The Secret of Lord Ganesha III

Shiva had granted a boon to Ganesha that before anything auspicious is begun, Ganesha’s name would be invoked... So Ganesha also represents the beginnings of anything good.

When light passes through a prism and breaks into its constituent colours, Red is the first colour visible to the human eye... The beginning! Lord Ganesha’s signature colour is red. How astonishingly scientific!

Every year, especially in the city of Mumbai, around the beginning of September, the festival of Lord Ganesha is celebrated with great reverence, enthusiasm and joy. Lakhs of idols of Ganeshji are installed for 10 days with great pomp and ceremony. Small idols find their way in various people’s houses and really giant ones (3 floors high) are installed in various colonies all over the city. Poojas and Aartis are done, Prasad is given... And everyone has a great time.

The energy and feeling of the entire city completely changes as the atmosphere gets charged with the mantras and the devotion of millions of people... It is a magical time to be there...

On the last day however, all these idols are taken and submerged into the seas off the coast of Mumbai... To the cries of “Ganapati Bappa Moriya!! Pudhcha Varshi Laukar Yaa!!!” Meaning Victory to Lord Ganesha, Come back to us quickly next year...

(By the way, this does affect the seas and the environment, but more and more people are becoming environmentally conscious and having Ganeshji’s idols made out of quickly degradable materials... I am sure soon we will see very green Ganapati Festivals in Mumbai!)

There is a great significance to this: All the Gods are within us... In every cell of our Being. During the festivals, with great reverence we ask them to manifest themselves in the idols so we can worship them and play with them... Once we are done with the celebration, the final Pooja mantras actually invite the Gods back within us... So now its just a pretty statue... And so that we can learn non attachment, all the idols are put in the sea... This is done every year, to keep reminding ourselves about our own Divinity... And of course to celebrate and enjoy this great journey called Life!

Ganapati Bappa Moriya!!
Pudhcha Varshi Laukar Yaa!!!

Jai Gurudeva!
Love
Bawa  

Start Living!

Somehow i don't want to premier the site on 9/11

At 6:15 am on the 12th of September, we will unveil the new site... I have already written the last post... and it's scheduled to appear here at this time... Why this time? Well... let's just say it's a very special time for me :)

Meanwhile here is a superb thingie i wrote...

Q: Do we all need someone in our life to make us feel happy? cant we be happy all by ourselves ? i mean its not necessary that everyone finds the right person so does it mean that he/she should wait for that person to come in our lives and make us feel happy or can we be happy in the absence of anybody?

A: As long as you have Guruji in your life, you don’t really need anyone else :). However, if you have another person in your life, who shares the same love that you do for Guruji, for the Knowledge, for Seva, Sadhana and Satsang, then both of you can pull each other up and such a relationship can be an asset for you, and the other person.

People who need people for their happiness become like parasites to each other. Possessiveness, guilt, anger follow very quickly and annihilate whatever love that might have been there. You can’t stay alone by yourself and be happy, you are bored... So you go out and bore some others... Don’t feel too bad, even they are the same... Majority of the people are like that: disturbed, bored, not at peace and not comfortable with themselves. And they want to inflict their company on others who are more or less in the same boat... This sadness we term as society!

You need to be whole and complete by yourself. And the other person needs to be the same too... Actually, there's nothing to do except have the realization that you already are indeed whole and complete... Then you don’t need each other to have a fulfilling life experience, but, if you are together, then you complement each other and true enchantment happens!



Instead of having the usual check list for your “perfect” person... Start making yourself eligible for that person! See what are the things you need to be, so that you can become a “perfect” match for someone else :)

And you will see that that person will magically appear for you! This “right” person may already be there for you in your life...

When the Guru steps into your life... Things change... Wisdom, Love, Peace and Happiness dawn. At last you are utterly comfortable being you! And like a brilliant light, you bring life and brightness wherever you go... Finally you stop asking the question What about me? What about me?

You become eligible for truly satisfying, wonderful relationships.

You start Living!

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa  

The Secret of Lord Ganesha II

Ganeshji is the remover of obstacles... Obstacles are there because there is no Knowledge and awareness... as soon as wisdom dawns, all obstacles and problems just vanish like dew in the sunlight...And really what obstacle can stand in the way of an elephant?!

He has a huge stomach which signifies an all accepting nature... He is the Lord of all kinds of groups (Gan means group), so He accepts everyone... but He also wears a snake as a belt around the stomach, which means that He accepts you, but with the full awareness of a snake! It is not passive chalta hai attitude acceptance, but an active, participative acceptance...

He has many hands, one holds a rope, another a poke and still another a modak (yummy sweet).

He offers you the modak (sweet) of Wisdom and Knowledge and when you come near to Him to take it, He quickly ties you with the rope (probably while you are eating it)... meaning that once Wisdom has dawned, you can never really go back to whatever you used to be!

And it may happen that even having all the Knowledge and Wisdom, you may feel low, unhappy or miserable... then He pokes you (remember the snake? He accepts you as you are, doesn't cast you away, but takes action after accpetance)... to wake you up to Reality... And sometimes if the poking is too much for you and you try to run away (you can't He has got you tied with the rope! :)), He gives you the sweet, the Knowledge :) and that brings you back to Him. And so Lord Ganesha binds you sweetly and firmly to Himself!

He is Vinayaka. The peerless leader. He reports to no one!

And the mouse?

The mouse nibbles the veils of ignorance that surround our consiousness, so that true Knowledge can get established in the Self. So, Lord Ganesha rides the mouse who eats away the anger, the ignorance and allows the Bliss of Knowledge to dawn...

Thus Lord Ganesha is the gift of Lord Shiva for Parvati to teach and nurture her to always be in her true nature... The Celebration and Bliss of the Self!

Ganapati Bappa Moriya!!!
Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa  

The Secret of Lord Ganesha I

Click The Birth of Lord Ganesha to read about the very weird tale of how Lord Ganesha was born. What follows is the interpretation of that story...

Parvati is the Celebrative aspect of our consciousness. Parvat means mountain: The Earth herself rising up in celebration...

Now Parvati was dirty, meaning, the celebration had gone out of life, feeling of sadness, etc had arisen, and she decides to take a bath (be alone)...When you are not feeling good (your celebratory aspect is dirty), you say, give me my space, leave me alone...

The dirt that comes off her and she gives life to is the Ego... She tells the Ego see that no one disturbs me while i am not feeling well... dont let anyone come in!

Thats exactly what most people do when they are not feeling good: people usually isolate themsleves, feel separate from everyone and dont like others around them...

This is the significance of Parvati animating her ego and asking it not to let anyone disturb her because she is feeling dirty.

Lord Shiva is the protector of Parvati. So when He sees her that way with her ego standing guard, keeping the Bliss of the Self out, He does what any protector would do... Kills it!

Chopping off the head signifies killing the ego... Now, when you have had your ego trampled upon, you are going to feel even more hurt and bewildered, which is where Parvati flares up... to appease her and teach her, Lord Shiva replaces the child's (ego) head with an elephant head.

The Elephant in Hindu mythology is held in great reverence. In old times, if a lover wanted to praise his girlfriend, he would tell her she is like an elephant... That was supposed to be the ultimate praise! Please don't try this today... you just might get flattened :)

The big head symbolizes Knowledge. The eyes of the elephant are kind, full of compassion and innocence: the most beautiful in the animal Kingdom. So Shiva replaces the head of ego (ignorance) with Knowledge and innocence! That's not all, if you have ever seen an elephant walk, stately and strong, you can see that nothing can stand in its way! So Shivji removed the ego and replaced it with Strength, Grace, Knowledge and innocence. What a superb combination! And the perfect gift for an angry, sulking wife! :)

Lord Shiva then names the child, Ganesh. The Lord of Knowledge and Wisdom.

Tomorrow more will be revealed about the mouse and some other really fascinating aspects of Ganeshji...

Jai Gurudeva!

love

bawa

ps Dinesh is flying with Guruji to Oslo for the Nobel Laureates Conference... hopefully he will be posting about the goings on there :)

 

Don't Look at the Moon!!

On the day (night) of Ganesh Chathurti, we are warned not to look at the moon... Mythology says that if you look at the moon on this night, then you will get blamed for something you didn't do!

So don't look at the moon!!!

This particular belief sounds quite odd... What if the rays of the moon touch you? Will you still get blamed? If you look at the reflection of the moon in water: You are not looking up at the sky, you are looking down and there it is... in the puddle of water! What then?!

Well, at least this Ganesh Chathurti, we in Bangalore Ashram were spared from the naughtiness of the moon... the sky was overcast and there was no chance to see the moon... but no one was taking any chances, everyone was walking about focused intently on the ground :)

Is there some deeper meaning to this? You bet there is! And i am not going to make you wait till tomorrow to read it either :)

The moon symbolizes the mind... Just as the moon waxes and wanes, the mind goes up and down... Some days it makes you feel good, other times it can drag you down into the pits of despair for the smallest of reasons... The mind is what constantly gets you into trouble...


Ganesha is the Lord of Wisdom and it is He who teaches us how to get over the vagrancies of the mind, how to be established firmly in Knowledge and let nothing shake us out from the Bliss of the Being. And so on the day when we are going to celebrate Lord Ganesha, we don't look at the moon... meaning Follow Knowledge, not your little mind!

Don't look at the moon! Don't let that small mind of yours rule you... Be in Knowledge, Be wise, Be happy!

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa

PS more about Lord Ganesha coming up...  

3 Sutras to Samadhi

Before you sit to meditate, remember these three things:

1. Achaha: Meaning right now, i don't want anything... Right now, i want nothing...

2. Akinchen: Meaning I am nobody, i am nothing... just ask yourself... who am i? who is ? You will see you are nothing and nobody... dont bother intellectualizing this one... just know and experience that you are indeed nothing and nobody and relax...

3. Aprayatna: Effortlessness... To meditate there is nothing to do. Just be. Like when you go for a massage, you just lie there, do nothing and let the masseuse massage you... similarly, you just sit with your eyes closed and let the Guru Shakti meditate for you!



Before meditating, just relax and remember these 3 sutras (effortlessly)... they will allow you to sink blissfully into Samadhi!

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa
 

An Interesting Equation

Many charming stories about Lord Krishna are told... One of them is about His fight with the Serpent King Kaaliya. The (very) young Krishna jumps into the waters of a lake known to be inhabited by an extremely poisonous many hooded snake called Kaaliya. He emerges victorious (of course!) and is seen dancing on the many hoods of the snake.


As a "punishment", He charges the snake to become the guardian of the very waters he terrorized and protect the nearby villagers from other demons, etc.

Its a beautiful story... told to all young children in India and i think the world over to illustrate the bravery and spunk of Lord Krishna... but there is a fantastic interpretation that Guruji told us and it really blew my mind away when i heard it for the first time...


A snake signifies awareness, a heightened alertness, a desire for absolute perfection. And when a person has this, he becomes quite a terror to people around him, constantly berating them, scolding them because very few, if any, can live up to their standards. A person who is not so alert is very easy to get along with... but a person who has high standards and expects everyone around him to toe the line continuously becomes very much like Kaaliya the snake, spitting poison and fire on all around him :)

Krishna signifies Love. When Love is dancing on top of Kaaliya... When Love has defeated Kaaliya, then the same person who was earlier a source of fear to his surroundings, becomes a source of great peace...

Krishna brings about a very interesting equation:

Absolute perfection + Love = Bliss for the person concerned as well as the people around him!

Krishna doesn't kill the snake, He just subdues it and then charges it to protect! So the Lord appreciates perfection, only by His presence (dancing on the heads of perfection) he converts a malignant terror into a benevolent guardian!

So all you perfectionists out there reading this... tinge your perfection with love (keep the Lord in your mind at all times, allow Him to dance on your head...) and give birth to Bliss inside you as well as all around you! :)

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa  

A Divine Romance

Krishna's love affair with Radha is perhaps the most controversial in the Epics... She had a steady job, a family, a husband... she left all that and went after Krishna! She was older than Krishna, that fact alone disqualifies her :) In fact there are certain sects of Hindus who do not believe that she even existed, because the entire romance is a slap in the face of all traditions and systems :)

But there is a secret here: Radha means longing, Krishna fulfillment. So she has to be older than Him. First there has to be longing, only then can fulfillment dawn. She had all this family and job etc., which she left for Krishna... This means that all of us have the Longing for the Divine, but we try to fill that with material things, and it never gets filled... it only intensifies. When Krishna (the Divine) comes into our lives then we need to let go of all that, just as Radha did and soak in the Bliss of being with the Divine!


If we turn the word Radha around, it become Dhara, which means to flow away. Opposite of flowing away is flowing towards. Radha means flowing towards... and flowing towards whom? Govind!

Go in Sanskrit stands for Knowledge. Go-vind is the Giver of Knowledge. So instead of our mind flowing away into the maya of the world, flow towards Govind... the Giver of Knowledge! This is what Radhe Govind means!!

Gopal means the protector of Knowledge, the preserver of Knowledge. Go can also mean "way". and so Go-pal becomes the one who protects you on the "way", on the path... Radhe Gopal, is Go to the one who will protect you, take care of you on your journey through Life...

Radhe Govind, Radhe Gopal, Radhe Krishna!! How the epics have guarded these great secrets in simple beautiful stories! and How very fortunate we all are that we have Guruji to decode these secrets for us and make them applicable and relevant even in this age of the technology!

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa  

Radha

Radha was very special to Krishna... Here is one of the most beautiful stories about Radha that i know:

Much after Vrindavan, when Krishna was relaxing with his many wives, Rukmini his head wife threw a tantrum... All the time i hear Radhe Krishna, Radhe Govind... she is not even married to you... how come no one sings about Rukmini, or for that matter any of the other of your wives?! Whats wrong with us?... etc, etc :)

Krishna listened patiently and then suddenly held his head and complained of a head ache. Now Rukmini felt sorry, and became all loving and docile again... but the head ache refused to go... Each wife had her own suggestion about what to do... some pressed feet, others did some aroma therapy, still others made pastes from herbs... 16000+ cures were presented, none worked, his head ache only grew worse...

Narada the travelling Muni then made an appearance (Besides being a Muni, he was also something of a doctor) and he examined Krishna, felt his pulse, etc and then proclaimed that Krishna was suffering from a very rare type of a headache... one that could only be cured by a Beloved of Krishna putting his or her foot on Krishna's head... Krishna was in bed moaning softly, and the wives and the courtiers of the palace had a conference... They were all beloved of Krishna, but none dared to put their foot on the Lord's head, doing so would mean an eternity in Hell! and they were pondering and wondering what to do...

... and the news reached Radha in Vrindavan about Krishna's ill health and she rushed to his palace and when appraised of everything, asked immidiately to be taken to Krishna, she would happily put her foot on His head... Rukmini, the other wives and the rest of the palace was aghast at her quick decision... Rukmini herself told her that if she Radha did that, she would burn in hell forever...


If my Lord gets even one second of relief from his pain, then i will willingly go to hell forever said Radha as she ran to her Krishna and put her foot on his head, curing Him completely...

An abashed Rukmini along with all the other wives touched Radha's feet and realised how deep her love for Krishna was... and why people for centuries to come will sing Radhe Krishna!!

May our love for Guruji be like Radha's love for Krishna!

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa

ps More about Radha and Krishna tomorrow...  

Krishna!

If we look at the form of Krishna, we are enthralled by His beauty and Grace, but there are many secrets here as well!


First off, He is always pictured blue... this doesn't mean that He was blue in colour :) ... blue is the colour of the sky and signifies that like the the sky which has vastness and infinity, Krishna was also vastness and infinity personified.

Then He wears a peacock feather as his crown. Now a crown looks very beautiful, but with all that gold and diamonds and stuff can be very heavy, meaning that to anyone looking at a King or a Queen, they will look wonderful and everyone will want to be like them, but to the King wearing it, it is heavy with responsibility of managing the Kingdom. Though Krishna is the Master of the entire universe, He takes His immense responsibility with the lightness of a feather! And the beauty of the peacock feather can rival the beauty of any ruby and diamond studded crown :)

He is usually depicted standing on one foot, the other a little lifted, as if dancing... One foot on the ground shows complete groundedness, firmly in the material world and you can see that from His life, from extreme mischief as a small child, to flirtatious romances as a youth, marriage to 16000 women :), helping with elopement, playing a major political role in one of the biggest wars, giving the ultimate Knowledge... the list goes on... He lived a very full life, yet the other foot off the ground showed His spiritual side, His mysticism, His depth... No one really knew Him or could even know Him...

You can go through life with both feet on the ground meaning you are only in the material world, and you go through life standing... and there are a few who lift both feet off and fall, try to be only "spiritual"... and a select few perfectly balance both the aspects, and they dance!

Looking at Him you realise you could stand, fall or dance! through life :)...


Radha is his most beloved among all the gopis, but even she is jealous of his flute, coz the flute always stays with him. The flute has seven holes. Enchanting, captivating, bliss inducing music can be played from a flute only if it is hollow and empty.

Our body also has seven chakras... When we become hollow and empty, then Krishna's breath flows through us, and we become an instrument of the Divine... Our words are His words, our actions are His actions. We become pockets of tranquility and bliss. And then we are always with Him. Just like His flute! :)

Hollow and Empty happens effortlessly on Adv courses, and just for everyone's info, the next Adv course for YES!+ is from 10th to 14th September... do come!

Will write about Radha tomorrow... stay tuned! :)

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa

ps Guruji has been saying that everyone should read the Bhagawad Geeta at least once! I did and am now quite addicted, its such superb Knowledge, so simple and so deep!  

Janmashtami

Tonight is Janmashtami... The Birthnight of Lord Krishna

His birth is quite a story which most know... so here it is very briefly...

The evil King Kans threw Vasudev and Devki (his sister) into prison because it was prophesied that their eighth child would kill him. So child after child was born in prison to the hapless couple and mercilessly butchered by Kans... Until the time came for the eighth one. Devki fully pregnant was blooming with Divinity and Kans could see his doom being created in his siter's womb.

He doubled trebled quadrupled the guards outside the cell of Devaki and Vasudev, giving them strict instructions to inform him as soon as the baby was born. But right at the stroke of midnight, a little more than 5000 years ago, all the guards fell asleep, the chains that bound Vasudev and Devaki dropped off and Lord Krishna entered the world!

Vasudev quickly bundled up the baby, put him in a basket and hurried to Yashodha on the other side of the Yamuna. It was a dark stormy night and the Yamuna was swollen and the rain was fierce, but Vasudev in the few precious moments he knew he had just waded in and the Yamuna rose and rose all the way to his head, then the baby Krishna stuck his feet out of the basket and the water touched the feet and receded.



Vasudev reached Yashodha who was sleeping peacefully having just delivered a baby girl and exchanged the two babies, and rushed back without incident into the jail... and the spell was broken, the baby cried and the guards rushed and informed Kans who rushed in snatched the baby and tried to kill her, but the legend goes that it flew out of his wicked hands shouting to him that his destroyer lives!

Of course Krishna defeated and killed the evil Kans later ... but that's another story :)

Now here is a beautiful interpretation of the story of the birth of Krishna... Guruji had talked about this years ago on one of the Janamashtami Celebrations

Vasudev means the Breath and Devki is the Body. Kans is the ego. The guards and the chains the 5 senses. Through the union of Body and Breath, Krishna (Bliss) can be born. And when does Bliss come? When all the chains drop off and the guards are asleep... when the 5 senses are conquered... But Body and Breath alone cannot sustain Bliss... They can give birth to Bliss, but for sustaining Bliss, Love is needed and so Vasudev carries Krishna over to Yashodha who is the embodiment of Love, who nurtures and brings up Krishna!

And of course it is Krishna (Bliss) nurtured by Yashodha (Love) who finally destroys Kans (ego) and frees Vasudev and Devaki (Body and Breath)!

Janmashtami is the celebration of the glorious Birth of Lord Krishna!

Happy Janamashtami!

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa

ps The Yamuna rising and rising indicates that in life sometimes, trouble may come and engulf you all the way to your head... but if you have got God with you, then you can never drown! Just surrender and know that you are being taken care of, and do whatever it is you have to! Guruji had once mentioned that when you have a Guru, you can never fall... you may even have the experience of falling, but you cannot fall!

pps will write more about Krishna in the coming week... would you guys like that? :)  

Pateti

Happy Pateti!!

A greeting we keep hearing so much we have forgotten what Pateti actually means... Pateti is the last day of the year... and is actually the Day of Repentance! Its on this day that you are supposed to feel sorry for any mistakes or any harm that you may have caused knowingly or unknowingly to anything or anybody... Remember Humakta, Hukta, Havarashtha? I call them the 3 Hs, and they stand for Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds. The 3 Hs are the corner stone of the Parsi (Zoroastrian) Faith...

And so on the day of Patet, or Pateti, we are supposed to sincerely repent and surrender all those things that we have done which were against the 3 Hs... and cleanse ourselves through prayer so that we can begin totally fresh, again on the new day of the new year, Navroz...

The very endearing greeting Navroz Mubarak (or Saal Mubarak) then really makes complete sense! So a Happy Pateti happens only when the entire (previous) year has been spent in doing the 3 Hs... Otherwise its really a day of cleansing, of silence, of repentance, of introspection...

Art of Living manages to make Parsis and others follow the 3 Hs through the 3 Ss: Sadhana (meditation), Satsang (Company of the truth) and Seva (Selfless Service, being available and doing whats most needed to be done)... Little wonder that our family as fairly orthodox and devout Parsis took to Art of Living and Guruji and the Knowledge as eager fish to water!! :)

There is a lot more there is to say about my noble religion and many more stories racing around in my head, but we will save those for some other time... I had a truly memorable week going over and sharing these stories with all of you, which my grandparents used to tell me...


Once again Navroz Mubarak!!... Have a fantastic New Year, and hopefully next year, we will all have a really Happy Pateti! :)

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa

ps No write up about the Parsis is complete without at least one recipe... Click Dhandar Patio for my version of this wonderful meal which is made on all celebratory occasions... Make it this weekend for the family and if you are living alone invite a few friends over ... The other very famous Parsi preparation is Dhan Shakh... You will just have to wait until I write it out... :)

pps Vikram, Dinesh and me are in Calcutta with 1200+ participants on the first Calcutta Utsav! Photos and some news from here over the weekend...  

The Secret of the Elements

Click The Essence of Fire to read about it: Basically Fire burns away impurities and negativity, enhances positivity...


Guruji went on. Lets take a look at the essence of the other elements too. The essence of water is adaptability. Water will take the shape of any container however twisted, it is poured into. Become adaptable like water! (and i thought that’s true Parsis are very adaptable... from warriors to farmers and businessmen!)


Air is everywhere! Same way you too are everywhere. Don’t ever think that you are only in this little body. You are vast and everywhere just like air! (Thats the reason why the environment can affect you. Sit in a busy market, even with eyes closed and ears jammed, and you will feel tired after a bit. Sit in a peaceful garden for a little while and you will feel refreshed... this can happen only if you extend beyond the body! and yes, the parsis though so few in number not even a few hundred thousand left, some people say only 80,000 are still breathing on the planet are literally everywhere! Holding all sorts of positions too:)... The Tatas for example actually contribute to 7% of the GDP of India!)


The essence of the Earth element is acceptance. Earth accepts everything and everyone. You can sit on the earth, spit on the earth, build on the earth, walk, run , play... whatever... Earth has unconditional acceptance... (and to an extent i find the Parsis the most accepting of their destinies, they go their merry way through life)



Finally the essence of Space is Being a 100% involved but also at the same time a 100% detached. All creation happens in Space. So Space is a 100% involved in Dance of Creation. But at the same time is utterly unaffected by it. This detached involvement is the essence of Space.

So When you have the acceptance of Earth (take the Bh of Bhoomi which is the Sanskrit for Earth), the ability to enhance positivity and burn away negativity of Fire ( the ga from Agani which is Fire in Sanskrit), the all prevailingness of the Air element (v from Vaayu, sanskrit for Air), also you have perfected the Art of being 100% involved yet 100% detached, the essence of the Space element (aa from Akash which is Space in Sanskrit) and you have developed the adaptability of water (n from Neer meaning water in sanskrit)... then you put those together, you get Bh-ga-v-aa-n!

When you have the essences of all the elements You are Bhagavan. You are God!

And that’s what the Parsis are striving for through their worship of Fire and Nature... What a wonderful religion! :) What a fantastic interpretation!


Thank You Guruji... You gave me back my pride in being a Parsi, my roots and my heritage!

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa  

Why do Parsis worship the Fire?

One thing lead to another, you can click The Holy Fire and read about it... and One day I asked Guruji, why do Parsis worship the Fire?!

He replied, Look at the essence of Fire. If you put Gold with some impurities in Fire. What happens? The impurities are burned away and the value of the Gold is enhanced! So, not only does Fire burn away the negativity, it also enhances positivity!


He added gently that's what the Parsis have done. Fearlessly defended the weak, stood against whats wrong and gracefully enhanced whats right and good... throughout the History of the Parsis in India, thats what this noble race has done!

For the first time in so many years, i was proud to be a parsi! :)

He then continued, but thats not all... Parsis dont only worship the Fire, they worship Nature. They worship all the five elements! Fire is just the symbol. and I thought thats right! In every Fire Temple, of course there is the Fire, but there is also a well and a tree and some animals, which are also worshiped!

...You will have to wait till tomorrow for the Secret of the other Elements!...

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa  

The Holy Fire

Parsis worship Ahura Mazda (our name of God) through revering and worshiping nature. And our symbol is Fire. Each Fire Temple has a consecrated holy fire that is kept (smoldering) burning night and day. Each fire is lit with a spark of the original Atash Badshah (now housed in Udvada in Gujarat), and so it is quite difficult to start a new Fire Temple. The Fire is fed ONLY with Sandal wood. 5 times in 24 hours special prayers are chanted and the Fire is restoked with the offerings of devotees.


I was born and grew up in Bombay in a very loving and a very Parsi family. Now, most people don’t believe this but right from the beginning i hated heat. Even though i was born in Bombay which can get very hot during the year... and so going to the Fire Temple during the blistering heat of Bombay (especially in summers) was not something i looked forward to :)

As a small child i often asked mom why we worshiped the Fire. Why could we not worship ice! :) She would reply by saying that Fire burns away all the negativity, all things bad, and so we worship Fire. This was an acceptable answer until i started questioning it further...


One Diwali, i burned myself lightly and went to mom and said why did Fire burn me?

Fire is our friend, our God and supposed to burn away negative things! Did that mean i was negative or bad?!

We worship the Fire because we worship the Fire. Stop asking silly questions. Shut up and Pray!

And so, by the time i was 18 years old, Religion and Fire worship was a waste of time as far as i was concerned... until i did the Art of Living course and met Guruji... and my entire view of the Parsi faith changed!

One day I asked Guruji, why do Parsis worship the Fire... What He said, you will read tomorrow! :)

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa  

Saal Mubarak!!

Today is Parsi New Year. And Srividya from Poona called me yesternight and requested me to post some things about Parsis this week... so here goes...

The Parsis were a warrior race originating in ancient Persia a few thousand years ago. They were known for their bravery, their amazing intellectual achievements and their devotion to their religion which was given to them by their prophet Zarathustra.


The percepts of the religion are very simple: Humakta: Good Thoughts, Hukta: Good Words and Havarashtha: Good Deeds. Parsis worship God (Ahura Mazda) through His creations, all of nature is revered. And their symbol is the Atash Badshah, The Holy Fire.

The muslim scourge and many unfortunate betrayals forced this once mighty race to its knees and millions were butchered and entire libraries of intellectual thought, science and arts burned to the ground by the islamic fundamentalists and terrorists.

Just three boat loads of Parsis escaped Persia with their beloved Holy Fire and their one remaining Holy Book, The Zend Avesta and after a harrowing voyage on stormy seas landed on the shores of India, seeking sanctuary in the Kingdom of Sanjan in present day Gujarat.


The King of Sanjan received these hardy and battle worn Sanctuary seekers with respect and awe. However, when the Parsi High priest approached him and made a plea to him that they be allowed to make India their home, the King refused saying that his Kingdom was already full and though he would have loved to give sanctuary and welcome the Parsis, he had no choice but to turn them down... He symbolically showed the High Priest a glass of milk filled to the brim, saying that his Kingdom was like that... much as he would have loved to have them, there was simply no place.

The High Priest smiled and asked for some sugar. He added the sugar into the glass full of milk and stirred it in thoroughly without spilling a drop. And said, just like this sugar, we will blend into India. And we will make it sweeter for having us...

The delighted King immediately declared that the Parsis were welcomed in India. But he was fearful of their strong bodies bristling with muscles and their mean looking weapons, so he put a few conditions. That the Parsis surrender their weapons and embrace peace. And that they should not inter marry or convert people (of India) to their religion. The High Priest readily agreed asking in return only that no non Parsi should ever be allowed into their Fire temples where the Holy Fire would be kept, so that the Holy Fire would always be protected and secure. The King nodded his assent.

The Parsis dropped their warrior training and became peace loving farmers and business men... and so, till today that ancient promise made to the King of Sanjan has been honoured...


And we moved into the Holy land of India and right through history since, have lived up to our promise of blending in and making each place we go to, or are in, sweeter because of us!

Saal Mubarak!

May everyone have a Blessed New Year!!

Jai Gurudeva!!!
love
bawa

ps more posts about Parsis in this week...  

A Roller Coaster!

Every time someone confronts us with anger or violence a game starts. A game between that persons anger and our love, between their violence and our peace...

And when we are stronger, then the opposite person has no choice but to drop their anger and love us! They have no choice but to let go of their violence and bask in the bliss of the peace we are!

Its a game we play with the world... pit the power of our Sadhana, the depth of our silence and the magic of Guruji's Grace against their ignorance and apathy... We are yet but a few, but we are strong... and all that it takes for few to become many is time... and the will to make a difference and the shakti to follow through on that will and actually go ahead and make that difference!! and boy! we have that! :)

Focus, Skill and Hard work allows us to score almost every time... Its quite an exciting game and the outcome is certain too... But the journey to our victory is really interesting, with many exciting twists and turns... a spiritual rollercoaster, but we have our seat belts fastened through our Sadhana, Seva and Satsang and so we are utterly safe and can really sit back and enjoy every moment of this wild ride called Life (with the Art of Living :))!


Couldn't resist putting this other photo here as well... Would love to go on a ride on this one with all of you! :)


Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa

ps Bits of this post come from a Knowledge session in the TRM with Swami Pragyapad  

Ice Cream and the Present Moment

I needed a photo of delicious ice cream for this post... just couldn't find it, so i made dinesh pose for it, and we started today morning with dinesh eating gooey, tasty, full of sugar (!) ice cream... after taking the photos there was some left over, so i had a few bites as well!!! :)

And then, we noticed that the photos didn't come out good, so dinesh had to eat ice cream all over again! *sigh* :)

Ahh well... Sugar day today!



This is from a few years ago...

Dinesh and i were walking along a beautiful shady lane in the dadar parsi colony of Bombay. We were both eating ice cream... and suddenly he got very excited... his eyes were shining, he had had a realization!

He said Do you see how we feel that the last bite of the ice cream is special? We eat the whole thing, but then really, really savour the last bite... Why don't we eat each bite as if it's the last one?!

Why can't we live life, each moment to its fullest? Savouring it, relishing it... Like its our last...

Living in the present moment means eating each bite of ice cream as if it were the last one!!!

We really enjoyed our ice creams after that... :)

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa  

You = Happiness!

Ok, i know i said i wont be posting for some time... but hey, i got a working internet connection in Poona (Bombay is still iffy), so here is some nice stuff for everyone to read :)

Here is (my interpretation of) a little incident that happened in Rashmin's course:

They were talking about how it is your very nature to be happy... and suddenly Rashmin displayed a stroke of sheer genius!

He made one of the participants stand up and told her to get angry... c'mon, he said get angry, frown, get upset!

She just looked at him in confusion and bewilderment... then he just as abruptly told her, ok smile! and she promptly smiled!

and so he concluded, See how smiling, laughing is just effortless! You can do it for no reason whatsoever! When i asked you to get angry or upset you can't do it without a reason, but when i asked you to smile, you didn't need a reason to smile, you just did it, simply and effortlessly... Happiness is your very nature...

You are made of a substance called happiness!

(to) Be Happy... (simply) Be Yourself! :)

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa

ps remind me to write about dinesh's insight about happiness... maybe next Monday?  

QnA -14

Q: I would like to if it is possible to know the ultimate truth of our creation and creator...Does someone know this or do we all tend to ignore the basic question of life just because we aren't able to find one..?

A: Many know, because they make it a priority of their time on earth to find it out. It’s a very fundamental question and it requires intense dedication, one pointed focus and a lot of patience to get to the answer... I wish you all the best for your journey to the ultimate answer... (There is a school of thought that says that the answer is 42! :))

Q: Dear Bawa,

2 days back I asked you a Q on the fear of Christian faith that I discontinued. I got your reply on it and want to share one experience.

When I used to go to church, I had a very close interaction with my sir there, he was my mentor. However, after I discontinued I never talked to him b'coz of the fear in the mind that he'll criticize me. Today afternoon, after work I went to sleep in my hostel and I met him in my dreams. I shared all that has happened (the success of my PhD, my present work, my marriage etc.) and he was listening to me. I could feel the longing in both of our hearts to hear each other. He asked me where I was all these days? We talked a lot and then I opened my eyes. I was feeling
very light and there was a joy in my heart. What an amazing experience!!!

Are dreams real Bawa? What does this dream mean?

A: There are five types of dreams... Guruji has talked all about it in one of the Knowledge sheet books... Read it up!
As far as the meaning of the dream goes, wise people do not breathe too much meaning into any dream... You have made a choice, now stick to it and get on with your life!

Q: I am 23 years old. I have been organizing and assisting AOL courses since last year and the organizers and teachers here want me to go for TTC1 going to be held in august. but bhaiya, I don't know why but my parents are always dissatisfied with me...my father hasn't done course since yet besides my efforts since now. Mother has done basic course and does not do kriya. I put all my efforts to do what they say. Even then i don't know what they want. I mean, bhaiya I want to serve the society and I am not at all like my lazy cousins who sit free in their holidays or think about themselves... can you please give any direction?

A: We need many more like you. It has always been a mystery to me how parents cannot feel proud of their children, when their children are doing the noble work of serving society... It does help a bit if you spend some little time at home as well :)
Don’t worry too much about parents not doing the course or not practicing Kriya, that happens by and by... Even if it doesn’t, the merit of your Seva gets passed on to them, so really don’t worry about them :)


Q: Dear Bawa,

I was to do the Yes+ TTC 2 years back with you but didn't:( (wish I had). I was at Utsav on Sunday and loved the way you handled Q & A. You are really awesome with answers. I must tell you that I have been reading your blog everyday these past few days and I must say you are such a multi faceted personality. I share some of the same taste in books and have left my comments.

I attended the volunteer meeting you had later, after Utsav. I have one question regarding what you said there. You were talking about the Guru Shishya Parampara and you were telling us how you would drop everything if Rajashri Patel came to India because you love her as she was your teacher... and you are like this because you love her ...and similarly the Yes+ kids love you.. Now, my AOL teacher is not close to inspiring, in fact I am defensive when I am asked who my basic course teacher is. But I am inspired by many other teachers in AOL ( to give you few names, Rajesh and Kavi, Harish are my good friends).

So, what happens in my case? I mean, if we do the course with a teacher, will we mirror them in some way? I always thought it didn't matter who the basic course teacher was as Guruji will take care. But this sentence of yours has actually brought put me off balance:-) Please tell me, should I ask people to do courses with only certain teachers? If yes, then how to I answer the Question as who am I to judge good and bad teachers when Guruji has made them teachers?

A: The only teacher is Guruji and you mirror Him :)... And yes, if you feel a certain person will gel better or enjoy a course more with a particular teacher and you have that choice available, do send that person to that teacher.

For sure, some people will love to learn from certain teachers and others will get turned off. But everyone loves the Sudarshan Kriya and Guruji and that’s enough :)

Q: Hi bawa. how are you? I attended art of living course recently Act 1 at Chennai. It made things better in life. Before the course started there was huge problem at my house. My mom and dad where fighting each other. My mom is suspecting my dads actions always. She is connecting with some people and she is scolding him. One fine day it all came to a break and they started fighting so that the whole road would see..I tried to convince them and got things settled right before I came to course.

But today once again the problem started. My mom is using rubbish words which no girl would say and my dad is saying things as if he is going to break the relationship today. Now my mom is crying and me too. She just wants to die and she keeps on imagining things like people are trying to pull her leg..I spoke to her but I am getting easily angered due to her talks. She doesn't want to understand people. I told her not to find intentions behind others work..but all the five principles is not working before her..I cant share this with my sister who is doing her final semester in m.b.b.s in Russia. It may affect her exams..say something that I could say to my mom to prevent her from doing anything wrong..to calm her..please help me with this..

A: You pray... And get on with your life and let your parents sort out their stuff. Your Sadhana, Seva and Satsang and your prayers will help them much more than your words... Your peace may help solve their problems better than even you can imagine, so trust yourself, trust Guruji, and move on...

Q: jai gurudev ,
hello bawa...
I smoke a lot ....I just wanna quit it...................tried all stuff.................and I am to afraid to tell it to my YES!+ teacher .......Please Help!

A: You want to quit. Then stop! Finish it now. With smoking, who you are hanging around with also aggravates the habit. So stay with people who don't smoke... Do your Kriya regularly, do some physical work (goto the gym), have cold water baths, lose yourself in Seva... You will be fine...

Also remember that every time you smoke, you are choosing NOT to have Guruji in your life... Not a very smart move. Its wise to choose life!

Q: Jgd Bawa/Dinesh,

What do I do, even if educating again n again AND again, does NOT help a person understand his responsibilities?!

What if he has suffered a lot in life because of his bad habits, and dishonesty, and infact has even made his family suffer coz of it? And despite every set-back that the family has suffered because of him, they have embraced him and given him a chance to change?
Guruji says, you should educate and ignore.. how can you ignore the only bread-winner of the family?
How much humiliation can you suffer in front of the world, just cause he is your husband?

How much forgiveness is good?

A: There is always the end of the leash. Sometimes if someone simply doesn’t learn, and they are hurting you and themselves and you are just not happy with them, even though for a very long time you have given your best shot, then a drastic step like separation might be the only option left... You may have to choose

Q: Dear Bawa,

What does a dutiful wife do when her husband has divorced her mentally [physical divorce is out of the question]? Irony is both are into Seva, Satsang and Sadhana. The wife is suicidal.

A: Suicide is out of the question. If husband is not interested, then focus your love on Guruji... Get completely involved in Sadhana, Seva and Satsang... You could almost consider yourself lucky that you have all the “respectability” of being married without having the burdens of that life and that you are free to really go deep into yourself and being completely spiritual!