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Art of Living, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and My Self!

Art of Living, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and My Self!

Monthly Archives: December 2012

Prayer & Meditation

19 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by Aravind Venkatachalam in Inspirational Quotes

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Inspiration, Meditation, meditation prayer, Prayer, Quotes, ravi shankar, Spirituality, Sri Sri, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Prayer is asking, Meditation is listening.

In prayer, you ask,‘Give me this, give me that’, giving instructions, demanding.In meditation, you say, ‘I am here to listen, what is it that you want to tell? Tell me, whenever you are free, I am here.’

Culmination of prayer is meditation.

Prayer goes to the peak and that is meditation.

~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

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Art of Living enters Jamaican Prisons!

19 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by Aravind Venkatachalam in Art Of Living

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Art of Living, Breath, Dushyant, jamaica, Pranayama, Prison, Yoga

Dushyant Savadia, an international Art of Living teacher, recently took the Art of Living courses to the Jamaican prisons! He met the Director of Correction facilities in Jamaica and within 15 minutes they agreed to have the courses in two of the main prisons in Jamaica. The inmates loved Dushyantji and the course. Below are some of the pictures from the course and their experiences. It is heart warming to see how the lives of these people are touched by something as simple yet profound as their own breath!

Dushyant Savadia teaching the Art of Living course to Prison inmates in Jamaica
Dushyant Savadia teaching the Art of Living course to Prison inmates in Jamaica
Art of Living course in Jamaican prison
Art of Living course in Jamaican prison
Yoga, Pranayama from the Art of Living course in Jamaican prison
Yoga, Pranayama from the Art of Living course in Jamaican prison
Dushyant Savadia with prison inmate
Dushyant Savadia with prison inmate

Sharing from the inmates

“This course had been a great help to me as to say. I thought it was all but a joke at first until I made myself a part of it and the truth is I learnt a lot and I am grateful for the experience”. – Tommy  

“Very good to me. In 12 years this is the best thing in my life. I would like this to continue for next seven months until I leave this institution. It has made me a better man going out to the society back. It will be good for my kids and wife also. I was going to a doctor and was supposed to get an ultrasound. Since this program everything is gone. I sleep better and eat better”. – Leon 

 “I found this class so amazing it help me a lot to control my temper. It helps me breathe properly cause I have asthma and it is fun also with the teachers as they teach a lot things to us so it is helpful and amazing to me”. – Swight 

 “I feel as though I am alive for the first time in my life”. – Paul 

 “Makes me feel like a changed person, makes me feel like doing this everyday. It cuts my temper down. Best thing ever happened to me. It frees my lungs and joints in my body. Makes me happy when we do it, like in school again. I love it” – Jessie 

 “This 6 days course was special to me personally it’s a life time experience for me, it changes my breathing systems and also my mind functions and it makes me think and act positive and also reduces my bad temperament. Thanks a lot to both of you and your team”. – John 

“Well, I am not going to tell any lie, I love it and I don’t mind doing it again”. – Daniel 

“This program has done so much for me I must say as it taught me to be stress free. I am confident in my anger management, I hope to see them again”. – Ricardo 

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Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Connecticut school shooting

17 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by Aravind Venkatachalam in General

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Tags

Connecticut School shooting, Gun Control, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Video games

The recent shooting in Connecticut School has left many shaken. Including me. It triggered a lot of debates about gun control, violent video games, etc. Here a video message of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar about the shootings. He talks about how we can counter these problems, what steps we can take to stop this and many more things.

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Transmission of Knowledge

13 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by Aravind Venkatachalam in Knowledge

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Knowledge, Lakshmana, Mahabharata, Rama, Ramayana, Ravana, Transmission of Knowledge

One of our employee is leaving the company and we had to setup a lot of knowledge transfers sessions so that we could get all the knowledge that the employee would be parting off with. I could see my manager setting up long long meeting sessions with this employee to get it all. I was thinking if this is how it has been from the past until the present. What is that people want to give back before they leave? When I was reading stories from the hindu myths, the puranas, I saw a striking similarity between the two main spics in hinudism – The Mahabharat and The Ramayana.

In both the epics, after the war was over, there was a transmission of knowledge from the defeated to the one who was victorious! It was mostly the lessons that the defeated had learnt. No matter how strong the enmity was, there was always a parting of knowledge. It was really interesting to see this that I decided I would share it with you all. So here the story from the Ramayana first.

In the Ramayana, Ravana lies mortally wounded on the battlefield and themonkeys are celebrating their victory, when Rama turns to his brother, Lakshmana, and says, “While Ravana was a brute, he was also a great scholar.Go to him quickly and request him to share whatever knowledge he can.”  

The obedient Lakshmana rushes to Ravana’s side and whispers in his ears,“Demon king, all your life you have taken not given. Now the noble Rama gives you an opportunity to mend your ways. Share your vast wisdom. Do not let it die with you. For that you will be surely be blessed.” Ravana responds by simply turning away. An angry Lakshmana says “He is arrogant as he always is and is too proud to share anything”.

Rama looks at his brother and asks him softly, “Where did you stand while asking him for knowledge?” “Next to his head so that I hear what he had to say clearly.” Rama smiles places his bow on the ground and walks to where Ravana lies. Lakshmana watches in astonishment as his brother kneels at  Ravana’s feet.With palms joined, with extreme humility, Rama says, “Lord of Lanka, you abducted my wife, a terrible crime for which I have been forced to punish you. Now, you are no more my enemy. I see you now as you are known across the world, as the wise son of Rishi Vishrava. I bow to you and request you to share your wisdom with me. Please do that for if you die without doing so, all your wisdom will be lost forever to the world.”To Lakshmana surprise, Ravana opens his eyes and raises his arms to salute Rama, “If only I had more time as your teacher than as your enemy. Standing at my feet as a student should, unlike your rude younger brother, you are a worthy recipient of my knowledge. I have very little time so I cannot share much but let me tell you one important lesson I have learnt in my life. Things that are bad for  you seduce you easily; you run towards them impatiently. But things are actually good for you fail to attract you; you shun them creatively, finding powerful excuses to justify your procrastination. That is why I was impatient to abduct Sita but avoided meeting you. This is the wisdom of my life, Rama.”With these words, Ravana dies.

Now lets see what happens in the Mahabharata.

The war is over and the Kauravas are all dead. As the victorious Pandavas areabout to assume control of Hastinapur, Krishna advises them to talk to Bhisma,their grand uncle, who lies mortally, wounded on the battlefield. As a result of ablessing, death would elude him for some time. “Make him talk until his last breath. Ask him questions. He has a lot to tell,” says Krishna.Sure enough, when prompted, the dying Bhisma spends hours discussing various topics: history, geography, politics, economics, management, war,ethics, morality, sex, astronomy, metaphysics and spirituality. Bhisma’sdiscourse is captured in the Shanti Parva (discussions of peace) and AnushasanParva (discussions on discipline) that makes up a quarter of the Mahabharata. After listening to their grandsire, the Pandavas have a better understanding of the world, and this makes them better kings.

Both these stories draw attention to the value of knowledge. In triumph, it is easy to claim the material possessions of the defeated but it is not easy to claim one’s knowledge. When someone dies, their knowledge and all the experience goes along with them. It is made sure that the knowledge outlives death in both these cases. Regardless of victory, the winners make sure that they get the knowledge even if they have to let go of the ego.

Now here is a question for all of us – are we ready to get knowledge from the fallen one when we win and are we ready to impart knowledge to the winner when we fall? Something to ponder on…

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Vedic theories on the Universe

06 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by Aravind Venkatachalam in Knowledge, Videos

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

biological evolution, Creation, orbit space, secrets of the universe, time dilation, time measurement, universe, vedas

I found this video on my Facebook news feed. This explains the science and secrets of the universe, time and many more things beautifully in a well compiled video. Some of the topics it touches are here.

  1. Creation of Universe
  2. Planetary systems
  3. Sun, Moon and its orbit
  4. Space time Theory
  5. Time dilation
  6. Time measurement and calculation
  7. Biological evolution
  8. Nature of matter
  9. Dimensions of the universe

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Days to WCF

World Culture FestivalMarch 11, 2016
The World Culture Festival in New Delhi, INDIA!

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Saha nav avatu, Saha nau bhunaktu, Saha viryam karavavahi: Tejasvi nav adhitam astu: ma vidvisavahai; Aum Santih, Santih, Santih - May He protect us both; may He be pleased with us both; may we work together with vigor; may our study make us illumined; may there be no dislike between us. Aum, peace, peace, peace.

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Aravind Venkatachalam

is a senior software engineer living in the Bay area. He is a devotee of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and volunteers for the Art of Living Foundation. He uses this blog to share his ideas on ancient wisdom from the Puranas and from Sri Sri along with many other stories and juicy stuff!!

Blog at WordPress.com.

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