Advanced...

I successfully installed my first system update for the year 2008 – the art of living advance course.
Cant tell you how much I was looking forward to the silence and the Hollow-and-Empties and Guruji’s talks and the satsangs...
I realized that just as Part one has 475 tag – 4 sources of energy, 7 levels of existence and 5 knowledge points. Part II has its own 475 – 4 pillars of knowledge, 7 chakras and 5Ss of Sadhana, Seva, Silence, Satsang and Smile…
For solidified Silence, I realized that a must-have during advance courses is a cap (a cool hat in case of Bawa) and a worn out pair of slippers (I didn’t have to go all out to find one, ‘cos JD lent me his).
The cap, when you tilt it down a little, blocks people’s faces out and helps keep the silence in. 'Cos I realized that if you see a person’s face, with it comes the judgments, a host of cravings and aversions and out goes the silence for a toss…. Besides thankfully there is not much judgments I can make about people’s footwear… (of course a cap wont be much help for any girl; who can usually tell a person’s history, geography, biology and psychology from what a person wraps around his sole).
Talking of footwear, the more terrible its condition, the less your mind gets attached to it – out there scorching in the sun or waiting to be a victim of someone else’s belongingness. Moreover, the lesser attachments you carry around during the course (handbag, mobile, mats and cushions (in America they call it a nest)), the easier to send the mind (like the email) across in space.
It was a great feeling to notice my mind slipping into silence so easily this time. I became aware that the knowledge also hits one so much deeper in silence. Silently watching the mind was truly entertainment unlimited. The myriad of sensations - heat and cold, pain and relief, heavy and light, all changing with time and place. A few days ago Guruji mentioned how the mind and heart are considered as flowers and the soul as the sutra (thread). In a garland, the thread is invisible and keeps the flowers together. Actually mind and heart in knowledge and awareness is like a flower and the same in ignorance is a thorn. With awareness, the false falls away and the true stands up. It was fun to be aware of experiencing anger turn to compassion (seeing some of the participants talking away to glory as if they were on a picnic), observing fear turn to surrender (of falling down the Vishalakshi step during dancing), watching minor irritation and hatred turn to reinforced commitment for more initiative (seeing the litter of plastic while cleaning around Sumeru) and above all watching the beauty of the trees and the flowers and the birds and the skies, in fact feeling the beauty of the whole of nature seeping into every cell of the body, becoming joy and love and awareness and bliss… all of which propelled me into wonder as so how this little body of 5 feet something pack such infinite bliss!
Going with the ancient tradition, I would not shave during the course, in fact not even look at myself in the mirror. Though this time I did sneak a few peeks at myself and smiled. Silence meant no one exists other than you and the Guru and so I was pretty conscious moment to moment to feel absolutely happy and high so that the Guru would enjoy my company.
Seva-wise, few days I chose my second favorite seva - garbage collection (the first being gardening) because of which we had earned the title earlier, Cool Clean Men. The day I shirked full-on seva, sadhana would play hard-to-get with me, leaving me sleepy and drowsy.
Given the colorful distractions (people-wise) in our Satsangs, I challenged myself one day to only look at Guruji and nowhere else while singing. The effect was phenomenal and blissful. And the same day Guruji talked about ‘Ek tattvabhayasa’, studying only one thing 100% for Yoga (Union) to take place.
Food wise, we were very well taken care of by Gauri and Shilpa. Sleep-wise I have never experienced such huge amount of dreams in my entire life. When I would wake up after a few hours, I would be intrigued and would wonder whether I slept for a few years, to see the quantity of dreams I saw; in some I dreamed about sleeping and in some I even dreamed about dreaming. God only knows which sanskaras (impressions) were being released. The meditations mercifully compensated for the lost rest.
All in all, what does one gain from an advance course… Its not what you get, but its what you lose and let go… which is pretty monumental and fundamental! You only come out looking forward to taking on the world and how soon can you come back for a second helping of the advance course. Truly it’s a supreme delight and a sublime pleasure!

PS This PS from Bawa: Dinesh managed to schedule his post for the 6th of september instead of the 9th of June... happens :)