Rendezvous with Rashmin

We went to Hognas parents beach house. We swam in the ice cold water, meditated in a perfectly serene atmosphere, feeling the gentle breeze and the soothing sound of the waves making it so much easier to just breathe and relax.

Then we had some really tasty food cooked by Ornulf, the official cook from stavenger and then we put on music, joked around and basically did nothing. It was completely opposite of what the sunday (part2 in the next post) had in store for us. All in all it was a nice warm up for the most thrilling weekend I have ever had in my life.

Here is the stavenegr YES!+ team.



From left to right. Hogna hide. He is a part1 and a yes!+ teacher. He is the cool dude. Perfectly calm and balanced. A guy who is much needed to infuse a kind of sense and sensibility into the atmosphere when things get too chaotic without much reason.

In the center is Andreas birkeland (Senior Yogi). He holds the record for the fastest YES!+ teacher in the world. He did his yes!+ course in January and within 5 months he is a teacher! He is commitment and dedication personified, absolutely fit and flexible. He gets up at obscene hours in the morning does Sadhna and then eats health food like spirulina, raw broccoli etc etc. You can ask him about health food and go to sleep. Even after you get up you will find him talking about something that increases prana, cleanes shit form your intestines, purifies blood and is good for your kidneys and lungs. The more the number of benefits the horrible it tastes.










Thats Ornulf. He is funny, charming and can really lighten up the whole atmosphere by his light presence. His food is Yummy and he is also going to be our official cook for the advance course with GURUJI in Scandinavia. He is the happy man from stavanger Yes!+.




Thats Siri. She is a dancer and has graciously offered her house for us to stay. She participates in everything 100% and she belongs to the category of "work more and talk less".



That is Khonia. She is an angel. She too is on the fast track and a soon to be teacher. She plays the Viola, sings well and is an extremely sweet person. She has an amazing way to express. She speaks with her eyes.



That is Alexander. He is quiet, very quiet. Even though he is a bit new to Art of living he delivers results that ultimately matters most. He is the guy who does not say much but gets the butts on the seat!

Before I post the PART 2 of the weekend I would like you to go to Google images and search for kjeragbolten and may be also see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYmKbgbVXQg
and a few related videos.

JaiGurudev!
Rashmin

Are we aware how many times we say "NO"? To every unpleasant sensation that arises, our first reaction to it is a big "no". As we say "NO" it stays, and the very fact it has arisen in us is because consciously or unconsciously we have said a NO to it sometime in the past.

When we say YES! we let things pass, we can see and experience the ever changing nature of every experience. When we say "yes" we start living in agreement, in acceptance, living in harmony with the opposites. Being in Love is nothing but being in the YES consciousness.

As a seeker if I wish to experience that which is beyond the opposites I need to say "YES". I need to say YES to all the so called negative emotions, I need to offer them a seat and may be even a little hug.

If I wish to experience the imperishable nature of the self I need to say YES to all the storms of emotions that arise in my mind even if they seem strong enough to destroy me.

Once a little 8 year old girl entered Guruji's Kutir looked straight into His eyes and said, " Guruji I know your secret ". Guruji very sweetly asked her," What is my secret?" She nodded and just said " YES " and ran out of the room. Guruji looked at everybody else and said ," she got it ".

JaiGurudev
Rashmin

I am NOT a DSN teacher as of now. YES it was official till last night. But now the decision has been changed. That is the reason I removed the previous post.

I have been receiving a lot of congratulations from a lot of people so I thought I should clear the confusion.

May be we can say that it has been indefinitely postponed till further instructions from the boss.Yes!, its expected to happen sometime in the near future (probably this life time). But it was a nice experience to be a DSN teacher for one full day and being congratulated by all of you. ha ha

I feel I have been further promoted, because now I am a ex-DSN teacher! I love Guruji playing games with me. I guess HE does these things only with the closest ones. It was interesting to watch the mental gymnastics over the past two days. It was indeed like doing a DSN!

At First I had not at all expected it. Then when I was told I was pleasantly surprised but it took time to sink in. When it sunk in and I was waiting for the manual to be sent to me I am suddenly told that I am not a DSN teacher! Guruji is great! and I just love HIM.


JaiGurudev
Rashmin

1. Thank you for reading this.
2. Now your saying/thinking , whats this?
4. You didnt notice that i skipped 3.
5. Your checking it now.
6. Your smiling.
7. You are reading this too.
8. Now you are feeling a bit stupid.
10. You didnt notice that i skipped 9.
11. Your checking it now.
12. You didnt notice there are only 10 lines.

ha ha
JAigurudev!

We all know That Shivaji Killed Afzalkhan (Sardar of Bijapur). But neither do we know about the greatness of Shivaji nor do we know much about the role of his GURU Samartha Ramdas in the success of all of Shivajis endeavours.

There was a time when Shivaji was becoming stronger and expanding his kingdom much to the irriation of Aurangazeb and Afzalkhan. There were speculations of Afzalkhan being sent to capture Shivaji. He had a huge army of hundred thousand soldiers. It was extremely important for Shivaji to know about his plans and his movements.

During that time Samartha Ramdas sent to Shivaji this beautiful poetry with a profound spiritual message and something else... I would like to know your comments on this masterpiece. A perfect message from a perfect Master to a perfect Warrior!




Rough English Translation (of course it does not sound poetic when translated into English):
1st para : Use Your discrimination while you work,
knowing that this body is going to leave you,
Do not worry about the future.

2nd para : Do not tread the path of untruth,
Always own the path of truth,
With the grace of the divine,
The greatness of the devotee will increase,

3rd Para : very difficult to literally translate. It means that the sun and the moon keep coming and going resulting into sometimes light and sometimes darkness. I guess its somewhat like Opposite values are complimentary.

4th para : The Mother divine is Goddess bhavani,
The Lord of the Universe,
Just be in silence and with discrimination,
Make a good plan.

Now comes the surprise. If you form a sentence with only the first Alphabet of the first word of every line of the original marathi poem, this is what you get:


The Sardar of Bijapur is on his way.

JaiGurudev!

The choice is between Limited Joy and unlimited Joy. Limited joy, that is experienced through the five senses is Instant and guarantees pleasure at least during the time of indulgence. Whereas Joy that is beyond the five senses is not instantaneous and is absolutely intangible. One needs faith to endure the time period between the letting go of cravings for limited joy of the senses and the dawning of the unlimited joy that comes from the self.

To the degree we let go to that degree we experience the uncaused joy of the self. So I think its all about having faith and just keep waiting and waiting and waiting....

JaiGurudev

Happy Birthday GURUJI!

Love you GURUJI

JaiGurudev

I dont think I would ever stop wondering about this. Yes of Course every day of any Art of Living course is special, but there is something about the last day.

Freedom, belongingness, gratitude, Joy, Contentment and Love. Every face carries a smile that says it all. How does it happen? This will always remain a mystery. One thing I know for sure that its definitely not because of the breathing technique. It is something more, something beyond.

Whatever it is, that is what I am. Soooo Hammm.

A pic from the last day of the course we conducted two weeks back here in Oslo. It is the most fulfilling experience to witness this transformation.




JaiGurudev!

Ida s father Martin took me out for a Sailing trip. Wherever I looked I saw nothing but heart stopping beauty.



I started experimenting with my photography skills and really impressed myself. Here are a few photos!













JaiGurudev!

The last post has caused a little confusion. So I thought it would be a good idea to interpret the"punch line" the way I look at it.

"DO NOT DO WHAT YOU WANT AND THEN DO WHAT YOU LIKE"

Here the first "you" can be referred to the small mind. It signifies the smallness in us that creates cravings, aversions, mood swings, ego hassles etc etc. Any action performed being Under the influence of this small mind leads to more bondage and hence misery.

Once we refuse to Act under the influence of the "Small mind" and may be, just playfully observe the small mind gymnastics and let go then it slowly ceases to exist. To a certain degree we all have experienced this in our life. When the chattering of the small mind shuts down what prevails is the BIG mind. We get in touch with our true nature which results in actions which are spontaneous, intuitive and with total awareness.

The second YOU in the sentence refers to the BIG mind.

The usage of the words "want" and "like" creates the subtle distinction between acting out of a feverish desire and acting only with a good intention.

So it basically means, gain victory over the small mind and then do as "YOU" please.

Jai Gurudev

Once a "bad guy" chopped of the hand of a saint with a sword. The saint continued walking as if nothing had happened. Seeing this the "bad guy" fell at the saints feet and questioned him that how could he be so detached to the pain in his body?

The Saint replied ," DO NOT DO WHAT YOU WANT AND THEN DO WHAT YOU LIKE "

In the nothingness of the present moment there is peace, peace and more peace. In order to experience this we need to "kill" the mind and the saint in the story seems to have adopted the boldest and the most direct way to do it.


If I have to make myself wait in the present moment and get thrilled about its absolute nothingness I need to wait for longer than what my mind would find it comfortable. Mind is thrilled about "something". In the present moment there is " Nothing ". The mind needs to be severely discouraged about all its hopes of finding bliss in repeatedly performing the same mundane activities. If the mind finds something charming it just means that it is not fully awake right now.

The ignorant would chase the object of beauty and the wise would direct awareness inwards to further awaken the mind.

I think this is one of the greatest Self effort.


DO NOT DO WHAT YOU WANT AND THEN DO WHAT YOU LIKE!

JaiGurudev