The phenomenon of a bamboo

These last few weeks have been quite phenomenal. 4 back to back classes - Trivandrum, Bangalore, Pune and Mumbai. The phenomenon is actually what happened on the Sundays. In each of these places, people were exploded in to such profound experiences.

Had shared this on FB last week:

How does the bamboo feel after a beautiful flute piece has been played on it?

Not sure... may be it feels fortunate... may be it realizes how inspite of it being dumb, still phenomenal things can happen through it... may be it feels in Grace...

Being a witness to the phenomena that is happening these last 3 Sundays, especially today, am feeling speechless! THIS, is truly touching lives.

Today what I felt was a deep emptiness... a very profound phenomenon was unfolding right in front of my eyes that I was speechless, emotionless... void. As empty as a flute, now music can play... Nothing but to bow down to the phenomenon and take the sub-seat and allow things to happen. One must truly be fortunate to be in the place that has been bestowed... Any amount of property, gadgetry, social security or any damn thing, cannot even come close to what I've been witnessing these days.

In gratitude... In Grace...

Life of Me

An apparition out of nowhere

And a week's love affair...

Change the lives, like a charm

Rob them all, hearts in arm

Songs and laughter

Many a tune

All but, a cunning lure...

Beneath the saffron

Hides the Maestro

Who drives this pied-piper...

All songs and charms

A puppet's play

The life of me

A pseudo pied piper...

 

Hello Oct 2012!

What to put as a title :-) Ended up with this month.

When I started this blog, it was more of a chronicling, possibly for visits down in the future, which I never did for the most part. Last week I happened to chance upon a few of my own posts and it brought with it a queer sense of reliving the incidents, both of which were hilarious ones. I felt a rich experience of it and am quite enthused by the whole affair.

So, right now, am in Delhi for the last 2 weeks... will be here for another 3 months... working towards a big program in Jan. What's happened in the last few months... it's a flurry of so many things, not in any particular order. For the teachers' meet, we went to Mysore; the sathsang at Chamundi was quite memorable for the proximity of my seat was something for the first time; KumarParvat trek was a stamina-tester, but the experience atop, where Subrahmanya was enlightened, was totally mind-blowing!!! The grand Chennai ITC program, a few classes here and there from Mumbai to Kolkatta... the varieties of cuisine, especially the Punjabi - North Indian mix of food in Delhi... so many things...

And yes, am having the right inspiration to write apart from the conducive environment.. yes, a new A.R.Rahman release "Jab tak hai jaan"..

Not going to write a detailed review... Initially I felt it to be more of a YRF album than ARR. But as is the case with many ARR albums, takes a little time to sink in. And now it's quite enjoyable. Will it be an evergreen album for me? I don't think so, but I will savor it every now and then. Harshdeep Kaur, you are scintillating; her son Heer would be on my all time favorite list. Just remembered, there could be an ARR live show in Chennai in Dec it seems; I wish I can make for it. This shall be my new year wish :)

Something that pulled my heart strings in the recent times... the way the kids are growing up, especially in the metros... it's so sad. Parents do not get much time and most of the free time, if there is any that's left after the flurry of classes they go to apart from the regular school, is spent with all kinds of gadgets not to exclude the good-old-enemy TV! And the obesity I find is so shocking: all wrong kind of food is stuffed in, thanks to the pseudo facts proclaimed by these fun-foods! And the lack of life in adults, in the true sense... metro life is so mechanical, and the entire life is a struggle, an endeavour to take care of the survival process; whether at the end of it, they get to survive, I do not know, but I see them dying everyday in their pursuit to survive... very sad...

And I realized last week, that I never posted a pic of Shakthi, my dear wife, even once in this space! It's more than 1.5 years now: Have been through so many things with her: so many fights, so many intimate moments, what not! But she's been such a sweet heart and her support has been quite phenomenal in many ways. I wish I take pics more often... Not many pictures of us... Here's one from our marriage...

Happy Dussehra!!!

May the feminine within blossom more... jai bhairavi devi!

Well...

This blog is becoming dormant by the day... it actually has already become isn't it? Well, I write here more so for chronicling my state of mind than for the sake of anyone else...

When I look back, I think I was using this space as a vent out, as a companion with whom I can share whatever I wanted to, many a times in coded language that only I can comprehend... Probably now there is a person with whom this is happening. Not only that, the computer used to be a constant companion and "time" was available aplenty. These 2 things aren't there anymore... probably, that's why...

Anyways, once Shakthi gets a laptop of her own, probably my love affair will begin again :-)

I've been noticing certain trends in the thought patterns and life in general which is a little amusing as almost every average guy seems to have landed up with almost similar equation...

Towards the end of college, focus on getting a job -> Slog a few years, pursue promotions/relocation -> (Not satisfying enough and boredom) -> switch companies (may involve reloaction)-> make money, name, baby(ies) -> If baby, then start of another 25 year project -> ...

There is more to the rest of the equation, but I will stop here as this is where many people of my age are. If I simply look at it logically, "dryly", it is cloying to think if this is ALL life has to offer!!!
Well, unless there is a taste of something more profound, it is unfortunate this is how the equation will be - an endless pursuit of happiness, but still, at the end, left parched and wanting for more!

Hmmm... Interestingly, I had quoted a similar equation 8 years ago when I was fresh out of college in this post http://ramsrules.blogspot.in/2004/12/life-is-beautiful.html

My God! I can't believe I romanticized the mundanity this much! :-D

The routine life

This week, surprisingly not much activity and I found a machine with net connection handy... With some time to spend with old friends (online of course)...

What I realized after sometime was that the "routine" life somewhere seems to be lacking in something... an inexplicable emptiness that any number of dollars or properties or relationships or anything can fill in. It looks like one mad race, towards what, nobody knows. I'm not saying it is devoid of happiness or fun or cherish-able moments, there are moments, but in the larger perspective, it seems like one monotonous drone. After a few years, it may all seem one meaningless doodle.

In my limited understanding, what makes the difference is the context in which you go through life. The content doesn't matter. When there's a tinge of spirituality constantly in the tongue, the taste of life differs and it makes all the difference. As Sadhguru says, if you are in touch with the source of creation on a daily basis, then life is very very very very different. So true...

For me, spirituality came when I started work. Till then it was youthful energy pushing me in a variety of directions. After that, I feel it has been a rich colorful canvass, no longer a doodle. Somewhere I feel, looking at all my friends, that for many of them, life is happening on the surface, very superficially, which leaves a little complicated happy-n-sad taste in me... in a way empathy, how much they are missing out on life... in a way relief, that my life would have been no different but for the miraculous ways of Life's shower of grace...

At the end of the day, everyone wants to lead their life by their choices. I made my choice. Your choice is in your hands...

The dynamic ways of Life...
And its uncertainties,
The only surety.

Unmindful of the capriciousness that life is,
The foolish life squanders away.
And when reality knocks,
Bewildered and crying, exits.

The watchful one,
Can't miss the touch of Thy Hand...
One look from the corner of your Eyes...
The same source of suffering
Now, is the source of freedom.

Shambho.

:-) :-| :-/ :-O :-D

Thinking up a title is becoming a big task these days :-)

so decided to go with some of my favorite emoticons that i use in chat. emoticons are one of the cutest things in the net-era...

felt like writing, a few hrs ago, and got the machine working now, but now...what to write... b'day is around the corner... last year, the birthday was a special one. i had a different new dress that day, a unique, once-in-a-lifetime sort of dress. u can't even call it a dress. it was actually a shawl - a saffron shawl, a shawl soaked in grace... yes, it was my teacher's shawl and i wore it for the first time on my b'day last year aug 12, 2010 as that was my first session as a teacher. it felt like a new birth in many ways :-)

an year has slipped by like a second... when u r happy, time does fly doesn't it... different experiences in every class and at times the intensity and clarity with which the class happens (for myself), it leaves me stunned n flabbergasted at times when i realize how certain things beyond me happen through me, which makes what i am doing so worthwhile... to be constantly in touch with such a potent possibility and guiding force...

The (so called) intellectuals...
Dabble with your iPads and iPhones,
But you will miss the "I"

The (so called) practical people,
When will you get cloyed
Of your limited perception of life

My own dear ones,
When will you start thinking beyond security
An illusion in itself

One and all,
What you wish to do with your life,
That's your choice.
But I will continue
To care for you
And I will continue
To walk my path.s

Breaking the long break :-)

so this has become a defunct blog... hmmm... in those times, i had the need to express a lot of things and the blog was an outlet... now if i look at it, the speed at which my life is happening, there isn't much time to write anything nor the need... this is not to be understood as "oh my work! oh this! oh that!"...no, this is not a case of work becoming burdensome... my work is absolutely joyous and i have no qualms about it whatsoever... in fact, it is such an intense game, a privilege...

so, today got some time and i thought i will post a few updates for the sake of those that aren't in touch anymore... in 2009 sept, i quit my job in microsoft, knowing that kind of professional life wouldn't quench my thirst for life and i moved back to india, not certain of what life would offer, just placing the trust on Life. And as it has always been, grace guided me all along (and still is guiding)... with what began as a dabbling, it became my life... went through the process and now am a Isha yoga teacher, and am honored to say that.

and life took another turn too... all those confusions about the path to take and deeper questions effortlessly settled during these 2 years time... i realized my way would be more in tune with Krishna's way of life, the path of Leela (Shakthi would bear testimony to the previous statement :D... what to do, i was born on Krishna Jayanti)... and i got married in Feb this year (2011) in a simple and elegant ceremony at the Isha yoga center. As life takes its course, rough edges are getting smoothened and unexplored territories are getting exposed.

And the joy run continues...