Sadhana Intensive (SI), Sivananda Kuitr, Netala, Uttarkashi

Place : Bhiwadi

Time : October, 2008

I was explaining different concentration exercises to focus mind and experiences in meditation to my students. After practicing concentration exercises, I asked them to close their eyes and focus. After ten minutes of silence, I noticed that the tears started flowing from the eyes of one of my students. That was an unique experience in meditation! About which I had read in books only but had never experienced. There was a little feeling of jealousy in me but a very strong desire to experience it. I desperately wanted to practice hard and experience the magic of purity in the form of tears.

Place : Sivananda Kutir, Netala, Uttarkashi

Time : September, 2016

          
           

After completing my Teacher Training Course from Netala, I went to nearby places like Dayara Bugyal, Gangotri, Gaumukh and Tapovan as there was a week gap until my next course Sadhana Intensive started in Netala.

Trekking to these places was mesmerising, adventurous and quite hectic. When I returned to Sivanada Kuitr near Siror Bridge on the evening before Sadhana Intensive began, I was suffering from dehydration and fatigue. Even plenty of liquids and fruits didn’t help me and my health further deteriorated. Now I had cold, cough, constipation and muscular pain in limbs. I was feeling extremely tired.

For one week I attended the classes regularly but decided to leave the course in between as I was not feeling well and there was nothing new to learn and experience. I had to drop this idea as I found it impossible to travel to Dehradun airport (6 hours horrible journey for me because of travel sickness) alone in taxi with my poor health. It was better to pull one more week and travel down hills with friends. Hence, I continued the practice.

            

In the second week, they introduced new techniques for focusing mind like mahamudra,        mahabanda, mahaveda, viprit karni. They as well increased the duration of practice. One practice was of three and a half hour and every day it had to be repeated thrice, which means more than ten hours of sadhana. I practiced sincerely whatever I could with my not so good health.

           

Sivananda Kuitr near Siror Bridge was situated near river Bhagirathi (Ganges). It was amazing experience to live, to learn, to study, to practice and to meditate near the sacred river. Hindus believe that bathing in the river Ganges causes remission of sins. While taking a dip in river, people leave something behind generally bad habits, food items or negative thoughts. As I took dips in Ganges, I forgave two individuals whom I was finding extremely difficult to forgive. A huge unnecessary burden from my mind was removed. The river Ganges helped me and I felt light from inside, really very light!

On the last day of practice, while doing Anolum Vilom, the tears started flowing from my eyes. I had waited and practiced quite long to experience this ecstasy. The ashram’s calm and serene environment, restricted diet mostly khichadi and moong dal with less salt and no spices, doing neti (cleansing exercises) regularly, Mataji’s guidance and caring attitude helped me in purifying myself and growing spiritually.  

            I highly recommend this course for spiritual aspirants.

Colgate Mega Space Launch Project

Col-boy and Col-girl were selected for Colgate Mega Space Launch Project even though thousands and thousands of girls and boys had applied for the project. Colgate Mega Space Launch Project was a unique mission to experience the space launch of rocket, moving around in space stations, doing space walk, watching planets, comets and UFO and if lucky then might get a chance to say ‘Hello’ to an Alien.

Col-boy wore orange colour space suit that weighs 127 kg with 13 layers of material to protect him from adverse conditions in the space. Col-girl wore a green colour space suit that provided her with oxygen to breathe in outer space. They got into the rocket upper part with sufficient stock of food, water and Colgate toothpaste for cleaning of their teeth after meals. The reverse counting began. ‘Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One and Zero.’ The rocket was lifted off which exerted more power than 13000 train engines.

Once they reached in Earth’s orbit, they tied their respective cords to the space stations and did the space walk. Space adventure was quite exciting for them! Col-girl saw the beautiful sun wearing sunglasses to protect its eyes from the glare and heat. She told Col-boy that the sun is Helium except 3/4^th of its mass that is Hydrogen. Col-boy pointed towards a comet and explained to her that it gets heat up when close to the sun and its long tail is made up of dust and ice crystals. They noticed Venus together which was fuming with anger while rotating in the opposite direction to most other planets. Far off, Saturn was smiling because it has rare rings made up of ice, rocks and dust.

Col-girl asked, “What is the name of that red coloured planet?”
Col-boy confidently told, “Mars!”
They admired the beauty of red planet and could not take off their eyes from the ‘red planet’.
Col-girl suggested, “Let’s see it from close.”
They turned their space shuttle towards Mars.

On reaching Mars, they left their space shuttle. They were trained astronauts to work without gravity in space and their space suits were so designed that they could easily breathe in outer space. They were moving in rover, a space exploration vehicle that moves across a planet’s surface to collect red stones from Mars. Then Col-boy saw an UFO, unidentified flying object with a great speed coming closer to them. He could not change the direction of rover as a big rock was in front of them. UFO was about to hit them, then an alien came from nowhere and pushed UFO too hard with his little hands. The powerful alien had a big face, lean body and sharp mind. UFO took a sharp U turn. He took out his laser pistol, shot UFO twice and broke it’s edge. To escape from unexpected attack UFO returned and disappeared in the space.

Col-boy and Col-girl came out of the vehicle and said thanks to the alien. They offered him chocolates, which they had taken with them from Earth. As he took a bite from a chocolate, his gums started bleeding. He had a strong body but very weak teeth. They gifted him Colgate toothpaste with Calci-lock protection and asked him to brush his teeth after every meals.
“Soon your teeth will become as strong as your body!” Col-boy said with a sweet smile.

The Alien presented him rare red stones of Mars.
The mission of Col-boy and Col-girl was accomplished. They returned to Earth after spreading Colgate smiles on Mars.

“I’m blogging my #ColgateMagicalstories at BlogAdda in association with Colgate.

Power of mantra

"You do meditation!" A man uttered with a surprise. "How do you do that?"
I replied, "I do Japa Meditation in which I chant the mantra of my personal deity repeatedly."
"Then you are not doing meditation, you are only increasing the bundle of your thoughts." He was in a mood to argue.
"Mantra chanting cleans all the negativities from mind and improves concentration power. Moreover repetition of mantra produces vibrations that are soothing for mind. It is a panacea for getting peace of mind." I said.
"Meditation means no thoughts and only bliss. Whereas mantra is a thought and you are increasing it with every repetition therefore it is not meditation."
"One can't experience bliss on mere closure of eyes. It is experienced only after continuous practice and repetition of mantra. Neither you have faith in the power of mantra nor you know the power of mantra. Only those who repeat it continuously knows its power. If you want to know more than you must read the book 'Japa Meditation - The Easiest Way to Calm the Mind' authored by me."

Happy Valentine's Day!

To take a break from my work, I looked at my mobile. It showed a voice message from my close friend, Mrs. 'P'. I played it. It was not her voice but her little son's sweet voice.

He said, "Happy Valentine's Day, Chandrika aunty! I love you!!"

It was the sweetest message I have ever received on Valentine's Day. I took a leave from my office and went to the market to shop a nice gift for him.

Blue-green river

Soon after the monsoon showers, water in the river was flowing swiftly making it muddy and dirty. At the curve of the river, the river was quite deep and water was very clear. Surprisingly, it was not muddy. It was clean. It was clear. It was calm. It was serene. It was blue-green in colour.

I was watching the gently flow of water and enjoying the soul uplifting moment. I was so immersed in tranquillity that I forgot about the rest of the world. Honk of a horn brought me back in the reality. I turned to saw which vehicle was it. And found two staring eyes!

The colour of eyes was same as that of the river Bhagrathi. Blue-green! The eyes were transparent, pure and serene just like river water. These days, like muddy water there is so much dishonesty and trickery in the eyes of the people. But these gentle eyes did not have a tinge of deceptiveness. In the twinkling drops of blue-green dew, innocence and purity could be observed clearly - as pure as freshly melted snow! The truthful eyes were so transparent that the reflection of his soul could be seen in those eyes.

My heart said, “Who will not have unconditional love for those eyes? Never changing emotions for those lustrous gems?”

Small gifts for friends and relatives

I like to give small gifts to friends and relatives and most of the time gifts are not costly. Generally, the presents consist of little things that go perfectly with their taste. I held the gift in my hand, pray for the person’s success and well-being and then give it to him/ her.

Although, I did not want to give a present to Ms. ‘F’ but out of courtesy sake I gifted her three unique silver coins. Goddess Lakhshmi, Lord Shiva’s family and Lord Ram were respectively engraved on them. In her fit of anger, that arrogant woman threw away those silver coins on the floor. Looking at those scattered silver coins, I thought, “Does she throw away her good fortune?”

Best b’day gift at Sheraton Hotel, New Delhi

This year I wanted to celebrate my b’day in a different way! I want to be alone. Neither with my family nor with my friends but with myself. To experience inner silence unlike others who went to ashrams or in forests near a lake or a river, I booked a suite in luxury hotel in Sheraton Hotel, New Delhi. It was quite expensive somewhat out of budget but I did not mind spending lavishly occasionally, especially if it was my b’day and I wished to celebrate it in a unusual way!

As soon as I entered Sheraton Hotel, Delhi I was mesmerised with the beautiful ambience. It was illuminating as if the stars came down on the earth to reside permanently in Sheraton Hotel. Crazy me, forgetting about the rest of the world, started clicking photos.

I clicked my photos from every angle, not missing a single niche of a hotel. If you have many photos to upload on Facebook and Instagram what else, you can wish! ;)

I felt tired; I retired to suite to take rest physically and mentally. Unpacking my bag, I realised that I forgot to bring my slippers. I turned to call the reception then I glanced at a pair of beautiful white slippers lying on the doormat of bathroom. The luxury hotels take care of guests tiniest needs.

Sitting on the comfortable chair, I closed my eyes and experienced the inner peace like never before! It was beyond the description of words!! Bliss!!!

Next day, I have to check out. At the reception, in the line to hand over the keys there was one foreigner in front of me. Waiting for my turn, I adjusted my dupatta on the shoulder. While doing so, my hand touched my ear. Oh my God! I forgot my earrings that my granny gave me. I rushed back to the room in search of them. I found them on the side table. I looked into the mirror and wore them. I took a look of the room again to confirm that I am not forgetting anything else here. I closed the room and walked towards the reception.

When I was walking through the passage, I saw Karishma Kapoor, great Bollywood star coming out of a meeting hall. She was wearing long cream top with crimson red skirt. Her hair was plaited and she was smiling. I hesitantly requested for a click with her. She agreed. I had a selfie with Karishma Kapoor one of my favourite Bollywood stars.

It was the best b’day gift I ever had! :)

That photo is still enhancing the elegance of my drawing room! :)

“I am blogging about my luxury stay experience for an activity at BlogAdda in association with MakeMyTrip“