How the master saves you...

There are times when you want things to happen in a certain way. In simple terms, there are expectations! But the master has better plans for you. They may be good for you, even though you may not prefer it. Yesterday, I planned to go to the YES!+ course in kalyan to volunteer (assist the teachers). Also I had promised my friend to take him to the course on my bike. My friend, Krishnan, who sings fabulously at satsangs suddenly calls me up to come for a satsang to play guitar. Hmmm... What will happen if I do not play guitar at satsang, when we have a singer like Krishnan? I thought. I continued with my plan to go to the course venue. Then Krishnan calls me up again and says desperately, "Dost, I really need you badly for satsang. You please bring your guitar." OOOKKK!! I am still not sure why I agreed to him and detoured towards satsang. I asked my friend, reluctantly, go to the course venue by train. Everyone at satsang enjoyed, except me. My mind was at the course. All of a sudden a wave of thought entered my mind. I was to ride my bike all the way from dombivli to kalyan for the course. Anything could have happened! What if my friend and I met with an accident. There is one thing I learn't from this incident. There are no such thing as co-incidences. Everything is planned by the divine. I was destined to be at the satsang. My friend was destined to attend the long kriya. But anyone can fall prey to bad events anytime (depending upon their karmas). Guruji knows very well how, when, where to save you from a befalling calamity! You just need to trust the divine and keep doing the good work! Jai Gurudev! O.A.K.

Finally, Its over...

Haaa.. This is what probably the experience of mukti! I am talking about my MBA exams which I finally completed for this semester. Have you observed your state of mind after the last day of exam. Hardly anyone may feel unenthusiastic at that time! You sometimes just do not know what to do. There is so much excitement!!! If one can feel so ecstatic after a simple matter like examination gets over how much ecstasy may be in getting complete salvation or Mukti! I wonder. O.A.K.

Shutter-bug

In the realm of photography, ever wondered what the terms like Controlling Exposure, Aperture Speed, Shutter Speed, F-Stops, Balancing Stops meant. To know more Click Here

Achieving the impossible??

"Hhhunhhhh..... That's impossible!" You might have heard this quote umpteen number of times in your life. Haven't you? Have you really questioned the impossibility? Especially when you start to do a good work there a zillion people all set to discourage you! They seem to pull you into the darkness of despair. What is the way out? Simple... Take a deep breath in... Connect to the divinity... and drop your worries knowing that divinity will take care. Now you may question how do we connect to divinity? Simplest way is to do an Art of Living Course. The harder way is to know that the creation is not different from the creator! and divinity is always ready to help you if your appeal is sincere. To tell you one example: There is a YES!+ course that would be starting from the 20th of November 2008 in Dombivli. 20th Nov is a very special date. Why??? The mahurath for marriage that ended in may, this year, has started from 20th till 29th of this month. And all the brides and grooms who were desperate to get married have booked every hall in town. Even the smallest hall built in Dombivli was booked for marriage. One hall proprietor ridiculed us by stating that our search would be futile as no one would offer us any hall and asked us to reconsider... changing the dates of the course. NO WAY I said in my mind. This course was already postponed as bawa was taking a big YES!+ in mumbai earlier this month and all the Dombivli teachers were busy assisting that course! We started with one hall we had in mind. Madhavashram Hall. We were told that hall was not availabe on sat. and sun. Rest of the days were available. So we had to look out for the "HOT" days (Sat. & Sun.) of marriage season. We (Ram and I) did not lose hope. Then suddenly a thought struck to my mind. I told ram why not check out schools and Mandir (Temple) halls. Most of them are not let out for marriage parties! But it was late in afternoon. We had to quieten the growling stomach. After lunch we started out on the "Hall-Hunt". Ram called one of our Basic course volunteer who gave us a list of few temple-halls. They were not halls in true sense. One was the Raghavendra swami vrindavan hall. We entered the temple and asked one person on the office counter about our requirement of the hall on saturday and sunday. He blindly said no. That the hall is not for any functions. We dejectedly came out of the temple. Then I told Ram that anyway we are not getting this temple hall, why not ask him once again that we are organizing a "dharmic" course which entails meditation and yoga! And we have come from art of living foundation! That did the trick! The old guy at the counter called a much younger fella named Guruprasad. Guruprasad seemed to know many of our teachers and also knew our master/guruji. He agreed to give us the hall provided there were no prior engagements with other party. By evening we got the confirmation that the hall was available for Sat. & Sun. We got the news of confirmation while walking on the road. We jumped, squealed, danced when we heared the good news! Wooww Now tell me what's impossible. It was once said by a saint, that if you deserve something, AND that "thing" does not exist in this universe... Then that "thing" will be specially created for you. Mark these words. They are true! That's why do not ask to god what you desire. Always ask what you deserve. Because you never know... What you deserve may be more than what you desire! Jai Gurudev! O.A.K.

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.