You do my work & I'll do yours !

This happened on my way back from Vellore, where I had gone to meet with all the YES+ VITian’s. I was at the station with three of my students, Selva, Sakshi and Pooja who had come to drop me. 

We were at the station and the train to Bangalore came in. Brindavan express was quite tightly packed. I was waiting for the A/C compartment to come but when train stopped, the A/C compartment was no where in sight. Selva announced there is no A/C in this train. I didn’t have a reserved ticket and on seeing how tightly packed the train was, it didn’t seem like I had a good chance of getting one. The TTE, got down from the train and I approached him. Quietly taking him a little on the side I asked him “ Can I have a seat ?”. The way I asked, seemed as if I didn't mind paying him a small bribe. He said “Yes, Rs. 50 “. A yes meant that he had the seat. At this point, Selva also came and spoke to the TTE in Tamil. He told him the same thing. Selva, came to me and said, "Bhaiya, its just Rs. 50 more." 

    Here was a real life chance to apply what Gurudev has said in so many satsangs! So I told Selva to tell him that we are with Guruji, and we would not be giving bribe. Selva went a little hesitantly himself and told the TTE something in Tamil but I heard the word Bill. It seemed like he himself didn’t believe the TTE would give a seat WITHOUT a bribe ! I went up to the TTE again, and told Selva to translate that we were with Guruji, and therefore we just couldn't give him a bribe. I went on to explain that it wasn't that I didn’t have the money, it was just that I couldn't give it. Selva did the needful but the TTE just walked away and went inside the train.

It was clear that our conviction in explaining the situation was not strong enough. So I told Selva to go again but this time, say it with full conviction! Selva went in and the train began moving but I stood my ground. I would not board the train if the TTE didn’t give me a seat without the bribe… But I didn’t want to go standing for 4 hours either!
   Just then, Selva came running to the door and said, “Bhaiya go in! He’ll give you a seat!”… So I boarded the train with a sense of satisfaction J !

Now, after boarding the train I couldn’t locate the TTE for some time. Then suddenly the TTE came out of a bathroom, spotted me and came and told me “please go and sit in D4, Seat 24”… So I happily went to coach D4, seat #24 and found a guy ( must have been in his 40’s ) sitting with his wife and mother. I pointed at the seat and said that it was a reserved one. He instantly got up and gave me the seat...

I sat happily for a few minutes and was feeling triumphant about the fact that I got a seat without giving bribe. But then, I started to feel a little sad for the guy whom I made stand… The good feeling of not giving the bribe was now being neutralized. I thought to myself that the next time the TTE came, I would ask if there was another seat available… Just then, I looked at my cell phone and saw a text message from Sakshi… It said “ There IS an A/C compartment in your train !”… As soon as I read the message, we arrived at a station ! I got off and ran back to the TTE of the A/C compartment. I asked him if there was a seat available and sure enough, there was one!

So I happily shifted to the A/C compartment and made that man sit… Looking back, it made me feel grateful that every thought is taken care of when intentions are pure and the focus is clear !

Gurudev keeps saying... "You do my work and I'll do yours :) ! "... The question is just about taking the step...

Hurry om Hari...

One more point that really struck me while I was doing the Weeklong Advanced course... It was about the "Hurry in the mind"... Swamiji said... " During this entire course... Remember whenever Hurry comes to your mind... the english hurry not the Sanskrit Hari... just RELAX... tell Hurry please relax and come some other time... I'm not going to Hurry now !!! And move like a king... with ALL the time in the world ! ".... Wow... that was such a revelation ! I noticed that this Hurry in the mind is the only cause of worry !

For instance... many times I noticed that my stomach doesn't really need food, but just because the food is tasty I want to eat more...

One of the first few times I caught my mind in Hurry was when I realized I was wanting to eat something... I thought I'll eat something and feel better... then I just closed my eyes and checked weather I'm really hungry or what is it... Thats when I realized , I didn't really feel hungry... But there was this " hurry in the mind " that was just pushing me to do something... And since eating something seemed to be a good 'time pass' I thought I was tending to just go and eat !!! It was such an eye opener that eating is so many times just a 'time pass' !!!

Another time I noticed the 'hurry' coming to my mind was while I was standing in the queue... Every moment I would look at the person in front of me and see if he has moved any bit and then look at the person at the counter and pray that he quickly finishes his job and move so that the person right in front of me steps forward !!! Sometimes the person right in front of me would not move even though the person in front of him has moved... This would create an even more sense of 'hurry' that 'why isn't this person moving !'

This Hurry is really the feverishness that grips the mind... It makes me not enjoy the moment ! It promises that happiness will come only after I complete some action... Actually, this can come in any form... So many times it comes is in the form of desire or ambition ( more on that sometime later )....

But then I was wondering what do I do when it comes ??? and I notice that it has come ? A few things that I observed work are:

1. The moment I became aware that "Hurry" has come and would just be with it... It would start to subside... The key really is to become aware that the "Hurry" has dawned and to 'watch' it !!!

2. Some kind of physical exercise/activity... This keeps one occupied and shapes the body ( in case of exercise )... The physical activity could be some kind of seva, then people are benefited. The physical activity could be eating also :D, but then that doesn't really help anybody ( if its really not required )...

3. Just remembering the sanskrit Hari ;)...

I'm sure there would be many other ways ( I'm curious to read your ideas/ways in the comments )...

I was just reminded of one of Guruji's line while writing this post... "The action or the result of the action is not going to give any contentment... First be content and do the action out of contentment !"

Recipe to the Most Delicious food ever !!!

I feel so guilty for not writing for so long... Actually, I have written some posts but they are only stored in 'Drafts'... I shall start posting them soon too ( hope 'soon' is not like the time difference between this and the last post ! ). I've decided that even if its short.. I'll just keep posting !

I happened to do the Weeklong Advanced meditation course last month and have been wanting to write this since then... During this course, amongst many things, my teacher ( Swami Bhramatej ji ) said this amazing sentence on how to eat food... He said "Take half the quantity of food in every bite and double the amount of chewing"... Then he said... "U know why ? Because Stomach doesn't have teeth !"... So... I DID implement that during the course... I would shred the roti piece and really take only half of the piece of roti that I usually used to take... I didn't compromise so much on the vegetables... Then, I would put it in mouth and just start chewing and chewing... I did one more thing... Since chewing was taking so long... I would even close my eyes while chewing... And... I suddenly started to feel that the quality of food at Ashram has suddenly improved !!! The amount of food that I required to eat had also reduced !!! It was really so amazing to see this phenomenon !

Since I was talking half the size of the bite, I was aware of what I'm taking and since I was chewing more I really started to taste every bit of thing that I was eating... Thats when I realized that the Recipe to the most delicious food can lie on my eating also and not just on the cooking !!!