Saleel Pulekar

Did she talk? That definitely wasn't a talk. What was she doing? Did she do anything at all? Or was it just happening? Whatever was spoken was extracted from the consciousness, wrapped in the warmth of her heart and delivered with precision through her head. I was in awe of this perfect amalgamation of the three levels of communication [ref: Principles of Communication by H H Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji], head-2-head, heart-2-heart & soul-2-soul. I came back with concepts in my head, either thrashed or rectified, heart filled with love and kindled with trust and the soul absolutely free. How can someone, sitting so comfortably, with such ease and effortlessness, inspire others to take the effort to break out of their comfort zones! Note that my previous statement is punctuated by an exclamation and not a ? because I am in wonder! The words were direct, there was nothing to read between the lines. However, there was a lot to feel and absorb between the lines. Like chocolate on the nu...

Did Warren Buffet know what he was doing would make him the richest man in the world? Did Sachin Tendulkar know that what he was doing would make him get hailed as the God of cricket? Did Newton know that thinking about the apple would revolutionize the world of physics? Most management and self development Gurus claim that one needs to set goals and rationally plan to achieve them. I would like to ask them, "Did their life work out as they had planned it?" Has your life taken the same direction you wanted or wished or intended or desired or dreamed or envisioned? Man made objects and programmed them with some system and made their behavior predictable. One can tell that the 9.55 slow local from Ghatkopar will definitely reach CST Mumbai by 10.30, of course, if nothing untoward happens. A stone if thrown in water will definitely reach the bottom. However, the laws of the body and the mind are completely different. And it amazes me to even begin to think as what would be the l...

I had never imagined life moving like Rajdhani Express suddenly, till it was standing on the platform. Got lucky to get an offer to be the PR & Communication Executive of a guy who co-ordinates all the YES!+ activities of Delhi NCR, Maharashtra, Germany and various parts of India…from taking YES!+, YES!+ DSN courses, workshops, etc to training the teachers for making the best use of their potential for enlightening millions of lives...Mr. Saleel Pulekar, Faculty Art of living...i wonder…what did I do to deserve such big responsibility? Resigned from the job I was doing in Noida the very next day, booked my tickets for Mumbai…life was not the same anymore… Each and every moment became exciting, unpredictable and adventurous. N I was getting amazed more and more… The Surat trip at Diwali gave me the exposure which I never got In my life!! Being with the directors of YES!+, the founders of WAYE…Khurshed Batliwala and Dinesh Ghodke ..oooohhh!! Bawa’s cooking and his presence…Dinesh Bha...

Heart upside down???????? then join yes+….……. creativity conducive to promote such a workshop…….neways the day  started with some beautiful energetic songs….….. participants were cracking jokes and so were asked to share it with everybody to grab their attention. It was the day of their first  SUDARSHAN KRIYA which was an integral part......... it had almost consumed 50% market share in terms of my mind space regarding what it actually is…they claim that you really have to try and do it before you can realize what is so different.. Some critics claim it is the immensely good PR department behind it that helps them to promote Sudarshan kriya to the whole world. And Pupils from every guru and adepts of every form of meditation make the same claims as to how the encounter with the person or meditation changed their lives. M editation has become very crucial for all of us to beat stress and  continue with our rat race but how can we do that….hmmmm may be by concentration ...

I bumped into a freelance journalist at the Siri Fort Auditorium when I had been there to attend a talk by H H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. I invited her to write about YES!+ events. Here is her first cover story. MY EXPERIMENT WITH SPIRITUALITY YES+ WORKSHOP DELHI TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY 11TH-16TH OCT Day 1 A very beautiful pandal with open roof, greenery all around and a pleasant weather . All this was very impressive to start with. As soon as I entered, the first thing that grabbed my attention was this big photograph of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji with a garland on it. Participants were gazing at his picture with an inquisitive mind. Batting my eyelids and wondering, I just went and sat at the back.  Looking at the male female ratio of the workshop I really thought that may be it was because girls there were sensible enough not to go for all such things. Looking at different posters there I came across one which claimed that “ the all new most endangered species that is the stress f...

Doctrines, dogmas, concepts, conventions, patterns are an integral part of the psyche of a set of people who work for an organization, whether commercial or otherwise. Art of Living is no exception. It has taken me 14 years to realize that a spiritual 'Organization' has nothing to do with 'Spirituality'. However ironical and absurd it may sound, its a hard learned fact. White dresses, chandan on the forehead, untimely meditations, plastic smiles, flaunting miraculous experiences, unwarranted sweetness in speech, exaggerated expressions of devotion ( bhav ), saying 'Yes' without proper thought and commitment, etc had become my lifestyle. Its a Maya  (illusion) created by the  utterly misguided and ill-mentored volunteers. Then ' Bawa ' happened to me....in 2001! Masks started shedding and concepts started crumbling. Ideologies loosened their grip on my intellect and the sweet samskaras started getting washed away as though in a stormy river with detergen...

We grew with his voice, Jagjit Singh. My heart skipped a beat when I read about his demise. Feels like I have lost something, am actually sad. The immortal ' Hoto se choo lo tum ' was on the lips of every kid in my school. I still remember watching that song in 'Chitrahaar', the serial on the B&W TV in my house. His reverberating voice in ' Tumko dekha to ye khayal aaya ' would instantly create a typical 'Jagjit romance' atmosphere. Though I have always carried his impression as a melancholy singer, thanks to his first-love-in-music Ghazals, and sometimes even made fun of him by calling his voice depressive; one had to admit his outright supremacy amongst the contemporary singers of his genre, when one had heard ' Kagaz ki Kashti ' and ' Main nashe me hun ' and ' Tum itna jo muskura rahe ho ' and ' Hazaron Khwaishe '. One of my friends commented, his throat had a built-in amplifier and echo system. :-) Some things are ...

Yesterday, I had been for a walk in my locality, Garodia Nagar, in Ghatkopar, Mumbai. I went to the Lion's Club Joggers park. It was very pleasant in the park. Young Gujju ladies, looking like middle aged aunties, courtesy their behinds, gossiping away while making lazy rounds of the park, spoiling the silence of the atmosphere. On the bench, old uncles, discussing the plight of the world and the dangers to come, the sheer disappointment in their tone clearly evident, with traces of a superiority complex as they compared today's times to their days. Some health freaks, making a leisurely garden walk a serious affair, more than the sweat, their twisted brows were distorting their face, as though they were there to vent out their anger, after a recent fight with their boss/wife. Young couples on the benches in some shady corner, where somehow the light rays from the nearby lamp post don't reach, because some leaf or flower of a long branch manages to do its job. Some couples ...

Since as early morning as 00:03, I have been getting SMS and FB messages and emails wishing me a Happy Teachers Day. Some praises about how well I have taught and how my teachings have made a difference in peoples' lives. These messages set me thinking and I began wondering, "What and who did I teach?" A chain of thoughts, like one wave after the other, like the gushing flow of a boisterous river, swept my mind. Images of my various teachers starting from my mother, my Std 3 school teacher, sports teachers, dad, my cousins, my uncles and aunts, neighbors, friends with whom I used to play...etc etc. Very soon my mind was congested with images in a fraction of second, similar to how the silver lined clouds of various shapes make the sky look like a multiple exposed screen when lightning strikes supplemented with sound effects of thunder. Art of Living teachers, my mentors, college guides ..they all came. A sudden realization came the next moment. My so called 'students...

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Once somebody asked Guruji about Ramayan saraansh [summary] and this was his one-liner reply : "Jab mann roopi Sita, Hiran roopi indriyo se mohit ho jati hai, tab wo Ravan roopi ahankar ke vash me aakar, Ram roopi Atma se door ho jati hai; phir Laxman roopi sajagta aur Hanuman roopi Shwaas ke dwara use Ravan roopi ahankar se mukt karke Ram roopi atma se punah milaya jata hai." [ When Sita (mind), gets attracted by the Deer (sense objects), it comes under the clutches of Ravan (the ego) and goes away from Rama (the Self); then with the help of Laxman (awareness) and Hanuman (the breath), it is freed from Ravan (the ego) and united with Rama (the Self). ] Is your Sita with your Rama? :-) Love n Jai Gurudev

Q: What is Karma? A: You asked me this question, this is my Karma and your effort. Whatever I answer, is my effort and your Karma. Q: What is the mind? A: Is your mind here right now? Yes?...yes? Yes. ok. So you know what is the mind. :-) Love n Jai Gurudev Saleel

More than 5000 years ago Lord Krishna, while giving the Bhagavad Geeta to Arjuna in the battlefield of Kurukshetra, showed his divine form - the Viraat Roop, to him. Today while watching the World Culture Festival event in the Olympia Stadium in Berlin, I felt so strongly that Guruji has shown his Viraat Roop, yet again. So many cultures were presented on one platform, so many communities, all came as one. One global family, Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. When Guruji said not only individuals have to come together, even all the cultures of the world have to meet, I could feel his sincerity and earnestness. The meditation he conducted invoked so much peace, joy and unity, it was as if the whole world was celebrating inside me through his grace. When the various performances from all over the world, as far east as Japan and as far west as Argentina, happened, the homogeneousness of the entire human species as belonging to one source, one divinity could be felt so prominently. In today's worl...

After a long time I took a long walk in Ghatkopar, Mumbai on the 90 ft road, Odeon cinema, Hingwala lane, etc. These were the roads I often visited with my school and college friends in the evenings. The primary objective of these walks was never refreshing the mind and energizing the body, but rather it was soothing the eyes and warming the heart ;-) (watching the babes). Nostalgia did cross my mind as I watched the lanes, shops and various apartment buildings, but it didn't stay long. What struck my mind harder was that though a couple of decades had passed and everything had changed, some things had not changed at all! The Gujjus were hogging at the hawkers, people were in a mad rush, tired and stressed, to reach back home, young girls were flaunting their dresses, the boys were ogling at them and passing comments, aunties were gossiping about prices and jewelry, uncles were discussing the stock market and yet some others were expressing their woes of corporate politics. Ho...