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 ...

Space car!

I have been visiting the Isha Yoga center at Coimbatore and the Dhyanalinga quite a few times in the last few years. Every time I go there, the very atmosphere is so different and energized that it feels like I am stepping into a totally different world while coming out from the Ashram.

But I never imagined a space that I constantly live / move in could also begin to feel like that and of all places, my car!! Almost every day after attending the consecration I have travelled in the car, I keep chanting the Bhairavi Satakam, Sthuthi, Naga Mantra. It has not been many days. But of late, I have begun to notice that it feels so different to be in the car!

This could be nothing, in my opinion, but the Devi's grace and am sure I am not imagining things. It is just a pleasure nowadays to drive, even amidst heavy Chennai traffic. I am sure people from Chennai would be surprised to know that I am now looking out for staying in traffic because I get more time in the car for my chanting!You probably think am plain crazy :)

Fiercely Beautiful!

Do I feel good to be back at home? Not really .. For the first time ever in my life, I feel like I have left some part of me at the place of visit. In case you are wondering what the heck am talking about, you should have been there at the Isha Yoga Center in Coimbatore for Linga Bhairavi Devi consecration.

As Sadhguru said, it is certainly a once in a lifetime opportunity or probably a once in several lifetimes opportunity. I am sure pretty much everyone who was part of it should be feeling the same way. Linga Bhairavi devi is supposed to be fiercely and wonderfully feminine at the same time. I do not know about the fierce part of her really because all I could see was the beauty and she has certainly taken my mind & heart. Still cannot forget the first sight of her!

She is "the most beautiful" among the goddesses I have seen so far in my life - so glorious and so full of life, you could feel it quite tangibly just by looking at her! This consecration was a prana prathista unlike the mantra prathista that happens usually at temples (even that does not happen properly in most places). But when "the man himself" is leading it, you could be sure it would be the most fantastic consecration that could take place. And it was. :)

If anybody does not get to see the devi in their life, they would not know what they have missed. But when they do come to know, it would be so painful to have missed out on something so fabulous and spectacular. I am not a great Bhakta or one who prays even irregularly (used to be so as a child but left that looong back), but I certainly am praying for Sadhguru's & Linga Bhairavi Devi's blessings, so a part of her at least will stay forever with me.