When natural disaster hits us.

On 25th of May a disastrous cyclone Ailla, hit the south of West Bengal, India, including the city Kolkata. The city had huge power cuts and water supply failure. But the condition has improved. There is more to the disaster hitting us.
Shockingly especially, near the delta of river Ganges, the sea water has swept into the villages. People have lost their mud homes, their cattle, their land under water and there is severe crisis of food. Many villages are waterlogged carrying rotten dead cattle bodies, human bodies and rotten fish from the river and salt water to drink. The condition is pathetic and government help has not yet satisfactorily reached every poor man. People with small children are being asked to leave and move to any other place. They have no job and are moving towards urban and suburban places. Mostly, fishermen and farmers now have to meet their hunger by working as daily labors.

If the words don't have an effect to reach our heart then its is hard to believe that there are people who are damn helpless. Please Help in the bad times.

Many Happy Returns of the Day! Happy Birthday to our Guruji.

Its a day of celebration, its  the birthday of a great man and our great teacher,  H. H. Shri Shri Ravi Shankar. As we celebrate the birthday of our Lord Krishna, it seems that we all will celebrate His birthday alike in every home and know Him in many future generations to come.

Bringing our age-old Vedic knowledge of soul purification and making us understand things beyond our life in a simple manner, makes Him great to follow.

Thank you Guruji for your gift of  golden wisdom to all of us.

Wishing you A Very Happy Birthday!

If you still don't know much about Him, then please visit www.artofliving.com.

Jai Gurudev.

Satsang – a Spiritual Meet

It’s already two months I have done my Basic course of The Art of Living.

Recently, I went for long Sudarshan kriya session and satsang (a spiritual union). I understood the happiness of Bhajan ( songs of devotion) and the string of peace in mediation, once more. Everyday passes with lot of problems and emotional moments but meditation and sudarshan kriya keeps us calm and not bend with negative emotions.

As Guruji says that you should look back once in a while and speak to yourself which can make us realize the changes we have undergone since our first sudarshan kriya. Atma ( the soul) is the same but we have changed in many positive ways. Do not analyze yourself too much and stop negative emotions from coming to you but give effort to leave and come out of those things.

Certrainly, during this polling season I have to hate some leader of this country but come out of it to do seva for a small betterment.

Jai Gurudev!

Meditate !

Meditation has lot of good effects. It helps to calm your mind, help take better decisions and makes you think beyond.
As a humble beginner in the path of pranayam and meditation I pen down what I felt to share. As Shri Shri Ravi Shankar ji says that meditation is an effortless , deep & detached relaxation, it also takes you to a greater height of taking your mind where you may have found utmost happiness. Creatively thinking, meditation can help you get a dip into the warm water of the sea, flying over the flowers and you may even feel the wet sand under your feet, cold breeze on your face and travel to your favorite destination. “Wow!” is the word at last.

The topic is not to meditate to travel but to be detached for few minutes from all your duties and bindings and do what it takes.

Jai Gurudev!

Holi – Festival of Color and love

After Valentine's Day, here comes the festival of colors, Holi, celebrated all over India during the spring season. All over the world there are festivals that excite people to forget all resentments and join into the enjoyment of togetherness.

La Tomatina is a food fight festival held on the last Wednesday of August each year in a region of Spain. People throw tomatoes and bathe in tomato pulp.
In Thailand there is a water throwing fun loving festival known as Rod Nahm Dum Hua. Here young people throw water at elders to show respect.

Holi is a festival of colors. This festival is being celebrated from ages since Lord Krishna played with Radha and Gopi as a symbol of love, devotion and togetherness. Then, people played with colors made from petals of different flowers and leaves grinded and mixed with lot of water to be showered at each other. Here mud is sometimes used as a prank and fun among friends.
Young people touch elder’s feet with color and pay respect to them. Those of same age, apply colors on their face and forehead sharing sweets and hug each other. Children enjoy this as a fun-filled day to play pranks with their friends throwing color filled balloons and sprinkling color at others. Even God is worshipped with color and sweets.

The best part of this festival is that we come together giving due respect to every religion, and community with shades of color. Family, friends, neighbor, relatives, colleagues, boss, young, old… everybody shares the fun under the sky.

Holi Hai!!!

Through Purification of mind and body

Spirituality came as a blessing and my inner soul looked for a way towards a path that can change my life to a better and best of all.

My sister was the first to share her experiences and insisted me to do The Art of Living Part I course. After lot of obstacles and a willing mind, it took me to land finally to learn the most ancient and the finest purification techniques of mind and body.

The 6 day Part I course was mind blowing ,I say. I was like a empty box, a new person renewing my life. I felt light mentally to deal with all kinds of situations and yet shed all by breathing exercises everyday. It is a process of detoxification of stuck up emotions and negatives in you. To control anger , health problems, and your mind at the greatest is what you perfect with the practice of some simple and powerful breathing techniques.

I share this with all of you there…Go Ahead and experience the renewal!

Jai Gurudev.

Spring of Happiness

"Antarmukhi , sada sukhi" - Shri Shri Ravi Shankar.

Look into your inner self & you will be happy.

All our life we expect peace to come to us and lets us make feel good, free of worries. Life spent is time spent and you never earn a bit of Peace. At the end, most of us think God is the last savoiur of our life and will give "mukti " (release) from all pain that we have taken up for our loved ones. But the wait will be over one day and what? Did you enjoy your life in REAL sense?
You never forgot to take care of your money , furniture and your house...but you forgot the most important thing to take care of, your self, your soul. Why expect happiness from outside when you can enjoy the spring of happiness from within. Take some time out to enjoy the grace bestowed on you.
Prayer & meditation is the food for your soul. Sing, dance & open up yourself. Take care of it; you will be in peace, Inner Peace.

Jai Gurudev.

Meeting a spiritual leader , being one among the spiritual crowd

The spring of Happiness flowed down on us. I was excited to see Guruji, a spiritual leader and a leader walking towards bringing a great social change in the coming time.

I wanted to meet Him or at least get a real glimpse of Him for quite some time. I followed His SATSANGS on television which changed my whole thought process living in this stressed time.

Some of my relatives also suggested visiting Him at the Bangalore International center of The Art of Living but my kid was too young for such a long journey from Kolkata.

As His devotees believe that if any of his devotee is not able to come up to Him, he walks down to meet them. And such a golden time was bestowed on many devotees of Kolkata. He came to my doorstep by walking down to Dakhineshwar Temple near my house.

On 15th Feb ’09 H. H. Shri Shri Ravi Shankar visited Dakhineshwar Temple on the occasion of celebrating 500 years of SANYAS of Shri Chaitainya Mahaprabhu. Dakhineshwar Temple was filled with VIP’s crowd and the common man’s crowd. Everything went smooth and we drenched ourselves in a spiritual concert which calmed our mind and soul. So many danced to the tune of BHAJANS and KIRTANS. The evening was glowing with the advent of Spring season.

Guruji explained that SANYAS means coming down to simplicity, humbleness. He said that only love can change the world and without spiritual knowledge no progress will comfort us.

Jai Gurudev

Chocolate - A perfect Gift

The word " Chocolate" is a taste, a color, and a food that is heavenly and acts magically to our senses.As the Valentine's Day nears, I thought what a perfect gift will be like to loved ones on this day and possibly everyday!

So much so my chocolate thoughts pushed me in search of it over the net and I had whole lot of things to read on and on. Here, I put in short about my craving for it.

1. History of chocolates – for now those who are interested in eating only can go ahead.
2. Facts about Chocolates – I Know some of them if not all… it is made of cocoa, fat and sugar, it can blended into hell lot of things like cake, cookies, ice-cream, coffee, dips, chips, sauce ...I know only these few.
3. Chocolate recipes – I haven’t prepared any yet.
4. Types of chocolates – that is interesting if you LOVE eating. White or milk chocolates, Dark chocolates, semisweet chocolates, Bittersweet chocolates, Covertures Chocolate.

Have crispy chocolate, soft baked chocolate, smoothed chocolate, nutty chocolates, hot chocolate, cold chocolate – have it in any way you like.

Benefits? It’s good for heart and rich in anti-oxidants to keep you young. A perfect gift to feel good and stay good. Have a bite of CHOCOLATE.

Happy Biting Chocolate!

My neighbour

I painted two immediate views from my house in kolkata. A shop opened in the early morning and The Neem tree standing tall and wide as a cover to an old mansion behind, which was once the pride of the local. The Neem tree is done in watercolor and the shop is a sketch in crayons.

Greeting Cards Day!!

A whole lot of Day’s greeting cards have filled the calendar again in the New Year.

Smile Day Cards, Hug Day Cards, Valentine’s Day Cards, Friendship Day Cards, Mother’s Day Cards, Father’s Day Cards, Women’s Day Cards, Holiday Cards, Festive Cards, Birthday Cards, Anniversary Cards, Congratulation Cards, Sorry Cards, Polar Bear Day Cards, Pig Day Cards, Chocolate Cheesecake Day cards, Flower cards, Kiss Cards, Hate cards……err…..wait wait. HATE DAY cards? No I just wanted to fill the page :-)!!!

We were using cards from our childhood days. We were not just writing and handing cards but we were POSTING cards to our friends & family staying at distant place through our postal system.
We bought not so flashy greeting cards in those days but the idea of our expressions was added into the inner page of a card with color pens and carefully writing the address on its envelope. Then, at the nearest post office, paste a two rupees stamp on it and the red letter box humbly took care of the rest. We eagerly waited for its reply and the joy of receiving the same from our friends and family at the doorstep delivered by a postman is unforgettable. We don’t have that “posting" cards rituals any more, though, but greeting cards have maintained their place even more than before, throughout the year & in every aspect of our feelings & expressions. And the card DAYs are a click away!!
My little one will never know what is a postcard or posting greeting cards and I am changing with all things changing.