Rendezvous with Rashmin

When you are feeling good there is no problem. The problem comes when we are feeling low. The more you feel low the more you want to feel high and the more you want to feel high the more the low feeling persist. This is the only problem in life.

Guruji asks a very important question here. The question is quite revolutionary. HE questions," have you ever loved your low feelings?" This exploded like a bomb in me when I read it for the first time. He says,"the day you accept your low feelings you will become the richest person on this planet. When you feel low agree to go low!!!"

This knowledge is quite dangerous. Because if wrongly applied it may lead to a state of self pity or a state in which the mind is seeking attention and sympathy. But what Guruji is talking is something completely different. He is talking about living in total agreement and acceptance of the present moment.

Only with a proper understanding of this knowledge one can ever experience the witness consciousness and realise that I am not the thoughts or my feelings. I am not the mind. Even a momentary glimpse of this truth brings enormous freedom and joy.

I was amazed to notice, almost unconsciously how consistently I keep avoiding and denying unpleasant sensations. From moment to moment there is a tendency to escape and ignore.

Its been a very good sadhana, since the last few days I have been training myself to stare straight into the face of even the slightest unpleasantness.. Stand up, face it and keep watching! however insignificant it appears to be.

Learning to be with what is.

JGD
Rashmin

PS: If you found this post interesting you will definitely like " dealing with feelings" from the book God Loves Fun.

Its amazing to see the universality of the knowledge of the self. In the last satsang I attended with Swami Suryapada, He said that a Rishi was known as Mantra drishtas which means, they used to acquire the knowledge about any one aspect of the universe as a vision during meditations and the knowledge used to manifest in the form of a mantra.

So the entire Sanatana( eternal) Dharma (that which upholds) is basically a compilation of all the knowledge acquired by thousands of Rishis since the last thousands of years. It is not a Truth proclaimed and declared by a single Prophet during a specific time in history.

As an Art of Living teacher I am amazed as to how the experience of mediation and the knowledge has such a profound effect on every sincere seeker who participates with an open mind. As of now I am working in Gujarat and Norway. Two completely different cultures with hardly any similarities and yet its so nice to see the same smiling faces and the same twinkle in the eye after an Yes!+ course. That same feeling of belongingness and a connectedness that cuts across all barriers of religion, nationality, intellectual orientation, family backgrounds, education etc etc.




For the first time I went to a place called shegao, a small village near Akola where my wife, Priyanka was teaching courses while I was in Norway. We had a fantastic session that once again re emphasised the fact that as humnans all that we want is to celebrate life as a one world family.

JaiGurudev
Rashmin

Two thousand five hundred people chanting together, singing together, meditating together and getting soaked in the light of the knowledge of the scriptures delivered by none other than our dear Swami Suryapada (chayanna)is one of the most beautiful experiences you can ever have. It was a satsang with a difference.

Swamiji has immense power in his rendering of the chants and such beautiful softness when he delivers the knowledge of the scriptures. I realized the power of the sanskrit language, the effect of the chants on the whole nervous system and now I am enthusiastic about learning a little bit of sanskrit language.

I remember the days when I used to go to dharavi everyday to conduct satsangs in the Navchetna Shibir. There was a dynamic group of youngsters who had just done the course and given up smoking, drinking and gutka. They used to tell me stories about much money and time they used to spend in all these addictions and the amazing transformation that happened after doing the course. The entire Art of Living family cleaned a huge dumping ground and hand picked 8 truck loads of garbage and converted into a beautiful garden and a gymnasium. Since then AOL Dharavi has come a long way.



It was a great feeling to attend a Concert that was a fund raising event for our own Dharavi school. There is a nice video on You tube. (search for SSRVM Dharavi film.) Also read a fantastic article by the chairman of ORF, M Sudheendra Kulkarni for the Indian Express. (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/clean-inside-clean-outside/613938/0)

Its a great feeling to be part of something that moves on the path of truth and Service completely undeterred by any amount of obstacles.

JGD
Rashmin