Sannidhi - A Revelation In Our Life

One MahaShivarathri night a few years back, after the midnight meditation with Sadhguru, many Isha meditators were gathering around something and taking turns to bow down. Some of them just sat still on the carpets there. I was a distant watcher for some time. When curiosity got the better of me, I went to see what it was. The long queues discouraged mere onlookers and only the persistent ones made it.

When I went closer, to be honest, I did not know what to make out of it. Though I had heard of 'paadham' before, this was the first time I am seeing something like that. I just bowed down, took the vibhuthi prasadam and moved on. That this simple darshan would bring a profound change in my life was not even in my distant dreams!

Over time, I heard from other meditators that Sadhguru Sannidhi was very powerful, charged up, etc. We also heard from one of the Isha teachers that his mother just used to sit before Sannidhi daily during the presence time (6:20 PM) without doing anything and bliss out!

Then, Abi and I registered for bringing Sadhguru Sannidhi home a couple of years back. As we were (rather stupidly) apprehensive of 'maintaining' its sanctity in our house, we registered it for my parents living separately. I vividly remember the day an Isha meditator came to consecrate it at my parents' house. The person said 'Anna - Please choose where you want to place. You should not move it around just like that later.'

My heart sank at this comment! It was with great difficulty that I had persuaded my mom to drive up the attic some of the gods in her pooja room and make space on the granite marble for Sannidhi. However the consecration went on smoothly. My mother was surprisingly hooked on and started doing the Sannidhi pooja almost daily.

The whole house felt quite different & charged up the very next weekend we visited them! I was doing my Surya Namaskar & Shambhavi Kriya in the hall (Sannidhi was a good distance away in the pooja room) and it was all happening so effortlessly for me. My 4-year-old daughter, who used to be very clinging to us all the time, was suddenly behaving so matured and still having fun with everyone around! That weekend was our first-hand experience of how Sannidhi can transform the atmosphere of an entire house within such a short span of time!

My mom still does the pooja on many days without fail. Her practices have become more regular, her health and the overall peace in family are so much better now. These are definitely not coincidental :)

It was almost one year back that His grace descended upon us and we were able to register for bringing Sadhguru Sannidhi home. It so happened that we were to receive one of the 108 Sannidhis being distributed in Chennai on the MahaShivarathri night of 2013. How fitting an entry!?

Brindha akka came to our home, inspected the space we were going to hold Him in and performed the consecration process. I remember even today how bewildering and unbelievable it was for me that we had taken such a step.

The transformation we have undergone started with Bhairavi entering our home and once Sannidhi came in, the pace has been faster thereon. We do our Sannidhi pooja quite regularly and the very experience of sitting in that space before Bhairavi Yantra and Sadhguru Sannidhi is enough to settle us down most of the time.

While offering Guru Pooja at home in any room feels like it is in His presence. Apart from our practices becoming more regular & more volunteering opportunities coming our way pulling us up higher, we have been blessed with Sadhguru's darshan ever so frequently and more visits to the Ashram.

Since then, we have had the good fortune of witnessing two blessed individuals convert the rooftops in their homes to house Sadhguru Sannidhi. The transformation of these spaces has been very visible and they are being revered as the Isha local centers now at Nanganallur and Medavakkam.

These lines truly resound what Sannidhi means in our lives.

            Un padam panindhen,

                        ennaye marandhen!

            Un padam panindhen,

                        ennulle malarndhen!! 

Similar experiences galore in our friends and family circle. Now, living in a consecrated space like this has sunk in so much, we feel odd when we see someone without such an opportunity!

[PS: This MahaShivarathri, there is an opportunity for willing individuals to receive Sadhguru Sannidhi in Chennai itself. Interested people can contact me or call +91 9789983260] 

Leadership 101 as a parent

There was intense pain but I could not show it on my face. My daughter was keenly watching me and I suddenly felt I cannot show the fear of pain to her anymore since she might also become afraid later. Nevertheless when a dentist puts in two injections inside your mouth and pries open your jaws for 20 minutes, it does pain - at least till the numbness sets in.

So, it is in this context of a dental visit that some of my thoughts here on how my kid is learning from what am doing stepped from.

There has always been this quote from Sadhguru on my mind - "When a child has come into your life, it is time to learn and not teach". I thought I understood it well but am not sure anymore now! There seem to be a myriad dimensions to this one statement.

One aspect of it was the literal meaning that I took. I started observing how she learns from life and it has never ceased to amaze me from then till now as to how the children 'sponge-absorb' things & events from around them. Yes, we do teach her a thing or two as she feels necessary. In fact, Abi has been doing most of Isha's coaching with me watching from the sidelines. I have been more of a passive teacher so far for her. But the compulsion to push her academically is not there in us to the extent I see in so many other parents.

Today, Abi was talking about a long discussion she had with Swami Suyagna from Isha Foundation. I was asleep at that time and when I woke up, she narrated a gist of it to me. Unconsciously at first and then in awareness tears started flowing down my eyes because I felt touched by the deep management science that Swami was bestowing on her. Bearing a slight jealousy for the honour showered on her (of course she fully deserved it!), I kept listening.

Soon, a thought came in that what Swami spoke about leadership, mentoring, coaching, managing, etc. applies not just to corporates but also to me as a parent! After all, if making another Abirami or Rajasekhar is tough enough at office, imagine how tough it is to bring up your child to your potential at least. And Sadhguru says your child should dare to do things which you have not even dreamed of!

It was then that I suddenly realized Isha naturally prefers to do what we do at home very intensely, like me cleaning the house or Abi's dedication to Bhairavi or drawing for that matter. I certainly have to do better than what am doing in grooming her from now on.

An experiential realization dawned on me that leaders exist at all levels. Every one is a leader in their own right and they have a dedicated group of followers, whether they know it or not. What kind of society we will create in future clearly depends on how leaders of today, which is basically everyone, exist & influence by example.

I definitely feel the need to dig deeper in me to find the necessary integrity & courage to lead my life better and keep that striving for constant improvement burning.

My encounter with the enlightened - part 1

Life changes and this in itself is known to everyone! However, there are 10x events for some people in their lives, where a single event or person changes the life course itself, in short 'a life changing experience'! Here is one from my life ...

Back in 2003, I used to read a lot of  'spiritual junk' and used to consider myself knowledgeable in that area. But I had not known much about Isha foundation or Sadhguru for that matter. Having heard some of His discourses over tape (this was before CDs became popular) and admiring His logical sequencing & content per se was probably my first step towards the path not known experientially to me.

On a casual evening, Abi and I came to know about the Isha Yoga program happening in Mambalam. Abi & her sister had come with the required money to join the program. But by the time, I went to the ATM to get the money and come back, the registration was full for the program and I could not join that session. 

Not being used to failure (most of my previous experience was only in academics), I was just furious and that fury forced me to look at doing at least one program with Isha at the same time! So, without realizing what I was getting into, I registered immediately for the Hatha Yoga program happening in the Ashram and went there the same weekend Abi was getting initiated into Shakti Chalana Kriya (earlier - Sahaja Sthithi Yoga). 

After my return to Chennai from the program, with a broken back and slightly mauled ego after intense Hatha yoga, Abi was bubbling to share how wonderful the Isha program was. I admit being a bit baffled and immediately wanted to go for the next Isha Yoga program.

The second time around, registration happened fine but I stayed the previous evening at a friend's place (absolutely unlikely of me) and did not get up early enough on time for my morning class! I was close to tears when I woke up in the morning and in fact remember blasting Abi for not waking me up early - poor thing!! But she spoke to the teacher from Ashram and arranged for me to attend the class in that evening. I was just so thankful for her. 

From next day on, I was promptly attending the morning classes by myself. Considering myself an intellectual, I immersed myself in the class content because it was so logical and structured, yet peeling off my ego layer by layer. We went on to attend the Bhava Spandana program in 2003 itself. What happens in BSP  is not for me to put in words. It was way beyond me and I understood finally that even intellectually, this was something just beyond my grasp. 

At the end of it, I knew I can never be the same again and was bubbling to share the same with everyone. So, people who know me before 2003 & post 2003 and have actually observed me, would know the change. If observers say I have become bolder, more efficient at work, more loving in personal life, less angry at work & at home, etc. etc. as the key things, those may be just side effects. 

I know now that the seed He had sown in me had started sprouting and that was changing the way I was looking at things. But the dormancy effect took over as I got slowly back into the rut of life and the next 10x event had to wait for some more time ...

A Filmy Creation!

It is rather funny that I have decided to write about this. I know this movie has been getting a lot of media attention of late and I decided to watch it for the heck of it. It was actually just to see what the hype was about. But when I start watching movies now-a-days, I get too involved - I laugh with the characters and cry with them. And to say the truth, I loved this movie [as Abi says I do every movie!]. OK, the suspense is over - it is about '3 idiots'.

First off, my kudos to the script writers to bring a nice touch of novelty and idealism which is probably needed now to bring even a tiny change in people's hearts. Though I do not consider myself to have been victimised to parents' expectations, I have seen scores of kids of my age (even in my relatives) getting under it. Very few have been able to come up and swim through the tide against them. But that is only one aspect of the movie, the other one being about doing the job that one really loves to. Now, that would be wonderful, isn't it!? :-)

Aamir and Madhavan lived up to their billing with extra ordinary performances. Call it 'bias' for my name (he carries part of it after all), but for me, the 'Raju Rastogi' character did a brilliant job of bringing out right emotions at the right time. I would definitely love to exude that kind of confidence he gets to towards the end of the movie.

I was watching an interview of the film's director on CNN-IBN a few days back. The anchor asked him questions like why the 'key throwing' scene in the climax was made very "filmy" while the rest of it was pure "creative" work. When I watched the movie, I could not but reflect to her statement. I felt there were a ton of "filmy" scenes in the movie and lots of IQ quips like using-the-pencil-in-space one that most IT people should by now be familiar of through the email chains. Don't mistake me, it is nice that the director did a sincere attempt to bring in the so-called intellectual jokes to common public. I, for one, would be happy if such thoughts provoke some thinking in the common man who otherwise would just "live-on"! In my opinion, the "mootra visarjan" scene ;-) in the beginning was a damn creative one and so were the switch roles by changing uniform to study in school, proving that suhas cares only for money by hiding the costly watch, etc.

In the end, movies are as much about entertainment as it is about conveying a message. And I thoroughly enjoyed this one and will cherish it. Hats off to the entire film's team for their brilliant combination of entertainment and message delivery!

A trip down the memory lane

This is neat and feels great mainly because I am blogging after several days. Work for me has been tighter than usual at office and I was not even able to spend enough time for my fun activities in the last 1 to 2 months. Anyway, I got a chance to take a break from the regular gruelling schedule when Abi's team planned to visit their colleague at Nagercoil for his marriage. We had booked the tickets a couple of months back itself but I was still making up my mind whether to go or not till the very last day!

But there we were at the Central railway station and slowly people started to pour in one by one. I met some people nodding politely to acknowledge me and several others (12 in total actually excluding us) who did not know what to do! I was actually one among the latter group myself :) because though I had seen a lot of them before in a party once, that was long back and I am not in touch with them any more.

The journey got underway and once the games ensued (Lingo and Dumb-Charades), we were all gelling quite well before we even knew each other's names :) The trip is quite a long one - over 15 hours one way. So, there were lots of games and people making fun of each other. The cool part of it all was how sportive everyone took the whole pulling-other's-legs part and the way people tried to keep it that way without being brutal. I cannot remember another crowd I have been part of which accommodated me so easily as if they all knew me for a long time now.

There are so many unforgettable moments in this whole trip that it becomes very difficult for me to isolate any - Jey's vivacious comedy, Kala's ever laughing manner, Ramala's almost encyclopaedic knowledge of alphabets, Raj's brilliant organization of seat arrangements, Harini's 'upper berth', Path's 'thinking man' posture, Yunus' slow flowering into a glib leg-puller, Subanki's 'die-hard-vijay-fan-dom', Renji's 'first-time-train-travel-jitters', the reception we received at Nagercoil, Inigo & Prem's wonderful hospitality and the games themselves of course. And I do not think I have done justice to even half of what & whom I wanted to write about.

For Abi and me, the critical part of our journey's success was in assessing how Isha would take in the crowd, sustain the travel and survive the whole episode without falling ill. I believe going by that measure, it is indeed a success for us. She was her usual slow self to get along with people but was fine going with them once she realized(!) this is a long trip away from home and she will be stuck with them for a while :)) More firsts for us parents - Isha was reluctant to even go to a beach or any other waterbody before this trip. This time, she plunged right into the Thirparappu falls once Abi introduced her to it and was enjoying it so much that she refused to come out. The same happened when we went to the beaches at Kanyakumari & Muttom. It was so difficult to pull her out of the waters! She had a gala time.

Of course, all this would not have been possible without the loving support we received from every single person around us. And it really makes me wonder about Sadhguru's grace because I was very skeptical about taking Isha & was slightly harping on His grace being around to protect her.

And hey - I just remembered this is by far the longest journey I have made within India!

Noise...

It has been quite a while since I wrote my last blog. There has been this debate in my mind for the last few days - it is actually like a subtle background noise for everything am doing of late. I wanted to get this out of my mind and hence this attempt :-)

It is actually a sequence of questions that led to this 'noise'. For example, while reading a book, these are the questions that led to the 'noise' come to foreground:

1) What is the purpose of life?
Answer - no idea

2) What am I doing?
Answer - reading this book

3) Why am I doing this?
Answer - To get some knowledge and kill off time as am getting bored

4) Why are you getting bored?
Answer - I have not figured out what else to do

5) OK. Why do you want to get some knowledge?
Answer - I have always had this affinity to books. May be as a kid I learnt reading books / getting knowledge might help later in life.

6) That still does not answer that question to the point?
Answer - OK. It is for getting some benefit later in life.

7) Why are you planning for this benefit when you know nothing can be predicted about future?
No Answer really :)

8) OK. If it is for some benefit today or whenever, what does it lead to?
Answer - I would be happy.

9) Why do you want to be happy?
!!!!!

This is precisely where am getting stuck and not able to proceed after this.

I brought it up with Abi and we had a conversation this morning discussing the answer. She simply said "Happiness is the way life tends to be. If you just leave any life without disturbing it, that is what it will tend towards."

Somehow that answer made sense but at the same time I still had the incomplete feeling with it. Then I brought up the discussion about perfection. Are we tending towards happiness because we are tending towards perfection? May be we have some idea that being happy is equivalent to being perfect?

Abi was not convinced with that and we kept discussing till we realized it was getting late to office and pay my taxes. So all the 'noise' again went into background and we were running behind tax payment today being the last day for it :-)

Now that I got some free time, I was idly browsing the internet and sure enough the noise came to foreground. This time, I have decided to write it down and see if something more comes to mind, at least after this. Ain't I being optimistic? :-)