Connection~~!!!

Here I go….. Again posting an article almost after a long gap of 23 months….phew….The topic that I have chosen to write this time around is “CONNECTION”…

It took almost 2 years for the Get Set Go moment…but the CONNECTION with the ONE who matters the most was always On and On and On……

Just listening to the word CONNECTION it raises goose bumps in me….then it may be with any body...

In this age of Tweets, Re Tweets and Posts on Walls if Connection is not there then you are no longer there literally you are GONE!!

If you see your life closely, then you are connected with some one or other in Your own special way…Even if the person is close or far you can still feel that “CONNECTION” if U want to feel it!!!

Wikipedia defines the word CONNECTION as – “A way of specifying a derivative of a geometrical object along a vector field on a manifold.”

But in a layman’s language it’s something more relative than above definition…

So what is that connects people?

Is it the common things you have with them?

Is it the Similarities?

Is it the similar DISLIKES?

Is it the way you Think?

Is it the way you Live?

Is it the Way you Dress Up?

Is it the Music you Like?

Is it the Food you Like?

Is it the Fashion Sense you Like?

OR

May be all of the above or more than that…

But what matters the most is the Skill with which you can keep the Connection Going…for instance take the case of two best friends who know each other inside out, but if one fine day suppose person ‘A’ says something in anger or frustration to person ‘B’ and if that is not taken well by person ‘B’ then it does not take even a mini second to break the bonding and the Connection goes for a complete toss…haven’t we seen this in our day to day lives?

  

For me the Connection should be Unbeatable, Unshakeable, and the one which will stand through tough times. Anyways its so easy to support each other when all things are going Rosy Rosy, Mushy Mushy but when things go Honkey Donkey then no one sees each other…its so strange and unfair, the Connection that one has built up needs to be Exhibited in such tough times, but it completely goes for a toss..

So now the challenge is how to maintain this Connection?

For this some reverse thinking may help, I feel for starters it is to be understood why one needs to be Connected and with Whom?

WHY – So that U are not left alone in this huge world at the time you need someone…So that U don’t get lost in your own misery…So that U don’t bother about the downs of life…So that U don’t get bored with Your own company.

WHOM – This is definitely the most important part, well it should be definitely with some one who will be with U even when the time is tough, when U are in Roaming Zone or when U are completely Discharged…rather I would even go to an extend and say the One who stays Connected even with out a HANDSET….just set UR Heart and Go On and On and On….

  

Really if U see in this world, U are Connected with every little thing in the creation, in this way U are Connected to the Trees, Birds and Animals too. U can actually feel that Connection when U are Completely Hollow and Empty from Inside…

Now another challenge that arises is, how to remain Hollow and Empty from Inside when the world out is so Shallow and Filled up with negativity…Well that again depends on person to person. Different people have different ways to chillax. Some find hanging out makes them relax, while some get engrossed too much into their daily routine and hence they don’t have time to think anything else. Whatever it is, saving UR Mind at any cost is the key factor.

Mind can’t be controlled from thinking anything, but definitely it can be cultivated into some creative activities and welfare of people around. The company of friends, people that you keep around you is very very very damn important. As it makes U or breaks U completely.

One interesting aspect over here is that, as we grow in our life, we move on to different places, we undertake different tasks, we change our outlook towards life, we meet different people. Now not always do all people behave in a fixed pattern with you.. Different people behave differently, but if U get swayed away by them, then again U feel lost out with the Connection that U want to have. Moreover I truly and firmly believe in the fact that people come in to your life have a specific role to play. Some people teach U a hard lesson, Some people Uplift U, Some people guide U, Some people make U Strong, Some people Irritate U, Some people make U feel Jealous, Some people Love U and Some Hate U…The problem begins when we forget their role and get stuck in with them. If you got to save your mind from people the best way is to realize the fact that they are just here to play their role in YOUR movie called as YOUR LIFE!! They will do it and walk away from it too.

The next thing that keeps your mind at bay is the Situations that U are in your life. Well again the best way to get out of it is to realize that, Everything is going to change so this situation in your life will also change. So no point in building castles in the air when you are too happy and jumping up and down and also no point in getting depressed when the situation is pathetic.

After People and Situations the next immediate is the Things that you possess or don’t!! It happens many times that when someone gets something then U want to have the same thing, in spite of the fact that U need it or not. So here again the trick to save your mind is to realize that Desire whether fulfilled or unfilled leads to frustration!!

Well I could go On & On & On…but really can there be end to this topic called as Connection??!! Certainly not with me!!! Well for me it will happen when I breathe out my last breath..

P.S. -à>> the above post is dedicated to all those who have touched my life in some way or the other till date!! May U all Prosper in your lives and make other people around U happy…and keep them CONNECTED!!!!

3 Kissa;s of the year Twenty Ten!!

JGD….

The new Post is on Self Created knowledge sheet by yours truly R.B.K!!

Knowledge inspired from 5^th December, 2010

Refresher course, SSRVM, Mulund

In the divine presence of Anjanadi!

The Topic KISSA’S –

   THE HAPPENING’S IN DAY TO DAY LIFE!!

YES that’s what it is! I call it Kissa’s…sometimes they are Motha (Big) and sometimes they are Chota (Small) Kissa’s for me! But after all what ever happens Kissa’s are there!

And I am damn sure by the time you finish reading this post, u too will agree with me about the Happening’s that do take place in our day to day lives. Be it catching a local train or paying the restaurant bills or talking with your girl friend over the phone! We all in our own way experience in our unique way, isn’t it? 

So do I experience life! I just have a completely different perspective to look at it, well it might not be practical but it still is and will be unique as it’s mine! 

I don’t remember the exact date but what I do remember that I was talking over the phone with Viru-paji (who recently got the nick name of PHON-SUKH-LANGDU!) and suddenly after about 10 minutes of talking, I started saying,” Kissa aahe re! Motha Kissa aahe “ that’s it from that moment onwards I got into the habit of saying it frequently!  And so much so that today all people around me have started using this word more frequently! Kissa hai!

Anyways funny aspect apart, but tell me isn’t it true that sometimes we are short of words when we really need to communicate! At such times we just look for some words that fit in!

Well for me this has not just been a word but an experience till date! As I said earlier we all go through experiences in life some of the experiences are pleasant some unpleasant!  

Here is a look at few of them in the past year.  

FIRST Real Motha Kissa! 

The Year Twenty Ten has been full of Topsy Turvy Emotions and till date it’s not easy to manage such emotions. Whatever things that I personally had planned for the year when it started in BLISS at the Bangalore Ashram, did not happen. And when I look back it I was often found on the back foot because of things that happened in personal and professional life. Just because of the Master’s grace I was able to get through all the happenings with out much scare.

As my luck would have it, I found out that I was giving my hundred percent in a completely wrong direction, and I suffered badly due to it. Emotions are part and parcel of everybody’s life, but for me it was starting to become life itself. I was involved so much that it was almost impossible for me to come out of the entire scenario.

The group of people around me mattered the most. Today I am slowly but surely crawling my way back to my best. And I am pretty sure with 2011 around the corner; I would be back to my own bubbly self.

My Learning from this kissa was that I would never trust anyone blindly as I did with this special one. But no regrets as it made me stronger and better. Finally realized that it is not at all necessary to have some one in life just for the sake of having. If there is no sharing along with caring and respect then all is just a show off. Even though I gave my best through out, I cant force any one, the commitment has to come from within and not from outside anywhere!! Life has to move on.

Second Kissa!!(Strong Faith on MASTER)

(24^th June for a one day visit to meet the Master!)

Actually it was a pleasant one and the one I would never forget so easily, my one day visit to the REAL HOME! Bangalore Ashram! Wow what an experience this was, worth writing a complete post on!!! My first time travel in a flight that too alone!! I had a mission in my mind when I had set off for this visit. It was clearly to meet the Master and pray for my dad’s transfer back in Mumbai, as dad was finding it difficult to handle his Kissa’s at the bank in Lucknow.

All the Kalyan gang was in the ashram in bliss after the First ever Summer Magic Advance course. Actually all were not in bliss; some were finding it hard to digest the behavior of some immature people who were also in the ashram at that time. They got to experience the most important knowledge point of Opposite Values are Complementary in Nature! It was happening right in front of their eyes!

Anyways without much importance to such people, my focus was to meet the Master and pray for my dad and also to kindle the team spirit in the entire Kalyan gang. It did happen and all were spell bound to see me in the Ashram reception area,  when I did reach there around 1pm on the 24^th June! Rohit Zunj was completely flabbergasted to see me there! So were Suraj Mishal, Pratik, Swapnil and others.

I have this uncanny ability to surprise people around me, and I like to see the smile on their faces when they are completely surprised! It did happen but as all of this was happening I was missing someone so badly that I wanted to almost run away from the entire crowd and be alone some time, well it did not happen but yeah I enjoyed all the process of meeting Guruji in person at the Badri Vishala and mission was almost accomplished.

That was it, a short stint and I was ready the next day at around 2pm to leave back for home. As mom was waiting eagerly to know the result of whether my visit was successful or not, as she knows very well how bad I am when it comes to do things for my self and family! It has always been a second priority for me from the day I did my first Sudarshan Kriya, but this time I was proud on myself that I did do it for my mom and dad. As it was needed very badly. The result of this visit, dad got transfer back in Mumbai within next 2 months!! A real Motha Kissa!! Isn’t it?      

Third Skillful Kissa!!

It was juggling office timings and literally bunking office at will so that I can conduct YES!+ courses!! I did it almost every month of 2010 till October!! Every month I was lucky enough and blessed to conduct YES!+ courses organized by bunch of really hard working and innocent people I have with me.

I literally played around with the office for the first 10mnths of the year! And although there were lots of questions going in back of mind as to why am I doing this job? What is the need? What am I going to get out of it? The importance of doing it was justified by people I have in my life. Some near some far. The feeling of being used was prevalent through out the year. And to make it worse the situations also did not help of close ones going far off. But I kept reminding myself of the promise and commitment that I had made to someone and so kept working towards it, without actually knowing what the outcome may be!

This person is the reason why I started doing a job in first place, no one could motivate me so much that I could actually take up a job, but some how as the time went by I got more and more serious about actually doing it and the way I splurge money on eating out and shopping it’s actually helping me! So without any grudges against anyone I am grateful that I am actually challenging myself everyday to get up and balance office, seva and parents!

Few buttons did get pushed but the main switch under control!! And I know the connection with the CONTROL PANEL will be intact through out so no worries! 

Many other Kissa's also took place few worth mentioning here and few almost lost back in the memory!  But most important learning from all the Kissa;s and moving on ahead in life with more zeal and enthusiasm!!

Hoping to improve on all the KISSA’s in Twenty Eleven! And spread Master’s message of peace to more and more people. This will be a real Motha Kissa! Hope by the end of Twenty Eleven there are many more pleasant kissa's to be shared....

Wishing you all a very Fruitful and Meaningful 2011...

JGD….

Truly Your's 

R.B.K.....

Do drop in your comments…..

Emotions ....make you weak and strong at the same time!!!

Emotions ....make you weak and strong at the same time!!!

Jai Gurudev,
 Om Namah Shivay. 

I wonder and I am sure so must be you guys that, how I could manage to stay away from blogging for almost 18months when I had so many things to share! Anyways the important thing is I am back to it!!

As I promised in my last post that I will post something on the Emotions that we human beings go through. Here I am doing precisely that….

It’s often said that it is not good to be emotional. But people often forget that emotions are nothing but some feelings that everyone goes through, irrespective of the sex he or she belongs to. If you are a human being then you are bound to feel some emotions or the other. This is a fact!

Google might define Emotions as –

 “Emotion is the complex psycho physiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences.”

What is the purpose of emotions? What do they do for us? They certainly have a significant effect on us, but what is it all for?

First of all, motivation is 'e-motions'. They act to motivate us. Without emotions we would probably not do very much and hence would not survive - at least in the evolved form we are in now.

Motivations are felt in the body. Our muscles tense or relax. Our blood vessels dilate or contract. When we feel emotionally, we also feel physically. Our emotions can thus make us feel uncomfortable or comfortable, sending us signals to do something urgently or to stay in our comfortable state.

 Internally, for example when we are trying to make understand something or make a decision, we use our emotions to deduce whether what we have concluded is a good idea. When we think about something that contradicts our values, our emotions will tell us that it is bad. When we think about something that could hurt us, our emotions will tell us that this is not a good idea.

You can use emotions to motivate people. Connect good emotions with what you want them to do, and bad emotions with what is not wanted.

Also watch your own emotions. They are signals that tell you something about what is happening in the inner you. This can be very useful as we often do not realize what is going on in that deep, dark subconscious inside of us.

There are more negative emotions than positive emotions. We can feel fear, anger, shame, hate, more easily than happiness and joy, a reason for this is because most emotions are designed to keep us alive. They signal warnings and prompt us to act, from running away to avoiding others to fighting back.

In real sense emotions are associated with mood, temperament and personality on an individual. Every human being who takes birth on this planet wishes to be happy in his or life. No body wants to be frustrated, dejected, unhappy or obsessive. It’s just because we give too much importance to people, situations and things around us these emotions come up in us.  This leads to total imbalance of the mind, which is always swinging between the past and present! Isn’t it? How to deal with it is the skill that one needs to learn. 

First of all one needs to understand that no emotion can stay for more than 2.5 days (Line by Rishi Vidyadharji!). So there is absolutely no need to make any fuss about you being sad some day or you being low someday and also no need to go over board when you get good news. Being in your core, center is the key to maintain your peace of mind! This state of mind cant be achieved over night, one needs to go through a lot of practice and implementation of the knowledge that the Master offers on every step of life.

 

When one gets this knowledge one has to apply it in the right sense, as I said earlier, we often end up giving too much importance to people, situations or things in our life. Let’s take it step by step.

What happens when attaches too much importance to Things in life? Nothing much one ends up becoming greedy and selfish. If these tendencies are dominant in anyone then you should be able to guess it that they are attaching too much importance to things in life. Things can be bought, sold, again bought and also stolen. The thing that we feel is important today may not have that much importance few days later and definitely it will be irrelevant over the period of time. As everything that is made comes with an expiry date. Even the creator of that thing will die some day so forget about the thing itself. 

          For example, one attaches too much importance to car, clothes, property, or jewellery. All these are classic examples of things which people want to posses in their lives. They feel if they have a big house with a swimming pool and a posh car parked outside their house then the purpose of their life is done. Where as they forget the simple fact that one has to die one day and when this happens all these things are not going to go with him / her! People will be more interested in who takes over the property and the other stuff after one dies!! So the intelligent thing here is to not to get too attached to Things in life, as they leave oneself greedy and selfish.


 

          Then we end up attaching ourselves too much to the situations around us. Again there is no point in doing this. You take any situation in your life, has it not changed over the period of time? And has it not taught you something very memorable? Yes it has isn’t it? The very fact that God creates situations in our life is because we can learn and grow from them, not to get caught up and sink into them. If one attaches too much importance to situations he or she become lazy and dull. They start blaming the situation in life for their life not working as they want it to. So the intelligent thing here again is to not to attach too much importance to any situation that comes up in life, be it your birthday or break up day!!!

 One has to do an analysis of giving too much importance to people too. One has to ponder over this question is it really worth to give some person more importance than what he or she deserves? Or more than your own existence? Most often than not you will get a negative response. Right? Very rarely the answer to this question is in the affirmative.

 

Lets look in depth of this, what happens when you give more importance to people around you? Often they start taking undue advantage of you, they start taking you for granted. Most dangerous is that you start blaming these people when anything in your life goes haywire. We often end up forgetting the simple fact that nothing remains same forever, not even our own body so how can we be rest assured that the people around us wont change over the period of time? Isn’t it? It’s the law of the nature that all have to undergo be it a human being or an animal!! The bottom line is EVERTHING CHANGES!!

This does not mean that we just sit back and don’t act when people start taking undue advantage of you. One has to ACT and not REACT. There is a big difference in this. Normally we end up reacting to people and in doing this we forget to act rationally. This leads to negativity, hatred and stress. So intelligent thing to do is first of all, don’t give too much importance to any person in your life, be it your boy friend / girl friend / father in law / mother in law / boss / friend or anyone. And if you have ended up giving too much importance to anyone then act on it by taking right action about it!

Story time again!!!      

It’s easier to say than to do it. I myself was finding it extremely difficult to do it. Rather I thought at one point of time that I was finished completely, loosing confidence that I had in me and was in my shell. My condition was exactly like fish without water. Gasping for breath and survival. Al though I was managing to smile and interact with all, I knew inside I was completely shaken. Thank God I became aware of what a blunder I was doing by going away from my nature which is to be happy and spread happiness to all. 

Thank to the lovely Master and HIS Grace (a few quality friends and volunteers in my life) I at least started to realize what I was doing and what I wanted to do.  Not blaming anyone as I am thankful to this person for teaching the fact of not to attach too much importance to any one in life.

 

As the title of the post indicates Emotions make you weak and strong at the same time!!!  ONS!!!

 

Selfless people needed in the times of Selfish acts around…..

Jai Gurudev,

High time I get in to blogging again right?!!

Here is my latest post….

Selfless people needed in the times of Selfish acts around…..

Yes this is what is the need of the hour and so does my small post after many many days rather many many months!!

So as all are aware that Guruji himself has told all to take care of health and hygiene for past one month almost.

When this news reached me, I was a bit shocked that how straight forward the instructions were from the Master this time around. Normally HE tells to remain happy and give away a smile to all. But this time was different.

Without wasting a second the awareness dawned in. The 5 senses along with the 7 levels of existence started to feel the need for attention!!!!

Just a couple of days back I came to know that why HE must have told these instructions so precisely this time. Read an article in the DNA which praised the seva efforts taken up by YES!+ volunteers taken up across the country.

That time I realized the value of Master’s words. I mean if we only don’t take care in our acts then who will? As it is there is loads of negativity and crime happening around because of stress and tensions so its time that we YES!+ warriors stand up and make the good work count.

We have learnt the importance of being selfless and serving people around, irrespective of the caste, creed or religion to what they belong. So it’s our prime responsibility to take care of our health and hygiene, so that we can serve better.

The entire week went by in the wait of the most awaited verdict from the Indian Judiciary. Because of some selfish people around, the judiciary is not able to function as smoothly as it should.

This makes the topic of the post more relevant, if we have more people in the system itself who are not corrupt, who know what it is to take responsibilities in life and who can handle stress with a relaxed and focused mind, then wouldn’t it be a great thing?

But this has to start with ourselves first. We need to become aware of what’s going around us, in our college, society, office, housing societies, etc. When we know what we are in to and what we need to change then ideas flow in automatically.

I mean a very basic and simple thing we can do is just go and talk to more and more people about AOL bring them on to this path. That’s the only solution to everything that’s happening around.

So I gave the caption to the post as need of Selfless people to stand up and high time their efforts are taken in to account.

  

Story Time…..my experience over past few days, rather months….

I personally have been seeing people around me and who are not around me, going through a lot in their lives. Just because of the Guru Grace Things are a bit easy in my life.

Things meaning the events and activities that I am into!! It all started on the 2^nd August, 2010 with the Ashtavakra Geeta at one of our very committed volunteer Burma’s place. It was a fantabolus experience to listen to HIM all over again. More on it in my next post!

But the point I want to bring out is, if I would have been not into AOL and YES!+ in particular I would not have been able to manage and juggle my office and knowledge sessions timings so easily! It’s the skills which I got after practicing the techniques taught on my YES!+ course!

In the end it so happened that I used to only wait for the clock to show the time as 5.30pm! That’s it I was off and away from my office to catch train, as a cat running after mouse!!!

The session ended on a high with a satsang and some good Prasad by Divya and Pathakji family!! I mean the real Prasadam of the 32 days was even sweeter!! We also managed to complete a YES!+ course during the Ashtavakra was on!  It was a wonderful course with people of all ages doing it! Kudos to all the volunteers who gave their heart, body and soul to get the course up.

 Then was a bigger challenge in front of me, another course was scheduled in Bhivpuri College, and I had to assist the course with Anjana didi! I mean this was not the challenge, the course timings were a real challenge and also the fact that it was happening in a completely different location from what I am used to! As if this was not enough, Di called me up 2 days before the course and told that she had sore eyes and the fact that she could not come on the course till the last day!

That’s it this was enough to pull the trigger inside me and to act spontaneously as to how was I going to manage this again! Nothing I remained calm for sometime and ideas began to flow in again! But as this was happening GURU Grace was flowing too!!

The course was going to start on Wednesday and a day before in my office I was busy thinking of reasons to put in front of my management to leave office half day as the course timings were 4.30pm – 7.30pm!! My office madam came in office and before I could open my mouth she said something that was like a melody to my ears! She said I had to book her flight for Punjab via Delhi of the next day!! I was like wow!! This sounds cool enough! I was happy that she was leaving the next day, but as HIS Grace is unparallel, I was swept off my feat when she said after sometime that she would like to leave on the same day and would come back only after 4 days!!!! I went in my mind satva satva satva! Almost jumping off my office chair. Just like King Janaka did while He was listening to Ashtavakra!!!

That episode also was taken care off by the MASTER. I mean again in this entire episode the thing which I could learn that was how things happen the way you want them to happen when you do HIS work with that sincerity and devotion… I could not in my wildest of dreams dream of conducting a YES!+ at the time that I ended up taking it! But things were happening as I wanted them to at least on the spiritual path.

This is when I realized that no matter how much effort I put into things, events or people in order to change them, it can’t happen until HE wishes it to happen. I was completely in my shell even after doing sadhana regularly for the past 7 years and more. It was because I was giving lot more importance to people, in particular to one person, and so it let down to my emotions over hauling me. More on the emotions in later posts.  

Do drop in your comments...

Dreams really come true...

Yes that's the post all about...

For the past 3-4 months the time i was away from blogging i really discovered that whatever i had thought of in my dreams some months back really started coming true! so i had to come up with this post...

In the past months i was busy organizing and conducting YES!+ courses in Kalyan and Dombivili areas. In the month of September had a 60 people course in dombs, then in the month of had to back to back courses in dombs and in kalyan...was an amazing exp taking and organizing these courses...did everything with a new team, form organizing intro-talks to giving them and taking the course itself! wow felt like taking care of my own baby and bringing it up too!! i could learn many things by being with the new team from kalyan... also i got a wonderful opurtunity to assist a 170 people YES!+ course with Dinesh-dada in matunga from the 10th of November. the way Dinu-da paid attention to detail on the course was really note-worthy. I got to learn few tips which i did implement in my courses and it was instant hit with the participants! Got a lesson after attending this course that its the participant's first course ever so the teacher has to present the course to them with all his enthusiasm and energy like Dinu-da did! i had this in my mind that some day i would get a chance to assist a full course with Dinu-da, this time it happened in reality! so this was the first dream coming true!

In October the whole focus was on the ANANTARANG and getting sponsors for it! for the first time ever in Dombivli YES!+ chapter a 850 people satsang was organized. the 25th Oct evening was an unforgettable one for anyone who attended the satsang! it was graced by Dinesh-dada's presence! again it was my wish to see Dinu-da in dombs one day with all the AOL family together! i was happily shocked to see this come true so early! hope one day GURUJI also visits the dream city or should i say the city of dreamers!

In December I had been to the winter-break advance course in the Bangalore Ashram! This time there were 49 more people with me! wow!! for the first time ever 50 people attended the YES!+ advance course from dombs! noone could ever imagine this in his/her dream that so many of us were going to Banglore!! It was my first Winter Break Advance course and 7th advance course over all...there were 1000 participants from around the globe in the ashram. Amazing experience it was doing the course 100%, doing the meditations, specially after 2 rounds of PadmaSadhana was an amazingly wonderful experience! The seva automatically became celebration this time around! the trip was all the more special for me as i stayed back with six other friends to meet the MASTER! felt really good after meeting HIM! but i missed OK on the trip as he was busy with his exams. if not for him and his efforts i, rather all the 50 of us would have never made it to the course! he had booked the tickets for us! actually i must say he had first booked the tickets and then cancelled the tickets and then again re-booked it!! i must mention the way he had slogged for the ticket booking was really commendable. if there would have been anyone else at OK's place, i am sure he/she would have ended up in the mental asylum. Every ticket was cancelled and re-booked Atlas 3 times during the space of 10 days! phew! OK did it without loosing his smile and cool he was there available for all of us anytime of the day or night. hats off to you dost...

i came back on the 6th of Jan from Ashram. already a YES!+ course had been planned before going to ashram, so after coming back seva started with full zeal and energy. 61 participants attended the January YES!+ in kalyan. the batch was full of energy and willingness to do something for the society. really enjoyed conducting the course. also got valuable feedback from viru, ninad and siddhu on the course, after every session i took. this will really help me in future courses.

Finally looking ahead have a big challenge of organising a 1000 people Utsav in kalyan and dombivili area! i am sure with the kind of team thats build up and with the new bunch of volunteers this event would be another success story in our YES!+ chapter and another dream come true!!

jgd...

Turning stones into milestones....Aaila Sachin...!!

Hey friends,

Aaila a psot on Sachin!! yes thats i am writting on... do read on!

Wondering what this post might be about the master? Well its something that he would love to set right before the Australian team leaves Indian soil for probably the last time in his wonderful, power-packed, entertaining career. Watching the Master At Work is something that the Cricket world always craves for. Be it India, Australia, West Indies, England, be it any other corner of the world.



This post is dedicated to the most amazing batsman India has ever produced and perhaps the world will ever see...Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar!! most famously known as Tendlya in India!




Aala re aala Sachin aala is what every cricket crazy fan says when Sachin walks into bat for India, be it a test match or an ODI or an IPL match for that matter!! and all records seem to be a cakewalk for this batting genius, perhaps he has taken birth to break all the possible and impossible records that have been set in cricket...and yes today the day which will be recorded in the history of Indian cricket forever...today that's on 17th Oct, 2008, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar became the highest run getter in test matches for India over taking Brain Charles Lara's record...and he also registered 12,000th run in test matches... Tendulkar also received a rapturous reception from the fans who had turned up to the PCA Stadium. Sadly, though, there were not many people there to enjoy the moment. A sparse attendance only added to fears that Test cricket's appeal is declining, while the Twenty20 game continues to gather momentum. This record will surely take some beating! To say that the Master Blaster's career is replete with such achievements would be an understatement, but the moment, in particular, was definitely special.

Tendulkar had come in at something of a mini-crisis, as India lost three wickets in the space of 25 minutes. From the first ball, though, he played with an air of composure, flicking trademark singles off his legs and crunching Mitchell Johnson for one memorable drive through the covers. But his most significant stroke - and one that is destined to be replayed countless times - came from the first ball after tea. Siddle sent down a full-length ball which he drove skilfully behind square on the off-side for the three runs he needed to go past Lara. Tendulkar's achievement was greeted by an extended firework display, which left the ground wreathed in smoke. The interruption probably went on too long, but it did at least gave the Australians the chance to each come up in turn and shake Tendulkar's hand.

After the first day play ended all the attention was on the little master and how he celebrates this achivement, after the celebration in the team hotel with all the team mates and media people, Sachin answered the media people...the best part of this that i liked was when Sachin anwered to one of the question regarding the constant critisim he receives from his critics even after doing so well for the past 19 years!! He said "What they [critics] give are opinions and I don't take opinions seriously. I have always believed that success is a process where there are stones thrown at you and you have got to turn them into milestones,"....

Now isn;t this line a beauty!! i have liked this from the moment i have heard this on TV!! that too coming from Sachin;s mouth, who normally does not say much, but today he seemed quiet relaxed and in a joking mood!! wow!! the important YES!+ course point of dont be a football of other people opinon is well seen in this statement!

Well i can go on writing about the mastero but words would prove to be less....

Keep going Sachin.....Tendlya!!!

Re-birth after Nine dys!! ...

Jai Gurudev...

YES as the title indicates this is my post on the experiences i had during the Nav-Ratri festival in the real home Banglore Ashram! To start with, this was my first time attending Nav-Ratri in Ashram...and i tell you all friends it was really really an amazing experience..ekdam solid tha...although i attended only the last 4 days in Ashram i had taken up a certain sankalpa for the 9 days before i had actually started my journey for Ashram, and at the end of the 9 days it really got fulfilled! so i am damn happy about it..

Never in my life has it happened that five days of attending the Homas changed the way I lived my life and gave me a completely new way of looking at certain things, situations and people!! So the title is what it is!!.. It was indeed a blessing that i could attend this superb and huge Satvik fest!! as i was knowing many people who had missed the chance to attend the Nav-ratri this year..i and viru used to say this almost everyday when we used to meet after the Homas that what a good luck we have that we could attend this fest!

Anyways, my journey began from Kalyan station at 11..25pm on the 3rd of October, 2008. wow what a moment it was too...it was the first time i was going to do an over-night journey! as soon as the train left i got a miscall from PALLAVI from swedeen! wow!! what connection man..she knew that we were going to leave on 3rd, but she was not atall aware of the time we were leaving! and exactly at the time the train left her miscall came!! sahi na?!!

So i was waiting for the fun in the train! As soon as we reached Kalyan station, Pradnya(a superb volunteer and a dear friend from Dombivili) told me that her ticket is not yet confirmed and its in RAC, so her dad was tensed like anything, i could see it in his eyes, he was not even talking with his own family with a smile! so i could understand the seriousness if the whole situation! on top of that Pradnya said that her name would not be there on the passenger's list as the ticket is not yet confirmed! when we were talking all this, her dad had already reached the place where the railways display the passenger list! and Pradnya was terrified as her dad had warned her that not to travel without proper ticket etc! but one good thing in this entire episode was that Pradnya and her friend Siddhi were determined like anything to come to the ashram! Then Pradnya's mom called me over and said in a very deep and concerning voice that "ravi i am letting pradnya go for this event in spite of her dad's disapproval, so please take care of her and don't leave her alone!" after hearing these words i assured aunty that there was no need of worry at all as all of us including omki, siddhu and priyank would take care of both the girls... and i told her that after boarding the train we will do some setting and the ticket would be confirmed...(from this i could learn that how much others respect you when you are carrying the knowledge HIS HOLINESS!!!)

Then came the real beautiful moment! Pradnya's dad walked from behind and said that her ticket was confirmed in S1! that was it, i told aunty that moment only that dont worry, both of them will never see S1 during the journey only as we would all be together in S9...this really gave some comfort to her dad's worrying mind, then the we all got in the train and were waiting for the moment the train leaves! finally the train left at 11.25pm and all of us were happy like anything! the initial worries and tensions seemed to settle down as Pradnya and Siddhi started with their session of PJ's!! and i had made it a point that what ever they would say i would go a step ahead and say some thing absolutely ill logical like their PJ's!! so this was quiet a fun, both of them were surprised to see the other side of me, as in cracking PJ's like them!!

Then slowly and gradually the photo session started in the train itself! i and priyank were at each other by taking snaps and com paring whose was the best!! it was quiet a competition, which continued till the journey ended back home on 10 oct!!! then the real fun! it was 2am and the train left Pune, that time all were feeling sleepy and we had no berth to sleep on! as prads and siddhi were in our coach! so i 
and siddhu and omki and priyank shared 2 lower berths it was quiet an experience! ekdam full to paisa vasool!

Then in the morning all got up quiet late, expect me! i was the first to get up early at 6am itself! and first thing strkied my mind ki kriya karna hai! so i some how got adjusted in the seat and started with my Pranayamas! after the kriya when i opened my eyes it was quiet a scene the morning sun-rise!! wow!! ekdam sahi scene tha!

Then before all could wake up, i had already finished my first round of breakfast! and was waiting for others to join! soon all finished their kriya and joined in the food club!! we all had a big brunch! so the best part of the afternoon was also taken care of! then as the evening was coming close we already were making plans of what we would do after we re ach ashram, etc...on our way in the train we met a group from AOL Dharavi who were also in the same train and they shared their previous experience...it was quiet an experience too! While discussing our plans of hiring a rickshaw from the station, we were cautioned about the dangerous intent of the rickshaw drivers! One from their group narrated how an ashramite was about to be robbed by the crooked-minded rick driver just when he saw GURUJI's photo in the ashramite's wallet and left him...so they were saying to us that we all being youth and also we had girls with us, to stay back in the city hotel somewhere and then come to ashram in the morning! but we all were determined to reach the ashram at any cost and that too in the night itself as we all had to attend the morning homa!! so we changed our plan and decided to book a tata sumo to reach ashram...

When we reached Bangalore city we all took a huge sigh of relief... i and Priyank went ahead to book the sumo and omki and siddhu went for collectin g the food parcel from a hotel where prices seemed very ok ok..while I and Priyank were going to book the sumo, we both decided that we will not pay the sumo guy more than 600 bucks! as our wishes were heard by someone! a sumo driver came in front of us and said Jai Gurudev, Ashram jana??!! wow!! i was like yes yes! so he said 650 hoga sirji!! and thats it, i and priyank were like wow!! thats it we were done with the booking in 5 minutes itself! then omki and siddhu too collected the parcel in 15mins and we left for the ashram...it was an amazing dinner in the sumo on our way to the ashram! fried rice with gravey of manchurian! wow!! The sumo driver drove the vehicle so skillfully that we were at the gate of the ashram with in mere 50 min!! yes in 50mins!! we were surprised ourselves!! but this the way the DIVINE takes care, i realsied this when i entered our names and car number on the gate number 1...i thought came into my mind that yes because we had a strong intention of reaching the ashram that night itself, the PRAYERS were heard and answered!

Then we all landed at the reception, i called up Viru a s i was dying to meet him and aki...but aki was in VM where Garba had just finished! i met viru at the divine shop! and was very happy to see him after a gap of 6 days! this is the connection that we have developed that both were really happy to see each other...




 
As soon as i met him, SHWETA DESAI called me! and this was another connection that i share with her too...i mean it was just 5 minutes we had reached ashram and Shwetz called up asking that whether we reached safely or not!! wow!! i really feel supremely lucky at times to have got such wonderful friends with such great connection..then i met aki in near the reception...then the best part i met AMBA my very dear friend at the reception where he was waiting for us to arrive! we shared few talks and then we headed towards housing for getting our accommodation...

As omki describes it very correctly, that whatever is the fear in our mind that manifests...the same thing happened we got our rooms in Khoday;s a very beautiful guest house which is 4 kilo meters away from the Ashram!! wow!! i was really looking forward to stay there again as my experience during the last advance course was mind blowing when i, omki, viru and siddhu shared a room there!! thats it we left for the place in the ashram bus at 12.30am!!



We were told by an volunteer that morning 6am Long Kriy a was going to be held in Yagya-shala...it meant we had to get up really early in the morning and had to rush to catch the bus as only 3 buses were going to be there in the morning, so if we would have missed it, then we would have to reach ashram walking!!

Then the long kriya started, and i must tell you friends, this was the most amazing Long kriya i ever attended, it was taken by Pankaj-bhaiya i guess, as the translations from English to Hindi were really amazing, i was listening to them carefully so that i could implement those sayings in hindi when i take kriya!! and yes i really liked the tone at which he gave instructions too! after kriya we all were really hungry, so and viru rushed towards kitchen for breakfast, on our way i asked viru ki IDLI hoga toh dhamaal aayega re! Viru said ki yes, a day before only they had it in their breakfast and he remembered me at that time!! but that day we had Upama for breakfast..after that we attended the Rudra-puja which was followed by Homas...and each day was the same schedule from mo rning till noon...but really it was real bliss attending these homas as they were very meditative and calming...it was like an advance course only! after breakfast 3 hours of meditation then in the noon after lunch some seva and again in the evening satsang and the best part GARBA!!

The best part of this year nav-ratri was GURUJI, came out of his Silence on the 3rd day itself normally HE comes out of it on the 8th or 9th day of nav-ratri...i guess HE must have reailsed that this year some really aspiring youth are going to come down to witness the magic of yagas and homas! so he must have left HIS silence early!! but really the way each evening went in HIS bliss and knowledge wow!! amazing it was...each one of us got the knowledge that we needed at that time..

Garba was the best as it took place on traditional GUJJU songs and not on the noisy filmy music! and the best part was that the crowd was decent too! all were well behaved... just a day before we reached ashram, viru tld that DINU-DA had come to play GARBA! and it was qu iet a treat to watch him play! wow! i can imagine what a sight it must have been! i saw the pics they were amazing!

Now the best part of this Navratri..each day after i reached ashram, we met GURUJI either on his way to satsang or homas or in his car or outside his kutir! i mean not a single day went by that we not had darshan of our MASTER!! so the trip was a grand success in that sense!! a really heart-warming experince at that too..

This time i realised that how to remain happy even when i have friends around me and even when i am alone. AMBA shared some of his experiences of taking YES+ courses in Vidarbha and other parts of Maharashtra..and i was amazed to listen to his exper iences..that brought a sense of realisation in my mind about how tough it is really to work or do seva on your own..i am really blessed to have such a great team of volunteers with me who are really dedicated and open to new ideas in life...

That was all about the ashram stay and nav-ratri...then we left the ashram on 9th noon at 1.30pm...we hired a bus and reached Banglore station around 2.45pm..that time we came to know that our train was an hour late and so we had to do some time pass on the station..we had a superb cup of coffee outside the Banglore station...and it was a real pleasure of drinking it...then we boarded the train and the journey back to the not so real home began!!! i and viru were not liking the scene that we are leaving Banglore and coming back to mumbai!! but then a thought came in my mind that unless we go back and do seva we wont get a chance to come back to Ashram and meet GURUJI...Up, close and personal!!! it as really the merit of the seva that all of us in dombivili had done over the past few months that GURUJI met all of us for nearly 3-4minutes! HE asked all of us to be in group and continue doing the good seva that we are doing!! wow!! what else can a DEVOTEE ask for!!

Thats it this was all about my Nav-ratri experience!! hope you guys liked it!!

will post new experiences soon...so watch out for this space!!

Really cant wait for the next year to attend the fest again!! so here's the last pic saying that the "Journey Begins for the next year"











P.S. a new thing whcih i and viru adopted from this tour was the style and the way on the person in our Ashram says JAI GURUDEV BHAIYA!!!! !! WOW it really sounds cool when we speak in that tone!!