Happy BirthDay Beloved Gurudev -Bad Antogast Ashram

Jai Gurudev!! Happy Birthday!! Looking forward to the July 4th weekend.

Living in the Lap of Luxury

If there is one book that has meant to me the most in my life, it is Gurudev's book "Celebrating Silence". I will purchase as many copies I can and gift them as Birthday gifts to family and friends this year. Here is one important quote from this book:

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Contentment still eludes so many people living in the lap of luxury. This spiritual teacher offers the following counsel: "Though the river is vast, a little sip quenches your thirst. Though the earth has so much food, just a small bite satisfies your hunger. All that you need are tiny bits. Accept a tiny bit of everything in life — that will bring you fulfillment." Contentment comes from the freedom that grows out of being satisfied with tiny blessings. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is especially cogent in his suggestions on how to deal with jealousy and handle rudeness. Handling the incivility of others is good training: "The next time someone is rude to you, make sure you do not get upset. Just return a broad smile. If you can digest rudeness, nothing whatsoever can shake you."

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Jai Guru Dev

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Sudharshan Kriya

Its been more than 3 years since I started Sudharshan Kriya. I typically start the day with Bastrika, followed by Sudharshan Kriya, followed by Pranayama and then meditation for a few minutes. The practical benefits that I see are;

• relief from cold and cough
• improved respiratory system (hence no wheezing, bronchitis, etc)
• improved sitting posture (all day)
• no head aches (stress related)
• overall improved energy (all day)

More importantly, the subtle benefits are;

• ease with which I can meditate (transcending to thoughtlessness)
  
• achieving the disconnect required from Body, Mind and Intellect (for meditation)
• balancing of the bodies systemic chakras
• improved immunity system (via respiratory system and removal toxins)
• focused efforts (mind does not sway here and there- always focused on practical things to do)
• calm and peace under different trying circumstances
• improved overall productivity (in the right direction)
  
• improved relationships with a sense of gratitude and thankfulness
  
• nothing is impossible attitude (always feeling connected)

Recently Gurudev answered the following way to the most important question for mankind over time ;

Q. When will all national boundaries dissolve?

A: When everyone starts to do the Sudarshan Kriya. (audience laughs and claps)

(there will be a time when this planet exists as one world and one family with no boundaries - due to the foundation work laid by Sudharshan Kriya and One day all of us will be practicing Sudharshan Kriya -similar to how we brush our teeth today !! I only wish that this day comes sooner than later -- JGD).

Sri Sri and the SKY

This morning I was discussing the fact that we have a new SKY each day in our life - not a single day is the pattern in the sky repeated (cloud formations, position of Sun, intensity of color, moon's position and more).. Similarly Gurudev has a wonderful message each day..

Perspective on handling Percieved Problems

Gurdev at the stathsang last week (03/19th) noticed that many folks were concerned and troubled by jobs, recession, economy, and more. These were his wonderful words that described the truth.

If you have problems, remember five things.
- Everything is impermanent, it will pass, and things will change.

- You are bigger than the problem, it only seems to you that your energy is lower but your own consciousness is bigger than any problem.

- Remember (you can realize from past events) that you have always been supported and helped, know that you will always be supported.

- Think of those with problems bigger than yours, that will shift your focus from yourself.

- Put things in perspective against the cosmos, everything is nothing as the Buddhists say but that nothing is not emptiness, it is emptiness pervaded by our consciousness which is but love and compassion. Everything is nothing. That will give you such deep rest when you meditate upon it....

The Peace Plan and the Purpose Driven Life

I was moved by this email I got today, instead of forwarding it I thought I should post it here;

Rick Warren
(REMEMBER HE WROTE ' PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE ')

You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having 'wealth' from the book sales.. This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren,

'Purpose Driven Life ' author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California

In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:

People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.

One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me.

I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.

We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.

Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.

The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort.

God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.

We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.

I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.

Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.

No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.

And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.

You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.

If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness,'which is my problem, my issues, my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.

We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her.

It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.

You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.

Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.

It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.

So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72

First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases.
Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.

Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.

Fourth, I added up all that the chu rch had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?

Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?

When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.
That's why we're called human beings , not human doings.

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD .
Painful moments, TRUST GOD .
Every moment, THANK GOD.
God's Blessings on you today.

NOW. PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH YOUR FRIENDS.

A Guru of Action and Execution

On Thursday this week before the sathsang at Crystal City Hyatt, an AOL volunteer recapped all the major activities of Gurudev in just one year (2008). Truly Awesome and Amazing. This is only a partial list of all his activities.