What would life look if......

Long long ago, when I used to live in Bangalore, one of my brother's friend came for an evening chat. He used to Meditate. Out of my curiosity, I asked him what does he get by Meditating. He said "I will give you a demo. I will now keep my index finger very close to your forehead, between the eyebrows. I will not touch you. Keep your eyes closed and you tell me, if you feel any sensation at that point". I felt a strong dose of energy between the eyebrows and was very intrigued by it. I really wanted to learn more about it. Later, he took me to his class and that's how I got introduced to Meditation.

After coming to the US and getting carried away with the everyday grind, i totally lost touch and have even forgotten how to Meditate. Sometimes life felt so dry and the years just passed by. Sometimes, i didn't really know why I do the things we do everyday but just do it for the sake of it. Things appeared so meaningless. I grew impatient, grumpy and always ended up in arguments with people around. It became very evident that i had to do something about it.

That's when i saw a bumper sticker in a car about Art Of Living. I signed up for the class and learnt the Sudarshan Kriya. I was totally blown away by the Sudarshan Kriya experience. After a long time, i experienced such deep calmness and peace inside me. I was completely relaxed and energized. Practicing the Sudarshan Kriya every day started saving me from many everyday problems, which otherwise I'd get pulled into. I also noticed I no longer get those frequent sinus problems I used to have. Sudarshan Kriya was (still is) like my Magic Pill.

It was one of the session on the Art Of Living Silence Program. We were listening to the founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's discourse, where he shared some knowledge about life. That made me realize that there are deeper meanings to life more than what I see and feel. This gave so much Hope to me. Life no longer looked so empty or meaningless.

When ever i go through challenging or difficult times, I began to rely on Sudarshan Kriya, Meditation, Knowledge and Prayer. This combination became my Strength, Hope and Solace.

Now, if i were to imagine my life, with out Guruji Sri Sri, or the Sudarshan Kriya or Meditation, it appears so barren, so bleak and so hopeless. Can't really think of what I would have done without.

World Cultural Festival Travelogue

Ever since I booked the flight ticket to Delhi for World Cultural Festival (March 11, 12, 13 of 2016), I had been planning for the travel.

I was planning about how many days should I take off from work, when to travel, where to stay, what to pack and what to do those three days in Delhi. I booked a nice hotel via Sumeru, made arrangement to get Indian sim card, planned how much money to take with me and even notified the bank that I would be using my Credit Card in India.

Slowly things seemed to come together. I had put a lot of thoughts and had carefully planned each and every part of the travel. As the day was getting close, I refined the plan several times and made sure that there won't be any last minute surprises. I thought, what a wonderful plan this had turned out to be and was getting more and more confident every day about the travel. I wanted to make sure that every thing is thought through and the travel is as comfortable as it could be. Little did I know that the Nature had a totally different plan for me.

When I woke up on the day of the travel, I noticed I had over slept. I was more than an hour behind schedule but I was still confident. After all I had planned every single hour of this travel. What could possibly go wrong?. When I opened my eyes after the morning meditation, I noticed I was very much behind the schedule.

As we drove to the Caltrain station, the morning rush had already begun and we were stuck in a traffic jam. The traffic was moving so slow that my Plan A (catch 9:00 train), Plan B (catch 9:15 train) and Plan C (catch 9:30 train) all failed. We arrived at the station after narrowly missing 9:30 train. The next train was only at 10:05 which would make it difficult to be on time for checking in at the airport. I started to worry a bit if I would make it on time for check in at the airport.

I ran to the taxi stand hoping to take a taxi to the airport. Atleast that should get me to the airport on time, I thought. But when i reached the taxi stand, it was all empty and it made me anxious.

Having no other options, I took the caltrain and all through the journey I was praying that I should reach the airport on time. Just then, the Caltrain broke down near Burlingame. The Caltrain officials had no clue what went wrong and did not know how long will it take to fix it. All they could tell was a technician was on the way.

I started to feel desperate. After taking a few deep breaths, i called a taxi which arrived in 10 minutes. I explained my situation to the taxi driver. He really did a good job and dropped me in San Francisco International Departure as fast as he could. I thanked him much.

At the check in counter, I told the official, that I'm late and requested her to let me check in for the flight. She looked at my travel plan and said, "Sir, your flight was at 12:00 early morning and you are here at 11:00 after noon. You have already missed your flight"

That moment, it felt as if all my planning fell apart. All my hope of attending World Cultural Festival just vanished. Felt totally helpless and empty.

Part of me said, there will be a way, drop all your doership and pray for help. I closed my eyes and prayed.

I asked the lady at the counter, "So, what do I do now? What are my options? I really have to go to Delhi. Help me"

She said there is another flight leaving in an hour and she can transfer my booking to it. "There will be a small No Show fine for missing your flight", she said and asked me "Do you like a window seat or aisle?". My eyes were lit and the heart was filled with joy. I told her she was God sent to me, grabbed the boarding pass and ran to the security check.

She warned that the connection in Singapore is very tight. I looked at the Singapore - Delhi boarding pass. It had only the boarding time and not the actual departure time. The boarding time was given as 1:30 a.m.

Our flight got very much delayed in Seoul, South Korea. It was 1:30 a.m. and time for boarding the Singapore - Delhi flight but we still haven't landed in Singapore yet. Once again the feeling of uncertainty gripped me and I again prayed for help.

We landed only at 1:45 a.m. in Singapore and by the time I got of the plane it was 2:00 a.m. We ran to the terminal for the connection and we made it just on time. We were the last ones to board the Delhi flight. They closed the door as soon as we boarded and began preparations for take off.

Reached Delhi and I went to the hotel which I booked through Sumeru. Looks like Sumeru changed my hotel reservation to a different hotel and did not communicate this clearly to me. I also did not pay much attention to the detail in their email and was totally unaware of this change. When I checked in at the hotel, they not only didn't find my reservation and did not have any vacancy. I insisted that i need a room. The manager found out that one room would be vacated in an hour and requested me to be patient. He gave me some tea, setup wifi on my phone, showed me the wash room, gave me my indian sim card and helped me set it up. I got a place to stay.

The World Cultural Festival was a treat to the Eyes and Ears. There were wonderful Performances by people from all around the World. It was such an splendid event that the mind was stuck with wonder looking at the sheer Magnanimity and the Size of the Event. Every single performance was co-ordinated so beautifully and so perfectly. The whole program execution seemed perfect and flawless. Thousands of artists who have practised separately for the event, performed in unison on the stage on their very first attempt. There were Songs, Dance performances, Music and Renditions by people of so many different cultures, backgrounds and ethnicities.

It was a huge stage. Guruji Sri Sri said the stage is an Engineering Marvel that no foundations were laid and it is a floating structure.

There were dignitaries from all over the world. Guruji Sri Sri was invited by both the Australian and British Prime Ministers to hold the next World Cultural Festival in their respective countries.

It appeared as if everybody wanted to be part of this event. The Rain God showered.

 

 

The Sun God put out a nice 'Sun Set' Performance. The Clouds had some mesmerizing formation. All of this combined with the lighting arrangements on the Stage, was a Sight to see and behold.

Guruji Sri Sri has successfully brought together a large section of people from different religions, faiths and backgrounds. Only such events give the much needed Hope and Faith to the Humanity.

Sitting next to me, was a lady from Mongolia. She didn't speak English or any local language. I communicated with her using signs. I wonder how she managed to get there. Every time Guruji appeared on the stage, her face  lit up so bright and she took selfies with the stage in the background. One could hardly make out Guruji being so far from the stage but that didn't matter at all. When ever we saw Guruji waving his hands on the big screen, the crowd would cheer all out. It was magical.

It was so evident that Guruji Sri Sri has reached out to so so many millions of people all around the world and touched many many lives. I felt it was a great privilege to participate in the World Cultural Festival. I enjoyed it thoroughly, met so many diverse people, danced in the rain, forgot pretty much everything mundane in life.
I personally met and interacted with people from Brazil, Canada, Argentina, Mongolia, Malaysia, Several Arab Countries, several Indian States, Australia, Canada, etc., Everyone seemed so happy to have come to World Cultural Festival inspite of what ever they had to go though to get here.

We we all meditated, I only remember closing my eyes. Don't know what happened afterwards. Then we heard, "You can slowly and gradually open the eyes". Don't how long that was. Don't know what happened. It was an Awesome Meditation for World Peace.

I had a wish to meet my Art of Living Friends in India. But where will I go searching for them in that 3.5 million strong gathering. But, on the second day while returning back to the hotel, I casually ran into them. I was very happy to meet Sreenivasan, Ramki, Bala and others.

The next day one Volunteer who was responsible for the hotel <-> venue transport, showed us what appeared to be a sewage pond. It was filled with bushes, the water was dark, muddy and a strong stench was coming out of it that no one went near it. He said that is part of the Yamuna river running in that place and it has been like that ever since. It was so sad to see the state of the river. Only Art of Living has been involved in the cleaning of the river. It seemed much more cleaning was needed. It appeared as if no one else was involved. But a few days before the World Cultural Festival, a few people suddenly raised allegations against Art of Living that it is polluting Yamuna though Art of Living is the only Organization that has done cleanup work in Yamuna.

Every News Channel and Media started spreading these allegations as if they were waiting for this moment. Every single information was blown out of proportion in what appeared to be an organized act to defame Sri Sri and Art of Living.

Sri Sri stayed very calm through out. The way he handled these issues and kept his poise through out is remarkable. It is a privilege to be Guruji's disciple. Bringing together millions of people from different religions, backgrounds, ethnicity and countries together for World Peace is not a small task. Guruji His Holiness Sri Sri has been doing this many times now. The media don't seem to be interested in reporting this phenomena but only shows interest to blow up and report baseless allegations. So sad.

Felt so happy for attending World Cultural Festival and so grateful for Guruji Sri Sri for organizing one and the family for all their support.

Jai Gurudev !!!

A Guru Story

This incident happened a few years ago in my life. I suddenly found myself amidst a big financial problem. It was partly due to my ignorance about certain rules and regulations. A big amount was at stake. It happened all of a sudden and I was so shocked, startled and shaken. The problem seemed so big and there seemed to be no way out of it. Even if there is a way out, the chances were very less and it could take few years of fighting and negotiating.

It felt as if the hands were tied up and we had to live through uncertainty of things for along time with the end no where in sight.

I had the opportunity to meet my Guruji His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. I wrote in a piece of paper to help me out of the problem and managed to give it to him.

From that moment over several months, the problem very slowly subsided inch by inch and at last, after an year, there was light at the end of the tunnel. It was such a big relief. It felt as if a huge burden was lifted off the back.

During this time, I met a famous astroger Mr. Manikandan (Mani Uncle). He is father-in-law of Ram Nambiar, who is a very nice Art of Living teacher and a friend. He was able to say a lot of things just by looking at our chart. He even guided me as when to make certain moves. It was a blessing that I met Mani Uncle, some one who helped me with love and care without expecting anything in return. He was God sent to me.

Cristinga Giner is a wonderful attorney. She is very honest, has in-depth knowledge, sincere and kind hearted. It was by God's grace that I met her. She skilfully help me out of this ordeal.

I learned to chant Vishnu Sahasranamam from a wonderful friend in Art of Living, Tara Raghu. I used to chant it almost everyday those times which gave me hope and courage to go though the situation. It was Karthika Ramki who pulled me into this class.

So grateful for Guruji His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and the Art of Living Family he has given us!!!

Jai Gurudev!!!

India Trip 2014

India Trip 2014

We had a very memorable India Trip in 2014. I had a chance to visit different temples in such a short time. I'm capturing those moments in the blog before life starts to race again and i get carried by its demands.

Trip to Thirupathy

After more then 10 years I was visiting Thirupathy. This time I had to go alone. I took a train from Cuddalore to Thirupathy. It was such a comfortable and relaxed journey by Train. The train started from cuddalore (port station) around 8:30 in the morning and reached Thirupathy around 5:30 in the evening.

I went to a Police Information Booth and also to Temple Devasthanam Desk to enquire about how to get to the temple, what are the transportation options available, how to make a donation, etc., They could not provide any clear answers. All they were able to say was take a bus to the Thirumala Bus Stand and enquire there. Luckily there were so many buses plying from the Railway station to the Thirumala. I took a bus, reached Thirumala around 7 p.m. and started collecting the details I needed.

There is so much information one needs to know when visiting the Thirupathy Temple, which is just not available on the internet, not on sign boards and not any where else. Only by talking to the appropriate people, one gets to know these information. I found it very frustrating. Most of the times, even if someone doesn't know the answer to a question, no one here says "I don't know". Everyone gives some answer, correct or not.

But the beauty is that everything happened so smoothly for me. I was able to collect all the info I needed, started my trek the next day early morning and reached the temple around noon. Food was available throughout the climb. Filtered water was available for free in the temple premises. Stood in the queue for ~6 hours and had a good darshan of Lord Venkatachalapathy. Felt so happy and satisfied at the end.

When I saw that they have kept my cell phone so safely in the cloak room and returned it to me after darshan, I was so relieved. Everything happened right. Such a memorable trip to Thirupathy.

Family Deity

Our family deity is in a village called "Kodikulam" near Madurai. All the family members, went there and Maanini's hair offering ceremony went well. It was a very hot day.

Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple

Madurai Meenakshi Temple is one of the very famous temples in India. We had a good darshan of Meenakshi Amman and Sundareshwar.

Pillaiyarpatti Temple

We also visited Pilliyarpatti temple

Kundrakudi Murugan Temple

This temple is located on a small hill and we enjoyed the hike on the hill.

Aruppukottai Muthu Mari Amman Koil

I used to go to this Muthu Mari Amman Koil since child hood. I always use to think that this is such a powerful temple. Just by visiting the temple, there is so much peace, calmness and stillness in the mind.

Aruppukottai Sivan Koil

I used to visit this temple also regularly since child hood.

Ashtavakra Gita - The Wealth of Knowledge

A Wonderful Discourse on Ashtavakra Gita by Sri Sri

A group of us recently listened to a wonderful discourse given by His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Ashtavakra Gita. Ashtavakra Gita is said to be a dialog that happened between a sage, Ashtavakra and a very learned, wise King, Janaka. The dialog starts with a very simple conversation and unfolds very deeper aspects of life, nature of mind, qualities of the self and so on.

I should say it is a powerful discourse. His Holiness Sri Sri talks about so many subjects relating to our every day life. This discourse in a gentle way made me realize some of my own patterns that I have in my life. It also helped me to see things from a bigger prespective.

As the weeks went on and on, I noticed that I was able to let go of my own little ideas, concepts and connect with myself and the rest of the group in a much deeper level.

At the end of every session, I was left with the feeling of wonder, a sense of relief, contemptment and freedom.

I used to (still use to) have some really strong ideas, optinions, about things in life. In a way this has given some sort of rigidity, stubbornness, assertiveness in life. The knowledge of Ashtavakra Gita is so subtile, but yet so powerful. It helped me look at some of the patterns I have in my life and even let go some of them.

After watching the discourse, I feel soft, tender and connect with me and others in a better way. Thanks to His Holiness for the wonderful discourse on Ashtavakra Gita.

Our Group Manimozhian, Parag Agarwal, Sriram Hariharan, Varinder, Rachna Reddy, Monica Bansal and Seema Singh.

Jai gurudev,
-Mathi
November, 2, 2012
Sunnyvale, CA

2012 India Trip

2012 Trip to India

Our 2012 trip to India was a fantastic one. I throughly enjoyed every single day. Ramiya and Niranjan spent 2 full months from June 15, 2012 to Aug 15, 2012 in India. I left after Guru Poornima Celebrations in Art of Living Ashram in Boone in the presence of His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

Transit in Seoul and Singapore

As the travel was tiring, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the Seoul airport and the Singapore airport both had Prayer/Meditation Hall. Singapore airport had separate room for Meditation and Prayer. I happily went there did my meditation and Sudarshan Kriya to get rid of the fatigue and tiredness. So happy to see places across the world becoming meditators friendly.

Transit in Singapore was a much more pleasant experience. There were facilities where people can take a nap, have shower, spend time (like the butterfly garden), have nice food and much more. There is even a free Singapore city tour. On top of all that, there is this awsome free foot massage. All these made the transit in Singapore a memorable experience.

Chennai

Ragupathy, a friend of mine came to receive me at the airport. I met him after several years.

Guru Purnima 2011

Art of Living Guru Purnima Celebrations 2011

We usually don't miss guru purnima celebrations as it is a sacred day. Guruji says, it is the day the devotee looks at the progress he has made on the path in the past one year. It is the day of the Guru and the disciple. A very special day to be around with the Guru.

After the Berlin trip my confidence was so high. I thought if we could manage the Berlin trip with so much ease, how hard could a trip to neighboring Canada be. Ramiya wanted to go to Niagra and I also wanted to visit our Maternal Uncle who lives in Toronto.

I quickly looked at Google maps. Niagra, Toronto, Montreal all of them appeared so close to each other. I thought the places are quite close and booked my flight ticket to Buffallo (nearest airport to Niagra), booked a rental car from there and planned to drive down to Montreal and Toronto.

I was so proud for making such a fantastic plan. I borrowed a GPS with canada maps from a friend, Prabhat, took printout of directions just to be safe, noted down all the addresses and contact numbers, booked the tickets and was all set to go.

The day before our departure, when I was looking at the directions, I noticed that Montreal from Buffalo is a 8 hour long drive.

Suddenly, there was a pinch somewhere deep inside, did I over look something? We were supposed to reach Buffalo at mid night and drive from there to Montreal. Guru Poornima Celebration was on the next day. Is it even possible to drive 8 hours straight and reach the ashram on time for Guru Poornima Celebrations? Attending Guru Poornima Celebrations was the whole intention behind the trip. If not for Guru Poornima, the whole trip looked so barren. I was concerned.

Before leaving for the airport, I prayed that everything goes smoothly. I prayed that I reach Art of Living Ashram in time for Guru purnima.

Guess What!!!

Our first flight got delayed by 3 hours. The crew found some problem after all the passengers had boarded the plane and when it was ready to take off. We had no choice but to wait for 3 hours on the plane.

All my plans and my doership fell flat on my face. I realized that if we miss the connecting flight, there is no way to reach Buffallo on time, rent a car, do a marathon 8 hours drive and reach the ashram for Guru Poornima Celebrations. For a second, I felt so helpless. I then prayed and prayed to Guruji that I want to be present for Guru Poornima Celebrations. How much i wanted to be for GP celebrations, I prayed with all that intensity. Don't know how many times I changed "Om Nama Shivaya".

So, the first flight landed in texas 3 hours late. Obviously the connecting flight has departed. I was anxious and nervous to find out about the next flight to Buffallo. I went to the counter. The lady at the counter greeted me with a smile and said "Sir, your next flight is tomorrow morning. You have to stay in texas for the night". I said "No, I have to be in Buffallo tonight somehow. Please check again". She replied, "Sir, I understand your situation. There is nothing I can do. I'm sorry". I could not take that answer. I kept telling her "Please check again. There has to be a way". I just stood there repeating the same thing. After 5 minutes, she said, "Wait a minute, there is another plane and you are already checked in on that". She was wonder stuck how that happened. I screamed "Yes" and ran to the terminal. It was the same plane that took us from San Jose to Texas and when all of the passengers have boarded the plane, they discovered the same problem that happened in the morning and delayed the flight by 2 hours once again.

Still it was very unsure if we will land in Buffallo on time. They close the rental car place by 1:30 a.m. We need to be there before that. I started chanting and praying once again. All my thoughts were "I just want to be in the Ashram when Gurudev chants Guru Pooja". After another long wait, we eventually departed from Texas. Surprise. The second flight did not have a stop over on the way unlike our original plan. That saved us enough time and we reached Buffallo exactly when we were supposed to be as per the original plan. I was so happy.

I was so grateful looking at how things have been unfolding the whole day until I found that our baggage did not arrive. I had put all my electronic stuff including GPS on the baggage. I thought i would check at the Car Rental place to give us a car with GPS. We went to the Car Rental and the lady at the counter says "I'm sorry sir. We only keep a limited number of GPS units only for those who have booked for it". I thought how can I ever drive from Buffallo to Montreal without a GPS? I have never been to these places. I just don't know the directions. I told her, "I really need one. Please check once again if you have an extra GPS". She said "I'll see what I can do". She checked her system and after some time, tells me "Sir, we have exactly one more car of the same type you booked with a GPS. Do you want it?" I said "Jai Gurudev".

Though I consider myself educated when it comes to using gadgets, I just could not get the GPS to work. I can not punch in the Ashram's address at all. All I can put in was Montreal and get the GPS to show directions just till Montreal. After trying unsuccessfully for 5 minutes, I thought it is already getting late, may be I should start driving and figure out the rest once we reach Montreal. We started driving. It was such a beautiful night drive. The beautiful full moon was giving me company all through the night. I felt so contempt and relaxed as I drove through those empty free ways one after the other. It was so beautiful to see the first rays of morning Sun Light. We crossed the border and as we got closer to Montreal the traffic picked up and the GPS didn't work after that. We relied on the google map print outs to go to the Ashram from Montreal.

It was like a puzzle. We were not 100% sure about the route, but had no choice to go that way because the GPS didn't work. It was 8'O clock in the morning. I stopped at a gas station just to confirm if we are going on the correct path. The people at the gas station spoke only French and they didn't understand me at all. Once again just when I thought it would make me confident if some one can confirm the direction, a person walked into the gas station and did just that.

Finally we arrive at the Canadian Ashram at 9:30 a.m. I saw a friend James, telling me that Guru Pooja is at 10 a.m. We quickly had our shower and rushed towards the hall. On the way we saw a crowd and people shouting "Guruji, Guruji". And there was Guruji walking barely a few feet away from me going from his kutir to the Meditation Hall for Guru Poornima Celebrations. We happily followed him and as we entered the hall, Guruji started chanting Guru Pooja. My heart felt so full and didn't want to come out from there at all.

All my plans fell flat. All my preparations didn't help. But we reached the Ashram just on time for Guru Poornima Celebrations. Some how things fell in place one after the other and we ended up at the Ashram at the right time. It still gives me goose bumps and gratitude when I think about how it all happened.