7/21/13

Guru Poornima (Special story)

Om Shreem Gurudevaaya Namaha













(Reference: Swami Rama's Teachings)

Gentle Reminder:

Guruji's Guru Poornima Message & Meditation - Please read here

Vande Guru Paramparam...

-'Bansuri'

7/18/13

Sadhana Sangama Public Program - New Delhi

Guruji & Ma would be visiting New Delhi on 25th July, 2013 and they have kindly accepted to conduct two public programs this time before they leave for US & Canada. Please find below the program details. Kindly share and invite all your family & friends to this free program and get benefited. 

Himalayan Kriya for Rejuvenation

Concept of Dhaaana

7/10/13

Guru Poornima


Guru Poornima Meditation  - Sadhana Sangama
“Jab Tak Mera GURU Balwan, Mein Pahalwan”
- H.H. Pujya Swami Rama of the Himalayas

The dynamism of life is very uncertain and the tides and waves of uncertainty camouflages the definite, certain, fathomless foundation of Reality on which the dance of life is going on with rhythms, colours and enchanting whirly, swirly movements. You are caught in this and this is creating insecurity, uncertainty and anxiety which have become the bed rock of tension–charged life that you go through. This situation makes mankind desperate, hopeless and directionless. But deep within you are searching for a path, for a guide, seeking for support, praying to the Divinity to stretch its compassionate and caring hand to hold, guide and lift you to the sky of transcendence, bliss and beauty from the ghastly paws of uncertainty – this is the eternal misery that the mankind is going through. This very tender but all powerful, ever-loving hand of Lord is “GURU”, which is the eternal, unbroken bridge between you and Divinity.

On this Guru Poornima day let us contemplate on this eternal truth, GURU, and pray to it to strengthen the connection that exists between us.

To give an example: You are like a raw material that has reached the compound of a very huge manufacturing facility awaiting its turn to be processed, refined, fine-tuned and pushed out as finished product.

The first step where you have to begin is to accept this reality and then work your way through. You need a firm ground to walk the path and the firm ground in the pathless path of Sadhana is “Purification – Practice – Prayer”.

Purification: Keep yourself clean, dirt-free at the physical level, emotional level and at psychological level.

Practice: Without an iota of doubt, start applying the teachings shared by the Guru in your daily life situations.

Prayer: It is the product of purification and practice. Prayer is nothing but the sincere and deep longing within to experience who you are beyond the mind-body entity. In other words, the moment you begin to purify and practice regularly, prayer happens automatically. Prayer, no doubt, is a definite tool of communication with Divinity i.e., YOU.

You are blessed and don’t fail to embrace the Grace on this auspicious occasion. For this, I personally request you to devote sometime for yourself and do the following practice:

PRACTICE:

1. Sit in a comfortable posture – in padmasana or ardha padmasana or sukhasana or vajrasana or in any other comfortable position – by keeping your back, neck and head along the same straight line. You need not tension your face and back to sit straight. Your sitting posture has to be a relaxed one.

2. Gently scan through your body and relax from head to toe.

3. Step 1: Focus your attention on stilling the body. Stop all conscious movements in your body like scratching, moving the fingers, contracting the body muscle, etc.

4. Step 2: Listen to the sounds that is coming from outside and inside you. Make it a point not to get disturbed by the sounds that you hear. Do this activity with full involvement and awareness – to accustom yourself with your environment.

5. Step 3: Shift your awareness and bring it on to Shushumna Kendra – Shushumna Kendra is located at the root of the nose (not the tip) the place where the middle wall of the nose and upper part of the lip meets. Staying in shushumna Kendra, feel that while inhaling you are inhaling the pure, divine cosmic consciousness and while exhaling feel that all your spent and impure energies are coming out of you. This pranayama definitely works if you do it with feeling. It cleans your system. Do this for 5 minutes.

6. Step 4: Focus your attention on the Ajna Chakra (eyebrow centre). Ajna chakra is located in-between your two eyebrows. Staying in Ajna chakra, observe your thoughts. You should consciously practice to separate yourself from your thoughts – you are not your thoughts. Do this for at least 5 minutes.

7. Step 5: Come to Guru Chakra which is just above the Ajna Chakra. Focus on Guru Chakra for 2 minutes and gently relax. Invoke Guru in energy form, or in paduka (two feet) form, or in physical guru form (face of your Guru), or in the form of light, etc. The short point is keep an image in the Guru chakra in which your concentration can stay for a longer time without getting disturbed.

Focussing on that image chant:

“Hiranya Garbhaa Aarabdhaam, Seshou Vyaasaadhi Madhyamaam
Swami Shree Rama Paadaanthaam, 
Vande Guru Paramparaam, 
Vande Guru Paramparaam, 
Vande Guru Paramparaam”.

After the above prayer, make a sincere Sankalpa from the bottom of your heart that, ““in this sadhana let all the members of my family join and bring harmony and in that base of harmony let me experience the Guru”
Then start chanting (minimum one mala - 108 times)

“Om Shreem Gurudevaaya Namaha “

by focusing on Guru in Guru Chakra. Don’t chant the mantra too fast, don’t drag also. Maintain a steady rhythm. You find your comfort level. The important thing is do this japa with the understanding (explained in the first page) and with feeling. Let your awareness and attention follow the mantra each time you chant.

8. After completing chanting of mantra, sit silently for one or two minutes without doing anything and experience the presence of Guru in the form of light, etc. Feel as if they are offering everything to that light which is there in the form of Guru and praying from deep within that I seek nothing but your Grace, your Presence and your Blessings.

9. Feel your individual consciousness is merging with GURU Consciousness and that is pervading everywhere. In that feeling you offer the following prayer to the Universal Consciousness:

Om Sarve Bhavanthu Sukhinaha, Sarve Santhu Niraamayaha
Sarve Badraani Pashyantu, Maa Kaschit Dhukka Baagh Baveth
Loka Samasthaa Sukhinou Bhavanthu, Loka Samasthaa Sukhinou Bhavanthu
Samastha Sanmangalaani Bhavanthu, Om Tat Sat
Akhanda Mandalaakaaram
Vyaaptham Yena Charaacharam
Tat Padham Darshitham Yenaa
Tasmai Shree Gurave Namaha

10. Rub both the palms, massage your eyes and slowly open your eyes.

Akhanda – unfragmented;
Mandalaakaaram – one infinite whole;
Vyaaptham – pervades;
Yena – by which;
Charaacharam – movable & immovable;
Tadpadham – That state;
Darshitham – has shown;
Yena – by whom;
Tasmai – to that;
Shree – glorious;
Gurave – Guru, teacher;
Namaha – my salutations.

My Salutations to that Guru who revealed to me that Truth, which is unfragmented, infinite, timeless divinity, and which pervades the entire universe – movable or unmovable.

BABA Bless All !

As ever,
Jyoti Pattabhiram

7/7/13

Let's Hear from our 'School' - Sadhana Vidyalaya

Welcome all to this new series 'Let's Hear from our School' where we intend to share periodical updates about our School 'Sadhana Vidyalaya'.

Let's hear from our 'School'
Below is the video/audio format in HD quality of our first update about the School under this new series. (watch it in full screen with audio)





Readers who doesn't have enough bandwidth to play the above video can read the same update below in text format. 

Sadhana Vidyalaya - The School with a difference

Set in the virgin jungles of Karnataka, with Kanva Lake on one side and Silk town of Ramanagaram on the other, mango groves and coconut plantations spread across the campus, the school offers a perfect atmosphere for children to study and play.

The school building is a structure that uses hollow bricks for walls as well as for the roof; these bricks are made from clay and maintain temperature within comfortable levels through all the six seasons.The class rooms are airy and spacious and windows open on pleasantly green surroundings.

Since the school is built in a hilly terrain, different sets of classes are on different levels. Interestingly, what is the ground floor for one class appears to be the first floor for another! It gives the school a landscaped appearance.

Sadhana Vidyalaya is an English medium co-educational school that runs on the Gurukul principle of the Vedic lore. 

School Building

At present we have two buildings in which school runs. There is an older building in which we started the school; it has since been converted in to a hostel. 

One building houses LKG, UKG and First Standard in addition to Head Master’s office, staff room and computer laboratory.  Second building houses Standard II to Standard IX. This building has 8 class rooms. First floor is under construction. Construction work shall be completed by August 2013.

When first floor becomes available, all classes from Standard I to Standard VII and one computer lab will occupy ground floor. Standard VIII to Standard X, Library, Senior Computer Laboratory, AV Room and Staff Room will occupy the first floor.

Facilities

The school has all the necessary facilities and more. There is a Computer Laboratory, a Library, a Laboratory for mathematics and science, an Audio-Visual room, a large auditorium, a large dining hall and playground. 

Apart from all modern facilities, school offers space for Yoga, Meditation and Prayers with a cave for meditation, a Prayer room with a Pyramid top and a large hall for group Yoga.

Library

Library has three sections – educational books for children, reference books for teachers and a general category of books that covers a broad spectrum of subjects like Yoga, Poetry, Stories, Language enhancement and Communication skills etc. The library is housed in a separate hall where children and teachers can sit and read the books.

At present we do not issue books however the reading room service is available from 9AM to 9PM.

The Library is being elaborately planned with standard ID and Access system. We shall have a Librarian to maintain and manage the library so that it is optimally and conveniently utilized. Furniture and PCs have also been planned. 

The library shall be shifted to the first floor of the school building sometime in the third quarter of 2013 when staff and material becomes available as per plan.

Mathematics and Science Laboratory

The Laboratory provides tools that help students understand the concept in a practical way. These tools are currently kept in a hall and are used by students in their class room by way of demonstration as well as in a hands-on mode.

We have all the recommended material and equipment in our laboratory so that all subjects of all standards are covered. Students and teachers take keen interest in handling the equipment.

The laboratories shall be shifted to the first floor of the building towards July 2013. Furniture has been planned and shall be fabricated in the campus itself under expert guidance. We shall appoint a laboratory assistant. The laboratory activity shall thus be streamlined and so the students shall then get a better hands-on experience. 

Audio-Visual Room

We currently have one LCD projector but we do not have a separate AV Room. We use Computer Laboratory to show the educational CDs. This is possible since Computer Laboratory is not engaged all the time. We have a good collection of material in the form of educational CDs that match the courseware; we also have interactive programs that enhance understanding of the subject. But space and power constraints have restricted the use of this facility. 

We have planned one AV Room on the first floor of the school. This room will have a foldable screen for projection and a dedicated computer [Laptop]. It will also have three PCs for teachers to learn educational software before presenting the material to students. It will further have broadband Internet connectivity so that educational YouTube programs can be viewed online.

We expect teachers to use efficient techniques of teaching so that they have sufficient time to research the material for enhanced learning experience.

Auditorium

We have a large auditorium that is equipped with a stage and three layers of curtains. It has a capacity to seat 500 viewers.  This auditorium normally serves as a Group Meditation Hall. It has multiple Pyramid structure and a life sized idol of Anjaneya. Anjaneya is depicted as sitting in Meditative posture with eyes half closed. It creates an ideal atmosphere for group meditation. Every morning children who live in the Hostel gather here along with their teachers for meditation and then again in the evening for a session of devotional chants, story-telling and learning at least one short verse in Sanskrit. 

Cultural programs and Annual Day of the school are celebrated in this auditorium.

Dining Hall

We offer mid-day meal to children to ensure that they get holistic food and also that all children partake the same quality of food. This develops the feeling of equality and community living. This program is not aided by any government or NGO. School bears all expenses. The dining hall can seat 200 children. 

There are about 50 children in our hostel. These children get breakfast with milk, lunch, snacks in the evening and dinner, all served in the dining hall.

Hope you all liked our first update from this series. We will be back soon with more updates on this series, till then..

Happy Sadhana, Vande Guruparamparam...

7/2/13

Shri Rama Dootham - Story Series - Part 5

Shri Rama Dootham
Click here to read Part 1, 2, 3, 4

"Stop Interviewing Me. Go & do your duty. Don't waste my time" came the stern reply from the Messenger.

I tried to plead him to spend some more time with me but the messenger was so stubborn that he asked me to stop bothering him anymore. I knew I had many questions to ask and I did want this to end so abruptly. My mind started thinking to device a plan quickly to allow me to sit with him for some more time.

Sir, I want to learn from you more, allow me to be with you please.. I begged.

"Why you want to learn new things, when you are not practicing what is already been taught to you? Haven't your Guru taught you so much already, what have you done with those teachings?", Messenger replied calmly.

I didn't knew what to answer. While I know he is right I still want to defend myself. So I continued my argument stating, "Sir, if not today, I will certainly start practicing it soon. I am working towards it". 

"Son!, It's now or never, don't wait for a day to come, when you think you would suddenly transform yourself". 

"I agree Sir!, but atleast if I be near with such learned people, I can be inspired". 

"What are you going to do with such inspiration" ?

"Sir, may be I will remember our conversation and contemplate on it so that... "

"Do you remember what I said when we met an hour ago ? Do you remember why I told you the Shiv Parvati Union story?"

"I do... I think I do... Sir!...". I tried to recollect why the messenger told me the Shiv & Parvati story some time ago. 

"You don't, please don't try to make a fool of yourself... ", the Messenger roared. 

"Sir!, believe me, I can recollect & write down what we discussed and may be even share with others..."

"Next week, You may not remember what I taught you today and even if you share it with others, it can be interpreted in anyway. If that's the case, why should I bother to share my thoughts with you ?"

"Sir..Why are you so harsh on me" ?

"I am not, please don't misunderstand me. I am just reflecting my thoughts on the reality. If hearing me, being with me becomes a mere engagement, because you don't find any other better alternative of your interest, then you are wasting your time and also my time." 

I was slowly trying to understand the meaning between His words. I do not know if he is sending a strong message to me, on how I should associate with my Guru. Every time I listen to my Guru's teachings & when He is around, I feel so inspired, his words so intoxicating, I feel my time is worth spent, I myself get hooked to that so called 'spiritual' experiences & feelings, I say to myself, "Oh! I have got it". I am separate from the rest of the people as I am a 'spiritual person'. I get a superior feeling that I move with a physical living true 'Guru'.  After some time, when I again get into the mundane world, the teachings goes for a toss. I say to myself, 'I still have time, I can do it any time, let me pass on this day as I passed on my life so far'. I mark a future day in my life time, to start practicing the teachings and then forget it. So what happened to those inspirations, those so called intoxicating moments, and last but not the least, the precious teachings of my 'Guru'?  Only my spiritual 'ego' remains & nothing else.

'DON'T WASTE MY TIME' the messenger voice echoed. I presumed he is rather trying to say "Don't waste your precious Guru's time". 

I did not wanted to argue anymore with the Messenger as I knew I have nothing to argue. I decided it's time to move on and leave the place. 

I asked for his permission to do  'Pranams' and he readily nodded by standing up. I did a Sashtang Namaskar to the messenger with heavy heart, still not wanting to leave the place. As I got up, the messenger caught hold of my shoulder and gently hugged me with all smiles. With no control, the tears started to flow and for a moment, I felt I am washing away all my sins under his loving hug. 

While I wanted the hug to remain for some more time, he kept me aside and smilingly watched me crying like a baby. 

"A sadhaka never cries in weaker moments, my boy... ", the messenger said trying to calm me down.

"Didn't Hanuman cried when Lord Ram hugged Him", I responded swiftly. 

I noticed that the messenger was taken a back as I responded. With false anger, he took his hand to slap me. As I tried to defend myself, he laughed and asked:

"Do you know how it happened" ? the messenger asked me with enthusiastic voice. 

I was more happy to know that the messenger is now willing to keep me with Him for some more time, I moved my head so fast showing my ignorance & the interest to know more...

The Messenger spoke:

"As I told you earlier, Hanuman’s first appearance in Ramayana shows him with an important assignment from his King Sugriva to find out who the two strangers humans were who are wandering on the slopes of the Rishyamuka Hill.

Even though his soul was melting by a sudden surge of love for them, his mind still keeps working to find out who they really were. Hanuman nears Rama and Lakshmana, disguised as a Brahman youth, and impresses Rama greatly with his modest bearing and his replies to his questions. After listening to but a few words of his, Rama says to Lakshmana:

“It appears that there is no knowledge, brother, that this young man has not acquired. He looks a very ocean of vedic lore. Who can he be, this child of the eloquent tongue? May he be Brahma or may he be Shiva?"

Hearing this, when Hanuman felt at his feet. Rama protested that being a Brahman he should not have fallen down at his feet. Then Hanuman remembers His Mother’s words that Rama would come to Him and bless Him! Hanuman understood that though Rama could identify Hanuman, Rama was not revealing it to him. Having understood this, Hanuman asks Rama: 

"I questioned you and enquired about your identity, since I’m a layman. I really do not know who you are. I had been waiting for Rama since many years but could not recognize you! If you don’t recognize me, who else will recognize me? You are Omnipresent and Omnipotent! You have to call me by my name. I posed a question to you since I’m ignorant. I do not know anything. How can you forget me? I do not know how to praise you. I do not know how to sing in praise of you. You are all pervading yet you pretend as though you do not know me at all!!"

Hanuman, uttering these words, fell at the feet of Rama! Till then Hanuman was in disguise of a Bikshu! But once Rama touched Hanuma to lift him up, by touching Hanuma’s shoulders, Hanuman got back His original form.

Rama then called Hanuman closer and then the ultimate, divine and very touching episode for any Bhakta took place. 

"Rama embraced Hanuman!! and this is how both of them had tears of happiness". The Messenger, concluded.

Not only those two, I could see we two had tears of happiness visualizing this divine episode, at the backdrop of smiling meditating Lord Anjaneya statue at the Sadhana Dhama Ashram. 

(to be contd..)

-'Bansuri'

(Please note that the views expressed in this fictional story series are the views of the author's own imagination taking reference from various sources which includes but not limited to Valmiki Ramayana, Kamba Ramayana, Thyagaraja  Krithis, Hanuman chalisa along with Swami Rama & Guruji Pattabhiram's teachings. If you find any text inappropriate, the author seeks humble apologies.) 

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