About Me: A life of my choice !

Hi!!!! :-)

So you want to know about me! 

I live a life focused on spreading the knowledge of Gurudev! I am blessed an lucky to be one of his teachers. It involves quite a lot of travel! I live out of a suitcase. Since I am teaching YES!+, a longer duration course, it means getting to eat dinner after 10 pm almost every week there is a course to teach. Last seven weeks had six of them packed with courses back to back. Teaching courses involves meeting new youth almost every week. It also involves mentoring youth on a long term basis empowering them to shoulder bigger responsibilities, and eventually becoming teachers. I get back to Bangalore ashram almost every few months to rejuvenate myself. Overall, a very very fulfilling life.

Prior to being a full time Art of Living teacher, I was a software professional. I worked for iFlex ( used to be called CITIL in those days) and i2 technologies totaling about 5 years. Infact also spent about an year as an entrepreneur. I had started a software consulting firm named Shakti technologies based out of chennai. I love algorithms, writing code, designing softwares. I still do! And am a genius at it! Just that I don’t have time for it now. Indian economy and stock markets also interest me equally. I did electrical engineering from IIT bombay and also an MBA in software enterprise management with a lot of courses in finance from IIM bangalore. I had a great time both at IIT and at IIM :-). IIT was home for 4 long years which flew by very quickly. I still miss IIT.

Being a teacher has made me more humane, caring and wise. At the same time it has also taken me back into childhood - total spontaneity and a feeling of freedom & joy thats stays ON!


Here's a link to my profile

Love & Jai Gurudeva!!

Ramnik

ps: Please do leave your comments on the blog. Reading them is an inspiration for me to write more :-)

A pilgrimage to Kasauli

This unforgettable picnic was decided on the last day of chandigarh Yes!+ at DAV sector 10. Paras offered to host us at manish’s cottage in kasauli hills. Soon volunteers were in action :), starting from collecting money for the trip, booking the bus, informing everyone to reach on time and finally ensuring that everyone is back in time these guys did an amazing job!! Tanmay, Gaurav, Mohit were among the new course participants who ventured into volunteering for the trip!

The way this picnic went, it was not just a picnic, it was a pilgrimage. We started from MGH at about 6:20 am. starting which bhajans which later moved to hindi songs! Just 12 kms from kasauli the bus was stuck in a traffic jam caused by the locals! this is when fun began! we decided to walk the way! then changed our plan to do short kriya in a house amitesh had taken permission for. just as we were walking to the house I saw an ancient shiva temple!! In the next 2 minutes we were all inside the temple! This is where one of the most powerful satsangs began! midway thru the satsang , Varun picked up the dhol, sajan and a few others some other instruments. there was a time when the temple was reverberating with the sound of these divine satsang instruments!! my knee had started to feel a difference. it had begun to heal! as we finished the satsang and came out of the temple the place seemed to show some signs of progress. the rock got unblocked only to get blocked again in 5 minutes! by now we had decided to walk it all. And thats when the issue got resolved. soon we were back in our bus to kasauli!

The cottage was in an amazingly quiet place. as we stepped out of the bus it started pouring heavily. Paras later mentioned that this was the first powerful rain after a long time! He led us through the long kriya followed by lunch prepared by yuvacharyas. and then everyone danced, and danced and danced!! then it was time to move on. we had a walk on Mall road, and then went up to visit Baba Balaknath ji in His temple! He sits on peacock and is said to be kartekaye’s avataar, shiva’s son!
Again we had a rocking satsang there and were directed to have prasad. Infact we had one shiva bhajan standing outside the prasad room!:-) The person incharge of serving the food wanted us to sing more inside the temple. We were getting late and so promised to come back and sing again some other day.
The return journey was quick all the way to panchkula. thats where he bus ended up with a flat tyre !!. And we then just jumped into autorickshaws, peoples friends, relatives cars and were BACK home!! O what a great day it was!.

love
Jai Gurudeva!!

Moments in Guruji's presence int the last few weeks

I left for bombay on 19th Feb, the evening Guruji left for germany. So He was there almost the whole time at the ashram since new year with a few gaps in between. As the yes!+ team meet got over, I went to amravati, Akola, back to bombay where he arrived on 5th march after midnight.
I remember him wading thru a narrow devotees pathway to the elevator at a Ghatkopar apartment he stayed in. He was sleepy yet smiling blessing and eye-contacting almost everyone! As always!
Next morning we rushed to the train at bandra station where He was also supposed to join. But He tricked us all! He went by flight to Surat. I came on a gifted 3-tier AC seat!( I had just bought an ordinary unreserved ticket in the last hour, not just for myself but 4 other friends.Two of them travelled 1st AC on that ticket!).
Surat was my first time on Gujarati soil. Though for some vague reason some people seem to think i am from gujarat when i meet them for the fist time. Infact many sometimes say, "Gujarat mein aapse kaha mile hein?!!!". Ok... maybe some past karma. On a more practical note I think Ramnik is also a very gujju name. But then to one fellow once i had not even told my name:-).

I think I saw Him very very happy at Surat. Like he was happy to be back home or was it the superb arrangements for mahashivratri, PDS and advance course!! Everything else was great just that his place of stay was little amusing! As bawa puts it, Gujarat meets Europe and has an accident!..It was a huge mansion that took 10 years to complete. My theory is the sindhi fellow would have run out of money building it and so it took such a long time !!
At times we would stand outside and he would wave at us from the other side of the iron-rodded boundary wall seperating us from him. he would take out his hand from between the two rods and devotees would rush to touch it! O what a beautiful site that was!!
He was into special effects even pre-mahashivratri evening! Bhava (not Bawa!) came after the rudra pooja that day. And THE day was simple one in a lifetime days for me. the place full of devotees, lakhs of them maybe. Sea of people. They started dancing at the onset of bhajans and he went into a tandava for few moments. Such powerful moments those were. I too was dancing like crazy.The whole event was a beauty beyond words.
From next day PDS started. mornings and evenings. That was the time to be sleep deprived. We stayed in a house with 60 people and 3 bathrooms between us! and still everyone was comfortable and happy!! Jigish, our gujarat teacher, and his family were at their host best!
Geeta gyan sessions in the evening were very powerful. Infact in the night after first day's session when he was meeting all the teachers he asked something which meant "tum logon ke liye ye gyan heavy ho gya tha kya?!!". Last time he gave it only to arjun. this time microphone and big-screen technology makes it possible for him to deliver it to lakhs of people in one go!
As i am writing this i have started missing him. eyes have become little watery. He is in nasik now after his bombay PDS. I have to goto punjab tomorrow.So i stayed back. Will be boarding my train tomorrow. The train goes to both chandigarh and jalandhar. I would first go to jalandhar where a very small team of just 4 people is working on Utsav. They have 800 registrations. Our target is 2000 students minimum. Chandigarh should be on 18th evening or 19th morning. Ok now. Will write more later.
Jaigurudeva!!

A simple desire fulfilled instantly!

I was searching for some cool widgets for my mac. Also I wished for something that could pop up Guruji's quotes. I receive a mail from JD just on one such widget!!! :-)
instant wishfulfilling..
Incase you are a mac user here it is-
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/reference/guru.html

What all I intend to blog...

Well...
almost everything about me and what I do. And when I say "me" it includes my students, friends, parents, and Gurudev!!
This should turn into my daily dairy. Just that when I am in the north I dont have such easy net access. Once I start using my new camera, due to arrive tonite, I shall put pics of different trips, events and courses as well!

My first Blog ever !

Yesterday Bawa banned me from using the mobile for 2 days due to excessive phone calls!

so today good old email was the only way to get in touch with friends and students. This gave rise to the idea of creating my blog for the first time and here I am!

Its fun:-). Its more like a daily dairy am sharing with the entire world! wow!

Today it was a day spent figuring out using Entourage as mac mail was not working on my macbook. Entourage looks cool, has more features but hangs and is erratic. I have moved back to Mail even before the day ends! I realised that the problem was not with Mail in the first place. It was the 55MB attachment that was not making my send mail work! Just got to know today that you cant send more than 10MB attachment with many free mail services!

I am sure there must be many who would have called, especially those who have got used to calling me almost daily;-). But am happy for my ears. They are well rested! CDMA technology seems to be more harmful to the ears! or maybe that just my perception. I use a Tata connection. 

This blogging thing seems addictive. I feeling like writing more and more! Lets see how long the fever stays!

Am eagerly waiting for my first DSLR, the Canon 400D!. It should arrive in india by 10th of this month! Ok am posting this now to see how it looks on my blog!

Hope you enjoyed my fresh free flowing unplanned friendly informal and happy style of writing! :-)

Utsavs at Bombay, Akola, Amravati

Guruji arrives in bombay on the 5th march! Just 2 more days and HE will be here! Wow!!

While I wait for him here is what all conspired to ensure i stay back in bombay to see him!

Leaving the ashram on 19th, I had no plans to stay on in bombay after the Yes!+ team meet end in 4 days.  Guruji had left for germay the same day. but what 4 teammeet days those were!! 2000 youth for the first time sitting together for 4 days got themselves drenched in sudarshan kriya and the supreme knowledge of the universe! yes 2000 , only youth !!! Bawa was flowing like rain on parched land! He was so free, so natural it was like a 40 people course!The crowd so well behaved, the place felt enchanted, all the way till the end of the venue, some of it spilling even outside! Dinesh was at his silent godly best! his free flowing hair and bright glowing smile mesmerized the crowd every moment of the event! Last day was vikram and fireworks!!What a blast the event was. It was by far one of the best AOL events I had attended, in a very short time! Guruji was not present there physically  but his it was a complete Guruji event! A total Jaigurudev!

The night it ended, Bawa and Dinesh left for Amravati. All of a sudden there was a lull after the storm! I wished I should also have gone to Amravati but Bawa had asked to go back to ashram and start of with yes!+ work in bangalore city. I had no reservation for bangalore and had no plans how or when i should leave from bombay. And in the night, at dinner we recieve a call from rashim hailing teachers to amravati!!! Baat ban gai!

 

I took the early morning train without reservation and landed up in amravati. the journey was an adventure in the sense that i travelled in a sleeper class boggie on an unreserved ticket!

Amaravati is a town of mother goddess. there is an ancient temple. the first place i went to as i arrived, took my bath , attended the last 30 minutes of Utsav, was the temple!! O what eyes the mother divine had! You must go there! those big eyes, that glowing face. it pulls you. its a town of devoted souls. I had no idea that the place has a temple which is the source of the town itself. Even at the event venue, the feeling that these people are so much in devotion was very strong. the faces of people have a gentlness about it. the girls there look like devis. The temple of mother divine explained the feeling!

The next day bawa asked me to goto Akola alogn with dinesh. And there too a crowd of about 1500 youth were basking in the glory of Utsav and grace of Gurudev! I walked around in different zones each with about 300 people. It felt like just 50 people once again! How amazing that such a large crowd of first timers was 100% with kriya. The whole atmosphere was serene and soothing.

We reached back amravati at 230 in the night!! and before that we visited a devotee's place where they had 2 turtles at home!! we had a great laughter session, of course this was led by me!! with my raw stomach-aching-with-laughter jokes!!! You missed it!

I will write more about the other days in second half of this story! till then good night! its 12 in the night for me!

love

Jai Gurudeva!

Ramnik