Q & A with guruji

Q: Guruji, Please define happiness! A: (Smiles and then a little laugh) Why do you want the definition everything? You know by describing something simple only makes it more complex. Of course, There are various grades of happiness. When you smell a rose you become happy. When you experience the infinite you become happy. But the quality of happiness in both is different. Q: Guruji, So many people run after you. How do you feel? What do you do to make people run after you. A: I just stay ahead. And how i feel it is irrelevant. Basically, I do not do anything to make people run after me! Just do Seva, Sadhana, Satsang! (Smiles and winks) Q: Guruji, Please explain the difference between Fate and Destiny A: I think that the Fate and Destiny mean the same. Did you mean Fate and Free will? Hmmm.. Yes! Wise people will always see past as destiny, future as free will and live happily in the present moment. While Unwise people will see past as free will, future as destiny and worry about the present and lose everything. Q: Guruji, In our village there is so much problems, why don't you take any course free of cost. A: There are courses free of cost. But in your village the problem is of drinking. The people must be freed from this habit first. We must take care of them. You talk to (...) Q: How to make choices? A: See the choices are not between the good and the bad. Its only between the bad and the worse or the good and the better. Once you make the choice you just need to stick to it. Often people make a choice and then wish they had made the other choice! Jai Gurudev O.A.K.

Busy Streets of Bangalore

Fast moving life of Bangalore! I was standing on the divider path of the Byatrayanpura-Bellary Road while taking this pic.

A breath of life!

After an adventurous journey from Dombivli to Shirali and from shirali to Bangalore, I finally found the breath of life... An Internet connection. I must admit that I have become an Internet addict. But seriously, Internet provides such sophistication in life, that I find I absolutely indispensable! Another breath of life was the visit to shirali math. An ashram for chitrapur saraswat bhramins (CSB). Its the community I belong to! It is a very tiny community with just 22,000 CSB's spread all over the world. Yes! Only 22,000 people left in my community. Just like Parsi community, ours too is a very small and conservative community. Most of the chitrapurs, also addressed as "bhanaps" are well placed in the various fields, living in complete abundance of wealth. Around 2000 years back a clan of people used to live by the banks of river saraswati. Thats how our ancestors were named "saraswats". As the river started drying up the group started shifting towards south of india and settled mainly in the present day karwar and uttar kanara areas. The main language of saraswat bhramins is konkani. It is beautiful scriptless language. It initially had very close semblence to sanskrit. Even today the konkani vocablary uses some sanskrit words. Wisdom and scholarly trait runs in our blood. Our ancestors occupied highly coveted posts of treasurer and custodians, administrative ministries of the famous kings and queens. Even today, although there are very few CSBs left, most of the CSBs are holding high profile posts in various fields of study. SBs are also well know for their peaceful nature and Diplomatic & Political shrewdness. The diplomatic nature of the community has warded off many battles with mighty empires. I feel so proud to belong to the community that has always preserved the culture and tradition of the bhagwat dharma. Our community also has a lineage of swami or guruparampara. It is said that the parampara runs directly from the disciples of H.H. adi shankaracharya. And shirali is the place where the samadhi of all the gurus is kept. It is really beautiful place which reminds me of the Art of Living Ashram. When I saw it I felt it like a miniature AoL Ashram! It has got a lake, a yagnashala, goshala, a dining hall, meditation hall and the most important guruji's kutir. This math was built during the british days. Legend says that the East India Company had planned to build a huge camp in the surrounding area as it was a strategic location, hence had no intention to let our ancestors build the ashram. But one glance of our guru made the Queen take back her order! That's the might of divinity !!! The homa my family performed at the math was superb. Some of the pics are uploaded in the slide show! The most fortunate event was to see the "protector of our family" the Snake god, in shirali! It was said that Divine knowledge and wisdom was offered to our clan by the serpent of shiva called Ananta. Over the period their worship was neglected. And their stone statues were soon forgotten relics. But, this neglected attitude only invited the wrath of the snake lord. Soon the families started experiencing great difficulties. Then the swamiji asked us to start worshiping the snake idols again. This entailed some archeologial digging of the burried snake idols. But with the grace of the master it took only few weeks to find out snake dieties. And miraculously, the health, wealth and prosperity started welling up in our lives! The main temple of the serpent is found at Ananteshwara, Vitthal. This place is near Mangalore. We also had time to visit Honnavar Creek, Murudeshwar Shoreline & its famed Shiva temple & Idugunji Ganapati. Here is the slideshow of all the pics!Enjoy! Jai Gurudev! O.A.K.

Photography Blog

A new blog was started by me on the basics (& tricks) of photography. This site is available at http://tricksofpics.blogspot.com

Was it hard to find? You just had to click on View my complete profile in "About me" section. The resulting page would tell you some info about me, my interests and the blogs I manage.

That's how you find the new "undisclosed" blog.