All of you would have had loads of sattvic fun on this day with satsangs and knowledge. I had the same with a DSN beginning at Indore and concluded the session with mesmerizing Krishna Bhajans and a pyramid formation breaking the Matki filled with yoghurt, sweets at midnight to mark His birth.

But this morning when I came across this picture the essence of Krishna dawned, love in humans irrespective of all barriers. Love, more important than skin, personality, emotions and attachments. And as Guruji says “When the senses sleep, Krishna is born”. He is the Love living within each one of us, resting and sleeping, time to nudge Him to awaken within.

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I have thought of posting one nicely written experience of the students of my DSN’s so that all the participants can pen down their experiences for the DSN into the comments. This will keep these courses alive in blogosphere and also they can look back to these fond memories whenever desired, and ya it saves paper. The chembur DSN was awesome.

Here is the experience of Sudhir Nair

Jaigurudev!

I was a participant of a DSN course conducted by Rajesh Bhaiya in Chembur from 5^th – 8^th Aug 2010. Incidentally, this was my third DSN course, and hands down, the best experience so far.

No doubt the processes and the format were similar to the earlier ones, but this time I could go way deeper than before.

All our life most of us have been self centered and our focus has always been on “Me & My Family”. With this backdrop, it was heartening to see everybody helping people, people who were perfect strangers a day before, in challenging and overcoming their own boundaries. It was like a whole big joint family – complete with Grandparents and many small kids – but without the saas-bahu and the jaydad fights! Recognizing your barriers & comfort zones and breaking them all one by one was an exhilarating experience. And the oneness that I felt with Guruji was an unparalleled experience.

At the end of three and a half days, after going through the entire gamut of emotions akin to a Bollywood movie, the way we are transformed into a herd of tigers has to be seen to be believed.

The credit for all of this undoubtedly goes to Rajesh Bhaiya. His unflagging zeal and enthusiasm is contagious and ensured that all of us are always in the present moment. He’s very ruthless in everyone’s assessment, but at the same time he also provides us with solutions to overcome it. And his smile – that’s going to be a part of all our lives forever!

But all of this wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for the superb team of Teachers and volunteers ably led by AnuradhaJi. Right from getting people to the course to ensuring that proper messages reaches to all of us; taking care of all our accommodation, it was one smooth operation by them. I have never seen a better administered course so far. You guys really deserve a standing ovation for this! AHO!!!

All in all, it was a smashing experience. I’am now fitted with a turbo charged engine rearing to go on and on and on….

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Prisons are a place where people are punished for the past, markings of permanent guilt drawn on them and are eyed with suspicion and remorse for that act that “just happened”. I know there can be a lot of debate on this but when I visited the Korovou prisons in Fiji a month back, I found the environment still, but I knew there was a lot of movement within them. They were not imprisoned by the authorites but were their own prisoners of emotional trauma and ignorance of the self. They were searching for help, praying and questioning. When someone calls out, on the other side there is an ear which listens. The Guru heard.

Help arrived in the form of the Prison Smart Courses which I conducted inside, thanks to Ajai Punja who co-ordinated the entire course with the authorities. After two courses, the authorities were very happy that their search to change the life inside the prison had a full stop now, since they could see visible tangible changes in their life styles and behavior. The course is part of the correctional therapies in Fiji under the Yellow ribbon project.

Nuwan, who became an immediate friend helped make this video and after weeks of editing, here it is for your thoughtful viewing. Places where everyone wants an exit from, AOL enters. Inside the prisons…Opening their hearts.

Do forward it to everyone to remind them that the AOL does field work at the ground level, to create a society which is peaceful for everyone to live in.

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Manu Kanchan, an iitk student who did the Banares DSN penned his experience of the DSN. I enjoyed reading it.

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In four days 80 more people who travelled through the journey named YES!+ DSN, changed. What an amazing course! People can just say everything changes (even people), we have experienced it. How it happened is really a mystery, like God..:) This course was like a soulful and heart-warming A R Rahman song with his original score (obviously). Well, here the composer and director is our sweet and cute Guruji.

Welcome Warning: Our strict yet funny teacher Rajesh bhaiya gave a warm rather hot welcome with a warning. That was enough to increase our acceptance (of anything and everything) or leave the course (everyone went for the first, obviously). Like an AOL course it had everything, mantra, yoga, discussion, processes (games) and seva. Mantra for this course was a simple, powerful YES, not just a word but a state of consciousness.

Padama Sadhana: The yoga part consisted of a powerful tool of Padma Sadhana, Padama for Lotus and Sadhana meaning a wealth, which lasts forever. Padma Sadhana an everlasting wealth which blossoms one like a lotus, with 108 petals and a covering of wax saving it from the dirt of surroundings. Padma Sadhana was like the wave which comes and washes the seashore of its filth, making it ever new, traveling from the body to the mind, and then to the self, touching each of the seven layers of existence.

Discussions were really long, but most intriguing to a sadhak. Discussions encompassed the topics of Commitment (double commitment), seva, criticism and above all God and Gurutatva. Commitment had an enlightening effect on every one of us. The revelatory connection between commitment and support (in return of it) gave us a good start for us to be committed. But the real obstacle was that ‘I don’t know’ about the process, people (anything) towards which we are committed. Bhaiya became the catalyst in converting this ‘I don’t know’ from a weakness to strength. The seva part was less of a discussion more of a practical, with (Anantarang) passes getting away from us like the same poles of a magnet. And God/Gurutatva was the realization we all had through the processes of gratitude, I belong to you. The process of gratitude made everyone cry, but this time not out of pain out of love (for Guru, Divine, infinity, God). This gave an Ahoo experience.

Well the course being fully residential made food, sleep and everything else a part of the course. The Rudra abhishek on the last day of the course (coinciding with auspicious and Guru Poornima) made the satisfied contented: contented with love (of Guru). The course started with a bang from Rajesh bhaiya and ended with the sweetness of yummy Blue Berry cake.

Oho, aisa course bhi hota hai!

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It is Guru Poornima today, a day when a devotee feels grateful for all that he has received in his blessings bowl from the Guru. The juncture at which you stand today, wherever in the world you are, just be grateful and filled with devotion for the Guru. Collect this mind memorabilia of yours so that you have memories to remind you of days when you espoused gratitude over grumbling.

And as Guruji had once said “”Let surrender be in each and every cell of your being. Feeling(of surrender) is itself God(Bhaav hi Bhagwaan hai).It may take time to pluck a flower but it does not take time to reach God.”

Happy Guru Poornima.

JaiGurudev

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I gifted myself this video on Guruji for my birthday today. 5 hours of extraordinary effort, deep thought and critical review made this video happen. A gift for me to remember. Do let me know what you think

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This is my first video on the site and hope it vivifies your life the same way it did to me, when I first saw it. It was a memorable course to have Guruji on the last day and it was the start of an orderly challenged organising in my life, 600 people in 4 days, getting soaked in this knowledge.

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I marvel at the way people usually fall in love with the other people. The first meetings are usually the meetings where we want to find some ‘qualities’ which will make us fall in love. Qualities which are predefined by me as tasteful and convenient. The easier way here is to link the person’s similarities or differences to someone whom ‘I’ already know and love, like ‘my’ son, ‘my’ friend etc etc, because when he falls into the circumference of ‘mine’ then it is easier to love that since it is mine. Making him part of mine will make me possess the love, secure it and will allow me to forgive him if there are mishaps in this love.

So it is not about the democracy of love of how that person actually ‘is’ but it is a dictatorial method of how ‘i’ can see or make him to be. Love which stands on some crutches. But love wants to be free from any supports, handles or strings. It wants to just be. Just exist and live. Love which is just by itself, solitary yet sturdy, independent yet together, intoxicating yet spiritual. As Guruji says “Make the universal personal; it makes you richer, wiser, stronger. Make the personal universal; you will find freedom, compassion, love.” Set it free forever. True love blossoms in such freedom.

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Guruji is safe and has told all devotees not to worry about the security at the ashram but worry about the condition of our country. This will improve dramatically when many more people tread the path of Spirituality.

The episode instead of leaving you startled and sensationalizing it, let it be a shot in the arm for your seva, shraddha,  sadhana and satsang, again and again.

Come what may, we will tread the path of righteousness. Continue, Continue.

JaiGurudev.

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Negative Emotions arrive as withdrawal symptoms of another of their accomplices. With a break-off arrives depression and anger. With losing power arrives attention seeking syndromes and the evaporating symptoms for attachment are anger and fear of losing pleasure. So be grateful when these emotions arrive and observe them as they are leaving you and taking away some of their friends with them to make you pure.

Similar is with the positive emotions. Love brings host of problems with it and so does belongingness. As Guruji says “Belongingness can bring about a host of negative emotions. Like demand, jealousy, unawareness and lack of gratitude. Just look into your own life, you feel more grateful to strangers than the people you feel “belong” to you. Belongingness reduces gratefulness, awareness, and gives rise to demands which destroys love. This is the biggest problem in relationships. People are nice to strangers and give more attention to them. With a sense of belongingness comes carefreeness and lack of attention.”

“Here you are a stranger and everyone is a stranger to you!” are the words of the master.

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“Behind every culprit there is a victim crying for help”, these words were experienced at the Korovo prison in Suva when i took the course for the convicts. For me they were participants and not prisoners and every human being has the potential to change and love infinitely. The first day was tough as they were an intensely naughty group of humans but when it all started, the churning within had commenced and the fumes of negativity were being evaporated and goodness emerging.

The kriya touched them the way it has whispered into so many hearts and minds. I could feel my acceptance and not a single time was i interested in their past, what mattered the most was the present. Seeing their experiences was like seeing God, Generating greatness, Operational present moment and Destruction of the past. “God is never an object of isolation but the very core of your being.” as He says and in the midst of deep volcanic negativity the fiji prisoners experienced the shore of peace.

“There is place for everybody in the heart of the Divine” as Guruji says, but now it is time the world keeps the Divine in their hearts, bows down and says JaiGurudev!

Happy Birthday Guruji and thank You for everything.

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