Peace mission to Pakistan

Jai Gurudev !!

A Mahasatsang at Lahore, Pakistan in the presence of Guruji ,"Sri Sri Ravishankarji " is going to happen today at Lahore , Pakistan. I'm quite excited about it . As always there will be some tussles between the neighbouring countries , this time for a change , events to bring a rapport between the people of the countries  is happening, which has to be welcomed with two hands .

I remember , Guruji has once said, the condition in Pakistan has become so worse that no one would like to visit the country for a vacation or a trip and people in Pakistan are more frustrated due to the terrorism and violence. Infact he had invited volunteers to take up the job of carrying Sudarshan Kriya to Pakistan to bring about a positive change there .

And now that has already started happening thanks to Guruji's Grace and efforts , the bright ray of hope and peace has started emanating from a terror hit country.
  The satsang van be viewed live in the below link.
http://www.artofliving.org/sites/all/themes/aolglobal/webcast-with-sri-sri-ravi-shankar.html

Mahasatsangs are going to continue this week at various other places in Pakistan like Islamabad , Karachi etc apart from Lahore.
We can see a wave of devotion , love and light all through .
Guruji addresses millions of devotees every other day at various parts of the world , allowing His blessings to flow through as many number of people as possible.

Love & smiles...

A Dream come true ....

Jai Gurudev !!

Just a couple of days back, I came across a new experience .
Just next to our office premises is located, one super speciality hospital by name , "Columbia Asia Hospital ".


That was yet again a busy afternoon office hours post lunch . An intermittent  alarm just caught our attention , making us to think , "Is it a mock drill session conducted by our ISO personnel to face any fire emergency situation ?"
But the alarm kept on repeating with regular intervals. Soon the news spread that a fire broke out in Columbia Asia Hospital . "Oh ! MyGod !" ...A Fire in the hospital would invite for more complications with many patients especially ICU patients, who will be in a critical stge of immobility. I just prayed ," Please save the people from this situation!"  and ran out to see what's happening .

Could see many people standing outside the hospital and the patients are being carried out in stretchers and wheel chairs and even in sofa sets too. Patients were immediately moved in ambulances to other hospitals .We could see lots of ambulances plying with the emergency alarm on. People were seen stressed .The hospital employees were seen in full action , conducting emergency meeting and helping out the people , bringing the situation under control.

A Just born baby , whose eyes are yet to be opened was being carried by its father to the car , to be taken to an another hospital , the mother still unconscious after her delivery . It was a disturbing sight , a stressful situation, but nicely handled by the authorities .Soon the fire engine came and put down the fire in the basement , which caught by the short circuit in the electrical wires . The hospital being centralised AC, the smoke had spread throughout the building via the AC duct pipes. Without any casualities , the saga ended .The hospital was shut down for a day or two and started fucntioning normally after that.

And the interesting part which I keep wondering is , the picture of the streamline of ambulances rushing somewhere  had struck  my dreams ,a few days before this incident and that I shared the same with my colleagues too. Is it what they call as intuition ?!
Does it re-iterate the fact that , each and every happening in this world is all pre-planned to its utmost accuracy ?!



Love & smiles...

Bye Bye 2011....Welcome 2012 !!

Jai Gurudev !!

Every soul is quite exuberant in welcoming the New Year  !! People just wait to celebrate in the best possible way they can . Attending to parties, Masses, Prayers , celebrating to their heart's content with their dear and near ones !!

Thought there are widespread fears about the Nature's fury or the End of the World sorts fear , there is a lots of hope and confidence in the hearts of people about the new year prospects.

Maywe  gain some more Inner Power with the help of some simple , yet powerful ancient techniques like Meditation , Yoga , Breathing practises etc. so that we remain unshakeable from inside !!

Let the everlasting Smile be on everyone's face come what may !!
Happy New Year !!

Lovbe & smiles...

Food purified by Ghee !!

Jai Gurudev !!

Last week , I had the opportunity to attend a Mahasatsang , conducted by Guruji Sri Sri RaviShankar . Infact we can say that we ought to be blessed to get a chance to attend such functions.

Megasatsang can be termed as a huge gathering of people or devotees , wherein they participate actively in the bhajan songs mainly,  in the midst of which Guruji would conduct live meditations for about 20 to 25 minutes followed by Knowledge Sessions.
The Live meditation will be such a wonderful experience in the presence of Guruji. It refreshes our mind totally.

 And in Knowledge session, Guruji would cover some general topics related to day to day activities, country welfare etc. He puts the things with a sense of humour that people almost burst into laughter througout teh session. More interesting will be he spontaneously answers to the questions of the devotees , which really would be enlightening. The whole program would extend to a period of 2 hours or so.

In this satsang  , Guruji started with the definition for the Satsang. He said, "Satsang is an informal gathering. Everyone sits and participates as if they are at home with a sense of belonging to each other. Secondly you give all your sufferings or botherations to me and leave this place with a joy and a pleasant state of mind !!  "

One more catchy point he said ,
" When you are in sorrow, be in the state of Surrender !!
And when you are happy , serve others !! "
meaning , whenever our mood is not good and we experience sorrow ,the reason may be our wish not fulfilled or emotional disturbance , we need to surrender to the God, saying , " God, you please take care of my suffering !!"
And when we experience the joy or happiness , we need to share that joy to others in need . That way our joy also gets multiplied.

Then another interesting stuff , he shared was about the Purity at different levels.
Our Food gets purified by adding a spoon of ghee !!
Our Body gets purified by taking in Ayurveda medicines ( For ex. Triphala tablets 4 to 5 times a week cleans our stomach )  !!
Our Wealth gets purified by donating a portion of our income !!
Our Emotions get purified by listening to Music !!
Our intellect gets purified by being in Knowledge or listening to talks of Wisdom !!
Our Mind gets purified by Meditation !!


In Indian language ,
Anna shuddhi by Ghee !!
Kshareer Shudhdhi by Ayurveda !!
Dhana Shuddhi by Dhaanaa !!
Bhaava Shudhdhi by Gaana !!
Budhdhi shudhdhi by Gyana !!
And Mana Shudhdhi by Dhyana !!

The above rhythmic words keeps sounding in my mind always ...and is finding its way in my action too...


Love & smiles...

My Sabarimala Experience !!

Jai Gurudev !!

Lord Ayyappa Swamy 

As a small girl , I had always had an admiration to the Lord Aiyyappa Swamy , reading His Birth Story and hearing His Fame. My father used to make the pilgrimage to Sabarimala every year , observing fast . I used to attend the Aiyappa Swamy Bhajans too . Those devotional songs like "Villaathi Veerane , Veera Manikandane !! , Kallum mullum kaalukku meththai" etc  always make a reverberation in my heart . The words would be very catchy and  inspirational too !!


And my younger brother , who is now no more also was  belived to have born because of Aiyappa Swamy's Grace after praying to Him , my parents say. My father then  had taken my brother , when he was hardly six or seven  years old in the long route of 48 km walking and trekking the Sabari hills. My brother always used to fondly cherish those memoirs, as his "Irumudi " or the baggage carrying the Rice and Coconut filled with ghee for Aiyappa Swamy was so heavy that he had given to my father to carry and he used to walk ahead of all in the group .

Alas ! In life race also , he had walked so much ahead leaving us behind ...That's a great tragedy !!
And similar to Aiyappa Swamy story  , he had left his fiancee , just before his marriage ...

The rituals and the hard penance a devotee has to undergo while fasting before going to Sabari hills makes him very strong both physically and mentally  and brings fulfillment and contentment at the end , though it is very difficult to observe  .

It was the time, when I had finished my college and had taken up a job , got an opportunity to stay with my uncle's family in Bangalore. My uncle and aunt has two sons and always do consider me as their own daughter and shower their love on me . And my uncle never leaves his family , whenever and wherever he goes anywhere ,be it a trip or a pilgrimage. And I believe because of this attitude , when he had planned the tour to Sabari Hills apart from the other tourist spots in Kerela like Guruvayoor, Kaladi etc along with his friend , he included us also . We both families joined together and set off for the pilgrimage cum trip,  though not in Ayyappa season season period .Being aware that ladies are not supposed to go there , the original plan was that we ladies would stay back while only the men alone climd the hills/visit the Aiyyappa temple  and join us back for further trip in and around Kerela.

But once on reaching Pampa , we got the information  that , they've started allowing even the ladies to the Sabarimalai Temple, of late ,this was way back in 1991 or 1992 . This information had changed our plan and we , ladies also accomplanied them , in the short route , after having our bath in the holy Pampa River. The trek and hill view was very different and new experience. 

It was really amazing to see the clouds moving gently at a level lower than the mountain . And I also remember seeing a long queue of donkeys carrying the loads of materials on their back on the rough terrain full of stones enroute to Sabarimala hills. And not to forget the historic famous Sabari temple, the old and devoted lady , who fed Rama with the fruits , selected and tasted by her as mentioned in Ramayana. That was a nice feeling to roam around there, with that story lingering in mind. 

Then , we reached the Holy and the most sought after temple of Manikanta  , the one who was found with the beads in his neck by the King, who considered him as the blessing from God due to his prayers and brought him up as his own son. The whole trekking was about 5 Kms ,felt little difficult to climb through. 

As said and heard , spotted many young ladies there . Also witnessed baskets and baskets of flowers being carried by the priests for the Puja . There was a Ganesha Temple , next to the Golden 18 Holy steps of Sabarimalai. Just on seeing those steps , something shook me from inside. These divine steps carry a lot of spiritual significance and considered most sacred by the devotees.   I was just moved to tears and the emotions in me rose very high . I stood there standstill and awestruck . The temple , the location in the middle of the dense Hills kept me wondering ,if that's a true happening . 

The story goes this way -  the little Aiyappa had released an arrow and the place where the arrow fell down , the temple was said to have been built by the King Pandalaraja . This story was running in my backscreen of my mind , though I seemed to have lost m self  in the Holy 18 steps. For one to reach the divine,  he has to climb the 18 steps or levels of austerities and penance in subtle meaning. 

Then , my aunt called me to have the darshan of Aiyappa Swamy , through the back door , because one is supposed to climb the 18 steps only if we had observed the fast and carried the Irumudi . But, something stopped me from inside . A strong urge from inside said "No!".
Having known about the severe penance of Lord Aiyappa Swamy, a Brahmachari , who had left Maalikpuram Mangamma waiting for Him at the footsteps itself .As per the story,   in fact  He had put a condition to her that the year when no Kanni swamy or new devotee comes to see Him , he would marry her. But year by year , the devotees count keeps on increasing and her wait period has become infinite.

These thoughts never gave me way to go and see Him or take darshan of Him , though He was just a few steps away. Though my aunt insisted me to accompany her , I just said a firm No.  I felt so much  contented taking a look at the sacred 18 steps and did not want anything more. My eyes were swelling with tears of devotion. And a thought had popped up in my mind that time, that after my marriage, my husband would come and visit Him. 
And we returned back after visiting Mangamma temple there .

Later as promised, with Ayyappa Swamy's Grace, the time had come for my husband to visit Sabarimala after some 10 years of our marriage and therefore  could complete the prayers. 

Lord Aiyappa Swamy always brings a sweet devotion in my heart rather anyone's heart , no doubt !!

I am sure  with His Grace,  He will give an opportunity to visit Him in the near future may be after a couple of years ..

Harivarasanam Viswamohanam
Haridadhiswaram Aaradhyapadhukam
Arivimardhanam Nithyanarthanam
Hariharathmajam Devamashraye
Saranam Ayyappa Swamy Saranam Ayyappa
Saranam
 Ayyappa Swamy Saranam Ayyappa

Repository of Hari's boons,
Enchanter of universe,
Essence of Hari's grace,
He whose holy feet is worshipped,
He who kills enemies of good thought,
He who daily dances the cosmic dance,
Son of Hari and Hara,
I take refuge in thee God.
My refuge is in you Ayyappa,
My refuge is in you Ayyappa.

       
Love & smiles...





  

Diwali Breakdown !!

Jai Gurudev !!




Diwali



This Diwali , we had been to our native place to celebrate with our parents . The family reunion during festivals especially during Diwali is something more gratifying for everyone. Infact that makes the celebration complete , we can say !

With all the train tickets booked months in advance for Diwali holidays, people who do not plan their trips well in advance will have a very tough time. This we experienced during this trip.

We had been in our car to our native place. After enjoying the Diwali , we started off on Diwali day itself after Ganga snaan and special Diwali breakfast to Bangalore.On the way back ,we had purchased many items which are exclusively available in our native place like boiled rice sack  for Rice and Idli preparation, Garlic, Dhall varities , vegetables like babana flower, banana stem , Palm root , groceries like horsegram , Palm Jaggery etc etc .. Almost the car was jam packed , with little place for my son to sit. So much full with iems . On the way , we had taken diversion to visit the family deity in a village , performed pooja to our heartfull , had a wonderful lunch at our relatives house and again continued the journey.

When we reached Salem , we started hearing a sound in the car . The AC had stopped working. We could very well feel the heat of teh mid day sun . Then when we stopped to check what had happened , we noticed the coolant had dried up perhaps there was a leakge . Somehow we drove down to the nearby petrol bunk and tried topping up the coolant. But still that didn't work , the temperature indication was still showing high. The car which was moving a bit also stopped . Any attempt to start the engine went in vain. The radaitor kept boiling . The metal sheath lining had damaged causing the water and oil to mix as a result.
Then , we find ourselves standing in the middle of the Highway road , inside the car , in the midst of lots of luggages. The next day , need to go to office/school.

Since it happened to be Diwali Day ,we could see each and every shop shut down , no mechanics could be spotted anywhere.We were left stranded . Somehow my husband managed to arrange for a mechanic through his local friend with so much difficulty. He seemed to have appeared from nowhere , soon checked the engine status and towed our vehicle to his shop nearby. He said, the repair would take another two days as the lathe shops are also closed for Diwali .All my worry was how to carry all the things back home.

I was thinking , "Oh ! what a bad Diwali day !! Will He not come for our help ? Will the car not be repaired
immediately in no time ?!"

Luckily the mechanic said on reading my worry lines that  he would take care of the things .We felt relieved and left the non perishable items in the car itself . Then the mechanic managed to drop us  to my husband's friend's place .There we rested for a while and when we were about to leave , I was taken aback on looking at the front of car which the mechanic had used to tow our car to his shop and drive us back  . At that moment, only thing that was visible in my eyes was those few words written in the front side of the car .

"Om Shri Shirdi Sai Baba Saranam !!"

Oh ! Baba !! You have appeared in time , when we were facing the most difficult situation and you had taken pains to pull us to reach the destination without us having to suffer a single pain , which we had never expected it !!
Jai Sai Ram !!


It so happened that I was observing  the Nine week Sai Baba Vratha , performing the Nine Thursday pooja . That was the the eighth Thursday , which I had to perform the Puja. How Sai has helped in time !!
I was very much moved !!


Guruji Sri Sri Ravishankar always says , "When you are in the path ( spiritual ) , you are always well  taken care of !!"


Jai Gurudev !!

Love & smiles...

A Gala Evening in the slum ...

Jai Gurudev !!




Slum Satsang



Today we had been to one of the slum in our neighbouring area for a Satsang from our Art of Living Center , Bhuvaneshwari Nagar .This is part of the Diwali Satsang in Slum. Devotees in our area doante for such noble causes  time and again Just before the onset of Diwali ,  we had distributed around 50 sarees /T Shirts /Diyas /Toliet articles like soaps , Paste, Toothbrush etc to each family rather each hut in two of the slums . We have not had the bhajan and food distribution that time.
Today , our center teacher Mr.Gururaj and his wife Mrs.Romna had conducted few simple pranayama sessions followed by the Ram Dhyaan mediattion for the slum dwellers there  . Next , we had sung a couple of Bhajan songs , which the people had recited enthusiastically along with us . This time the active participation of the people including the kids and men was comparitively high.


I would like to give a brief description of the slum in these areas and the people living there.
The people who live there are basically from North or interior Karnataka , who speak Kannada in Belgaum style dialect  and are mostly involved in construction works . Both men and women leave for their work in mornings and come back in nights . Small kids will be carried along with them to work. After work , the women make Jowar Rotis , thin and tasty ones along with Brinjal curry or Ridgegourd curry or Cabbage curry in the firewood stove. The main ingredients they use in curry is Peanut or groundnut powder. And one more thing each hut would be built on a small mound , made artificially with a door made of  tin or just a screen cloth . The inside of the hut is kept very clean , well organized and tidy. The same hut is used as kitchen, living room and bedroom too. We can see the wooden planks fixed on all sides inside the hut over which they place the vessels and things.Even women and kids will be neatly dressed . Only thing is that the surrounding areas outside the hut will not be clean. One more important thing is that they are very disciplined in their lifestyle unlike the upper class people , well behaved , friendly and very honest too.


When we entered the slum today evening , it was almost half past six. Sun had gone to bed already. Without any light , we couldn't see anything inside. Thought how the people over there live. Soon when we started the satsang  , our visibility increased gradually  , thanks to the rising moon. The moon light right on top of our head ,surrounded by a few bright stars created a beautiful ambience, with the cool breeze . The high rise cooconut trees on all sides seen in the fainted light added beauty to the scene. The kids really enjoyed the satsang . Infact, I felt as though the temple has been brought amidst them in a time when they had least expected it.


This was followed by the food distribution , home made by our volunteers , Ms.Neha & Chanda aunty group.The menu included sweet , Puliyogare/Tamarind Rice, Appalam /Papad , Banana and Payasam /Kheer. They came in queue and collected the food . Not to mention they thoroughly relished the food .


And we also distributed some used clothes which we had taken along with us to them .We left the place , bidding them good bye , uttering loudly , "Jai Gurudev !!" with our heart full  . You know the contentment of heart will happen only when we give and not when we take  !!


Many many thanks to our beloved Guruji ...His Holiness Sri Sri Ravishankar !!

Love & smiles...