Life Light Legacy

         Image credit: Searched and downloaded from google.com The Bhagvad Gita is perhaps one of the most uplifting, inspirational and transformational one-on-one of all times. There are great lessons in the Bhagvad Gita on the art of 1/1. Before delving into that, a few words on how not to do 1/1 based on my personal experience. Nolite facere (don't do that) X did not show up for the meetings. After waiting for some time, I used to ping only to find out X is busy with something and would ask for re-schedule. The pattern repeated even after re-scheduling. Y canceled the meeting the previous day stating some "valid" reason. Better than X but still not helpful as we could not talk. Even when Y showed up, it was all about Y talking and not listening. Z had the meeting at the scheduled time and place. However nothing was done about what was discussed in the meeting. I did not walk out feeling empowered, clear or supported. It was like 30 mins or more spent talking...

Few weeks back I saw an article in the "Speaking Tree" column of ET in which the author articulates that ritualistic worship (puja) is experiential in nature and has a beneficial and pleasant impact on the human system like a spa. It is not uncommon in India to come across movies and social media posts where ancient Hindu rituals are mocked and demeaned. Such incidents only show a superficial understanding of the subject. It is heartening to see a sincere and deeper treatment of the subject in the column and I feel inspired to share more. I was initiated into puja by my grandfather at a very young age and I have been practicing it for more than 3 decades now. I can talk about the subject from direct personal experience. What is puja? Poornat jayate iti puja - That which arises from fullness is puja. The first thing to know is that puja is an expression of fullness and abundance. It's a way to express gratitude to the divine from which everything is received...

                                                          Credit: Image downloaded via Google search My favorite scene in the movie Kantara is the one in the beginning when the first bhoota kola is shown. The son of the landlord asks Panjurli (demigod): Is it the demigod talking or the performer talking? Panjurli replies: If it's the performer talking you will see me again. If it's demigod... (and disappears into the forest). This is a profound exchange which has at its source the core of spirituality. Let me explain. We harbor a notion that we are a "fixed" entity at the core and so is everyone around us. This leads to the belief that there exists a "person" who is happy one moment and sad at another, peaceful sometimes and angry sometimes and so on. The person underneath is a given whose reality and existen...

Background I grew up under the loving care and guidance of my maternal grandfather. In addition to being a father figure to me, he was also my first spiritual mentor or guru. I can trace back most of my spiritual practices and learning to seeds he had sown at an early age. I had written a post sometime back remembering the immense contributions he made to my life and feeling grateful for it.  Today I want to share something which I have not shared openly before and something which happened more recently (after his physical form dissolved). The intent is to share some glimpses of the magical and mystical realm of consciousness and also how the grace of Guru operates. Incident 1 It was April 2014 and I was traveling to the US to attend a company conference in Vegas. I was a bit nervous because it was a long distance trip and I had to present to a big audience during the conference. I knew all would be well but still the anxiety was there.    I was flying from Dubai to Seat...

                                 Image credit: Searched and downloaded via Google In the last chapter of her outstanding book "The Science of Stuck" the author, Britt Frank encourages the reader to engage in their life as they would in a game of chess. Each area of life - career, finance, family, health, spirituality, hobbies, service and so on is like a piece in the game of chess. Each piece adds value when it's aligned and utilized within the overall strategy of the player. At times certain pieces may be blocked i.e. not be in a position where their full potential can be utilized. But that doesn't end the game. A good player knows to make short-term sacrifices to align the pieces suitably to achieve the long-term / final objective. Likewise a good player focuses on what moves she has available instead of being upset o...

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravishankar has touched, impacted, transformed, blessed my life in many ways over the last decade. It's his birthday today and I feel it's a wonderful occasion to express my gratitude to him and celebrate his presence in my life and that of millions of others. 1. Courses & techniques More than a decade ago I walked into a workshop out of curiosity to know what is the Sudarshan Kriya (rhythmic breathing) technique. I was blown away when I experienced the technique. It became so dear and useful to me that I made it a part of my life. How it has blossomed my spiritual, social, creative life, health and well being is a topic for a book. I have written a lot about it over the years in blogs, articles, posts in various social media platforms. It's truly a life changer for those who know how to use it. But this was not the end for me. Over the years I have explored multiple other programs and techniques of Gurudev like Advanced Meditation Program, ...

  When all of our known life happens inside our consciousness, it is naive and careless to not pay attention to consciousness. Consciousness is more fundamental than space, time and laws of nature because all of them arise in consciousness. Consciousness is first in any knowing. Trying to reduce consciousness to matter or laws is seeking the origin of the grandfather in a particular grandchild. Consciousness can't be denied. It takes someone conscious to deny it and someone consciousness to witness the denial. Consciousness shines through equally regardless of whether it is acknowledged or denied. The problem with using science on consciousness is that consciousness is not an object that can be seen. Like love can't be seen. Only expressions of love can be seen. But an expression of love is not the same as love itself . The expression is at best a container for it. Love is not limited to any particular expression of it. All the manifest world is an expression of co...

1998 picture with my grandfather in his Varanasi room My father passed away when I was an infant and I grew up under the loving care and affection of my maternal grandparents. Growing up with my grandfather created opportunities which may not have been possible otherwise. He inspired and shaped my life in many ways. Some of his teachings were direct and many were implicit in his conduct.   As a child I did not understand the value of most of the things he taught but enjoyed the interesting stories he told daily from various scriptures like Mahabharata, Ramayana, Bhagavatam and Puranas.    Now I'm a grown up with a family, profession and responsibilities of my own. But even now I benefit from things that I can trace back to my grandfather. I feel blessed and fortunate to have been nurtured and shaped by him and I owe a big part of the foundation of my inner life to him. Out of the love and gratitude I feel, I'm attempting to reminisce some of the experiences with him and t...

Mahavatara Babaji's cave I waited for this day for 23 years. Ever since I read “The Autobiography of a Yogi” for the first time, I wanted to visit the cave of Mahavatara Babaji and meditate there. As we neared the base of the trek, the excitement in my heart was palpable. Because of the pandemic, there were no tourists. It was just the 6 of us trekking. We followed the direction boards and walked through a beautiful display of nature and colors - blue sky, white clouds, brown hills, green plants, dried yellow grass, bright pink, orange and red flowers. At some places the path was very narrow and at some places the climb was very steep. We reached a point where it was dense forest and didn't know which way to proceed. There was neither a direction board, nor a pathway to follow. And no person in sight. We all sat down and chanted "OM" praying to Babaji for guidance. I asked Atulit to move in a particular direction and tell us if any path was visible. He did that and sa...

  Kasaar Devi Temple, Almora, Uttarakhand When parents take their children to temples, the mindset that is inculcated is usually one of the following: 1. The Big Boss mindset - God is presented as some Big Boss who is all powerful, ready to get angry and punish the inhabitants of this world. So one must be fearful in front of the Big Boss and also treat God as big and oneself as small. In this mindset, the prime purpose of the temple visit becomes appeasing BB with ones conduct. 2. The Business mindset - God is presented as business-man or woman who is sitting there to strike deals. Offer a coconut and ask for a job or some such exchange. In this mindset, the prime purpose of the temple visit is to strike a one-sided deal which makes no business sense. Is there any other mindset one can go to a temple with? Yes and that is the mobile-charger mindset. In this approach, one views temples as power centers and oneself as mobile phones which needs charging from ti...

Neem Karoli Baba Ashram, Uttrakhand In our drive up to Almora from Kathgodam, on 26th September, I saw two pictures on the dashboard of the cab we hired. One was of Paramhansa Yogananda and another was of the smiling saint, Neem Karoli baba. It is said that Steve Jobs had visited Neem Karoli baba's ashram when he visited India in search of the ultimate truth. When I enquired our cab driver about the ashram, he suggested that I visit the ashram on our return journey from Almora. I was not sure if our schedule can accommodate it, but I wanted to visit the place if possible. Today, 30th September, during our return journey from Almora we found ourselves on a road our hosts had asked us to avoid because it was accident prone. But by the time we realized it , it was too late to change the route. I thought the driver chose the route to save him a longer (but safer) drive. A little later, I heard Akila ask the driver if we would cross Kainchi Mandir via this route an...

Manikarnika ghat, Varanasi Note: Some of the contents of the post below may be unsettling for some people. Reader discretion is advised. When I was studying engineering in IIT Varanasi, I would sometimes go to Manikarnika ghat or Harishchandra ghat (Hindu cremation ghats) and spend some time there. I would sit in a corner and watch corpses burn, how the ‘doms’ (burning assistants) managed the process, the near and dear ones of the deceased, the Ganga river flowing by, fully present to the moment yet not attached to anything. Normally one w o uld associate deep sadness and fear with a place of cremation. But that was totally not what I experienced there. I could feel deep peace and presence while sitting there. I could feel sublime beauty, tenderness and aliveness there. I could feel LIFE in the setting of death! The experience was real, unmistakable and effortless. In this post I explore what could be the reason(s) behind this queer phenomenon. *) In the Sanskrit texts one ...

  Ramalingeshwara temple courtyard Avni I'm a software engineer by profession and I love technology. In the recent years tremendous investment has been made in the research, development and application of artificial intelligence and machine learning. I'm absolutely excited by the possibilities this has created for machines. I'm also dejected and disappointed by the lack of investment in human potential (HP) and possibilities. Why is meditation not a mainstream activity yet? Why is the world not pursuing meditation with the same rigor? A walk down the memory lane It was the final semester of engineering and one of the courses was AI. Our professor Dr. K.K. Shukla introduced the Turing Test the crux of which is that, a machine is considered to have passed the test if a human evaluator cannot distinguish the responses of the machine from that of a human (for the same set of questions posed). Despite all the respect I had and still have for Turing, the test seemed to be...