Breaking the limits ...

We could not update our blog during the last two weeks, the reason being one of the most anticipated events for Singapore - Paramahamsa Nithyananda's visit to Singapore. To say that a group of about twenty volunteers were super busy is an understatement. For the last two weeks, and more specifically during Swamiji's stay in Singapore from 8th to 11th August, each one of us were on our toes, running around publicizing the events, setting up Galleria stalls, registration desks, selling books, talking to people etc. etc. etc.

The most interesting part is not one of us felt exhausted or tiered at the end of the four days. Every day after every event, by the time we wound up the place, it used to be 11pm at the very least. And the next morning we were back at the next venue for setting up early in the morning by 7am. The days leading to the four days also had something similar - walking along streets of Singapore selling tickets, postering etc.

But one should see the energy of the volunteers to believe it. Each one of us seemed to have been fitted with a un-dischargable battery. None of us cared about any of us physical or mental limits. They simply did not exist.

What was happening to us? A senior ashramite of Paramahamsa Nithyananda talked to us about Karma Yoga just before the event and those words are so true. He says, 'The reason why Swamiji sets unthinkable goals or milestones for individuals is because He wants to take you beyond the two levels of energy that you know - the physical and mental energies. He wants you to look beyond the so-called physical and mental limits that you have set for yourself. Only when such an ambitious goal is set, you will see that you are operating not from body and not from your mind but from your being or the spirit. This is Karma Yoga - a selfless way of working to expand one's own horizons.'

We are strongly conditioned about our capabilities, both physical and mental. We believe that we can do only this much or we can take in only this much. That is the biggest conspiracy done to us by everyone around us. As a result, we never look beyond those limits. In fact we don't even consider them our limits. We think that is it. That is the end.

One should see the disciples in the monastery. They work on 100 different things. They sleep for hardly three-four hours but not one of them has a tiered face. They enjoy. They radiate energy to everyone around.

These few days, we experienced the third level of energy. If one looked at the amount of work that was done during the last few weeks, it is simply impossible for us to have worked with our physical or mental energies. We could clearly see breaking the limits and barriers that we had previously set for ourselves. And we could very well see that by breaking those boundaries, we were flooded with unfathomable energy in us, an inexhaustible energy that was always overflowing.

The Master works in mysterious ways to make us realize of our own true potential. He does not care whether there are 100 people or 200 people attending His discourse or how good or bad the venue is set and arranged. He sets the goal for us to go beyond our body and mind. That is His compassion!!

We express our sincere and heartfelt gratitude to our Master - Paramahamsa Nithyananda for His compassion and to have given us this wonderful opportunity.

The journey continues

The yatris are back from the parivrajaka. Yes, the theme of the Varanasi trip was 'parivrajaka', which means wandering. To put our experiences with the Master during the entire trip in just one single post is simply impossible and more importantly, some experiences are hard to be described in words; they have to be experienced. We will try our best to put our experiences with the Master during the trip in the next few posts that come up in our blog.

For now, let me give you all a brief write up on the entire trip, where we went, what happened etc. in a summary form.

Like I said in the beginning, we were on parivrajaka. In our previous post - 'Off we go ...', we talked about a seeker being a person who lives in utter insecurity. The trip started off with the Master's words, 'In the next two weeks, we are going to cut ourselves off from our identity. When we are located on single place, we start making ourselves comfortable because of the familiarity we start associating with that place. When we wander, every place is new, every moment is fresh and uncertain. That is when our identity is shaken. We cannot associate our identity with any one place during parivrajaka because we are not stationed at one place for long. We are on the move ...'

That is how we started on our parivrajaka with the Master. Every moment during the trip, the Master was continuously working on us. We went to places where He had visited during His parivrajaka. Konark, Puri, Bhubaneswar, Dakshineswar, Kamarpukur, Joyaram Bhatti, Bodh Gaya, Vishnu Gaya, Varanasi and Allahabad, we went from place to place with the Master. Each place was an energy hub, related to an enlightened master. Every place, we had a beautiful discourse and an intense meditation by the Master to help us connect to the energy of the place.

This was not a simple sight-seeing tour and the Master was not our tour guide. Each one of us in the trip had intense spiritual experiences during the course of the tour. He worked on each one of us. And we could clearly see the change in energies as we progressed from place to the other. The Master expressed the energy of the place and made us experience it.

During our stay in Puri, we were dancing and singing kirtans all the time. In Dakshineswar, He talked about devotion towards God or the Ultimate Cosmic Consciousness and put us through intense meditation to connect with It. In Bodh Gaya, we were immersed in meditation for 2 to 3 hours under the Bodhi tree where Buddha got enlightened. In Varanasi, He made us connect with Shiva and Ganga. While I am writing this now, I can feel the surge of energy that we all experienced at each and every place.

We had many light moments; if I list them down here, the post can go on for ever. The Master took care of each one of us; We had 3 hour long boat rides on Ganga with the Master cracking jokes, telling stories... and many more like these.

We saw how the Master lives in closer quarters during these two weeks. We had goose bumps, tears when we saw some aspects of the Master. We were taken to a completely different plane. One thing is certain:

what we see as Nithyananda is nothing; the six foot body that we see as Nithyananda is nothing. There is much bigger, unexplainable and unfathomable energy behind that six-foot frame. He coming down to our frequency to interact with us is His compassion.

On the last day, the Master said, 'the trip will never come to an end if you take the intensity of the trip - the intensity of seeking the truth - to wherever you are going back.'

And so, the journey continues....



More photos at http://www.nithyananda.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=393&Itemid=380

Relaxing in the present moment

'What is our idea of relaxation? After work, we generally say, 'let me go and relax.' What do we generally do to relax?', I asked these to a group of people who came for an introductory talk on meditation. Some answers were: sleeping, doing nothing, watching TV, gardening ...

Different kinds of answers but everyone agreed on one thing, 'when we are not working, we try to relax...'

Now the question is, 'are we really relaxing?'

General notion of relaxation is comparative, i.e. if I am an accountant, during the office hours I am busy looking at accounts, some numbers etc. After the office hours, I go back home and sit in front of a TV and spend some time watching something. I call this after-work process where I am not doing any accounts, relaxing. If the same evening, I spend meeting some client and discuss accounts, that again is work and not relaxation.

So if we are not working on something which we associate it with our profession, we call that relaxation.

The point that I am trying to put forth is - we are simply changing our object of thought process from one to the other but our mind is still busy with thousands of thoughts. At office, our mind was busy fiddling with thoughts about accounts, at home our mind is busy absorbing and working on horror and action that comes on TV.

What is relaxation supposed to do? Why would we want to relax? So that we are rejuvenated. Relaxation should refresh us. It should boost us with energy.

But after so-called relaxing by watching TV or by going for a movie or by partying, are we really energized and rejuvenated? The answer most of the times is - no.

All we are doing is just changing the place and object; that's all! Paramahamsa Nithyananda says, 'when you are at office and thinking, you call it work; when you are sitting on a beach and thinking, you call it vacation.' If we are thinking everywhere and everything, where is the relaxation happening?

The reason why we get tired is because we dissipate large amounts of our energy thinking about our past and future. That is when we look for relaxation. We believe that by changing the place, the object of work to another, we can stop the thought chain. We seek the help of external world to keep our attention diverted from something that we believe is taxing us. But the next object that we take up, the next place that we go to comes with its own set of thoughts and our mind is happy again. It has food to eat though we think we are relaxing and calming the mind.

Sleeping is another activity which we believe relaxes us. It is true to an extent but not always. Even after sleeping, we continue our thinking process through our dreams. And if we notice carefully, we feel tired and sick after we wake up dreaming all night. There are few moments of deep sleep (without dreams) that we enter into which helps us to relax and energize.

So the question still remains, 'how do we relax?' Paramahamsa Nithyananda says, 'Get a break from the inner chatter and experience deep relaxation.' Only when we are in the present moment, when we are completely within ourselves, we can be completely relaxed. Total relaxation is not obtained by changing the external environment like the work or the place. It can be obtained by changing the internal environment. Even while working, we can be in complete relaxation only if we are in the present moment and enjoying the moment to its fullest and with extreme enthusiasm. That is the reason why there are many people who feel relaxed and fresh after gardening and such activities because they enjoy every moment and where they focus only on gardening and nothing else.

Meditation helps us to experience great sense of relaxation in a conscious manner. It helps us to fall into the present moment and thus into low-thoughts zone in a conscious way, i.e we go into that state of relaxation being completely aware of it. The number of thoughts decrease drastically at the end of the meditation. When the thoughts decrease, the energy dissipation also decreases and we relax. In Nithyananda's monastery in India, we undergo hours of meditation and get hardly two or three hours of sleep but throughout the day, we are fresh and energized.

Meditation is the greatest tool for real relaxation. Try it and see for yourself :)

Ashram... spiritual laboratory

Recently one of my friends decided to join Swami Nithyananda's ashram (monastery). This decision of his became quite a bit of news amongst his relatives and friends. Many people ask a common question, 'why do we have to join the ashram to grow spiritually? Can't we progress by staying out?'

A very valid question indeed and a debatable one also... Anyways let me jot down some points what Swami Nithyananda says about this. First of all we must understand what the purpose of an ashram is. Only then can we really see the reason for someone joining it.

As soon as we step out of our house, or even inside the house when we switch on the TV, we are continuously filled with three base emotions - fear, greed and lust. Everywhere around us, the society tries to instill one of these three emotions inside us. If we see carefully, even the ideas of peace and love that the society promotes is based on fear and greed. Every hoarding, every advertisement, everything that happens and exists outside us constantly feeds us with these emotions.

With these around us, our unconscious mind that works million times faster than our conscious mind picks up all these without even we knowing. We think we are not getting affected or influenced by any of these but the truth is our unconscious has already registered it. We are constantly adding ourselves with these three emotions knowingly or unknowingly (most of the times).

Swami Nithyananda says, 'Ashram is an energy center, a spiritual incubator, where inner science can be studied, experimented with and experienced.' An ashram provides conducive environment for one to fill oneself with love and peace and nothing else. That is the purpose of an ashram... to help one be in the constant thought of enlightenment, in the continuous contemplation of the truth.

This is the reason why an ashram is ideal place for spiritual growth.

Now, coming to the next question, 'Can't we progress by staying out?' We can but we need to be sure that we are not affected by these emotions that surround us in our day to day life outside. We need to answer to ourselves honestly, 'are we totally unaffected by the society and its conditionings?' If the answer is true, then we can very well be living outside and progress in our spiritual journey. Unfortunately, for most of us, the answer is in the negative...

And the second question we have to answer to ourselves is, 'can we maintain the intensity of seeking while staying out? Can the quest of seeking the truth be constantly intensified in us?' Swami Nithyananda says, 'when the question becomes a quest, when the urge becomes urgent, enlightenment just happens...' An ashram creates the intense atmosphere for seeking the truth. If one can stay out and keep the quest burn constantly in oneself, he/she is truly exceptional...

We sit outside and pass judgments about people in there; we evaluate them... All I am saying we have no right to comment on them or talk about them because they are more courageous and bolder than us to go in there for the truth and enlightenment...

Before ending, I would like to say that I am not asking everyone to go an ashram. That is not the point. Infact Swami Nithyananda turns down many requests of joining ashram because He knows when a person is really ready to enter an ashram. All I want to convey is we are in no position to question or doubt or evaluate or talk about people who have taken the gutsy step going all out for the Ultimate...

Hats off to them...

Grown-up - Are we??

Last night, I saw this cute little girl, probably less than two years old, dressed up in a beautiful white frock, running around while her mom was standing nearby. I was watching her playfully running around enjoying the moonlight and after a few seconds, she cheerfully sat down and lied down completely on the road. I could clearly see that she was playing with a big grin on her face. Her mom on the other side was looking all around and started scolding her, 'you should not lie down like that here... get up .. get up ...' After a few seconds, the kid jumped up and started running all around...

Such incidents are a not new. They keep happening everywhere. The first thing that comes to our mind when we talk about or look at children is their innocence, playfulness and cheerfulness. They are full of energy (literally). They are not bothered about society. They jump, they whirl, they run, they laugh, they do everything and they are not bothered who is around, where they are, what people say.

We all were in that state and along the way of so-called 'growing-up' we have forgotten our true self. Paramahamsa Nithyananda says, 'We have forgotten our true nature, that of innocence, that of bliss, as we grew up. Layers and layers of societal and parental conditionings have been built up on us and we forget our true nature.'

Our true nature is that of bliss. We expressed that bliss when we were kids but now if someone says one word against us, we are upset the whole day. We don't smile for weeks or don't talk to that person again for days or even years. If we look at children, they cry but just after a few minutes they start smiling.

We see a number of times how children effortlessly walk barefoot on surfaces where we can't even imagine to walk. I have seen kids running around barefoot in the ashram where some stretches have gravel and stones. When we walk, we think of the pain, the heat of sand, the piercing stones even before we walk. Children on the other hand, don't know what is pain unless you tell them what it is. You might have seen it many times; children fall but immediate get up and start running around. If they are hurt, they just point towards it but they don't cry immediately until we adults go and ask them, 'is it paining?'

We have been constantly bombarded with all kinds of negative ideas and conditionings and we do the same thing with our children. We were constantly bound by society and we bind the children also in the same way. The way we speak, the way we walk, the way we lead our life are completely dependent on how the society wants us to be but not on how we want to express ourselves. Just because we mold ourselves to fit into the society, we go through all our problems. The insecurities, fears, guilt, stress, worry and whatever emotion we can think of, even love, is because of our inability to express our true nature and our fear of being quarantined by the society.

Children on the other hand are centered. They are not bound by the society (atleast initially). They just express their energy and bliss. They can jump for hours together; can we adults do that? No! They can whirl continuously; can we adults do that? No! What is the difference? They simply do not associate themselves with the body. They don't see their body as an obstacle to express their bubbling energy. But we, so called adults, we have become more body conscious and society conscious. We simply do not know what we are. We define ourselves based on the society but they aren't like that. We so bound by society and its concepts like status, name, fame, money, caste, religion etc. ete. that most of the times we don't know who our neighbour is. Leave two children in a room; they start playing; they start interacting even if they are new to each other. Forget an unknown person, we sometimes don't even speak to our relatives and friends openly.

If you get a chance to go to the Swamiji's ashram in Bidadi, see the Gurukul kids there. They radiate bliss. They will come and serve you food, they help you get around the ashram etc. During one of the programs, I remember how beautifully they were helping us understand and do the guru puja. They simply radiate that bliss to everyone, wherever you are from.

All we have to do is break all these conditionings. All our so-called problems simply disappear with this one understanding and some of the meditation courses by Paramahamsa Nithyananda work exactly on this... Once we do that, all we are left with is nothing by eternal bliss - nithyananda. Enjoy this short 2-minute clipping on this subject by Paramahamsa Himself.

Shiva: Causeless Auspicious Energy!

For the first time in our lives, Shiva Raatri was really a raatri with Shiva! We started off the evening of Shiva Raatri, 6th March 2008 with a special satsang here, where we watched Swamiji talk about 'Shiva: the Causeless Auspicious Energy'. Truly, nothing could be more auspicious than being in His energy field. The beautiful energy play during the meditation and the energy darshan that followed!!!

Totally charged and rejuvenated after the satsang, four of us headed to our place with a resolve to do a jaagaran (night out). Initially none of us thought we could pull through a full night out physically, considering we had to be back in office/work/meetings/presentations the next day. But somehow, we decided strongly "today we will not allow our mind to cause us any fatigue, sleep or boredom"... after all, what better opportunity to soak into the causeless energy!

We selected and watched a few of our favorite videos of Swamiji, interspersed it with some Ananda Natana (blissful dance...yes, at about 3 am we were dancing away to the latest breathless Nithya dance beats!) and did a beautiful darkness meditation that converted whatever trace of sleep into fresh bursts of energy! There was simply so much energy everywhere, we thought to ourselves "its not just the four of us in that house.. Swamiji was definitely with us!!"

We then went for a 'Nithya Yoga walk' at about 5 am, every step with intensity, awareness, breathing in the cool fresh prana (life energy) of braahmi muhurtam (referred to wee hours of morning, ideal for meditation). It was such a fun packed day (night!).

At the end of it, something that proved to be an interesting learning experience for us. We could clearly see the liberation and energizing process that happens when we ignore the mind (in this case, the context of lethargy or tiredness). Swami in His latest talks on Nithya Dhyaan at Bangalore speaks about a wonderful concept, that of chronic fatigue. He gives an example. When we are running, after a while, the mind says "no no, I think you are tired.. I think you need some rest..etc". If at that point, we choose to ignore the ranting of the mind and continue running, He says we suddenly feel a tremendous burst of energy. This is because the samskara of chronic fatigue would have left our system for those moments and hence the liberation.. the energy rush happens. He goes on to say that if a seeker has crossed this layer of chronic fatigue, then 90% of his spiritual journey has been covered.

What a great opportunity to internalize so many truths! Truly, a night with Shiva, a night with the Truth, a night with Nithyaaaaananda!!

Here's Paramahamsa Nithyananda's video on Shiva:

Vedic Chants... Useless? Think Again.

For most so-called modern people, especially youth, when we are told the word, "chants", thats it. We immediately call it religious and useless. We dismiss the chants instantly. We do not even want to listen to them. We feel our so-called modern image does not go well with the chants. Ironically, this syndrome is seen more in Indians.

To those of us who reject chants in the name of religion or tradition, a simple question, 'have we ever wondered why so many Sanskrit chants were written in the first place? Why were they written in a particular way? Why do they sound in a particular way? Why one comes after the other? What is their significance?'
No! we do not even want to think about these questions, simply because we want to be modern, we want to be non-religious, we want to be scientific. Let me tell you, the sounds of these chants, the structure of these chants are more scientific than modern day quantum physics. Modern day scientists are currently working on the power of these chants, the effects of these chants on human mind-body system.

The people, who designed and wrote these chants, developed them in high states of consciousness. The mere sounds of these chants create vibrations, which have healing and cleansing properties; there are enough scientific evidences to prove this. Many emotional disorders and depression can be healed by the vibrations of these chants. Lifestyle diseases like diabetics, blood pressure, ulcers etc. are being tackled with these vibrations. Experiments have shown that plants that grow better amidst chants. If all this is not modern then I doubt what is?

Paramahamsa Nithyananda says, 'Every language tires us when we speak in that language. Sanskrit is the only language which creates sounds, which creates vibrations that energizes us when we speak it. Sanskrit language is not just linguistic which was created for the sake of transmitting an idea or concept. It has phonetic importance also. The very vibrations that are generated have power on you. And being in the sound of the Vedic chants is an easy way to experience the power these vibrations.'

And we reject them just because our fast paced modern lifestyle does not think them to be cool enough for us. We are ready to listen to music in Arabic or Spanish or Chinese, languages which we don't even understand. Even worse we listen to songs with heavy music, songs where we can't even make out whether it is a music or noise, sounds which create terrible effects in our system but we cannot sit down and listen few minutes of Sanskrit chants. Simply because these chants are not modern enough; we think they are not scientific enough.

Just being in the vibrations generated by the chants can do wonders in our system. The only thing that is stopping us modern people from even trying this is our mind and ego. Drop that mind, drop our so called modern image for a few minutes, so that we can allow these sounds to work on us. Let me leave you with a beautiful video on this topic in our Master's own words.

Thank you is not enough

Yesterday, one of our friend came back from India after attending a four day meditation program with Paramahamsa Nithyananda. He was narrating to us in great detail what happened during those four days in the ashram, the way how our Master was talking, His antics, His jokes, His narrations, His mannerisms etc. We talked and talked until mid night and I am sure we could have continued even more ...

During this entire period, we didn't even know how time went by. Not just this once, every time our friends come back from ashram after meeting the Master, we await here for their encounters with the Master.

Forget people coming from India, when we read about the Master's graceful acts in emails, like how He was dancing with people on the banks of Ganga, how He was playfully throwing pebbles at people like a kid, how He was riding an golf-cart like electric car and trying to hit everyone around, even then by reading those emails we get mesmerised; we get completely drawn into Him; we feel happy for no reason at all; we experience bliss...

We have invariably seen whoever has met the Master comes back dancing, in ecstasy. They will go on and on and on... There is no end. When we listen to them, a common chord strikes, that of bliss, that of being a part of the same Existential Energy. Though we were not present at the place and time when it happened, when the narration happens, we are literally transported to a parallel universe where all those events are replayed..

If somebody wants to know the meaning of bliss, I can say the moments when we hear and talk about the beautiful divine acts of the Master, what we experience and express is bliss :)

Just some emotions pouring out ...

A glimpse from His beautiful eyes, we wait;
A motherly hug from Him, we wait;
A beating with His Zen stick, we wait;
A scolding from His energy, we wait.

When He laughs, the whole Universe laughs with Him
When He talks, the whole Universe listens to Him.
When He sings, all the planets play for Him.
When He walks, the entire cosmos moves with Him.

Like a baby, He sleeps;
Like a baby, He complains;
Like a baby, He plays;
Like a baby, He dances...

What beauty! just indescribable...
What grace! just unimaginable...
What innocence! too much to handle..
Before Him, everything seems feeble.

India ... the spiritual incubator

Last week, we were in Paramahamsa Nithyananda's ashram in India for His birthday celebrations. Though indescribable, we have tried our best to give a gist of what it was like to be in the energy field of a living enlightened master for just a few days. Everyone in the ashram was blissed out totally, dancing, singing, jumping in ecstasy, completely immersed in the energy.

Anyways, after the birthday celebrations, we left the ashram to my parents' place by train. Its an overnight journey. I found myself allocated to the middle berth and on the lower berth, I found a long haired, bermuda-t-shirt clad westerner lost in his own world. As soon as he saw me, he turned his head, his attention on the book I was reading- Sri Sharada Devi - The Holy Mother. He smiled and immediately said, 'that's a nice book.'

Why am I quoting this incident? This incident brought back one of my very old questions. Why is it that any person from any part of the world comes to India in search for deeper truths? Why do seekers of the Ultimate Truth think India is the place where there is an answer? This guy is not just touring India. He is certainly come to India for something more because he knows and read about masters like Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Sharada Devi.

Paramahamsa Nithyananda declares, "India is the spiritual incubator of the world." There is no doubt about it. Several enlightened masters and beings happened in India, Krishna, Buddha, Mahavira, Patanjali, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Vivekananda, Sharada Devi, Ramana Maharshi, Annamalai Swami, Sai Baba, Osho, Ajja, Paramahamsa Nithyananda ... the list goes on and on. There are thousands of enlightened masters and beings sitting in remote corners of India who are not even known to common people.

India is a culmination of the energy of these enlightened masters and it is this energy that strikes a chord with the seekers from the rest of the world. Osho puts it beautifully, "India is not just a geography or history. It is not only a nation, a country, a mere piece of land. It is something more: it is a metaphor, poetry, something invisible but very tangible. It is vibrating with certain energy fields that no other country can claim."

That is India. In terms of materialistic possessions, India may be termed as developing but in spiritual possessions, India is the only developed country. The people of so-called developed countries turn to India when everything external fails to fulfill the deepest inner craving for the Ultimate Truth.

India is a metaphor for the Ultimate Truth; India is a beautiful poetry penned down by the energies of the enlightened masters; India is a colorful painting with strokes of energy made by these masters and India is a culmination of the faith, hope and trust of a billion people on this Ultimate Truth in one way or the other.

Where words fail...

Last week, this blog saw no posts for two reasons. One is that we were at Bidadi ashram for Swamiji's birthday celebrations, away from internet and secondly, we were in the space of no-words! Truly, words fail to describe the silence and the depth of it that one experiences in the energy field of Swami Nithyananda at Bidadi. Anyway, here is an attempt to share my experiences there.

The ashram at Bidadi has many layers of significance, in the physical and the metaphysical planes. My favorite spot in the ashram is the banyan tree. The 600 year old banyan tree built on an ageless cave, the samadhi on an enlightened master takes you to eternity. It is amazing to see so many creatures live in harmony there - squirrels, owls, mynas, snakes, bugs, beetles, ants, rats... As Swamiji puts it, just being at the banyan tree is meditation, one has to experience it. If you get a chance, don't miss it.

The cave at the banyan tree had a swayambhu (self formed) shiva linga, which has now been consecrated at the Anandeshwara temple. This temple whose deities have been infused with life energy by the master Himself resonates with a high frequency. The unique thing about Swami's temples is that everyone is allowed to touch and interact with the deities.

The most ironic thing was that although there were so many people who had come down for the celebrations, amidst the noise there was silence, amidst the chaos there was a strange order, amidst the diversity there was a common bond.

We all got to do 'firewalking' as part of the celebrations. It is an amazing cleansing activity and an opportunity to see how much ours fears are a projection of our minds. All of us walked on burning coal so effortlessly just because of the assurance that the master is sitting in front of us blessing us. It's amazing! no blisters, no burns, no nothing! When we offer our fears and negativities at the feet of the master, it is so liberating! Nothing can burn us then :)

There is so much that happened in that short span of a few days at ashram. A deep alchemy! It is said that there are 5 moods that one can relate with God with - that of a mother to God, a child to God, a servant to God, a friend to God and a beloved to God. It is also said that the relationship with the master is deeper than all these 5 put together! Indeed it's true - for those of us who are fortunate to taste even a bit of this deep relationship can attest to this. The master-disciple relationship is so sweet, so deep, words always fail to describe it.

In deepest gratitude to Swamiji...