Harnessing the potential of Mind

Prayer

" Dear Lord and Great Healer,

I  kneel before you since every gift must

Come from you I pray

Give skill to my hands

Clear vision to my head(mind)

Kindness and meekness to my heart 

Give me singleness of purpose

Strength to lift up part of the burden 

Of my suffering fellow men and women

And a true realisation  of the privilege that is mine

Take away from my heart all guile and wordliness

That with the simple faith of a child , I may rely on You'

         - Mother Teresa

Responsibility

Responsibility implies the state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or or having control over some one.  Do we feel empowered by taking up responsibility? Or do we feel enervated by taking up responsibility.

A working woman , despite all the work at school, or her workplace cannot escape the responsibility of not performing the tasks outlined in her house . Similarly a father has to work , earn money to run his homestead or dwelling place . This is because we feel responsible for the family.

In this age of incessant frenetic activity , can we abandon our parents in their old age , when they are infirm or ill.  Will our conscience not prick.

"   One of the greatest titles in the world is parent, and one of the biggest blessings in the world is to have parents to call mom and dad" writes Jim De Mint 

Lord Rama , to fulfill the attestation of his father took up the challenge and responsibility and went in exile for fourteen years . He was responsible and took up the challenge.  Concealed , was that Lord Rama had to slay Ravana . 

" You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it  today." wrote Abraham Lincoln 

Our mythology is brimful with events which touch upon taking up responsibility and acting accordingly .Pandavas were expatriated and deported . They accepted the reality . On completion of their period of exile , they fought the Kauravas .  Arjuna faced a piquant situation . He was in a quandary and  a conundrum as to whether he should wield the Gandiva.

He was about to abdicate his responsibility . At that crucial  point in time and juncture , Lord Krishna intervened and  directed and guided Arjuna to take up the responsibility. Gita Updesh  unshackled the cloistered and foggy mind of Arjuna  and he   engaged the Kauravas .

The predicament of whether to take up or not to take up responsibility is in our minds . And only a mind which is living in the present moment has the power of discrimination to take up responsibility.

Only those blessed with leadership qualities can take up responsibility .  He extends his hand , makes that additional stretch to makes his mind tensile to bring about a difference in his and the lives of  the society and the fellowship.

In the year 1935, Bill Wilson and Dr Bob Smith took up the responsibility to establish of Alcoholics Anonymous , which has provided a succor and umbrella for millions of addicts across the world .

"The first responsibility of the leader is to define reality, the last is to say thank you. In between , the leader is a servant." says Max de Pree

Miracles

The time was 11am . I  was drafting a letter . My PS pressed the buzzer and  mentioned that some one from Brittania industry wanted to meet me. The gentleman , hailed from Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.  He was planning a trip to Tirupati and sought help for an emergency quota by a train.

During our conversation , I mentioned that  in the year 2005 ,  I had worked on Guntakal Division of South Central Railway. Guntakal is  essentially  a railway town , which was once  with Central Railway, then Southern Railway and now is a strategic division( business unit ) of South Central Railway .  A large number of freight and passenger trains crisscross the jurisdiction of this division . It is an important freight loading point and a money spinner for the Railways.

The town has not much to offer , but the division houses several important pilgrim, religious,spiritual  and historical spots. Tirupati, Pannipakam, SriKalahasti, Mantralayam  are very important spots which attract the faithful in large numbers .

Renowned  philosopher  Jiddu Krishnamurthi hailed from Madanappale ( also on Guntakal Division) . The famous Rishi Valley school  of Jiddu Krishnamurthi foundation  is  located at Madanapalle . It is beautifully ensconced in the valley and at the foothills of Horsely Hills.  Additionally , the  prehistoric Belum caves at Tadipatri attracts those interested in history and  to see the formation of stalactites and stalagmites. Tadipatri is also known for the Penna Cements.

There are cluster of cement plants , limestone units and  iron ore loading points( now non -functional following orders of the Apex Court ).

Adjoining , Guntakal Division is the Bangalore Division of South Western Railway . Prashanti Nilayam of Shri Satya Sai Baba is located in Bangalore Division of South Western Railway . And  at Bangalore , Sri Sri Ravi Shankar  has established , the Art of Living International Centre . Thus there are a large number of places of spiritual importance which  are located in the vicinity of Guntakal.

We were broadly recalling the importance  of these significant places .  And  then this person mentioned about  a famous Hanuman Temple at Guntakal , which I forgot to recall. Every railway officer who joins Guntakal Division  first  offers obeisance at the Hanuman Temple before joining duty . The same is true of Guwahati . Anyone posted on North East Frontier Railway  visits the famous Kamakhya temple at Guwahati. These are strange traditions built between railways and certain religious spots. Thereafter our conversation veered to Mantralayam .

Mantralayam is the place where Shri Raghavendra Swami entered Tejaroopa( spirit) in 1671 AD . That is  where he was interned in a tomb on attaining Samadhi . The faithful believe that Raghavendra Swami would be in the  state of Tejaroopa  for a period of 700 years . Raghavendra Swami succeeded his Guru Sudheendra Teertha as the head of the Mutt and served the Mutt from 1621 to 1671 propounding the Dwaita philosophy. He is also believed to be an incarnation of Bhakta Prahalad.

See any photograph and one is struck  with the pictures of Hanuma- Bhima- Madhva and Raghavendra . Born Venkana Bhatta  in 1595to Gopikaamba and Thimanna Bhatta , he was married to Sraswati Bai.

Following this discussion over a cup of tea and some Brittania biscuits , the gentleman left . No sooner he left , within a matter of a few minutes , someone came to my room , with the Prasadam of Raghavendra Swami. This was inexplicable.

Miracle is an extraordinary and a  welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore attributed  to a divine legacy.

Osho says," Be realistic. Plan for a miracle." Can we plan for a miracle . This happens through " Positive Thinking", " Law of Attraction"  , " Law of Gratitude " , " Law of Spiraling Effect" and what Darren Hardy calls the Compound Effect.

For things to materialise , we need to develop  a highly positive intent . This positive intent sends signals to the universe and in return universe conspires to provide us with what we really need . But for the cycle to continue humans need to be extremely grateful. This is no rocket science . It is not so distant from our inner self . This is an intuitive ability which we need to develop and harness . Our ancient Rishis  realised this potential through yoga, meditation, pranayama and a  proper diet.

Yoga is not just performing  merely  Asanas . It has eight limbs to it, namely, Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and then reaching a state of  Samadhi . Samadhi is the state of complete bliss.  It is in that state , miracles just keep occurring without seamlessly .

Several years back , when  I was  posted at Guntakal , I was   addicted to Bacchus and a confirmed alcoholic . Along with my maternal aunts I went to Raghavendra Swami Mutt at Mantralayam . I smuggled a bottle of liquor in that state of arrogance . My mind was just fixated on the bottle  and was configuring as to how after circumnavigating the  " Brindavan"  I  would consume the spirit . This is the character of a monkey mind . Brindavan is the place where Raghavendra Swami is in Samadhi and in his Tejaroopa( spirit)

There was an unbearable stench in my room . To my amazement the bottle had cracked  and the liquor had leaked from the bottle . The seal was not broken . Everything was drenched with liquor except my Puja material and the notes of Art of Living Part 1 course. Thus Satan cannot affect what is pure and Divine . This too was a miracle.  " It is our faith that activates the power of God" said Joel Osteen.

However the human mind ignores and rubbishes such claims. Years later while traveling by a special train  ,  Sri Sri Ravi Shankar  smiled in his inimitable manner and gave me Mantralayam Prasadam as we crossed  Kurnool district . This is the area where Mantralayam is located . Yet another miracle occurred, I recalled.

Faith is an integral part of any miracle. Faith is complete trust or confidence in someone or something. It is a strong belief in the doctrines of a religion based on spiritual conviction than proof.  " Faithless is he that says farewell when road darkens" says JRR Talkien.

When the tunnel is really dark and our mind is plagued by fear we deeply pray for a miracle to happen so that we do not get subsumed by the vortex of negative power and thinking .   While thinking negatively , we send only transmit negative signals to the universe and thus in return we get shrouded by unfortunate events. Thus prayer , faith and miracles are all intertwined .

But for all these to happen , the intent of the human needs to be extraordinary .

" There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle", wrote Albert Einstein.

Happy Sankranti  and Positive Thinking  to all our  readers. Jai Guru Dev( that is victory of the big mind).

Mental Strength

Remember , Sharjah cricket stadium in early 80”s . Javed Miandad at the crease and Chetan Sharma was to bowl the final ball of the over. A four had to be scored for a Pakistani victory and Miandad hit a six and the stadium was populated with delirious Pakistani flags. Recall Lords, 1983 , India was defending a paltry 183 and Mohinder Amarnath ambled in and trapped Michael Holding LBW . We won the world cup for the first time . It was  a case of  positive thinking . The subcontinental teams crossed the Rubicon . A clear case of Yes Mind operating .

Bertha Calloway writes,” We cannot direct the wind , but we can adjust the sails.”

Why are some people mentally strong and some are not ? What distinguishes a  decisive person from a person who only frets and fumes and lives in the past.

To be achievers and surmount problems , we need to live in the present . A couple lost their daughter in a tragic accident , yet through the powerful techniques imparted by Art of Living in the form of Sudarshan Kriya , Pranayama , Yoga , Meditation and Seva were able to confront the problem and repaired their lives . Through continuous service , they were able to meditate deeper and that brought back their smile and started living in the present moment.

Another colleague lost his wife , but through the courses of Art of Living regained his mojo and is continuously conducting courses and spreading waves of happiness .

Yet another friend from the railways discovered that his daughter was suffering from life suffering cancer . It was his surrender to the Master and following the techniques of Art of Living that transformed his life . Today he quit railways and is running a software firm which is poised to break path breaking ground through the technique of live streaming .

All these people have one common strand . Their unflinching belief in Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and following the fundamental tenets of Sadhana, Satsang, practice of Sudarshan Kriya, being in knowledge , performing Seva . This has brought sanity to their lives.

There are innumerable such instances , where Guruji has provided the direction and devotees have followed the path. And they are all living in the present moment.

A mentally strong person lives in the present moment.

Buddha , says” Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”

A mentally strong person does not succumb to macabre thoughts. Such an individual maintains positive disposition and controls emotions and not the other way round.

Such individuals do not fall prey to stress easily, improve the quality of their lives and enhance their performance . But this the seeker can achieve through regular practice.

They do not wallow in self pity . “ Self-pity is easily the most destructive of the non-pharmaceutical narcotics; it is addictive , gives momentary pleasure and separates the victim from reality.”

The Cosmic Dance

Last year on Navami at the Art of Living Ashram, Bangalore, fifty thousand devotees rose in divine delirium and joined the chorus as Padma Shri Ananda Shankar Jayant and her troupe danced to the Mahishasura Mardini Stotram.

The atmosphere reverberated with ecstasy and was surcharged with drama and emotion as the ensemble choreographed by Dr Ananda was performed at the sanctum sanctorum where Navaratri Pujas had taken place.

To my mind this is the place where Shiva (the auspicious) performs. Shiva performs the Tandava, a vigorous dance that is the source of the cycle of creation, preservation and dissolution.  In a way it mirrored the   life of the protagonist.

I marveled at the thought that this was a rambunctious performance by a colleague who conquered mammary cancer and was perhaps in the midst of what can be termed as a concert of a lifetime. “I have not been afraid to take risks and I have not been afraid to follow a dream. That is the essence of who I am”, once remarked Ananda.

Dr Ananda Shankar Jayant, believes in freeing the mind and spreading the wings to achieve what is not possible. She invests a lot in the power of the mind to think positively and being grateful and counting our blessings.

To her it is imperative to transmit positive signals to the universe so that in return, the cosmos bestows us with abundance. The cycle is incomplete if we are not grateful. So the trajectory is, “Law of Attraction “, followed by “Law of Gratefulness”. All this leads to a spiraling effect which Daren Hardy terms “The Compound Effect”.

Dr Ananda Shankar Jayant, an Indian Railway Traffic Service Officer learnt dance under the tutelage of Rukmini Devi Arundale when only 11 at Kalakshetra.

Ananda is a multi-faceted personality, donning several hats- prolific dancer, choreographer, leading a talented ensemble, Artistic Director of Shankarand Kalakshetra, poet, writer, championing women’s issues, inspiring figure for youth and students, delivering lectures to the corporate world and a TED talker. She is a post graduate in Ancient Indian History, an MPhil in Art History and holds a doctorate in tourism.

Her body of work in Kuchipudi and BharatNatyam, earned her the Padma Shri. She is also a recipient of the much acclaimed Sangeet Natak Akademi Puruskar.

But then, strange are the vicissitudes of life. It is packed with peaks and valleys. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in July 2008. But for her,   cancer was merely a zodiac sign and not a serious malady.

For a performer, such an affliction may seem to be the end of the road, an abyss .The mind gets clogged by negativity and fear. Fear to her was one of the Navarasas to be portrayed in a show and not something to live with. The malignant lump became a part of her physical and mental self. The Bold and Beautiful overnight transformed into Beautiful and Bald.

An affable personality became enfeebled by pain and agony and the mental chatter was depression. But she was a woman of substance who was mentally strong to combat the challenge.

In such a scenario only faith can perform miracles. Faith is confidence or trust in a person. She trusted husband Jayant (her pillar of strength), chemotherapy and dance talent. This was the imagery to overcome the crisis of lifetime.

Martin Luther King writes, “Faith is the taking first step even when you do not see the whole staircase.” From dancing three hours at a stretch, Ananda could barely climb a flight of steps. Such was the debilitating impact of the disease.

By her own admission, she believes in the power of positive thinking and has used it not only to overcome the disease but opened new avenues in form of writing and inspirational talks.

Statistics reveal that 1 in 22 urban Indian women suffer from this malady. Through her motivational  TED talks the danseuse is spreading awareness about the affliction and  encouraging people not to be subsumed by the illness but be proactive in life and focus on positive aspects of life.

 

 

 

My Mother

“The rain drop from the sky: if it is caught in hands, it is pure enough for drinking. If it falls in a gutter, its value drops so much that it can’t be used even for washing the feet. If it falls on hot surface, it perishes. If it falls on lotus leaf, it shines like a pearl and finally, if it falls on oyster, it becomes a pearl. The drop is same, but its existence & worth depend on with whom it associates.”

Always be associated with people who are good at heart. This is what Swami Vivekananda said.

My mother shares her birthday with Swami Vivekananda ( 12th January).

Association and Satsang have been her  strong points . She nurtured strong bonding with all religious faiths and spiritually inclined people . I recall her association with Satya Sai Baba, Ganapathi Sachchidanda Swamiji, Raghavendra Swami Mutt, Swami Chinmayananda , Jiddu Krishnamurthy  Mahesh Yogi and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar . Not to forget her association with Mother's International, Mother Teressa , CBCI and CARITAS.

She wanted to pursue medicine but life did not take that trajectory.  " Faith plus action becomes unstoppable'' writes Jonathan Lockwood Hue .  So she upend the pyramid and became  a qualified medical social worker and worked diligently at the Rajan Babu TB Hospital , Delhi .

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar  says," Open your hands and sky is in your hands." Inorder to combat and challenge the disease of tuberculosis she initiated several  rehabilitation projects. This included creche for the children of those afflicted with this malady, stitching centre,candle and match making units.

She used to tell patients and their children that" Fear is only as deep as the mind allows."  Thus patients afflicted with TB , but not bed ridden participated in the projects . This was what she called " Diversionary Therapy." The patient's mind was diverted from the disease and recovery rate was rapid.   In these endeavors she was extended tremendous support from eminent people like  Shri A Rama Rao of Khadi and Village Industries , Professor sh  Pathak of Delhi School of Social Work, Shri AVK Chaitanya  a Trade Union leader and confidante of Shri George Fernandes , Bibi Altussalam  a veteran Congress leader , Shri Dhanraj Ojha a RSS leader  and Bishop Remegius and Bishop Rego of the Catholic Church( CBCI  and CARITAS). The mission was to serve . And religious barriers did not pose any problems. As the objective and goal were so lofty the universal energy ensured that the left, right and centre all collaborated with certitude .

" Mind is not a dustbin to keep anger, hatred and jealousy . But it is the treasure box to keep love , happiness and sweet memories." said Swami Vivekananda . Thus RB TB Hospital became the melting pot of all religions to forge hands and assist in the mammoth task of rehabilitation of the afflicted . The TB Hospital became a unique template for the methods adopted by doctors, para-medic staff , social workers , government bodies and NGO's all to contribute in the rehabilitation of the patients.

Climate changes, civilizations collapse , government change , political affiliations alter and even the best possible model collapses . This is inevitable . As Buddha says." The only permanent thing in life is impermanence." The lofty objectives were not approved by a new set of hospital administrators and the beacon of hope collapsed .

This was extremely traumatic for my mother and she became a patient of paroxysmal Atrial Tachycardia( PAT) . This is a type of arrhythmia ( irregular heartbeat) . Paroxysmal means that the episode of arrhythmia originates and terminates abruptly. Atrial implies the arrhythmia starts with atria or in the upper chambers of the heart . The tachycardia results in significant increase in the heart beat per minute. It abnormally increases the pace , like an athlete on a treadmill. PAT significantly increases the heart beat of an adult from the normal 60 to 100 to 130 to 230 and among infants and children it shoots up from 100 to 130 to 220 beats per minute.

It is accompanied with severe sweating, dizziness,palpitations, angina and acute breathlessness. Normally a patient suffers from such a condition owing to emotional upheavals , physical exhaustion, deep anxiety , consumption of caffeine or alcohol.

I saw my mother suffering from this condition on several  occasions and being admitted to the ICU. It was a distressing and disturbing sight . While it is  not life threatening affliction ,  it certainly disorients the psychology and attitudes of the patient. During her suffering we saw her clutching on  to her rosary as a life saver , while we prayed fervently for her recovery.

She was administered medication but it worked only to an extent . The real help came in form of a  pentagon shaped talisman. That is through Siddha Healing, Pranic Healing , the 10 day Vipassana Course  and the Part1 and Part2 Art Of Living courses.

This is the infinitesimal power and scientific power of breath. Breathing techniques , meditation , medication and proper diet changed the trajectory  of  the life of the patient  and brought back the mojo in her life.

" When you take breath in , let become your meditation that all the suffering of all the beings in the world is riding on that incoming breath and reaching your heart , and see a miracle happens" says Osho.

She has retired now but continues with her Sadhana  unfailingly. Senior citizens , those in pain and agony and even the able bodied should undertake the  courses mentioned.

Swami Vivekananda  took Yoga to America  and spread the Ramakrishna Mission. He was the Arjuna of Shri Rama Krishna Paramahamsa. This article is a tribute to Swamiji and also to  my mother both born on 12th of January. My mother imbibed the trait of service to mankind by reading extensively about Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Swami Vivekananda.