Joining Art of Living

 

Many people had recommended to do the  Art of Living from many years since they knew I was interested in spirituality and religion. But I was quite stubborn and arrogant in those days. I thought i was already a reiki practictioner and i had read many books on spirituality, so I was not interested.

Also the course was for 6 days and I felt i could not spare such a long day in the middle of my busy schedule. Then one day my colleague Mr Vitappa Prabhu came and told me with much more enthusiasm and energy than usual to enrol for the course. He told me it was just for 3 days and in the evening time. I felt that the timing was convenient and anyways just for 3 days. More importantly he was my colleague and had supported me in the past and I didn’t want to disappoint him.

So I committed to him I will attend the program. As usually happens, I had a customer meeting on the first day of the three day course and I missed the first day. I thought anyway I have missed the first day , let me attend the course next time. Next morning Mr Vitappa called me and the words he said I will never forget. He told me “I had already registered you for the course and you didn’t come. I am very disappointed”. One hearing such strong words I felt guilty and I requested if I could join the course from second day. He spoke to the teacher and got special permission from her and asked me to come  early so I could recap the previous day. I went half an hour early and some volunteers taught me the 3 stage pranayam.

Then the course started. The teacher taught us bhastrika pranayam. And then she instructed us how to do Sudarshan kriya. And then we directly started the kriya.

The first kriya experience blew me away. When it was happening it was so intense and I felt so much energy and when I rested after  my first kriya by lying down, it was the most wonderful experience of my life till then. It was as if the stresses and tensions of entire lifetimes were being released and I  experienced a deep relaxation and rest, which I had never experienced in my life till then.

I had enrolled in the course with zero interest and expectations, but the Sudarshan kriya gave me the  experience of a new dimension. The next day kriya was also equally good. The teacher also shared some good knowledge points which I really appreciated. In the experience sharing, at the end of the Course I shared my experience. I told “ I have been a spiritual seeker from last 15 years. I have read books, met various sages and swamis, attended workshops, gone to many temples, but what I experienced in the last 3 days is equivalent to 15 years of seeking. I had read a lot of theory on Spirituality but this is for the first time I have had a practical experience   and I truly salute you (the teacher Dr Vinaya Poornima) for teaching the course and Guruji for designing this course”. This truly started my real journey into spirituality.

There were 2 miracles which Guruji created to give me chance to join  Art of Living.

1. I had know Mr Vitappa for past 5 years and he had told me many times about the art of living course , but he was not able to convince me about the course. He had just completed DSN course which the Art of Living conducts which instils a positive and dynamic spirit in people and that is why he was so convincing and forceful and able to convince me to enrol into the course.

2. Normally the Happiness program ( basic course as it was called then ) is of 6 days. I would never have joined the 6 days course as per me I could not spare 6 days in my busy schedule. Dr Vinaya had just tried the three days course as a experiment. This as per my knowledge was the first and last time she did the course for three days. So I believe it is the Divine which inspired her to teach a 3 days course to give a chance to stubborn people like me to come into contact with him.

I humbly bow down to him once again for accepting me as his disciple thru his grace.

The First Darshan

 

                                                                                                                   

It had been 1 month since I had joined Art of Living and I was enjoying the daily kriya , the sadhana, though I was not so serious in other aspects like satsang and seva. One day Mr Vitappa prabhu who had introduced me to Art of Living, told me Guruji was coming to Mangalore and shall we go and meet him. I didn’t feel any great joy or interest in it as I thought he was just another person, though quite intelligent or smart who had discovered the sudarshan kriya and spread it in a effective manner. But since all of them were going in a jeep and I would get a free ride, I thought i would join them. So I went to Kateel temple where the darshan was. We were told to go to the temple hall and sit in parallel lines and he would come to where we were sitting. That itself was a suprise to me as I had thought we would have to que to meet him.

We waited for some time and then they were some bhajans playing in the meanwhile which I enjoyed. Then they started singing Bhagyada laxmi ( which was my favourite bhajan) and said our laxmi had come to meet us. Then I saw him at a distance walking toward me, a gleaming figure in white and spontaneously tears started falling from eyes, there was deep voice within me which told me I was meeting him after waiting so long.  After so many lives of waiting I was meeting him. Then he came near and looked at me compassionately, I touched his feet and he moved on. No words were spoken but that one glance satisfied me completely.

After meeting all the people, He went on stage and just spoke a few words which had a tremendous impact on me and gave me a glimpse of his divinity. He asked all of us how we were, everyone replied that we were happy. He told us that there was nothing to be unhappy about, that he was there with us and that if we had any problems, miseries we should give it to him, he would take it all.

I had been to so many satsangs earlier , met so many other holy men, but I had never heard anyone say this. These were words I was longing to hear, because I had so many problems, so many anxieties and fears and It really relived me to hear him say this. It was just not the words, it was the simplicity and the love with which he said it, which really touched my heart.

Then he started to sing Jai Jai radha raman which I was hearing for the first time and which I realized later signified the end of the interaction. Then he left the venue physically, but always has been in my heart since then. Even today when I remember the beautiful first meeting in the holy Kateel Devi temple, I thank the divine mother for giving me this most beautiful grace of meeting my Guru at her abode.

 

 

Driving to the Divine

The year was 2010. I had just done my basic course ( art of living happiness program as it was called then) . 2 months back and i was very satisfied with results of my daily kriya practice. I was feeling more happier and energetic.  Gurujis visit was planned to Mangalore, with a stage program in mangala stadium, live Sudarshan kriya with Guruji and a volunteers meet etc. I jumped at this chance to meet him again in person after the Kateel Visit. Me and my friends spread the news of Gurujis visit to all those people whom we knew.The great day had finally come and I was excited to meet him.

Live Sudarshan kriya  with Guruji was at 4 pm and we were supposed to report at 3 pm. Then the first disappointment happened. To my dismay I saw that there were no arrangements made for shamiana to cover the venue where we were supposed to do the Long Kriya and we were supposed to wait  under the hot sun waiting for Guruji. But I accepted it and was waiting patiently with all the others.

After long time of waiting, the organizers announced , that due to some unexpected circumstances, Guruji would be arriving late and thus the Sudarshan kriya would not be a live kriya which Guruji would chant himself, but the recorded long kriya which all of us generally practice in follow up. This was a big disappointment to me as they had created a lot of buzz about live kriya with Guruji .

Then after still more time Guruji came for the satsang. The satsang was decent but not what we had seen in TV in other places, or what I had imagined it to be. The final straw was when I got news that volunteer meet was also cancelled as Guruji was tired and was going to a resort in Moodbidri some 30 kms from mangalore to rest. I was very upset, and just walked away from the venue. I went home and told my family I was never going to attend any art of living session ever. I felt disappointed in Guruji who didn’t appreciate us volunteers who had put so much effort.

My friend who had introduced me to Art of Living called me and I shared all my frustration with him. He told me he and one more friend were going to go uninvited to the resort tomorrow to meet Guruji. I told him, I was not coming as  I had was very disappointed with previous evening program and didnt want to face further disappointment. Then next day I told my family i was going to the office. I set out with all intentions to go to office and I parked the car outside my office. Just then I felt some curiosity and I called my friend who had gone to moodbidri what the situation was there. He told me that he had arrived at the resort and they were waiting for Guruji. I told him he was welcome and I anyway had no experience driving such long distances alone and I am not coming.

Then I started to drive my car all the way to moodbidri. I felt it was very strange. I didn’t want to go, but I felt some force was pulling me all the way, I was resisting it , but it was as if I was helpless. I drove all the way to moodbidri very fast, much faster than I had ever driven till then. I reached the resort, and I started running to the venue where Guruji was there. When I reached there Guruji who was on the stage, just stopped what he was saying and just looked at me with a compassionate smile. In that one glance, he was telling me , see how I got you here , even though you didn’t want to come.

There were hardly 15 people there, who were invited and we 3 gate crashers. We got a chance to meet him on stage, introduce ourselves personally. There was a later press conference where I got to sit literally at his feet, very close to him and many of my doubts got clarified in the Q&A session with the press. All the events of previous day faded away and I felt so connected with him. The Volunteer meet which was cancelled  the previous day was also scheduled later in the day and also those volunteers who could not meet him   also met him.  

I thank him most deeply and humbly for making me drive all the way to moodbidri in such a dramatic manner. The memories of the time spent there, are so touching and deep.

A Walk in the Forest By Tanuja Pai ( Art of Living Volunteer)

It had been 2-3 years since I had joined Art of Living and I was quite happy. My existing center was quite far from my home and I wanted a Art of Living center nearer to my place. Secondly I was very much interested in doing seva or service projects, but I was not happy with  encouragement or support given in the existing center towards this. I was just wondering what to do. I prayed to Guruji to give me the necessary guidance and direction as I was feeling my spiritual progress and path was stuck.

The next day  Me and my husband were passing the mannagudda area, where we saw a building where Gurujis photo was stuck in a banner. I realised it was one more center and noted down the phone number and also prayed to Guruji to bless me to get good encouragement and progress by joining this center.  Unknown to me Guruji himself had come to mangalore and was staying in this very center when I was outside doing this prayer. This I came to know later when I joined the center which was named Sri Sannidhi. This is home of devotee couple Dr M S Ravi and Mrs Asha Ravi who are both art of living teachers.

I next dat called and spoke to Asha akka who spoke to me very warmly and welcomed me to the center. She encouraged and guided me in so many ways thru the years and I have really grown thru the years by being associated with her and the center. I have done various courses like 6 advance courses, DSN, and Volunteer Training Program.

I have participated in many seva projects and below I would like to share and interesting experience which we experience while working for the Pavitra project. The Pavitra project of the Art of Living is where we go to various schools and talk to and guide young girls on menstrual hygiene and clear up many any myths surrounding the same. We had taken an appointment to conduct the workshop on the project in a government school which in a very rural area almost 1 hour drive from Mangalore. We had gone in a bus and had asked the bus conductor to inform us when the school was nearby. He guided us accordingly and me and  Leela ji got down opposite the school and we went and met the staff. They told us we had got down in the wrong school and the actual school where we had taken an appointment was 6 kms further away. Both of us were confused and didn’t know what to do. It was a very rural area and there are no taxis or rickshaws. The  timing of the next bus is uncertain and the appointment for the workshop was in just half and hour.

  Both of are 50+ years of age and not very fit but we prayed to Guruji for strength and decided to walk the distance. Even today I cant believe how we walked a distance of 4 kms so fast and without much tiredness. When we had walked that much and were feeling little tired, a bus came and we boarded the bus. The bus driver told us the school we were going to was in a forest area and it was quite a walk inside from the main road. We called the school and took proper guidance and walked again inside from the main road. It was a very beautiful walk thru the forest and after 10 minutes we came to the school.

All the children enjoyed the workshop which had some beautiful knowledge  pranayam, games and a meditation. I felt so happy that Guruji had made me a instrument to deliver this precious knowledge to these young children. He has also given me the strength to do his work and has always taken care of us so beautifully in every aspect. Jai Guru Dev.

Saving My Career By Sahana ( Art of Living Faculty)

I did my basic Sudarshan Kriya  course in the year 2008 when I was in my first year of engineering and it really helped in my academic life. I was able to relate to people better, not get shaken due to unexpected situations, able to grasp academic concepts and even I started getting higher marks. It also gave me positivity and energy to face the job interviews better and I easily got into 2 companies TCS and Toyota. Since I was an industrial engineer I chose to join Toyota.

I joined Toyota as trainee and there were a bunch of us who joined from different Colleges from all across the country. Though Toyota had been my dream company, the actual day to day working was a nightmare. I had to travel 30kms daily to their plant in bidadi. As we were just new trainees the ( you can write what problems you faced)

I was really confused and didn’t know how to resolve the situation. All the above was taking a toll on my physical and mental health. Some of my Art of Living friends recommended I do the Advance course in the Bangalore ashram. The advance course is a 4 days retreat which really helps you to recharge and rejuvenate yourself. It was really a lovely experience and I really enjoyed the amazing processes which are there in the course. The serene atmosphere  of the Bangalore ashram, gave me the much needed soothing to my Mind and body which it badly required.

It was the last evening of the course and I was feeling very sad that I was leaving this heavenly place and going back to the hell which was my job. I stood in Vishalakshi Mantap in front of Guruji’s statue and cried my heart out to him. I asked him to save me from all the problems which I was facing. Then suddenly I saw a person who was entering the Vishalakshi mantap , from the other side. It was the general Manager of my company, i.e Toyota. He recognized me and came to me and spoke. He said he had come to the ashram to do the Sahaj Samadhi meditation program. He asked about me and how long I was with Art of Living and other details.

Next day when I went to the office, I was called to his cabin and he introduced me to the other senior people . He then asked me to assist him directly in preparing an important presentation. Miraculously my whole job environment had changed and I was doing interesting and important work. I started getting recognition and appreciation for the work I was doing. After some time my immediate manager who was quite unpleasant was transferred and I started reporting to a much more congenial and supportive person. At the end of 1 year when i finally decided to quit Toyota they were reluctant to let me go and really appreciated my performance.

I really feel this is all due to Gurujis grace. My simple act of surrender really helped to Save my Career. As Gururji says a sincere prayer from the Heart is always answered . Whenever we have any problem or issue which is bothering us,  if we just sit in a quiet place and  mentally  surrender to him  that problem or issue, this itself can definitely bring miracles in our life. This has been my experience.

 

 

Hangover

It had been approximately 15 days since I had joined Art of Living. I felt the daily home kriya was good and the long kriya in Gurujis voice was even better, but still I was in my old habits and patterns and had not given sadhana such a priority in my life. The weekly Long Kriya follow up in our center was on Thursay  at 5.30 am  ( which in my opinion was much too early). I had never woken up before 7 am at that point in time. One Wednesday, we had a get together with friends at a restaurant, with alcoholic drinks and food. It went on till late and I reached home around 11 pm, in a slightly intoxicated state after having couple of drinks and some food. I suddenly remembered that there was long kriya the next morning and the teacher had asked us to attend regularly. But I also realized in my current state there was no way I was getting up so early and even if with great difficulty I got up by setting an alarm clock, i would be feeling lousy after all the drinks and heavy food. Past experience had told me it takes at least 8- 10 hours to flush the effects of alchohol from my system. Till then there would be a quesy feeling in my stomach etc.

Anyway I slept with the intention, if I wake by myself lets see. Suddenly somewhere in middle of night, I saw and felt as if a long bearded person was shaking me in my dreams. I woke up and looked around there was no one. I saw the time , it was 5 am. I felt my body , it was fresh and comfortable, with no effects of the alcohol. I realized, I was anyway awake and without any hangover which i customarily would feel. So I decided to go for the long kriya and had a wonderful experience.

Funnily at that time, I thought all this was a coincidence and I didn’t even realize that this was miracle or Guru story. I didn’t even realize that it was Guruji who had come in the dream and only told my family that I felt a long bearded person had shaken me awake. I was a big believer then in the idea that the universe will guide me appropriately and this I realized was a clear message from the Universe to focus on Kriya.

 I realized that it was better to be more sincere in sadhana , not have alcohol on Wednesday and not miss the weekly long kriya on Thursday. I had not left alcohol then, my habits were too strong. After some more time when I heard some Guru stories from other people, I realized that incident was my own Guru story. this incident gave me glimpse of Gurujis power, the feeling that he was caring for me , even though I was indulging in some habits which were not so good for me, and it also told me that I should focus regularly on my sadhana. Leaving alcohol happened some years later and is one more Guru story.

 

 

Ashram Stories

The Art of Living ashram in Bangalore as per me is the most beautiful place on earth. It is situated on 250+acres venue out on the outskirts of Bangalore on Kanakapura road. There are  beautiful buildings, Including the majestic Vishalakshi Mantap, the Amphitheatre and Guru Paduka vanam with its musical fountains, the beautiful greenery and the lake . Taking a walk there particularly in the late evenings, when the soft yellow lights  are on, gives one a feeling that we have come to an Hill station right in the middle of Bangalore. I have had the privilege of going there and staying on multiple occasions . Below I would like to share some of my experiences of the ashram.

Ashram Food – The food in the ashram Annapurna kitchen serves thousands of people per day and is fully sattvic. Though our perception of sattvic food is that its generally boring, if you taste the food in the ashram kitchen you will realize that is not the case here. There is a varied menu every day and all the items are finger licking tasty. I think it is because there are prepared by sevaks with a pure intention and bhakti bhav or maybe because of the positive vibes of the ashram, that the food is so tasty. Truly everyone should go to the ashram at least just to enjoy the food there.

Here I would like to share a small incident which happened in ashram kitchen. I was doing an advance silence course and I was in silence. For breakfast there was vermicelli noodles which I really like. Along with it certain times they serve chutney powder which is a good combination with the noodles. This time they had not given it and I was slightly disappointed. I started my breakfast . In front of me one person came and had something red on his plate and i was just looking if it was chutney powder , but it was not. Suddenly one person came from nowhere and I saw to my surprise , that he had a cup of chutney powder in his hand.   There were many people sitting in the row with me , but he just came, gave the cup to me without a word. I was literally stunned out of my senses and I could not believe it. There were many people sitting with me and he could have given it to all of us, but he just put it on the table next to my plate and walked off.

My logical intellectual brain which tries to find a reason for everything, could not grasp any reason for this action of his    I realised there are powers beyond our comprehension and we should just humbly accept the situation as it is ,whether sometimes it is good as in this case, or appears bad in other cases. As Guruji says, ‘Accept people and situations as they are’.

More than the powder it was the feeling of being loved and taken care of, which really touched my heart. I then realized that the Divine is aware even of our small silly desires and many times fulfils even these.

 An Important lesson.

When I  stayed in the ashram for multiple times, the positive vibration and high energy of the place has a definite impact on me. I sort of expected miracles to happen. Here Guruji taught me an important lesson. It was 2014 and I was staying in the Ashram for 15 days, 5 days for an advance course and 10 days for my eye treatment. For Both courses, my stay was in different residential blocks which were in the opposite ends of the ashram. I had just finished my advance course and was in a Uplifted state of mind after all the processes and experiences of the course . I walked to Vishala block to pick up my suitcase and take it to the Aparna block where my next stay was arranged.

When i exited vishala block, the security guard warned me to wait for some time and told me that It might rain. I told him that I was not worried and if it rained Guruji would take care by sending a ashram shuttle for me. I was walking with the suitcase and as expected it started raining heavily. I had my umbrella, but my suitcase was getting wet and there was no shuttle in sight. I waited for 5 minutes but no shuttle. I realized then we have to exercise basic care of ourself and not be careless depending on miracles. I humbly bowed on to Guruji in my mind I accepted my mistake and was walking in an humble state of mind in the rain. Then suddenly a jeep came and stopped in front of me. A lady who was sitting inside, asked me if I wanted a lift and she dropped me near my residence. Thus both things happened, I learnt a lesson and still I was not troubled too much.

 Then I realized that deeper purpose of the Guru is to help and guide his disciple to grow to a more mature human being and he does it in a manner which is most suitable to the particular individual. There might be some pain in the learning process, but that is the most minimum required to serve the purpose.

An Unexpected Darshan

My 15 days in the ashram were coming to an end and I was about to leave the next day. It was a Saturday, and there was supposed to be a Darshan line every Saturday where in people meet Guruji at a designated hall. We were supposed to register for this darshan line in secretariat well in advance. Thus myself and a lady who was doing eye treatment with me , went together to the secretariat to take an appointment. There we were informed that the darshan line was cancelled today as Guruji was busy . We were very disappointed and were about to leave. Then suddenly a Ashramite who I didn’t know, but who acted like he knew me, came and started talking to me. He asked me what the matter was. I told him that we had wanted a darshan but supposedly there was no darshan line. He mysteriously asked me to come at 2.30 to the secretariat. I was surprised and a quite excited. I also took his phone number. All this discussion was happening in Kannada. The lady with me could not follow what was happening. She asked me outside what we had discussed. I was tempted to lie to her that he had told there was no darshan line as I was afraid that if I took her along with me, the invitation which he had given only me might not be valid. But then I thought how can I cheat one more devotee who was trusting me and I told her the whole story. Both of us had a quick lunch and then went to the secretariat at the time.

This person was no where to be seen. No one knew of him in the secretariat. We were starting to get worried. Then I called him and he asked us to contact a specific person in secretariat who will take us to meet Guruji. We told Mr X about this call, and he smiled at us and told us to wait outside. There were lot of other people waiting outside. Then after 15 minutes all of us were taken inside Bhadri Vishala hall where generally the darshan line happens. The people waiting were a group of people who had travelled all the way from Maharashtra for a darshan with Guruji and had taken an appointment for the same. We had been graciously added   to the same group by the ashramite.

We were both excited and humbled to be getting this unexpected darshan. Guruji came and asked all of us, if we were from Maharashtra. I kept silent. I think he had a mischievous smile when he saw both of us. We had bought  some flowers which we put at Gurujis feet when he came. The lady with me had tears in her eyes and was crying a lot with joy. I also told Guruji that I was changing my job and he blessed me.     This incident really humbled me as I felt I was nowhere worthy of the  grace which he had showered on me which had given this most beautiful and unexpected darshan. Also my connection with him became much stronger after this incident as I really felt special and taken care of.

Going Back home

My 15 days stay at Ashram was over and I was really feeling sad and heart broken to leave this magical place. It was my great good fortune that Guruji had been there in the ashram for most of the 15 days , so we had met him almost daily in the evening satsang. I had made some nice friends in the Ashram , particularly some Interns in the events team had become very close to me and we had some very good times. But anyway my new job and existing responsibilities were calling me and I had to leave.

My train was from at 8.30 pm the Bangalore Railway station which was quite far from the ashram and I had booked a taxi to take me there. I was supposed to leave at 6pm from the ashram, but saying bye to my friends and discussion in Vishala cafe took more time than expected. By the time I was in my taxi it was almost 7PM. The taxi driver asked me what time my train was. When I told him it was at 8.30 , he said no way i could catch the train as , Bangalore traffic was at its peak time then (metro had not yet started). I told him I was not worried as I had full faith in Guruji. After saying these words, reality hit me and I started getting worried.

Then we started our journey which I can never forget to this day. The first signal light was off and the police man just passed us thru. This happened in the next 2-3 lights. Then I started seeing something strange and wonderful was happening. Whenever we would come to a signal light It would turn green. The taxi which started at ashram might have stopped only for a minute once for traffic, till it reached the railway station. We had passed through maybe 10-12 signal lights which had all been green, or turned green when we reached them.

With all this speed , I reached the railway station just on time for my train. I could not believe it, neither could the taxi driver. My logical brain could not comprehend the power which could make this possible. The logistics which might have been involved to create this phenomenon was mind boggling so I stopped trying to grasp it. I felt so humbled to witness such a tangible and indisputable miracle. All the doubts which had been still there in my logical and scientific mind fell off and I realized that there are phenomenons and powers  in this world which I cannot understand. I also felt so loved and special. Again I humbly prostrate at Gurujis feet for taking care of such an Ignorant person as me.

 

 

Taxi In Thailand

It was the year 2017 and me, my wife , daughter and mother had gone on a holiday to Thailand. I don’t like to book  organized tours and I generally plan our own customized holidays, right from booking flights, to choosing which hotels to stay in , to which tourist attractions to visit, how to go there etc. Each part of the holiday is mapped by me in a excel sheet and you can say it is a hobby or passion of mine to plan this.

We reached Thailand and had a pretty good time. We first reached Bangkok and our hotel was in a nice central location and quite satisfactory. The first day was in leisure where we just saw the local Buddhist temples, did some shopping and got used to the place. The next day I had booked  entry tickets, online to an amusement park called Dream world which is located a good 1 hour taxi drive on the outskirts of the city . We had our breakfast and then tried to catch a taxi to go this place. After 2-3 attempts one taxi driver agreed and we set out for the place. It was quite a long drive in a lot of traffic and cost us almost 500 baht. We reached there, finally and had a wonderful time. There was a snow world, roller coaster rides of various types, scenic points where in you could take photos, water park etc. It was a very enjoyable day and in the evening we finally set out to catch the taxi ride back to our hotel.

We reached the main road and tried to catch a taxi. We asked multiple taxi drivers but none of them were willing to take us back to Bangkok. We thought of taking a bus but the locals were not at all friendly either due to language problem or otherwise and no one was willing to guide us. My daughter who was quite tired by then started crying and all family members were blaming me for not taking a guided tour as most people do, where the tour company arranges for the transportation. It was turning out to be a nightmare for me

I  was totally confused and didn’t know what to do as we had tried all options. It was getting quite late by then and we felt totally helpless. I then remembered a Guru story which one of the senior teachers had said about taking Gurujis help to get a taxi. I told this to my family and all of us prayed to him silently in our mind. Then again I went to the road and stood there. Then the next taxi driver who came, instanly agreed  to take us to our Hotel without any arguments. He seemed like a nice smiling person unlike the generally rude taxi drivers we had encountered earlier. He took us back and the journey was much faster than the coming ride and also cheaper as we paid only 450 baht compared to the 500 baht paid for the arriving ride.

 On the whole journey we had a nice rest and nap in the taxi and reached the hotel feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. We thanked the taxi driver who was still smiling, very profusely for his support to us. We realized Gurujis grace is always with us even when we are in a remote part of the world, all we have is to remember him and he will take care.

 

The Express Train

Goa is our favorite family holiday destination. The beautiful beaches, the good food, the easy going vibe of the place, the vibrant night life all have a special attraction to me and our family. I think from the last 20 years there has always been an annual holiday of mine to Goa either as a bachelor or with family.

So as usual, we planned our annual holiday to Goa. One of the best , cheapest and most comfortable options to travel to Goa is via the Konkan railway . We looked at the various trains to Goa , but most of the express trains were full and we could not book the seat in those trains.

The only option was the notoriously slow Local passenger   between Mangalore and Madgaon which  has many  stops between Mangalore and Goa. It   stops at even the smallest station and   gets stuck at signal crossing as its usually given last priority when other faster express trains have to pass by. I remember waiting for more than half an hour at stations on it on earlier journeys, waiting for the green signal to move on.  It leaves Mangalore at 5.50 am and Its scheduled arrival at Madgaon was 12.50 pm in the noon, but it always used to arrive at 1.30 to 2 Pm minimum and sometimes even at 2.30 pm. This really used to disturb our schedule whenever we have travelled on it, as reaching late and then having lunch around 2.30pm would be unsettling . My daughter would always cry in the train due to hunger and we would reach Goa with a tired mind and hungry body. So we generally avoid travelling on that train. But this time since there was no other option we decided to travel on it.

This time we decided to pray to Guruji before the journey itself that we have a good and enjoyable trip, and particularly the starting train journey would be smooth with minimum delays. We did a Guru pooja before the day of the journey with this sankalpa and also on the day of the journey I did Guru Pooja chanting on the train itself ( in a low voice)  before the journey started. 

The train journey started and we slowly started to notice that it was going quite fast. To our amazement we notice that even the signal crossings where our train waited for other express trains to pass was going like clockwork. Our train used to wait at junction, the other train which was scheduled to pass used to come within a minute or two and then our train would move on. This happened multiple times and at multiple stations. I was thinking is this Indian railways or Swiss railways which is generally supposed to have this exact time precision.

It was around 12.15 and my wife said that we are slowing down at a station, I think we are arriving at Madgaon. I was sleeping and just woke up and said, its impossible as the scheduled time of arrival itself is 12.50 , But to our suprise it was Madgaon and we reached at 12.25pm which has never happened as far as I am aware when we have ever travelled. Even the taxi driver whom we had engaged to pick us was surprised. He said he was half hour jouney away from the stations as he expected us to arrive only after 1 pm. We had a comfortable lunch at the station.

Though we had done all the prayer asking for a fast journey ,I myself had not expected such a miracle. My logical mind could not comprehend the kind of permutations and combinations which were required to have this journey so fast. There were multiple trains travelling on the narrow konkan railway track at the same time. So generally that is the reason why the trains get stuck and delayed. But on that day all of them ran perfectly and we had a smooth journey.

On that day I truly recognized the power of the Guru, of the Divine and how he takes care of even the small, seemingly insignificant desires of the Devotee. The feeling of being taken care of was too strong and we could feel his presence with us on that railway station. All of us bowed down humbly and we felt truly blessed to be connected with him. Our faith became stronger and more firm due to this experience. Truly if we surrender any of our problems to him, big or small, he will take care.

The World Cultural Festival

The entire World Cultural festival which was held in Delhi in March 2017 is a Guru Grace story. It was held to celebrate the 35th year  anniversary of the Art of Living .  When we came to know of the scale of the program as given below, we were very excited to attend it.

It was held on the banks of Yamuna river on  a huge ground. The Stage itself was 7 acres, 37000 artists from 155 countries were performing, 35 Lakh people were expected to attend. Dates were 11^th to 13^th March 2017. People from all over the world thronged to Delhi to attend it and I definitely didn’t want to miss it.

The Karnataka apex body of the Art of Living did an amazing job, where in they gave a package option  for people who wanted to attend the festival. This  comprised of hotel stay in Delhi, Breakfast, Evening snacks and Dinner. Travel to and from the venue was also included in package. It was at a very reasonable cost and I booked the package by filling forms and making the payment. They then mailed all details of the stay to me well before program dates.

I booked my flight tickets via Mumbai to Delhi. On flight from Mangalore to Mumbai, there were some  Art of living teachers and volunteers with me, but from the flight to Mumbai to Delhi, i think almost 3/4^th of the flight were all art of living members. So it was an amazing experience to travel with so many devotees in flight. We reached Delhi airport and booked a pre paid taxi to the hotel.

I was pleasantly surpised to see the hotel as it was in the central Karol Bagh area of the city and it was very posh AC room. The weather in Delhi was quite cool and cloudy. I was happy to see that many of my Art of Living friends from Mangalore were all staying at the same hotel. We had an amazing dinner of authentic north Indian Dal Makhani and Lacha Parota at nearby hotel.

Delhi Sight seeing

The next day morning was free as the program was expected to start only in the evening. I Decided to explore Delhi by myself. The weather was quite pleasant and cool and I decided to go and  see Humayuns tomb, which I had read was an amazing monument. I had done my research on the internet earlier on travelling in Delhi and took the metro to go and see the monument. Delhi has one of biggest metro networks in the world and you can go to most places via metro.

 I took a cycle rickshaw from the metro station to the tomb, which itself was an nice experience. Delhi roads are wide and lot of greenery was there . The Gardens surrounding the tomb were so big ,beautiful and well planned and beautiful trees of different types and the Tomb itself is a Huge Majestic structure , like the Taj Mahal. I had a nice day out there and reached back into hotel well in time to travel to the program venue.

The Next day in the morning I went and Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, which is a beautiful sikh shrine. Its a Golden temple, with roof and walls in temple coated with Gold. There was beautiful kirtans happening in the temple and truly it was a great experience to be in that spiritually charged atmosphere. After the temple visit, I had lunch in the langaar or free kitchen where volunteers served lunch and it was really soul food, of Rice, Chapathi, Daal and Sabzi food which really tasty and also very nourishing.

The Magic Bus

A bus was expected to pick us up at the hotel and take us to the venue at around 3 pm. We were ready at around 2.30 pm and were waiting in the lobby. Even at 4 pm there was no sign of the bus and I was becoming increasingly nervous and afraid. We reached the main road and stood there waiting for the bus. It  was slowly starting to rain also. After few minutes one bus came and stood near us . All of us boarded the bus and asked the driver to take us to the venue. The Bus driver  told that this was not the bus engaged to pick us up and he was waiting for some other group and had picked us by mistake. We spoke to bus owner over phone, who also clarified that we were not the group he was supposed to pick up. By that time it was raining heavily. We requested him not to leave us in the middle of the road in the rain, and at least drop us to the nearest metro station which he kindly agreed. We reached the metro station and decided to take a metro to the program venue.

To our surprise, a journey which would have taken us 2 hours by road, took only half an hour by metro and that too in a comfortable ac train. Till today I don’t know what the situation would have been if the bus driver would not have come so unexpectedly. We would have been waiting for hours on the road and would have probably missed the first day program. And also the whole thing was so smoothly planned  that when we got out of the Metro station near the venue we saw that the rain was also slowing and it stopped in 5 minutes. Most of the people who had reached the venue earlier, had got fully drenched. So I realized that sometimes delays are also good for us. Whatever  the situation, we should have the faith that there is a higher power which is there, which loves us very much and will care of us in the appropriate manner. Where there is this faith there wont be unnecessary fear which drains us out of the joy and happiness which we can enjoy every moment.

We reached the nearest station to the program venue and saw that the station was full with hundreds of people who had come for the program and there was a very festive atmosphere there. We thene started walking to festival venue. It was a walk of several kilometres across a muddy path thru fields and it had its own challenges and charms. Then we saw a temporary bridge had been built across the Yamuna and it was very nice to see the beautiful river which was in full flow. Then we came to the festival venue.

The Heavenly Stage

The stage itself was so huge and mind blowing. It was 7 acres in size. It had beautiful Led lighting which kept on changing in different patterns and designs.  So many wonderful cultural performances were being conducted there with hundreds of participants performing each dance or song from different parts of the country or the world. There was an orchestra where there were 8500 musicians who were performing at once. Guruji was there in the center of the stage in all his majesty surrounded by various dignitaries of the country. On various days the prime minister of India, the chief minister of delhi, various politicians from India and the world, religious leaders of  all faiths from across the world attended the program.   There was music, singing, dance, discourses and cultural performance by people from so many countries and it really was a pleasure to see it. You can watch the highlights of the program at this link https://youtu.be/kg49vKk6lvU

 When the last day I was leaving the venue to catch the metro back to our hotel, there were tears in my eyes when I saw the stage for the last time. I definitely felt it was my great honor and privilege to have seem that wonderful stage which   seemed to have been got straight from heaven and installed there. I humbly said bye to Guruji and thanked him for giving me this wonderful opportunity to attend this magnificent program.

The entire World Cultural festival had been an amazing experience. We got to see the magnificent sights of Delhi, have very tasty food most of which was provided by the organizers, stay in a comfortable hotel and most importantly attend this amazing program. Truly any program organized by the Art of Living has been a memorable experience. There might be certain hiccups and confusions at certain times, but the overall experience had always been magnificent.