Mahavir : The Greatest warrior

Today is the birth anniversary of a great saint of India, Bhagwan Mahavira. Vira means a great warrior and Maha-vira  means the greatest warrior. Bhagwan Mahavira although never fought a battle and advocated non injury, but is rightly termed as the greatest warrior. As a  person who conquers external enemy can be great but one who conquers internal enemies like Kama (Desire), Krodha(Anger) , Lobha (Greed), Moha (Attachment)  , Mada (pride) and Matsarya (Jealousy) is truly greatest. 

While Bhagwan Mahavira conquered the greatest and almost unsurmountable enemy that is the mind and found the final purpose of human life. King Alexander the great who (almost) conquered all outside enemies did not die contented and made a wish on deathbed that it should be known to the world that Alexander could not carry anything and his palms were kept open in grave.

However devotees like Mirabai, Tukaram and Jnanadeva while leaving the body were supremely contented.

Mirabai remarked too

Janam janam ki punji paayi, Jag me sabhi khovaayo, Paayoji maine raam ratan dhan paayo.

 I have found a treasure of lifetimes and an imperishable wealth.

 Saint Tukaram and Saint Jnandeva too had the same experience. Jesus christ even at the cross could bless people and this shows a glimpse to the mind of a saint.

The ancient Indian text Bhagwad Gita also speaks of conquering the mind and Prophet Rama also gave the same message to Vibhishana (Vibhishana Gita) in the Ramcharitmanas. If each and everyone in the world makes an endeavour to conquer the mind rather than the outside world, world will have long lasting peace as India could have for few centuries. The peaceful environment resulted in great successes in art and architecture, language, Science and technology and music.

Meditation is thus good not only for the person who practices it but for the entire world as it promotes peaceful coexistence. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji, the founder of Art of living is himself coming to Frankfurt and its an amazing opportunity to learn meditation from the master himself. Join us for an evening of meditation on April 24th. 

#SriSrinFFM 

Cutting the branch on which one is sitting -The Kalidas mistake

When i was young, i read the story of Kalidas. Few wise men were searching for a supreme fool for their mission of  taking revenge against a princess. They saw Kalidas cutting the branch on which he was sitting and their search ended, through stratagem they got Kaildas married to the princess. Princess, on realising that she has been cheated, insulted Kalidas. Kalidas thus resolved to learn sanskrit grammar, later found great success and is often referred to as shakespeare of the east. 

I remember, that as a child, i laughed a lot on imagining Kalidas cutting the branch on which he was sitting. Its a common sense not to cut the branch of the tree on which one is sitting. However today i find many people doing the same to our society and country. Lets have a look at some issues.

Recently some people with vested interests were shouting "Bharat tere Tukde honge" and some political leaders and libtards (retarded liberals) in their desire to score political points supported their "right to speak" . Well even constitutionally speaking"right to speech" is not absolute and is limited by national security , moreover do you imagine getting free speech if these vested interests succeed in their mission of breaking India ? . Do you know the status of Freedom of speech in Afghanistan or Pakistan ? Well i hold "right to speech" in very high regard but also know that its limited by "India First" and if we are supporting free speech of "Azadi Gang", we are doing the mistake of "Cutting the branch on which we are sitting". 

Whenever i find politicians dividing us on basis of caste and creed, fomenting anger between communities, dividing us as Brahmins, dalits, maratha , patidar, jat etc just for votes. When i see journalists doing the task of putting caste issues even in car accidents with headlines like " Dalit car hit by Brahmin car " or "Ilyaraja awarded because he is Dalit" etc. I am reminded of the kalidas episode. It is also a fact that some ISI agents funded by Pakistan, are adding fuel to this fire along with Naxalism.  Hence in the interest of India, we should always remember that Indian constitution which is the supreme document for governing the country, makes no distinction among castes. We should educate people and not foment anger. On a personal front, if we look down upon other caste or even consider oneself as lower and not just higher, we are doing the mistake that Kalidas was doing. 

Also whenever i see that people are keeping some religion even above their country and are saying " P***stan Zindabad* it shocks me to the core. Indian people and constitution has given equal importance to every religion and inplace of being grateful people are chanting victory to a country where most hindus have been converted by deceit and threat since 1947. If your political leader/friends does not speaks against such behaviour and you still support them, you are unknowingly doing the same mistake which Kalidas did in past. Today a person was killed just for Tiranga yatra, future can be more bleak. Support a government which can ensure that no hateful teachings are taught to vulnerable kid.

We share the same tree, hence if you find anyone cutting the tree, please do educate. 

Netaji Subhash Chandra bose - Ek Parichay

पुण्य भूमि यह भारत माता देवों को भी है प्यारी 

राम बुद्ध नानक जन्मे और बसते शंकर त्रिपुरारी ।

मनुज रूप में देव यहाँ पर ध्यान लगाने आते हैं 

यश वैभव धन का मोह त्याग , मोक्ष्य यहां पर पाते हैं।

हानि लाभ सब काल चक्र है सौभाग्य न सब दिन रहता है 

आओ काल आगे देखें भारत का भाग्य क्या कहता है ।

मन के बंधन से भी स्वतंत्र था होना जिसने सिखलाया 

उसके तन को भी बांध लिया हे काल दृश्य क्या दिखलाया। 

मुक्ति दात्री थी जो माँ था जिसका वैभव अविनाशी 

हाय समय कैसा आया वो बनी मुक्ति की अभिलाषी ।

अंग्रेजों के अत्याचारों से भारतपुत्र थे जब शोषित 

इस 'सोने की चिड़िया' के धन से अंग्रेज हुए पूरे पोषित ।

हीरा मोती सोना चांदी भारत का सब लूट लिया 

और शाशन करने के हेतु धर्म जात में फूट किया ।

था बंटा हुआ भारत अपना घनघोर निराशा छाई थी 

था विश्व गुरु ये राष्ट्र कभी ऐसी तो न परछाई थी ।

घनघोर अंधेरे को चीरता जैसे सूरज का प्रकाश 

भटके भारत को राह दिखाने आये नेताजी सुभाष ।

थे प्रखर बुद्धि के ये स्वामी ऊंचा  पद पाकर ठुकराया 

यश वैभव छोड़ संग्राम चुना है राष्ट्र समर्पित ये काया । 

दिल्ली चलो तुम , मुझे खून दो , तुमको दूंगा आज़ादी ।

बिगुल बज रहा विश्व युद्ध का , अवसर की हो न बर्बादी 

बोले गांधी अभी शांत रहो अंग्रेज़ प्रसन्न हो जाएंगे ।

विश्व युद्ध के बाद ही  भारत को सौंप हमें जाएंगे ।

बोले सुभाष की पहले भी मिला था एक ऐसा सपना 

किन्तु विश्व युद्ध बाद हुआ जालियां वाला बाग अपना । 

एक बार धोखा खाये तो केवल विश्वास  जाता है

बार बार धोखा खाये तो नर  मूर्ख कहलाता है ।

अंग्रेजी शाशन को ये स्वर कभी रास न आते थे ।

अतः सुभाष कारागार में स्वयं को अधिकतर पाते थे ।

कैद नहीं हो सकता जैसे हवा पानी और प्रकाश

अंग्रेजों को चकमा देके बर्लिन पहुंचे सुभाष ।

कहा सुभाष ने अंग्रेज़ी बल भारत के सैनिक पर इतराता है 

और भारत क्या है और कहाँ ये सैनिक समझ न पाता है ।

अन्य देश से मनवाकर स्वतंत्र सरकार बनाऊँगा

है मित्र कौन और कौन है शत्रु ये भेद में समझाऊंगा ।

'दिल्ली चलो' इस नारे से नेताजी भरते फौज में जोश 

आज़ाद हिंद रेडियो के स्वर से भारत भी सुनता उदघोष।

जर्मनी ने जब रूस पर भीषण हमला करवाया 

सुभाष मन ने इस कार्य को भारत हित में न पााया ।

बाधाओं से टकराने पर जो पुरुष धीर न खोता है 

चट्टानों से टकराने पर भी मार्ग नए पिरोता है ।

आज़ाद हिंद फौज को फिर सिंगापुर में बनवाया 

एक मार्ग अवरुद्ध हुआ तो दूजा  माँ ने खुलवाया ।

धर्म जाति के बंधन  छोड़  भारत को जिसने जीया था 

ऐसी अनुपम फौज बनी जिसे सुभाष ने सीया था ।

युद्ध हुआ बढ़ी सेना इम्फाल में झंडा फहराया 

आज़ाद हिंद फौज का डर अंग्रेज़ के मन में गहराया ।

युद्ध हुआ जापान हारा हाय छूट गया  यह भी अवसर ।

लेकिन भारत स्वाभिमान का का झुका नहीं कभी सर ।

अंग्रेज़ी शासन ने जब आज़ाद हिन्द फौज को तड़पाया ।

तब बच्चा बच्चा भारत का इनके समर्थन मेें आया ।

लाल किले पर दी जाने वाली थी जब इन लोगों को फांसी 

सेना ने विद्रोह किया और  बंद करवाई यह गुुस्ताखी। 

भय मुक्त हुए भारत वासी अब हम  और न यहाँ रह पाएंगे 

थके हारे अंग्रेज़  बोले कि अब बहुत जल्द ही जायेंगे ।

उन्नीस सौ सैंतालीस  को भारत तब स्वतंत  हुआ ।

और बहुत शीघ्र फिर अपना भारत पूरा गणतंत्र हुआ ।

अंग्रेज़ी मंत्री से पूछा , क्यों छोड़ा भारत में प्रवास 

बोले कई छोटे कारण , एक बड़ा कारण सुभाष ।

दिया मौत को चकमा और 'गुमनाम' रखा अपना आवास

आज तक कोई जान ना पाया , कहाँ गए आखिर सुभाष ।

शायद माता को मुक्त कर पूरी देखी हो हर आशा 

सन्यासी बनकर मोक्ष्य पानें  की  पूरी अंतिम अभिलाषा 

अंतरिक्ष इस कविता से आज ये बतलाता है 

उस भारत भक्त के जीवन का आज स्मरण कराता है ।

यदि सुुुभाष को जीना है तो जाति धर्म बंधन तोड़ो 

सब भेदों को भूल कर राष्ट्र प्रेम से दिल जोड़ो । 

जब भारत का बच्चा बच्चा सुभाष बन जायेगा ।

तब विश्व गुरु प्यारा भारत पुनः फिर बन जायेगा। 

Rally For River - An initiative to save our rivers

#RallyforRivers

Today i accompanied the #RallyforRiver team in greater noida and gave multiple intro talks in buses and people around. Autowallahs looking for customers, contacted me asking where i wanted to go, i told i want you to Rally for rivers :). This initiative was to generate awareness for the dwindling water flow in Indian rivers.

The water flow in Indian rivers has reduced over the years and this is specially true for the peninsular rivers. Our life depends on water and while we want excellent education and amenities for our kids, most of us pay not much attention to the environment around. Rising population and dwindling water resources are panacea for a future havoc.

Its high time, we need to plant trees which will lead to seeding and regulate rainfall across the country. This will ensure our sustainable existence on planet earth.

Please plant trees on your land and also ask the government to plant on public land. You can give a miss call on 8000980009 which will serve as your vote prodding the government to take plantation more seriously.

Full support and gratitude to Sadhguru Jaggi vasudev for the vision and efforts of his volunteers.

https://youtu.be/OQCiULlQhJQ

Bahubali 2 : The conclusion

Bahubali 2: The conclusion is a fantabulous movie and expectedly it has become the biggest Indian blockbuster of all times. Bahubali is unique because after a long time some movie has portrayed the beauty and richness of Indian culture. Story of Bahubali is engaging and graphics are simply marvelous and i am not surprised to hear that Bahubali might cross the 2000 crore earning mark unheard till date by any Indian movie.

SS Rajamauli garu has painstakingly given his best and come up with this gem. Even youths of my age have gone crazy like a teenager for Bahubali and in the hall where i watched the movie there were extra chairs to increase the capacity.

Bahubali 2 will have following positive repercussions.

1. Women empowerment : It portrays women in strong and powerful roles. The age old patriarchal mindset is gradually diluted with such picturisations.

2. National Integration : It has brought North India and south India closer. Prabhas aka Bahubali is my favourite actor and SS Rajamauli ji my favourite director now. Infact i messaged my friend from Andhra to ask what Sahore Bahubali means :)

3. Tourism : Portrays India in a very positive manner to the western audience and proudly portrays the cultural heritage and values. Certainly many will be curious to visit India.

4. Values : Gandhi ji credited his values to the stories like Mahabharata, Ramayan and Raja Harischandra that he read in his childhood. Bahubali 2 extolls virtues and hence gives our kids a right direction. Bollywood lately has even produced biographies of criminals and underworld dons, this is certainly not desirable from values perspective.

and many more...

I wish success to S. S. Rajamouli garu and his team. His decision to make Mahabharata is exciting me. If it can even match the level of Bahubali (film), i am sure Rajamauli garu will become immortal in India. More power to you SS Rajamauli ji.

Sahore Bahubali..!!

Prison smart course in Aligarh Jail

“If people get sick, we take them to the hospital and give them the right medicine to get better. If people’s behaviour is sick, we bring them to the prison, but we forget the medicines.” – Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

For the past 6 days i was conducting a prison smart course of Art of living in Aligarh district jail. Course was organised by Parul saxena ji and she requested me to teach to the inmates. 

There were around 50 inmates and juveniles and teaching them was an interesting experience. On the first day there were some inmates who were perhaps caught up with  something going on in their mind and had difficulty in following the instructions.  Most of them though were sincere and wanted to learn. Juveniles were a bit tricky to handle but i reminded myself if teenagers (around 18 yrs age) will not be naughty then who would be ? And i accepted them with smile. 

 

However with each passing day, i could sense the improvement in their condition. Many reported that there sleep quality has improved and they are feeling light. Yoga is best way to remove stress and ensure that not just the body but even mind is flexible and light. 

Thus inspired them each day to practice yoga and later seek even a career in yoga. Told them how to manage anger and taught them how a calm mind is essential before taking any decision and decision taken in haste often leads to repentance later. I was aware that most are inside due to some wrong decision that they took in anger. 

Touched by Sudarshan kriya and teachings, an inmate on his own started keeping flowers everyday near the image of Guruji. His gesture of gratitude touched me and i was not surprised when on the last day of the course he has tears of love in his eyes.

Also during my Art of living sessions, i was noticing that one prisoner had torn shirts and wore them daily, today while his eyes were closed i kept a shirt near him that i took from my home. Seeing this  love he started crying before me and i was happy at the transformation for the tears of gratitude are very precious. They purify the one who has them. .

Today on the last day of the course , all the inmates profusely thanked us for conducting the course and most had tears in their eyes. Though i don't allow people to touch my feets but a juvenile before i could stop came to me and quickly expressed his gratitude. Their transformation was a transformative experience for us too.    

Teaching and volunteering in Prison is a unique experience and must to have atleast once. So i request all the Art of living teachers spread around world to experience "going to prison" atleast once :P :) 

Jai Gurudev

A short introduction to Yoga vashistha

Yoga Vashistha

Yoga vashistha says that individuality does not exists and presence of an independent identity apart from paramatmaa is an illusion. Lets discuss finer details of it.

You mean i dont exist ?

You exist, but your existence is not seperate from the things you see. You see variety in nature but it exists only at surface level. All objects have one soul and are not different from Paramatman. So you exist as paramatman will be more appropriate thing to say.

So why do i feel pain, when i get hurt. Paramatman should feel pain.

Find out the one who feels pain. You dont feel when your nails are cut but feelings are there when other part of body is hurt. Its because you are conscious of some parts of body and unconscious about some. Doctors perform operations on body under the effect of anaesthesia which make you unconscious and you feel nothing. So feeling of pain is dependent on consciousness. 

A mother attached to her child will feel pain if the child is hurt though she cant experience his/her pain.

So do you mean to suggest that we feel pain for those things which are related to us ?

Yes. You didnt suffer when the recent floods in Uttaranchal killed thousands. However the presence of someone you know in Uttaranchal would have changed the scenario.

Ok, If i am paramatman. Why am i limited in this body? Should i not be omnipresent ?

You are omnipresent. You are limited to this body due to attachment to it. You are watching this body since time and you have started to believe its you. 

Wait, Are you saying that i am merely watching this body ? I am acting too. I can lift my hand whenever i want. I can move. Thats my body as i control it.

Seasons come , Rivers ,Sun and Planets move on account of that power, they do nothing. Complex process of digestion of food happens on its own. Everything is happening on its own. When you watch a movie with full attention ? Do you exist then. A person feels at height of his work that he is not existing and is completely absorbed in his work.

Poets experience this and say that nature spoke through me. You work is an illusion, everything happens through gunas (nature).

Ok. I have experienced that i dont exist when i am fully absorbed in work. But why  am i conscious when i am partially absorbed ?

So you experienced that you were nowhere when you focused completely on your work. At that moment just the work existed.

When you are partially absorbed, you are focused on many objects at a time , world being one of them. Hence you are conscious of world and things that you have long identified as yours. Their presence leads you to imagine you are present too. That's why many scriptures advise practice of discrimination and detatchment, so that you dont see world then.

When i see the world , the world rises on account of me seeing it

... to be continued