Vivek's Blog

Do you want to commit suicide?

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:14:00 +0000

We all fell depressed some time or the other. Mood swings are common multiple times in a single day, or perhaps in a single hour. But have you contemplated suicide? Not just as a passing thought but actually thought/planned of doing so?

If you have then you need to read this answer of Guruji:

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Suicide:

Q: Guruji, due to some worldly problems, I want to commit suicide.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Absolutely not! Before doing this, come to me, seek my permission, then do it! I will tell you from where to jump and how to commit suicide. Don't make this decision on your own. I need you! Why are you losing your life? What do you need, tell me? Bread (roti), clothing, and a home? I am willing to give all that to you for all your life. You can just sit around. Have no worries and do my work. You will get respect, honor, knowledge, everything that you want. What is the reason that you want to commit suicide? You couldn't get married, that is why? Or because you got married, that is why? In both the situations, I will help you.

Don't worry. If you are not married, I will get you married. If you are already married, I will talk to your husband or wife. If they don't understand, I will advise you to take sanyas. Move forward. What will you achieve by committing suicide? Suicide should absolutely not be committed. All those who feel the slightest doubt or have such a feeling, immediately show them my photograph and tell them, 'Look, don't go without his permission, otherwise you won't get entry up there as well!' You will be hanging in between, neither in this world, nor in the other. Why do you commit such an act? First take permission, get the visa !

Art of Living Presents "The Enlighten Tab"

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 09:46:00 +0000

The sheer amount of video, audio and print materials related to The Art of Living and the teachings of His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is staggering. If you are a volunteer or a teacher of the Art of Living then you must have surely dreamt of having all the knowledge tapes, albums , books etc in your collection. This is now possible through a tablet device which is not yet released but available for pre order.

Introducing "The Enlighten Tab":

Basically it is similar to other Tablets but comes pre loaded with 16 GB worth of knowledge talk videos, Bhajans Albums and E-books. So you can use it as any other tablet for browsing etc. The Operating System being Android 2.3 makes it even better to run all the apps available in the market. Also you can connect the tablet to the TV and watch videos etc.

Worth checking out!

Features -
Android 2.3
1.2 GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor
512 mb RAM
16 GB inbuilt memory
7" WVGA Wide Screen
Capacitive 5 Point Multi Touch Screen
Wifi & Bluetooth enabled
Mini HDMI port
USB port
Micro SD slot
Expandable Memory upto 32 GB
3G Using USB Dongle
Front Facing VGA Camera for Video calling

English Promo:

Hindi Promo:

Poems of Kabir I

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:00:00 +0000

Saint Kabir was the original Rebel. At a time when Hindu Muslim unity and tolerance was at its lowest, Kabir spoke about the one true God and gave the wisdom of Advaita in his own way. He wrote poems which an ordinary villager could understand and yet today the same poems are the subject of study of the highest philosophers and thinkers. Was Kabir way ahead of his time? I think He was beyond time.

Living in this mundane existence when sooner or later we find nothing makes any sense and we are searching for a string to hold on to, the poems of Kabir provide that solace and guide us. His words are sharp like an axe which cuts religion, dogmas, rituals and all ideas that we have created about truth into pieces. When temples are destroyed Hindus get angry. When Muslim rituals are criticised, they don't like it. But Kabir doesn't care. He will state that which he experienced. The truth and truth alone.

Some time back I was fortunate to have attended the first ever Kabir Fest here in Bangalore. The organiser Shabnam Virmani and team had done a terrific job. A Festival entirely dedicated to the work of Kabir. So there were concerts and documentaries and it was marvellous. The atmosphere in the concerts were similar to an Art of Living Satsang. People dancing and singing and "MAST" in their own self..

Two of the best finds in the Fest were Folk singer Prahlad Tipanya and Pakistani Sufi Singer Farid Ayaz.

Prahlad Tipanya is one of the most compelling folk voices of Kabir in India today who combines singing and exposition of Kabir in the Malwi folk style from Madhya Pradesh. He has toured the US, and in Feb 2008 was felicitated with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.

In 1978, at the age of 24, Prahladji first heard and was captivated by the sound of the tambura, a 5-string plucked instrument. He was a village schoolteacher, and singing was not a family tradition. But this became a defining moment for his life. Through the tambura, Prahladji encountered the world of Kabir. The words of this fifteenth-century saint-poet are sung in village after village by hundreds of bhajan mandalis, whose members have kept alive an unbroken oral tradition of singing Kabir’s poetry for 600 years. Prahladji entered this world of all-night bhajan sessions as a learner. Over three decades later he is a household name, his cassettes and CDs heard in countless public and private places. Many acknowledge him as having powerfully contributed to a resurgence of Kabir oral traditions and music in Malwa.

"Kahaan se Aaya". In this poem, Kabir speaks about awareness, breath, body and Guru.
Beautifully he puts the importance of being aware of the body and the breath.
Fearless as he is, Kabir tears apart Hipocrisy in spirituality. First he talks about the Kazi who talks about God but after sometime without showing any compassion goes and smashes the chicken's head on the rock. In another paragraph, he talks about the
Pundit who wears the garland , Tilak and does fasts and pilgrimages. But lost in the outer rituals he is not aware of his own body.

And how can I miss him saying "Satguru mile to Bhed Batave, Khul Jave Antar Khidki" ( When you get a Satguru, He will tell you the secret and the inner window opens up )

So has the inner window opened yet ? :)

About Ustad Farid Ayaz in the next post...

Candid interview with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:41:00 +0000

Though the interviewer is a little irritating in the suit. Guruji shares some close tidbits. So worth it.

A talk on Ayurveda - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 07:05:00 +0000

Guruji has spoken in length about the different aspects of Ayurveda.

Sudarshan Kriya causes heart problems.

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 17:15:00 +0000

I have not been so active in this blog lately. But one comment in this blog forced me to write this. Recently someone wrote in the comments:

Dear Vivek bhayya, I am reading in many places on bad effects of sudarshan kriya. I am doing pratice for six months and nothing bad happened to me except some skin rash and heat boils. this is one post which is scaring me: https:/example.wordpress.com/2011/03/26/heart-problems-caused-by-sudarshan-kriya/ My mother and sister is also concerned about it. One person also told in the blog that sudarshan kriya will cause difficulty for child birth. i want to have child next year. will it affect me. In men does it cause impotence. my husband does not practice it but he is okay and we are planning child. can you please explain and clarify this in your blog, because lot of people are worried now. you are very experienced in sudarshan kriya naa....

I have edited the link above as I dont want to increase the traffic of that website which has already accumulated the maximum negative karma that any website can accumulate!

First things first. I am not doing to defend Sudarshan Kriya. There is nothing to defend. There is no need to defend the most precious gift that Humans have received since the time of the previous Purnavatar.

300 million people have done Sudarshan Kriya. More than 10 reputed medical institutes have conducted research on it. Some Indian Institutes include AIIMS, NIMHANS etc. The results are free for all to see:

http://www.artofliving.org/in-en/sudarshan-kriya-research
http://sudarshankriyaa.blogspot.com/2010/02/latest-research-on-sudarshan-kriya.html
http://www.aolresearch.org/pdf/other/EEG_M_Bhatia.pdf

If you fail in your exam, do you blame that your dog's bowel movement was not satisfactory ?
If you eat junk and get boils then you blame Sudarshan Kriya?
If you have a history of heart diseases and suddenly one day it worsens then what do you blame?
You read one article written by a crackpot and brush aside tons of research done on the subject by World's most reputed institutions?

There is a limit to ridiculous thought process. And this crosses all such boundaries.

As my personal experience goes, the only heart problems I got after the course is that of severe angina pectoris when Guruji leaves my city and a Myocardial Infarction when he looks at me.
And I cannot live without it.

A clear bias against Art of Living. With 60% vote, Ashram still not included in "Seven Wonders of Bangalore".

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 11:43:00 +0000

Well you would regard a prestigious paper such as the Times of India and its subsidiary Bangalore Mirror to be unbiased and free. There is proof that it is not so.
If you remember, Bangalore Mirror had sometime taken up the charge of identifying "Seven Wonders of Bangalore."
Out of the seven Wonders selected, it had conveniently left out the Most Beautiful and Peaceful Ashram, Sri Sri Ravi Shankas's abode out of the list.
Bangalore Mirror had asked people to vote through sms and online for their favorite wonders.
I just found this xls sheet of the total number of votes casted, names of people and their choices.

You can see the sheet in the link:
(Respecting the views of many readers, I have removed the link as the excel sheet contains a lot of phone numbers and email ids of Art of Living devotees. To prevent misuse of the contacts, I am not providing the link here. )

This is a snapshot of the excel sheet file:

You can see that out of the 3044 total entries, 1695 people have voted for the Art of Living Ashram.

An entry which gets more than 60% vote for a contest does not get a place in the top 7 ? Isn't that ridiculous ?

My question to Bangalore Mirror is simple : If you don't want to take public opinion in your judgements then why do you do the farce of telling people to go and vote for the nominations ?

The most popular Art of Living Singer : Poll Results

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 19:48:00 +0000

The undisputed king of Satsang Rock - Vikram Hazra

Well, the latest poll that concluded here received a tremendous amount of participation from the entusiastic readers. Thank you all for voting.

Well the question was simple enough.. Name your favorite Art of Living Singer!
A total of around 130 votes were cast and the results are here to see..

Looks like Vikram Hazra and Rishi Nityapragya are the favorites of devotees. Vikram Bhaiya is also my favorite singer. A gandharva born to be an instrument of spreading knowledge through music.

New Poll: Which is your favorite knowledge tape series?

Its on the sidebar. Do vote. Jai Gurudev.

The Art of Living Course Review

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 10:46:00 +0000

Its not an enviable job - Sri Sri speaks candidly..

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 03:40:00 +0000

One of the most busy humanitarian of our times. Meeting millions of people everyday. How does he manage to do this? Many of us must have thought about how his schedule would be. What would it be like to be Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. In one of the most candid talks, in the video Guruji talks about how he manages to look at everyone and smile at them. How some devotees do gimmicks to grab attention. And about the hyperactive Art of Living volunteer.

Some of the interesting things he says in the video are:

"Whenever I am with a person I'm with them 100%" - Sri Sri

"Do you think it is an easy job? I tell you it is not at all an enviable job." - Sri Sri

"And there are some others who just want to draw attention, they do all sorts of gimmicks." - Sri Sri

"Our volunteers are hyperactive sometimes. They do kind to everybody else other than me." - Sri Sri

"When people ask me 'Do you watch movies?' I say "I'm watching movies everyday! I can't find a better entertaintment!"

Satsang with Students at SSRVM Bangalore

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 08:23:00 +0000

We had the oppurtunity and good fortune to be invited by the principal of SSRVM in Vidyaranyapura, Bangalore to conduct a Satsang for the Children there. I knew from the beginning that it would be a rocking experience.

First Impression

First of all, having seen the Sri Sri Bal Mandirs, I did not expect SSRVM to be so huge and Majestic. The SSRVM compound and building was nothing short of an international school. It was one of the most professionally managed schools and yet the human touch could be felt in every nook and corner. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar had inaugurated and blessed the school some time back and the Principal there Mamata ji told us a story about his visit.

When Guruji came

This is a story when Guruji had come to the school.

Guruji came to the school and entered the classroom which was in the ground floor and right near the entrance. As soon as he entered, he asked the Principal "This is classroom for which standard students ?"

" For Kindergarten ( K.G. ) Students "

"Oh, But the windows you have put are so high, how will the children see outside ? Do one thing, lower the windows height and put a slide from which they can slide outside to the playground."

The child who never grew up !

The Satsang

As soon as we entered the hall filled with a couple of hundred children, I could feel the vibrating and pulsating energy in the atmosphere. It was a feeling that makes you float in the air without any reason. The kids were super excited to see my Guitar and they were not shy to show their admiration openly. Sometimes with embarassing consequences :)

Right from the first line of "Ganesh Om.... Ganesh Om..." the kids joined in. And How ! They were all very familiar with the Bhajan and with all inhibitions shed (which they anyhow don't have any ) started singing and shouting at the top of their voices. The result was nothing short of what happens during Navaratri Homas in the Ashram.

We all floated in the Satva. Drifted into a wonderful land of devotion, joy and gratitude. With all the bubbles of joy all around us, the Satsang was clearly one of the best that I have attended.

The power of Sankalpas.

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 12:43:00 +0000

Desires keep arising in us. We hardly have any control over them. Just when we start feeling a bit hungry, a desire to indulge the taste buds arises. No sooner that we have eaten a full meal, a desire to have some dessert arises. The dessert is emptied and a desire to watch some TV arises... and so on and so forth. If we observe with great attention then our life is nothing but a great flow of desires arising and our running behind fulfilling it, thinking that at the end of the fulfillment of the desire is that elusive Bliss that we are searching for. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar says "Desires fulfilled or unfulfilled, leaves us empty handed." How many times in our life, a fulfillment of a desire has given us great satisfaction ? Desire simply implies that we are looking for joy in the future and not "Right Now!".

Power of Sankalpas

"Sankalpa" is a Sanskrit word which means "Thought, intention, or will directed toward a specific outcome".

Someone asked Guruji : ( September 1 2010 )

Q.What is the importance of sankalpa (intention) and how to strengthen it? Does the world move on sankalpa?

A. The mind is full of sankalpa and vikalpa (imagination, fancy). Each work gets done through sankalpa. Even the act of moving our arm is preceded by the sankalpa in the mind. If twenty sankalpas arise in the mind then nothing gets done. When the mind is peaceful and restful then our sankalpa is powerful.

The sankalpa of a weak mind is weak and that of strong mind is strong.

We can make our mind strong by sadhana (spiritual practices) and knowledge. Then the sankalpa will also be strong. The wise makes one sankalpa in fifty days whereas the ignorant makes fifty in a day.

The more Sadhana, Seva and Satsang we do, the more fulfilled we feel. Hasn't it happened that after an Advanced course or a refreshing meditation or a meeting with Guruji we have felt "I don't need anything, I'm just so full of joy and love right now" The frequency with which this happens is a measurement of how much our mind is in the present moment. This means less Sankalpas per day and each of our Sankalpas become very powerful and greater chance of fulfillment. If more and more we feel that " All I want, I already have !" then more will come our way.

The Yogis and Rishis of Yore lived in this state of Gratitude (in varying degrees) and fulfillment so they had the power of not only fulfilling their own wishes but also of others by granting a boon. This is very scientific and experiential truth. We can all do our own experiments with this. Modern scientists and thinkers are realising the importance of this and coming up with books and movies ( e.g. The Secret ).

The one word which really will see to it whether your Sankalpa will materialise or not is " INTENSITY " .The more badly you want something, the quicker you'll get it.

A holy man was meditating by a river when a young man interrupted him.

“I have looked for God everywhere and I didn't find him. Can you show God to me ?"

The holy man jumped up, grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, dragged him into the river, and plunged his head under water. After holding him there for a minute, with him kicking and struggling to free himself, the holy man finally pulled him up out of the river. The young man coughed up water and gasped to get his breath.
When he eventually quieted down, the holy man spoke. “Tell me, what did you want most of all when you were under water.”
“Air!” answered the man.
“Very well,” said the holy man. “When you want God as badly as you want the air, then you'll find him ! ”

What time do you do your Sadhana? - Poll Results

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 21:09:00 +0000

Ever since I started this feature of conducting a poll on the sidebar of this blog, the response has been amazing. Thank you all who vote on the polls.

The results are not very surprising. Out of the 65 people who voted on the poll, only 50% do their Sadhana in the morning.
23% do not have any fixed timing. Hmm.....
And we have 3 really early risers who do Sadhana at Brahma Muhurta between 3 am to 6 am.

P.S : Do vote on the new Poll on the Sidebar.
If you would like to conduct a Poll on a particular question, leave a comment below, if it is noteworthy, I may run the Poll.

A memorable Satsang at Hubli. An unforgettable travel

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 06:08:00 +0000

Just came back y'day from Hubli after being a part of a wonderful Satsang there. Hubli is a town in the northern part of Karnataka approximately around 8 hrs by train from Bangalore. Me, Pankaj and Saket left from Bangalore on Saturday and Apurva and Sanket had made all the wonderful arrangements there in Hubli for our comfortable stay and khana-peena. Roma and her family were wonderful hosts( just like any Art of Living family would be ).

The best part ( ummmm... may not be the best but certainly "unforgettable") was the travel. We boarded the Auto from my house to the station only to find that the Auto meter runs faster than Chetak of Maharana Pratap and when we reached the station just barely in time to catch the train, fate caught us in between the desire to hang on to righteousness of not paying the fare which was almost the double amount and the desire to just pay and board the train. A very unruly mob of about 20-30 auto drivers shouting at us at the top of their hoarse drones to pay up solved the dilemma. We paid the money and got into the wrong compartment of the train to discover that we had forgotten the ticket in the house itself.
Anger of being forced to pay double meter of Auto, getting into wrong compartment , no ticket in the hands and a moving train made sure that we were reminded that "Present moment is inevitable" and "Accept the situation as it is and take action".
Fortunately, the booking was done online so we just had to pay up Rs. 50 and be done with it.
Reached Hubli at 11 am the next day.

The 2nd Yes+ course in Hubli had just ended ( Apurva had managed to enthuse the young dynamos with the awesome energy typical of a Yes+ course). Many were there who were attending a Satsang for the first time but I could see it from their eyes that they were grateful for the knowledge the got and later on joined full-on to shake a leg or two with the volunteers. We also did a short meditation.

Saket, Me with the guitar and Pankaj on the Tabla

Sanketh, Apurva (the organisers) and Me with a Strawberry.

The unforgettable part was the travel back to Bangalore. Taking our own sweet time to have the Post Satsang dinner , we soon realised that there was no bus seats available ( yes, our faith was strong enough not to book the tickets till the last moment). After furiously approaching every Private Travels for 5 tickets to Bangalore, we finally managed to get it. The 5 seats on the last of a below Average KSRTC bus would be our home for what appeared to me as Eternity.

We left at 11 pm, at 2 pm I woke up to find that there was a deafening silence all around, the bus was not moving and so were the other vehicles, everyone was fast asleep including the driver. After a furious attempt to catch a few kannada words from two people talking outside, I came to know that there was and accident some 2-3 miles ahead of us and the traffic would not move unitl 5 hours. It happened exactly like that. For 5 hours we were there. The Bus, motionless and still as an Ancient Relic provided as much leg space as that provided to the unlucky chickens at KFC poultry. And for those of you who have not travelled in Indian Buses for long hours, let me tell you that leg space is least of the problems. The concept of a loo is virtually non-existent. If you are lucky, you'll find by some furious searching, a small sign saying "TOILET" pointing to a dingy room with a hole in it.

As it is evident from the description above, it is the perfect set-up for practising the Art of Living course points. All of it. And some more. We reached Bangalore at 3 pm after 16 hours in the Bus.

But as I sit here in the comfort of my room, all that uncomfort seems so unimportant and most often very funny. I can laugh over it. But the joy of sharing some moments of meditation and knowledge of the Guru with others makes it all worthwile.

Auguste Renoir was a famous painter. Renoir was confined to his home during the last decade of his life. Renoir, almost paralyzed by arthritis, continued to paint in spite of his infirmities. One day a friend of his watched the elder painter working in his studio, fighting torturous pain with each brush stroke, he blurted out: “Auguste, why do you continue to paint when you are in such agony?”

Renoir answered simply: “The pain passes but the Beauty remains”

Jai Gurudev,

Love,

Vivek

The Attitude of Gratitude. Devotees pour out..

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 17:41:00 +0000

Gratitude is the king of emotions. It is the one feeling which makes an individual blossom and brings peace and prosperity in our lives. Guruji says " Angels long for the tear of a devotee. Moments of intense gratitude are the moments that you have really lived your life".

So bidding goodbye to 2010, I decided to do a experiment : I put up a photo in Facebook which read :

And the response was phenomenal. Nearly 50 people commented expressing their gratitude. I want to share these comments with you.

The last comment very much sums it up. If you did not get a chance to express your comment... you can do so in the comments below....
Lets continue our Attitude of Gratitude.!
Jai Gurudev.

The best posts of 2010.

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 12:25:00 +0000

I have been writing quite consistently in this blog for some time now. The beginning of 2010 witnessed a lot of neglect to this blog from my part. But the latter part of 2010 saw some really great responses to my posts. Also mentionable are the wonderful emails that I got mainly for the Satsang -Bhajans book that I had compiled. So a quick flashback, here are some of the posts which according to the responses were amazing and you can definitely look forward to enjoying these posts if you have already not read it.

Looking forward to your encouragement and support from YOU to keep writing in the NEW YEAR 2011 ( probably in my own domain :)

1. Google Earth - Changes in the Art of Living Ashram landscape. :Some really cool insights into the way our Ashram has evolved in the past 10 years or so.
2. Divine Souls I : Swami Suryapada : An Article on Swamiji.
3. Michael Fischman : First meeting with H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : This post was really appreciated by a lot of people. It contains one old Photo of Guruji when he was very young and travelling with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
4. Funny things out here : Some really belly-wrenching funny things that I've written.
5. Holi with Guruji : Some very colourful moments.
6. Different moods of Vishalakshi Mantap.: Some cool photos of Art of Living Ashram.
7. Stumbling into Infinity - A review : A wonderful book by Michael Fischman.
8. Satsang - Art of Living Bhajans Book pdf ( Free download ) : Took some good deal of work to get it done. But the response given by all who came across it was thrilling.

Also an all time favorite post in this blog is The Art of Living Blogs. A collection of most of the blog and website related to the Art of Living.

Have a happy and a prosperous new year to you and your dear ones.
Jai Gurudev.

Your Guru knows what you need.

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 14:01:00 +0000

I was inspired to write this post by a video which I saw in youtube.

Many a times we feel that the Guru does not know about our specific problems and issues. Many times we feel disconnected. Many times we clamour for a more "PERSONAL" attention from the Master. It becomes difficult to understand whether we are really lagging behind in our spiritual growth or just the ego is begging to stick on.

It is common to see people who have newly discovered this bliss unearthed by the techniques taught by the Master to feel angered, or left out or hurt . The single complain is " He is not giving me personal time."

If you are in a spiritual path then hasn't this happened to you?

Guru is just a reflection of your infinite self

Gurudev says "The Guru is not just a personality. Guru is the presence."

We can understand it this way... Realizing that the difference between individual bodies is just a temporary and realtive notion ( Maya ). The reality is that we are all one and there is no two. Advaita on non-dualism taught since the dawn of this creation cycle by Rishis and sages like Adi Shankaracharya, his four disciples, Brahmananda Saraswati and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, all points to the fact which modern physics has just been able to start realising that everything is connected and everything is energy.

So Guru is a complete manifestation of that Shakti, the energy. All the practices we are doing is for the realisation that we are already connected to the Guru Tatva and the difference between the Guru and the disciple only exists in the mind of the unrealized disciple. Looking towards the Guru more as a presence eases our mind and gives us an opportunity in realizing the fact that the Guru is all around us at all times. Protecting and caring for the disciple. How many events have been created for you to realize this?

Guruji was celebrating his 2010 birthday in Germany. Out of thousands of people present there, Guruji was able to make out that there was one old lady in the crowd who had pain and was suffering. He first gives a sign for the volunteers to help the lady. When no one understands the sign given by him, he himself gets up and helps her to be comfortable. You can see the flood of gratitude in the face of the old lady.

The Guru knows what you need and when. You just have to have faith!

Jai Gurudev.

Your New Year's Resolution : Simplify.

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 18:37:00 +0000

Well its an end to another year and time for flashback. Having a look at things that you did throughout the year and looking ahead towards a new year with fresh determination, plans and possibilities is not only a fruitful undertaking for your career and professional life but in spiritual life too, Swadhyay or self-introspection is given high prominence.
So time to look back at our own lives. Which of our habits pulled our confidence and energy down. Which of them was life enhancing and life supportive. How much did we do for others and how much knowledge we've gained in our professional sphere? Take time out to do some serious thinking (not too long though - 5 to 15 mins will suffice). If possible write down the thought process as bullet points. I have done this and believe me, it makes things so much more clearer in our heads.

Talking about new year, one thing which most of us do is make resolutions. And lets not fool ourselves by telling that at the back of our minds we don't know with varying probabilities that most of them will remain just that - A resolution. Do you want to repeat that this new year too?

Garfield's Resolution ?

I wrote this post to tell only one thing. "The courage and confidence gained by forming one habit which we want to form propels us immensely in the direction of the others." So what I'm saying is that, right now out of all the Resolutions that you have in the back of your head, select ONE that you want to really achieve and do the following steps:

1. Write it Down.
2. Quantify it : Things like: How many hours a day ? For how many days you won't do it? etc. You should have a clear time frame for your resolution.
3. Tell others about your ONE RESOLUTION. : When you tell it to others, the mind becomes certain of your intentions and the universe says "Tathastu (so be it)"
4. HABITFORGE : If you use the Internet daily then there are some great tools for free that can help you. Go to www.habitforge.com and sign up. This website is a free tool that makes you form a habit by doing it continuously for 21 days. At the end of each day, it will send an email asking whether you did that thing today or not? If you do it continuously for 21 days, you are successful. If you miss someday then the clock is reset and you start from Day 1.

So this new year simplify your life by not having too many plans and sleeping over it, but have one definite quantifiable plan and work earnestly to achieve it. The joy of taking one step towards becoming the person which you want to be and the life which you want to have is immense and fulfilling. Its worth all the trouble of taking the above steps. So SIMPLIFY and SIMPLY FLY towards your goal :)

Wishing all the readers of my Blog the Best of Life in the coming YEAR!
Happy New Year. Let me know about your ONE RESOLUTION in the comments! Cheers.

Favorite Art of Living Course : Poll Results

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 20:58:00 +0000

Readers will recall that I had run a poll on the above topic. Well the results are out. Only one thing is certain. The Advanced course is a big winner. 53% said that the Part II course is their favorite. A total of 30 people voted. Thanks to all who participated in the poll. There's a new poll on the side bar. Do vote on it.

Jai Gurudev.

His Holiness The Dalai Lama visits Sikkim. (Dec 2010)

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 09:54:00 +0000

It was a cloudy evening some 6 - 7 years back from now. The entire hill town of Gangtok, Sikkim had gone into a silent prayer. The decibel level had gone so low that you could literally hear the birds chirping and the ringing of the buddhist bells. People cutting across races, religion and social strata had come out of their houses and with folded hands were waiting for His Holiness The Dalai Lama's convoy to pass by the National Highway NH31. Never before had I witnessed such a dramatic change in the environment of an entire town just by the coming of one person. You could feel the peace and gratitude in the air and most people had tears in the eyes reminiscing the days of the times when they were living in their own country under the benevolent rule of The Dalai Lama of Tibet.

The Dalai Lama is the symbol of peace and tolerance all over the world and has shown that integrating spirituality in daily life can make a much more prosperous and violence free world. Persecution by the Chinese of his people for over 60 years has not made him loose his patience and speak harsh words for them. He still says that Love will win over hatred. Peace will win over violence. Forgiveness will win over greed.

His Holiness visited Sikkim again. In the video, He speaks at the International Conference on Science, Spirituality and Education held at Namgyal Institute of Tibetology in Gangtok, Sikkim, India, on December 20th, 2010.

Mark Zuckerberg - Creator of Facebook - TIME person of the year 2010.

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 06:34:00 +0000

You must have used FACEBOOK or have heard of it from crazy fans of it. I think FACEBOOK is the one and only company in the past decade which has come so close in challenging the absolute rule of Google over the internet. The information shared today in FACEBOOK by real users is so close to all the data is poured in website and other objects that make the internet.
FACEBOOK is a fantastic way of connecting with your friends and sharing with them things which you like e.g. photos, videos, ideas, etc etc. We also have a Great Art of Living community in Facebook and its a joy to share and view things posted by our Jai Gurudev Warriors of the Internet.

So it was only natural that FACEBOOOK creator Mark Zuckerberg is named the TIME person of the Year by TIME magazine for the year 2010. Here is an Interview done by TIME Magazine.
(To pause and view the video, just click on the video itself.)

Walking the Path - A Book on Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 10:01:00 +0000

It has been Amazing Reading this book . In the lines of Stumbling into Infinity, It contains so much knowledge. Rather than a Biography, it is like a collection of knowledge given by Guruji. The Author also shares some experiences with the Master and the knowledge coming out of those events. Written by Frederique Lebelley, the French journalist & author, it is definitely one of the better reads.

An Excerpt :

The voice of the Master leads the community in meditation, eyes closed, through the mythical frontier of time. Counting the last minutes... It is going to be New Year..

"New possibilities are opening up to this new age... Welcome these new possibilities... Four and a half minutes to go ... Four minutes...Just two minutes... One minute only! Thirty seconds.. Chant Om!"

The tremendous vibration of the thousand voices seems to bless the entire earth, and greets the next three hundred and sixty-five coming "today".

"Tonight and tomorrow, remind yourself of all the people to whom you must be grateful for something. Think of what has been given to you by them."

And Gurudev adds "Before going to sleep, cover yourself with a blanket of grace. Wake up tomorow with a smile..."

Amateur fireworks are organized outside, in the snow. Everybody gathers to watch them. But Gurudev goes up to the first floor to see it... I followed him with a few others. Elbow against elbow at the windowsill, we overhang the group of disciples, with their heads raised now towards him, now towards the plumes of sparks banging in the black night.

So near the forest, the powder is thundering with a power amplified by the resonance chamber of the trees, so much so that it releases a mini avalanche between the trunks. Everything seems to me very beautiful. Utter happiness! Gurudev is resting his shoulder against mine, as he often does with the clarity of his innocence. I look at him; his face is serious, displeased. he worries, "Oh, We are going to wake the birds up!" To make his intentions known to the firework operators, he goes away towards his apartment, and says again, "We are disturbing the birds!" Nobody other than him had thuoght about that. Even in an atmosphere of celebration, when everyone seems caught up in the fun, the Master keeps an attention and a sensitivity to everything around him.

Go and Read this book today! It is available in the Bangalore Ashram Divine shop. You can also buy the book from Flipkart in the link below:

The depth of Being.

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 18:14:00 +0000

How a poem comes, no one knows

From the depth of the fathomless self

Along which direction the wind blows?

The secret is deep down inside.

How a flower blossoms and rain happen

Are these easily answered?

The stars give way to the sun

How they know the day has come!

The bees and the birds know for sure

Where to find food and rest.

Under the orange sky azure

They fly straight to their nest.

The mother knows all along

How to love and care.

The raindrops in the leaves so pure

Who has kept it there?

The rainbow forms a perfect bow

How the colours don't change?

We're born and die and born again

Isn't it a lil' strange?

From where a poem comes?

From the depth of the infinite being.

So with love and joy I sing

I am that beautiful thing.

Of Slippers and Habits

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 18:11:00 +0000

Well, it happened again. Without exaggeration, it was the 4th time that I lost my slippers in the Ashram. Teeming with joyful bubbling souls, nobody must have noticed the 'chappal' being just carried away by one of the bubbles. And still less nobody must have cared. Belongingness extended to the appendages of the hind limbs is what I don't like, specially when it is extended to mine.

I had gone to the ashram yesterday and had a wonderful satsang in presence of Gurudev. He answered some witty questions and some direct ones.
Somebody asked "What is the reason we get married"
He answered "You should know why you want to get married" ( laughter)

Another person asked "Does rebirth exist?"
Gurudev said "It does. There are many evidences."

Still another one said "I want to hear the slogan "Jai Hind, Jai Maharashtra" from your mouth"
He said "Look, I have left the slogans and shouting to you, I just give blessings!"

I stayed back in the Ashram and early morning had a cold water bath at 5 am and went to Sumeru mantap to do kriya and then came to attend Rudra Puja. Just when we reached VM, Guruji's car came and we followed just behind HIM, floating in the cloudy ashram morning amidst the Vedic Chants.
After a Blissful Puja, had a hearty breakfast at the Ashram Kitchen and then headed Home.

But the story I wanted to tell or rather an observation is this:
How much we are habituated to things. Responding to a particular situation in the same manner every single time.
Well I've lost my slippers 3 times before (thanks to people extending belongingness) and every time with the same belongingness, I have picked someone else. So when I lost it today, the first instict today was to pick up another. I just kept observing. It was an Aho moment. I thought 'Do I have a choice or not!"
Vrittis in the mind solidified by repeated actions creates bondage. Look in your life... how many bondages and crutches you have.. Are you still reapeating it?? Just observe.

Finally I sat in the Car and came back home barefeet. However insignificant, I felt a little free.

Google Translator - English to Hindi! or is it?

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Barun) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 17:53:00 +0000

Well, Google has tried to develop several revolutionary product and services and it has succeded many a times, but does Google Translate finish as successful is debatable..

Being in Bangalore, the only translation I have ever needed is to or from Kannada, which now I more or less understand.. So I just thought of checking out Google Translate just for fun. Remember the last time I had fun with a google product was Quite Funny!

There is also a provision where you can listen to the translated audio.

I am going to take the case study : From English to Hindi!

Go to Google Translate and try out "India is my motherland". Its correct 100%. Also listen to the audio.

Now try " I want a samosa". The result is " में एक समोसा चाहते हैं ". Thats a typical way a westener would try to say the sentence in Hindi. Which makes me ponder did Google actually have a Hindi speaking person in its team when developing translation for Hindi.

In the video below, these two girls decided to test the Google Translator and order for Indian food and got it! So its not entirely useless though. Stuck in a life and death situation where you need to desperately communicate with the other.. Maybe this will save your life! Hopefully.

Go to Google Translate and try these from English to Hindi.

"I want a Book"
"It is getting hotter" (Definitely listen to this translation by clicking the audio button)
"Google is a fool"

Amazingly google Gets the last one perfectly correct!!

Use your imagination and try out new sentences. If you come up with something really funny let me know in the comment section!