Knowledge Session at 45 degrees

Most of my Sunday afternoons these days are spent on AOL courses which are so much full of fun to be in. I have made it a habit to visit the course venue on Sunday which happens to be the last day of the course when the energy levels of the participants is at the peak with so much of transformation happening within the last 5 days of the course. I get to see some cool videos and I get to taste variety of food dishes specially cooked by the participants on the course. Just going & sitting there in the course gives me lots of relaxation after a busy morning of Sunday follow-up for AOL family members.

Recently I came across these profound quotes of my Guru Pujya Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji - “If you want to get depressed, the best way is to sit at home and keep thinking “what about me... what about me… how will I always become happy… blah blah blah & me me me…” This will surely get one depressed within minutes.” On the contrary Guruji says “The day you feel hopeless, horrible, and worse, on that day get out of your room and ask people, "What can I do for you?" That service you have done that day will bring a revolution inside you. It will change your whole "gramophone record." So instead of making any plans to sit at home & try to enjoy holidays on my own which ultimately ends up in nothing else but inertia, frustration & depression; I involve myself in some creativity or solid service in some way or the other.

This Sunday the course was in the morning so I did my bit of service whatever I could at the weekly follow-up and came back home. The best part about being involved in organization of such activities is that you get to meet lots of amazing new people of different origins, work & thought streams and it’s a great learning experience to talk to them. Recently in my last AOL course, I got to watch a couple of AOL teachers closely. That’s when I started understanding the importance of a series of books titled “An intimate note for the sincere seeker” by Guruji. So I got this thought in my consciousness that I should study this wealth of knowledge which Guruji has gifted us. It simply empowers us to live the finer aspects of the knowledge required to walk this path. And when this thought came to my mind after coming back from the follow-up, I just woke up, got out in my car & headed for nearby hills to find some silence. I don’t remember how much time passed reading the first volume before I got a call from mummy asking when I was coming for lunch. And just as I kept the cell down, did I get a call from friends telling we were going for a ride to Sinhagad. Within an hour we were cruising towards the top of the fort on our bikes. There were people everywhere up there, not a single piece of plane land was spared in peace by the city people – to a sane person it all would sound like nobody there had ever seen a mountain full of flora & fauna before in their life.

So we settled down on a steep slope with wind blowing in the hair admiring the vast flaunt of nature in front of us. And then Amit started the knowledge session at 45 degrees! It was a knowledge sheets on “Asuya and Anasuya”. Asuya means finding faults in someone or something you come across. When you are living in Asuya, you would find at least some fault in even the best of things you will come across. This generally happens when you come to know a person more & more as you live with that person over a period of time. Whereas Anusuya is that faculty of human mind which does not find any faults with others. Arjuna was one such person. Because even after being in company of Krishna for so much of time, he never found a single fault in Krishna. Guruji has explained the problem with Asuya very beautifully – if there is a dust on mirror, it can be wiped off to get a clear vision, but if there is a cataract in the eye nobody can help to clear the vision. After reading the knowledge sheet Amit stressed on using this knowledge in our day to day life and then he went on talking about the benefits of being in a group while on the path.

Rains were about to start & we had to reach the introductory session where people were waiting for us. So we had to wind up with a small “kanda bhaji & garam chai” snacks session in between & zoom to towards the city roads where the hustle-bustle of the town & the entire circus that comes with it was waiting for us with its arms open for us. But this time I felt more empowered to embrace it as I was more empowered with this powerful knowledge of Guru.