On the train itself I felt some feverishness coming up; the bodily kind. So I chose to sit in my seat more than stand at the door pointing at the gorgeous waterfalls. By the time we reached Anagha’s beautiful farmhouse in Pune’s back of beyond, I was quite toasty and just became hotter and hotter (!). Since Dr Seema the friendly neighborhood homeopath was around, we started with homeopathy. After a few phone calls to friendly not-so-neighboring Ayurveds, Ayurveda joined in. After another day of no cooling off, we invited paracetemols to the fight with my fever, only we used the syrup, not the tablet… This had always worked in the past and was the ultimate in my arsenal against a fever.

To compound the fever, I also had a bout of constipation. Constipation according to Bawa is the height of possessiveness. I asked Seema, “Where does the body store 3 days of food?! Seema explained to me how big the Large Intestines are. And it is only when enough roughage and fibre is consumed in the food, it triggers bowel movement. So I started eating more fruits with fibre, I did some sukhsma vyayama ‘shoulder pumping’ (guaranteed to clear any constipation, only later I remembered it is used to prevent it). But nothing happened. And nothing continued to happen. Just fever and no shi … errr… mettabolic bodily waste.

As usual we tried everything and then entered Bawa, the veteran of most common health conditions. He called for his recipe – a bottle of coke! Before I could finish even half of it nature called… at last!

The Ultimate cure for Extreme Possessiveness!

Coke (or Pepsi) is part of many ayurvedic doctors’ manuals whose lives Bawa has touched.

After an enchanting evening concert of Bhakti, the next day we flew back to Bangalore ashram, straight into Vishwamitra (our home at the Ashram). My fever still stuck to me like a limpet. Many doctors came prescribed many things for me to eat and do. Dr Nisha (chief ayurvedic doc at ashram), Dr Priyadarshan (we call him PD, CST – Craino Sacral Therapy exponent and our ashram allopath), Dr Giri Prasad (Martial Arts black belt and ayurvedic doc, still can’t figure out if he can break bones better or mend them better), Dr Seema Thanedar (advance course teacher who travelled 20hrs in a bus at a 2hr notice to come and take care of me) and Dr. Pinkita (another brilliant ayurved).

All blood tests that we did for various types of fever were negative. No typhoid, no dengue, no malaria. Yet the fever resolutely refused to leave me.

I was in two states everyday. One was Shiv Chaitanya (while meditating ) and the other was Shiver Chaitanya. I had started getting the shivers to go with my fever. The fever resolutely and steadily climbed from 100-101 to a steady 102, until one fateful Monday morning it hit 104.

Bawa then utterly overruled me and unyieldingly decided that we needed to get me to a hospital. We were toying with going to Apollo Hospital, but a phone call with Arvind decided us to go to Narayana Hrudayalaya. Name sounded much better than Apollo to begin with… I took my crocin, then we waited for about an hour for my fever to subside a bit and then they bundled me into a car and we quickly drove off to the hospital…

More next week …

Jai Gurudev!

love

dinesh

Every week we waited eagerly for what Guruji would say through these Knowledge Sheets, many times we would be with Him while He dictated them out and we compiled them. The atmosphere would always be full of wisdom coupled with big doses of mirth. And the Knowledge sheets themselves are always profound, sometimes quite funny…

Dinesh and i decided to do a commentary on them, reliving those precious moments spent with Guruji, reading them out for you and peppering them with stories and examples of how this Knowledge from Him has come alive for us in our lives.

Re reading them now, after so many years of Sadhana, Seva and Satsang has made us realise just how beautiful and precious these words from Him are … We are thoroughly enjoying ourselves making these videos, we know you will love watching them too.

Knowledge sheet no. 23

Watch Part 1 on youtube
Watch Part 2 on youtube

Jai Gurudeva!

love

bawa n dinesh

I came across these and couldn’t resist sharing them with you

Home is the place where you can scratch any place you itch.

Don’t be so humble. You are not that great!

Don’t pay any attention to the critics. Don’t even ignore them.

Night watchmen in horror movies have a life expectancy of about 12 seconds.

These are the good old days. Just you wait and see!

When I hear someone sigh and say, “life is hard”, I say, “compared to what?!”

Etiquette is knowing how to yawn with your mouth closed.

You have to admire her. She hides her lack of talent so well.

I had bad luck with both my wives. The first one left me and the second one didn’t.

Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.

I am absolutely certain that there is no life on Mars. It’s not listed on my daughter’s phone bill!

I have a large sea shell collection which I keep scattered on beaches all over the world. Maybe you have seen it?

When I dance, people think I am looking for my keys.

Jai Gurudeva!

love

bawa

Every week we waited eagerly for what Guruji would say through these Knowledge Sheets, many times we would be with Him while He dictated them out and we compiled them. The atmosphere would always be full of wisdom coupled with big doses of mirth. And the Knowledge sheets themselves are always profound, sometimes quite funny…

Dinesh and i decided to do a commentary on them, reliving those precious moments spent with Guruji, reading them out for you and peppering them with stories and examples of how this Knowledge from Him has come alive for us in our lives.

Re reading them now, after so many years of Sadhana, Seva and Satsang has made us realise just how beautiful and precious these words from Him are … We are thoroughly enjoying ourselves making these videos, we know you will love watching them too.

Knowledge sheet no. 23

Watch Part 1 on youtube
Watch Part 2 on youtube

Jai Gurudeva!

love

bawa n dinesh

Sri Sri is going to be featured on MTv in the US, starring on Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory… Check out the site

and definitely watch the preview on the site

What a cool Guru we have!!

Jai Gurudeva!

love

bawa

ps MTv’s own site has another cool video

pps more about this later

ppss and a Grand Navroz Mubarak to everyone!!! (Today is Parsi New Year)

Guruji on Guru Poornima 2010

I had a course in the morning and it was an overcast sky that I woke up to. Rains in Bombay have always evoked the best memories and feelings within me… No school, many times no office for mom and dad, so great time for the entire family, playing in the water on the roads, that pristine smell of fresly rained on earth and the trees… On Guru Poornima day, there was a soggy looking sun shining valiantly through the clouds and the weather at least as far as I was concerned was absolutely perfect!

Rains in Bombay are the best!

Then a thought struck me. Why would the ancients decide to celebrate Guru Poornima in July?!

Guru Poornima is a very important day for the devotee, perhaps the most important one for anyone who has a Guru. It is also centered around the full moon by it’s very name.

The skies must have been overcast then as they are now. When there is such a small probability of actually seeing the full moon on the night of Guru Poornima, why have it in July at all?! It should have been in March or November when there is almost 100% chance to see the full moon in all her glory. Somehow celebrating such an important festival in July, right at the high point of the monsoon in India, when there is almost no scope of seeing the moon on that night of nights seems like a bad joke.

Illogical.

Then I thought some more and began to think about how Guruji functions. What He means to me. And I suddenly saw the logic. And the magic

The Guru is unobtrusive. He doesn’t intrude at all. His Presence is hidden, yet His Grace is always there. He is exactly like a full moon obscured by clouds. You know the moon is there but you can’t see it, all you see is diffused beautiful light. If you didn’t know there was a moon, you would wonder where the light was coming from.

Just like His Grace, His Shakti, benevolent and beguiling…

And then very, very rarely, Guruji’s Grace shines forth in a burst of Glory… utterly unmistakable, beyond any shadow of doubt. Just like a cloudless, clear full moon night in July, this happens once in a while.

It’s perfect. Guru Poornima should be celebrated in July!

Jai Gurudeva!

Love

Bawa

Every week we waited eagerly for what Guruji would say through these Knowledge Sheets, many times we would be with Him while He dictated them out and we compiled them. The atmosphere would always be full of wisdom coupled with big doses of mirth. And the Knowledge sheets themselves are always profound, sometimes quite funny…

Dinesh and i decided to do a commentary on them, reliving those precious moments spent with Guruji, reading them out for you and peppering them with stories and examples of how this Knowledge from Him has come alive for us in our lives.

Re reading them now, after so many years of Sadhana, Seva and Satsang has made us realise just how beautiful and precious these words from Him are … We are thoroughly enjoying ourselves making these videos, we know you will love watching them too.

Knowledge sheet no. 22

Watch Part 1 on youtube
Watch Part 2 on youtube

Jai Gurudeva!

love

bawa n dinesh

The sun sets very late in the evening here and when i asked what time the satsang was, a volunteer replied 7:00 in the afternoon

Guruji enthralled everyone by speaking in fluent German for the first 10ish minutes! Christoph who was translating, first translated Guruji’s german into English my mistake Even he was quite surprized.

Guruji in Berlin

Then we went on to Berlin for another satsang, where we met up with Amit and Seema. They were thrilled to see us and we spent quite some time with them. There was an event with Guruji at the Indian Embassy for which we went and then another one to which dinesh and i did not have passes to go to… so, we went and did a bit of sightseeing and shopping and of course sampling the local pizza which was delicious!

There was a brilliant toy shop in Berlin where i got a few more board games to add to our collection and some cool toys for aarman, ahun and bhuvana. There was another superb shop that sold everything handcrafted out of wood… very cute, lovingly made old world style toys.

Dinesh and the Dragon!

We may be having Art of Living’s 30th year celebrations (next year) at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin… nothing is really fixed yet, but it has high chances that it may happen there, possibly sometime in June.

Dinesh really doesn't like dragons too much

Everything was handcrafted and made of wood

We stayed at a very modern hotel in Berlin. All severe minimalistic lines and decor. The one huge thing i liked about that hotel though was a fish tank! It was 7 floors high, right in the middle of the hotel above the reception, and had a million litres of water in it! Schools of beautiful fish swam around in it and looking at it was most relaxing. Looking at this beauty, again i wondered how people can be so cruel as to want to eat these lovely creatures… The morning we left, there were 2 scuba divers in it, scrubbing the glass, cleaning the tank up from inside

1 million litres of water in the middle of a hotel!

Too soon, it was time for a long drive from Berlin to Frankfurt. Andreas drove us almost non stop all the way, about 6 hours through the night… In Frankfurt we stayed for a few hours at Gunther’s beautiful home, before leaving for the airport to get on the plane to Bangalore. Guruji was on the same flight and we met up with Him on the plane. I got to spend a few hours with Him … and the 9 hour flight was over almost before i realized it…

We took some time clearing immigration, customs and waiting for all our luggage, Guruji went on ahead to meet the people outside the airport. In a bit, we met up with dad and so many others who had come to receive Guruji… who then waited back to receive us

Went home, met mom and everyone else and then finally reached our real Home – Our beloved Bangalore ashram … just driving in through the ashram gates felt so good… and snuggling into my bed with my own pillows was such a treat!

Europe was fantastic… but nothing beats coming back Home!!

Every week we waited eagerly for what Guruji would say through these Knowledge Sheets, many times we would be with Him while He dictated them out and we compiled them. The atmosphere would always be full of wisdom coupled with big doses of mirth. And the Knowledge sheets themselves are always profound, sometimes quite funny…

Dinesh and i decided to do a commentary on them, reliving those precious moments spent with Guruji, reading them out for you and peppering them with stories and examples of how this Knowledge from Him has come alive for us in our lives.

Re reading them now, after so many years of Sadhana, Seva and Satsang has made us realise just how beautiful and precious these words from Him are … We are thoroughly enjoying ourselves making these videos, we know you will love watching them too.

Knowledge sheet no. 21

Watch Part 1 on Youtube

Watch Part 2 on Youtube

Watch Part 3 on Youtube

Jai Gurudeva!

love

bawa n dinesh

Guruji at the Waterfall

As we were driving down from Arosa, we passed a stunning waterfall. From one angle it looked just like the waterfall in the Guru Parampara photograph. Guruji made us stop the car and He just went and started posing in front of it and everyone was taking pictures. Then all of us went ahead and posed with Him. It was so much fun! Many, many pictures later we resumed our journey to the lake.

We too posed with Him!

Guruji was working on His emails and correspondence in the car but in between told us a lot of stories about His teenage years in Switzerland. He spent 2-3 years in Switzerland, some of which were in Arosa…

There were 2 boats that had been hired and Guruji was supposed to go from one to another but at the last minute taking popular opinion everyone crammed into just one boat with Guruji.

We were on Lake Luzern for almost 4 hours (2 and a half hours more than scheduled) as Guruji showed us the many places He had studied and meditated at. He made sure He met everyone on board and went from the front of the boat to the back many times, gamely posing for photos with everyone.

A bit of History

We even visited Weggis and the Hotel Alexander where i had been for the Yogasara Upanishads almost 15 years ago, the first time i was out of India. I excitedly pointed out what i thought was my room to all who would care to see it  We also passed the pier on which one of Guruji’s most loved photos had been taken. It was a cruise into the history of Art of Living.

Kashi had his camera and I read out a Knowledge sheet on the boat, after which he “interviewed” me, we had a small audience who also threw some questions at me…

We reached our destination and then got into another car and drove to the German Ashram a few hours away. It was night as we pulled into the Ashram, it’s warmth radiating in the cold night.

The ashram was full to the brim. Many people had come from all over Europe and the world to be with Guruji on His birthday, and we had no room to stay. All hotels in a radius of a few kilometers around the ashram were booked to capacity as well. Guruji gave us His own meeting room to stay in. Only a wall separated us from Him in the night!

In a day it would be Guruji’s Birthday!

13th May dawned. Finished Sadhana and met Guruji before He went off to be greeted by everyone there. We had actually wished Him at midnight but shhhh! don’t tell anyone! .There are advantages to be sleeping in His meeting room

Cooking dinner in the German Ashram Kitchen

Dinesh and i went down into the kitchen to help cook for the 2000+ people who were expected that evening for dinner.

Our team, under my guidance and Tatiana’s suggestions made a pasta and a salad. Pooja, Shilpa, Dhara, Pratibha, Shweta, Dinesh, Mayank, Priya Mani, Andreas, and a host of Art Excel kids helped. To give you an idea we used 25 kgs of Mozzarella cheese in the pasta and about 30 kgs of Parmessan cheese in the salad. Also 40+ tins of olives, and 50+ bottles of Olive oil! It was really good!

We dressed up and went to Satsang in Oppenau town hall, our ashram was simply not big enough for the crowd of people who were there. A great satsang, a fantastic time with Guruji and a superb meal (!) later, we returned to our beds…

The cake was made in house at our Ashram Bakery!

I made a mistake. I will not go into details, they are quite embarrassing, but when i told Guruji later about it and what could i do to correct it. He smiled and said something really amazing!

He said mistakes happen because of doership. To try to correct a mistake will involve even more doership and typically land you into more trouble. To correct a mistake is a bigger mistake for a Sadhak, a meditator. You simply accept the mistake, confess it to Guruji and move on.

The next day, a whole group of us went to Baden-Baden. Andreas volunteered to drive. It is simply a thing that you HAVE to do when you are at the German Ashram. Baden-Baden has a bath house and is about an hour or so drive way from ashram. They have all sorts of fountains and pools with all temperatures of water from cold to hot, also steam and sauna rooms. Some of it gentle, others with great force. It’s hydrotherapy at it’s very best. We had a fantastic 4 hours in there before returning for satsang to the ashram…

Baden Baden

Another super day at the Ashram and it was time for the German tour with Guruji…

Jai Gurudeva!

love

bawa