January the 14th

Something I have been meaning to post for a long time. If you came here because of my rampant tweeting, to know the conclusion of Mahabharata, Haha u r gonna have to wait till the next post. This one is all about Guruji's Pune visit
There I was sitting in my office mournful I might not get to go to Pune while my parents had already reached in the morning. By 3:15 I was totally downed and my started to play Guru Puja on its own. Suddenly my boss came, few minutes later I had permission to leave. It was 3:32 no way I was reaching in time for even end of Satsang. I reached my house, 15 mins walking distance quickly packed a few things, grabbed a rickshaw to the bust stop, another 5 mins. Upon reaching I inquired about the bus going to Pimpri. the conductors pointed at a nearby bus,"This one leaves at 3:50 next one is at 5". It was at that moment I realised it was still 3:47. Now reaching home itself should have taken till 3:45 add 5 minutes off packaging, another 5 for reaching bus stop 2-3 minutes lost in searching for rickshaw. This was the minimum time needed for everything, yet here i was doing in 15 mins that which required atleast 25.
So I am in the bus and off to Pimpri by 4pm. Now reaching the venue, I got down at the bus stop and my parents picked me up from there, amazingly I was still in time. meaning I had reached before 8.
Now Satsang goes great and I am looking for the girl who was supposed to bring my pass for the next days event. She Forgot!!! capital. so I go around the Satsang venue and find a stall for the event. Asked one of the volunteers for a pass of 1100 Rs the volunteer starts going through his bundle, looks up with a shocked smile "Last one".
next came the question of accommodation. I would definitely stay at my uncles but then how do I reach the next venue? Turns out the Satsang venue was actually 15 mins walking from my uncles house. Again I had a car to take me home :-)
Next day went to the venue with my father driving and uncle guiding, and returned the same way. In short I was extremely comfortable from beginning to end. (I also had a car to go home )
Guru of Joy ? Add Guru of comfort as well
Jai Gurudeva
Love,
Mihir.

I am Back

Sorry For the long gap people, but as Arnold would say, "I'll be Back", so am I. Quite honestly this post is not going to have anything interesting so you can stop reading Right NOW!!!

Its new year time and Santa has already visited. Got lots of stories to share, knowledge to upgrade oneself, Guru moments, Love bytes, and lot of my usual rambling.

When I logged in on blogger after a Long time( note the capital L) I saw my followers have gone up. Now I have 10 followers, God bless you people( No idea whatsoever,what they found so interesting :P ). Got a lot of things to do now, One of them being reading Stumbling Into Infinity( the bloody thing costed 850/- !!!!!!! but then again the awesomeness sets off the price). Going to end this here hope to get Five posts in three days (Damn Double shifts!!!)

For now lets just remember a simple Funda - Zero complaints Only Praises.

Jai Gurudeva

Love,

Mihir

Fear of loss..... Shadow of greed it is

Yoda's rather cryptic words from Star Wars episode III quite simple to understand like most of his statements are ;-) I have always wondered how Lucas got hold of such
knowledge one liners. This one (The title in case you haven't figured it out)
has got a whole new meaning to it again an instant post-kriya post. I so love Vikram Hazra for using Iphone apps for making posts to his blog, thanks to which I can make posts to MY blog using My Phone so this is also my first mobile post :-D
In my previous post I have given some, not so subtle signs of possesiveness and wanting of...... well m not gonna tell what or who as people have been asuming to know and understand me (Yeah right !!) and it had been bothering me along with other things, now here's where the fun begins
Going back to Guru Purnima with Mahesh Giriji (remember the last post B-) ) he had said that you should be able to let go "Chodna ana chahiya" interesting to hear, absolutely frightening to impliment. By no means is it impossible to implement but one where the intellect and mind are not ready to accept. A thousand excuses come up like 'what will be the purpose of my life if i lose this?' or 'whats the use of working so hard and then having to let it walk away?' 'Why to live if we can't get what we want?' etc etc..
Now all these excuses are quite logical and very convinient to follow but as Dumbledore says at the end of Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire "We all will have a choice between what is right and what is easy"
Now comes the big question why is it a right choice in the first place ?
Why is it so difficult to let go of things? Love? attachment and entanglement? why is there a fear of loss?
Those who have done an advance course will know the relation between fear and love.
All our actions are governed by fear
When we are sick we go to a doctor because we fear dying
People marry because of the fear of dying alone
They have children because they are afraid that they will not leave behind anything significant. Now the fear of loss is, like all the above are actually motivated by attachments which is very much NOT the same as Love at all. Now this is what Yoda says in Star Wars when you are attached to objects people or events the tail of misery follows but when you can love without being attached its a completely enjoyable regardless the result of the event or reaction of the person.
So whats the big deal with that you get to enjoy a little? but you can get to enjoy it for longer if you get to keep that object/person so why should you be ready to let go? Simple so that you can be happy without being miserable.
Now according to my experience events are the easiest to let go as they have already become "had beens" Already being in the past  there is not much that can be done about them so they are the easiest to let go
Then comes objects. Many things 'give' us pleasure, make us comfortable and "happy". So how to let go of this? The honest answer is that none of this is yours to begin with all that is "Yours" is actually a gift from the divine even your body is not your own and one day you will have to let go of that as well so whats the point of hankering to objects that are not yours.
The toughest are people to whom attachment, atleast for me, is highest and I for one still can't let go of a few people, despite the pain it causes and yet at times the knowledge overpowers the small mind and brings freedom so the only way to be truly free is to keep the prana high.
Incase you have not noticed all these put you in bondage where as being able to let them go sets you free to enjoy without reason.
So now the choice is yours be bound and enjoy with a limit or be free and enjoy limitlessly.
Now this does not mean that you should not want anything in life, it simply means knowing that whatever you need in life will be given to you AND whatever that is lost is not necessary for you.
So finally I will shut up and let you decide how this post is
Jai Gurudeva
Love,
Mihir

Kriya and Puja

Back from the end of a course not having done my kriya feeling tired. Reached after a long walk and a last minute Rickshaw, not having told anyone the real reason I had to leave so quickly (don't bother guessing, well actually u can but i wont tell :) ) Finally after the delay of the entire a day did my Kriya and this post came up ready made.....

Often I have heard Guruji and many teachers say 'Puja' means that which is born out of completeness or fullness. Today while doing Kriya I remembered something. "Sit to do your Kriya with an attitude of Gratitude" but even when I was getting through First stage of Pranayam "Gh**** gratitude how do I deal with all the pain that has been building in my for the entire day" and now it has reached a peak after something that happened at the course. Suddenly I couldn't feel the pain in my legs (General effect of Vajrasan, especially since I was sitting on a chair) as it was replaced by a pain in my heart region for a moment I thought I had a heart attack but realized it wasn't almost the next moment.

I could feel all the sadness and pain accumulated over the years that I have managed to hide with quick smiles and acting stupid started coming up. Some of the things that I had REALLLLYYYYYYY wanted to hide even from myself started coming to the front. By this time I had lost all control, half way through Second stage of Pranayam I started breathing normal breaths instead of Ujjai breaths. Now I though this embarrassing, what I didn't realize was the Really embarrassing thing is yet to come. Almost in tears because of all the suppressed memories I was not even sure I would be able to continue any further, I was just moving forward.

Somehow I managed to get back into Ujjai before finishing Second stage itself. Hear is where something interesting started happening. Even though the pain was still there I remembered what I had heard on Guru Purnima this year. Suddenly there was no effort in Third Stage and Bhastrika and the pain intensified, with tears from my eyes and mucus from my nose and sweat forming a horrible mixture on my face which very thankfully I could not feel because of the pain. The actual Kriya was a different experience all together something had changed dramatically and after a short meditation I got up and was already ready with this post in my Mind.

Now the important part, the knowledge that came to my rescue in my time of need. Mahesh Giriji had said that "We offer flowers, fruits, 'chandan' etc while doing the Guru Puja but you should do something else. Offer your anger, offer your Jealousy, offer all the negative qualities and you'll see that Puja happens by itself and such a Puja will be higher then any other simple Guru Puja". Today I was able to apply this.

Coming back to the starting of the post

So for the first time on this blog I am going to give everyone a task to experiment on. Here's the deal if you can't sit with an Attitude of Gratitude, gather all your anger, hatred, jealousy,greed, fear, laziness and sit for doing your short Sudarshan Kriya. After you finish your 3 rounds of slow-medium-fast just offer it to......... whoever you want, it doesn't really matter. Do tell me your experience, waiting to hear from you all (comment hear or mail me)

Jai Gurudeva,

Love,

Mihir.

P.S. Please excuse the length of the post :)

Jokes

Now awaiting my Graduation results so nothing much to give here. A course with Anjana Di today in Thane(Yeaaaaa) and DSN with the ultimate duo Bawa N Dinesh, also in Thane (*Lack of words to express excitement*) . A few jokes i got from here and there

Girlfriend(to boyfriend): What can u do for me?

Boyfriend : anything!!!!

Girl : Can u leave ur family for me?

Boy : Yes

G : Bring me money, clothes, jewelry as much as i want?

B : Yes

G: Get me stars, the moon, the sun?

B: Yes

G: Delete ur Facebook account?

B: Now really !! You ask too much

After the death of his wife, man asks friend " Quick get me a laptop"

Friend asks "Why?"

"I want to set my status to Single"

A boy was walking on road in the rain a girl comes to him and says why don't U share my

umbrella?

Boy- No thanks sister I like it this way

Moral............ nothing the Girl was not good looking :)

Jai Gurudeva,

Love,

Mihir

End OF Exams

Finally m done with my Graduation exams :). Now m Freeeeeeeeeee

Changed the look of the blog significantly to suit the mood for may release of Kung Fu Panda 2.

Nothing Much in this post about anything else. However Upcoming post includes miracles in exams which will again have to wait a few days due to .... well I got things to do :)

Jai Gurudeva,

Love,

Mihir

P.S. A special surprise coming up in the next post so stay tuned and sorry for the long silence

Bhastrika with the Big Bearded Guy

The concluding part of the summer magic advance course.

After the silence started the next day came sunday. Meaning lots of meditations (Trust me when I say they can be either the greatest pains or pleasures in life, having experienced both) and evening satsang with Guruji at the amphitheater in front of the Vishalakshi Mantap so that we could enjoy Two beautiful sights at the same time. The whole day was in silence when Guruji came in the amphitheater and said it would be the last day of silence " Tomorrow morning you will come out of silence" a bit of a shocker actually.

With a wonderful day the hour before the satsang was quite grueling as we experienced " Life at 40,000 feet", the story of life at Siachal Glacier and various other things that a person who becomes a soldier has to go through. The lesson learned is simple be grateful for having such a peaceful life and the next time you complain about how tough things are for you remember these guys of your age living in hell everyday. After this the satsang was very uplifting even though Guruji spoke mostly Kannada.

Monday started with sadhana and coming out of silence followed by Rudra Puja with Guruji. As if this Divine Experience was not good enough, Guruji met each and every single participant of the course and blessed all of them followed by a Bhastrika and short meditation. Thus ended the advance course.

But wait its not over yet. In the following 2 days we were briefed on the vastness of the projects of Art Of Living, IAHV and WAYE, like Rural development projects. Even so we got a chance to meet 1 more time that day.

On the last day I went to Sumeru Mantap for doing daily Sadhana, expecting the rest of my group but finding only 2 unknown people and couple of monkeys. Nevertheless I did my sadhana, by the time I finished others had come (btw I had started at 5 AM and Yes I had taken a cold water bath before going) so after they finished we did a quick photography session and half of us went to see BnD only to find Bawa praying and Dinesh da talking around on his phone looking full stud in full blue sweater and track pants. After that heard Bawa play a nice piece on his piano( I think it was a sonata). I discovered Gate no. 3 and after a short discussion with Priyamani (refer previous posts) and a smell of a tomato recipe, made from the tomatoes I had just bought (hehe) we left for breakfast and soon leaving Home to go for Home.

Thats all for now

Jai Gurudeva!

Love,

Mihir

A Date with the Divine (Summer Magic Part2)

After a ridiculously long break all thanks to my exams I can finally add the Part 2 to Summer Magic Part 1

After the first day's amazing morning sadhana, there were quite a few surprises for us in SM some of the most prominent being sessions on Kaara Thandav, Bharat Natyan, Sri Sri Rural Development Program etc etc.

As usual the Magic started with Amazing (G)race modeled after the Amazing Race (although this was a much cleaner version, except maybe for Cina) designed by none other than our beloved Priya Subramanian (as usual). If you have done a single YES!++ or have been around bawa and you still don't know her then go ki....ahem go and do an advance course in Banglore Ashram.Now that being its usual difficult self (its not called Amazing Grace for nothing you know) I was on the other side this time that is to say I was volunteering this time, so it was fun to tort... em irritate others rather than get irritated :).

After that the 1st evening I got to see Him, finally it was complete, the day, life , enjoyment etc. He came in, in His awesome graceful manner sat down on His chair and closed His eyes for meditating and for the first time ever I went into a deep meditation at the same time He closed His eyes. A Perfect Date with the Divine. Of course just because this is Art Of Living doesn't mean there aren't people who will interfere in other peoples dates just for their own greed, as was the case where some one started shouting "I love u Guruji" over and over while He was meditating. Again there was simultaneous breaking of meditation(no way to confirm, but I saw His eyes were only half open when mine were little more, so assumed). Overall it was an awesome first day and the awesomeness continued for the following days.

The next most interesting thing was the session with Rajeshree Patel. For those of you who don't know she is a very senior teacher born and brought up in the US, and by Senior I mean Senior (she's BawanDinesh's teacher so you should get what I mean). At the end of the hour it was a very elevating experience and the value addition is indescribably magnormous. Although the Knowledge is, so if any one wants I will put up a summed up version of the hour on the blog.

That evening after satsang the silence started and this post ends :)

Jai Gurudeva!

Love

Mihir

Sneak Peek: Tomorrow new post Bhastrika with the Big Bearded Guy (SM P-3) keep smiling keep loving, Keep doing sadhana,satsang,seva

IT HAS BEGUN - The first day

Its finally started, a 1000+ course with Bawa & Dinesh. Now I know my posts are excruciatingly long so I am going to keep this one short. Obviously the course was great fun with Dinesh Dada taking yoga, and making people run out of breath, the first timers had a tough time on Suryanamaskars and because of that really enjoyed Shavasan. With Bawa continuing from there it was a complete laughter and knowledge packed first day. He also promised to tell about mythological stories, if he is reminded every day. And lastly the coolest description of Ujjayi breath given by Bawa and was personal favorite "Ujjayi breath is that Darth Vader breath". Couldn't stop laughing after that.

Jai Gurudeva!

Love,

Mihir

Gudi Padva New Year

Hmm.....The first post in March, it was originally supposed to be about how great the party with Bawa, his parents, Dinesh Da and JD and whole bunch of fantastic people was. However due to reason which are even a mystery to me I have been unable to update, like 5 to 6 posts which included stuff like knowledge, stories, jokes, experiences and what not, but since I haven't done it yet I will just say a 'little' bit about everything that has happened.

Firstly I did my Sahaj Course with Bawa and Dinesh Dada incidently I have done most of my courses with them. Obviously the course was fun filled, knowledge packed, and strangely action included. As soon as the daily session would end Bawa would go and play on the swing downstairs. I joined him once or twice but no one to take our photo, since I was taking most of the Photos, which are now posted on Facebook. The following week I met Bawa every single day till the Party. You can imagine my overflowing joy (and satva) because of his company.

Next the Party. It was truly a event worth remembering, the cause, not only was it the Anniversary of Bawa's parents but had the added joy of JD's birthday (hope he doesn't mind me using his name like this, well everyone does in the same way). So along with Guru Puja, Satsang and Anniversary cake, there was also Birthday Cake, music & dance. Not to mention a chaotically funny Musical Chairs. The party had a finishing touch with Bawa's fantastic cooking, a recipe whose name I failed to know. Overall it was a really awesome, great fun filled party.

Alright now the last part (sigh), we heard lots of great stories during Sahaj and sessions with Bawa and Dinesh Dada. It goes without saying there was some wonderful knowledge. Another thing that most people should know by know our dedicated channel YESPLUS TV has new series of Videos called Technology of Spirituality, A talk by our beloved Bawa in Ruia College. Don't DARE to miss watching it here is the link.

Thats all for now Wishing everyone a very prosperous and happy new year this Gudi Padva or rather as Guruji said "Happy Years!" in advance

Jai Gurudeva!

Love,

Mihir

In Contrast

In my last post I wrote any extremely long, well stuff saying how modern youth are facing a lot of problems and that YES!+ can solve them. In a recent session with Bawa, he said the most interesting thing about YES!+. What he said was

"This course is not especially designed for depressed, sick, suicidal people, we haven't opened a mental assylum. Its very much true that the course helps such people a lot to come out of depression, stress etc. The course is actually for happy people, you know when someone says I am anyways happy with my life I reply that you are qualified to do the YES!+ course. The course is designed keeping in mind the most happiest and the most saddest people and how to bring out the best in each of them so they can enjoy life. I tell happy people if you want to continue being happy do the course"

So now when someone makes fun about us doing the course, we can proudly say that 'I did the course was for my overall personal development and not b'coz I was depressed.' Anyways the YES!+ logo itself says 'Accelerating Excellence' and not 'Curing Depression'. So lets accelerate and make March 18th course a historical course.

Jai Gurudeva!

Love,

Mihir

P.S.:Coming soon some really nice stories (and possibly pictures) from recent course

Protect the endangered species "Stress-free,happy Youth"

We all from the YES!+ team of entire Mumbai, Navi-Mumbai,Thane to Kalyan(maybe even beyond) have taken up the challenge to protect a rapidly decreasing, now endangered species- "a healthy, stress free, happy Youth". It is quite a challenging task as knowingly or unknowingly everyone is contributing to the end of this very rare species.

Today youngsters face a wide array of problems like handling things. Teenagers have so many things to handle ........ studies, private tutions, emotions, girlfriends/boyfriends, hobbies (which people seem to have to less time for). Relations are a major problem during the age of 16 to 21 the primary reason is that the teenager is considered as a young adult (meaning people say 'you are not a child to have this' and at the same time, 'you are too young for this') so there is absolutely no understanding what he/she should do and not do. Result is constant arguements between parents and children. The child feels parents don't understand him, while the parents feel the child doesn't understand them, incidently both are correct as neither one listens to what other is saying. Well if I continued this post would be endless, the point is youth today are facing problems to which they are unable to find answers. When answers run out the youth see Suicide as the only option (which actually creates more problems then it solves).

Now there are some lucky ones who do find some answers (like me) which help them excel in what they do. Life suddenly becomes a full of fun, enthusiasm and love.

The YES!+ course aims at the overall development of the Youngsters and help them conquer their lives.

For further details click here

Jai Gurudeva!

Love,

Mihir

The Start

Hmmm...... My First Blog.

A little about me, I am a student, doing my Bachelors in Commerce and also training to be a Chartered Accountant. The most interesting part of my life is that I am a volunteer for WAYE the youth section of The Art Of Living Foundation, founded by His Holiness Sri Sri Ravishankar Ji, whom we lovingly call Guruji. The reason for that is, because of the YES!+ course there has been a transformation in the very quality of my life and is now my life's greatest passion.

To begin with, this blog is about anything and everything I can think of (normally or while at a potty break). This includes things like Guruji, studies, games (computer,console,board,outdoor,etc.), The Art Of Living Foundation, WAYE(World Alliance For Youth Empowerment), YES!+ courses, my teachers, friends, Guru Stories, stories, experiences, jokes, riddles etc.

With this said this blog will also include some good Q&A from my teachers and of course dearest Guruji.

Also links to interesting stuff will be posted as soon as possible.

Wasn't really sure what to write, until I sat down to write even so wrote lot more than I thought.

Jai Gurudeva!

Love

Mihir