A momentous day

Aug 16th was a momentous day.
The previous day was the day of India's independence from the British. 16th was an equally big day when Indians decided to protest, in a remarkable non-violent fashion, against the Government's unwillingness to tackle corruption.

Guess what, "Ahimsa Paramo Dharmaha" - is something we have heard before, Gandhiji's non-violent Satyagraha - we have studied about in our text books, but something equally magnificent started unfolding.
The protestors assembled in huge numbers, the Government tried to stare them down, imprison their marquee leader (Anna Hazare)... but no the protestors held on tight to Ahimsa. and ... yes the Police got the jitters as did the Government, much like the British in the previous millenium.

Guruji (Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji) had said in as many words many years ago about : The aggression of non-violence - I got to witness today. Yes, several (hundreds) Art of Living volunteers stepped forward and courted arrest. I am very proud of them as are so many others.

What a contrast to the mobs of rioters in England looting and destroying public and private property, or a misguided youth mowing down several people in Norway, here in India there were thousands upon thousands of youths - (perhaps unknowingly) - adhering to the principle of non-violent and peaceful protests. I am sure this will bear fruit! Like Guruji said: From Satyam Param Dhimahi, Satyam eva Jayate will happen naturally,

Exciting times ahead...

Satyam Param Dhimahi

Guruji had said to chant "Satyam Param Dhimahi" in small groups.
(Satyam Param Dhimahi: May truth and divinity permeate my intellect /consciousness)

HE said by this chanting, Satyam eva Jayate (Truth alone will triumph) will then become more and more apparent.

For me, Guruji is a living breathing example of Truth.
I have heard HIM say several times during satsangs that "Truth is that which never changes" and Guruji's point of view is never ever changes.  It may not be immediately obvious sometimes, but with patience and faith - it will ..

It is therefore a matter of great concern when a land whose motto is Satyam Eva Jayate is rife with corruption. But as can be seen, all the various movements are just a sign of how Truth will triumph!!

Guru Purnima

Immense gratitude to my Beloved Master, for showing me the path, leading me on the path as Sri Sri and as the Light (Guru) within me again and again and again and again and again and again.
Here is a very beautiful video of what Sri Sri spoke after Guru Puja on Guru Purnima (July 15, 2011)
On Youtube  and Art of Living website Art of Living website
To watch again and again and again and again and again and....

In case you missed...

Here is the link to the youtube video of Guruji's interview with News24 Channel

In this HE speaks on a range of topics from the fight against Corruption to other issues in India. HE spoke like a leader and a team player, committed to the goal of establishing a corruption free and prosperous India. At the same time HE didn't shy away from voicing HIS point of view in a very balanced manner.  This was in sharp contrast to some comments posted by anonymous visitors to the blog for an earlier posting of mine on Sri Sri's work with Naxalites.

They were verbal attacks using rather foul language and I chose not to  publish them and was wondering at the tricks that one's mind can play with us. I was left wondering ....How the mind creates its own bubble and one ends up seeing the world  through coloured lenses losing all sense of objectivity and balance.  (Guruji spoke about this during this Guru Purnima, but thats another post....).

Sri Sri as I know HIM - a great honour and privilege

This video was shot around a year ago in the Ashram Studio and surprise of surprises it was featured on the www.artofliving.org homepage (as visible from India) on Guru Purnima day (July 15, 2011)

What can I say.....
I feel honoured and privileged to have a Guru in my life, that too a Guru like Sri Sri.
Go to  The Art of Living India home page  ( in the main flash image carousel there is an image titled Being with the Master with a  link to the video on youtube).

Conflict Resolution: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Naxals a.k.a DIALOGUE IN ACTION!

The current headline grabber in the newspapers is Naxalism and the Government of India's response to the crisis. It is interesting to see people of different hues taking position and talking and talking and talking....

-  Some would justify the Naxals violence. They would  point out how the corruption and uncaring attitude of Government officials was the reason for Naxalism and use this to justify their violence as a reasonable means of protest
- Others would justify the Governments plan to fight the Naxals
- Others would support the Governments gesture to the Naxals to get into a dialogue and renounce violence
... and keep talking and talking and talking

Lets see what Guruji has to say on this:
HE has said that
- the 'naxal' youths are good and committed people, just disillusioned by the corruption, apathy / non responsiveness from those in power. They are not to be treated  as outcasts, rather  they need some love and tender care.

- HE is willing to take up their cause with the people in Government if they give up their violent means and has urged the public to also support them in their efforts to join the mainstream 
Click here to watch Guruji speak:

Lets see what HE has done..

- HE has convinced several Naxal leaders to participate in the electoral process.
Click to read an article in the Wall Street Journal  and   Another article from The Times of India

- HE has inspired Naxal leaders to lay down their arms and change their approach.

Click to view Naxal leaders transformed

-  Transformed youths who have either received training from Naxalites or  been at the receiving end from the Naxals/Govt (caught in the crossfire), who have resolved to bring about a transformation in the society. Not only have they overcome their personal losses, they have been inspired to  build schools, wells and water pumps,  provide health care facilities and teach meditation!!    Click to read OR Click to watch

I don' t understand these politicians who go on talking about using military force. If  you are really serious about making a difference and want to use force, why not  use the GREATEST FORCE  (love, spirituality)  instead of settling for some small guns and puny bombs!

Conflict Resolution 101

www.artofliving.org got a new look today.

I was intrigued by the rather novel menu headings -especially Action for Peace and while browsing through the same, it  triggered  this train of thought:

Q: What does it take to create a conflict?/ What are the reasons behind a conflict? ( I thought this was easy)
- Lack  of sattva
- Stress
-  Difference of opinion/religion/political views/upbringing/race/
- Huge egos
- nothing! A conflict can start out of absolutely nothing!

Answer: Any or all of the above and many more that i haven't listed here!!


Q: What is absolutely essential e to resolve a conflict?
- Great diplomatic skills
- Good Education
- Good people skills
- Lot of courage and patience

Answer: Something is missing..., can't say what.  Each answer only seems partially correct and at the same time quite capable of not making  even the slightest difference. There must be some X factor...

Thats when i stumbled upon the following:

-  'White one' unites two warring tribes in Ivory Coast:  About Dipali Patel, a wisp of a girl from Mumbai India, was instrumental in dissolving the mistrust and disharmony between the Deula and Guere tribes in Ivory Coast  (Click on    Sustainable peace in the Ivory Coast  to read more). She and The Art of Living Foundation were honoured by the Ivory Coast Government.

Really interesting,  what all can happen when people meditate together :).

San-gachhad-wam, A mantra for this age

The blog title  means " Let us move/progress together" marks the beginning of the last hymn  of the Rig Veda.


While I am no authority on the Vedas,  I am nevertheless captivated by the economy of expression in this phrase.  It seems to convey everything that is worth communicating to one another. It makes a call for progress to be achieved TOGETHER, not at the cost of the other, not by pulling down the other... truly revolutionary (although a very very very very ancient idea :)


One could brush it away as a utopian fantasy or on the other hand use it as a clarion call to inspire and to unite.


During the public meeting to kick-off the Meri Dilli Meri Yamuna campaign on March  16, 2010, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji gave another dimension to the 'clean-up' campaign. HE urged everyone present to see this as a campaign against pollution - not just in the river, but also against pollution in the form of hatred, greed, jealousy, lust, anger, depression,.. and with spirituality as the foundation, the success of this  campaign is guaranteed.


HE then invited Mahesh Giri ji to address the gathering. The dynamic Guru sevak who had been involved in the preparatory work with hundreds of volunteers of The Art of Living said in no uncertain terms that where Sri Sri was involved success was inevitable and then  made everyone present at the meeting, hold their neighbours hands and  repeat this phrase, several times...


San-gachhad-wam

San-gachhad-wam

San-gachhad-wam

......

I truly felt that this was a mantra for our age and time

Then and Now ..... Meri Dilli Meri Yamuna

The water was poisoned and the villagers neither entered the river nor did they bring their cattle. Of course, what to say of the birds, they had long abandoned this stretch of the river Yamuna.


The above lines seem to aptly describe the Yamuna of today as well as the Yamuna of 5000 years ago!


More than 5000 years ago, Sri Krishna, little more than a young boy then,  encountered a similar situation when the dreaded five-hooded serpent Kaliya had poisoned the waters of the River Yamuna making it dangerous and unfit for the innocent villagers.  The story goes that the young Lord,  on hearing of the predicament, ventured into the water,  daring Kaliya to stop him. Sure enough, there was a fight, the news of which brought all the villagers rushing to the banks,  fearful for the life of their darling Krishna.  But what they saw was the young lad, dancing on Kaliya's hood !!!  Kaliya accepted defeat and left vowing to never disturb the peace and purity of the place!!


If it was Kaliya's poison then, now it is 3.6 bn tonnes of untreated sewerage that flows into the river daily!!!  Then a young Sri Krishna (almost) playfully evicted Kaliya, Now Sri Sri Ravishankar , who refuses to grow up:),  is the catalyst and rallying point for millions of citizens of India's capital to raise the banner for cleaning the holy river.


Today (March 16), the Krishna of our times - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is formally launching the Meri Dilli Meri Yamuna  - an initiative to clean and revive the holy river. An initiative which was started by enthusiastic Art of Living volunteers, with the blessings of Sri Sri,  soon caught the interest of the citizens of India's capital. Now there are a whole host of partners who have pitched in - as though proving the dictum for this age: Sanghe Shakti Kaliyuge i.e. In the age of Kali, the Sangha (the group) is the source of Shakti (power).


Visit Meri Dilli Meri Yamuna for more info...


and truly when Sattva is at the core of the Sangha, the power that it gives rise to is unstoppable...

Success with a smile

So many times, I have heard people ask Sri Sri Ravishankar ji,  HIS definition of Success. The setting could be different - in different countries,  but the answer has been consistent.

HE would say (not verbatim) - Usually success is seen as an outcome of a lot of stressful activity giving rise to the impression that stress is necessary and inescapable for success.  But if stress was indeed necessary for success, then Beirut would be the most successful city in the world, because people are really stressed out there! Look at all the so called successful people,  they may have lots of wealth, but they will also have stomach ulcers/diabetes/heart problem..... People spend half their health to earn their wealth and then spend half their wealth to recover their health!! This is not a sign of intelligence.  For me the sign of success is a smile that never fades  (This was a sattvic knockout punch, if ever there was one...).

The Forbes magazine launch interview

The first time i heard this (several years ago),  it left me thinking about what is needed  to achieve this success. I, somehow, never doubted what Guruji said,  but my personal experience had been different ...I had found it easier to 'not smile' while working towards an objective irrespective of whether I was successful or not!!

 The scientist in me took over.  I thought about  the obstacles to the smile and listed them as below:

-  Doubts and Resistance in the mind leading to half-hearted action
- Obsession with the end-result that creates pressure and clouds ones thoughts
- Getting bogged with  emotions :)

.... and these, i realised subsequently, were also the obstacles to successfully completing the task at hand !! Thus, one is free to focus on the smile or the 'success' - the tools are the same :)  regular Pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya and meditation.

I realised that Guruji's definition of success was not merely referring to the state of mind at the end of some event, rather HE was emphasising an approach to be followed all through the journey - at the beginning, through the middle and of course at the end.

And don't we know the effectiveness of Sudarshan Kriya and meditation, millions have benefited !!! Visit...Sudarshan Kriya et al on www.artofliving.org. If you need one more reason, here it is - it will ensure success in the true holistic sense, a success that is not based on greed or fear, a success that is much needed in today's world that is slowly recovering from the economic crisis brought about by a rather shortsighted view of success.

Sattva : The Secret of Success

In a recent Satsang,(Feb 7, 2010)  someone asked Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji: " I am working very hard, but why is it that success eludes me"

Guruji answered (refer Wisdom From Sri Sri Ravi Shankar )
When more sattva/purity rises in your life, the more easily your tasks get accomplished. The amount of sattva/ purity in us decides the productivity of our input. If you put in a lot of effort and the result turns out to be less or below your expectations, it means that there is a lack of sattva/ purity in life. When we meditate, then our work happens easily. People are unaware of this secret. They think why to spend 20 – 30 minutes meditating, when that time can be spent to earn them money. It is very important to meditate whenever we get time, so that you accomplish your tasks more efficiently and with ease.


At other times I have heard Guruji say - " When you meditate in groups, the effect is multiplied manifold"

So what do you think Dr. Madhav Pol did to bring some relief to  Dadasaheb Khatar and his fellow villagers?  Did he pick up the shovel straightaway and start digging the earth to build those 28 check dams to collect rainwater? Did he sympathise with the villagers, feel sorry for them and organise trucks of water to reach the village?  NO

He adopted the most brilliant step here - He started with teaching the villagers to meditate :) Yes,  he started teaching Nav Chetana Shibirs where the villagers were taught how to meditate along with the essentials of the 5H program (Health, Hygiene, Human Values, Homes, Harmony in Diversity) and the rest as we all know is pure magic and very very inspiring.

In a very simple manner, Sri Sri has revealed the secret to becoming successful in our initiatives i.e.
- attend to the levels of  sattva  in yourself and/or in your group by meditating individually as well as in a group.

I am sure readers of this blog will have their own stories to share.....

Dadasaheb Khatar

Its almost 2 years since my last post... in between, I did get a few comments and nudges asking what about Dadasaheb Khatar. I somehow didn't take out the time to write till now...

Nevertheless these 2 years for this news, is a lot lesser than what Dadasaheb had to wait for water to flow in his village and farms. Yes, for 4 long years they suffered near drought conditions till Dr. Madhav Pol, Art of Living teacher, decided - enough was enough. Do click this link to know more.

Bringing Water Relief

Dr. Pol, is an extremely unassuming person, you may not even give him a second look, but the transformation he has brought about in the drought hit villages in Phaltan will make anyone's eyes pop out. In fact the people in those villages want him to represent them in the Parliament!
Another example of how the Guru brings out the Butterfly in a devotee not just that, how a drought hit parched land got transformed into a water-abundant 'ocean'!!! ... very easily rocks the world.

Now that the water has started flowing, I really hope to continue this.... AND

Thank you everyone for all the great encouragement.

So What !!

A close friend of mine after reading my earlier Post exclaimed.."SO WHAT? WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT A CATERPILLAR TURNING TO A BUTTERFLY, IT'S NATURAL!! How is that related to your Art of Living and your Guru?"

I could see that 'Nature' did not hold any great magic for my friend. I thought about this a bit and the following came up:

I asked him, " Have you heard of this phrase: Tamaso Maa Jyotir Gamaya?" ( a line from an ancient prayer in Sanskrit ).

He: "Of course, it was part of a prayer I used to recite in school. It literally means - Lead me from Darkness into Light."

I: " What does it mean to you?"

He: (after a little thought): " It is like asking a bigger power to show me the right way. This world is anyways full of negativity (darkness), therefore please bless me with some brightness in my life"

I (reminded of an email i had read earlier) : " Does darkness have an independent existence?"

He: " What?"

I: " I mean, can you make something more dark, can you add darkness to an existing darkness?"

He: " What do you mean? I don't get what you are saying."

I:" Darkness is not a physical substance. It is just the absence of light. Right?

He (slowly): "Y..e...s"

I: "When you extinguish the light then what you get is darkness and not the other way round."

He: " Yes. Of course. That is known to any child. But what are you getting at?"

I: "To me, the prayer means, help me get over the darkness within me (Tamas) and realise the (Jyoti)/Light that is within me, the Light that I am. Thus what the Prayer is hinting at is that You are the light."

He: ""hmmm"

I: " Nature doesn't just leave it at abstract prayers, it shows this truth to us practically when the caterpillar transforms into a butterfly. You see and realise that within every caterpillar is a beautiful butterfly!"

To take it one step further Sri Sri says (not verbatim) " Everyone is inherently good. If someone does something 'bad', it is because of stress".

Thus this prayer could also mean - Please help me get rid of the stress in me... and thats what The Art of Living does - Breathe out the stress and know that you are the Light.

The biggest secret however is that this is just the beginning.... To know more you have to ask Dadasaheb Khatar, a farmer in Maharashtra....

More on this later...

A butterfly emerges, Durvasa Junior disappears

Most of us know that IIT refers to the Indian Institute of Technology, India's premier Tech schools. I worked really hard, I count myself lucky to have earned a seat in IIT Mumbai in the Department of Computer Science.

Many of us may not know IIT also stands for Intense Inner Transformation. In IIT Mumbai, my life changed dramatically. I didn't just graduate with a B.Tech in Computer Science, I had my first introduction to The Art of Living and my dearest Guru; Poojya Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji.

Recently, Sri Sri was saying (Not verbatim, I have paraphrased based on my understanding) -
" Being with a Guru, is like being in a cocoon. You are protected. There are restrictions on the caterpillar inside the cocoon. It can't move as it wishes, it can't eat what it wants. All for a purpose ... to transform into a butterfly, that is beautiful to look at, that can fly around the garden! The cocoon enables the transformation"

This analogy struck a chord in me.

I recalled the time before I came to my Master - I was A shy, coarse, intense, angry, self-centred IITian who believed that life was unfair, that hardwork and honesty had no place in the world's scheme of things. I had a very short fuse. This led to my parents calling me 'Durvasa Junior' . (Durvasa was a powerful and learned sage in ancient India, who was known for his short temper and was more feared than revered).

I WAS angry...with myself, with my professors, with friends, with classmates, with the Mumbai locals trains for being so crowded and inefficient,. with the cab drivers and rickshaw drivers who never went where I wanted to go. ..... until I stumbled across The Art of Living course.

This was in early January 1993, when Mumbai was rattled by the communal riots in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition. A small group of 6 would travel each evening from Powai to Dadar for the course by bus, train, cab, whatever and return late at night. Each day, I would return refreshed, smiling and happy. The Sudarshan Kriya was a revelation. Never before had I experienced anything like this!! I dilligently practised what the teacher instructed.

Slowly but surely, the anger melted, the inhibitions dropped off, the intensity sharpened, a smile appeared on my face ! I found that situations that earlier caused me to blow my lid didn't do that anymore. People whom I used to despise earlier, were suddenly more acceptable (not totally). The cab drivers and rickshaw drivers - I could smile at them irrespective of what they said or did. I was at ease with myself.

I observed that when my mind was calm and pleasant, the world also appeared beautiful, I realised for the first time ' Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder'.

What happened to Durvasa Junior ? Well, he start taking longer vacations when he found out that the Guru was working His magic.

Sattva Rocks!

Thanks to my Master, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, my Life IS Beautiful.

This will be a blog with The Real Good news thats out there in this world.

The texts of Ancient India say that The World is a play of the three Gunas (qualities) viz. Sattva, Rajas and Tamas.

Sattva for positivity, calmness.
Rajas stands for activitiy , restlessness.
Tamas stands for inertia, dullness.

From the media, its quite easy to believe that there is no Sattva and that the world is ruled by Rajas and Tamas. My experience is totally the opposite.....

According to me Sattva Rocks!! Love rules the world... Join me on this journey and see for yourself.