Curious Lives

Another book i am reading right now... Curious Lives by Richard Bach
quite nice, the second story in it i really liked a lot... though no where near the absolute genius of his other books that i feel everyone must read:

Johnathan Livingston Seagull
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
A Bridge across Forever
One

His writing is surreal, vivid, joyful, funny, poignant... makes you feel fresh
The other books that he has written, somehow i have not enjoyed so much...
Happy Reading!
Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa  

QnA - 4

Q. Hi......... I am gay and can't tell this to anyone. I am 27 and still virgin. Kindly tell how to get out of this conflict.

First off there is nothing wrong with being a virgin... it means you are careful and dont abuse or disrespect your body!
An aunt of mine used to say,”instead of having sex at once, have it at last!”
There is nothing wrong about being gay... first get that... then slowly you can talk about it to people who you are close to, you may be surprized that they may have just the person for you:)
Gay people like “normal” people also want a mate in life... Do talk to a few people you know and trust... take that leap...
Best of Luck...
Jai Gurudeva!


Q. i just attended my first YES!+ course which was held in nagpur,it was a gr8 experience,never felt the magic of breathing before....last week....ur talk was really enlightening....i wanted to talk to you there in person,cud not get that oppurtunity,maybe next time....

i've this small problem,which is spoiling my relations with others,too...this girl,she was my girlfriend before,and we went out for some 8 months,and then as parents started interfering it was best that we break up...,so we did tht...and later after 4 days she goes out with my best friend,oh...tht was bad,i cud not believe it at first....thn i thought both of them were cheap and it would be best to ignore her,as i wont meet her agn in my lyf......fine...tht was whn i was in school in 11th and 12th....,


now i'm in college....and it happened tht my frend is doin medicine in coimbatore,and she....this female is in my college,my branch,my class.....oh i never wanted this....to happen.....

why only she,....ok....i took it in the right spirit and i thought tht i would jst be friends with her....,told her to 4get whatever happened in the past and 4get it....,went on like tht for sometime...bt behind my back she was back biting me,she was telling all her friends here,tht..we did not go out...and all tht bull shit....clear back biting and ppl believe whn a woman says something...(bt i learned never to trust a woman)...,at the same time i was losing my friends bcoz of her,my image was going down becoz of her...wht shld i do,....

whn we had our dept gathering in college,obviously i took pics in my phone....and later on the last day....whn we had our dj nite,seniors wanted to rag me....in b/w she comes and asks for my phone,i did not say no...after seniors had their fun on me...i was feeling bad,...and whn i get my phone bak...i find tht most of the pics were deleted...i asked her y did she delete the pics,she says i don't need any of my pics in ur phone...wowee,i thought we were friends..,tht bitch....i made it a point tht she and my relation will never get close agn....i tried after tht max not to interact with her...

almost for a whole semester we never interacted and wht was happening the friends who were together with,started going away from me....bcoz of her...they preffered her..more...,i did not giv shit abt tht....

wht happened actually is tht,bcoz of her,...i've lost my image,friends.. in college...whre in the beginning i was known....and popular....,very good to people...now .....its jst the opposite,....

....is there a solution to this....

You know if there are people who would rather listen to slander and gossip and believe that... its far far better you are away from such people, and that those people are not your friends... who would want such friends anyways?!
Get involved in Art of Living Seva... Do your Sadhana regularly and go for Satsang and you will find many many people who are much better than those people who you are missing so much to become good friends with!


Q. hi bawa i am from baroda , i am 21 years old. i met you in surat...bawa as we discussed over there... you clearly told to leave the 6000 rs. per month job and start study further or start your business(travel agency). ... you also said that start studying along with your job..
so bawa if i want to study further than i should go with what MBA finance or marketing... in market, specially gujarat and maharastra market ..should i study with finamce or marketting or any other streem... i can make my self with all the things... but i want to mold my self in such a way.. so that i can earn good money.. and should i continue doing working or i should go further with full time study....

Its your life... you have to take these decisions... and face the consequences... Neither me nor Guruji is here to live your life for you... Can definitely guide you or point you in the direction of someone who can guide you... (which i did in Surat) but please do not ask me questions like this... they are for you to answer!


Q. I attended the last day of Utsav,Nagpur today and i Really felt relaxed when i returned home.
I wanted to ask you one question...
I had a fight with my best friend some days ago,and the topic was that i donot advice her when she is wrong.
I'm kind of person who dont like to interfere in other's personal matter though that person matters for me the most.
So am i really doing wrong or should i be the way i am?

She is right, if she is your best friend, its only right that you interfere gently and tell her that what she is doing is wrong... and then let her take her own decisions and still stand by her as her friend with whatever she has decided... but to not tell her and allow her to make a mistake is simply being a little cruel and selfish! at least thats my opinion:)  

QnA - 3

Q. I have a son. I am taking care of my family very well . I would love to do more seva to the society.Myself and my husband are AOL devotees, and we do volunteer work also. Either of us take care our son, another will go for AOL Seva.
Should we restrict ourself to only family or can we come out of the family and do seva to every one?
One of our teacher said that , leaving husband to clean ,wash and taking care of the son is not at all good .I was really disturbed by her words, in this case should i restrict myself doing seva to the family alone and not come out of the family.

Please help me out .

You are very lucky that you have a husband who is so cooperative and takes care of your son while you do some Seva. Definitely do not neglect your child while doing Seva. At the same time its completely between you and your husband how you manage, and that teacher had no right to comment at all... Maybe she was just jealous :)... And for sure needs to do a few adv courses :)
I am so happy that even though you have a child and a very young one at that, you take time out to do Seva for others... You and your husband are doing the perfectly right thing and let no one tell you otherwise! More people have to redefine family like you have done to include more and more people!!
More families need to follow your example and very soon our planet will be a better place to live in! :)


Q. i want to do some thing for " Garbage to gold " in the rural areas. but i am not able to get right direction and right people to discuss my ideas.

Talk to rohit and shilpa in Mumbai they will put you in touch with the “right” people... drrohitsab@gmail.com is their email id.

Q. why we are doing seva in the tribal areas although we know that after their economical condition is improved there is also problems like developed farmers have in the punjab etc.
what is our aim and what is our limit?

Our aim is Vasudeva Kutumbakam... Creating a one world family!
Seva needs to be done everywhere, not just in tribal areas or rural areas... there are extremely under privileged people staying even in New York and LA... Under privileged spiritually! Everyone needs help... And everyone who can help, should!!

Q. Bawa, I am from VIT University, Vellore,TN,India.My college management are too adamant about their descision to not to let any courses like YES!+ in the campus.I will still do my best to convince them.


Don’t worry about your college being against YES!+ ... Don't convince your management, convince your friends to come and do the course! :)

Q. I am reading about smoking these days in detail, and getting shocking facts,which i want to convey to students here, who smoke and fall in its trap. i want to give the exact details of how bad it is for us, so that they think ten times even before trying their first cigarette.Suggest me some good ideas, of how to effectively reach the students in the best way.Helping the students already caught in smoking would be my 2nd step.

And as far as smoking is concerned, make a nice presentation about it, and show it to everyone. Your job is to educate, you do just that... If people dont want to listen, thats their problem, not yours...
If anyone wants to give up smoking, just get them to a YES!+ course... Even if they have to travel from Vellore to say Bangalore or Delhi or Mumbai for it, make them travel and maybe you also come with them... They will easily be able to quit after the course.

Q. A lot of my close friends have given me a feedback that i don't make my presence felt. all these people believe that I'm not loud enough though i have the right ideas. i feel a problem with going ahead with my ideas without anyone to support, i feel the need of a friend who would discuss with me about my ideas and develop it and encourage me to go ahead. And i haven't found that person yet. So how do i handle this situation without any special friend. i have always felt the need of a friend who takes me seriously and be really dedicated to our friendship.

There are many people around you who qualify for this... question is do you qualify to be a special friend for someone else? As soon as you do, you will not have one or two but dozens of very special people in your life!
How to qualify? Sadhana, Seva, Satsang... and thinking and doing more for others!
Get involved in Seva! Help organise a YES!+ or an Utsav course and see what happens. Drop this “What about me” attitude and you will be fine! :)

Q. I want to know how to identify my life/future between a lot of choices.. whats the purpose.. of my life!

Purpose of life is to Give!
Rest you figure out :)

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa  

Date and Walnut Cake revisted

We made this cake yesterday for Devang's birthday... we used only whole wheat flour, no maida at all and it turned out perfectly... also instead of dates we used raisins...
Its a really easy cake to make and tastes absolutely divine... go for it! :) It took us about 10 minutes to mix up the stuff and another 30 mins or so in the oven... Before i could even take a photo of it to put it up here, people gobbled it up! :)
Just remember to be really exact about the measurements and you will be fine... Do make the cake, eat it and post comments about it :)
Will make one more and take a photo... if anyone knows how to make sugar free icing, please post!
Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa  

QnA - 2

Q. Why is it taking you so long to come back to New Zealand?

Hmmm... New Zealand would be nice to go back to for sure, but dont u think it would be nicer for all of you to come to India?! :) YES!+ Winter Break will be last week of December... See that u are there with bindi and anyone else who cares to come! :) :)

Q. Why is it that we lack self confidence, and have a low self esteem?... however, when a person is confident, and has a high self esteem, they appear as egotistical (or at least we perceive them as being so).how is it possible to be half - half.... to have confidence in ourselves, and to not be/seem as though we have a big ego?

Lack of confidence and low self esteem happen when you regularly do not fulfill commitments that you have made to yourself and others... When you are ruled more by your feelings... So simply seeing to it that you do what you said you would do, will bring a tremendous boost in your confidence levels and your self esteem, and other people’s comments will not bother you, or even if they do, not for any considerable time.

There is a vast difference between a person who has confidence and self esteem and someone who simply has a big ego... An ego is that which separates, a confident person will be able to win people over and take everyone with him... Infact usually an egotistical person is a person who has almost no confidence or self esteem and tries to cover that up with being arrogant!

Do your Sadhana, Seva and Satsang and come on a few Adv courses a year and you will find that you start to become what you want to become a confident, wonderful human being!

Q. Is it right to trap a cockroach in a container, and suffocate it to death? - slow death, but that way, it prevents them from spreading their eggs, were we to squash them)... are we still liberating them?

According to me, better to squash it and clean up...

Q. I am a volunteer for YES!+, and due to family conditions i get depressed a lot, doing the course has helped me a lot but still my problem exists and it affects my health and becomes a hindrance when i try to concentrate while doing Kriya... Please help.

Depression happens when you think too much “What about me?”
Do your Sadhana, Seva and Satsang... Consciously think and do more for others and you will find that your depression will quickly vanish!
Also DONT concentrate while doing Kriya, just do it effortlessly and easily, and do Kriya everyday, be very regular with it. Whatever thoughts that may come do not resist... finally, check your diet... see that you are eating good healthy veggie food at proper time and that u are drinking plenty of water... other than that, just relax and smile and you will be fine! :)

Q. Jai Gurudev Bau...Is ORGAN DONATION justifiable spiritually???Isnt it better if you donate your body organs to someone in need then bury it in the ground???Does it affect your spiritual growth or harm the recipient soul???

Really no idea about this, but when the intention is clean and you wish to help, I don’t think that it could harm either the person who is donating or the person who is receiving


Q. Its like this. I feel in aol lots of politics happen in each centre and i actually get discouraged. why not we youngsters do seva at villages? we need to bridge the gap between rural youth n urban youth. I feel after coming to aol I get hurt more and demotivated especially here when staying away from my family.
Please Help...jgd bawa

Lets take this one thing at a time:
We do Seva because we love Guruji and we want to spread His precious Knowledge to the world... Guruji doesnt exclude anyone, and do some troublemakers may crop up time and again... If this stops you from doing Seva, it means that these people, and their actions and opinions matter to you MORE than your love for Guruji or your commitment to spread His Knowledge... Is that really true?
Here is where all our course points can be experienced in action! :)
And yes, if you wish to do Seva in villages you are welcome to join the YLTP team but do remember that there may be politics there as well :)...
As far as staying away from family is concerned, just redefine "family", and you will never be away from them!
Soooo accept the problem, and take intelligent, appropriate action and do remember to relax and smile...

Q. In life many a times, we know that somethings are not good for us..! but still we go ahead and do it.,..! when we all know that we have to work hard & smart to become successful, why is it that only a few actually follow the path and get there??

Laziness? Compromising long term pleasure for short term apparent joy? Plain vanilla stupidity? :)
Cmon, buck yourself up and get to work and get where you want to be... Anything is possible with hard/smart work... And dont worry Guruji will provide the good luck... Thats whats called Grace!
Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa  

An Uncommon Reader

picked this little gem of a book from Crossword the other day and finished it in 2 days... really nice read... its too short to even write a review about :)
Its about the Queen, reading, books, a Kiwi Private secretary jealous of books... all put together very engagingly and simply and delightfully :)
do read!
Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa

ps also picked up another book called Measuring the World... nice but not as great as others make it out to be... read if bored :) (i read it on my flight from nagpur to poona to bangalore)  

Does Guruji care?

someone asked me this recently:

Does Guruji care for me and love me? Does He even know that i exist?! He seemed to ignore or not even notice me when i saw Him

my answer...

When people meet Guruji, they separate out into 2 types:

1. YAAAYAA!!! i saw HIM!!!
2. shit! He didnt see me :(

for Him all of us are very dear, and He knows more about you than you know about yourself
this you will have to believe and this is where faith comes in...

Do your Kriya, some Seva, Satsang and you will find Him where He truly resides... in your heart!

Jai Gurudeva!
bawa  

Date n Walnut Cake

For all of you who are still having sugar, here is a very nice recipe for a superb cake

Condensed milk 1 tin
Flour 250gm
Baking powder 1 tsp
Soda bi Carb 1 tsp
Butter 200 gm
Vanilla essence few drops
Milk ½ cup
Dates 200gm
Walnuts 100 gm

3 tsp cocoa powder for a chocolate cake

BAKING TEMPERATURE: 180*C
BAKING TIME: 35 MINUTES

Zero: Read the entire recipe

Step 1: Get all the ingredients, measure them out and set them aside

Step 2: Set the Oven at 180 deg Cel

Chop up the walnuts and dates to nice crunchy small size.

Grease the baking tray, add flour, and then tap it out, so that the baking tray is greased and powdered.

Now in a mixing bowl, sieve (pass thru that fine jaali thing) the flour, baking powder and soda. Do 2-3 times. Add the condensed milk, butter and vanilla essence and use the hand blender to beat it up. Slowly add the milk until it form a dropping consistency .. it should kind of plop down from the spoon. This mixture is done.

Stir in thoroughly the chopped dates and walnuts WITH A SPOON, not with the hand blender. We will NOT be using the hand blender again ☺.

Add entire mixture to the greased and powdered baking tray. Very important over here is not to overload the baking tray. It should be only half full, coz the cake will rise when cooking and if there is too much mixture then it will get burnt at the edges and not get cooked in the middle. So please remember that you put the mixture in the tray such that the tray is only half full.

Put it into the oven and BAKE away!!!

Once it starts to brown a bit (about 30-32 mins, don’t open oven door before that), poke a knife in the middle of the cake, all the way down. Careful the oven is going to be very hot indeed.

If there is some debris stuck to knife, the cake is not yet done, but another 5 to 7 minutes should be enough to cook it completely. Again test with knife, once the knife comes out shiny and clean, the cake is done. Remove from the oven immediately and let it cool.

Call everyone, take a photo, think of Guruji, think of me, pat yourself on the back several times… And remember to eat the cake after all that ☺!

BTW, you don’t need to add the dates and walnuts if you are wanting to make just a basic sponge cake. You can add anything in approximately that proportion of the dates and walnuts that catch your fancy. Bananas, apples, etc work great. Don’t add any juicy fruit like grape or watermelon. You can also add those chocolate chips.


Boiling milk and reducing it to half and using raisin or maple syrup may work instead of the condensed milk... have not done it this way yet, but seems like it would work

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa

PS This cake has been drizzled with chocolate sauce  

Quickie on Meditation

Guruji, what is meditation?

<<>>

Did u get it?!.. This is it!

Waiting for something its restlessness, simply waiting is meditation!!

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa  

Hi-Tech Holi Satsang

What a surprise we had tonight!!

The Satsang was shifted from Vishalakshi Mantap to the Yagyashala... we had no idea why :)
Guruji resplendent as ever got on stage and then He talked a little bit about Holi, coming of spring, things like that and then He went outside and lit the Holi fire (which was still blazing when i came back to write this).

He came back on stage after a few minutes, the bhajans started and then He said lets celebrate Holi today with flowers... and promptly got up and tossed fistfuls of coloured flowers into the swinging mass of satsangees!

and then without any warning the sprinklers in the entire Yagyashala came on and it was a full scale shower inside the hall... Guruji is still tossing baskets of flowers into the crowd... He mentioned this is a hi-tech Holi Celebration :)

Buckets of cold water in which lots of sandal wood paste had been mixed suddenly made an appearance and Guruji was sprinkling this heavenly scented yellow water onto everyone...

Showers from the Sprinkler system, loads and loads of flowers, buckets of Sandal wood water, lots of mischievous people emptying their water bottles on everyone, coloured people going and hugging the clean ones who were trying to stay out of the way, the burning blazing fire outside the hall made a fantastic Celebration... AND we came to know later that it was being telecast live on ZEE TV!! so the whole of India and some parts of the world were watching us as we welcomed Spring!!

Its said that one should make seven rounds of the Holi Fire and we did just that... The hot blaze dried up a lot of the water... then everyone settled down and Guruji did a few question answers in His usual inimitable one liner way and then introduced to us some leaders of the communist party of Russia who talked for a few minutes and said he would like to take this celebration and caring and love that he saw back to Russia... They had also been taking full part in the celebration and were soaked with sandal water and smiling away as if they did this everyday :)

a few snatches of Knowledge:

Q. I am born under the star sign Leo and am supposed to be a born leader, but i hate to lead and dont like taking responsibility

A. Dont bother about when you were born... you can lead when you are an integrated personality, just relax and be yourself thats all...

Q. Since childhood, I have been told that i should be nice to people... but then they take me for granted... now some of my loved ones tell me i should be practical... what should i do?

A. There are many many different types of people, you need to realise that you are a multi faceted personality not monotonous... so with different people you need to behave in different ways and definitely its not a good idea to stop being nice just because few people don't appreciate it...

Dont remember much else, was too busy being blissed out :)

Happy Holi and Navroz Mubarak too!!! (its the Parsi New Year as well today)

Jai Gurudeva !

love
bawa  

Satsang yesterday night

Before i write about Surat, Mumbai, Nashik and Nagpur, here are 2 things that stood out in the Knowledge that Guruji gave yesterday night...

Q. How do i handle the situation when i want to do stuff that my elders dont want me to do?

A. Prayer, Skill and Time

Q. How relevant is Meditation in a young person's life who wants to achieve a great many things?

A. If you want the arrow to fly really far, you need to pullit back quite a lot... similarly if you want to build a really tall building, you have to dig that much deeper into the earth to lay the foundation isnt it?! If you want to have great success and be really dynamic, then you need to learn to be still as well... The greater the Stillness of the Self, the greater the Dynamism and Success you will have!
The process of becoming still is also so very very beautiful! ....

He answered in Hindi, the above is my translation of it and whatever i can remember :)

326 very blessed souls on the YES!+ Adv course happening right now in the Bangalore Ashram!!

Jai Gurudeva !
love
bawa  

Asterix

Oooo yes, i am quite a fan of asterix and obelix... though i think the characters that are the most endearing to me are Chief Vitalstatistix and the Druid Getafix :)
So, yes if anyone has that CD with that entire collection on it, i would love to have it! :)
Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa  

Surat

Surat!
was it really 3 days we spent there? it seems to have gone at breakneck speed...
Rudra Poojas during Shivaratri, early morning Kriya and meditation with Guruji, sneaking past all the "security" to meet Him, few glances and seconds with Him, Knowledge ranging from studying and scoring well on exams to the sublime Karma Yoga chapter in the Bhagwad Gita, glasses of cold sugarcane juice, hot sweltering afternoons, ridiculously cold mornings, Guruji playing the synthesizer on stage with wild abandon, shoes getting stolen, LCD screens not working, fasting on Shivaratri, mad rush to catch the train to surat, even madder rush to catch the train back to Mumbai... and its already time for the Mumbai events to take off...
Its an absolute whirlwind when He is around and if you are not centered, you get thrown all over the place :)

Will write more later... its off to see Him here in Mumbai now...

Jai Gurudeva !
love
bawa  

Guruji in Mumbai on the way to Surat

Saw Him at 3:00 am today morning at the airport... am really proud of the way all our Mumbai devotees were over there... all disciplined and bursting with joy... He met everyone there, and then did a repeat of meeting everyone downstairs at KK's house... He flowed into the hearts of all of us there all over again... gave me and dinesh a naughty wink and a glorious smile...
went to meet Him at KK's home right then and He gave me a hug, some really yummy German Pastry which we shared and shared with so many people and it still refused to get over (i have some still left in the fridge) and a BIG loaf a really super German Bread which i am going to have for breakfast!
Booked in a train to Surat for Shivaratri leaving in an hours time...
If there is a net connection there, will write and tell all :)
meanwhile, ciao!!
Jai Gurudeva !
love
bawa  

Cacophonix

Am learning to embed images into the blog...
Here is a Cacophonix I painted pixel by pixel, using Microsoft Paint at ashu's house in Poona almost 10 years ago :)... Windows 95 was brand new at that time!! :) :)

Like him?

Jai Gurudeva !
love
bawa  

Ratatouille

Watched Ratatouille (pronounced Rat-a-too-e) today... its a movie about a rat who loves to cook and a guy who has to but cant!! utterly delectable, superb french music (the movie is set in Paris)... and i got a few nice tips on how to cook as well :)

Everything a movie should have: comedy, action, rats, food, music, love story, slapstick, comedy and more rats all simmered gently with the usual Disney Magic to come up with a really cute serving of total fun :)

There is a quote from the movie that stayed with me:
"If you focus on what you left behind, you will never be able to see what lies ahead!!"

Will leave you smiling and hungry :)... dont watch this movie if u have nothing in the fridge :) :)

Jai Gurudeva !
love
bawa  

Goal Setting

Rashmin (one of our teachers) was in Phalton, a small town in the interior of Maharashtra. The people there were preparing for Guruji's visit, and Rashmin out of habit asked what their target was... how many people did they expect would come for Guruji's Satsang...
There was a quizzical silence among all the volunteers there, each looking at the other, like they couldnt understand what the meaning of the question was...
So Rashmin asked again, so whats the number of people from this town who will come for the Satsang?
One person matter of factly replied,"ummm... all of them!!, everyone will come!"
Thats goal setting :)
Jai Gurudeva !
love
bawa  

Western Classics - I

A lot of people have done the western classical music workshop with me and have been sending me requests for a list of "easy" music to listen to... well here it is, in no particular order...

Beethoven:
6th Symphony 1st, 2nd and last movements in particular
5th Symphony 1st movement
7th and 8th Symphonys
9th Symphony last movement (the choral)

5th Piano Concerto

Piano Sonatas:
1. Pathetique
2. Moonlight
3. Tempest

the other piano and violin sonatas are very beautiful too... pick them up at leisure and listen to them...

Mozart:

Piano Concertos no. 19, 20 , 21 (elvira madigan)
Symphony nos 39, 40, 41

Magic Flute (could wit a bit before hearing this... can be quite over the top in some places, but has some really lovely arias)

Sonatas for piano in C (Beginner), A (with the rondo alla turca)

Eine Kline Nacthmusik (A little Night Music)
Serenade for Strings

almost anything written by mozart is very pretty... feel very safe to pick up something by him :)

Chopin:

Nocturnes nos. 1,2,4,5,6,8,10,11,12,13,15,17,18,20
Etude Revolutionary
Heroic Polonaise
Military Polonaise
Piano Concerto no. 2
Ballade no. 1 in G minor
Minute Waltz
Grande Valse Brilliante
Fantasie Improntu
Funeral March from the Piano Sonata no. 2
Black Key Etude

Liszt:

Hungarian Rhapsodys nos. 2,4,5,9,10,12,14,15,19 (the others are also great but these are easy to listen to)
The Transcriptions for Piano of Beethovens Symphonies nos 5 and 6
Liebestraume no. 3

his transcriptions of various songs of mendelsohn and rossini are very nice too, but fairly difficult to get hold of on CD

Johann Strauss:

On the Beautiful Blue Danube Waltz
The Emperor Waltz
Accelerations Waltz
Radetzsky March
Tales from the Vienna Woods
Voices of Spring
Roses from the South

almost anything written by the strauss brothers is easy to listen to, they were like the rock stars of their times :)

Peter Tchaikovsky:

Swan Lake
Overture to 1812
Marche Slav
Piano Concerto no. 2
Serenade for Strings
Symphony no. 6 (The Pathetique)

Other Stuff:

The Guitar Concerto d' Aranjuez
Carmen by Bizet
Marche Militaire by Schubert
Italian Polka by Rachmaninoff
Piano Concerto in A minor by Grieg

I think i will end here and not overwhelm you guys... will keep adding more when i find something nice for you guys to listen to...

Jai Gurudeva !
love
bawa

 

QnA - 1

Lots of people ask me questions... here are a few answers :)

Q. How to get over lust?

A. First off dont make a big deal out of it... to get over it there are 4 things that really help a lot
1. Do some creative stuff, lust will simply not bother you when you have a hobby, you do Seva, you cook a meal for someone, you organise a picnic... whatever...
2. Physical exercise: go jogging, swimming, to the gym... do Suryanamaskars... sweat it out! good for your body and mind and definitely great to get over any obsession
3. Dancing... dance to some devotional music, even some soft pop or rock is fine... move your body with abandon... with eyes closed surrender to the music...
4. and finally Cold Cold water baths!!

Q. Why is it so that some times some person suffers unnecessarily even if they are not responsible for that or you may say that it may not be in his own control?

A. Dont people also get very lucky too? sometimes without any effort, things work out amazingly perfectly... isnt it? and some other times, even after working hard, things dont work... it balances out... doing Seva, Sadhana, Satsang will make more of the first type of things to happen in your life :)

Q. I always hear that one should not get too attached to anything. Can you please explain how one can refrain from getting too attached to something or someone at the same time enjoy whatever it is?

A. Have you ever seen a wet swan? though swans are always in water, they are never wet isnt it? Like that be in world, do everything, but be untouched by it... your practices, your Seva will slowly (sometimes it be very fast too:)) but surely bring this up in you without much effort from your side...  

a Very nice soup!!

This soup is surprisingly simple to make and astonishingly tasty :)
This recipe makes enough for about 4 hungry souls
Please read all the way to the end of the recipe before starting :)

get:

4-5 nice big carrots
1 sweet potato
a generous handful of green peas
about 200 gms of french beans
1 tomato
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

wash and chop everything, and pressure cook all the above things adding about 5 glasses of water and salt to taste... it should be completely cooked so i wait for 4 whistles and then simmer for about 7-10 minutes

wait until the cooker has cooled down a bit (go do your Sudershan Kriya)

Blend everything to a smooth liquid, chant Om Namah Shivaya while doing this, definitely gives a better flavour!

now in a saucepan add some olive oil (and if u want the soup to be a bit richer some butter as well, though that is completely optional) and just 2 pods of garlic crushed or finely chopped... saute until brown and add to the soup

simmer the soup for 5-7 minutes so it absorbs the taste of the garlic...

for a variation instead of the garlic add fresh basil leaves... or you could add both the garlic and the basil... feel free to experiment here :)

finally get:

1 zucchini
1 small brocolli
1 big handful of green peas (boiled lightly)
7-8 mushrooms (optional)

wash and chop everything up and saute in olive oil with salt to taste... be careful not to overcook, the veggie should be light and crispy... also feel free to add any other veggies you want here, carrots, french beans, snow peas, red/yellow/green bell peppers...

to serve the soup:

Ladle the soup into a bowl and then garnish with the veggie mixture
eat piping hot with some nice toasted brown bread

Jai Gurudeva !
love
bawa  

Mom

Mom has not been well for the past few days, she has been in a lot of pain, some crazy thing with her lower back... have got many emails, smses and phonecalls from so many people...
Thanks for all your prayers and blessings for her... she is much better, though the pain is still there, its much bearable now...
Keep all those blessings coming :)... and she should soon be sending all those mad smses to all of us again!
Jai Gurudeva !
love
bawa  

Juices

its getting pretty hot here in mumbai...
so here are a few juice recipes you wont get in many juice shops... have them and tell me how u like em :)

Grape Mint:
few mint leaves + lots of grapes whirrr in a blender with some ice garnish with a lemon slice

Pineapple mint:
add pineapples instead of grapes to above

Orange fire:
deseed oranges whirrr in blender, add just a tiny pinch of red chilly powder... u get quite a kick!

CAB:
5 nice big juicy carrots + 1 big red apple + 1 generous slice of beetroot... juice it, add ice and its irresistible!, for a little spice you can add just a small piece of ginger

Orange + ginger very nice, if feeling adventurous add some cucumber to it

feel free to mix n match fruits, one way i do it is see if the colours match :) somehow the juice tastes really good...

i dont use any sugar at all in any of the juices that i drink, that makes the tastes of the fruits come alive in my mouth...

Jai Gurudeva !
love
bawa  

Jai Gurudeva!

Hello World!
and Jai Gurudeva !!!

This blog is going to be about things that make our life interesting, challenging, and more fun to live... Its going to be about our experiences with Art of Living courses, about Guruji, about music and food, about movies and plays and musicals we enjoyed (or didnt), about our friends... basically about anything that catches our fancy and we want to share with all of you...

soooo, to start with here is what Jai Gurudeva means...

Guru is that who is wise, mysterious, profound, unknowable... and there are people like this in our lives... unfortunately they are also fairly boring and being with them for extended periods of time leaves us feeling a tad heavy...

Dev is one who is innocent, fun loving, mischievous, spontaneous... and ofcourse we know people like this too, but being with them leaves us thinking that they are quite shallow, that they have no depth

however, when wisdom goes with mischief, when depth goes with innocence, when mystery goes with spontaneity, then a great beauty dawns... this is the beauty of Gurudeva, and so when we say Jai Gurudeva! we mean victory (Jai) to both these energys... May that beauty dawn within you

lets not just be wise and boring or playful and shallow, but both together... all of us have the capability to be this... all of us have both these energys within us, Jai Gurudeva! means let both these energys blossom within you...

"May you be wise and playful!" - Jai Guurdeva!