NBS and Group sadhana

This one's for the notice for all of you that we have started the group sadhana official from today at SAC amphi mornings 6:15-7:15 AM precisely.

We're gonna start the Narad Bhakti Sutras(NBS in short) from today evenings 8-9 PM .It'll be a series of talks(14 to be exact) by Guruji that all of us will watch together in SAC old gym. It'll require quite a bit of dedication and commitment from your side.. in case you are interested :).

jaigurudev!
love
rahul

Satyam Param Dhimahi...

Well... its been quite a bit of time since the last post and will make up for that by posting regularly from now on, part of which would be from knowledge sheets(from 'Intimate Note To The Sincere Seeker'-by Guruji) considering the fact that very few people on campus have the book.

Now i come straight to what this post is aimed at.All my life I've lied a lot regarding various things for example, be it giving the list of expenses to dad (or) denying politely a request from a friend to borrow something(and of course many other reasons not to be proud of :D).

Ever since joining AOL and starting my spiritual journey I've lied for various other reasons... sometimes with friends about my YES!+ activities(when i was new to our YES!+ group and didn't fully implement the football sutra!), but its been mostly to my parents(i hope my mom doesn't read this :D) about my activities and volunteering in AOL to avoid hurting them and more than that just to divert conflicts!!

But that's only a thing of the past, before i had this wonderful experience... i don't remember the exact incident when it happened, but the experience itself is fresh in my memory. I was about to lie to my dad on a call(obviously about AOL) but i 'chose' to face the situation boldly and decided that let me tell the truth!This in spite all the exact words i had planned to convince him( i managed to convince anyways). I cannot express the amount of joy and contentment i expressed in that single moment. I fell in love with 'truth' and i wondered with a smile the reason why Gandhiji loved truth('satya') so much!

Its very easy to lie in uncomfortable circumstances and get away... but just give this a shot. CHOOSE to tell the truth when otherwise you wouldn't have.It'll spark something in you... each and every time you would choose truth over comfort,or something else for everything else would seem trivial!

And to this was added a brilliant realization... just a few months back it dawned on me that when I'm seeking enlightenment(mind you its a loaded term), the highest reality that would dispense all darkness and reveal all secrets... how will this highest knowledge(truth, reality call it whatever you like) come to me if i myself don't honour and speak the truth at all times!



And that is precisely what the shloka Satyam Param Dhimahi means... literally translated as " Let the Ultimate truth dawn on me"

jaigurudev!
love
rahul

p.s. 22nd was bawa's 40th birthday and there is a wonderful post about him at www.bawandinesh.name

Reflections... Unlimited !!

Well well... it was just my last post when i spoke of Standing out and also having a VISION for yourself. And as i was just reading our very AOL's cool website srisri'sblog i was surprised, excited and filled with awe all at the same time as i read this question and answer(dated September 3rd) among the many others. Here's THE question that i was talking of...

Q. What is your vision for the Art of Living as an organization?
Sri Sri: Spirituality is the language of the New Age. You make your own vision. I would ask you to be a drishta (the one with the vision), you may make your own drishya (view). The Divine will give you sleep, you create your own dream.

If you've been with AOL long enough(depends how long, on your grasping abilities!)then its impossible of you to miss one aspect. Whatever profound and deep thoughts you're pondering on for a long time or even if its a spontaneous thought in the presence of Guruji or even many senior teachers, it gets reflected in their words or even deeds(cautious: everything is not ob in AOL... you got to be aware each moment always).

On numerous occasions this has happened to me... I have a thought and Guruji speaks of it in the very next instance(of course bawa and Dinesh b have also done it) and even saleel bhaiyya has managed the feat many times!

So... just beware!! The path of knowledge offers many such hidden secrets to be explored(it could just be a mere coincidence as well, no mystery involved!). Whatever it is... don't get stagnated and start drifting apart.Make sure get some knowledge everyday, it could be talks, videos knowledge sheets , Yoga Vashishta , Books... whichever way you love it!But do get it!

love
rahul
jaigurudev and happy knowledge :-)

Stand out!

Hmmm.... STAND OUT - its not only my name on dc, its also something I've started to believe in after coming into AOL... frankly not immediately after my first YES!+.I kept doing kriya, slowly started to volunteer and then came the time for my first advance course!Looking at Bawa and Dinesh bhaiyya and of course Guruji(He was there only for a session) I was in sheer awe. It inspired(and still does) me to the core!

And getting to know many extraordinary figures like Rashmin bhaiyya, Vikram bhaiyya made me more and more determined that I don't want to be just another guy with good job, a 'well settled life' even if spirituality is a part of it!!

I decided that i want to STAND OUT from the rest of the crowd... I've learnt to DREAM BIG and have a vision for myself(well... what 'my' vision is a secret lets see if we manage to stick together you'll know it anyways), most importantly support it with action! Cause in AOL we just don't talk... we are among the good people who actually go out and ACT!

By and by as i watch my friends and others speaking and worried(actually terrified) of jobs and placements i laugh to myself! I feel they're still stuck in small little things not realising their true potential...

I don't want all of you to commit the same mistake! All of us having done the YES!+ and having Guruji by the side... should dream big, achieve big... without losing the knowledge,wisdom and STAND OUT from the normal crowd!

love

rahul

Jaigurudev!

JAI GURU DEV :)

Jaigurudev!!

My name's Rahul(of course a student of BITS-pilani)... I'm forced to follow this formality of introducing myself cause i see one follower who seems to be non pilani... correct me if u are!(do it by commenting).I'm here to add onto the good work Vishesh has been doing by creating and contributing to a YES!+ blog.

I think its a great platform where all of us(the YES!+ participants and volunteers) can keep in touch. Its fairly obvious with the number adding up its an uphill task to keep all of them included and make them feel a part of the group.... so its not necessary that only 2-3 of us contribute and the rest read. Let this be more of a space where everyone of us can share our thoughts,experiences and most importantly some knowledge(knowledge sheets or summary of some talk... lets not become teachers!).

So... whoever wants to contribute(on a regular basis) to this blog just place a comment/contact us and Vishesh will make u an author.

Celebrating Life! Now to be honest though i like the name it somehow seems incomplete and fails to describe the YESPLUS gang and our spirit. We do celebrate but we do much more than that isn't it? We're achievers, we've got knowledge, and we've got GURUJI,AOL, BAWA & DINESH and that ultimate aim that the general crowd hasn't got and i don't think that even among us many have realised that!

Sorry Vishesh... thats just my 'opinion'. Anyways Celebrating Life is just fine and is good in a broader sense.

And now its obvious that along with Vishesh I'll be contributing to the blog... more often than not and i hope i do good work... and I've got a blog of my own and u can visit it at REACH OUT .

And i hope that more people come forward and contribute to the blog, and look forward to more posts from me.

love

rahul

jaigurudev!

Delhi Adventures

This post marks the beginning of a series ... a series of posts about the adventures me and Rahul have had, when we went from pilani all the way to Delhi (a 6 hour journey) to volunteer for YES!+ ...

After the third YES!+ course here at Pilani, I got a call from Saleel bhaiyya saying that a volunteer training session is to be held in Delhi for the upcoming Utsav, and asking me to come ... so I asked around other volunteers in the college ... none of them were willing to come ...

Soon it was 11 PM on Saturday night (the session was on Sunday morning) and I decided that I didn't want to go alone ... but then I found out two friends of mine are going to Delhi (for a different purpose) ... still I was apprehensive about spending a day alone in Delhi (how laughably childish that looks to me now !!) .. with an uncertian mind, I asked Saleel bhaiyya what exactly will happen there, how far is the place from the bus stop etc.. .... Saleel bhaiyya patiently explained everything ... I told him I wasn't sure that Ill come ... then he said "Aye Vishesh, aaja na !!"

That did it. Now I could not say no. So at midnight I decided to board the 1 o clock bus, without asking permissions, secretly jumped a college gate ... and set out for the bus stop ...

To be continued :) ...

The Meaning Of Mahabharata

Me, Mohit and Rahul had gone from Pilani to Jhunjhunu at attend a satsang by Swami Pragyapad ... and it was there he explained the Meaning of Mahabharata :

"Dhritraashtra" (father of Kauravas) means a person who conquers a country ("raashtra") by the wrong means ... i . e. ... an unethical person ... such a person is blind because he cannot see what is right and what is wrong ... cannot see what is good for him ...

Gaandhari represents our conscience ... which though can see, blinds itself in a person like Dhritraashtra ...

So when there is an unethical person with a blinded conscience, Duryodhan (the bad guy) is born ... the politicians of today are all Duryodhans/Kauravas ....

So how can Duryodhan be defeated ? He can be defeated by the five Pandavas :

YUDHISTHIR : Yudhisthir means "Yudh mein sthir" or "stable in war" ... it is that quality which enables us to be calm and cool even we are having an argument or an uneasy conversation with someone ...

BHIMA : Bhima represents strength, unshakebility, acceptance ... whatever is thrown at you ... you don't get affected ....

ARJUN : means concentration, one pointed focus, giving 100 % ...

NAKUL : 'Kul' means family ... 'na' 'kul' means one who just dosen't think about his own family ... but takes responsibilty for the society around him also ...

SAHADEV : means company of good/wise people ... "dev ke saath" ...

So in order to eradicate evil from the world ... you must use these five qualities which you have ... but these five qualities are not enough ... along with them you must have Krishna (faith/devotion to God) :)

When you are expressing these qualities 100 %, and are devoted to God, God will take care of everything ... He will do all the manipulation that is required ... He will make your enemies commit mistakes (like asking Duryodhan to cover his thighs when he is going to see his mother) ... and He will create miracles ...

So if you are cool even in an argument, are unshakeable, give your 100 % to whatever you do, think not just for your family, be in the company of the wise, and have faith in God, you can eradicate all negativity, all evil from your life and from the world .... that, is the essence of the Mahabharata.