River Rejuvenation Project ..

Jai Gurudev !!

Volunteers involved in constructing recharge pits as part of Kuudvathi river rejuvenation project at Yentaganehalli village near Bangalore

Recent involvement in a River rejuvenation project in villages near Bangalore is keeping my spirit high and giving a more gratifying feeling within me !!

 

Inspired by Guruji , Art of Living volunteers are invloved in a River called Kumudvathi river rejuvenation project . The river which is dried at present totally is the focal point. The Bore water is not available even at 1200 ft underground in those villages near Bangalore around Nelamagala. 

 

Hence ,the volunteers have taken up about 6 villages , where this river was flowing to the brim once, and started constructing recharge pits and soak pits , to increase the water inflow into the ground , thereby replenishing the ground water level in over a period of 2/3 years.

 



Parallely , the villagers and the kids as well are also given life skills to manage stress and water replenishing  awareness programs . The kids are taught pranayama , yoga etc along with Drawing competions, Hair style making competitions etc. It's very nice to see the kids active participation  with full enthusiasm and interest .

 

 

 

Love & smiles...

 

Maha Shivrathri - A Great experience !!

Jai Gurudev !!

This Sunday , Mar 10 being the Maha Shivrathri , the Art of Living Ashram had planned wonderful events as part of the Maha Shivrathri celebrations at Bangalore Ashram . Earlier , it used to happen at different other locations .

Hence, I had also planned to be there along with my center people and acquire the graceful moments .

Close to a Lakh people would have visited the ashram , I believe . Devotees  from 60 countries had attended the function. All people , young and old alike, youths and kids , aged , men and women alike had participated , none to leave .People from all over the world and all over the country were present at the occasion.





About 252 Gram Devathas had visited and graced the ashram  on this auspicious night. That means the village deities from 252 different villages in and around Bangalore has been invited. That was a wonderful sight watching them bring their Gods with all instrumentals and associated dance troups.

Guruji had started the Live Kriya Himself , which the people had definitely found a Great and amazing difference than the regular taped Kriya versions.

Followed by the Sudarshan Kriya was the  Rudra Puja with Shiva Chamakam  continued for about an hour , the Puja was performed by Guruji to the Shiv Linga and other priests were assisting Guruji. Vedic Chants were going on , chanted by small Veda Patashala kids and pundits .Guruji was seen with utmost devotion and 100 percent concentration towards the Puja and he went into deep meditation for about an hour afert that  , when the whole Yagna shala or the Hall was reverberating with the Shiva Bhajan songs. All the people participated , their energy level was at a very high , after the Kriya and Puja and the Gram Devathas too.

Guruji had also participated in a couple of  Bhajans, once he came out of the Meditation  and blessed the people.

That was a really a Blissful Shivrathri , which I ever had experienced in my life. A memorable one indeed !!

Love & smiles...



The Forbidden City- China Tour XV

Jai Gurudev !!

 

 

 

 

When we visited the Tinnanmen Square in the late afternoon of one weekend , we just roamed around the  place and happened to see a typical Chinese Architecture opposite to the Square , with Red colour flag posts installed in the front  .Then there was a picture of a leader hanged in the front wall , which I came to know later asthe Mao Leader , Chairman Mao .We could see his photo embossed in calendars, wall hangings , Chinese paper fans and other articles too , while shopping. T

his architecture , I just thought , an official building , something similar to the Vidhan Soudha at Bangalore . And we returned back after taking a trip at Tinnanmen Square not showing much interest to visit this architecture . One thing caught my attention was , huge flocks of people were seen moving to this place , which induced interest in that architecture.

The next weekend , we planned  to visit another famous tourist spot at Beijing  , that is "The Forbidden City "  . When we searched for the train route , it indicated the same spot , "The Tinnanmen Square" .

The Entrance to the Forbidden City is nothing but that  same old architecture hosting the  Mao leader's photo ,which came as little surprise indeed !!

 

  We never thought , Forbidden City would be such a Big place , which we have ever seen in our life. In fact it is a Chinese Palace , which comprises of many palatial buildings in series . We need to walk and walk  to just have a quick glimpse of it. If we want to see the things in detail , then a full day is not sufficient to appreciate it's significance , I guess.

People both Chinese and foreigners come in huge crowds to visit this place. The entrance is really attractive  with colurful flowers welcoming us. We need to pay a lumpsum entry ticket fee of about Rs.500 in Indian currency .

At the entrance, before the ticket counter , on the way , a wall size mirror fixed on the building attracted us , where we can see our own picture in the photograph we take.

 

There are several palatial buildings lined up one after another in series , with lengthy space in between , named as Palace of Tranquil Longevity , Palace of Supreme Tranquility , Palace of Heavenly Purity , Hall of Supreme Harmony , Hall of Preserving Harmony etc. There were also shrines seen among the bulidings . The emperors seemed to have lived in those buildings. I wonder , how many people are required maintain that place.

 

The thrones , the courts , the giant sized Urns , used for cooking purpose or boiling water was also spotted . There was an attractive Lion statue with the Chinese get up ,guarding one of the buildings inside .

 

By the time , we moved from the entrance to exit , we got exhausted, our energy level drained , partly because of the bright sunny weather too  . At the exit side  , we could see a huge water body surrouding the palace , perhaps constructed for safety reasons of the emperors.

In fact ,we covered only a part of the Forbidden City , another part , with terrace garden stuffs , we omitted for obvious reasons of time insufficiency .

 

The name - Forbidden is very apt , we have to call it a city , indeed  !!

Love & smiles...

 

Church at Beijing - China Tour XIV

Jai Gurudev !!

There are not much Churches that we can spot in Beijing. My colleage , in fact had to seek the help of the internet to locate a church in Beijing and gathered  the necessary details like place & route to visit the Church . He was very eager to visit the Church and offer his prayers there.

Hence one Sunday , we went to the Lama Temple and from there , we planned to go to the Church.
Since , my other friend was not feeling well, we had to pause in the midway and took rest in a Mobile shop , when my colleague visited the Church and returned. Hence , we diid not get the opportunity to go to the Church there.
But from his words, we could make out that , that's a wonderful place.And not much of the Chinese were seen around . Once again , only foreigners could be spotted there in the Church. And the time, he went , there was a wedding ceremony going on in the Church , he said.
He prayed and captured a lovely photograph of the Church and returned with a filled heart of having visited the Jesus in Beijing too...
As far as the Chinese marriage is concerned, it will  not take place in a religious hall  , but in hotels or some halls. Secondly , the Chinese follow the strict practise of "One Man- One Woman policy " , after marriage .
As long as the discipline is maintained, is there a need for a religion ?!

Love & smiles...

 

Xiu-Tsui Market - China Tour XIII

Jai Gurudev !!

1. 

Going all the way to China , our mind naturally thinks of doing shopping of the world famous , " Cheap & Best " China articles - especially electronic gadgets , though we were aware that we would be landing up buying fake items .

We started enquiring about the famous shopping place in Beijing and identified that " Xiu Tshui" market is one such place.

After gathering information about the way to Xiu Tshui market , we took the subway train and reached there , after visiting the Lama temple , only to find that that is something similar to Burma Bazaar of our place .

Xiu Tsui Market st Beijing



HandBags Shop at Xiu Tsui



Xiu Tshui market , as the name implictaes is not a market sort of place, but resembles the mall culture. It is a 9 floor building. Each floor equips many shops of items of one particular sorts , say 4 th floor is exculsively for electronic items like Mobiles, Laptops etc. Another foor  is for leather articles, handbags & suitcases. In the nineth floor, there is a hotel . All the shops look alike and we miss out the way quite often due to this .



The shops look as glossy as the glittering items present in it. Decorative and bright lightings illuminate the whole place inside the building co. Added to this is the fascinating looks of the chinese sales girls , who dress themselves up so attractively and stand at the entrance of each shop and welcome the customers by calling out to them  . They speak good English compartively to the other chinese . I remember one most commonly word used by all of them , that is,  " Friend-a " in their conversation . Their complexion and the shiny and  polished looks is something to be really admired at.

Xiu Tshui market is exclusively for all the foreign consumers , I think , because , hardly any chinese customers were seen there. Those young sales girls easily recognise us Indians and do not entertain us as much as the other foreigners. Their general opinion is that , we , Indians bargain to the lowest price. 

In general , we could see 90 percent of the shop keepers were only ladies , some were found pregnant , some with kids , yet they do the business with so much zeal and interest .

In the beginning of our shopping , we were shocked to hear the price of the items , marketed there. Later , we realised , the price tag shows about 10 times the actual price of the item. And one needs to do extensive bargaining with those girls, to shop effectively  . I feel it was something like a game sort , very funny.

Much of the shopping time gets wasted due to this bargaining game.And we get exhausted totally due to this bargaining . All the electronic gadgets sold were fake ones. People from Hyderabad had come in huge numbers to buy these items exclusively in lots. The handbags were very pretty and the prices were even prettierI mean costlier .

The toy items and gift articles were so tempting to buy , even we managed to bargain and picked few.We also purchased few fake mobiles like Samsung Galaxy II , watches , handbags etc..

And when we left the Xiu Tshui market , we felt that the shopping experience was not regular and common  , but a different  one altogether ... 

Love & smiles...

Volunteer for a Better India ...

Jai Gurudev !!
 

 

 

 

This Sunday  evening ,I  got an opportunity to participate in an wonderful event hosted by Art of Living  named "Volunteer for a better India "at Bangalore .

Guruji addressed at the Ram Lila Grounds , New Delhi to a huge crowd . At the same time , the event was conducted at Cubbon Park stadium at Bangalore .

 

The youth crowd was more comparitively. It all started with a Karantaka folk dance and Karnataka Matha song by school children in lovely manner. This was followed by the  Re Mix Vande Mataram song by the youths , which won a great applause from the crowd .

 

Then , around 15 youths staged a power packed skit , very inspiring and patriotic . The last participant really shook up the hearts of people by his speech.

 

The Vice Chancellor of Bangalore University along with a very senior AOL person presided the function.

Guruji's  address to the gathering at Delhi was relayed live in Bangalore event . That was simply awesome. Guruji insisted that each one should dedicate One Hour to the Nation per day for a Better India. And He added , we should not support corruption , work with a clean heart etc - captivating indded !!

A Pledge in favour of the nation  was taken by he people in Delhi grounds and us as well   , as guided by the representative at Delhi .

And all the people visibly seemed to have  carry forward  Guruji's words and the pledge with them to implement the same in action in day to day's life.

 

Love & smiles...

The Lama of Guinness Records - China Tour XII

Jai Gurudev !!





Lama Temple at Beijing - Entrance

We had the eagerness to visit the Lama Temple in Beijing and found out the way to reach there by the Subway train . Our Chinese friends helped us by providing the route map of subway train and guided us to go on our own .



On one lovely weekend , the Lama of Beijing gave us the wonderful opportunity of having a glimpse of Him. Budhdha is referred to as the Lama .The Lama temple station is the place , where we need to reach and it's just about 5 minutes walk to the temple. I was slightly surprised at the ladies selling the Incence stick bundles on the way and picked one , as we have the habit of carrying some offerings to God always. 

  

The place where Incense sticks are burnt and offered
, soon after the entrance of the temple.

 The entrance was quite attractive and inviting. It's a Big temple , covering a vast area.

Once we entered , another pleasant surprise was waiting for us. People burn the incense sticks in an exclusive place allocated for that in front of the main building and they do the offering there  , standing in queue , something similar to our local temples.



 

 This place looks exactly like our Indian temples, where the Ellu Deepam is lit . We also burnt the incense sticks - 3 numbers each and offered to the Lama God. 3 numbers is mentioned specifically there on boards.

  

Laughing Budhdha sitting gigantically and
giving a welcome smile to one & all

After which we moved to the inside of the temple. One more surprise awaited rather invited. Guess who ? None other than our famous " Laughing Buddha " in gigantic size .  A God in Lama temple has find His way as an Art piece or show piece in the Drawing room of our Indian homes , one can really wonder about !! Then on either side of that hall , we can see two huge statues , resembling the Dwara Balakas of our temples.  

The building which houses the 18 Ft tall Lama

  



Looking similar to the Dwara Balakas of our temple.
A Security Guard for Lama ?

The building structure inside is a typical Chinese structure and looked like a palace.The people who had come there were all looking very devoted . 

Lama in Meditating posture

Spot best suited for photography ?

Budhdha & His disciples

Moving further inside, it's opening out into a courtyard kind of construction , an open space in the middle and buildings all around it . The Lama in different forms or get ups was there and people offer incense sticks in front of the Gods .

Lama in yet another pose

The Lama idols in various attires and different decorations and  

in meditating  and standing postures could be seen.

Lama as Nataraj ?!





 

This particular standing posture of Lama just resembled our Nataraj statue of our temples. 



Rotating Cylinder - A spiritual practise similar to ringing bell 

One more interesting thing , we noticed was a cylinder sort of structure on either side of the main Lama statue , on which some scriptures are engraved . And the monks stand near that and keep rotating for some time, though the significance of that act is unknown. This , we can relate to our Bell structure and our act of ringing the bells as a practise.

  

An artwork like Sri Chakra at Lama Temple

A drawing , similar to the Sri Chakra of our place was also seen on the floor , though the spiritual significance of it is unknown.
We feel as though , Hinduism is modified and carried forward in Budhdhism .

Scary Gigantic Lion Idol

A Scary  Giant Lion stone idol caught our attention and we kept our eyes unblinked for few moments before we moved on .  We see Lion & Elephant Idols in our South Indian temples . 

  

Now comes the ultimate attraction of the temple. As you can guess , nothing other than the Great Lama Himself  taking His Avatar in the form of the Huge - 18 Feet Tall Idol . It looked a real Vishwaroopam of Lord Vishnu to me , indeed !! The Shanku , Chakra and a couple of other divine  instruments were also seen in front of him. A Budhdhist monk was standing beside and was doing the continous chanting , which again resembled our "OM " sound. I stood astonished gazing at the Big Lama for some time and  moved into a state of prostration automatically , as we can do nothing but only surrender to the Greatness !!
For a moment ,it comes in our mind, is it Lord Vishnu in Vishwaroopam posture ?
My friend exclaimed , " Budhdha is one of the avatar in Dasavataarm " !!
Is it so ?



18 Ft tall Lama Idol in Beijing Lama Temple

The wordings on the board placed at the exit way caught our eyes instantly  -   One more reason to astonish about this attractive and gigantic Lama statue . The 18 Feet tall idol or statue was carved out of a  single Big Sandalwood tree and has found a place in the Guinness Book of world records !! 

 No doubt the Big Lama would not fail to leave a deep impression in one's heart !!

  

After that we sat in the benches placed at the entrance of the temple for some time , which once again reminded us of our temple practise.

Overall , the Lama Temple visit is something to be cherished forever in our hearts !! 

Budhdham Saranam Gachchami !!

Dharmam Saranam Gachchami !!
Sangham Saranam Gachchami !!



Beijing Lama - When wil u call me again ?! 

Love & smiles...