Question - Gurudev, Who Am I?

Question - Gurudev, Who Am I? Gurudev Sri Sri - Keep asking yourself this question again and again - “Who am I?” This itself paves the way for going deeper into meditation. Just keep aside whatever you think of yourself or what you feel you are. This question cannot be answered through words. One who answers it through words does not truly know. This question is very important. So keep asking this question to yourself again and again - be it a hundred or a thousand times, over and over. Then ask yourself, “Why am I?” I would say first you should know who you really are. Then think over why you are, and also why you are not. Think whether there is anyone for whom you are not. You are not here to be troubled, you are not here to disturb others either. You are not here to simply eat, drink and sleep from one day to another. You are not here to gossip. So when you think deeply in this manner, you will slowly begin to understand why you are here. Start making a list of all the things you are not. Go on negating one thing after another that you are not. Then you will know why you are here, and that you are here to be useful and be of help to others around you, and for yourself as well. When a few people get comfort and relief because of you, then the happiness and contentment that you get cannot be expressed in words at all.

ON KUNDALINI SHAKTI

ON KUNDALINI SHAKTI Kundalini simply means the energy in your body. Unless it is awakened there is no life. And in the very first Sudarshan Kriya you do it is already awakened. It doesn’t have to be dramatic. There are three types of kundalini shakti. One is sattvic. The most harmonious, gentle awakening of the kundalini shakti. And you don’t even know that it’s awakened, automatically you start being very happy, generous, large hearted, big minded, compassionate, intuitive. All these things keep happening spontaneously. Second is the rajasic type where you find this jerk and all this drama happens. A lot of dramatic intense experiences come, this is the rajasic way. There is no tamasic way of developing kundalini. If at all some people consider tamasic, the people who use some powers and black magic and this and that sort of thing. But I don’t consider it as tamasic kundalini at all but it is some spirit powers you know. You appease some lower spirits and get some powers from them. And then you dance for some days and then you collapse, that’s what people do. So don’t run after some of this so called magic and miracles, many of them are from these lower spirits. They appear to be doing something to you and then you feel miserable later. So sattvic are the most harmonious, best type of kundalini and it is what happens already in Sudarshan Kriya. Doesn’t it happen? Tingling and every cell of the body wakes up. Does it happen or not? Remember the very first Sudarshan Kriya you did, everything awakened?! That’s it! Did you have peaceful meditation? Did you start feeling I am not the body but I am the spirit? Did you get that experience? That’s already happening. If you have no experience in kriya, you have so much dullness all the time, then you have to watch your food. You must be stuffing yourself with too much food, number one. Or you must have indulged in too much sex that there is no energy in your body to experience anything else. Then also it doesn’t happen. I tell you, someone has been very very busy day and night and didn’t have good sleep, enough rest then there is no way that they can experience any kundalini shakti. So these are some of the criterion, got it? When your energy is conserved then you find that elevation. And if good meditation is happening, you should know it is already functioning. If when meditating, inside you feel the expansion, a calmness, a serenity, it is all sign of kundalini shakti. *Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar*

OUR LONG SCHOOLING

OUR LONG SCHOOLING Around the Year with Emmet Fox June 30 Why is reincarnation necessary? Why do we come back for short excursions of perhaps seventy or eighty years instead of, let us say, living one very long lifetime of perhaps a thousand or even several thousand years? The explanation lies in man's reluctance to adopt new ideas and adapt himself to changing conditions. In each new experience however, he wants to do things in new ways, then as the years of his maturity go by, the strong race suggestions all around him gradually get their way. He begins to acquire vested interests (mentally) in the status quo. The only remedy, when crystallization sets in, is to remove him from the earth plane altogether; send him to the etheric planes for rest, reflection, assimilation, and general readjustment; and then bring him back once more as a baby, to experience a new youth and a new period of true spiritual production. There are other reasons why multiple lives are necessary. You need to develop every side of your character. You need to learn lessons of discipline and self-restraint, and you need to learn to use authority in the right way. You need to learn the lesson of getting on with other people, and you must also learn to be alone. You must learn to bear failure and disappointment with fortitude and you must learn to stand success without allowing your head to be turned. You have to learn both patience and the lesson of enterprise and adventure. Above all, you have to move about in time and space so that you may learn that nothing God made is really foreign or separate— and this could not be done in one lifetime. "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ . . ." Galatians 3:24

Baby Giraffes

Baby giraffes never go to school. But they learn a very important lesson rather early in life. A lesson that all of us would do well to remember. The birth of a baby giraffe is quite an earth-shaking event. The baby falls from its mother's womb, some eight feet above the ground. It shrivels up and lies still, too weak to move. The mother giraffe lovingly lowers her neck to smooch the baby giraffe. And then something unbelievable happens. She lifts her long leg and kicks the baby giraffe, sending it flying up in the air and tumbling down on the ground. As the baby lies curled up, the mother kicks the baby again and again until the baby giraffe, still trembling and tired, pushes its limbs and for the first time learns to stand on its feet. Happy to see the baby standing on its own feet, the mother giraffe comes over and gives it yet another kick. The baby giraffe falls one more time, but now quickly recovers and stands up. Mama Giraffe is delighted. She knows that her baby has learnt an important lesson: Never mind how hard you fall, always remember to pick yourself up and get back on your feet. Why does the mother giraffe do this? She knows that lions and leopards love giraffe meat. So unless the baby giraffe quickly learns to stand and run with the pack, it will have no chance of survival. Most of us though are not quite as lucky as baby giraffes. No one teaches us to stand up every time we fall. When we fail, when we are down, we just give up. No one kicks us out of our comfort zone to remind us that to survive and succeed, we need to learn to get back on our feet. Salute and bravo to everyone who hasn't given up and those who will always have the courage to get back , dust everything off and start again...

Celebration and Mourning

https://www.dailypioneer.com/2023/columnists/celebration-and-mourning-can-coexist.html

ALL GOD'S UNIVERSE

ALL GOD'S UNIVERSE Around the Year with Emmet Fox June 27 What is nature? What we call nature is a small part of God's universe that we are able to see at the present time, and much of which we see awry. All the wonderful things that are going on in the woods, all the marvelous happenings that take place in the depths of the ocean, the whole sublime story of the heavens, are all parts of God's self-expression. Above all, our own bodies themselves are part of nature, perhaps the most wonderful part of all; and probably the part about which we ourselves know least. "But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. . . . With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding" Job 12:7-10, 13

A Titanic Disparity in How the World Responds to Maritime Disasters

A Titanic Disparity in How the World Responds to Maritime Disasters By Amy Goodman & Denis Moynihan Titan and Adriana are two vessels recently lost at sea, four days and 4,000 miles apart. The five men who lost their lives on the Titan have been getting wall-to-wall coverage in the media worldwide. Meanwhile, the estimated 700 who died when the Adriana sank off the coast of Greece, mostly women and children, have been essentially forgotten. Passengers on the Titan were wealthy; two were billionaires. Each had paid $250,000 for an adventure of a lifetime, a deepsea dive to view the wreckage of the Titanic, the “unsinkable” passenger liner that sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg. Those crammed onto the ramshackle Adriana fishing boat were seeking not adventure but refuge from war, poverty, climate change or any of the many other life-threatening crises that force people to flee their homes with little more than the clothes on their back. They paid human traffickers to ferry them from Libya to Europe. Perhaps the most notable difference between these two disasters was how the world responded to them. Governments immediately spent millions mounting a search and rescue operation to find the Titan, submerged somewhere in the north Atlantic, deep below an area twice the size of Connecticut. Media outlets provided continuous coverage, with one launching a countdown clock predicting when the submersible’s oxygen would run out. The U.S. Coast Guard and Navy and the Canadian government sent planes and boats to the search area. France and Canada each deployed deep sea robots. People around the world watched and waited breathlessly. Meanwhile, in Greece, officials knew the exact location of the overcrowded, disabled Adriana. Shocking details are now emerging of its sinking on June 14th. First-hand accounts, reported in El Pais, suggest the Greek Coast Guard could have saved the doomed vessel’s 400-750 passengers, but opted not to.

Maharaja’s Express Trains

Maharaja’s Express Trains “Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing the lawn, climb that goddam mountain,” writes the noted American novelist, Jack Kerouac. I reckon we all engage in travelling. The exercise is nothing short of a wanderlust odyssey. We discover and explore new places, savour resplendent and robust historical sites; get connected with the past, absorb breathtaking sites or just revel and luxuriate on a cruise or in an opulent train. These moments provide a quintessential slice of inspiration which is perfect to handle any situation that we may encounter as the mind metamorphoses to become lithesome and is able to take alacritous decisions after a rejuvenating travel experience. A few decades ago India provided an old fashioned and very-much-tried and tested tourism package which attracted foreigners and some propertied Indians to the orbit of the Delhi-Agra-Jaipur triad. This was at a time when profit and luxury were still feculent words. Reagonomics, Thatcherism, globalisation, the fall of the Berlin Wall and virtual collapse of Communism fuelled the imagination of a fossilised bureaucracy, which turned visionary overnight. Then the Indian panorama altered the tourism ecosystem with the railways introducing ingenuous, luxury train services like Palace on Wheels, Fairy Queen and Royal Orient Express in the post-globalised world (in collaboration with State Tourism Departments and private players). Indians began to relish the word ‘profit’. As the planned economy gave way to market forces, there were innumerable choices available to the consumer. The pioneers skilfully tweaked various packages. In that series were launched the Maharajas’ Express which chugged on several routes over different parts of the country. The Maharajas' Express is a luxury tourist train owned and operated by the IRCTC. Deftly tying together the more historically significant cities, the opulent train plies on seven circuits traversing more than a dozen destinations across the axis of North-West- Central and South–Western India. Keeping in mind the climate in several parts of the country, the trips have been sandwiched between the ebbing summers in October and the late springs of April. The estimable train Maharajas' Express was voted as “The World's Leading Luxury Train” five times in a succession from 2012 to 2017, at the World Travel Awards. No mean achievement which skewers the misgivings of the Cassandra’s of doubt prophets of doom prophesised about the tourism marketing prowess of Indians. It is noteworthy to mention that the Maharajas’ Express is the most extortionate and high-priced luxury train operating in the world. For its pre-eminent service Maharajas' Express was the first runner-up in the Specialist Train Operators Category at Conde Nast Travellers’ Reader Choice Travel Award in the year 2011. This estimable train service commenced operations in March 2010. A joint venture of the IRCTC Limited and Cox and Kings India Limited was to establish a company called Royale Indian Rail Tours Ltd (RIRTL), to oversee the functioning and management of the Maharajas’ Express. This joint venture was however terminated in 2011 and currently the train is manoeuvred exclusively by IRCTC. The Maharajas' Express provides a plethora of solutions under a single umbrella of ostentation - pneumatic suspension, live television, Wi-Fi, attached bathroom, dining cars, bar, lounge and a premium souvenir shop. Larger cabins are endowed with roll-top baths and spacious sitting rooms. The train comprises of twenty-three carriages which include accommodation, dining, bar, lounge, generator and store cars. The train gloats of a lounge called the Rajah Club which has a private bar, two dining cars and a dedicated bar car. There is a delectable on-board souvenir boutique which offers tat for the pilgrims of this opulent odyssey. The train is also equipped with a water filtration plant. This luxurious train crows of a Presidential suite offering breathtaking 5-star accommodation. LCD televisions, eco-friendly toilets, direct dial phones, DVD player, internet, individual climate control and electronic safes are available in each guest cabin. It is worthwhile to mention that there are five carriages in the category of Deluxe Cabins, a total of 20 cabins accommodating forty passengers (twelve twin bed cabins and eight double bed cabins); all suitable to haul passengers in plush luxury. There are eighteen cabins in the Junior Suites category that accommodate thirty-six passengers. Additionally, there are four Suites available, which are endowed with large separate sitting and sleeping areas. The Presidential Suite is constructed on an entire rail carriage, incorporating a separate sitting-cum-dining room, a master bedroom and bathroom with shower and bathtub, a twin bedroom and bathroom with shower. The Maharajas' Express Presidential Suite is the first such a rail carriage of its kind in the world meant for commercial usage. The superabundant train has two dining cars which have been designed to provide for expansive dining service, each with a seating capacity of 42 guests at a time so that all the guests dine together. The train has a state-of-the-art kitchen car designed to provide a range of cuisines in the restaurants Rang Mahal and Mayur Mahal. The restaurant menu includes traditional Indian cuisine along with Continental, Chinese and other International fare. A dedicated bar carriage, the Rajah Club, offers the choicest of wines, liqueurs, spirits and beers along with snacks and starters. The lounge cum bar called the Safari Bar is equipped with a multilingual library and board games and offers a casual lounge experience. The tariff includes drinks on board!

Enhanced Passenger Facilities by Indian Railways

3. Enhanced Passenger Facilities by Indian Railways It was way back in 1832, at Madras (now Chennai) that the honchos of the East India Company rolled out grandiose plans to construct railways where they were the suzerains. It will be a matter of considerable interest to Indologists, historians and those fascinated in the history and transformation of the transportation sector in India to appreciate that the country's first train, Red Hill Railway (built by Arthur Cotton to transport granite for road-building), chugged from Red Hills to the Chintadripet bridge in the year 1837 in Madras. Somewhere in 1845, the Godavari Dam Construction Railway was established by Cotton at Dowleswaram in Rajahmundry, to supply stone for the construction of a dam over the Godavari River in present day Andhra Pradesh, then part of the Madras Presidency. However, the landmark event was India's first passenger train, hauled by three steam locomotives (Sahib, Sindh and Sultan), that ran for 34 kilometres between Bori Bunder and Thane, with 400 people onboard in 14 carriages, on 16 April 1853. This momentous event had metamorphosed India forever. Since then Indian Railways has been appropriately called the Lifeline of the Nation. This gargantuan transporter plays a pivotal role in fuelling the economic growth of the country. Railways are the largest integrating force which acts as an adhesive for a country as diverse as India. It is a humungous task and is verily the spine of the country’s economic development. This massive organisation resolutely and relentlessly strives to provide varied facilities and services at stations and on board its trains. Based on passenger feedback, quality of services are constantly augmented and tweaked to improve the variegated basket. These include amenities such as seating arrangements, lighting facilities, fans, drinking water, better equipped toilets, waiting halls, retiring rooms, foot over-bridges, catering units and signages at various stations across the country. Besides these traditional services, railways have risen to the occasion to proffer escalators, ticket vending machines, executive lounges, mobile and laptop charging points, electronic train indicator boards to meet with the aspirations of a burgeoning travelling public and cast the archaic outlook to become more latter-day and contemporary. Special attention has been placed on the special-abled passengers (Divyangjans) by providing earmarked reserved berths, improved signages, ramps, special toilet facilities, dedicated parking spaces, discrete toilets and water taps to make them inclusive in the system and consequently railways also eschew the hitherto Burra Saheb attitude of the past and become more humane in their approach towards dealing with passengers. Expansive proportion of funds has been allocated by the Ministry of Railways, over the last few years in particular to augment passenger amenities at stations (the boarding, intermediate and terminal point for any traveller). It would be noteworthy to mention that in the year 2017-18 the expenditure on variegated passenger amenities was Rs 1,287 crores, which outlay was enhanced to Rs 1,658 crores in the subsequent year. The Ministry of Railways as per the latest policy guidelines have categorised the entire spectrum of 8,738 stations as suburban, non-suburban or halt category of stations. In order to cater to the vast number of women travellers, Baby Feeding Facilities have been organised. This path breaking, neoteric measure provides privacy and comfort to the lactating mother and her child. Recall the talismanic movie Gandhi, where Ben Kingsley essaying the role of the Mahatma passes on his turban across a river to a woman feeding an infant on the banks of a river. The scene is etched in the alcoves of cine goers’ minds. But the moot point is to protect the modesty of women where several predators are on the prowl. Further in order to expand the portfolio of passenger services, the recourse of booking concierge service has been provided on the hugely fabled 139 number which is normally used by the travelling public to monitor PNR, seat number, fare enquiries and booking of meals while travelling. Additionally the concept of Saarthi Sewa has been unleashed at 63 important railway stations of the country. At these stations, 110 Battery Operated Vehicles (BOVs) have been launched which cater to women passengers, the differently abled and senior citizens. Several NGOs and corporate entities have been co-opted in this laudable drive which is run without any additional charge and is part of their Corporate Social Responsibility. Another significant step for the geriatric passengers and the differently abled (Divyangjan) passengers has been the Yatri Mitra Sewa. IRCTC has been nominated to provide any form of assistance required to these individuals. As a major milestone, Railways have initiated to transform a station into what is now called the “Happiness Junction” station. The first of its kind is at Sonepur Junction which is part of the East Central Railway. The innovation is to engage a passenger waiting to board a train in a constructive and enthralling manner. Under the programme, books, journals, newspapers and different cultural activities have been organised. These are some out-of-the-box approaches which have been initiated to trigger a change in the mindset of the Indian passenger travelling by trains. “Friends are as companions on a journey, who ought to aid each other to persevere in the road to a happier life,” wrote Pythagoras, the ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher. Indian Railways has the vision and mission to become as friendly as possible.

. Women’s Empowerment and Indian Railways

2. Women’s Empowerment and Indian Railways One is a talismanic cricketer – Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the other an iconic sprinter who scorched the tracks, P.T. Usha. One began his career with the South Eastern Railway and the other still works on Southern Railway. Prakriti and Purusha are an integral part of our ancient folklore and mythology. The entire creation is believed to be the synergy between these two principles; Prakriti is indicative of the feminine aspect and Purusha represents the masculine. The Ministry of Railways had assiduously devoted the year 2018 to the safety of women and children. This was a singular and momentous step, taken towards empowerment of women utilising the largest transportation network in the country. How many of us are aware that about one-fifth of the passengers travelling daily by various mail, express, passenger and suburban trains are women? Of the 23 million passengers who commute by the railways daily, as many as 4.6 million are women. Some major initiatives taken to provide facilities to women speak volumes of the guardianship and ministration being extended to women by the railway administration. Certainly it is not merely posturing or empty rhetoric. One of these is the Security Help Line, ‘182’ for women. This arrangement is ensured 24 by 7, for all travellers and in particular women passengers. The arrangement is functional through the Divisional Control Rooms of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) across Indian Railways. The helpline is accessible to all passengers, ensuring a security blanket during their journey. It is noteworthy to mention that helpline gets activated and ensures real time complaint resolution. Through the use of Twitter, maximal priority has been provided to women passengers so that any untoward incident can be combated promptly and with finesse. Passenger awareness programmes have been launched by a proactive railway administration by employing loud hailers/Public Address systems, besides pasting security stickers of the RPF control rooms. Assistance of technological tools such as Facebook and Twitter is being zealously used to play a pivotal role to redress the grievances of woman passengers. Another noteworthy initiative is the reservation of lower berths for lady passengers. A landmark step towards extending a hassle-free travel, a special quota has been ear marked on trains for senior women citizens, pregnant women and female passengers who have attained 45 years age of age. The software package of the Passenger Reservation System has been tweaked to provide lower berths (upto 6 lower berths in sleeper class, 3 lower berths per coach in III AC and 3 lower berths per coach in II AC). Besides on Rajdhani Expresses, the number of lower berths has been increased for woman passengers. To ensure greater comfort and safety of female travellers, the railway administration is operating Ladies Special EMU, MEMU, MMTS services on the suburban sections of metropolitan cities- Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata and also on the NCR sections of Delhi region. After the gut wrenching Nirbhaya episode which had rankled the collective conscience of the country, these are some very welcome and efficacious steps launched by the Ministry of Railways. Yet another exemplary, though relatively unknown step is that of escorting women passengers during travel. This has been done by pooling the personnel of the RPF and the Government Railway Police (GRP) to be a sort of duenna to woman passengers. It would be pertinent to mention that lady RPF personnel acted as midwives and facilitated 49 childbirths at stations and on moving trains while guarding the modesty and privacy of the would-be mothers. Definitely a feather in the cap! Continuing the trend of using technology to streamline work is the Access Control and Video Surveillance System. As a path breaking initiative the railway administration has installed CCTV cameras which encompass the integrated security system for the security of women at the station premises. The provisions of CCTV surveillance system which comes under the Nirbhaya Umbrella Fund has been expanded and commissioned over several stations of Indian Railways. Janani Sewa was introduced as a small gesture in order to ameliorate hardships faced by mothers travelling with their infants. The service led to the inclusion of a menu for infants and children at railway stations. This includes baby food items, warm milk and water and several meal combos under the auspices of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). Such items can be procured through passenger-friendly SMSs, mobile apps, and the four digit (1323) all India toll-free number. “Travelling alone does not mean you’re alone. Most often you meet marvellous people along the way and make connections that last a lifetime,” writes Jacqueline Boone, the founder of Boone Consulting, a global marketing and learning company. Suffice to say Indian Railways is providing the requisite ballast of comfort to ensure that women passengers feel part of the travel experience without any encumbrance and revisit railway travel.

WANDERLUST: DISCOVRING INDIA BY RAIL

WANDERLUST: DISCOVRING INDIA BY RAIL 1. Indian Railways: Lifeline of the Nation There is well used adage, “If wishes were horses, men would fly”; maybe it is a voguish predisposition of humans to transcend mountains, skies and water bodies like the avian species. Humans through the innovative ability and ingenuity of the Wright brothers realised the cherished dream of being airborne. Delving further, the wheel is an acclaimed invention that engineered and triggered the growth of transportation. Humans navigated rivers and oceans by constructing boats and ships. In today’s world mankind has crossed farther frontiers by launching spaceships and rockets. But the quest for more efficient and superior transportation remains relentless. Tesla is audaciously working to transport humans to Mars; simultaneously the company is working on the Hyper Loop to haul cargo and men within minutes across sizeable distances. Rewind to April 16, 1853; a truly momentous day when iron trudged on iron. It appears aeons ago. Yes, 165 years to be precise. This was day when Sahib, Sindh and Sultan, three robust steam engines hauled 14 carriages on broad gauge track over a distance of 34 kilometres. This historic journey took place between Boribunder (in present day Mumbai) and Thane. Perhaps few railwaymen are cognizant of the fact that initial plans to lay railway infrastructure in the subcontinent were conceived as far back as 1832 in Madras (now Chennai). However, the First War of Independence in 1857 (or the Mutiny of 1857) had rattled the British in a chilling manner. Thus it was that the East India Company gave way to the Empire of Her Majesty, and India was conquered and enslaved by England. The ‘natives’ became subjects of the British. Astutely, the British realised that to subjugate the Indians they required muscle. And this brawny flesh was organised in three forms - the defence forces, the railways and the postal services. But it was the railways that developed into the lifeline of the nation providing the wherewithal to spread the Empire. Today Indian Railways (IR) operates around 23,000 trains daily to move approximately 3 million tonnes of freight cargo and more than 23 million passengers; no mean achievement! IR has become a crucial driver of the Indian economy. To run these trains, passenger and freight, the organisation has a gargantuan fleet of resources. At the apex level the organisation is headed by the Railway Board, which is further segregated into 17 Zonal Railways, 67 Divisional offices and several production units. The apparently monolithic organisation has an assemblage of 10,000 locomotives, 58,000 coaches with aggregate seating capacity of 50 lakh, 2.5 lakh wagons with aggregated freight carrying capacity of 13.5million tonnes and about 66,000 route kilometres of network. Two singular events are etched in the alcoves of my mind. While working in MILRAL, a unit of Indian Railways housed in Sena Bhavan, I was involved in transportation of our troops to the borders. It was a riveting and thrilling experience. Remember Pokhran 2? The year was 1998 and Indian Railways and the defence forces worked in tandem to transport our forces to hedge and safeguard various vulnerable areas against inimical forces. A few years later, I was posted at Bikaner when the dastardly attack on the Indian Parliament took place. Once again it was the lifeline of the nation, the Indian Railways that mobilised all available resources to help safeguard our frontiers. All cargo (except thermal powerhouse rakes) and all passenger carrying trains were terminated. The only movement that took place on the Indian Railways was mobilisation of troops, Operation Parakram. I do feel a sense of pride, even if it was only a ringside participation. In good times and in bad, it is this lifeline that weaves the nation together through the criss-crossing network, connects the entire nation into a common thread.

A BRIEF

The month was June and the year 1988, the political climate in the country was tumultuous once the revelations of purported payoffs were made by Swedish Radio and a series of articles were written in the venerated Hindu newspaper in the infamous Bofors deal. It nailed the fortunes of a popular Prime Minister of India and the party he represented. Suddenly the left, right and centre catapulted a certain Raja of Manda from Uttar Pradesh to the highest position in the country a year later. How many people in this country apart from those in Eastern Uttar Pradesh are aware of the princely state of Manda? Travel by trains to discover the soul of India. Mahatma Gandhi too discovered South Africa and India through his relentless travels, understanding the culture, people, places and the thinking pattern of the populace. Meanwhile sometime in June 1988, the hallowed Union Public Service Commission, an imposing structure located on Shah Jehan Road, New Delhi announced the results of the estimable Civil Service Examination. Eureka! I had secured 205th rank. “Wow!” exclaimed my friends in admiration. After all the Civil Services Examination where lakhs appear is a real test of mental and physical scrutiny of an individual. I was selected for the Indian Police Service, to this day considered a challenging job in our country. Had I opted for the service and my career progressed in the laid down trajectory, yours truly would perhaps have been a Director General of Police of a state. But life never rolls out in neatly planned sequences. I was not permitted to join the much vaunted service due to certain family compulsions and in the end settled for Indian Railway Traffic Service. Today, I am posted as the Principal Chief Operations Manager, North Central Railway, Prayagraj (name recently changed from Allahabad to Prayagraj); a significant post in the railway hierarchy. This is one among the 17 zonal railways of the Indian Railways. I am in-charge of transportation of passenger and cargo traffic and planning and safety of rail operations. This zonal railway covers 5% of Indian Railways and carries around 15% of traffic. This railway transported thousands for the famous Kumbh Mela of 2019, runs the prestigious Vande Bharat (T-18) connecting Delhi with Varanasi, and Tejas Express (privately operated trains under the auspices of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) and significantly moves coal to thermal power houses up-country in northern and north-western India. I reckon, I have chakras under my feet; having worked on eight zonal railways. Perhaps possessing little or no political connections, I could never influence my postings to be in metro cities, which has given me the opportunity to see visages of India which I might have never seen otherwise. Indian Railways carries touch every corner of India. Thus a traveller, a tourist, someone smitten by wanderlust can choose to travel by a suburban train, high speed or an opulent train or even a humble ‘passenger’ train. This bouquet of services, perhaps no transportation service can provide. During the course of the voyage, a backpacker can veritably breathe wondrous India; from resplendent Rajasthan to verdant Assam, from God’s own country Kerala to the beaches of Goa, from the financial capital, Mumbai to the political capital, Delhi and to cultural and literary strongholds of Kolkata and Chennai. During the course of this peregrination a traveller will pass through bijou towns, hill stations, pilgrimage spots, unknown but fascinating places which dot the landscape of India. “I travel not to go anywhere, but to go, I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move,” wrote the voguish Scottish author and travel writer Robert Louis Stevenson. During the course of my travels I rediscovered my interest in reading and writing and connected with several well-known and many not so well-known known people of this remarkable land. Through their eyes, thoughts and outlook, I have attempted to understand India. My posting on North Eastern Railway provided me the opportunity to visit Ghazipur and relearn that Lord Cornwallis was laid to rest there, just as Paramahamsa Yogananda was born at Gorakhpur. Though I could not cover all these towering personalities, but perhaps the notes taken would compel me to write a sequel covering these iconic personalities. Yes, I have made innumerable trips to the Bangalore Ashram of the Art of Living and could have darshan of H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on several occasions. “We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves,” uttered the enlightened soul Buddha. Ideas, idioms, ideologies and iterations all germinate and wander freely in our mind. A lesson I have learnt is not to be static, but to keep moving forward in pursuit thought word and deed, or else the mind is certain to become fossilised. This has been the most fascinating and interesting aspect of my professional and personal voyage. An individual must keep learning, unlearning and relearning. The four segments of this book are an attempt to showcase the ethos of India. I hope that as the reader navigates through the book, he or she is inspired to appreciate the beauty and diversity of our country. “If I were to ask under what sky the human mind has most fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has found solutions, I should point to India,” wrote the estimable German scholar Max Mueller.

AN APERTURE TO INDIAN ARCHITECTURE

AN APERTURE TO INDIAN ARCHITECTURE The art or practice of designing and constructing buildings is synonymous with the field of study of architecture. “ Architecture is a visual art and the buildings speak for themselves”, writes Julia Morgan the iconic American architect who designed more than seven hundred buildings in California. The prodigious architect is best known for her work on Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California. The exploration of Indian Architecture presents a tripper with a variegated bouquet to certain quintessential travel destinations in India which provides an opportunity to witness its abundant heritage. The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation has proffered a visual treat to a sightseer , stock individual and accomplished/ novitiate architects and sculptors a unique trip which covers the caves of Elephanta , Ajanta and Ellora. This expedition is an aperture to reconnoitre places which are in the Hall of Fame to be classified as world heritage sites . These include the mystique of Elephanta Caves and the exotic Ajanta and Ellora caves which showcase Indian history laced with spiritual underpinning in the western and central parts of India. Upon arriving at the financial capital of India , Mumbai either by rail , air or road a tripper is received by the officials of IRCTC and checked into an upmarket hotel. The following day the guests inhale the ozone emitted by the Arabian sea during an hour-long ferry ride from the Gateway of India to the Elephanta Island in the Mumbai Harbour. This opens the globe trotter to a hidden world of rock-cut caves which are robust in their carvings and boast a legion of Shaivite sculptures. The caves are tucked away in a desolate island which in common parlance are referred to as Gharapuri (city of caves). These cavern are approximately 10 kilometres east of the Gateway of India. Throughout the 19th and 20th Centuries, historians and scholars attempted to zero on their exact period of origin. However deeper studies and numismatic evidence, architectural style and inscriptions have traced the cave temples to King Krishnaraja from the Kalachuri dynasty around mid-6th Century, and the Buddhist Stupas to the Hinayana Buddhists who had settled in the island around 2nd Century BC much before the advent of the Brahmans to Elephanta. The caves, as well as the island, were christened as Elephanta by Portuguese invaders once they became suzerains of what is today known as Mumbai in the year1534. It was a happenstance discovery of a gigantic rock-cut sculpture of an elephant on the island which prompted them to name the place after the tusker. Sometime in 1661, the East India Company overpowered the Portuguese armies and the area became part of their dominion. Over time, these caves suffered significant damage and destruction by Persian invaders, Christian Portuguese soldiers, the Maratha as well as British rulers. In 1909, the British India officials initiated major attempts to safeguard the caves from further wreckage. Subsequently the Government of India carried out restoration works at the site in the 1970s and converted the place into a heritage site and an amazing tourist hideout. Singularly there are two sets of caves on Elephanta Island, each bearing the imprint of rock-cut style of architecture. The caves are carved out of solid basalt rock and span an area of 60,000 sq. ft. The larger one of these two groups have five caves which is populated with numerous Hindu sculptures. Besides there are a few Buddhist caves at the site which comprise of the smaller group along with water tanks and a Stupa. Each cave has been carved as a rock-cut temple with one principal gargantuan chamber, courtyards, two lateral chambers, and minor shrines. Cave 1 or what is also called the Grand Cave is the largest one among these which spreads across 39 meters from its entrance to the back. This cave temple is mainly dedicated to Lord Shiva and is blessed with numerous structures and carvings celebrating the deity and the different forms. After the sojourn to Elephanta Caves , tourists normally chill it out , take a walk on the marine drive and are ready to drop anchorage at exploring next set of caves in the vicinity of Aurangabad the next pit stop. Aurangabad is 365 kilometres from Mumbai and the aficionados of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation arrange for ferrying tourists by rail to witness the grandeur of Ajanta and Ellora caves. The formidable Ajanta Caves have been prominently mentioned in the memoirs of several medieval-era Chinese Buddhist travellers to India and by satraps of Mughal emperor Akbar in the early 17th century. These brawny caves were once covered by a humungous thicket until fortuitously they were "discovered" and drew large scale western attention and acclaim in the year 1819 by a colonial British officer Captain John Smith who was on a tiger-poaching expedition. The caves are in the rocky northern wall of the U-shaped gorge of the river Waghur, in the Deccan plateau. Within the gorge are several breathtaking waterfalls with gushing waters which break the hush and sush and the tranquillity of the pristine place and are audible from the vicinity of caves when the river course reaches a crescendo. Commencing with the 2nd century B.C., and continuing into the 6th century A.D., the paintings and sculptures in the caves of Ajanta and Ellora, were inspired by Buddhism and its compassionate teachings and unleashed a surge of artistic excellence unmatched in human history. These Buddhist and Jain caves are ornately carved, yet appear silent and meditative while exuding divine energy and power. About 107 km from the city of Aurangabad in Maharashtra, are the rock-out caves of Ajanta which are neatly nestled in a panoramic gorge, in the form of a gigantic horseshoe. These are set of 29 caves, Ajanta is among the finest examples of some of the earliest Buddhist architecture, cave paintings and sculptures. These caves comprise Chaitya halls or shrines, dedicated to Lord Buddha and Viharas or monasteries, used by Buddhist monks for meditation and the study of Buddhist teachings. The paintings which adorn the walls and ceilings of the caves depict incidents from the life and times of lord Buddha and other Boddhisattvas. Among the most beguiling paintings are those of the Jataka tales, illustrating diverse stories relating to the previous incarnations of the Buddha as Bodhisattava, a saintly being who was destined to become the Buddha. These elaborate sculptures and paintings stand tall in the impressive grandeur in spite of withstanding the ravages of time. Amid the beautiful images and paintings are sculptures of Buddha, with a soothing and serene depiction in deep state of cogitation. The cave temples and monasteries at Ellora, which were excavated out of the vertical face of an escarpment, are 26 km north of Aurangabad. Sculptors, inspired by strains of thought of Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism, created elaborate rock carvings. Extending in a linear arrangement, the 34 caves contain Buddhist Chaityas or halls of worship, Viharas or monasteries and Hindu and Jain temples. Spanning a period of around 600 years between the 5th and 11th century A.D., the earliest excavation here is of the Dhumar Lena (Cave 29). This is an imposing excavation of the grandiose Kailasa Temple (Cave 16) which is the largest monolithic structure in the world. It was known as Verul during ancient times and has continuously attracted pilgrims through the centuries right to modern times. This three day package suffuse the minds of the tripper with amazement of ancient Indian architecture and they are left awestruck as to how aeons ago Indian architects and sculptors created this work of marvel and sheer jollity. ”If a building becomes architecture, then it is art,” writes Danish architect Arne Jacobsen known for architectural functionalism.

MOVEMENT OF MIGRANT POPULATION BY THE INDIAN RAILWAYS

MOVEMENT OF MIGRANT POPULATION BY THE INDIAN RAILWAYS A Gayatri, Ramulu, one Shiva Prasad, the Apte family, a Hazarika were all stranded, seemingly under siege, unsure of what lay in store for them when the Government of India, in an unprecedented measure, announced a national lock down on 24th March, 2020 to apprehend the growth of the contagion of SARS-CoV-2. It appeared as if time had frozen for the denizens of this land spanning from Bengaluru to Buxar, Shillong to Sangrur. These were not the best of times, which Charles Dickens would too have concurred and isolation of the population was the only solution. Readers may recall footage on television screens that captured the angst and misery of migrants. In some cases they revolted, as at Bandra station in Mumbai and virtually ran amuck at Surat, demanding trains to ferry them back home. A paramount tipping point arrived in post-independence history of the country, when the government of India planned the largest transportation of population-primarily migrant labour- stuck at their work stations to the safe sanctuary of their dwelling places. Thus at the macrocosmic level it became an onerous responsibility for the government to organise transportation of migrant labour. Reports surfaced in both electronic and print media that in sheer desperation daily wage earners were risking their life and limb. Any mode of transportation was better than none at all- hitch a ride on the odd truck, sneak on to freight trains or Parcel Specials, or simply walk or cycle along the long and arduous road home- to reach their villages and bijou towns as the peril of the pandemic loomed large across swathes of the land. Their savings were dipping at an alarming rate, there were no avenues to earn their daily wages and they were understandably caught in the vortex of a fear psychosis. At the microcosmic level, the government had to address the grievances of the people locked down, initiate the process of isolation of COVID-19 afflicted people and unleash a strategy to transport the vast multitudes of desperate populace. Thus began the narrative of an unparalleled exodus of the citizens, ironically in free India and within their own country. The central government pressed in the services of the Indian Railways (IR) by adopting the quintuplicate of running of Migrant Special trains, conversion of coaches into isolation wards, planning and running of special Rajdhani trains and other special trains and finally leading to mobilising of rolling stock for running of the second wave of Shramik Specials. Some cold, gruesome statistics stare at us menacingly (as on 24 June, 2020). Around 93, 61,474 have been afflicted by this lethal disease which has accounted for 4, 79,910 deaths worldwide. At home there have been 4, 56, 183 reported cases which have resulted in 14, 476 causalities. This year in particular, has witnessed a harsh summer in more ways than one. As I pen down my thoughts to describe this gargantuan exercise undertaken by the IR, news is coming in that two zonal headquarter offices -East Central Railway, headquartered at Hajipur, Bihar and North East Frontier Railway at Maligaon, Guwahati- have been sealed and officers asked to self quarantine. The human resources, the core of railway operations, braced themselves to face the challenge posed by the multiple strands of activity - transporting migrant labour, ferrying essential commodities by freight cargo trains, running Parcel Specials, and running 230 trains which included 30 Rajdhani Express trains and another 200 special trains. It is pertinent to mention that these trains were run in a calibrated manner to ensure the windmills of nation’s economy churn and stranded denizens reach the oasis of their homes. Meanwhile the Ministry of Railways is also contemplating to operate another 120 special trains from 1August, 2020 as a measure to provide further fuel to the economy depending on the requirement of state governments and the levels of the pandemic, to ensure further connectivity to the places which were not part of the previous mobilisation exercise; put them back on the network so to speak. Tragically the media, civil rights groups and certain political parties have been scathing in their attacks on this gargantuan transportation exercise. They have focussed almost exclusively on highlighting deaths of some passengers on the trains during the journey (tragic indeed), stray incidences of irate labour resorting to alarm chain pulling in desperation, as they ransacked some stalls to pick up water bottles to quench their parched throats and a few packets of biscuits to satiate their hunger, while cleanly ignoring the magnitude of the exercise which was undertaken. There have been insinuations about tariff charged from the passengers; this despite repeated clarifications that 85% of the tariff has been borne by the Central Government while 15% was paid by the State Governments. India is in Unlock 1.0, upon completion of a series of four lockdowns, before total unlocking exercise commences. How the movement of migrant specials began? In the first round of transportation a monumental 4,347 “Shramik Specials” were run by the largest transporter of the country between 1 May and 31 May, 2020. The irony of the services beginning on 1May wouldn’t be lost on anyone! On an average each train consisted of 18 to 22 coaches, carrying approximately 1200 passengers. Currently the second wave of migrant specials is scorching the tracks, to ferry those who were left behind for a variety of reasons. Further the aim is to move brick kiln workers who are unemployed as pre-monsoon/monsoon rains have set in, in almost all parts of the country. The Operation Transportation of migrant labour was a task which involved detailed planning and execution and was broadly a threefold exercise. An organised exodus of migrant labour was an exigency which confronted the Ministry of Home Affairs, Indian Railways and various state governments. Migrant workers who were housed in factories, containment areas, locked in their shanties, brick kilns, quarantine zones, farms and other places of work were enumerated by the district administration and the numbers were conveyed to their counterparts in other states and the Railway authorities. The next step following the enumeration was identification of the labour and disbursement of tickets. Each train consisted of around 18 to 22 coaches of sleeper coaches (GSCN) and ordinary coaches (GS) which carried 1200 migrants ensuring absolute social distancing. At the helm was the Ministry of Home Affairs which had liaised with the Ministry of Railways and state governments through regular virtual meetings, identifying the numbers, places of boarding and disembarkment and onward movement to the final destinations. From the inputs provided by various state governments, the Railway Board had planned the number of migrant specials which were to ply. This information was percolated back to the states, and from the state capitals it was disseminated to the districts. Every District Magistrate coordinated with the Divisional Railway Manager right from the technicalities of placement of an indent (the first step in the process of organising a special train) and accordingly a rake was organised and provided by the operating department. For instance in a single day 250 odd specials ran from several points of the country and more specifically say from Bengaluru to Guwahati or Aligarh to Gaya. On more than one occasion the number of originating trains was far greater than a single special train and this required dextrous planning and deft execution. A vital aspect was planning the requirement of passenger rakes, their maintenance and placement at the designated terminals to begin the exercise of transporting the men, women and children. The station premises, the trains, the Train Ticket Examiners (TTEs), loco pilots, assistant loco pilots, guards, station masters, shunting staff were all sanitised to ensure their own safety and as well as that of the travellers. Checks were made by the medical staff and the constables of the Railway Protection Force (RPF). Thus in times of acute crisis these railway personnel became the frontline warriors. To ensure seamless movement of such gargantuan proportions it was paramount that Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Railways and various State Governments worked in unison. Based on inputs received top mandarins from Railway Board, the Zonal and Divisional level were hooked on almost daily video conferences; which was learning and an unlearning process. As per the requirements of district administration boarding and debarking points were planned and even altered on account of logistical reasons at the shortest notice , which was an exigent task but managed with panache by all stakeholders . The third step in the exercise was once the trains arrived at the destination. The passengers were screened and sanitized once again, thereafter quarantined or sent to their respective villages and bijou towns, as needed. Imagine plying two hundred trains from say a point in India’s North-East to Uttar Pradesh within a span of ten days. The issue of line capacity was not a constraint. However, to ferry frayed migrant labour to the point of boarding, sanitising them and also sanitising the rakes, locomotives and the railway personnel attending to them and transporting the migrants was both a physical and a psychological challenge. For the naysayers it may have appeared why were additional trains not run to evacuate migrant labour in much larger numbers, when line capacity was available, but perhaps they ignore the quantum of effort involved; to ensure safety first was paramount on the minds of both the Central and State governments. As the saying goes, the best laid plans of mice and men go awry. It goes to the credit of the railways and other agencies involved that changes were made with great agility to resolve issues as they cropped up. In the first instance, movement was planned from one point to another; with only operational halts in between (point to point movement as it is known). The concerned district administrations would have to handle the passengers only at the points of boarding and disembarking. However, this model of running train operations resulted in clogging of rail arteries. The existing line capacity was jammed as the pipeline of trains was moving towards a single point of detraining. It must be remembered that the railway system, was simultaneously transporting essential commodities and running Parcel Specials. The solution to this situation lay in opening up of additional terminals in the receiving city. This of course meant that the civil administration had to deploy substantial additional staff in order to ensure that all screening, sanitising and/or quarantine protocols were upheld upon arrival. Thereafter the railways and district administrations worked in tandem and initiated two to three points de-boarding, which facilitated transportation of larger numbers of the stranded labour. As this exercise was underway, the government introduced 15 pairs of special Rajdhani trains beginning May 12, 2020, connecting important cities in India. This catered to the demand of the middle and upper-middle income group of citizens who too had been stranded since the lockdown began. On June 1, 2020, the railway administration, introduced 100 special trains to transport passengers. Strict adherence to the protocols of social distancing and sanitisation were observed. Railway employees, district administration officials, medical and paramedical teams and security agencies worked with great diligence to ensure as smooth a transit as possible for the migrants, given the vast numbers and scorching summer weather. Of course an exercise of such magnitude can never be perfect. Admittedly there have been shortcomings. But let us not forget that the railway staff went to work not always fully equipped. Defying all risks to their personal safety the personnel plunged into the chain to transport the stranded labour. Unfortunately a few succumbed in the line of duty. A few days back a TTE from Agra who was part of a “Shramik Special” succumbed to the lethal microorganism. Today 500 coaches have been parked at Anand Vihar, Shakur Basti and Tughlaqabad terminals (of Northern Railway) in Delhi which has seen a sudden spike in the number of COVID-19 cases. A terminal at Mau (North Eastern Railway) in Uttar Pradesh has been identified where 50 coaches have been parked to be utilised as isolation wards. Northern Railway and North Eastern Railway have been authorised to ensure cleanliness and sanitation, enforce social distancing and provide catering arrangements in these stationary isolation wards. Additionally district magistrates have been advised to contact DRMs to requisition additional coaches as and when required. The story of the Indian Railways’ involvement in the migrant labour crisis goes a step further as IR does its bit to provide employment to them. They have now embarked upon a programme of engaging their services in a constructive manner. Details of employment of the migrant population in certain states, across different zonal railways give a clearer picture. Migrant Workers- Position in Six Identified States S.No STATE No. of Ongoing Infrastructure Works wherein Migrants can be engaged throughContractors Expected no. of migrants which can be engaged Expected man- days for which migrants can be engaged Payment released to Contractor since restart of work after lockdown (in Crore) Payment expected till 31st Oct 2020, including col- 6 (in Crore) 1 Bihar 46 2313 154840 137.14 518.50 2 Jharkhand 5 155 12900 5.41 33.30 3 Madhya Pradesh 37 2247 177875 77.14 383.05 4 Odisha 10 170 6320 18.51 125.35 5 Rajasthan 15 715 113700 1.58 212.50 6 Uttar Pradesh 47 2436 318618 82.31 580.34 TOTAL 160 8036 784253 322.09 1853.04 Source – Construction Organisation of Indian Railways   Migrant Workers- Position in 116 Identified Districts Railway wise IR CONSTRUCTION Organisation No. of Ongoing Infrastructure Works wherein Migrants can be engaged. Expected no. of migrants which can be engaged Expectedman days for which migrants can be engaged Payment released to Contractor since restart of work after lockdown (in Crore) Payment expected till 31st Oct 2020, includingcol-6 (in Crore) S.No. Zonal Rly 3 4 5 6 7 1 RE 19 1170 137300 25.79 120.5 2 CR 4 75 4500 1.1 22 3 ER 2 50 3000 1.44 8.3 3 ECR N 20 1157 23240 108.01 344 4 ECR S 10 1053 128900 39.15 122.7 5 ECoR 6 30 2600 9.66 114.2 6 NR-I 2 50 3000 7 38 7 NR-II 6 124 8160 0.75 13.5 8 NCR 18 154 10380 24 59 9 NER 23 1060 174350 41.28 219.09 10 NWR 7 445 80500 0 170 11 SER 3 70 420 0 0.15 12 SECR 1 0 0 0 0 13 WR 8 130 10200 2.2 38 14 WCR 10 287 29825 29.5 101.65 15 SCR 1 200 31200 0 20 16 RITES 5 520 46270 14.49 54.5 17 RVNL 8 1185 137400 22.65 253 18 IRCON 7 768 1630 31.97 147.45 SUM 160 8036 784253 322.09 1853.04 Source- Construction Organisation of Indian Railways "In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can,” writes the Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis.

COMMUNICATION WITH THE "DEAD"

COMMUNICATION WITH THE "DEAD" Around the Year with Emmet Fox June 24 Is it possible to communicate with those who have passed on into the next world? Extremists on one side say dogmatically that it is absolutely impossible to do so. Enthusiasts on the other side claim that heir deceased friends direct their actions. The truth is that communication does take place, but that the wise dead understand the necessity of our exercising our own power of choice and do not intrude. But they do often come to our aid. If you wish to investigate psychic things, do so thoroughly and scientifically. The chief objection to the running after mediums is that it may become a running away from the responsibilities of this life. Thus, seeking mediums becomes what is called in psychology an escape mechanism. Your business is to face up to your problems and to try to solve them. There is a truly spiritual mode of communication from which nothing but good can come. It is this: Sit down quietly and remind yourself that the one God really is Omnipresent. Then reflect that your real self is in the Presence of God now, and that the real self of your loved one is also in the Presence of God. Do this for a few minutes every day, and sooner or later you will get a sense of communication.

Gurudev - Question and Answers

Question - Gurudev, what is mind? I have still not understood the difference between mind and the consciousness. Gurudev Sri Sri - Are you looking at me? Are you listening to me? See, if your mind is elsewhere, even if your eyes are open, you cannot see me. Even though the words are falling on your ear, you cannot hear me. Mind is that faculty of consciousness through which we hear, see, smell and taste. Suppose your mind is elsewhere and you are having a nice pudding, you won't even feel what you are eating. It is one consciousness which functions in 4 different ways : 1. The mind which performs the perceiving function of the consciousness. 2. Judging, discriminating, enquiring, agreeing, disagreeing, etc, which is called the intellect is the second mode of consciousness. 3. Memory which is involved with storing that which has been perceived. 4. Identifying with what has been perceived is the fourth mode of consciousness which is called the ego. Therefore manah (mind), buddhi (intellect), chitta (memory) and ahankar (ego) are the 4 different functions of consciousness.

Question and Answers with Pujya Gurudev

*Gurudev, when we put our focus on others, we get weak. Like when Yudhistira (character from Indian epic Mahabharata) put his focus on the Pandavas (Yudhistira's brothers) he got weak, but Krishna told him to be centered. Does this mean we should not be sensitive to others?* *Gurudev:* You must know the difference between being sensitive to others and getting caught up in the emotions of others. These are two different things. 🙄 *You can easily get caught up in someone else's emotion, and lose your centeredness.* Then your perception gets dull, your judgments become hazy or erroneous. And you don't get that clarity. 😊 *Like a father or mother,* they know their kid is crying and then they know that the kid will stop crying. And they attend to its need. *They don't get emotionally involved, 'Oh the baby is crying so I will also start crying'.* 😜 Just imagine, every day a newborn baby cries, now if the mother also cries with the baby the whole time, what will happen! Disaster! *The baby cries almost every hour or every two hours, just imagine the mother crying every hour or two!* ✅ You have to be sensitive. It doesn't mean that the mother is insensitive to the baby crying. The mother is all the more sensitive, but she doesn't get carried away by the emotion of the baby. When someone is crying, you also start crying, that is getting totally sucked into someone else' emotion. *The mother is sensitive, yet she is not sucked into the emotion of the baby. In the same way, that is what Yoga does. It keeps you centered, yet sensitive and sensible.* *There are two kinds of people:* 1. *People who are very sensible.* They are cerebral people, very sensible but they are not sensitive because they think what they know is right. 2. *Those who are very sensitive,* but often are not very sensible. They get carried away by emotions. They talk only through emotions. 🤔 You know, three months in a year the male elephant gets a secretion. The testosterones increase, so they get some secretion in their head. *And those three months, the big elephant doesn't even listen to the mahout.* He becomes a little wild, so they chain him at that time. So a lady who came for the first time saw that the elephant had been chained, and she started saying, 'Oh this animal is being chained', and started crying. 🙈 If that animal is not chained, everybody else will have to cry because he is not in his senses in those three months, and he will do anything! Even the mahout cannot control the elephant at that time, so they put chains. And the chain is not a big thing for an elephant. It's just a few kilos; an elephant can carry tons. So it is not a big burden on it, but it looks like the elephant has a chain on its leg. So, people who are emotional, sometimes they are not sensible. 🪷 *What is really needed is sensitivity along with sensibility. A perfect combination of head and heart, to say in the layman's language.* 😎 *So, women already have a lot of sensitivity, they can be more sensible. And men already have a lot of sense, but they should me more sensitive.* 😂 This is not a general rule, by the way. Many times it is the other way around also! I have to put a safeguard on! (Laughter)

https://www.quora.com/

https://www.quora.com/

I was trapped

I was trapped. It was pouring like there was no tomorrow. But I had no choice but to get to Khandala. While trying to avoid the rain, my phone rang. "This is driver JP Tiwari speaking, sir!" Don't worry; I'm almost there..." The car arrived. I entered and dried myself. And my gaze was drawn to something. But I felt it was impolite to start the conversation with it. We chatted for an hour, and then... I inquired. But, his reply led to an uneasy silence! "That is my daughter's picture." She's dead now". I couldn't speak, but Tiwari Ji did. "You know, two months after her death, we received a letter from the government. My daughter had cleared the IAS exam." I froze. "My daughter and I had planned a Shimla trip; we just didn't want to celebrate too soon," Tiwari Ji added. But all I've got now are her memories and a letter." We didn't talk for a while. I began thinking about how we put life on hold for work. Is the wait worthwhile? To continue the conversation, I asked, "What brought you to Mumbai?" "I don't want to repeat the same mistake." My son lives here, and I intend to spend the rest of my life with him." We often believe we have no choice. But for the most part, we do.

Father is a feather,

Father is a feather, Where we fly together. Mother is definitely mother But father is far beyond mother. He has far sightness to see future. So very firm in his behaviour. That why father doesn't show his tears . has always care and future fear. Father is a feather, Where we fly together. Further he sacrifices his sleep, Provide shelter that does not shatter. Father is source of all resources That are provided by mother. Father is a feather, Where we fly together. Father is force of family. provide energy to work together. Farther is farmer cultivate mother to add value in family . Father is a feather, Where we fly together. Happy father's day to all father of the group 🙏

Sacred Journey

Sacred Journey : It is a journey of the Trinity(Jagannath,Balabhadra and Subhadra). The Trinity after getting recovered from the indisposition starts thier journey to aunt' place situated a little away from the main Jagannath temple called Gundicha ghar.The journey from the Sacctum sanctorum of the Jagannath temple to Gundicha ghar or the birth place of Jagannath and his siblings is popularly known as Ratha Yatra or the world famous Chariot festival.Jagannath and his siblings perform this journey on three chariots made of wood brought from a sared forest on a cart made on the same wood. This is only sacred space in the world where the Trinity are worshiped like living beings. Since they are living beings they fall ill, take medicines , visit their relatives and do whatever activities the normal human do.After a ten day stay is a return journey to the main temple from the Gundicha temple. Philosophically the both the chariot and the journey have their symbolism. Kathaupanishad says that the Chariot represents the human Body, the horses are the Senses, the rein held by the charioteer is Mind. The Charioteer is the atman or soul it self. Similarly the Journey is the motion of life , the action or the movement of all living beings. During the ten days at his birth place(Gundicha) he manifests himself the dasavatatara roopa or the ten incarceration (Matsya, Kurma, varaha, Nrisimha,Parsuram, Rama, Balarama, Krishna, Buddha and Kalki. Besides, Gundicha temple being the siblings birth place treated as Vrindban or the place of his Leela especially the Rasa in the celestial garden with his shakti Radha. In fact this is the only place where the living deity Jagannath performs his childhood exploits what he had performed at Vrindavan.

act of listening

Viktor Frankl, one of the great psychiatrists of the twentieth century, survived the death camps of Nazi Germany. His little book, Man’s Search for Meaning, is one of those life-changing books that everyone should read. Frankl once told the story of a woman who called him in the middle of the night to calmly inform him she was about to commit suicide. Frankl kept her on the phone and talked her through her depression, giving her reason after reason to carry on living. Finally she promised she would not take her life, and she kept her word. When they later met, Frankl asked which reason had persuaded her to live? "None of them", she told him. What then influenced her to go on living, he pressed? Her answer was simple, it was Frankl’s willingness to listen to her in the middle of the night. A world in which there was someone ready to listen to another's pain seemed to her a world in which it was worthwhile to live. Often, it is not the brilliant argument that makes the difference. Sometimes the small act of listening is the greatest gift we can give.

TRUSTING OTHERS

Good Morning!!! God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can; and Wisdom to know the difference. Thy will, not mine, be done. *~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~* June 23, 2023 TRUSTING OTHERS But does trust require that we be blind to other people’s motives or, indeed, to our own? Not at all; this would be folly. Most certainly, we should assess the capacity for harm as well as the capability for good in every person that we would trust. Such a private inventory can reveal the degree of confidence we should extend in any given situation. AS BILL SEES IT, p. 144 I am not a victim of others, but rather a victim of my expectations, choices and dishonesty. When I expect others to be what I want them to be and not who they are, when they fail to meet my expectations, I am hurt. When my choices are based on self-centeredness, I find I am lonely and distrustful. I gain confidence in myself, however, when I practice honesty in all my affairs. When I search my motives and am honest and trusting, I am aware of the capacity for harm in situations and can avoid those that are harmful.

Weekly Knowledge #1⃣7⃣1⃣

Weekly Knowledge #1⃣7⃣1⃣ Banglore Ashram 17 Sep 1998 India DO IT TILL YOU BECOME IT ! Virtues have to be practised till they become your nature. Friendliness, compassion and meditation should continue as practices till you realise that they are your very nature. The flaw in doing something as an act is that you look for a result. When it is done as your nature, you are not attached to the result and you continue doing it. An action that arises from your nature is neither tiring nor frustrating. For example, daily routines like brushing one's teeth or bathing are not even considered actions because they are so integrated into one's life. You do all this without doership. When Seva is made part of your nature, it happens without doership. Question:- When do you realise that compassion, meditation and Seva are your nature? Answer:- When you cannot be without it. Wise men continue the practices just to set an example, even though for them, there is no need for any practices. 🌸Jai Guru Dev🌸 साप्ताहिक ज्ञानपत्र १७१ १७ सितम्बर , १९९८ आश्रम, बंगलौर, भारत करते जाओ जब तक वह तुम्हारा स्वाभाव न बनजाये सदाचार पालन किए जाओ जब तक वह तुम्हारा स्वाभाव न बन जाए। मित्रता , दया और ध्यान अभ्यास की तरह जारी रखो , जब तक यह न समझ जाओ की वे तो तुम्हारे स्वाभाव ही है। कृत्य के रूप में किसी कार्य को करने में यह त्रुटि है की तुम फल की उम्मीद रखते हो। जब कार्य स्वभावतः किया जाता है, तुम फल की लालसा नहीं रखते, बस, सहजता से कार्य किए जाते हो। स्वभावतः किया हुआ काम न तो थकान देता है और न ही कुंठित करता है। उदाहरण के लिए दन्त साफ़ करना, नहाना, इत्यादि दैनिक कार्यो को कृत्य ही नहीं समझा जाता है क्योकि वे तुम्हारे दैनिक जीवन से जुडी है।इन सबको तुम कर्तापन के बिना करते हो। जब सेवा तुम्हारा स्वाभाव बन जाता है, तब कार्य कर्तापन-रहित होते है। प्रश्न: यह कब पता चलता है की दया , ध्यान और सेवा हमारा स्वाभाव है? श्री श्री: जब तुम इनके बिना रह नहीं सकते। ग्यानी इसीलिए अपने अभ्यास जारी रखते है ताकि वे औरो के लिए उदाहरण बने, हालाँकि उनके लिए किसी भी अभ्यास की आवश्यकता नहीं। 🌸जय गुरुदेव🌸

ON KUNDALINI SHAKTI

ON KUNDALINI SHAKTI Kundalini simply means the energy in your body. Unless it is awakened there is no life. And in the very first Sudarshan Kriya you do it is already awakened. It doesn’t have to be dramatic. There are three types of kundalini shakti. One is sattvic. The most harmonious, gentle awakening of the kundalini shakti. And you don’t even know that it’s awakened, automatically you start being very happy, generous, large hearted, big minded, compassionate, intuitive. All these things keep happening spontaneously. Second is the rajasic type where you find this jerk and all this drama happens. A lot of dramatic intense experiences come, this is the rajasic way. There is no tamasic way of developing kundalini. If at all some people consider tamasic, the people who use some powers and black magic and this and that sort of thing. But I don’t consider it as tamasic kundalini at all but it is some spirit powers you know. You appease some lower spirits and get some powers from them. And then you dance for some days and then you collapse, that’s what people do. So don’t run after some of this so called magic and miracles, many of them are from these lower spirits. They appear to be doing something to you and then you feel miserable later. So sattvic are the most harmonious, best type of kundalini and it is what happens already in Sudarshan Kriya. Doesn’t it happen? Tingling and every cell of the body wakes up. Does it happen or not? Remember the very first Sudarshan Kriya you did, everything awakened?! That’s it! Did you have peaceful meditation? Did you start feeling I am not the body but I am the spirit? Did you get that experience? That’s already happening. If you have no experience in kriya, you have so much dullness all the time, then you have to watch your food. You must be stuffing yourself with too much food, number one. Or you must have indulged in too much sex that there is no energy in your body to experience anything else. Then also it doesn’t happen. I tell you, someone has been very very busy day and night and didn’t have good sleep, enough rest then there is no way that they can experience any kundalini shakti. So these are some of the criterion, got it? When your energy is conserved then you find that elevation. And if good meditation is happening, you should know it is already functioning. If when meditating, inside you feel the expansion, a calmness, a serenity, it is all sign of kundalini shakti. *Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar*

Question and Answers with Guruji

Question - Gurudev you said yoga is a cure for depression, not prozac. When people are struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts, how can reach out for yoga? This may be long term, but l'm unable to understand your logic? Gurudev Sri Sri - You can through our research work. AIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) and also NIMHANS (National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences) in Bangalore, they have published papers on this. They have given all the scientific data on how Sudarshan Kriya and meditation can be substituted for medicines in case of depression and suicidal tendencies. And personally if you ask me, I have on ground experience of thousands of people coming with broken hearts, or with depressed and going back feeling much better in just 5 days, after doing the program.

Words of Wisdom

he world is full of lessons if only we observe it. Be as humble as the grass. Then nothing can touch you. No one can humiliate you. Always, walk like a king and be a perfect servant! _*-Sri Sri-*_ [15/06, 07:07] Ravi Valluri: _*Question -*_ Gurudev, what can I do to increase my capacity to take your blessings? How can I make my cup bigger? _*Gurudev Sri Sri -*_ In the Advanced Course you all have heard of the _*Shatt Sampatti*_ (Six wealths, or six-fold virtues) *• Sama* (calmness or quietude of mind) *• Dama* (self-control or restraint of the senses) *• Uparati* (satiety) *• Titiksha* (power of endurance) *• Shradha* (faith), and *• Samadhana* (equanimity or one-pointedness of the mind) _*This is what you must focus on increasing more in your life.*_ By enhancing these virtues, your capacity to receive blessings will increase. Among the four pillars of knowledge, the third one that has these six wealths, that is what we must increase. _*Also we must do Seva (service) and Sadhana (spiritual practices)*_

A Moving Vignette of Friendship_*

A Moving Vignette of Friendship_* In 1942, Ervin Rommel’s Afrika Korps overran the 3rd Indian Motor Brigade at the Battle of Ghazala in North Africa. 17 Indian army officers were taken prisoners &, eventually, interned in Aversa prisoner of war camp in Italy.They were of different faiths & even, different ethnicities. None knew at that time how glorious their careers would one day be. *Captured officers included* Major P. P. Kumaramangalam, Captain A. M. Yahya Khan, Captain A. S. Naravane, Lieutenant Tikka Khan and Lieutenant Sahibzada Yaqub Khan. Kumaramangalam rose to be India’s Army Chief (1966-69), *Yahya Khan* became Pakistan’s Army Chief and then President (1966-71). *Tikka Khan* succeeded him as Pakistan’s Army Chief (1972-76), *Naravane* rose to be a *Major General* and wrote about the Aversa PoW camp in his memoirs (A Soldier’s Life in War and Peace) and *Yaqub Khan* became Pakistan’s Foreign minister. In his memoirs Naravane says Kumaramangalam, as the senior most, was appointed Camp Senior Officer. Yahya Khan was the Camp Adjutant. Tikka Khan was the Camp Quartermaster. I’ve pieced together the story of what thereafter happened to four of these officers both from what I received and from Pakistan’s *Friday Times.* It’s a tale with a happy ending. In the confusion that followed Italy’s capitulation in September 1943, several of the officers, including Kumaramangalam, Yahya Khan and Yaqub Khan *escaped.* The Friday Times says “they moved between the coast and the spurs of the Apennines, avoiding German patrols and frequently hiding in forests”. Yaqub Khan spoke Italian and that enabled them to find shelter with friendly Italian peasant families. At some point Yahya Khan separated from the others and, after marching 400 kms, made contact with an Indian battalion. He arrived with just one shoe ! Kumaramangalam and Yakub Khan continued to seek shelter and sanctuary with Italian families for a few months longer. When they made their break for freedom Kumaramangalam was gifted a necklace as a good luck charm by one of the Italian mothers who had become fond of him. Alas, it didn’t help. A few days later, on a dark night, he slipped and fractured his ankle. *The Friday Times* says he pleaded with Yaqub Khan to leave him but the young Lieutenant refused. Not surprisingly, they were captured by the Germans and transferred to a camp called *Stalag Luft III*. Years later it became famous because this featured in *‘The Great Escape’.* The *Friday Times story*, written *by Major General Syed Ali Hamid* and published in February 2019, takes this enchanting tale of our four musketeers right to the point where they became famous, powerful and reached the top of their careers. When *Yahya Khan* visited Delhi in 1966, as *C-in-C* designate of Pakistan, he was received at the airport by *Gen. Kumaramangalam*, then the Chief of the Indian Army. When Sahibzada *Yaqub Khan*, as *Foreign Minister of Pakistan*, visited *Italy*, he made a point to meet the family that had sheltered him and his fellow officers during the war. Now, this is not a big story and you may well wonder why I wanted to share it with you? *Because it’s a vignette of a time when Indians and Pakistanis, Hindus and Muslims, Pathans and Tamils were not just friends but brothers-in-arms.* Partition has sundered us, politicians regularly stoke the embers to keep the fire alight and, sadly, generations have grown up, not just in ignorance of each other, but taught to dislike and hate. Yet there was a time when we were one, fought for the same army and were the closest of friends. Sadly, that world is lost and gone forever.

*Towards Globalisation*

*Towards Globalisation* This is written by *Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyer*, about himself. Published in The Times of India in April 2005. Many of us may identify with it… ***** In 1992, I wrote a book titled *Towards Globalisation*. I did not realise at the time that this was going to be the history of my family. Last week, we celebrated the wedding of my daughter, *Pallavi*. A brilliant student, she had won scholarships to Oxford University and the London School of Economics. In London, she met *Julio*, a young man from Spain. The two decided to take up jobs in Beijing, China. Last week, they came over from Beijing to Delhi to get married. The wedding guests included 70 friends from North America, Europe and China. That may sound totally global, but arguably my elder son *Shekhar* has gone further. He too won a scholarship to Oxford University, and then taught for a year at a school in Colombo. Next he went to Toronto, Canada, for higher studies. There he met a German girl, *Franziska*. They both got jobs with the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC, USA. This meant that they constantly travelled on IMF business to disparate countries. Shekhar advised and went on missions to Sierra Leone, Seychelles, Kyrgyzstan and Laos. Franziska went to Rwanda, Tajikistan, and Russia. They interrupted these perambulations to get married in late 2003. My younger son, *Rustam*, is only 15. Presumably he will study in Australia, marry a Nigerian girl, and settle in Peru. Readers might think that my family was born and bred in a jet plane. The truth is more prosaic. Our ancestral home is *Kargudi*, a humble, obscure village in *Tanjore district*, Tamil Nadu. My earliest memories of it are as a house with no toilets, running water, or pukka road. When we visited, we disembarked from the train at Tanjore, and then travelled 45 minutes by bullock cart to reach the ancestral home. My father was one of six children, all of whom produced many children (I myself had three siblings). So, two generations later, the size of the Kargudi extended family (including spouses) is over 200. Of these, *only three still live in the village*. The rest have moved across India and across the whole world, from China to Arabia to Europe to America. *This one Kargudi house has already produced 50 American citizens*. So, dismiss the mutterings of those who claim that globalisation means westernisation. It looks more like *Aiyarisation*, viewed from Kargudi. What does this imply for our sense of identity? I cannot speak for the whole Kargudi clan, which ranges from rigid Tamil Brahmins to beef-eating, pizza-guzzling, hip-hop dancers. But for me, the *Aiyarisation of the world* does not mean Aiyar domination. Nor does it mean Aiyar submergence in a global sea. It means acquiring multiple identities, and moving closer to the ideal of a brotherhood of all humanity. I remain quite at home sitting on the floor of the Kargudi house on a mat of reeds, eating from a banana leaf with my hands. I feel just as much at home eating noodles in China, steak in Spain, teriyaki in Japan and cous-cous in Morocco. I am a Kargudi villager, a Tamilian, a Delhi-wallah, an Indian, a Washington Redskins fan, and a citizen of the world, all at the same time and with no sense of tension or contradiction. When I see the Brihadeeswara Temple in Tanjore, my heart swells and I say to myself “This is mine.” I feel exactly the same way when I see the Church of Bom Jesus in Goa, or the Jewish synagogue in Cochin, or the Siddi Sayed mosque in Ahmedabad: these too are mine. I have strolled so often through the Parks at Oxford University and along the canal in Washington, DC, that they feel part of me. As my family multiplies and intermarries, I hope one day to look at the Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona and Rhine river in Germany and think, “These too are mine.” *We Aiyars have a taken a step toward the vision of John Lennon. Imagine there's no country, It isn't hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for, And no religion too*. My father's generation was the first to leave the village, and loosen its regional shackles. My father became a chartered accountant in Lahore, an uncle became a hotel manager in Karachi, and we had an aunt in Rangoon. My generation loosened the shackles of religion. My elder brother married a Sikh, my younger brother married a Christian, and I married a Parsi. The next generation has gone a step further, marrying across the globe. *Globalisation for me is not just the movement of goods and capital, or even of Aiyars*. It is a step towards Lennon's vision of no country. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope one day you'll join us. And the world will be one. ( *Swaminathan Aiyar*)

Here is a poem on Chaat

Here is a poem on Chaat, by ChatGPT, when asked to write in Shakespearean style👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼 😊😊😊😊😊😊 In fair bazaar, where flavors meet with grace, There lies a dish of wondrous, grand embrace. Chaat, the delight that doth my taste buds sing, A symphony of spices that doth bring A dance of tangy joy upon my tongue, Where sweet and savory are deftly strung. Oh, Chaat, thou art a feast for senses keen, A culinary marvel, seldom seen. Thy Pani Puri, tiny orbs of bliss, Do burst with flavors, such as none can miss. And Samosas, golden parcels of delight, With spiced fillings that do beguile the sight. Dahi Puri, with yogurt's creamy kiss, Balances heat with its cool, tender bliss. Bhel Puri, a mingling of crunch and zest, Each bite a treasure, truly manifest. From Aloo Tikki to Papdi Chaat rare, Thou offereth a symphony beyond compare. In Chaat's embrace, traditions intertwine, A celebration of flavors so fine. With friends and family, we come to partake, Indulging in this joy, for goodness' sake. Oh, Chaat, thou art a treasure to behold, A Shakespearean feast of flavors untold. *So let us revel in this gastric art*, *And savor every bite, with grateful heart*. *For in thy essence, stories are unveiled*, *Of culture, heritage, and memories hailed*. *Chaat, thou art a masterpiece divine*, *A Shakespearean sonnet in culinary design

The Art of Letting-go: Relish Life to the Fullest

27. The Art of Letting-go: Relish Life to the Fullest There once lived a cerebral physicist who taught at an estimable university. He had unravelled several mysteries and riddles pertaining to the origins of universe through sedulous and almost pertinacious investigation and exploration. The professor was decorated with awards and worldwide recognition followed. As he became a celebratory figure, he soon developed a swollen head. His affectation was to become his hubris. Once the sovereign of his field, he lost his equilibrium and was charged with salacious behaviour towards students and some colleagues. As his public image became tarnished and could no longer be ignored, troubles came shooting at the professor like meteors from the skies. Troubles come in threes The government and administration stripped him off all the awards bestowed, and his prepossessing wife deserted him. The esteemed professor was unable to grapple with these misadventures in life. Quite ironically the physicist who had been on the verge of decoding the mysteries of the universe was soon enveloped by tenebrosity. At his tethers end, his edifice of wisdom collapsed, he began dabbling with drugs and alcohol. He became addicted to alcohol and drug abuse and dependence, which had a pernicious impact on his body and interpersonal relationships. Sakhya Muni, Lord Buddha had said, “Be strong, but not rude. Be kind, but not weak. Be humble not shy, be proud but not arrogant.” These aureate words were apparently lost on the once-upon-a-time dynamo mind of the physicist. Baby steps to recovery Some well wishers from his fraternity commiserated with him and were filled with compassion for their once effulgent colleague. The physicist was wheeled into a rehabilitation centre and under a detoxification regimen was slowly weaned off alcohol and drugs. As alternative therapies, the professor underwent meditation and yoga sessions. He also underwent the Happiness Programme of the Art of Living and learnt the unique rhythmic breathing technique of Sudarshan Kriya which provided the ballast for his recovery. The course helped him to eschew dependency on alcohol and drugs. Over a period of time the physicist regained sobriety. Second Innings: Seeking spiritual solace The once extolled and accomplished professor who was condemned by society for his avarice, pomposity and hedonistic lifestyle slowly regained equilibrium, equipoise and equanimity through the twin approaches of medication and meditation. Upon recovery he rediscovered his mojo and attempted to regain his lost sovereignty by unearthing the quintessential truth of the origin of universe. The process of letting go begins “Indeed the sage who’s fully quenched rests at ease in every way, no sense, desires, adheres to him whose fires have evolved, deprived of fuel. All attachments have been severed, the hearts been led away from pain, tranquil, he rests with utmost ease. The mind has found its way to peace,” said the Sakhya Muni, Lord Buddha. The professor though sober now and purged of his hedonistic tendencies was still feeling saturated from within. His soul was yet to feel satiated. He developed a profound interest in the spiritual dimension of life and the universe. After sustained deliberation the professor embarked upon a spiritual sojourn. There was something burning and arid in his self which made him set-off upon this quest. The spiritual peregrination took him halfway around the world till he arrived at a remote village, high in the Himalayas, at the feet of an accomplished master. This suzerain of the sacred texts of different religions had gained remarkable adroitness and virtuosity in Zen Buddhism. The enlightened, holy person dressed in ochre robes and exuding jollity welcomed the professor with a warm embrace. His searching and lustrous eyes scanned the professor. The physicist narrated his story. He concluded by adding that he was now trying to fathom the mysteries hidden in the womb of the universe from the spiritual and scientific points of view. “But this is what you were doing at the university and in your laboratory, is it not professor?” enquired the seer. He felt that the Zen Master could ignite the missing spark from his life and help him expatriate antipathetic thoughts from his mind so that he could upend the pyramid. He had successfully extricated himself from the whirlpool of gloom once and he could see light at the end of the tunnel. Yet there was something amiss in his life…! It was dry like the autumn leaf that drops from the branches of the tree. Time you let loose “So, what new are you attempting to unravel? Ok, let us have a cup of tea,” said the venerated soul. The professor appeared at ease as the perspicacious and sagacious soul poured the tea. Soon the cup began to overflow. Seeing this, the professor exclaimed, “Holy Sir, the cup is overflowing!” “Precisely, and I was examining your reaction,” remarked the Holy One. “Unless you just let go of your haughtiness and self-conceit the way the tea overflowed from the cup, you will never learn anything afresh. This is the secret,” stated the Zen Master in an absolutely matter of fact manner. “Drop all your desires when you approach a Master. Let go of your baggage,” he added. The Zen Master was to further add, “Buddha advocated four concepts- Observe the body (Kayana Paschana) Observe the sensations (Vedananu Paschana) Observe the flow of mind (Chittana Paschana) Observe your true nature (Dhammanu Paschana).” The professor realised that he had forayed into unchartered territories but without understanding his mind. His mind was brimful of demonic and arrogant thoughts and ossified. He was neither simple nor humble or aware. These were the keys for him to let go and be absolutely pristine and lucid.

Be Calm and Composed

Be Calm and Composed Aeons ago in ancient China lived an old farmer who had worked on his land for many years. He was blessed with a perspicacious mind. Abruptly, one day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, a motley group of neighbours came to commiserate with him. “Such misfortune, such ill luck,” the agitated group of villagers reacted. “Maybe,” nonchalantly replied the farmer. A few days later the horse returned, accompanied by three wild horses. Another group of villagers made a beeline to the house of agriculturist to sympathise. “Maybe,” was the taciturn reply of the aged farmer. The following day, the farmer’s son tried to mount one of the untamed horses and was thrown off. Consequently, the strapping youngster broke his leg. The overwrought neighbours once again queued up to offer their sympathies at this misadventure. “Maybe,” was the desultory answer yet again. A few days later some military personnel swooped on the village to draft young men. Looking at the incapacitated stripling he was disqualified from being recruited. The exuberant neighbours congratulated the old grazier on the unexpected turn of events. “Maybe,” was the laconic reply yet again. Import of the story What could be the gravity and consequences of this unconventional Zen story? The remarkable ability of the aged farmer to remain unruffled, whatever the unwelcome turn or misadventure one may encounter in life. Second, to remain in the present moment and possess the uncanny ability to accept people and situations as they are. This transmutes and metamorphoses the mind to remain pacific in every situation and maintain equanimity. Aphorism of the Art of Living Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the Spiritual Master has succinctly elucidated the significance of the aphorism, ‘to accept people and situations as they are’ in his teachings. Any individual who undertakes the Happiness Programme of the Art of Living is imparted this knowledge. This sutra engineers a radical change in the personality. The 4 Ds of Abnormal Behaviour Abnormal behaviour can be construed as a behaviour which is disturbing (socially unacceptable), distressing, maladaptive (or self-defeating), and often the result of distorted thoughts (cognitions), as per Wikipedia. There are four strains in this abnormal behaviour. These are deviance, dysfunction, distress and danger. Deviant behaviour is usually different, extreme, and unusual and could even include bizarre behavioural patterns. The second in the series is distressing behaviour. People who are related to such individuals feel unpleasant and unsettled in their presence. Dysfunctional behaviour discommodes the patient to such an extent that it acts as a deterrent in his day to day functioning and behaviour and interferes in his range of activities. The individual is no longer constructive to himself or to society at large. They are individuals who are plainly dangerous or even lethal in their behavioural approach. This impacts their lives and the lives of those with whom they get intertwined in some manner. Anxiety disorders and their symptoms There are five specific patterns of anxiety disorders which fall into this category. The first is termed as General Anxiety Disorder. This is a prolonged, vague, quite inexplicable fear having no objective basis, accompanied by hyper vigilance and attached motor tension of the brain. Next is what in quotidian parlance is called Panic Disorder. These are none other than perpetual and frequent anxiety disorders and attacks which are accompanied with psychological symptoms such as breathlessness, palpitations, a trembling feeling, dizziness and even a sense of total loss of control over the self. The individual suffering from such a pestilence could even harbour morbid thoughts. Next in the line of mental disorders are phobias. Humans have irrational phobias such as Acrophobia (fear of heights), Glossophobia (fear of addressing an audience), Claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces), Aviophobia (fear of flying). There is yet another phobia which impacts the human mind. This is called OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. In such a situation a human being is preoccupied with a wide range of thoughts, which are normally viewed by sane people as absolutely irrational. Such persons are habituated to inspecting and checking on things in their immediate surroundings, at home or outside, washing clothes in order to be absolutely freshly attired or always found counting things or even money. Last, but no less distressing – on this ill-fated checklist is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). These individuals suffer repeated and recurrent nightmares, flashbacks, impaired concentration and emotional numbing which invariably follows traumatic or stressful events. The way out Our country is plagued by three major issues namely, addictions, women’s issues and psychological disorders. A large mass of denizens approach tantriks, babas, and other quacks hoping for a miraculous cure. In all such mephitic issues, it is essential and mandatory to meet a qualified medical practitioner. The first step to recovery is medication under the expert guidance of a doctor. Next, after a period of treatment, it would be prudent to contact self-help groups, which sustain and nourishe the treatment. For instance, undergoing the Happiness Course of the Art of Living, where a person is taught the unique rhythmic breathing technique of Sudarshan Kriya. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar calls the breathing technique as romance with the breath. Human breath has the remarkable potential to expatriate toxins and fears and paves the roadway to recovery. “No matter how hard the past, you can always begin again,” said Gautama Buddha.

Being Compassionate is the Road to Happiness

Being Compassionate is the Road to Happiness A Zen Master assembled his tutees at the Temple of Knowledge. The monks had completed a vigorous session on meditation were suffused with efficacious thoughts. It was time to question their cerebral robustness. “What do you mean by compassion?” he posed. Replies from the disciples varied from love, generosity, affection, care, kindness to liberality. The Zen Master went on to narrate a story. Once near a Temple of Knowledge lived a mendicant. One day an old lady dropped a coin in his begging bowl. A little later a propertied Prince happened to pass by and looking at his pitiable condition dropped in five gold coins and walked away in a haughty manner. Subsequently a small monk who lived within the precincts of the Temple of Knowledge emerged. He was carrying a few coins to buy flowers for a function in the Temple. On his way back, he handed over the bunch of flowers to the mendicant. “So friends, who was the most compassionate of the three?” In unison, the tutees proclaimed that it was the opulent prince since he had parted with five gold coins as alms. The Zen Master shook his head in disagreement and remarked, “The old lady gave a coin as an act of pity, the deep-pocketed prince brazenly displayed his haughtiness, while the young monk was deeply touched at the pitiable condition of the individual and gave the flowers meant for a ritual to be performed in the Temple of Knowledge. He felt a deep empathy within his being and parted the flowers without a degree of hesitation and could invoke a smile on the face of the alms-seeker.” “Compassion springs from the fountain of love, while lust is the bedrock of passion,” exhorted the Zen Master to the assembled disciples. Aeons ago lived a young prince named Siddhartha, belonging to the fearsome Sakyan kingdom, a noteworthy republic of the period. Sage Asita however, forewarned King Suddhodhana that his son Siddhartha would indeed become the emperor of the world, but not in battle fatigues rather by donning ochre robes as compassion was in the very DNA of the child. This forewarning acted on the overwrought Sakyan sovereign. He encircled Siddhartha with a luxuriant life, inciting carnal passion in him, simultaneously goading him to be brawny enough to take part in warfare. The monarch assumed that matrimony and parenthood would veer the mind of the strapping youngster away from monkhood. However, Emperor Suddhodhana could never truly encircle the mind of Siddhartha, as the Prince pined for the quintessential truth. One fine day, without any warning, the young heir abdicated all gross and corporeal things in life and plunged headlong into a life of tapas. The Sakyan prince not only discarded his battle fatigues but also transfigured his mind. The robust and intrepid mind had to sift through the nugatory thoughts of sorrow and happiness, logic and feverishness to become pristine, full of compassion, love and non-violence. The transmutation of his mind and self was an arduous journey of deep introspection. It was not largesse bestowed by the Universe. Non-violence became the springboard to complete the transformation into a compassionate human being. Planet Earth hosts myriad life-forms. It is the only planet which nourishes life, deriving vital prana from the Sun. Degradation of the environment and ecology on account of man’s avarice and rapacious covetousness is torpedoing the very process of living. We are no longer compassionate to ourselves, or to the flora and fauna or even the rivers, seas and farmlands. Humans spewing negativity will soon turn the host of creation into a ghost land. Once, Buddha was in the midst of an assembly. Those present were engrossed in meditation. A raging and wrathful businessman reached the spot. The magnate hailed from an opulent family and was distraught that his wife and children had given up the luxuriant ways of life and spent hours meditating at the conclave. He saw Buddha sporting a beatific and serene smile. Wrenching his fists in vexation, he spat at the compassionate one’s face much to the chagrin of all present before rushing out. But it was a tumultuous night for the entrepreneur, barely snatching a few winks. He recalled that this was the first occasion in his life that a person on whom he spat maintained remarkable poise and equanimity. His body shivered and he felt that there was an earthquake in his mind. Deeply distraught, he reached the conclave the next morning, apologising profusely. “Holy Sire, please forgive me. I did not know what I was doing.” Buddha, maintaining his calm demeanour merely remarked, “I cannot excuse you.” The assembly was taken aback. Buddha looked intensely into the eyes of the industrialist and merely stated, “Why do you ask for pardon? You did nothing counterfactual.” “Holy one! I was the mentally wrecked person who had the temerity to spit on your face.” The businessman added, “And for this wanton act I am devastated.” Buddha parried the question, dexterously stating, “Oh! That individual is no longer in our midst.” In case I ever meet that gentleman, I shall ask him to pardon the person who is currently amidst us. Son, you have done no wrong, remove the heavy stone of repentance from yourself and heart.” Compassion never mushrooms from not pardoning someone or making a person feel the victim or inducing guilt. The act of forgiveness is so subtle that the individual granted clemency is unaware of the charitable act. Compassion stands for lenity which emerges from love, while animosity and tyranny appear from lust and covetousness. Love exudes warmth and embraces all animate and inanimate objects, while lust embarks an individual on the path of sabotage and often self-destruction. “If you want others to be happy practice compassion. If you want to be happy practice compassion,” says the Dalai Lama.