Ringa Ringa Roses :)

For the past two months I have been staying at the ashram! Every single day at the ashram has its own story and learning !
Here is one interesting incidence that happened recently.

Being in the "Events team" at the ashram, we are the ones who need to arrange all the requirements for various courses that happen at the ashram ( which includes right from fixing up a venue, providing sound system, water, a teacher etc ). Very often I end up conducting the morning Yoga sessions for different courses.

One morning I had a yoga session for the 'Blessing's Course'. But the more important and challenging thing was... The night before, at 11pm I got an sms from 'Alex' that 10 roses with stems are required for Blessings course at 6:30 am! My yoga session started at 6 am... I called up Ganesh ( another events team member )... And he and me obviously were upset about the 'timely' message... He told me to tell 'Bina' ( the lady who usually arranged for the flowers ). I messaged Bina, and got an instant 'sorry can't arrange' reply! I called back Alex and gave it to him and asked why he hadn't sent me the message earlier & why did he not send the message to anyone else from our team ? But then it was not his fault also... Actually my phone battery had conked off...


Basically, it was neither his fault nor mine... The situation could have been avoided, had he messaged to other team members... The situation could also have been avoided if I had got my phone charged earlier ! Infact the situation could have been avoided if so many things had happened or not have happened! Thats when I realized one thing... In times of crises, instead of looking for solutions, very often we start finding out 'whom to blame' ! So, I messaged back to Alex "Sorry, its not your fault... I'll manage somehow"... And thats when I learned another thing! If we take the ownership of a mistake that has happened, we start getting support... Prompt came his reply "Its ok... If there is any problem in the morning, let me know, I'll help you :)"...

So, now I went on to seeing how to solve the problem... I called up Ganesh, he said that there are some people who come and sell flowers near the ashram kitchen at 6 am, and then he assured me that we'll manage somehow... That line gave me so much assurance, that I went to sleep peacefully ( I took that "we'll manage something" as "he'll manage something")... Next morning at 5am or so, I get this message from Ganesh " The time at which they start selling flowers near the kitchen is not sure... The flowers are not arranged !" What a beginning to a day I thought ! Then I started having this feeling that Ganesh is playing a prank on me! While getting ready to take the yoga session I made few phone calls here and there ( just in case, it is not a prank! )... Finally I went to wake up a 'Rajiv' who stays below my block... He gave a contact of another guy, who actually gets flowers for the ashram everytime... That guy told me that people near kitchen start selling flowers at 6... Now my feeling that Ganesh is fooling me increased! Nevertheless I told Rajiv that he would be the backup guy... In case everything fails, he would go on his bike and get the flowers from nearby village or city if required... one more possibility came up... To get roses from Guruji's Kutir... Now there were several options... I passed on these options to Ganesh and happily started the yoga session... I was still thinking that Ganesh would manage it ( All this while I was thinking that he is playing a prank on me and he already has a way to arrange it !) ! It was 6:45am and the flowers didn't arrive ! I thought, now the prank is getting too much ! 6:53am Swami Sadhyojataji ( The teacher of the blessings course arrived )... As soon as he entered, he looked at me and asked " Flowers arranged ? "... I said, "Actually we got the message only at 11pm, but, I'll just get it!"... He said " ok... 25 mins " and smiled... I said " Ya sure" with a smile... Now... I had no idea what was happening... I called up Ganesh... He sounded quite intense and told me that he had checked in the neighboring village, and also near the kitchen ! There are no flowers! Thats when I realized that it was NOT a prank !!! Now, there were hardly 20 mins and.......

Any guesses what happened next ? Next post is coming on tuesday (16 feb )...

Ps: Guesses only for those whom I haven't told the story :)...

Coming Back from Holland ( Contd...)

Continuing from "Coming back from holland contd.."...The moment Guruji told me " India hi thik hai "... I had decided... I'm going to stay in India... Now came the part of convincing parents, brother & sister in law, cousins, relatives, friends, girl friend, friends of my parents, aunties & uncles!!! Basically it was the testing time of my faith & courage! I didn’t want to ignore anyone’s opinion! I knew that elders have much more life experience than me… But I had the faith in my guru also!

I had heard so many stories from so many people and they all said, that if guruji tells you something then you should really do it! There were people who had listened to him and there were people who hadn't. The people who hadn't, had stories of regret and people who had, seemed to be happy about their decisions.

I had absolutely no plans of staying back in India ! All my belongings were lying in Holland at my friend's places. I was to join my first job at Amsterdam. Every thing seemed to be 'secured' and 'sure' there. Over here, I didn't know where I was heading, what would happen to me, what would I do or how I would survive... But just one line from him 'India hi thik hai' gave me security...

If I look back now, hearts of hearts this was what I was waiting for ( Just one line from guruji!)... This was the first time in my life, I was about to take a such a big step. When I told that I'm not going back to Holland to my mom & dad, they were obviously shocked ! Dad was still quite okay from day 1 but mom was in a shock! My brother, although he hasn't done the Art of Living course was supportive, but was also in a shock... Dad 's stance was, if you are very sure then go ahead. Mom's stance was shut up, just go back and work ! Brother's stance was, how can you trust someone so much on the basis of just one line! He didn't hear your whole background he doesn't know you, how can you give up everything just on that one line !

No matter what I was going to tell my parents, relatives or friends... It all depended on the clearity and faith I had! There was this battle within me about doing what 'feels' right and what 'seems' right! If I looked at the reasons, why I wanted to go back... "All my belongings were there"... "I was getting a good package and all material comforts there"... "Thats how everyone who is 'doing well' is supposed to do!"... "Thats how I had been living all my life!"... "I didn't want be a rebellious youth"... All this seemed right... But hearts of hearts didn't feel right! I needed more courage to follow, this feeling!

Thankfully a month later ( 2-Oct-07), my brother, me and my father met guruji in Delhi... My father told Guruji "Guruji, he has gone mad after you. He has studied from IIT and done his masters from Abroad, and now he has a job abroad but wants to be with you." Guruji said... yaa... take a break... join later... My brother intervened and asked Guruji to tell me to do both, AOL and job... So then Guruji said... yaa... do both... you can to both... Then he asked when is the joining ? So I said november... He said.. ooh there is lot of time... then he looked at me and said " tu to bangalore aa raha hai na" ( You are coming to bangalore right )... I was like in a shock... I mean... I was going to go to bangalore for Navaratri... But how did he know... So I said yes to him... and then he left... My brother was like... He has given so many options... Basically you can do anything and he would say yes to everything!

I had great hopes from this meeting... But everything didn't get very clear even after the meeting... My brother was still not convinced... But just 3 days later (On my b'day :) )... I saw Guruji again... Although he totally ignored me till the end ( I felt worse than a wallpaper ! )... But just before leaving... As we were seeing him off... He stood in front of me and asked "Tu Bangalore aa raha hai na ? "( You are coming to bangalore right ? )... I said yes... He said... "Kal humare saath chalo" (Come to Bangalore with me tomorrow )... And that was my 24th B'day gift... An invitation to the ashram by His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar!!

I flew down to bangalore with him... Stayed at the ashram for a 1-2 days and met Guruji in his Kutir... I wondered what to ask him... So I asked him, weather I should quit the job at Holland or postpone... He started laughing! Everyone there started laughing...and then said... " chalo abhi ke liye postpone kar lo" (for now you postpone)... How gently he takes you with him... That was very easy for me... So, I told at home... I'm just postponing for now... Which was not so difficult to accept !