UTSAV!

Note: am 15 days late posting this.

(27th sept 2008)

Its like a bizarre melting pot of events, situations, people, emotions and of course plenty of chaos adding to the hoopla.

Its the last day already, time has slipped by at an alarming speed, leaving us blissed and blessed!

Here are snatches of Bau's brilliant Q n A, for unfortunate souls who missed the action.

Q Why do Parsis worship fire and other elements?

A 'Bhoomi' or earth has the quality of acceptance, it doesn't differentiate who should walk on it.

'Agni' or fire burns all negativity, and also purifies as when gold is melted, all the purity is retained.

Vayu or air is present everywhere, so is our mind, like when you walk into a movie theatre a little late, you feel a bit uncomfortable, that's because all the other minds present there are attuned to the film, and your mind is not aligned to that. So mind has its presence everywhere

Akash or space is completely involved yet, totally detached.

Neer or water is very adaptable, it takes the shape of the container it is poured in, also it goes to depth. We feel alive only when we dive deep. So dive deep in love, knowledge and meditation. As only a dead body stays afloat.

Akash or space is completely involved yet, totally detached.

Bhoomi ka 'BHA', Agni ka 'G', Vayu ka 'W' Akash ka 'A' and Neer ka 'N'

makes BHAGAWAN.

Q What is wisdom?

A Knowledge with experience is wisdom.

During satsang, Bau enchanted all of us by explaining the symbolism behind each deity.

About Devi

The most important portfolios are given to women- Finance, Education and Defence, leaving men literally with nothing.

Saraswati- She carries a book in one hand and veena in other, symbolising that left brained and right brain activity should go together, and her vahan is swan. So when you have music and logic balanced, then you can fly high like a swan.

Lakshmi- sits on a lotus, symbolising that money is very unstable, like a lotus on water, and can submerge anytime, so you've got to be very careful in terms of finances, but if you do Narayan's work (god's work) lakshmi will follow.

Durga: Her Vahan is a lion, the most powerful, and the laziest animal. So your defence should be powerful, but should be used as the last retort, a war should should be absolutely the last option, hence, you should be lazy while using defence.

Bau also stressed on the importance of being proactive, and how good people should stand up and start shouting so that the negativity is put to an end (will elaborate that in upcoming posts).

The last day was filled with music and celebration, and some special time with Bau at Saket Bhaiya's house. But wait. Utsav hasn't ended, its in fact just begun...especially with navratri starting, i'm off for the advanced course, celebrating silence with gurudev.

Sigh...blissed and blessed

Utsav fever

Its less than a week to go and I am already feeling the heebee jeebies!
I mean just yesterday it was like a month ago and we just started working for UTSAV.
And now, the stage is almost set, the drums rolling!

For the past two weeks, a flurry of activity has overtaken the volunteers, and we cant think a thing past registrations and intro talks.
5 more days to be precise! Whoa!

One piece of knowledge I heard recently which made enormous sense

The two ingredients that help us evolve is Authenticity and Intensity.

Be very authentic in what ever you do, in your sincerity, for a cause,

to serve a higher purpose. And be intense, in you action, expression, emotions, feeling. That's what takes you back home, and brings you in touch with yourself, and you feel connected. Either laugh or cry, no in betweens. Also be intense, not extreme. Be normal, balanced on the outside, and intense within.

An Utsav has been an exercise in Intensity. Intense joy, intense frustration, intense love.
And its for a cause much much bigger that I could have ever fathomed.
Absolutely authentic

That's what Utsav is....Intensely authentic

Shut up...and take action!

20 more days to go, and the countdown for Utsav has begun.

As usual, there is utter chaos.
To me its as if stepping into a whole new territory.
A territory beyond, beyond what i ever thought was humanly possible.
An Utsav of 3000 youth, for four days in persuit of spirituality.

Up till now, it was something i took for granted. Miracles have become so
common, that this one just failed to register.

Up till now, it was something i 'had to' work for.

Global cooling- Cool inside, cool outside
Thats our campaign for Utsav

So my mind was reeling on the 1001 never ending small things 'my job', 'my finances', my future....blah blah.
I did kriya, and my mind just like shut up! (cool inside)
And i knew that nothing was more important at this point of time than Utsav!

Its madness...but its a miracle, its about getting 3000 youth to 'shut up' their mind and
feel bliss. 3000 youth will be planting 10,000 saplings and adopting them, as a part of 'stand up and take action' (cool outside)

Suddenly i feel so light inside, suddenly i feel as if worrying about small things is an insult to the cause and suddenly i realise how amazing it is to just SHUT UP!

Intro talked

Okay, it's mon city's time for UTSAV.

The ball is set rolling, the YES!+ team is on a intro talk giving spree , and the registrations are slowly but surely trickling in.
Giving Intro talk's is a crazy experience in itself, here are some dont's while you address a group of students

Talks dont have optimum results when

just before lunch break
just after an exam
you've not done your kriya
you've already addressed some of the students in another class
you're the only person in a class full of zombies pretending to be students

Talks can become suicidal for you when

just after an exam and just before lunch,
you're the only person in a class full of hooligans pretending to be students (you never know where they have dangerous weapons concealed)

You know your talk is not going so well when the students are

-looking at you with a pitiful smile, waiting for your next screw up
-delighted at finding a 'bakra' to rag
- Frustrated, and looking at their watches
- oblivious to your presence, you might as well merge with the black board
- disturbed at the presence of an alien intruder telling them the art of living
- delighted that they've skipped their lab/lecture because of the talk, and looking at the door to safely sneak out and bunk.
- One by one walk out of the class pretending to take an important call.

So i have concluded that in spite of all these if we're still getting registration's...its because of something called guru's grace.
So my next post will be on the do's during intro talk.

Utsav in Chennai

Okay, here’s the reason why, I’ve been gayab for a long time. ( hope this misses my employer’s eye, have supplemented them with all kinds of lies)
I was just part of the biggest phenomenon to touch the earth since Magna Carta.

It’s a condensed version of YES!+ in four day, with none other than Bawa and Dinesh da
http://www.bawandinesh.blogspot.com/. Here’s a report of all the four days

Day 1

6:00 PM
More than 900 participants, and utter chaos, especially regarding the nametags. After the Initial hitches, everything went on to proceed magicallywith Bawa delivering the 'bad news' (no tea, no coffee, no no-veg, no sutta,no alcohol...) and within minutes the thousand odd participants had themselves hanging on to every word that

Bawa said
" Do this course as if your life depends on it, because how you do thiscourse from now on, is how you're going to live your life. Its success andfailure depends on it."
" This is a blessing from me and Dinesh, all the problems in life that youhad, will stop, and all that you wanted in you life from now on, you'llstart getting it."

The course started in usual YES!+ style, with the merchant game etc, Suryanamaskar etc.and ended most perfectly with the long kriya, (Bawa ordered all volunteersto join in) So the participants experienced the Sudarshan Kriya right on the first day,and had brilliant experiences to share.
"I felt that my nostrils are going to bleed, is that normal?
Bawa: "perfectly normal"

9:30 PM, a crowd of youngsters emerged out of the ground, spaced out withthe experience of long Kriya, and excited about the prospects of Day 2


Day 2 & 3

More Intense, more bliss and more Bawa......But the participants couldn't wait for more. Day two and day three were clearly Bawa's, everyone was in love with him especially after the Q & A round!

Q: I am a christian, how can I say om?
A: exactly the way the Hindus say it! You are an Indian, but do u become a 'gora' if you wear jeans? then most of the people in Chennai will start wearing it, and Ram will be the first one Rashmin will be the second.

Bawa also spoke about farmers in India and said the reason why they were committing suicide were because American and Canadian MNC's were selling them hybrid seeds that produce bumper crops, but were sterile (didn't produce more seeds) so they were becoming dependent on MNC's who are hiking up the seed prices every year as the original seeds are becoming scarce.Only one person has worked for this cause and has managed to save 450 varieties of natural seeds, and he meditates everyday, the MNC's offered him 10 crores to buy those seeds but he refused!Session was sprinkled with Bhajans and Chennai rocked to it! As Rashmin said, all events start with bliss and end with chaos, while AOL events start with chaos and end with Bliss.


Day 4



Sorry for the delay on the final installment of update.....
This was due to the fact that i was supposed to return to Hyd, but popped into Bangalore ashram to say a quick hi to guruji.

Anyway, reminiscing Utsav's last day, is an experience in itself

The surya namaskar's transformed into blissful rain dance, as the rain gods decided to bless us with cool droplets that washed our sweat away, and then the sadhana under the ocean breeze. From the stage the view of 900+ participants doing sadhana was like music for angels to dance

The sadhana then transformed into action packed Q and A session with Bau and Dinesh da.

Q what is spirituality?
A It is what religion wants to be when it grows up! Its any thing that uplifts you, your spirit, and puts a smile on your face.

Dinesh bhaiya made a very interesting observation on prana
"Some people have only a bucket full of prana while others have an ocean full, now what happens when you plonk a stone into bucket of water, almost all the water spills out. But to an ocean, it hardly makes a difference. thats the difference for a person who does pranayam and sadhana.

There are 5 sources of Prana

Food
sleep
breadth
meditation
cold water baths (secret source of prana )

On Satsang:

Usually it takes very heavy, hard core rock to shake one up, but for one who has become very light through sadhana, very soft music can stir your from within. And thats what we call satsang.

So there was dance, music, gyan and oodles of grace that swept the shores of Chennai. And Bau and Dinesh left with a promise to be back on the last week of august with another wave of Utsav.

The next day was a treat for math lovers with Bau's Mathemagic workshop and later Indiana Jones movie at satyam, which i missed coz I had to catch my Hyderabad train.
But half an hour sitting in my plush AC compartment I realised I was sitting in the wrong train (coolie's fault).
So rather than spending an extra day at Chennai, i booked a ticked for the same evening in Bau and Dinesh da's train (confirmed)

On the way to ashram (home) we met Guruji who was calling out to Indrani 6 am in the morning.
I still have no clue why am here. But it feels great! As if Utsav never got over.

And I guess Utsav is a perpetual phenomenon for anyone who has a guru in his life. And organising an Utsav just reemphasises this beautiful phenomenon.
Worries drop away, belongingness dawns, and you start being this person who is, full of bliss and light. Just like your guru. It’s a phenomenon that can only be experienced. For Shalini, Harini and I ( Rashmin jokingly said our names sounded out of one of bhanu didi's songs)
seeing this revolution sweeping Chennai's sleepy shores was a blessing. And we know we can take it one step ahead in Hyderabad