QnA - 7

Preeti from Singapore collates and sends me all the questions you guys ask... it was her birthday and so maybe she got to ride in Guruji's car (she made the date and walnut cake for her birthday for Guruji, He and everyone else loved it btw :)), here is first part of her mail to me... Happy Birthday Preeti!


Dear Bau
Batch 7 - a bit late sorry - just back from chasing Guruji upto Jakarta.
Had a fantastic time and the most wonderful traffic jam experience ever.
The 5 min distance between Shangrila and Ritz Carlton was covered in something like half an hour and I was in Guruji's car !!!
:) :) :)
Preeti

Q. My Dear Bawa Bhaiya,

I did my first yes plus advance in bangalore with You and Dinesh Bhaiya recently in December. i want to ask three questions:

1.lazyness is my biggest enemy, how to get rid of it ?

2.when is next yes plus advance in bangalore for coming vacations and how one can know bout upcoming courses and events in Ashram ? I feel that this site does not provides up to date information. guide me please !

3.I am doing B.Tech in Electronics and Communication from Thapar University, Patiala(Punjab). I have decided to devote my whole life for spreading the message of "Love 'n' Joy" in entire world.. as Full Time Yes Plus and Corporate Teacher. So please tell me what are the eligibility requirements for the same ?

I will be waiting for your wonderful(as usual) replies !

A. Simply start doing stuff now! not next week, not tomorrow, not in an hour... right now start.. and that’s it! Do your Sadhana, Seva and Satsang regularly. And finally keep a close watch on what you are eating... no non veg, smoking, alcohol, also cut down or completely stop white flour (maida) and white sugar... this will help you physically come out of laziness.. Definitely exercise, jog, swim, goto a gym whatever. Do all this starting now! :)
We are working on the site to make it better and better... Web dev team, please take note, make schedules etc more visible and up to date pease :)
First complete a few (min 4-6) Adv courses, a DSN and a Sahaj Course. Listen to Knowledge talks by Guruji, the Patanjali Yoga Sutras, The Narada Bhakti Sutras and the Ashtavakra Gita talks, read on on the Knowledge sheet books... Organize and assist on LOTS of YES!+ courses... and then come for the Teacher’s training program in Bangalore Ashram... Hope to see you and many others become really good teachers very soon!!!

Q. I plan a lot of things but have difficulty in doing them.
How can i be more committed to my plans?

A. Stop so much planning, start more doing... start this now :)

Q. Hi, I want to know that what WAYE is doing for unprivileged, orphan, handicapped, left alone elders and lots of indian dying due to malnutrition or unavailable treatment. If WAYE is really doing these significant work then i will be very happy to join u and help u in this noble work.

A. WAYE’s mission statement is “To prevent mainstream young people from going marginalized and inspire them into societal reform of their choice”
WAYE is not a “me too” NGO who basically targets the poor and the underprivileged, and gets funding from various sources to complete “projects”. There are thousands of organisations that take care of these marginalized people, none to take care of normal people. That’s why normal people become marginalized in the first place! WAYE seeks to and has had great success in preventing people from becoming marginalized (stopped them from becoming alcoholics, smokers or drug addicts, protected them from HIV, educated them about female feticide, the list goes on...)
WAYE and YES!+ are for normal people who want more from life. Who would like to contribute more to the planet...
Art of Living as an organization really takes care of almost all aspects of Social Service there are: from taking care of orphaned children (we have almost a 100 from kashmir and meghalaya in the bangalore ashram), to women empowerment, to chemical free farming, to disaster relief, to slum rehab, drugs rehab, rain water harvesting, planting trees, mediating in war torn areas, prison rehab courses... please visit the www.artofliving.org for more details on the Seva projects that Art of Living does...
It's alos interesting to note how people say, if Art of Living is "really" doing things... it's so easy to doubt good things isn't it? :) It would be nice to start watching the intellect as well a bit... what say? :)
In any case, You are welcome to join :)

Q. Jai gurudev,
I am Giridhar Kodakalla, who did basic,yes+ and dsn courses in chennai with Kavitha madam and Atika madam.
I was really unhappy to know that DSN happened last week when i was out of chennai.
I know that AOL group is into so many programs to help society and for education for children. But there is one thing which i would like to know whether AOL is taking care of -Food and care for Infant Orphans.

When my 8 months old son Sai Sujit cries for food, we have 3 people trying to feed him. Sometimes he might need little bit more milk and he starts crying when we take out the milk bottle. Being his parent, i try my best to work quickly to fill the milk bottle. Once he finishes his dinner/lunch, we would be relaxed as the kid starts playing again.

When i see him crying, i really feel sorry for so many poor infants (may be orphans) who don't have any one to serve food or who might have some guardians to serve food, but they might not be able to serve them the required food/milk.

Is there anything we can do to feed these infants?
There is only one reason why i posted it here. If Art of Living decides to support any noble cause, i know, there are millions of people across the world who would think and work to make it happen.

Thanks for opportunity to post a question.

Glad to be associated with YES+ and AOL.

A. One major thing that can be done is changing our own food habits and the food habits of people around us. PLEASE go vegetarian. STOP eating meat of all sorts right now. 800 million people are dying from hunger and hunger related diseases every year and the number keeps growing... but only 10% of the population of the USA needs to go veg to be able to feed all these people... They are not doing it... will you?!

Q. Hi, I come from a broken family with lots of issues and lately have started feeling disillusioned, what can i do?

A. Do your Sudershan Kriya everyday. Get involved in some Seva activities in your area. Go and swing in Satsang :)
Relax
Think more about others... You have a broken family, millions dont even know what is family... learn to count your blessings...

Q. I am from IIT delhi and did the YES!+ under you in march, 2006. One day you told us that hindu mythology gives beautiful messages if interpreted correctly. You even gave a couple of examples (ganesh-shiva incident and something about radha-krishna). I have a special bond with Krishna and really love his personality.
The other day i was discussing mahabharata with one of my friends. he commented upon how krishna had behaved un-sportingly and used deceit to defeat the kauravs. He further said that thus krishna didn't set a good example wrt dharma, unlike rama. I was unable to give him a satisfactory answer, though i am convinced that there is some good hidden teaching in krishna's actions.
please help.

A. Krishna was an avatar. It requires great depth to even begin to understand His actions. Please read the entire Bhagwatam and you will see that what He did was perfect! There is too much to say on this topic and frankly it requires study and sincerity. Don't bother about convincing your friend... If he had enough curiosity, he would study more and comment less :) And you can continue to love Krishna, Bhakti rules! :)

Q. Recently i have done YES++ at bangalore ashram. I am finding that my interest towards the materialistic things, opp. sex, money and even in the studies is decreasing. my parents are getting freaky and have also started prohibiting me for my participation in AOL activities. what to do ,please help me.

A. Hello!! Please do not blame Art of Living or YES!+ for loosing interest in “materialistic” things... have you perhaps considered that you are being a bit lazy? and are using “Knowledge” to cover that up?
Guruji has never ever aught us not to act in the world... coz doing no action is also action!
Meditate, get Shakti and get out there and do Seva... and excel in whatever it is that you are doing in life!

Q. Bawa i have done the yes+ course held in LPU Jalandhar.
I want to know whether I have to give up non-veg food forever to fully utilise the Sudarshan Kriya? Will it harm my body or its vibrations ?
Also what should i do to become a art of living teacher like DINESH .HOW SHOULD I BALANCE SOCIAL LIFE AND SPIRITUAL LIFE?I FURTHER WANT TO KNOW THE REALITY OF LIFE?WHAT IS IT? WHY HAVE WE COME ON EARTH?WHAT IS THERE BEYOND THIS LIFE?

A. Yes. Like i mentioned above and like i have repeatedly talked about in all the courses i teach, STOP EATING NON VEG FOOD! DO IT NOW!!
And as you go deeper in the Knowledge and in Seva and Sadhana, answers to all those other questions of yours will come to you... for now, know one thing: You are on this planet to give...

Q. bawa please ask guruji to talk to me...

A. write a mail to Him yourself. His email id is guruji@artofliving.org
and you can talk to Him whenever you are meditating... and He does talk back to you. You only need to learn how to listen.... and the answer to how do i learn to listen is: Sadhana, Seva, Satsng and Silence (Adv courses)

Q. These days i am just whiling away all my time Bau..
No 100% in anything.. Be it work/seva/sadhana..
I have suddenly become super lazy and i dont feel like doing anything..
Feel very wierd! what to do?

and also at work place i am finding it very difficult to cope up.. in terms of grasping new stuff etc.. most of the times whatever is said in meetings is a bouncer.. and i take too much time to understand small little things.. my response time was never soooo bad bau!
i have become verrrry inefficient! what to do???

A. Read the answer above on laziness... check your diet please! Stop Sugar and maida...

Q. hi Bawu! how r u ?im frm nagpur n im now vounteer too.n im very happy.u know bawu,i talk to u daily .u r good frnd of mine,whenever i see ur face it makes me happy n smilie.love u bawu too much.i have a problem n waana discuss with u,help me out........
My parents are having a problem with AOL. They think that AOL is the HINDU dominated foundation.last day of ustav at nagpur,u had given two free passes to take the persons whom u want,so i had give it to my parents.but when SATSANG started,they were not happy... they heard the name of lord ganesha n shiva..... frm that time they had this impression.we r BUDHIST...
now pls help me how to convince my parents.waiting for your reply Bawu.say hi, to dinesh bhaiya too.

A. The Dalai Lama Himself has visited the Bangalore Ashram and is one of the founder members of the IAHV which is a sister organisation of Art of Living. If He has no problems, why should your parents?!
Tell them to stop being so narrow in their outlook. That Wisdom and Knowledge from anywhere should be taken and appreciated...

Q. hi bau how r u?? how is dinesh bhaiyya?? i'm in my engeneering 1st yr n have done the yes!+ n the adv course as well recently n am regular with my kriya n other practices. i'm happy with myself but i often imagine things like "if i do this then people will acknowledge me n praise me". i understand that its my ego thats working but how do i control it??

A. Doesn’t matter if you like a bit of praise... i like it too :)
infact Devas are said to be “Stuti Priya”, meaning they love Praise :)... so dont think its ego, think its the Divinity in you :)
in time, even that ned for praise will go... you dont have to do anything about it ok ? :)

Made a really tasty lunch today using an old forgotten recipe from by darling Grand mother... got to write it out and post it... you guys will see it soon :)

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa