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Showing posts from 2008

Baba....

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Baba... His greatgrandfather was a saint ; his grandfather was one of the most success ful businessmen of his taluka; his father was a bhajan singer and a harmonium player... and Baba, thats how we (my two brothers and me) address him, our father, has been an inspiration for me in several ways, and am sure for my brothers too. Born and brought up in Murud Janj ira a taluka in Raigad district, now famous as a tourist attraction, he fought in the Hindu-Muslim riots when in school and topped the entire ta luka in Matriculation (now SSC, earlier it was 11th std). Scored 97/100 in Maths. Mr. Dattatraya Balkrishna Pulekar wanted to be a mathematician. But the village kid didnt even know that somethin g like IIT e xists. He had to take up an early job to help clear the debt and losses his father had incurred. H e worked himself and sponsored the higher education of his two younger brothers and a sister. He wanted to get into politics and devot e his life for spirituality. But finally ende

Working or Serving?

I am sure the one page reading below will make some difference in your mind set....... One evening a scholar was addressing the participants on the concept of work culture. One of the participants asked the following question: "I am a senior manager of Materials Department and I joined an organization 25 years ago as an Engineer Trainee and over the last 25 years I have gone through every experience in the organization. During the initial part of my career, the job was very challenging and interesting. However, all those exciting days are gone since I do not find my joy any more interesting because there is nothing new in my job. I am now feeling bored because I am doing a routine job. However, Sir, I am living in the same house for over forty years, I am the son for the same parents for over forty five years, I am the father for the same children for the past ten years and the husband for the same lady for the past twenty years! (the toughest job!) In these person

Entrepreneur's Inspiration: A crorepati who lives in a hut!

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A crorepati who lives in a hut! His story is an inspiration for millions. A self-made entrepreneur, his mission is to help the poor through job creation. My inspiration: My mother, who sold idlis and worked as an ayah in aanganwadis to educate me . (-: My dream: To buy a house and car for my mother. :-) My source of energy: The hut where I still live!!! E Sarathababu hit the headlines after he rejected several high profile job offers from various MNCs after he passed out of IIM, Ahmedabad two years ago. He instead started a catering business of his own, inspired by his mother who once sold idlis on the pavements of Chennai, worked as an ayah in an Anganvadi to educate him and his siblings. As a child, he also sold idlis in the slum where he lived. "We talk about India shining and India growing, but we should ensure that people do not die of hunger. We can be a developed country but we should not leave the poor people behind. I am worried for them because I know what hung

"Guru bina gati nahin"

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MORE EXCERPTS OF GURUJI'S INTERVIEW : SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR (AOL) WITH ANURADHA SENGUPTA (CNN-IBN), FEB 2006 1. I was reading what you have said, there are different points. Some of the things that you say are so lucid and yet they are like motherhoods, they are like axioms, they are like home truths. Why is it that we need to find a Guru before we can understand any of this? Sri Sri : Why do you want the answer for this question? You want the answer, right? When you want the answer, whoever gives the answer and you accept it, they become a Guru. If there is no need, then the question does not arise at all. 2. I mentioned that when I came into Bangalore, at the airport, I saw delegates waiting. You reminded me that it is at the train stations, at the bus stops. Why is it that the Art of Living is only for the elite or the upper strata? Sri Sri : I think that it is a wrong perception. If there are 25 lakh people, who were only the rich and famous in this country, the shape of this co

The Strengths & Science of Spirituality

MORE EXCERPTS OF GURUJI'S INTERVIEW : SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR (AOL) WITH ANURADHA SENGUPTA (CNN-IBN), FEB 2006 1. You have studied Christianity deeply. Today, if you pick up any newspaper, you can't miss the fact that there is all this factual information as well as analysis and this great debate about - If and is Islam on a collision course with the rest of the world i.e the Western world. What are your thoughts on this? Sri Sri : India can stand as an example. In India, we have lived with many religious traditions for centuries in peace. 2. But not without moments of tumult? Sri Sri : That is very minimal when you compare it to the conflicts that the world has faced. We have always lived together and this the world needs to understand. In the rest of the world there is this conflict - only I will go to heaven and the rest of us will go to hell. Only my way is the correct way and if you believe in this set of principles, only then will you go to heaven, otherwise you will go to h

The MASS is silent. Good people need to be more proactive, more dynamic...Sri Sri

MORE EXCERPTS OF GURUJI'S INTERVIEW : SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR (AOL) WITH ANURADHA SENGUPTA (CNN-IBN), FEB 2006 1. You have said that relegion is like the skin of the bannana, spirituality is like the banana and we all left holding the skin. Why does that happen, why do we get so caught in the trappings of customs, rituals and symbols? As human beings, we seem to be, it is like a manufacturing defect. Sri Sri : I don't think that it is a manufacturing defect. The nature has manufactured us perfectly. I think the maintainence department needs to take care. 2. There is this conflict of not being able to grasp what you have said - the values that all the religions preach are the same. And yet we do not seem to grasp this and civilisations seem to an end? Sri Sri : You know, there are many people who do understand this. The thing is that they are very passive and the few who do not understand are very aggressive. That's how it all appears that the entire mass is not understanding a

Effortless, natural, spontaneous, easy-flowing and yet so lucid and profound

EXCERPTS OF GURUJI'S INTERVIEW : SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR (AOL) WITH ANURADHA SENGUPTA (CNN-IBN), FEB 2006 The Art of Living turns 25 this week and followers are trickling from all aver the world. There is a sense of expectation in the air and a sense of belonging. We are going to try and cut through this haze of feel good and find out what is like being Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Who is the man behind the Guru? 1. I know we are doing a longer interview, but on the eve of the Silver Jubilee celebrations, the three days, all the world leaders, 2.5 million people, to what purpose? Sri Sri : What purpose? To reinstate the faith in human values and to dedicate our self to doing good in the society. 2. You have explained why people need a Guru and why they need to look up to somebody, to the philosophy. How do you keep the philosophy going when the charisma and the personality of the Guru have passed? Sri Sri : You should go beyond the personality and charisma and go deep within to the silent co

Guruji on Terrorism - Interview to TOI

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Anger is Energy... says Sri Sri Ravi Shankar urging Mumbaiites to channelise this energy after 26/11MARK MANUEL Times News Network (Times of India, Bombay Times, 08 Dec 2008, page 1. This time, the smile of welcome didn’t quite reach Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s dark and mischievous eyes. The face was troubled, the mind still burdened by the pain of the hundred thousand people he had addressed the previous evening at Priyadarshini Park. Some survivors of 26/11, others bereaved family members of victims, everyone a Mumbaiite let down by the state — all looking for a shoulder to cry on, a spiritual hand to apply the healing touch. That Sri Sri Ravi Shankar had already done. “I told Mumbai, if you stay with anger too long it will take a toll on your health, your mind, your thinking,” the Art of Living guru explained to me at the bungalow of Yash and Avanti Birla yesterday morning. “We need to channelise our energy,” he added. Energy or anger, I asked. “Anger is energy in a more proactive way,”

Beautiful Muktagiri

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The YES!+ in Akola had an extra filling - a picnic to a small hill station called Muktagiri. It has a white marble Jain temple. There are more than 50 small temples with idols of all the Tirthankars. Here are some more pics. http://picasaweb.google.com/ask.saleel/PicnicMuktagiri Love, Jai Gurudev Saleel

Guru Gyan - Feelings

So, a mental agitation, feeling, emotion is associated with some physical sensation in the body and some specific point. All those feelings in the mind has been transformed as feelings in the body at the physical level, they dissolve through meditation. Meditation transforms all the different emotions. When we remain as a small pond, a stone will create a big ripple. If somebody says something that can blow your peace off. So the peace is thrown off by people around you. But when you become an ocean, even a big mountain falling into it, does not affect it. Being an ocean, we behave like a pond – that is the wonder. The greatest wonder is man who is an ocean of peace and joy, behaves as though he is a little pond when he is disturbed by any little small thing. The small somebody does something that irritates you. You go crazy over little insignificant things and that worries you over and over again, day and night for several years. Once you are surrendered, there comes a depth in you an

Aurangabad - Conquest of Devgiri

Check this exciting photo album which says it all, take your time to read the captions carefully!! Watch it as a slideshow to Enjooooyyy! http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/ask.saleel/AurangabadYESDevgiriTrek Cheers! Saleel

Celebrating Mumbai Showers in Style

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Football in the rains. Water levels are going up not only in the lakes in Mumbai but also the gutters, nalas, drains, streets, grounds etc. It has been raining almost continuously from last 3 days. On Sunday (yesterday) our dynamic YES!+ teachers of GHATKOPARRRRRRR, Upasana and Manisha decided to get into action. They were quite high after attending long kriya conducted first time by brand new YES!+ teacher DHARA ( also from GHATKOPARRRRR. 2 hours of non-stop action, with bricks as goal posts, middle of a road as the football field, gutters as boundaries. Yes we did have injuries, fowls, red cards and the peak of excitement was when teams levelled scores in the last minute of the second half. So, yes, you guessed it right - Penalty shoot out. Upasanas team won 3-0!!!

Hibernated in Satva

Hellooo.. everyone! So with that previous post (about Guruji in New York), I am back on the blog after a long hibernation. One month in the ashram in Bangalore was a 'knowledge-thirst' quenching and a 'satvik-soaking' experience. Though I was all set to be on the YES!+ Advance course from 18 June, I decided to pull out and be with Bawa and Dinesh in the organising of the upcoming first ever YES!+ TTC. Basically it was an excuse to spend time with them, having retained the freedom to talk (avoided the silence of advance course ;-) ). Though I didn't do much, just being with them and observing them steer, engineer, alter, enhance, fine tune, improvise, guide and finally conduct the TTC was a great learning. It was very gratifying to watch 111 young stalwarts emerge stronger and confident to take on the challenge of empowering the youth at large. Late night feedback and planning discussions, sudden changes, running noses (mine even had clots due to excessive sneezing a

Guruji in New York, 2002

An anonymous article of 2002, Gurujis visit to New York, US To see for myself what it was all about, to find out why this frail, young man with the deep, dark eyes was so popular, I decided to go to one of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s talks in New York. The huge synagogue on Manhattan’s west side was already filled to the rafters when I arrived. An enthusiastic group of young people sang bhajans and the audience swayed and sang along as though they were at a rock concert. There were people of every nationality, color and age group, dressed in a variety of clothes from blue jeans to silk saris and kurtas. Many had already done the Art of Living course, a program of breathing, meditation and yoga that Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has put together to “relieve stress, improve communication, develop leadership skills, increase vitality, expand awareness and increase enjoyment of life.” Very soon, the guruji bounded up the steps to the stage, dressed in gleaming white silk, his long, dark hair forming a h

Heaven

Jai Gurudev, It feels great to be in the ashram (in Bangalore) after a long time. I was here this holi in March, but that was for advance course. This time I am not on any course, no fixed schedules to adhere to, just being to myself, chilling out with Bawa, Dinesh bhaiya and Vishwas bhaiya and other YES!+ ashramites Rashmin, JD, Devang. And the highlight of course is satsang with Guruji. The last time I spent like this in ashram was in 2006. Yesterday the satsang happened in VM - Vishalakshi Mantap. @ 3000 people . There was no place to sit, many were standing. After a rocking ' Narayan Narayan Jai Jai Govind Hare ' Guruji started answering questions. Yesterday I was feeling ill and also worried about an issue. But when Guruji started talking it was as if layer by layer he removed the worrisome thoughts. He spoke about being alipt , meaning being untouched like the lotus though floating in water does not get wet, the water does not stick on to it, similarly we can stay in the

मराठी बाणा

मराठी बाणा बर्याच दिव्सान पासून हे बघायच राहिल होत Its a stage show. Yday we saw it finally at Kalidas Mulund. What a brilliant presentation of Marathi folk music and dance, of marathi culture and tradition, the heritage of Maharashtra. Its a must see even for non-Marathi speaking people staying in Maharashtra. It was sheer energy and intensity. Wish we had taken some pics.

My first violin lesson

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Well...I have nothing to write about my first lesson....as all I could get the violin to do was screeching sounds of car breaks and horns of trains and a lil bit of puppies barking. Actually, I think its not all that bad....could well be a voiceover for animation movies ;-)

My first ANR in Jaipur

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Guruji had cooled down Jaipur even before I reached there. 2 days before I reached there were light showers and drizzles. And the day I reached there was heavy rain with thunder and lightning. Had an OSIM (read awesome) - that's how it was written in the feedback sheet: osim satsang . Just two bhajans , but it rocked. The volunteer team led by Upasana had put up an excellent effort with super commitment . In the scorching heat of 45 degree Celsius , roaming in the afternoon giving talks and collecting registrations requires greater degrees of dedication! Seeing Upasana, not only guide and lead the team in every way but also work at the grass root level, was truly inspiring. Canvassing at 11 pm outside the cricket stadium after the IPL match was one of the highlights. Man of the match was VIPUL - you have to talk to him, better still meet him. For security reasons the course could not happen. But I am sure this is the first course in the entire AOL tenure for which we have 475

Meeting bomb blast victims in Jaipur

I accompanied Darshakji to two hospitals on 14th evening (almost 24 hrs after the bomb blast). The premises of the SMS (Sawai ManSingh) hospital was full of people, police, press, and lots of scocial groups. The RSS was the most active. They were the first ones to reach immediately after the blast. Very efficiently they had prepared thier own data of the victims, their family memebers, address etc; so well that the hospital authorities and govt was also using that data! We also referred to the same and visited few patients. Darshakji gave healing. We visited another hospital where we got miraculous results. An old lady on wheelchair was able to stand up within 10 min of healing!! The atmosphere was so depressing. There was so much pain everywhere, physical as well as emotional. On our return we got the mewa of seva - Guruji called up Darshakji to take an update of the situation. It was a blessing to hear his voice. Love, Jai Gurudev Saleel

My birthday gift to myself!

Hello friends, This is what I gifted myself today...a blog in my name. Always wanted to share a lot with my students, volunteers, colleagues and janta in general. Life has been very eventful and graceful (full of grace) since Nov 1997. The last one week also has been full of 'dhamakas' (well I am in Jaipur). Some highlights will be posted soon. You can post your questions to me on ask.saleel@gmail.com Love, Jai Gurudev Saleel