Rendezvous with Rashmin

Yesterday was the first day of the Yes!+ Winter break program. It was a perfect beginning, gently showing off a glimpse of what is in store for the 800 plus strong yes!+ graudates who have travelled from all over the world to be here to celebrate the New year a bit differently from the rest of the world.

Yesterday we had a perfect satsang in the ashram led by Vikram Hazra the great, and the latest upcoming singing star Ambarish.

Right from the second bhajan the satsang hit the roof. It was amazing to see the way Vikram conducts a bhajan. He is so creative, has his own distinct style of singing and gives every song he sings his own unique "Vikram touch". Conducting a satsang is not just about good singing but being sensitive about the kind of energy present in the environment and choosing bhajans accordingly and singing them accordingly.Only a few can manage this and out of that only a few can do it consistently.


According to me a Satsang is perfect when its a blend of power packed Shiva bhajans, Sublime devi bhajans, devotional Guru bhajans and blissfully joyful krishna bhajans. Of course with vikram around you also get a couple of meaningful and melodious English songs in between. A satsang has achieved its purpose when it leaves you joyful and at the same time longing for more.

We sang, danced, cried in gratitude and meditated.

Thanks to Vikram who has achieved excellence in the way he plays the guitar, sings and conducts a satsang.

Love
Rashmin.

This is "jealousy". I do not like it (why?). I do not want to feel this way. This is what is life all about. Either I am craving or resisting.I really wonder, is feeling unpleasant the problem or not wanting to feel unpleasant the real problem.

If I go futher may be I can even question the basic assumption that a particular sensation that I experience is either pleasant or unpleasant. Why do I call a particular sensation pleasant and some other sensation as unpleasant? Why do I crave for a particular type of sensations and resist certain other types of sensations? Is it possible to go beyond this fundamental likes and dislikes? Is there something called a pleasant sensation or is it just my craving that makes it pleasant?

Questioning the basic assumptions can help us go beyond the duality,beyond the opposites.
I think so.do you?

JaiGurudev
Rashmin

Remembering death is one of the laws of spirituality. As we remember death craving subsides and serenity dawns. There is a difference between knowing death as a fact and consciously reminding oneself of it.Remembrance of death immediately brings about a shift in awareness. Priorities change and things which seemed very important do not seem so and something that you thought was ok to postpone may seem like the most urgent and important thing to do!

Intelligent are those who learn from their own experience and wise are those who learn from others experience. “Tuesdays with Morrie “ is a beautiful book written by Mitch Albom, who has narrated his own entire experience about the time he spent with his favorite university teacher Morrie who knew that he is going to die in a few months.
The conversations they have had are full of wisdom and the relationship they share is really beautiful. I started reading this book as I boarded the flight back home to Bangalore from Oslo. I just couldn’t stop till I finished it.


Love
Rashmin.

Once upon a time during one of the satsangs in one of our ashrams, one of our devotees, who was quite fed up eating the bland food was praying for something really tasty. By the end of the satsang he was pleasantly surprised to see one of the other devotees coming on the stage with a huge, delicious looking cake as it was his birthday.

As he was thinking that finally he would have something different and tasty to eat Guruji started wrapping the cake pieces in tissue papers and started throwing them in the audience. The audience was having a great time except this one guy who was singing with the satsang team on the stage and could do nothing more than watching flying cake pieces instantly disappear into people's mouths.

After a few minutes of this spectacular drama Guruji left and he noticed that there was still a lot of cake left which was generously been taken towards the audience for distribution.

Just for one moment there was a hesitation in his mind "Should I first go for the cake and then follow Guruji or...just forget the cake and follow Guruji". Fortunately for Him he decided to forget the cake and as soon as he sat down in Guruji's rooom the door knocked and there was someone with a cake to give it to him.

Three more people followed with cakes of different sizes just for this one devotee. He had more than he ever wanted to eat and then Guruji smiled and said,"You were hesitating, right? If you follow me all the cakes in the world will come to you!"

Again and again we need to let go of all our personal concerns (Cakes) and focus ourselves into Sadhna, Seva and satsang and as time passes we realize that the cakes are anyway on their way looking for us much more than we ever could even ask for.

Love
Rashmin