Rendezvous with Rashmin

Have you observed time pass? Time is ticking away. Every moment I am coming closer and closer to the end. The inevitable end. What will then matter and what will not?

All the subtle and gross desires, all aversions, intense or mild, joy, sadness, frustration, success, failure, beauty, love, compassion, jealousy, anger, lust, greed and all of it put together seem utterly insignificant and meaningless when you think of "TIME" which just swallows every pleasant and unpleasant experience and moves on..... Unstoppable and Impregnable.

NOTHING can pass the test of TIME.
And if there is something that can, that would be the only thing worth Experiencing!

Love
Rashmin

PS: This post is the result of me watching a video called "Time" on youtube, a talk given by His Holiness Sri Sri RaviShankar.

"The very purpose of such variety in creation is to bring you back to your self, to come to know that you are beautiful - that you are beauty..... Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

The fall season as they call it, is a time when nature reveals its true colours! you can see the trees in all the different shades of green, yellow, orange, red and pink blending with each other and forming such incredibly beautiful scenery that for a moment, mind stops and your heart goes Wow!!!

Enjoy the pics

All ready to fall...


Fallen.


Look at this one below..bright yellow in the midst of all the dark green


This tree next to our home is green above and red below!


Here is our dear Dinesh Ghodke "experiencing" the fall.


Inspite of all this its amazing that atheists do exist on this planet!

Love
Rashmin

Its really mysterious how some of the good things go completely unnoticed. Peaceful warrior is a really meaningful and inspirational movie based on a true story of a gymnast (Dan Millman) who meets with a dreadful bike accident shattering one of his bone into 17 pieces and yet makes a stunning come back into the professional circuit surpassing all expectations of his friends and coach.

One of the major factors that contributes to his success is his meeting with a old, mysterious (enlightened?) man in a service station who attracts his attention by showing a few miracles and then in the most unique way trains him to live in the present moment! The first interaction that they have starts with the old man asking him, "are you happy"?

When I say its a must see I myself have no idea how? The film was released in 2006 and its DVD is not available in most of the shops in Mumbai (Please check and let me know if you get it) Nobody has even heard about it. Quite surprising.

The conversations between the old man and the gymnast are mind blowing. The movie kept all of us hooked till the last moment and it ends with his first comeback performance on the rings. I can just keep watching that last scene may be a hundred times.

One of my favorites dialogue of the movie is "the one who are the hardest to love are the ones who need it the most"

Love ( I am pretty easy)
Rashmin

Thank you so much for all your suggestions for the name of the talk. Guruji says that technology is making the globe shrink into a village and its the turn of spirituality to convert it into a family. As I am practically alone here organising the course its great to see how our AOL family members are so keen to spread the knowledge. No wonder we are the fastest growing NGO in the world.

Since now I have a big team working with me I would like to give all of you the latest updates. I took all your suggestions and had a discussion with a few local people here about the name and what I should speak in those 2 mts. We had a nice laughing session. In the beginning all of us were serious and then the jokes started. A few funny suggestions for the names and the talk..

1. Experience the superman in you!... suggested by gauri ( over skype. she is in India)
2. The only path to heaven ... your nose!
3. Come ..breathe ..change your life and die.

and many more.

Anyway, after talking to these people I realised that anything even remotely flowery or philosophical would not work. People here are extremely rational and academic. Scientific research and proofs interest them a lot. So ultimately I just settled for "Power of Breath" (very boring it sounds . I know) Along with that is attached the "Science of breath" pamphlet. There is a gap of two hours between lectures so in that time I go around the campus and talk to people The talk is going to happen tomorrow at 4:15.

I had just 3 people confirmed for the course and guess what! All the 3 have backed out. So we are back to where we started. I have taken this up as a challenge and every failure is only increasing my enthusiasm! I am going to be doing this till the last minute before the course starts.... Joyfully! remembering what Guruji once said "No work done with a good intention ever goes waste"

Love
Rashmin

Hello everyone! wherever you are I need your brains to work for me a bit. So that I can really crack this university of Oslo and give a lot of people a taste of ................. ( fill in the blank)

I would just paste here what Raghvan commented on my previous post

Jai Guru Dev Rashmin ! When we tried to organize intro talks at my univ in US, we were" greeted with empty rooms for weeks on end. Then we started organizing free yoga/meditation sessions. These "buzzwords" seemed to work really well and we got many students by word of mouth . We would do some yoga, followed by the "Gift Of Silence" meditation after which the students would be really ready to hear about the course.
Thank you Raghav.

From all of you I need a name for the one hour session I will do here. Here Yoga is not yet such a "in thing" as in the US may be. (not too sure). But I want a nice cool name that will make them want to come to get refreshed and rejuvenated... like having a sip of energy..or something on those lines.

Send your suggestions by 12:00 in the afternoon and ask a lot more of our volunteers and teachers also to find a name for this.

I am waiting....

Love
Rashmin

"What you say sounds really interesting but I am afraid I need to check my calender. I am really busy for the next few weeks may be till December. You may send a mail and I will discuss in the committee meeting happening in Nov 1st week. Any way thanks for calling. Wish you good luck.bye" This is how most of my conversations end after I have said what we generally say about our courses.

Everybody here lives as per plans that are made well in advance. Nobody is allowed to sneak in and interfere. So all my attempts of organising an Introductory lecture in the classroom or in any of the students organisations (there are 250) of the Oslo University have failed. Home intro talks?.. not yet fixed.

Every place holds its challenge as far as spreading this beautiful knowledge of the Art of Living is concerned. Every place that we go is an opportunity to "unlearn". As I like to say we are on a path where we need to keep refining and redefining what we call "being 100%".

In this super huge campus there are 30 thousand students. Its a strange feeling. I am here with something so precious but there hardly seems to be any way letting them know it! We have booked a small seminar room every wednesdays and fridays for an hour for the Intro talk. I am allowed to enter a class and with the lecturers permission talk for 2 mts max to invite people for the talk. This seems to be the only option left. Lets see what happens next...

Love
Rashmin

Thats our home in Oslo. Beautiful is nt it? Guruji also stayed in the same house when he was here. People here are very different. Not so expressive as we Indians are. But it was amazing to see that same Guru madness when HE was around. Chasing him in cars and that same desperation to be with him and get in his car.

The whole atmosphere was vibrant with love and joy. Its amazing to see how people just keep smiling for no apparent reason in his presence. There is so much noise and yet so much silence.

After he left 5 people rushed to his room and started jumping on the bed on which he slept. They had actually washed the entire house before his arrival and everything was extremely well organised.

As I write sitting in the room you see below I cant believe I am in the same place. It so completely different.
This is the room where 50 people almost all the time sat with him and laughed with him and had delicious Indian food!



Right now I am all alone and really really missing HIM..

Love
Rashmin

Sorry for that hibernation. I am back and I have yet again made the resolution of writing regularly. For all those who have been waiting " thank you for being so patient". Finally I am quite settled here now in oslo, Norway, the richest and the most expensive country in the world.

Anyway I would first like all of you to know how I landed here. On the 26th of Aug I got a call from Vasanthi saying that GURUJI has asked me to go to Iceland. He said "Rashmin will go to Iceland and ice them". This obviously made me happy but the very next thought that came to my mind was that I have not yet renewed my passport which had expired in the month of july. My destination later on changed to Norway and sweden but I paid a very high price for procrastination and being disorganised in life. My motto in life was " ab kare so aaj, aaj kare so kal, kal kare so parso, aisi bhi kya jaldi hai jab jeena hai barso". I have devotedly followed this principle in life and for the first time I faced a consequence that I would remember forever.

I MISSED FLYING WITH HIM ON THE 8TH MORNING TO GERMANY AND a chance to SPEND AROUND 4 DAYS WITH HIM IN GERMANY AND NORWAY' because I had not bothered to renew my passport!

Nevertheless I gave my 100% to get my passport on time so that i could fly with HIM. But it was too late. I had to make a few trips to the passport office, visa office and also the post office. Unfortunate are those who have to spend a portion of their life in the above mentioned places all in a span of one week with a irresistable temptation of flying with GOD hanging in front of the eyes all throughout. The whole week was horrible. I like to call it "gyan ki agni pariksha".

Finally I caught the flight on the 13th morning to oslo via frankfurt so that I could spend atleast one day with him. I had to shop, pack, learn how to cook and everything as usual was in a mess.

I was allowed to carry 20 kgs in the flight. I had 24 kgs. They charge 30 euros per extra kg. I had carried spices which contain chilli powder which is not allowed to be carried in the hand baggage. Last but not the least I had packed my german invitation letter in the check in baggage so I had nothing to show to the german security (passport control) so that they allow me to catch my flight to oslo where Guruji had already reached.

The check in guy looked at me and said " its 24 kgs .. but its ok I am allowing you as an exception" The guy at the security check said " actually you cant take this in your hand baggage but its ok I am considering you as an exception!"and finally the german security held me for 20 mts gave me disgusting looks and finally just stamped my ticket and said " go".

Because of my own stupidity I missed the flight with HIM but he was all the way with me.

I would keep all of you posted on whats happening in my life here since my arrival. Keep reading...

Love
Rashmin

Its amazing. Guruji speaks on something as profound as the Bhagvad Gita and after a few minutes in the same satsang dances on “Jiya Dhadak dhadak”!

The following two questions illustrate the real essence of Gurudev! Playfulness and depth. He can instigate roars of laughter with his amazing sense of humour and in the next few moments say something that makes your heart go wow! And you get it right “in” because that’s exactly what you needed at that point of time.

Just read this and you will know what I mean..

Q : Would you please encourage our husbands wash utensils and cut vegetables even at home just as they did here during the advance course? (Followed by loud cheering from all the women in the course).

Guruji : yes yes definitely. But then it would be nice if you too maintained silence at home just the way you did in the advance course. (Followed by loud cheering by all the men in the course)

Q : I miss you very much. Do you miss me?

Guruji : When I am in your mind its only me who exist. But when I am not in your mind “I” miss you very much. I long for you.

Love
Rashmin

This one was really mind blowing. I felt so greatful for having Guruji in my life because only a satguru can so beautifully unlock the real meaning of the sutras propounded in the scriptures.

Here it is..
Krishna tells Arjuna that your enemies are your cravings and aversions. But know that these cravings house themselves between the senses and the sense objects. So just recognize them but do not get involved in them.

Guruji explained that if we think that cravings are our enemies and they are within us than that would never allow us to meditate and move closer within. So Krishna says know that they lie between the senses and the sense objects (that exist outside in the world). With this understanding you do not feel the need to try to get rid of them nor you get yourself involved. Just recognize and relax!

This saved a lot of trouble for me..

Love
Rashmin

I was returning back home from an Introductory talk in a college. I was standing in a bus singing and humming. Till then I had never composed a bhajan nor did I intend to. After a few minutes I started "la la loing" something really melodious. It was something completely new and " fresh". Sounded very nice. I was sure I would forget it after I reach home so I recorded the tune in my mobile phone.

This is how "Hari Narayana" One of Guruji's favourite bhajans got composed. Imagine my utter excitement when I was sitting in a satsang and HE grabbed the mike and started singing "Hari narayan..narayana" in his typical style! Moreover I was listening to that bhajan in a satsang for the first time.

More than a year has passed and it still seems to be Guruji's favourite. Every time I used to hear HIM sing I felt great but the last time something different happened. As the whole of vishalakshi Mantap was immersed in the song along with Guruji I started feeeling very strongly... "this is not mine. Its just happened through me"

The very next day when HE was speaking on the Bhagvad Gita he told us the meaning of " Nirmama" which means "not me". He said, "All the misery one experiences in life is because of two things. Its either a "want" or the feeeling of "me". When someone abuses you, what is said is not disturbing but the fact that its being said to "ME" is the cause of pain." He further explained that when you do something genius or out of this world you will never think as if you have done it. You will always feel that it just happened through you."

By practicing Nirmama we would effortessly let the divine permeate in every aspect of our life.

Love
RAshmin