Friday, November 19, 2010

The Five Principles... the Song of Ashtavakra :)


Excerpts from the Ashtavakra Gita by Guruji H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji.

अष्टावक्र उवाच ।।मुक्तिम् इच्छसि चेत्तात विषयान् विषवत्त्यज ।क्षमार्जवदयातोषसत्यंपीयूषवद् भज ।। -२।।

Ashtavakra spoke: muktim ichchasi chet taat vishayaan vishavat tyaja kshamaa aarjava dayaa tosha satyam piyushavad bhaja (1-2)

“The synonym for truth is existence. What exists is truth. The five important points are forgiveness, sincerity, compassion, contentment and truthfulness.

· Kshama (forgiveness)

Forgive yourself. Some vasanas, impressions were responsible for your actions. If you can’t forgive yourself you have tied yourself with the past. Then there is no freedom; no liberation. You have to free yourself from the past and how can you do it if you cannot forgive? Kshama, forgive yourself. Forgiveness, right now!

· Arjava (sincerity)

There are people who go on forgiving themselves but they are not sincere. So they can be where they are and continue doing the same thing. You may have done something wrong; you are also preparing to something wrong today and will continue with something tomorrow. There is no sincerity. Sincerity is a quality. Sincerity is there when you do anything with full awareness….. Kindle the sincerity within you….

· Daya (compassion)

Don’t be hard on yourself or on anyone else. If you are totally non-violent, violence ceases to exist in your presence. There is a maturity of compassion towards everyone and all beings. if you are not compassionate, you are bound to get angry. Daya is your very nature.

· Tosha (contentment)

Contentment follows compassion. A frustrated person cannot be compassionate. If you had only ten days to live on this planet, what would you want to do… we hang on to things as if though they will be forever…. A friend of yours behaved badly with you and hurt you. What actually hurts you is your own foolishness. The whole world needs to understand this; the entire world is burning out for nothing. Every moment put yourself in knowledge. Everybody should be immersed in two or three hours of SEVA.

· Satyam (truth)

Truth is what is right now! This is truth! What is the truth! You are not going to be here all the time! Atleast this body is not!

The body is always changing

The whole world is changing

People are changing; their minds are changing.

Wake up and see that everything is changing.

It makes you so firm, strong and solid inside.

These five principles exist in your life.

Did these five principles come up during the day. Did you forgive yourself or someone else for what happened. Were you sincere in what you were doing? Situations have been created for you to do this… Accepting that you have been insincere is sincerity, not judging, not giving any explanation, not justifying oneself; but acknowledging it.then you have become sincere. Were you compassionate towards yourself and others. Were you contented with what is and what was happenng around you. Did you remember that truth that all things are changing? What is truth? This will all go…..

Piyushavadbhaja..

Take these five principles as the nectar of your life and share them like nectar. Consider them as the essence or ambrosia of your life and nourish them.”

We don’t hold on to big things. We hold on to small things, little things around us. We hold on to straws here and there. But you are given something that is immensely valuable and very precious. In order to take something very precious, our mind has to know that the hands are full of straws, which are good-for-nothing. Letting go is the nectar, the ambrosia. Ambrosia is being offered to you but you are holding onto some poison ivy!

You don’t have to make any effort, just wake up!” ....... :)

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Musings...


'In the flow' thoughts and utterances !!
Either in the deep moments of prayer or in the flow of connected thoughts..

Intuition: Head or Heart
Head means reason and logic and Heart means emotion and feeling. All thoughts!! Intuition is neither head nor heart, it is beyond. Coz its an inkling, indication of what is to come, or simply what is. Perception of reality.. not feelings, judgements and reasoning. Neither conscious nor subconscious.Superconsciousness… Soul calling..


Being alive = Being in the present moment = Experiencing God.
Reliving some beautiful moments of the past can surely make us come alive, even in the present moment, provided we recollect the past without regret, guilt or anger and without the expectation that we get those moments back… :)


Given the bombardment of information from all around -- it is quite astounding to even be able to meditate for short periods.. I guess that's why Awareness is key..as opposed to more hours of keeping the eyes closed...:)


Living the mystery of life is when you realize some questions have no answers .... and some experiences no expressions..

You cannot shake the conviction of one who has experienced ....

What you see around in the outside world simply reflects your inner world.. What do you 'SEE'!!! ;) Happy Watching!! :)


'You hear the call of my heart, I know
Even before my tears touch the floor,
You flood my life with love..
In gratitude ...' :)



Prayer

The ways may differ, the essence remains the same -- The call from the heart, surrender and divine love :)

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Ashram times... Navratri and Guru Puja...:)



This is dedicated to you Sarthak.. thanks for inspiring me to write again after a long time ..

Guruji’s coming to Ahmedabad…excitement, joy, last minute Ashram trip for Navratri and Guru Puja Phase 1 …Mega YES!+ with Bau and Dinesh bhaiyya..there was hardly any time left to think..

Navratri trip was amazing.. The highlight as usual, after Gurudev offcourse, was the Ashtami Puja. Guruji described it as special because priests from all over South India and Dwarka performed it, turn by turn..

The chanting left me dissolved.. This was the first time my usually high pitta troubled stomach showed no signs of any unwanted acids rising to my head.. :) time from 6.30 am to almost 3.30 pm passed, with me opening my eyes for a few seconds every now and then, and back to the ‘---------’ State .. ;)

Rudra Pujas every day till Guruji was there… and Indrani ready to squeeze and hug Guruji after each of the Pujas.. ;)

And then time for Guru Puja Phase 1…. Called as ‘The Course’ by Girin bhaiyya…who came to take the long kriya on the first day..

Bhanu di’s presence glowed and bhakti flowed through the course.. :)

My favourite memory of the course was the shloka “Yaddvare nikhilanilimpa parishad” and Bhanu di’s amazing and yet so simple style of storytelling…Chanting and Dancing through the course and it was time to come back…

For a change the return back home was exciting as Gurudev’s visit to Gujarat lay right ahead.. Though I probably missed the heat of the seva action, the days ahead were just amazingly beautiful…. No words can describe the feeling.. ' Being with the Presence' and ‘Feeling the Presence’ :)

Part II follows…