The First Time

A start of something new today...

So far i have been studiously avoiding talking about my (our) experiences with Guruji... i think its time to start:

On Day 1 of my Art of Living part I (it was called Basic then, we later convinced Guruji that there was nothing Basic about it :) and so then it was renamed the Part I) course, even before i did the Pranayamas, there was a feeling of having come home... and i remember i went to my teacher, Rajshree, and very seriously asked her how does one become a teacher of this...

She laughingly told me, well, one completes this course first... Before i knew it, i was on my first overnight train journey (super exciting) to Bangalore for the Advance Course!! I was the only 20 something, everyone else was uncle and aunty, and everyone took turns in mothering and fathering me ...

We reached the Ashram at 1 am. Rajshree had filled up all the registration forms for us, and we were all quickly dispatched to our respective Kutirs after hot cups of tea (?) or ragi ... dont remember...

I dont think until then, i had ever slept that well... a Presence enveloped me as i fell into a deep, restful sleep and then woke up to melodious flute music being softly played outside our door (by Phillip)...

The day went by quite fast, and then it was time for Satsang... i had no idea what that meant... but we all had dinner and gathered together in the Meditation Hall (then just newly built) and some people started singing some bhajans... which as a devout Parsi, i totally rejected :)... I remember thinking, we dont do Bhajans!!!

I was sitting next to an old lady... she turned to me and asked is this your first time? and i said yes it is... and she said have you ever met Guruji before? and i said no... she smiled serenely and said Dont see Him with your eyes, see Him with your heart...

And then, something changed in the room, a figure clad in white floated in... You cannot say He walked or ran or jogged or anything other than floated in, He was walking on air... He playfully jumped onto the stage and sat in a small chair which had His yellow asan on it... and all sorts of things happened to me that i still cant explain... I guess it will be enough to say that, I knew i was home, that i was loved, that i had found what i was unconsciously looking for and that i simply felt incredibly good for no reason at all...

Then the satsang started in earnest and some truly melodious bhajans were being sung and the musician in me was swaying... and effortlessly and unthinkingly i was singing... and even at that very blissful time making mental notes of who i have to bring here to experience this...

Later, after a fairly painful and yet remarkably wonderful 5 days of the Adv course, Guruji met the group from Mumbai in His Kutir, and all i remember from that meeting is Him looking at all of us and then saying, one of you is going to become a really great teacher who will teach thousands of people... As He was saying this, His gaze roamed on the entire group and stopped at me for a few seconds as He completed the sentence... I like to think that He meant it was me :)


Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa