Friday, October 14, 2016

My spiritual name

After the initiation ceremony of mantra a spiritual name was given to the students by Swamiji to those only who were interested in taking part in that ceremony.
"What is your spiritual name?" Ms. 'F' asked me, unknowingly that I didn't participate in that ceremony.
I explained her, "My full name is Chandrika Shubham. Chandrika means 'moonlight' and Shubham means 'sacred' so I am 'sacred moonlight'."
"Wow! So it is your spiritual name."
"Ya. My maternal grandfather, Kaushal Saini named me 'Shubham' when I was born. Later in life, he blessed me with a spark of spirituality by placing his hand on my head just a couple of days before he left his body. His blessings totally changed my life. Only after that my interest in scriptures, spirituality and meditation grew many folds. It was still a mystery for me why he chose me and not any other family member or friend as I was not intelligent, didn't have interest in spirituality, didn't have saintly qualities as compared to other family members."

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Love games – To make pairs with opposite sex


The teacher told the class, “No chit-chatting after the sansang class at night. Switch off the lights at 10pm.”

I returned to my room after the class. To relax, I opened the book and started reading while lying on my bed. I shared the room with other girls, all of them were damn talkative! Most of the time, their talks were absurd, illogical, irrelevant, contained inferior quality of romance, sometimes poorly erotic and occasionally sexual. I felt not only bored but also sometimes irritated with their poor quality talks. Moreover, frequent repetitions of such irrational talks made me sick.

Girl ‘A’ started the conversation and said to Girl ‘B’, “Today, In the fruit shop, you want to buy apples but Mr. ‘Z’ has taken all the apples. He was waiting at the billing counter for his turn and knowing that you want to buy apples. He offered one to you so lovingly. And you silly girl refused it.”

Girl ‘B’ “Was that an apple or his heart?”

Girl ‘A’ continued after a brief pause, “It was his heart in the shape of apple which he was giving it to you with so much love.”

Girl ‘B’ said while scribing something on her notebook, “No, he just asked normally.”

Girl ‘A’ said, “But he didn’t ask any other girl in the shop, some of the girls wanted apples and he was holding all the apples but asked only you and not anybody else. Because you are special for him! He has feelings for you!”

“No!” Girl ‘B’ made a face.

“Did he offer any other girl in the shop to take apples? No! Therefore, it is clear that he was giving it you only, my dear.”

I put the book down, as I was not able to concentrate and started applying oil on my  knees which were paining.

“If he was giving signals to me, then what?”

“You are from the same country and he is also from the same county. He runs the yoga school. You want to run a yoga school. You both have the same goal in life. Look he is offering you to work together, live together and have kids with flexible bodies like you both have.”

It seemed that she had not heard about the Mendelian inheritance that throws light on how recessive gene can appear in next generation.

Girl ‘C’ entered the room. Girl ‘A’ to Girl ‘C’ “Where were you, my darling?”

Girl ‘C’ told, “I was telling Mr. ‘Y’ that today he chanted beautifully.”

“It took you so long so say that.”

Girl ‘B’ said, “In the evening, you were not feeling well. You were having cold. And it has been raining heavily. You should have taken rest.”

Girl ‘A’ said, “After the chanting class she must be feeling well as Mr. ‘Y’ chanted for her.”

They all laughed.

Girl, ‘B’ asked “By the way, who is Mr. ‘Y’?”

Girl ‘C’ told, “The smartest Indian guy!”

Girl ‘B’ looked around like a fool and said, “Who? Today three Indian guys chanted. About whom you are talking?”

Girl ‘C’ eloborated his physical appearance.

When Girl ‘B’ couldn’t recall Girl ‘C’ showed her a photo of that guy in her mobile which she clicked with him when they last time went out together.

Girl ‘B’ reacted, “He is smart???”

Girl ‘C’ explained, “Ya, not that smart but the smartest in all Indian guys. A figure among ciphers!”

Girl ‘A’ said, “She wants to settle in India as she loves Indian culture and rituals. So she is tuning with that guy.”

Girl ‘B’ asked, “But you have a boy friend in your own country.”

Girl ‘C’ replied, “Ya, I am in serious relationship with him but just to pass the time and to have fun this guy. What’s bad in it?”

I thought, “Now I have to live with them for only 9 days more!”



The three of them loved to play love games – ‘to make pairs with opposite sex’. In general, the girls love to play such games in their teens but they were playing such stupid games in their late twenties or early thirties. They had not matured with age or might be I had matured more with age. 

This incidence is of not of just one day, they loved to play such nonsense games everyday with ‘this guy’ or ‘that guy’.

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Mahamrityumjaya Mantra

"In ashram, they celebrated my birthday so nicely whenever I remembered it, a wave of happiness passed through my spine. You all wished me 'Happy B'day' in different languages. Everyone chanted Mahamrityumjaya Mantra for me for my good health, long life and prosperity. It was a great experience!" Ms. 'W' said.
"On that day, the sweets you distributed among all batch-mates were really very delicious." I told her. "Sorry, I couldn't write about the meditation course which I did later on and you asked me to write about that on my blog. In past couple of days, my laptop crashed a few times."
"Oh!"
"Oops! It crashed again." I said on phone with my eyes fixed on laptop screen on which all of a sudden blue, pink lines started appearing and thereafter everything disappeared.
"You should chant Mahamrityumjaya Mantra for your laptop." She suggested.
We together chanted ..
Om tryambakam yajamahe sugandhim pustivardhanam
urvarukamiva bandhananmrtyormuksiya mamrtat

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

The wisecracking guy

"You are just like Mr. Bean, the finest British comedian. Your quick jokes, comical comments and rubber face like Mr. Bean make all of us laugh. Have you ever worked in a theatre or on stage?" Ms. 'F', a young woman asked Mr. 'G' who was the wisecracking guy. 
"No." He uttered and waved his both hands crossing each other indicating a big 'NO'.
"Your experimental and off beat style witticism won the hearts of many! You are lively, energetic and cheerful with impressive comic expressions and an expert in creating amusing situations. You deserves a notable comedy award!" Ms. 'F' praised him.
He smiled and put his right hand on his heart and bowed down.
Ms. 'S', a middle aged woman said to Mr. 'G', "To me, you are like the donkey in Shrek movies. A happy-go-lucky donkey!"
Mr. 'G' replied, "This is the best compliment I have ever received."

I was hearing this whole conversation. Ms. 'S' was right as this compliment suits him the best because he pokes fun at everyday life, observing the unobservable which in general we missed to observe. He pokes fun at others and himself. His tone and style were light hearted. His punch lines were always hard to predict. He kept on cracking wonderful jokes without hurting anybody's feelings which was the toughest job because we all were from different countries and had different cultures. But it was really admiring about Mr. 'G' who instead of feeling offended on being called a 'donkey', he accepted the donkey compliment happily and in a light way. My imaginative mind moved a bit further thinking that donkey's spouse was a dragon! ;)




Monday, October 10, 2016

Festive time

While passing by the road, I saw this statue of Meghnad.
I stopped for a while to look at it and to click it's photo. One woman came from the other side of the road and asked me, "Do you want to buy this?"
"No." I said.
"We made Ravana, Meghnad and Kumbhakaran figures in all sizes. Buy at least one."
"I was just attracted by the vibrant colours. That's all."
"They are of very good quality. Madam, buy one only ONE!"

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Afraid of monkeys

Before entering the asana hall to attend the asana class, I saw a notice in front of it. It read as...
Please close the door otherwise flies will do the asanas with you.

In the end of asana class, the hath yoga teacher said, "Dear students, Please keep the door closed whenever you go out or come in the hall. "
One of the students complained, "Ya, the flies and mosquitoes came in."
The naughtiest student of the class said, "Who is afraid of flies? I am afraid of monkeys, they might not come in and bite me."
While I was laughing on the joke, I saw a big monkey passing from the corridor next to the hall.

Saturday, October 8, 2016

Hills are heaven

A local man said, "Hills are heaven!"
I looked around and agreed with him. We were waiting for a taxi or a bus to go to Uttarkashi town and just to pass the time he started the conversation.
"Can heaven be better than this? Naah! It can't be!"
"Very true."
"Hills are heaven except three things i.e. medication, transportation and education."