With my Master!( Guru Story)

Jai Guru Dev !
Today i'm in a mood to share one of my experience with my Beloved Gurudev!It was during my SSY TTC Phase l(Oct- Nov 2007)...The course itself was very special in many respects ..it started with the physical presence and blessings of my Master,H H Sri Sri Ravisankarji.The first session of the TTC started at Yagyasala with Gurupooja , performed by Bhanu Ma, Guruji's Sister.. we were all sitting with our eyes closed doing Manasa pooja and when the Gurupooja was over , we 're asked to open our eyes .. when we opened our eyes what we saw was beyond words!!Instead of Guruji's photo, Guruji Himself was sitting in the Asana!!For few minutes there was pin drop silence...Tears of Gratitude was flowing from my eyes for few minutes perhapes I was in some other world soaked in pure love and bliss of that experience.... The other bonus blessings for us, the course participants were Guruji delivered a full commentary on Patanjaly Yoga Sutra to us !! The Divine Himself was explaining the Sutras to us !!!

The real story starts now. After the course I had to stay at ashram for one more day as my ticket was booked for the Night Train of the Next day.( I think its been planned by the Divine... )The very next day was Chotti Diwali (the day before Diwali) . I was bit sad as I could not be able to attend the Diwali Satsang with Gurudev.
On Chotti Diwali day morning, after my Sadhana at Sumeru Mandap , I was going to Kitchen for breakfast …on my way I had changed my mind and went to Radha Kund n from there Ved Vidyapeedh. It was around 9.30 AM. Yasoda Ma n some kids were putting Rangoli in the entrance, me too joined them. From YasodaMa I came to know that Guruji is coming there for Pooja @ 11 AM !My mind was bubbling with Joy as HE is giving me one more chance to meet HIM before leaving Ashram!
I could see the (Lakshmi) pooja going on in the yagyasala..a few minutes later somebody told me that I can also sit there for the pooja …!!After sometimes, BhanuMa and family, a few Trustees of AOL Foundation joined the Pooja. My small mind started working as very few people were there and all of them are very much close to Gurudev , is it ok to sit there ,like that ...so many thoughts ! Breaking my thoughts BhanuMa gave a piece of Jasmine garland to me and asked me to put on my hair. By 11.15 Guruji reached there with Swami Sathyojadhahji and Girin ji , and performed the Pooja. (I still can’t believe that I was fortunate enough to sit with HIM to attend a pooja like this! ) After the Pooja , Guruji blessed us all (& got a chance for Charan sparsh of Gurudev’s Lotus Feets).

From there Guruji went to the Hall where idols of Devi -Devthas were kept. We all accompanied Gurudev. On the way, for the first time I spoke to Guruji for few Minutes like friends (Till that day there was only soul to soul Communication).Reaching there, Guruji showed us a small pot like vessel and told that it was Ganga Jal(The Holy Water). Then Guruji started sprinkling the Holy Water on each one of us! Still I believe that it was (only) for me to remove all sins / impressions of mine!…Before leaving there, Guruji told somebody to accommodate all those who came by walk ( only 4 of us , I think), in his Vehicle..& got a glimpse of HIS sparkling eyes through the pearls of gratitude as my eyes were flooded with tears .…...

what an experience for life time that I never feel alone...na?

HE knows everything whether we are aware of this or Not…

Gratitude and Pranams to the Lotus feets of my Beloved Gurudev,

Yours forever,

Jai Guru Dev!

Why do we consider Lotus so special?!

The lotus is the symbol of truth, auspiciousness and beauty (Satyam- that which is truth, Shivam-that which is innocent , Sundaram -Beauty). It symbolises divinity, fertility, wealth, knowledge and Enlightenment. The Lord is also that nature and therefore, His various aspects are compared to a lotus (i.e. Lotus-eyes, lotus feet, lotus hands, the lotus of the heart etc.).

The lotus blooms with the rising sun and close at night. Similarly, our minds open up and expand with the light of knowledge. The lotus grows even in slushy- muddy areas. It remains beautiful and untainted despite its surroundings, reminding us that we too can and should strive to remain pure and beautiful within, under all circumstances.

The lotus leaf never gets wet even though it is always in water. It symbolizes the man of wisdom (gyaani) who remains ever joyous, unaffected by the world of sorrow and change.
This is revealed in a shloka from the Bhagwad-Geeta:

'Brahmanyaadhaaya karmaani
Sangam tyaktvaa karoti yaha

Lipyate na sa paapena

Padma patram ivaambhasaa '

Meaning:He who does actions, offering them to Brahman (the Supreme), abandoning attachment, is not tainted by sin, just as a lotus leaf remains unaffected by the water on it.

Our bodies have certain energy centers described in the Yoga Shaastras as chakras. Each one is associated with lotus that has a certain number of petals. For example, a lotus with a thousand petals represents the Sahasra chakra at the top of the head, which opens when the yogi attains Enlightnment or Realisation. Also, the lotus posture (padmaasana) is recommended when one sits for meditation.

It is associated with the Goddess of wealth Maha Lakshmi, who brings prosperity, purity, chastity and generosity.... also symbolizes Brahmaloka, the abode of Lord Brahma. The auspicious sign of the swastika is said to have evolved from the lotus.

In Buddhism the Lotus flower is considered to be a sacred. Being one of the eight fortunate signs of Buddhism. The lotus flower with 8 petals is used in Buddhist mandalas, sygnifying cosmic harmony, a thousand-petals- Lotus denotes spiritual illumination. A famous Buddhist mantra, “Om mane padme,” relates to the jewel in the lotus, which is enlightenment.

According to Egyptian mythology, the Lotus is related to the sun, as it flowers at the day hours, and closes by night. It is credited that the flower has given birth to the sun.

Nostalgic March...............

March is the month of Nostalgia...

..it is pregnant with many sweet n sour memories ....years back , in my school- College days ( we were in Malampuzha those days )this was the time we made visits to most of our friends home for the sake of companied studies , we had discussions abt everything in the universe except our subject of studies...the most missing things are the BIG Mango Tree in the Backyards of Archana's Home , where we used to sit for studies...n visit to Shubha's home- she was staying with her grand ma, we had to cross so many paddy fields to reach her place , really scenic, i don knw where is she now...( Shubhu , if u happened to read this blog , Miss U a lot dear n love you sooooo much!)

Mmmm! The summer rain in the evenings brought so many varieties of Mango - fruits to us ... and among the kidos, Subhash n Arun were the smartest Mango - Pickers those days..... but i was always alone as there were no girls in that age group... yea i think , it was a Blessing to me as this made me to go close to the nature & to myself(i'm not saying this from the periphery)... My main hobbies of those days were to watch the birds who came to eat the fruits of the Indian Banyan Tree in my home- Qtrs, listening to the music of rain ( i love to watch n walk in the rain ..)talking to myself n day dreaming ....!!

On my way to school, there were soooo many Kanikkonna (The Golden Shower Tree - Cassia fistula ) with full of yellow flowers , this (March- April ) is the season of its blooming...in the evenings , when we 're returning from the school , the road was filled with the yellow Petals .... it was like the nature had made a beautiful carpet with yellow-flowers for us , the kids..... Kanikkonna flowers always kindle me with my childhood memories .....

I know, gone are the days will never come back , can never be reproduced like flowing water in the river .... but the memories are evergreen, can be chewed at any time .......

.

Finding Life's Direction.......!!

Yeaa ,this's the answer to my last post.....!

Yesterday, i was wondering abt whts happening with me...and a few minutes ago got a mail from Deepa which contained extracts from a talk by H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji...

"..A river needs two banks to flow. The difference between flood and a flowing river is water flows regulated in a direction in a river. During floods the water is muddled and has no direction. Similarly, the energy in our life needs some direction to flow. If you don't give direction, it is all confusion. Today most of the people are in confusion because there is no direction in life. When you are happy, there is so much of life energy in you; but when this life energy doesn’t know where to go, how to go, it gets stuck. When it stagnates, it rots! Just like how the water has to keep flowing, in the same way, life has to keep moving.

For life energy to move in a direction, commitment is essential. Life runs
with commitment. If you observe every small thing or big thing in life, it
goes with certain commitment. A student takes admission in a school or
college with a commitment. You go to a doctor with a commitment saying that
you are going to take the medication or listen to whatever the doctor says,
right? The banks work on commitment. Government works on commitment.
Needless to say, a family runs on commitment: mother is committed to the
child, child is committed to the parents, husband is committed to wife, and
wife is committed to husband. Whether it is love or business or friendship
or at work or any area of life you take, there is commitment, isn’t it?

What would really irritate you is non-commitment. If you just observe, you expect some commitment from someone and when they don’t do it, you get upset. Or when someone doesn’t keep up his or her commitment, you get upset.
Commitment is essential in life. You cannot stand someone who does not commit, but see how much commitment have you taken in your life .Of course our commitment is proportional to what we have, our power, our capacity or capability. If you are committed to taking care of your family, that much capacity or power you gain. If your commitment is for the community, you
will get that much energy, joy, that much power..." H H Sri Sri Ravisankar

Joy Guru Dev! Instant answer ! Na?

Whats happening ????!!!!!

Hmmm... after a long time i'm writing something about me...Yeaa, like soo many ,to me too Life has become so Mechanical !!!.. same routine ...from waking up in the morning,doing something before going to work....again doing something before going to bed...!!in Malayalam -my mothertongue, i could say "orutharam kaattikkoottal..." but i could say,the approach to life has changed ..atleast i could identify that i'm not doing something productive, ....its like me too flowing along with the current which has no specific destination.....
The Divine has created me( like all of Us) with the immense treasure of everything , but (i'm) not using anything...its true that something has wired wrongly somewhere...(still trying to find it out.. )Yea,its very easy to preach something but very difficult to practice...thats what i'm experiencing these days.... struggling to place everything on Track..but i can say onething for sure guys, Everything will be on Track very soooooonnn( as nothing is constant in this Universe , changes are inevitable ).......!!!Lol!!!!








.

Spiritual Realms: Living the values that the spirit represents - H H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

"Life is more than matter. If it were just matter, there would be no need for comfort. Matter does not feel comfort or discomfort, beauty or ugliness, love or compassion, joy or sorrow. Will a chair ever feel sorry or happy?
No, matter does not have these finer values.

They belong to the realm of the spirit. But life is also more than spirit.If it were just spirit, there would be no need for water, food, or rest. Human life is a combination of both matter and spirit.

*The nature of the spirit*

Spirit experiences and expresses values. Values are feelings and emotions -
that which cannot be captured totally by words or understood by the intellect. The goal of the spiritual path is to understand the spiritual dimension of life and live fully all the values that the spirit represents.What are those values? Peace, love, joy, beauty, unlimited knowledge, and the capacity to understand both mind and matter.

*Comfort: A quality of consciousness*

Whatever one does is directed towards one goal, happiness or comfort. Often people think that comfort comes in a material way, through matter alone. Comfort is a quality of consciousness. To some degree it does depend on matter, but to a greater degree it depends on attitude and understanding.

*The true nature of the spirit is comprehension. *

You listen, you understand and you absorb. Who is understanding? Who is absorbing? It is the spirit in your body that is taking in the knowledge.And this knowledge is not coming through sight, sound, smell, taste and touch alone. It is also coming from inside as intuition.

*The very nature of consciousness is knowledge.*

You can say that at every level of consciousness, knowledge is present. And consciousness is present! If it were nothing, it could not be present. It is something, yet it is not finite. You cannot measure consciousness, so it is present and infinite.

*The nature of your consciousness is peace: You are love.*

Consciousness is peace. You are peace, you are truth, and you are energy, walking, moving, talking, sitting. The Self is energy and the Self is knowledge, the knowing and the knower. This consciousness is love, you are love. Understanding and living this is the spiritual life. Life attains its richest form through the spiritual dimension. Without it life becomes very shallow and you are unhappy, dependent, depressed and miserable.

*The effects of the spiritual dimension on society*

This is a great sense of belongingness, responsibility, compassion and caring for the whole of humanity. The spiritual dimension, in its true form, smashes the narrow boundaries of caste, creed, religion and nationality. Wars will be eliminated only through spiritual understanding.

*The spiritual path is not an escape from life*

Actually, the spiritual path makes life more difficult! In India people think the spiritual life is easy - go to an 'ashram' where you don't have to work hard. No! The spiritual path is not an escape from hard work or sincere action, just as social service is not an escape to a comfortable life. In both situations you have to put your heart and soul into your actions and be ready to give one hundred percent of yourself. The spiritual life will bring you enormous joy, more contentment, more peace and more energy than you can find, but it's not an escape. Remember that.

*The spiritual path is not an escape from responsibility*

The spiritual path means taking responsibility. If you think it is difficult to manage your children and your husband or your wife, you will be given more people to care for. If you are ready to take responsibility for twenty people, two thousand people, twenty million people, then you are on the path. The spiritual path is not an escape from responsibility, but taking
responsibility.

*The spiritual path is not an escape from hard work*

Intelligent, effective work is part of the spiritual life. When you are working hard you may think you deserve compassion. I say that if you are working hard and doing it with intelligence, then you need appreciation, not compassion. If someone is taking 5 hours to complete something that can be done in half an hour, it doesn't need compassion.

*Knowing peace*

Another aspect of spiritual life is peace. Knowing that peace is your nature. At any moment, in any place, you can just sit and let go, knowing inside you there is a pure clear space that's vast and deep. That inner space is what you are. Feeling this is knowing your spiritual dimension. "I have come from peace, I am in peace, I will go back to peace. Peace is my origin and my goal." This inner affirmation or experience makes you a
seeker.

*A sense of sacredness*

Still another aspect of spiritual life is a sense of sacredness. When you have a deep sense of thankfulness combined with regard and respect for everything that comes to you in life, it brings a sense of sacredness. In sacredness there is awareness. Your mind is fully present in fear, anger or sacredness.

*Service and silence*

Silence heals and rejuvenates. Silence gives you depth and stability and brings creativity. Service brings the dynamic experience of heart. It creates a sense of belongingness. Lack of service can land a person in depression. Service alone can bring contentment in life, but service without silence tires you. Service without spirituality will be shallow and cannot
be sustained for a long period of time. The deeper the silence, the more
dynamic the outer activity becomes. Both are essential in life.

*Why do you need a Master? *

You can be loving, compassionate, and live all the values of the spirit without a teacher or a master. Then what is the need for a Master? You do not make your own cloth. Someone else makes the cloth and you wear it. It is the same with spiritual knowledge. Many ancient people have found valuable knowledge about breathing, *pranayama* (breathing exercises) and yoga asanas. The intelligent thing is to use these tools which have already been established. And it is better to take a guide for your practice and progress
on the spiritual journey.

*Have confidence *

Have confidence in yourself. One who does not have confidence cannot achieve anything. Confidence clears doubt. Doubt is the opposite of confidence. Once you eliminate the negative, you will see that the positive has already happened. When doubt clears, confidence appears. So to gain confidence in yourself, you must understand what doubt is.

*The nature of doubt *

If you observe the nature of doubt, it is always about something that is positive. You doubt the goodness of other people, never their bad qualities. You doubt your own capabilities, never your incapabilities. On the spiritual path, you learn to handle things with intuition and inner freedom. I don't say don't doubt. I say doubt as much as you can. That will help you get through it before progressing further."


What a beautiful knowledge from Gurudev....Hope you've got the explanations for ur doubts....
Gratitude n Pranams to the Lotus feets of Gurudev,




Jai Guru Dev!