Those First Impressions!

I have always seen at various stages of my life that certain first impressions I have/get/create about people and things always come back to me a full circle!

Lots of things have transpired in my life in the last week - I have travelled to different planes mentally and have discovered newer horizons that I didn't think existed even..

The only thing that I have also discovered with some element of surprise is how our gut feel, our first impressions usually hold strong even when time and events transpire before, after and through the very same dimension!

I'm sure you have had many such events too and may have felt or realized the same thought too...

I also realized how truth is in-destructible - a something that time cannot influence. Once the truth always the truth!

I'm overwhelmed with this thought and wanted to share with you my reader that there is a greater good out there that nullifies all the small blips we endure...

Hold onto to those first impressions and you are not usually wrong may I say?

Found this very soothing music from Pt. Ravi Shankar's "Chants of India" - enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8vZVuPjrGw&feature=related

He Said, She Said - What Will They Say?

Every single waking moment of our lives and also when we sleep, there is a sub-conscious activity that is constantly running - He said that, she said this, they will say this or that...goes on and on...

It is obviously very easy to say "ignore it. why should You bother about all this?" But, No! It is not so easy to ignore it and is in fact a little un-natural to do so.

Because we are human and supposedly have an intellect (Gnana) acting upon us, we naturally analyze, debate and try to reason while we run through our minds various what-if scenarios, a million times a day if not more :-)

The idea is to let those thoughts come and the greater goal is to simply observe them without getting involved - with what is called a "Sakshi Bhava" or with an attitude of being just a witness! Once we make this practice a normal behaviour, the rate of occurrence of those perturbing thoughts will reduce - will require time and patience...

A small and an interesting story I was recently told by someone I look upto:

A Guruji was approached by one of his devotees (Siddhartha) asking how he could stop the villagers from making fun of him and hurting him constantly. He also said he did all the right things and never did anything to hurt anyone. So, the Guruji told him to simply ignore them. After a few days Siddartha came back saying the torture from the villagers continued.

The Guruji thought for a while and gave Siddartha a small vessel filled to the brim with oil. He asked Siddartha to go round the village 3 times without spilling a drop of oil. This charm would work if and only if there was not a single drop of oil spilt!

So, Siddartha was thrilled that finally he had found a tool to relieve himself of the grief from the villagers.

He very cautiously took the vessel with the oil and completed walking round the village 3 times.

Once he returned, the Guruji asked him if all had gone well and if the charm worked -that is the villagers were now behaving themselves?

Siddartha immediately beamed up and said "Guruji, YES! the charm worked! Not a single villager talked - forget about good or bad. They were simply quiet! I don't know ow to re-pay you for this!"

The Guruji laughed and said - "Siddartha, it is not the villagers. Infact they would have made fun of you more than ever to see a man head bent low and walking with a vessel in hand round and round the village. It was YOU who were so focused on the vessel that ignored them, and hence did not hear what they said or did! This is what I want you to practice in your every day life - your sole focus being on that one single point of equilibrium, a point that gives you the balance and inner peace/happiness and go through life without paying heed to anyone or anything that they say - this is the very key to happiness!"

Siddartha went home with this realization.

I love this story for it's simplicity and the message it brings - I want you to do the same.

I'm trying to..join me in this search..

Try and discover your "self" - find that vessel filled with oil, the inner self that belongs to you and only you...that point of balance. Once you have found it, there is nothing else that you will need or want...

Have a wonderful day!

Migraine

Painful and excruciating are two words that come to my mind when I hear it...and I have one since last evening :-(

Bright lights, people, talking, loud sounds and everything else seems like putting some salt on an open wound.

Many triggers exist - and some maybe be specific to some individuals.

Cure? Nothing I really have heard of - at least a permanent cure that is. There are tons of prevention techniques :-)

More information is available at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migraine

The Pranayam technique "Nadi Shuddhi" is said to help and I plan on doing at least 27 rounds of it today...try it. It has wonderful effects and even more wonderful side-effects :-)

Have a great week!

Happy Father's Day

Wish all the dads a very Happy Father's Day!

Enjoy this song on this special day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2ecvklFmCY

Song For The Weekend

I got two requests asking me about the song for this weekend :-) Sorry I'm late :-) Here you go - enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp1abpd3WL0

The Two Sides

The room was silent - except for the movie on the television...

"Gayatri sat by the window and watched the moonlight...

She waited for the phone to ring. Waited for Vivek's call. She kept looking at it - willing for it to ring. She was at the same time afraid - almost didn't want it to ring. What if she said something that made him angry? upset him? She would never want that either. She cared for him more than herself at some level, and all she wanted was for him to be happy.

She thought she belonged to some retro movie with these thoughts - but, when it happened to her, it felt very normal. She hadn't even thought these thoughts were even possible leave alone a reality.

She wanted to say so much and open her heart and her thoughts to him - but never got a chance to. There were times when she held herself back too - for the fear of upsetting him in some way.

She wanted Vivek to know that she pined for his presence every waking moment. And she was sure that he didn't even know what that meant. Every small thing she did, she wanted his approval, his ideas...

She thought - Vivek doesn't even know that she hadn't washed some of her clothes since he had last left home...hadn't gone to those restaurants, had sat at the same spots on her couch, drank from the same cup day after day, wore the same perfume....and hadn't done anything with anyone else - all those little things they had done together. She had decided that she would wait for a lifetime and that was all she wanted him to know...and in some strange way also did not want him to know at the same time!. It wasn't to burden him with any expectations at all. But, it was a reality for her about how much she needed his presence in her life - even at a very remote, peripheral level...it was simply the essence of her existence..."

The screen flickered.

Aw! Anu had tears brimming in her eyes - but then she got up and got herself a drink...she thought "These movies make me weep. God! are these women even real in this age and time?"

A self-made, open minded woman like Anu didn't believe in these sentiments...

The alcohol did it's trick and she felt much better now...after a hard day's work...

Then she turned to check her email on her phone...he hadn't responded yet. Ashish - the person her life revolved was too busy for her...she wasn't even sure if he would come home tonight to see her...

She caught herself as she despaired...wasn't she the same as Gayatri in that movie? Weren't the sentiments almost similar?

It didn't matter to who it happened...but, some sentiments transcend time and age..maybe this was one.

Thoughts flowed...

Isn't it that happiness and sorrow are two sides of the same coin?. It was upto one which side one chooses to see. They always co-exist. Don't they? It is a choice one makes - the choice to ignore one over the other.

And both these sides are a part of us. It is only a brief manifestation of one over the other at any given moment. It is that acceptance of both that ensures equilibrium.

Anu flicked the television off...

Those Rains!

When I spoke with a friend in India last week, she told me that it was raining cats and dogs!

Ah! the smell of rain. I remember those days when I sat by the window, a book in my hand and sipped a hot cup of filter coffee...

The sound of the pouring rain outside and the feeling of being cuddled up in a blanket watching it is something one has to experience and simply cannot be put into words...

It always makes me nostalgic - makes me very sentimental...

A rainy day always makes me also hum this song - listen to it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GY-5VSPYNB4&feature=related

Today's Song

When looks could kill :-) Is there such a thing? In the poetic world probably, and that is if you recognize the possibility of more than one death!

Before I mess with the swarm of bees, here's a beautiful song to enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vqRyfy1_ys

Honest Fun!

The schools are out and summer holidays are here!

We have a little park/play area right behind our home and a lot of kids come in the evening to play there. The summer season sees a huge traffic till the schools re-open again!

This evening, my little one was playing with some of her buddies and I watched as she laughed and rolled in the grass while they tagged each other :-) And then I saw her walk away in a huff - little politics you see :-)

I just went there to see what was going on, and thought it was best to get them all together and start a new game.

So, I tried cajoling the bigger girls to come join - uh, uh. They didn't budge. Instead one of them told me that she had too many friends to play with! I loved it - the little attitude and everything:-) It is adorable! You must go to a park one of these days and watch them - you'll see the little games they play with each other, the teams and everything. Oh! it is a lot of fun!

Then I switched my strategy a little and collected all the older boys. We formed a large circle, at least 20 of us and played a very old game I used to play as a kid. That of a sheep and a fox. The sheep is in the middle of the circle and the fox is outside, trying to grab the sheep. The circle holds their hands very tightly and tries to save the little sheep from the fox! The game is really really fun in a large group!Not to mention everyone present there joined our fun eventually :-)

Then we played another game that I knew back in our school days - "Kho-Kho". The kids never knew about this game and they simply loved it when they got the hang of it!

After about 2 hours, they didn't want to go home and wanted more :-)

We parted with a promise to return every evening!

Will it happen every evening, I don't know. But, I know that my little friends will all be waiting for me! And I'll try to go back there for sure one of these days - why? because, I felt like a kid again too!

Simple, honest games - we seem to be losing them as we get caught up in this big tangle of the Wiis, PS3 and whatever else is out there that comes between those little legs itching to run, little arms ready for a little fist fight, that energy that cannot be contained in a chair - those little smiles bright and that turn even more beautiful on a shiny, face full of sweat! Smelly, sweaty, dirty and beaming!

Let them go....run, be wild, and be themselves - happy and innocent...

Karma Yoga

The past couple days have been a little rough, and these are times when I like to get my strength from philosophy.

This afternoon was one of those times and I read the below section of the Bhagavad Geeta that talks about Karma Yoga. Beautifully written - read it slowly and with an open mind! I'm sure you'll enjoy it too! Very Beautifully said!

arjuna uvaca
jyayasi cet karmanas te
mata buddhir janardana
tat kim karmani ghore mam
niyojayasi kesava

arjunah--Arjuna; uvaca--said; jyayasi--speaking very highly; cet--although; karmanah--than fruitive action; te--Your; mata--opinion; buddhih--intelligence; janardana--O Krsna; tat--therefore; kim--why; karmani--in action; ghore--ghastly; mam--me; niyojayasi--engaging me; kesava--O Krsna.

Arjuna said: O Janardana, O Kesava, why do You urge me to engage in this ghastly warfare, if You think that intelligence is better than fruitive work?

The Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna has very elaborately described the constitution of the soul in some of the chapters of the Geeta - with a view to deliver His intimate friend Arjuna from the ocean of material grief. And the path of realization has been recommended is: buddhi-yoga.

Understanding Karma Yoga:

Karma Yoga is essentially Acting, or doing one's duties in life as per his/her dharma, or duty, without concern of results - a sort of constant sacrifice of action to the Supreme. It is action done without thought of gain. In a more modern interpretation, it can be viewed as duty bound deeds done without letting the nature of the result affecting one's actions. Krishna advocates Nishkam Karma (Selfless Action) as the ideal path to realize the Truth. Allocated work done without expectations, motives, or thinking about its outcomes tends to purify one's mind and gradually makes an individual fit to see the value of reason and the benefits of renouncing the work itself. These concepts are vividly described in the following verses:

"To action alone hast thou a right and never at all to its fruits; let not the fruits of action be thy motive; neither let there be in thee any attachment to inaction"

"Fixed in yoga, do thy work, O Winner of wealth (Arjuna), abandoning attachment, with an even mind in success and failure, for evenness of mind is called yoga"

"With the body, with the mind, with the intellect, even merely with the senses, the Yogis perform action toward self-purification, having abandoned attachment. He who is disciplined in Yoga, having abandoned the fruit of action, attains steady peace..."

In order to achieve true liberation, it is important to control all mental desires and tendencies to enjoy sense pleasures. The following verses illustrate this:

"When a man dwells in his mind on the object of sense, attachment to them is produced. From attachment springs desire and from desire comes anger."

"From anger arises bewilderment, from bewilderment loss of memory; and from loss of memory, the destruction of intelligence and from the destruction of intelligence he perishes"

The Real You

Last night I dreamt of you
There you were talking and laughing
I wondered if it was for real

Telling me things I never knew
Chiding me for things I didn't do
Praising me for things I did
I wondered if it was for real

Fighting my complains
Fighting my ideas
Accepting my views
Accepting my beliefs
Telling me your's
Accepting me for who I was
I wondered if it was for real

You were resplendent in the sunshine
I thought it was a glow from within you and basked in it

Your eyes shone a bright shine
I thought it was from the knowledge within you and admired them

You talked a great many ideas
I thought they were your own and applauded them

And then as the Sun set
In that light when it was neither light or dark

I saw that side of you that told me
that you really were real

I turned you and saw that you were broken in the back
were made of glass and cracking
with just the front and nothing in the back
A hollow side that was hidden from the facade

I then realized who you were
Nothing but an empty broken piece of glass with just a front

And all you did was shine when the Sun shone and disappeared when darkness fell
That's who you were
And that's who you really are

A piece of glass
A mere piece of broken glass

And the crazy me tries to treasure it
And put it together
And pretend it's a diamond
And I wonder if it is real

And you call yourself Life...

Still My Fav. Song

Got to hear it again and I had to put it here one more time! Wow! love this song!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwnCMv--L9Y