this person had into life - all of course he contributed to Guruji!

I had then vowed that I will keep repeating courses with him regularly so that I could keep learning lots of newer stuff from him. I kept my promise and recently completed an advanced course with him in Kalyan. Some tidbits from him during the course (Remember though, this is only a sample and you need to be with him to experience his divine presence) -

Om Namah Shivaya chanting is very powerful - (not the 108 one, the prolonged one which is available on a CD in divine shop) - Om Namah Shivaya chanting has the power to nullify karma dosh and vastu dosh! It reinforced what Guruji had said when he came home. We told him about some vastu abnormalities in the house & asked what to do and he said "kuch zaroorat nahi, roz om nimah shivaya chanting karo, sab theek ho jayega"
Mind's tendency is to become obsessed then possessed. We want to get something in a hurry, we become obsessed by it and then when we acquire it, we become possessive about it
Leaders first participate and then contribute; this is a key attribute of leaders; participation is the first step towards effective leadership and then second step is contribution
MBA = mujhe bohut aata hai :-)
All of us must memorize all the 365 knowledge sheets given by Guruji! (I have started on that path now.. hope to accomplish by March!)
One who has 50 desires in a day = Bhogi ; One who has 1 desire in 50 days = Yogi ; One who has no desires = Bhakt ; One who works to fulfill other people's desire = Bhagwan (example Guruji) ; Which category are you in?
Guru se maangna hai to teen cheeze mango - Aseem Bhakti (infinite devotion), atoot shraddha (Unbreakable Faith) and Moksha (Liberation)
To keep mind in present moment 24 hrs, devote 10% of time in sadhana i.e. 2.5 hrs every day
Mind's tendency is to keep accumulating (sangraha karna) - we keep accumulating objects, peoples and situations - this is a great fallacy
We face exactly 10 negative emotions not more not less and these are the 10 heads of Ravana - Anger, Regret, Fear, Hatred, Jealousy, Greed, Lust, Lethargy, Moha and Ahankar; The first eight can be experienced within our body at different chakras; the last two are very subtle

I remember, the first advance course I did with him he had said something very profound - Comparison is the root cause of our misery! All the problems in life are because of comparison. Let me elaborate what he said -

Anger is nothing but comparison of current event with past event
Regret is nothing but comparison of our existing actions with our past actions
Fear is nothing but comparison of current event with future event
Hatred is nothing but comparison of someone's current actions with his/her past actions
Jealousy is nothing but comparison of what we have with what another person has
Greed is nothing but comparison of what we have currently and what we want in the future

Superb na??

That's why he is a Rishi - A river of knowledge!! Gyan Ganga!! A disciple in the truest sense - a thorough disciplinarian - lives by Guru's words - lives the knowledge!

Do take the first opportunity to be with him on an upcoming advance course!

Our Biggest Motivators!

2010-01-18T19:46:00.006+05:30

Some wonderful things Guruji said that I loved and thought are really relevant to all of us. One is on changing habits and the other is on Seva. Enjoy!

Q. What is the secret to having a strong will power? Please tell me as I have so many bad habits that I would like to change about myself.

Sri Sri: Now, three things can help you to get over bad habits. 1. Love- If you love somebody or something, then promise them for their sake that you will continue the good habits. 2. Fear - When there is a fear that this bad habit is going to bring great problems to me, then you will get out of it. 3. Greed - If someone tells you that by leaving this bad habit, you will get a million dollars, you would not do that (the bad habit), you want a million dollars in your pocket. If someone tells you, don’t drink or smoke for the next one week, then you will be entitled to one million dollars. Will you smoke, will you drink? No ways! If someone tells you that you will get 10 million dollars or 10 million euros if you don’t smoke for one month or 30 days, they will say, ‘Why only 30 days? I will not smoke for 35 days. I am sure of the number of days, as I want to be sure. Not 29 days. Some months are only 30, some are 31, so let me do for the maximum of 35 days’. Because you know, when you value some thing much more than the habit and you know that you are going to get that, then the habit will drop out of it. So through love, fear or greed you will stop doing it. You know, promiscuity has reduced to a great extent because of the fear of AIDS. After the dreadful disease of AIDS started appearing, then promiscuity came down to a great extent. So similarly, commitment to a higher cause can help you get over small little attractions.

Q. Dearest Guruji, I am so fortunate to be on a path like this with you. I want more people to get this experience and be more happy by living in the knowledge and practicing the technique. But some people are not willing to be approached nor understand when I would like to share. So how to speed this to the people who are in need? Maybe their time has just not come.

Sri Sri: No, no don’t think their time has not come. You keep doing your work. You keep telling, you don’t have to push everybody but gently you have to facilitate people to get into the knowledge. Yes, this is necessary.

Of all things three are really the strongest motivators for any act that we do - Love, Fear and Greed! I looked at this answer from Guruji and looked back at myself and found it to be true. Either we something because we really love some person, situation or things; OR we do it out of fear of something we don't want to happen; OR because we are obsessed about Name, Fame, Money, etc and want to get there in a hurry (Greed)!

Funny part is this keeps happening hundreds of times every day - all we need to do is become aware of it!

For example, writing this blog could have been motivated by any of the following -

a. i want to add value to your life and bring you the latest knowledge from Guruji and latest insights from my experiences OR

b. i fear that you will stop following the blog hence put a post OR

c. i want more followers hence keep updating the blog regularly so that you keep coming back and invite your friends

It could also be combination of the three and one factor being more dominant than the others.

So, here's an exercise - for an entire day observe your actions and why you are motivated to do it - you'll find a great secret of how to change your bad habits!

Lots of Love!

P.S. I would love to see some of your comments on your learnings & implementations from the exercise

Guruji's message for 2010!

2010-01-08T20:59:00.004+05:30

I simply loved Guruji's message for 2010 and showed the 11 min clip to everone I could get hold of! A superb clip on what Guruji expects from us in this year! Every time I watch this video I get inspired to do Seva! Here's the link -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP25u1nuMyQ

He said more satsang and seva are the ways to reduce misery. He also said that billions of people are out there who are like insomnia patients - who are tired and restless but don't know how to rest! We are fortunate to have this knowledge with us and all we need to do is close our eyes to become peaceful and happy!

This is where our intervention is needed - to reach out to as many people as we can! Let's commit to seva and satsang first and then to everything else in our life this year!

Jai Gurudev!

New Year Resolution - Keep Your House Neat & Clean!

2009-12-31T07:42:00.006+05:30

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!!

2009-12-29T07:49:00.010+05:30

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!!

2009-12-26T10:13:00.007+05:30

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!

2009-12-20T08:42:00.000+05:30

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

2009-12-13T09:42:00.000+05:30

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.

Enlightenment is a Joke!

2009-11-20T10:21:00.004+05:30

(I will be soon bringing to you some very unique unpublished talks of Guruji... These are not in the public domain ... so Watch out and coming back for more!!)

Enlightenment is a joke! - A Talk by Sri Sri Ravishankar

Seekers on the spiritual path are curious to know about Enlightenment. What is Enlightenment? I say, ''Enlightenment is like a joke!'' It is like a fish in the ocean searching for the ocean.

Once upon a time, there was a congregation of fish, who got together to discuss who among them had seen the ocean. None of them could say they had actually seen the ocean. Then one fish said, ''I think my great grandfather had seen the ocean!'' A second fish said, ''Yes, yes, I have also heard about this.'' A third fish said, ''Yes, certainly, his great grandfather had seen the ocean.''

So they built a huge temple and made a statue of the great grandfather of that particular fish! They said, ''He had seen the ocean. He had been connected with
the ocean.''

Enlightenment is the very core of our being; going to the core of our self and living our life from there.

We all came into this world gifted with innocence, but gradually, as we became more intelligent, we lost our innocence. We were born with silence and as we grew up, we lost the silence and were filled with words. We lived in our hearts and as time passed, we moved into our heads.

Now the reversal of this journey is enlightenment. It is the journey from the head back to the heart, from words back to silence; getting back to our innocence in spite of our intelligence. Although very simple, this is a great achievement.

Knowledge should lead you to that beautiful point of ''I don't know.'' The purpose of knowledge is ignorance!

The completion of knowledge will lead you to amazement and wonder. It makes you aware of this existence. Mysteries are to be lived, not understood. One can
live life as fully in its completeness, in its totality.

Enlightenment is that state of being mature and unshakeable under any circumstances. Come what may, nothing can rob the smile from your heart. Going beyond the limited boundaries, and feeling ''all that exists in this universe belongs to me,'' is
enlightenment.

Unenlightenment is easy to define. It is limiting yourself by saying, ''I belong to this particular place'', ''I am from that culture'' or ''I belong to this religion''.

It is like children saying, ''My dad is better than your dad,'' or ''My toy is better than your toy.'' I think most people around the world are stuck in that
mental age group, just the toys have changed. Adults say, ''My country is better than your country'' or ''my religion is better than your religion.''

A Christian will say, ''The Bible is truth,'' and a Hindu will say, ''The Vedas are the truth. They are very ancient.'' Muslims will say, ''The Koran is the last word of God.'' We attribute glory to something just because we are from that culture, not for what it is.

If one could take credit for all that exists throughout the ages and feel as though ''It belongs to me,'' then, that is maturity. ''This is my wealth because I belong to the divine.''

The Divine, according to time and space, gave different knowledge in different places. One becomes the knower of the whole universe and can say ''all the beautiful flowers are from my garden.''

The whole evolution of man is from being somebody to being nobody, and from being nobody to being everybody.

Have you observed that young children have that sense of belonging that oneness, that innocence? As we grew up we lost that innocence and became more cunning. The innocence of an ignorant man has no value, and the cunningness of an intelligent man also has no value.

Enlightenment is a rare combination of innocence and intelligence, having words for expression and, at the same time, being very silent. In that state, the mind is fully in the present moment. Whatever is necessary is revealed to you in such a natural and spontaneous way, you just sit and the song of the nature flows through you.

Divine Wit & Humour - Part 1

2009-11-17T02:34:00.004+05:30

Q. How do we react with adults when we can see their double standards?
G. You police them. (laughter)

Q. I look for love in many strangers but still am lonely. What can I do?
G. Loneliness can produce creativity. Write novels, love songs. You don’t have to read Mills and Boons! (laughter) Meditate and then you will feel that loneliness has gone. Go like a lion or lioness and contribute to others friendship instead of wanting.

Q. What should I use in my career? Heart or brain?
A. Brain. Use the heart for hobbies.

Q. As a teenager, can I make a difference? How?
A. Keep up the enthusiasm. Don’t fall prey to others efforts to pull you down.

Q. Do we need a Guru at our age??
A. You are trapped asking this question. Why did the question come up? Whenever there is a question, a Guru is needed. He answers for a while and then takes away the question.

Q. What is GOD?
A. Generator, Operator and Destroyer. Some power that creates, destroys and dissolves.

Q. My long term memory deserts me. What to do?
A. What was that..??? (laughter)

Q. Why do you have two Sri Sris before your name?
A. Because three is too much. (more laughter)

Q. I feel depressed. Life seems like not worth living. What should I do?
A. I am here. I need you. You do my work. That’s it! Become like me. Keep smiling come what may.

Q. Is there life after death?
A. You won’t miss it. I promise. Keep some suspense otherwise you will get bored afterwards. (more laughter)

Q. How should I select my life partner?
A. No experience. I am still trying to figure that out!! (total laughter)

Q. What is the purpose of life?
A. Make a list of what is not. When you come to the last thing, you will get it!

Q. The concept of stress relieving is adding to the stress. So why to do it?
A. Is it so? Then stress has not reached its peak.

Q. There are so many corrupt politicians. What is AOL doing about it?
A. Waiting for you to grow up and become honest politicians.

Q. Why do bad things happen to good people?
A. Because they are being foolish. No bad things can happen to you. If you sow neem, neem tree will grow, and if you sow mango, mango will grow. If bad things happen due to some past mistakes, you help them.

Q. How can the AOL course help in AIDS, Cancer?
A. There are lots of studies and cases of improvements. The immune system goes up. Wait and see.

Q. Why don’t you get angry?
A. I try to, nobody believes me.!!! (That brought the whole house down with laughter!!)

Rendezvous with Sanskrit!

2009-11-14T23:34:00.001+05:30

I know the title is quite cheesy and if Simi Garewal were to read it she would sue me for copyright!!

Nevertheless, I must tell you how this beautiful language has enchanted me for such a long time!

Now that I think of it, I find it very strange that I chose French over Sanskrit in my high school days for a third language. The thinking then of course was that as an international traveller, learning an international language will be of great use and help me fast become a global citizen!

Little did I know then, that the language, which I had sidelined in ignorance, was in fact more international than any other language I could've ever imagined ... that in fact it contained within itself the roots of several languages ... that in fact it was the mother of ALL languages!

Did You Know -

That Sanskrit is the mother of all the Indo-European languages including Greek, Latin and English?

That the word Human was in fact derived from the word Aum?

That Inter and Interior have been derived from Antar?

That the Latin word Octo and the German word Acht have been derived from Ashta meaning eight?

That the words Band, Bandage, Bind have been derived from Bandh meaning lock?

Another interesting example is the Latin word Frater & English word Brother - both have been derived from Bhraatra meaning brother, fraternity - If you pronounce Bhraatra, you can slowly arrive at Brother - its easy to see that their mispronounciation over a period of several years helped evolve the latter word!

There are thousands of such examples! The list is endless!

Also interestingly enough, some of the most modern scientists in the high-tech field of computers, have discovered that Sanskrit is the best language for the latest generation of Artificial Intelligence machine-systems. It has the most perfect syntax amongst all languages and scientists view it as the perfect programming language as well!

I found that the best part about Sanskrit is, that the entire language is root based which not only helps you construct new words & concepts easily but also deconstruct existing words & concepts effortlessly. I have observed (and it resonates with anyone who has the remotest idea of mantras) that the more we are familiar to a sanskrit word, the sooner it reveals its meaning to us! When I was learning Guru Pooja, a significant part of the meaning was understood by me simply because I knew several roots and another significant part revealed itself to me as I kept chanting it everyday!

Its high time we paid homage to our great heritage and devoted some of our time to studying the most beautiful language of all times!!

The following are some good places to begin with (that is, if you have not already):

http://www.gosai.com/science/sanskrit-enlightenment.html

http://www.iimb.ernet.in/~mahadev/samskrit_why.pdf

http://www.hinduwisdom.info/Sanskrit.htm

Vande Samskritam!
Vande Mataram!

Coorg - Cool, Refreshing & Full of Grace!

2009-11-08T23:45:00.012+05:30

Guys,

We had a blast in Coorg! How the 6 days zoomed by is still a mystery to both of us!!

We bring you the latest updates from Coorg...

The trip it seems was full of -

Sight Seeing... and...

Sight Seeing...... and...

Loads of Chess... and...

Loads of Chess...... and...

Excellent Room Service from Club Mahindra folks!

An excellent Ayurveda Center found us visting quite often and in the process we ended up meeting Vineeth!

Vineeth was my therapist and during Shirodhara ended up burning my forehead with extra hot oil! Worried that we would complain & that he would be severely reprimanded, he prayed with intensity to Guruji.. only later relieved to find out that we were devotees! When we got talking, he confided to me that seeing our cool behaviour to the incident, he knew that we were from the Art of Living!

We chatted on and soon found out that Vineeth had been an Ashramite for five years and had worked as a therapist in the Panchakarma center for all those years. His aunt is suffering from Cancer and to help support her, he had to shift to Coorg. He has now been working at Club Mahindra for a little more than one year.

A little more probing and we soon found out that his aunt is none other than our very own Girija, the lady doctor who works in the ashram emergency clinic. It was simply amazing to find out that she has survived Cancer for more than three years when doctors had written her off with a year max! Two Sudarshan Kriyas daily, Ayurvedic medicines and tons of Guruji's blessings had done it's magic yet again...

It was blessing indeed to be reminded of Guru's Grace even in a seemingly unconnected holiday of ours!

Jai Gurudev!

Focus & Relaxed!

2009-11-08T22:59:00.005+05:30

You know i used to watch so many in AOl put a big round chandan tika on their forehead and then put a smaller red Kumkum dot within that bigger round chandan tika. I am sure you must have noticed it too.. I too do it sometimes... it actually feels and looks great!

For months I wondered what does it signify.. And finally the answer came...

Do you want to guess what it stands for?

Ok... let me begin... the yellow chandan tika is a symbol of relaxation.. and ....

you guessed it right... the red kumkum dot within it is a symbol of focus...

Thus when you put both together, you are focused and relaxed at the same time!

Cool na??

What's in a Name?

2009-11-02T08:52:00.004+05:30

II Shree Ganeshaya Namaha II

Guys, this is my first post!

So here goes....

First things first! You must be wondering how this blog came about and I am sure the Title must have intrigued you ...

Well it just happened within a matter of few seconds I would say... Yesterday we had the last day of my first course as a co-teacher and we had 500+ YES+ participants gather at our Vashind Ashram site. That experience itself deserves a post... maybe soon. As we were leaving the venue to come back to Thane and one of the volunteers just handed me a card which had several blog addresses printed on it - Bau and Dinesh da's, Saleel da's, Virat & Vasudha's, and Dipti Unny's. And one of my course participants innocently asked me - "Bhaiya, which one is yours?" For a moment, I hesitated, not knowing how to answer the question, not knowing why I hadn't started a blog so far. That moment the blog got created in my mind first and this morning into being!

Creating a blog was so simple, hardly a two minute job. While registering, I was asked to enter the Title of the Blog. I had not thought of anything until then and suddenly something came up "The Light Within".. and the moment I recited it to myself, I felt an immediate connect with it and decided this was it!

Interestingly, the web address has more than one pun in it -
dlitewithin is not just about "the light within", its also about "delight within" and "feeling lite within" - all of which is possible through Guru's Grace and Sudarshan Kriya!

I hope you enjoy this place and seek the light within!

Jai Gurudev!