What's up nowadays with Me - Sandesh

My new year resolution

2011-01-03T19:46:00.005+05:30

Some of the things I would like to do this year...

Resolution #1: Reduce my carbon foot-print by half!!

When / What / How? =

A) Cut down on the car travel -

Never commute to office alone, come what may use the office bus!

Walk to the nearby places instead of driving whenever possible!!

B) Stop using plastic -

Carry cloth/paper bag while out for shopping, avoid plastic bags totally!

Stop drinking from "mineral" water bottles - at office and while traveling!!

C) Use the available resources judiciously -

Minimize the wastage of water at home, cut down on use of water while bathing!

Save electricity by reducing usage of gadgets and switch to a daylight saving time table!!

Resolution #2: Work on the personal discipline rigorously!

When / What / How? =

A) Wake up before sunrise come what may (really!!!! guys I am serious here)

Even if I go to bed past midnight! Get out of bed as soon as I am awake!!

Express gratitude for everything and pledge to strive for best before starting the day!!!

B) Sadhana - Stronger Deeper and More!!!

One round of Padma Sadhana, Sudarshan Kriya, and Sahaj is a must...

Remind myself "If Rick Evertz can do it, so can I" ... and remember "no kriya = no dinner"

C) Become more health conscious = Food Control + Daily Exercise - Excess Net Access!!!

Spend less time on net and more time reading books, meeting friends outdoors, going for jogs/treks/walks, etc. Remember that I got only 1 life to live, so got make the best of it!

Work sincerely at office. personal use of net in office is strictly prohibited - no gmail, gtalk, facebook, whatever.

Avoid eating late, watch the food I eat, and learn to cook some new healthy dishes!!!

Resolution #3: Spread the love and awareness to each and every person that I meet!!!

When / What / How? =

A) I am so fortunate to get Guruji as my guiding star... the best expression of gratitude will be to introduce as many people as possible to this wonderful path of knowledge of the Self...

B) Caring n sharing... let's celebrate the joy of giving by helping the less fortunate ones... my target = raise Rs. 51 lacks for the tribal schools project this year.

C) The Honda City can wait... but the first priority is to ensure the less fortunate kids of these schools have proper cloths, books, and smiles :-))))))

Cool!!! Sounds great! Let the fun begin....

Dear friend, if you happen to read this, appreciate if you call me once in a while and check if I am on track with this new year resolution!!!

Season's Greetings!!
Love, Sandesh

Thoughts as we reach the end of this year...

2010-12-19T15:51:00.002+05:30

Flashback: 15th August 2009. Hire High School playground, near Parvati hills, Pune.

I am invited to address the students and teachers at the school’s Independence Day celebrations…

I have never given a speech in front of such a huge audience my life before, so obviously I have no idea how’s it going to be! Well in the Art of Living we are told to be natural, and feel at home with everyone everywhere you go. So I decide to follow the knowledge and just air the thoughts that come in my mind at that time. I don’t remember exactly what I spoke there on that day; but hardly did I realize that it was the beginning of a long relationship between us, the volunteers of the Art of Living foundation and the children in the school, who hail from the largest slum in Pune – Janata vasahat…

Move ahead to end of year 2010…

The school principal, who was very skeptical about our efforts in the beginning, has mellowed down a lot. This amazing transformation in his attitude is the result of him witnessing the change in the students post the mega bal-chetana-shivirs that we conducted at their campus. Today one of the school teachers has become an Art of Living instructor and another well on her way becoming one. Our team has been instrumental in raising funds to aid the less fortunate one among the students with footwear, school bags, and uniforms… and now efforts are on to cover the kids with sweaters from the chilly winter breezes that flow across the Parvati hills that the students cross everyday to reach the school.

A lot needs to be done yet. The journey is long, but our hearts are full of hope and enthusiasm… drawn from the love and wisdom of our Pujya Gurudev His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji. May the world see a day when every fortunate one in this world understands his or her responsibility to share what they have got with the less fortunate ones… and experience the joys of giving… and finding the purpose of their life while doing so!

Amen.

My first online survey :-)

2010-12-04T23:42:00.002+05:30

Hello Everybody!

Just finished creating my own online survey...
It's about the AOL Tribals project...
As some of you know, this month I am going on a field trip to visit the tribal schools run by AOL in the inner jungles of Jharkhand state in India...
So thought of getting your opinion on this topic which will make my visit a more meaningful excursion!

Click here to take survey

Thanks and happy holidays in advance!
Best,
Sandy

Diwali Cards Fund-raiser... I am loving it:-)

2010-10-25T15:10:00.002+05:30

Hola Amigo!

As I write this, I am overjoyed about the response we've got so far to the Diwail greeting cards sale in Pune! Although it might not raise huge funds for the AOL Tribals project, I believe it is a great way to spread the awareness about this wonderful project. Looking forward to similar and even better activity for the New Year's card sale!!! If you would like to do your bit of service and experience fun while doing so, do let me know before the cards go out of stock!!! Call me now on 9423076562 or write me to sandesh dot sawant at gmail dot com.

Mejores Deseos!
San

Celebrating Diwali this year with a Cause

2010-09-26T12:49:00.005+05:30

Hola!

I have heard/read this experience many times from people who are sensitive and who care for fellow human beings of their society, country... Whenever we stop at a signal we see these tiny kids doing aerobatics and then begging for some money/food etc to the passerby. The expressions on their face crushes our heart and we wish to do something for them but we don't know how and then the signal goes green and soon we forget about them and get back to our busy lives...

India is rapidly becoming a society where a very few have majority of the wealth and the rest of the country is facing issues right from the basic needs of human life. How this country still keeps running is an amazing miracle for me!!! It is observed that people from villages are coming to the metros in search of livelihood which is leading to a herd of serious issues in our cities. It is also found that Naxalism is on rise in rural and tribal parts of India. Isn't it but natural that one day the poor common man at the lowest layers of society is going to rebel against the system?

The question is "what can I do to change the situation? Sit and complain about the system, the politicians, the janta? The answer is No. But how can I make a difference?

Well this year I found one great noble cause for which I can give my time and efforts which gives me some level of satisfaction that I am doing something for the less fortunate ones in our society in a way shaping a better future for the citizen of this country...

There are many free schools run in the tribal regions of India by Art of Living under the trust of Sri Sri Vidya Mandir. Families in which many generations did not get education, their children are being imparted education. Such a project needs dedicated efforts of many and we have such a great team of people who have dedicated their lives for this project. A project of this magnitude needs funds to run and who can provide these funds?

I believe the best way is to make any such project self-sustainable by self-generating the funds rather than rely on donations. For last few years the Sri Sri Tribal schools in Chattisgarh and nearby states of North-East India have been successfully implementing a fund-raising project... the drawings done by the school children are converted into greeting cards and sold through volunteers in order to raise money for these tribal schools.

I got to know about it this year from my colleague at Cisco... Yateen who has been involved in this cause with such a dedicated effort. So this Diwali I decided to join hands to help bring light of education to few more lives of tribal children of India... All I have to do is to talk to a few people I know who own/work in a company/business and ask them to use this cards to send Diwali wishes to their family/friends/clients/business-partners, etc. If you also like this idea and wish to join me in this noble cause, do call me or write to me about how many cards do you want, when and where... I can share with you a few samples of these cards if you wish and if we have an order in large quantity, we can even customize the card message for a company, etc.

Sangatchatvam!!! (Lets Move Together)
Sandesh

P.S. If you are an AOLite, check out http://aoluniverse.blogspot.com/ am sure you'll find it quite useful:-)

Quick Update:)

2010-07-05T12:20:00.002+05:30

Hola!

Here are a few interesting things I've been spending my time with in the last few days...

Life has become slightly busier and much more happening after becoming an AOL change facilitator!!! As of now I have decided to focus more on bringing light of knowledge in villages nearby Pune and dive into youth empowerment project for the city youth in future. So each Thursday evening on my calendar is reserved for a visit to Shivapur village off highway NH4 to conduct a weekly follow up for some 25 odd people. Monday evenings are reserved for a follow up with AOLites in the office and Sunday mornings for the follow up activities in my residential area which is Bibewadi... started a new follow up center there to develop the densely populated are of Knodhwa Road / Marketyard. A course is planned at the same venue from next week.

Apart from courses n followups last month has been quite happening with the first Meducon event - a UNESCO-IAHV initiative happening in Pune! This series of conferences will continue in 190 countries around the world, bringing together the key people from education and media sectors to bring about transformation to the education system. The event hosted by AOL Pune
received a good response from schools and media industry alike and had participation from a many revolutionaries from the respective fields. Kudos to the Meducon organizing team who made it all happen in such a short span of time!!

On career front things were quite interesting as we approached our first product release slated for June end and I was at the receiving end of "Employee of the month" award for the month of June... quite happy with it especially since its not long since I joined Starent.

Oh by the way I started tweeting last week:) checkout http://twitter.com/sandeshtwits

That's all for now, must get back to work... ciao!

Networking with a cause

2010-03-30T13:45:00.004+05:30

Hola!!

It's been a couple of weeks since I joined a new company and so far I've liked what I have seen here wrt work environment n stuff... One good thing that has happened to my lifestyle after joining Starent Networks (which is now part of Cisco Systems) is that my weekdays schedule has started to become more disciplined...

All the companies which I've worked with so far, provided flexible working hours - mostly because it was guaranteed that there's always loads of work and international calls meaning late night working... So, over the years I have grown into habit of waking up late and hitting the road to office only after the rush hour has started to get over. This has changed with my entry into Starent. As the company offices are located in a tech park campus 30KM away from my home, I have no option but to wake up early, get done with my daily dose of exercise, and hop on to the company transport as early as 7AM!! The good part of the bargain is that I get free from the office responsibilities by 5pm and reach home by 6pm having freewill to spend the rest of the night in whichever way i wish to (uummm... not exactly as I'm staying with my parents;-))

As I got accustomed to the bus travel (given the fact that I've hardly commuted using public transport so far), I embarked on a strange decision - what to do while commuting in the bus for 2 hours every day. There isn't much chance of networking/gossiping with the co-commuters - since most people doze off as soon as they get onto the bus:( and a few who are awake are busy vigorously perusing the daily newspaper for such mundane things as the current state of Indian politics and crime scene - something they aren't willing to do anything about!! Let's not get into that subject coz i know there are newspaper evangelists who upon listening to my last statement shoot back at me saying in today's world "information" is the key, "knowledge" is the biggest power, so reading newspaper for an hour a day is absolutely essential contrary to my opinion that it's an absolute waste of time:)) So be it, I have no issues with what others choose to do... except that newspapers are a huge tax on our planet's resources - they are prepared from paper - which requires cutting trees - the most precious element of our planet's ecosystem...

Anyways coming back to the dilemma of effectively utilizing time spent sitting in the bus, the other options I considered also didn't suit very well... like enjoying the scenery from the window... everywhere the land is full of concrete jungles with no soothing greenery in sight and the air full of vehicular pollution. The other option was to listen to ipod to disconnect from the world but that was impossible with the bus music system squeaking out loud with FM music all the time. So I finally decided to resign to a quiet pondering over my life in the past, present, and future to make some meaning out of it...

While pondering over the circumstances that make me who I am today as a person, I realized that somehow I have become an introvert as a result of more hours spent in front of a computer screen than interacting face-to-face with fellow human beings!!! This realization forced me to start thinking how I can change this. It was evident to me that it's not immediately feasible for me to change my profession, or suddenly make so many new friends that I am not left alone any time of the day...

Well, the solution I thought of experimenting with was to join events and communities of matching interest in the available time... like joining a football club... or get connected with the avenues where I can hone my skills both professional and extra-curricular e.g. join a Spanish language class or a guitar academy, etc. As I started to look out for possible avenues, I came across something unique... through a senior from my undergrad college PICT, I learnt about this international organization called "Net Impact" and it's local chapter in Pune...
nipune.org I was quite intrigued about their philosophy and decided to attend there meet on the immediate weekend... The local team, which was surprisingly nothing more that a couple of young spirited entrepreneurs, were hosting a meet wherein several for-profit as well as non-profit NGOs were invited to give presentations about what they did and how others could join hands with them, etc. The venue of the event also aroused a bit of interest in my mind - it was at a complex called Venture Center - a place for incubation of new startups inside the prestigious NCL (National Chemical Laboratory) campus. Since I personally liked the idea of hosting multiple early age startups in a common block of infrastructure, I decided to check out the place. The only other similar facility which I have seen in Pune is in the Pune IT park campus near Aundh...

So I registered on nipune.org website for the event, upon which I received a hitech looking entry pass in email - which i promptly forgot to carry with me while going for the meet:) By the time I located the facility inside NCL campus and the hall inside it, the session had already started and gotten into full swing. An old man with looks of a quantum physics scientist was explaining easy ways of incorporating some bio-fuel products into our daily lives. It was not a theory lecture but just a sharing of how much results they had achieved in past working with village people in our state.

Up next was a lady from a micro-finance organization called "Mann Deshi". She had just come back after presenting her organization to Bill Gates n co at some prestigious event in US. She quoted hilairous incident that happened there when she asked them who is Warren Buffet in his own presence, much to the pleasure of the old man:) It was touching to know what kind of an impact these people were creating in the lives of village women.

This was followed by a relay race of 8-minute presentations by representatives of various NGOs, I think some 9-10 of them spoke that day... the organizations represented were from a variety of social areas including those working on sustainable rural youth development, bicycles for resolution of Pune's traffic issues, supporting physically challenged people finding the right jobs, empowering village women through microfunding, deriving social impact by training via films, empowerment of rural children,to name a few...

Each of their stories were very touching and eye-opening and in the end what struck me was the fact that none of them were there to ask for funding in terms of monetary donation for their respective causes. They were there just to make us aware of avenues of how we could actively volunteer with them or make a positive difference for our planet in our own way by getting inspired from their experiences.

The event was neatly wrapped up with an informal tea session in the open area where people got a chance to interact with the presenters and build meaningful bridges of mutual collaboration. I snatched the opportunity to get to know the event organizers better since I found their initiative to organize such an event very unique and praise-worthy. Before leaving I made it a point to express my desire to join hands with them by helping organize similar activities future. If anyone reading this blog catches on to the idea, and wishes to be part of the team, do let me know at sandesh dot sawant at gmail dot com so that I can get you in touch with this brilliant folks at netimpact...

Best,
Sandesh

P.S. The guys who's part of the net impact pune team is also an entrepreneur having his own software startup and has implemented a simple idea of sharing books on the topic of entrepreneurship within a group of interested people. If you wish to chip in, checkout OLED

Antarnaad - Pune is happening!!!

2009-12-04T17:35:00.003+05:30

Antarnaad.....a voice withing!

In the divine presence of His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji
An enthralling symphony of 2000 vocalists presenting Hindustani classical music!!! Happening at SP College grounds on 12th January 2010. All are invited!

Along with this event there is a 3 day Health & Happiness Workshop in the presence of Sri Sri! Collect your passes today and make sure you make the most of this opportunity!

Check out details of the event and how you can be part of it at antarnaad.in

For more details about the Art of Living Foundation, visit www.artofliving.org

To register for an Art of Living course near you, visit www.artoflivingpune.org

Best,
Sandy

Short update after loooong time!

2009-12-04T16:53:00.008+05:30

Wonder where have I been all this while? - Professional work has been the only subject that is consuming most of my time for last few months.

Last month I got an opportunity to be part of making an international promotional event of our company - "Marvell India Technology Day" successful in Bangalore - check out MITD2009 The event took place at Leela Kempinsky Palace in Bangalore on 10th Nov 2009 and showcased Marvell's latest technology in mobile & embedded devices market including the likes of the new ARMADA processors and SheevaPlug plug computing devices.

Enjoy some snaps from the event...

The event theme...

Technology showcase...

Admiring our own work before visitors turn out...

Our booth - "Connectivity & Beyond" - buzzing with activity!

Keynote address speech in progress @ grand ball room - Leela Kempinsky Palace

Prominent audience form industry during tech sessions

Manning my demo section - HD Video Streaming from 3x3 Wireless Marvell Mobile HotSpop

Notice the slight tired expression on face? - that's what happens after you keep standing for 8 hours continuously speaking to prospective customers and answering their queries - thanks to daily practice of Sudarshan Kriya I get pools of energy to perform such tasks with consistency & enthusiasm without loosing my cool :-)

By the way, after Marvell Inc. declared its financial results for the last quarter, its stock price looks to be rising pretty quickly - close to 10% in a day! If you are planning to pick up some MRVL stocks, it is the right time to do so!!

Hope to catch up with you soon... happy holidays:)

Soccer days are back again!

2009-07-15T11:58:00.003+05:30

It has been more than a couple of years since I played in a professional football tournament. My efforts to build a team at the last employer in Bangalore did not work out and I had to be contented with playing amateur games at the stadium next to my residence in jayanagar....

So when I recently moved to Pune, the first thing I did was to start regular practice sessions on weekends at the nearby VIT college grounds. Then even Marvell guys started practising on Sundays with a paid coach n all and finally we gave our entry in the fist IT soccer tournament of the year playing as joint team representating Marvell-StarentNetworks....

So here is a snap from the post-match photo session taken by our ever-enthu lens man Shailendra...

Fresh from Arosa, Switzerland...

2009-05-22T17:05:00.006+05:30

From the dark forest in Germany...

2009-05-22T16:33:00.003+05:30

TIMING

2009-04-29T16:10:00.005+05:30

When I joined the Marvell Bangalore office last year, my favorite post-lunch hobby for the first couple of months was to visit the Oxford book shop in the same building where Marvell office was located inside the Leela Palace…

Usually I would check out the new arrivals before making a dash for the kids’ section where I would drool over the Tintin comics… I almost finished reading a couple of them standing there next to the book racks;-)

As the days passed by, Christmas arrived and all the shops in Leela Galleria were nicely decorated and a huge xmas tree stood tall in the center of the building… I noticed there were a few new-year gifts to choose from at the Oxford's, and I got this nice item while browsing through the same… a 365-days quotes tabletop calendar! I immediately picked up one for myself & one for Yogi…

The calendar brought a new zest of life to my desk... and as I started flipping the pages first thing in the morning before starting the days work, I started witnessing a miracle…
It was something like a déjà vu… the quote for the day in this calendar sometimes makes me snap & jump in amazement… remembering a situation that would have happened a day or two ago, where the knowledge point in the quote would make so much sense… and at times this quote had the exact solution to the situation I was facing on that day…

Like for example take yesterday’s case…

A couple of days back I got a call from a lady devotee in our area (she is a primary school teacher whom I meet the other day the Sunday AOL followup) asking me if I was available to conduct a 5 days NCS for 100 odd girls in a secondary school in Khadki.

On any other day I might have refused the request on the excuse of the workshop schedule conflicting with my office timings... and additional reason being me out of touch of taking NCS for a long time...

But her enthusiasm & confidence in me gave me such a boost that I immediately said yes! Instead of doubting *my* abilities, I decided to have faith in *His* infinite power which operates through each one of us…

And today, after finishing the 1st session of NCS, I arrived in office to flip the page to find this quote waiting for me…

“Faith always takes the first step forward”

Now why do I find the above quote so relevant to my situation?
When I agreed to conduct the NCS, the reality was, I didn’t even have the manual with me (this was just one day before the course commenced)… and on the only day remaining in hand, I had to get hold of the manual and study it... easy task considering the manual is not more than 15 pages... but I had to do this while I was sorting out the submission of my visa papers to the swiss embassy in mumbai... attending the office by the day and making a trip to Mumbai by the night…

but faith carved the way out to make the impossible look possible and I could study the manual neatly a couple times before entering the course!

I’m really amazed by the timing of the quotes – how they are arranged so that exactly the one needed on a particular day pops up in front of you!!!

GOD’S TIMING IS REALLY PERFECT!!!
CALENDARIO DE DIOS ES PERFECTA!

Last couple of weeks...

2009-04-29T15:07:00.000+05:30

Hey there…

First a short update about what’s up these days with me…

It’s been a couple of weeks now since I moved base to Pune after spending two unforgivable years in Bangalore… Although I miss those amazing times I had at the International Art of Living Ashram near Bangalore, I am pretty much contented for having successfully realized most of the goals that I set out for myself when moving to Bangalore a couple of years back…

And ever since I’ve come to Pune, I’m very grateful for having received extremely positive signs about the mission I set out for myself when deciding to move back to Pune… This time social service has taken number 1 priority on the list of my activities and so far I’ve got plenty of opportunities…

The very first Sunday in Pune, I got a chance to assist in conducting a Nava-Chetana-Shibir (Breath-Water-Sound workshop) for close to thousand students in a primary school, followed by assisting a YES! program of 50 odd youth near my residence in the afternoon. Then in the evening, a public program with Swami Pragyapadji where the ever-enthusiastic gang of Harshal, Omee, & Co. included me in a skit performance to awaken people to vote for a transform in the upcoming elections!

http://voteforchangenow.blogspot.com/2009/04/original-version-in-marathi.html

Even campaigning on roads to encourage people to vote on the earlier day was fun!

The rest of the week was spent more or less meeting up old friends in the new office;-) and preparing for my upcoming visit to Europe…man, am I excited to be there soon!!!
The prep included a quick 1 day (or rather night) trip to Mumbai to submit the visa docs… it was almost a couple of years since I visited Mumbai - so I had no idea how I was going to commute in & out of Mumbai within one night by buses/local trains/cabs/autos - all the transports which I usually hate & avoid, having got used to only flight travel while in Bangalore;-) but there was a strong faith that told me everything’s gonna work just perfectly fine… and so it was… the journey was exceptionally smooth, nothing going wrong anywhere! On the bus to Mumbai, I had the company of an AOL teacher who happens to be the sister of a close friend, so couldn’t notice how fast the time flew before reaching the destination… Now a possible issue was running out of my mobile battery before reaching the destination… coz that would’ve put me in a slightly handicapped position given that I had to reach my agent’s office in Andheri before she called it a day. But the phone battery miraculously lasted till the time I reached the destination and I even got a chance to recharge it before starting for the return journey!!

Reached back pretty late at night… 4am, then a quick 1 hour nap, and the regular sadhana brought back much needed dose of energy in the body to drive to khadki for conducting a NCS in a secondary school. The school principal and other teachers were very hospitable and the students, all girls entering 10th standard this year – I guess around 50 of them were very sincere and receptive contrary to my guesswork

A quick attire makeover in the car to suit the office atmosphere, and here I am sitting peacefully in my cubicle writing away this report;-)

Keep watching for my next post… it’s about a big shock I’ve experienced recently… about the present state of affairs in our country…

Hasta la vista…

Spot the professor of knowledge, savior of the world:-)

2009-04-02T23:41:00.003+05:30

... Entró en la discusión profunda del conocimiento - Playa de Patnem, Goa, India

Un pequeño regalo para Shashi...

2009-04-02T23:35:00.004+05:30

Futbol - Mi deporte predilecto

2009-04-02T23:18:00.003+05:30

Venue - Yagyashala, Bangalore Ashram....
... El lugar de actuación - El edificio de yagya, Ashram de Bangalore

Time: One bright sunny sunday morning in march...
... El tiempo - un brillante soleado el domingo por la mañana en marzo

Team: (clockwise from center bottom) Barbi, Belu, [Mongolian] (can't spell his name:-), Guido, Shankar?, Marco, Shashi, Ravi, Seba, Sandy, Football:-)

El hombre que está cambiando el mundo

2009-04-01T15:43:00.002+05:30

The man who is changing the world...

¡Vamos unir sus manos para hacer de este mundo un lugar mejor! ...

... Let's join our hands to make this world a better place!

El secreto - Cómo se trabajó para mí. - Parte II

2009-03-19T15:46:00.001+05:30

Como narrado en el último puesto, mi primer viaje a la empresa's head office en California fue organizado para que aprendí acerca del producto que iba a trabajar. El objetivo para mí fue de regresar y construir y formar mi propio equipo volver en la India. Así que no había razón aparente para mí hacer más viajes para nosotros nuevamente - hasta que el producto estaba listo y los ingenieros estaban obligados a hacer visitas sobre el terreno para resolver cuestiones cliente. Pero un pensamiento vino a la mente - que si «el secreto' trabajó una vez para mí entonces tiene que trabajar nuevamente cualquier número de veces quiero. Lo que quería que me quería ir a nosotros aunque yo no sabía cómo iba a suceder. ¿Adivinen qué - la QA plomo en nosotros decidió dejar en un corto plazo de una semana, y fui elegido por nuestro personal directivo inmediatamente ir y hacer la KT con ella en nuestro San Jose HQ! En realidad, la persona ideal para ir allí habría sido la QA plomo en la India en esta situación; pero el universo conspiraron para completar mi deseo lugar y estaba allí en nosotros el día siguiente, esta vez para prolongar la permanencia de 2 a 3 meses! Y así que esta vez me da tiempo suficiente para cumplir el resto de mis deseos pendientes como visitar el Disneyland y el Universal studios, y la itinerancia en California conducción en mi propia. Y por supuesto que tuve el royal tratamiento también esta vez con business class viajes en avión, limousine transporte terrestre, un buen estudio apartamento con lugares interesantes para visitar en las cercanías, y un buen coche para conmutar diariamente. Elegí un negro Kia Optima aunque luego me sentí que debería haber ido a un BMW o un Porsche, de modo que va ser mi deseo de que el próximo viaje. Así que la conclusión a la que extrajo de estos acontecimientos es que el secreto obras. Y funciona cada vez!! Uno podría tener que esperar con un poco de paciencia para que funcione, pero finalmente obras. Y si todo no ocurre exactamente como por su deseo, sabemos que algo mejor le espera en los próximos días.

Así que me mayoría satisfechos con mi trabajo en PacketMotion. Me encantó el tipo de trabajo me fui a hacer, yo disfruté mi posición en la empresa, se pagó muy bien, fue residían cerca de la oficina (I hate diariamente en el tráfico de trabajo) y tiene tiempo suficiente para hacer visitas a ashram siempre Guruji estaba allí. Pero en los últimos años he got one grave cuestión relativas a mi mente –un patrón que no permítame para relajarse incluso si cosas suenan a ser tan buena como podían conseguir en la vida – mi mente se esfuerza para algo más – un objetivo superior. Un pensamiento patrón que me hacen sentir aburrido hacer en el mismo lugar, interactuando con el mismo conjunto de personas, haciendo similar de trabajo cada día. Pero en los últimos años he got one grave cuestión relativas a mi mente –un patrón que no permite así que mi mente got absorbido por los pensamientos de looking out para cambiar de lugar de trabajo aunque todo estaba yendo muy como un sueño. En el año de 2008 I empezó otra vez mirando para otro empresario y utilizados en "el secreto' una vez más. Esta vez me ofrece desde alrededor de la mitad una docena de empleadores en un máximo de 6 meses y mantenerse rechazar todas ellas con el pretexto de una u otra razón, a veces, algunas veces ubicación, y remuneración en otras ocasiones. Se trata de un impresionante línea de desarrollo de productos empresas que he mantenido disminuyendo - Juniper networks, Aruba Networks, Stoke Networks, Torres Networks, …

Mis criterios de la próxima buen trabajo este tiempo fue ligeramente modificado este tiempo… Los dos demandas básicas fueron los mismos – buena paga y trabajos interesantes. Pero esta vez ME destinadas para un mejor lugar de trabajo, y una más segura. PacketMotion oficina de la India no fue exactamente el mejor lugar para estar en, si hotel espacio para oficinas y una carga cafetería entusiasmados. Por lo que pedí un hermoso trabajo que yo podría estar orgullosos y el universo respondió… Me da una oferta de un producto MNC con su oficina dentro de un 5* hotel – La Leela-Hotel Kempinsky grupo propiedad Leela Palace de Airport road! ¡Oh mi Dios! No hay límite a este fenómeno llamado 'el secreto'!

La historia de cómo aterricé en Marvell es un poco divertido…

Yo estaba aburrido de trabajar en PMI IDC en Bangalore y lo quería conseguir permanentemente pasó a su oficina en San José. Y tuve la sensación de que era una posibilidad lejana mientras reducción de costos fue el #1 cosa en la mente de PMI jefes. Así que me concibió un plan kludge a hacer mi deseo hecho realidad. El plan consistía en poner las ponencias en PMI con una tarea de copia oferta en mano (Marvell's offer sucedió a este plan de copia), y si la gestión todavía desesperadamente quería mantenerme back (que yo sabía que) les pido que me cambio a su oficina SJC. Pero en el proceso de lograr este deseo cocinaba una mentira. Le dije al PMI gestión que quería salir porque quería pasar mi base volver a Pune. Mi razonamiento detrás de esta era –si me dio algunas otras razones como trabajo o pagar, podrían fijar aunque en realidad yo tenía el mejor de los trabajos y pagar la industria podría ofrecer. Y así, como siempre ocurre conmigo, me da la castigada por la mentira inmediatamente –como se esperaba, los chicos en SJC estaban desesperados por mantener me, y por lo tanto me ofreció a trabajar de Pune si avanza a Pune fue la única razón para mi renuncia a PMI.

Lotes de negociaciones seguidas y finalmente mi plan de pasar a nosotros oficina no funcionó, pero para la buena como yo era saber más tarde. ¿Cómo? PMI hizo una ronda de despido después de que me dejó y al escuchar esta noticia ME fue sólo el estar infinitamente agradecidos a la divina para darme la idea de salir de la empresa en el momento adecuado. Ahora, uno podría plantear una cuestión aquí que 'el secreto’ no funcionó para mí en este caso- que mi deseo de ir a nosotros no se materializó. Pero la realidad es que nunca estuve seguro de si avanza a nosotros fue la mejor decisión. Aunque el jefe estaba diciendo - Let's go y ganar mucho dinero y disfrutar de los placeres que la vida tiene que ofrecer en la hermosa bay area de California, el corazón decía no, está en la presencia del maestro es más importante que cualquier otra cosa. Lo que esta vacilación aseguró que yo no terminan mudando de Bangalore - porque profundo del interior I no estaba dispuesta a ir lejos de la celestial morada de mi querida master.

Lo que escribo este post, estoy felizmente empleadas en Marvell gracias a la infinita gracia de lo divino. Pero sé que esta situación es muy efímero porque mi mente ya ha empezado diciendo que es hora de cambiar! Por supuesto, la recesión ha traído en algunos los cambios desfavorables este año, pero el divino ha sido siempre agraciado en esos tiempos difíciles. Para citar el ejemplo más reciente, ha habido conversaciones de despidos en Marvell para el último mes o así y mi equipo parecía ser el más obvio objetivo en la India. Incluso entre el equipo, mi posición parecía tener la más fácil amenaza de eliminación. Pero me encerraba yo inmerso en conocimientos, sadhana, seva, y la celebración sin trazas de tensión. Y, milagrosamente, mediante un par de in-house fuentes llegué a conocer la fecha exacta de despidos por adelantado! Lo que es más, en sólo una cuestión de un día tuve una oferta backup en mano en caso de que algo malo sucedió. No sólo que era una muy buena oferta de un producto empresa en Bangalore que está haciendo muy bien estos días. Ahora me dicen lo fácil que es garantizar una nueva oferta en estos tiempos difíciles!!! En los despidos ocurrido y mi equipo se salvó milagrosamente y por eso me capaz de escribir este registro mientras están empleados en el sector!

Así termina la historia de cómo me utilizados en "el secreto' para conseguir lo que yo quería en mi profesión. Hay muchas otras formas en que he utilizado «el secreto' en mi vida recientemente, pero voy a firmar aquí… dejando al lector a utilizar el secreto en sus propias vidas en los próximos días para lograr el amor, paz y felicidad y todo lo que quieren I sus vidas.

¡Puede todos sus deseos!

The Secret - How it worked for me. (Part II)

2009-03-18T17:12:00.001+05:30

As narrated in the last post, my first trip to the company’s head office in California was arranged so that I learnt about the product I was going to work on. The goal for me was to come back and build and train my own team back in India. So there was no apparent reason for me to make any more trips to US again - until the product was ready and the engineers were required to make field visits to solve customer issues. But a thought came to the mind - that if ‘the secret’ worked once for me then it has to work again any number of times I want it to. So I wished again that I wanted to go to US although I didn’t know how it was going to happen. And guess what - the QA lead in US decided to quit on a short notice of one week, and I was chosen by our senior management to immediately go & do the KT with her in our San Jose HQ! Actually the ideal person to go there would have been the QA lead in India in this situation; but the universe conspired to complete my wish instead and I was there in US the next day, this time for a longer stay of 2-3 months! And so this time I got ample time to fulfill the rest of my pending wishes like visiting the Disneyland and the Universal studios, and roaming around in California driving on my own And of course I had the royal treatment again this time with business class air travel, limousine ground transport, a nice studio apartment with interesting places to visit in the vicinity, and a nice car for daily commute. I chose a black Kia Optima although I later felt that I should have gone for either a BMW or a Porsche, so that’s gonna be my wish for the next trip So the conclusion I drew from these events is that the secret works. And it works every time!! One might have to wait with a little bit of patience for it to work, but it finally works. And if everything does not happen exactly as per your wish, know that something better awaits you in the days to come.

So I was mostly satisfied with my job at PacketMotion. I loved the kind of work I got to do, I enjoyed my position in the company, was paid extremely well, was residing close to the office (I hate commuting through traffic to work) and got enough time to make visits to ashram whenever Guruji was there. But in recent years I have got one serious issue pertaining to my mind – a pattern that doesn’t allow me to relax even if things sound to be as good as they could get in life – my mind strives for something more – a higher goal. A thinking pattern which make me feel bored do be in the same place, interacting with the same set of people, doing similar kind of work every day. So my mind got engulfed by the thoughts of looking out for change of workplace although everything was going great like a dream. So in the year of 2008 I again started looking out for another employer and used ‘the secret’ one more time. This time I got offers from around half a dozen employers in a span of 6 months and kept rejecting all of them on the pretext of one reason or the other - sometimes work, sometimes location, and pay package at other times. It was an impressive line of product development startups which I kept declining – Juniper networks, Aruba Networks, Stoke Networks, Torres Networks, and so on…
My criteria of the next good job this time was slightly modified this time…
The two basic demands were the same – good pay & interesting work, but this time I aimed for a better workplace, and a more secure one. PacketMotion India office was not exactly the best place to be in, if swanky office space & a loaded cafeteria excited you. So I asked for a beautiful workplace which I could be proud of and the universe responded… I got an offer from a product MNC with its office inside a 5* hotel – The Leela-Kempinsky group owned Leela Palace on Airport road! OH MY GOD! There is no limit to this phenomenon called ‘the secret’! Actually the story of how I landed in Marvell is a bit funny…

I was bored to work in PMI IDC in Bangalore and so wanted to get permanently shifted to their office in San Jose. And I had a feeling that it was a distant possibility as long as cost-cutting was the #1 thing on the mind of PMI bosses. So I devised a kludge plan to make my wish come true. The plan was to put down the papers at PMI with a backup job offer in hand (Marvell’s offer happened to be this backup plan), and if the management still desperately wanted me to stay back (which I knew they would) I would ask them to shift me to their SJC office.

But in the process of achieving this desire I cooked up a lie. I told the PMI management that I wanted to quit because I wanted to shift my base back to Pune. My reasoning behind this was – if I gave some other reasons like work or pay, they could fix it although in reality I had the best of work & pay the industry could offer. And so, as always it happens with me, I got the punished for the lie immediately –As expected, the guys in SJC were desperate to retain me, and hence offered me to work from Pune if moving to Pune was the only reason for my resignation at PMI. Lots of negotiations followed and finally my plan of moving to US office did not work out – but for the good as I was to know later. How? PMI did a round of layoff after I left them and upon hearing this news I was just being infinitely grateful to the divine for giving me the idea of getting out of the company at the right time.

Now, one might raise a point here that ‘the secret’ did not work for me in this case - that my desire to go to US did not get materialized. But the reality is that I was never sure if moving to US was the best decision. Although the head was saying - let’s go and earn lots of money and enjoy the pleasures that life has to offer in the beautiful bay area of California, the heart kept saying no, being in the presence of master is more important than anything else. So this hesitation ensured that I did not end up moving out of Bangalore - because deep inside I was not ready to go away from the heavenly abode of my dearest master.

So as I write this post, I am happily employed at Marvell thanks to the infinite grace of the divine. But I know this situation is quite ephemeral because my mind has already started saying it’s time for a change! Of course the recession has brought in some unfavorable changes this year, but the divine has been ever graceful in such tough times. To quote the latest example, there have been talks of layoffs in Marvell for last month or so and my team seemed to be the most obvious target in India. Even among the team, my position appeared to have the easiest threat of elimination. But I just kept myself immersed in knowledge, sadhana, seva, and celebration without any traces of tension. And miraculously, through a couple of in-house sources I got to know the exact date of layoffs in advance! What’s more, within just a matter of a day I had a backup offer in hand in case something bad happened. Not just that it was a really good offer from a product company in Bangalore which is doing quite well these days. Now tell me how easy it is to secure a new offer in such tough times!!! Anyways the layoffs happened and my team was miraculously spared and so I am able to write this log while being employed in the IT industry!

Thus ends the story of how I used ‘the secret’ to get what I wanted in my profession. There are many other ways in which I have used ‘the secret’ in my life recently, but I’m gonna sign off here… leaving it to the reader to use the secret in their own lives in the days to come to achieve love, peace, happiness and everything else they want in their lives…

Tathaastu!

Los Angeles de Marco / Marco's Angeles

2009-03-17T18:50:00.007+05:30

Some of the snaps we recently took at Tripura hill at one beautiful evening in the Bangalore ashram. Observe them closely... some of them have unusual spheres of lights and some even have bright figures of sparkling light glowing from them. Some call them 'the angels' and my observation so far is that they are mostly seen in all events & occasions where people are content, enthusiastic and joyful:)))

The photographer...
Marco - un gran angel!

Would love to know your comments about these magic light balls...

¡Viva la idioma Español!

2009-03-17T17:11:00.015+05:30

For the English speaking readers - don't be surprised if you see some posts on this blog that seem to be English but aren't English. Because they are Spanish!

I am so much in love with this language since I started learning it last year. And I wish to practice using it as much as possible whenever I get a chance to. And God has been so kind to offer me so many opportunities to do so in the last few days...

If you run a search on internet about "the best ways to learn a new language", you'll find numerous articles which talk about the importance of being in the company of people who use the language as their native language. Now the challenge for me was - how do I find native Spanish or Latin people to practice the language in India???

Simple - I just went ahead and joined a class, keeping in mind the principle of 'the secret'. If I wish to meet people who speak Spanish, the nature will conspire to send them to me! And this time it worked for me even before I released my wish in the universe...

Out of nowhere I started meeting people who spoke Spanish! The first person whom I bumped into happened to be a very sweet lady from Australia - Tania! Such a great devotee of Guruji who came to Bangalore for staying at ashram for half a year or so! And my dear old Pune friend Rajan, who's now working in Melbourne, asked me to receive her at airport and see if she required any assistance during her stay in India. Now statistically what is the chance that a person from Australia knows even a hint of Spanish? But as I said before, I was destined to meet people speaking Spanish.

And so she knew bit of Spanish because her grandma was from Spain if I recall correctly. And so my first Spanish communication happened in the form of tiny little sentences in SMSs with her. but she had to leave ashram soon to go back to Australia. By then I had completed my first level of Spanish. Although I had bunked a few classes for organizing YES!+ course activities in IBS, I managed to be the topper of the batch in the final examination. And so I decided to join the second level classes this year. And something unbelievable happened last month...

Harshal, one of my dearest AOL friends from Pune, who was in Switzerland for past year or so, offered me the task of receiving his friend from Zurich who was visiting ashram for a month or so. She was invited by Guruji's sister to come and attend the International Women's Conference 2009 happening at the Bangalore ashram and so I promised Harshal that I'll do my best to make her stay here as comfortable as possible. And you can not imagine how delighted I was to learn that Maite was a Spaniard, from Madrid!!! She was the first Spanish native which I came across and so I decided to bother her with whatever little bit of Spanish I had learnt so far. But Oh My God...

It did not take much time for me to realize that the beginner level classroom lessons I had learnt were no good when it came to constructing full sentences in Spanish. I had to at least complete the intermediate level to write and speak fluent Spanish. (It seems beginner level of any language class mostly teaches us simple sentences using present tense and we must climb on to the next levels in order to know how to conjugate verbs in past and future tenses) So as an immediate solution I resorted to the use of online translators to construct sentences while communicating in text with Maite. And she was very generous to bear with all sorts of crappy Spanish sentences I tried to construct while communicating with her. But soon her India trip also came to an end and I was kind of loosing the interest to continue with Spanish...

And on the day I bid a hurried farewell to Maite, I got introduced by her to an angel from Argentina - Marco. Now once more I had a live person, this time from Latin America to practice the language. Not just that, soon I meet more friends from Argentina (around 130 of them had landed in ashram a month ago) and we had a good time last couple of weekends together.

One of the major reasons for learning a new language is to get introduced to a completely new culture followed in some other part of the planet and this is exactly what happened in last few days. Marco happened to be a professional Tango dance teacher and offered to give Tango classes to us on weekends (Tango is a ballroom dance specialty of Argentina). Shashi, one of the students of the 2nd batch of YES!+ at IBS, who is a very enthusiastic cheerful fellow and visits ashram regularly on every Sunday afternoon arranged a get-together at his beautiful duplex house and we had a nice time learning tango steps.

We also had a young Salsa dance teacher from Columbia in the group - Sebastian who offered to teach us Salsa the next time we meet! And the girls in the group were so nice to offer to cook some Argentine food for all the next time we meet. But soon the group had to depart on their further travel in India. So we meet one last time over a good game of football in the fine sand of ashram yagyashala on the Sunday morning and now I am so much looking forward to meet these beautiful pearls of AOL Argentina again in Goa on the coming weekend!

And I am sure the chain of surprises will continue and I'll find many more Spanish speaking friends in the days to come!!!

P.S. If you are planning to learn Spanish, use 'the secret' - start immediately, look up for the Spanish classes in your area on internet, visit their offices and select the one you are most comfortable with in terms of faculty, facility, and the fees. Get in touch with me and I can help you with discovering some nice resources available on internet for learning Spanish or any other language like German, French, Italian, Mandarin, etc. For starters, log on to www.livemocha.com and start taking your first lesson of Spanish!!! Believe me... its so much fun to learn a new language... you'll make friends with lot of people from around the planet and learn so many new things about different cultures around the world. Try it and if you find it worth, come back and post a comment here about your experiences. Happy Hacking!!!

El secreto - Cómo se trabajó para mí. - Parte I

2009-03-17T15:59:00.002+05:30

(Por favor, tenga con mi español, aún estoy en etapa de aprendizaje infantil de la construcción de oraciones y la ayuda de traductores máquina, como "Google Translate Beta" y "Babel Fish yahoo" que he encontrado a ser ridículo a veces.)

El mes pasado un joven preguntó Guruji una pregunta en el período de sesiones de preguntas y respuestas en el ashram satsang:

(Esto no es literal)

Pregunta: ¿Cuál es su opinión sobre la nueva era del conocimiento en películas como 'El Secreto'?
Respuesta: He estado hablando de este último de 28 años. INTENCIÓN - ATENCIÓN - MANIFESTACIÓN.

Es así como hice el trabajo secreto para mí…

(AVISO: Para el lector que pueda parecer absolutamente egoísta que he usado el secreto para lograr mi propio ambiciones personales / comodidades mundo material, pero me sirvió como una prueba de que el secreto realmente funciona y para que pueda seguir adelante y recomendar a otros a mi alrededor y al uso para el mejoramiento de la sociedad en muchas formas más armoniosas. Por ejemplo, El otro día en el ashram satsang alguien planteó la cuestión de la guerra en Sri Lanka y nos dijo Guruji todos a orar por la seguridad de los civiles atrapados en la guerra entre el ejército y los LTTE. A pocos momentos de la oración sincera de nuestros hermanos y hermanas en dificultades en todo el mundo después de terminar nuestra sadhana realmente ayuda porque dicen - la fe mueve montañas!)

La razón fundamental de la mayoría de nuestras decisiones y acciones es – a ganar felicidad. Si nuestras acciones de Amor / Temor / Codicia, el objetivo es ser feliz, pacífica, alegres, etc. Empecemos por discutir cuáles son las cosas que pensamos puede hacernos felices.

Lo que sea sencillo, para mí fue para conseguir un "buen trabajo" mientras continúan los progresos en el camino espiritual...
Buen trabajo = 1. Interesante labor. 2. Niza lugar de trabajo y colegas. 3. La más importante de todos - cargas de efectivo en la cuenta bancaria al final de cada mes. Y otras gratificaciones deseado incluir flexible horas de trabajo, viajes de negocios en el extranjero, y así sucesivamente...

Así que me quería realmente un "buen trabajo". No mencionar que, desde que hice el arte de vivir curso y comenzó a practicar las técnicas, grace ha sido rebosante de vida y más ME sumergir yo en Sadhana – Seva – Satsang, más experiencia recortándole ilimitada de gracia en la vida…

Así me da sorprendentemente buenas notas en el colegio, me da un buen comienzo a mi carrera, encontrar gente agradable con intereses similares donde nunca voy, y luego un mejor trabajo, y entonces incluso un mejor trabajo con una mayor remuneración y la historia continúa! Como con cualquier otro que ha venido bajo el paraguas de un verdadero maestro.

Ahora viene la parte donde he experimentado con ejercer El Secreto… desde 2004 hasta 2006 mi base fue en la ciudad de Pune – un muy activa ciudad del mapa del Arte de vivir. Y me da este fuerte deseo de que me quiere ser más en Guruji presencia física mientras él está aquí en esta vida. Esta fue mi #1 reflexión durante los tiempos después de la plata celebraciones jubilares en 2006.

Este fue seguida de pensamiento #2: para conseguir un empleo en Bangalore con los siguientes requisitos:
1. El trabajo debe ser parejo mi interés.
2. La tarea debe implicar viajes de negocios para US.
3. El paquete debe ser increíblemente excelente.
4. La oficina debe ser muy cerca de mi residencia.
5. La empresa debe ser un prometedor inicio producto.
6. Yo debería llegar a desempeñar un papel de liderazgo en la empresa.

El secreto dice que uno tiene que ser absolutamente clara sobre lo que uno quiere al tomar el primer paso es decir Pregunte. Entonces se dice que uno tiene que prepararse para estar en línea para recibir lo que uno ha pedido desde el universo. En mi búsqueda del nuevo empresario, por primera vez filtrada a empresas que no eran "una nueva red producto de seguridad startup en Bangalore con sede en California".

Entonces me iba delante y comprobar sus proyectos a ver allí ubicación de la oficina en Bangalore, y descubrimos cómo ahora es del Ashram utilizando google maps. Después de obtener satisfecho con estos aspectos preliminar, comencé entrevistas con los empleadores seleccionados.

Uno más deseo que había en ese momento fue a visitar la tierra de oportunidades, los estados unidos de América! Porque, en ese momento muchos de mis compañeros de clase había volado a los estados, ya sea para estudios superiores o como parte de sus puestos de trabajo. Así que decidí poner 'el secreto' en la práctica, y dijo: "no sé cómo, pero estoy obteniendo el próximo trabajo que me envía a US en breve viajes de negocios".

Así me da no uno, sino un par de ofertas fila para mí para elegir, tanto ofreciendo la mayoría de las cosas que tenía en mente! Y me he aplicado el secreto y utilizado incluso más filtros…

A) Que empresa tiene menos presión en el trabajo, con lo que puedo conseguir suficiente tiempo para visitar ashram / hacer más sadhana seva satsang
B) Que empresa tiene más oportunidades a visitarnos,
C) Que ofrece una mejor remuneración y una mejor política de licencia, muy importante, si quieres tener por lo menos 2 advance cursos al año hacer otros cursos como TTC, Bendiciones curso, etc.
D) Que empresa tenía una bonita conjunto de personas en la gestión y así sucesivamente y así sucesivamente…

Si no hubiera sido por el conocimiento de 'el secreto’, no existía ninguna posibilidad de que yo iba a pensar de mí para merecer tal trabajo ideal. Quiero decir si usted decir quiero enormes sueldos pero menos trabajo y más diversión, nadie va a decir que es una expectativa poco realista. Así que si yo no tenía idea sobre el derecho universal de la naturaleza, yo podría no haber desembarcado tal Picture perfect trabajo!

Por supuesto no todo es una pieza de tortas y tuve que tomar decisiones inteligentes y tome medidas hacia el cumplimiento de mis deseos. Tuve que tomar una buena cantidad de riesgo, estar atentos a agarrar el tipo correcto de oportunidades, y lo más importante de todo ser muy paciente mientras las cosas trabajó durante un máximo de un par de meses.
Por ejemplo, la empresa que ingresé en ese momento PacketMotion, Inc. estaba abriendo su nueva oficina en Bangalore. Así que me iba a ser uno de los primeros pocas personas a bordo! Quienes han trabajado en fast-paced producto start ups saber cómo extenuante que puede trabajar en esa empresa en las primeras etapas de su vida. Sólo para probar el punto, déjenme darles un panorama completo de la contratación, que sucedió a PMI…

I fue entrevistado (junto con alrededor del 25-50 otros candidatos) por el CEO, COO, CFO, CTO, y la CA (arquitecto jefe) de la empresa en su recién setup oficina (aunque no sonaba como una oficina con no visible del hardware en el piso). Y que hicieron ofertas a alrededor de 10 perspectivas incluso me. Esta lista también incluyó el director que fue a gestionar el equipo en la India. Pero en realidad cuando me incorporé, comprendí que me pasó a ser el primer y único éxito ingeniería contratar de sus India centro de desarrollo entre esas ofertas! Porque todos los otros muchachos incluido el GM no se atrevió a unirse y eligieron una opción más segura somewhere else. Deseo que se han conocido esta hermosa proverbio – "El buque siempre es seguro en la bahía, sino que no es lo que se hace para."

Todavía recuerdo el día tuve la llamada de uno de la empresa que me hizo una oferta… ese día Guruji fue en la ciudad y un montón de nosotros Guruji, ventiladores o fanáticos lo que nos puede llamar (yo, mis padres, y padres de un amigo) fuimos perseguirle toda la ciudad temprano en la mañana estuvimos presentes entre un pequeño conjunto de personas a testigo Guruji, visita a Anand, fábricas de especias, donde afortunadamente aceptaron mi solicitud de garland Él por primera vez en mi vida!!!

Luego a la famosa college campus del MIT sobre la otra cara de la ciudad (este colegio es propiedad de la misma confianza que haya adjudicado Gurudev "Shri Saint Dnyaneshwar World Peace Prize más tarde ese año), donde Guruji dirigida miles de estudiantes y nos guió en una hermosa meditación. En ese momento me había dado una sorpresa dejar aviso a mi jefe y estaba en camino al aeropuerto a licitar una despedida a él por algún tiempo.

Y mientras estábamos esperando su entrada en el aeropuerto, obtuve la confirmación de la nueva oferta de empleo!!! Así que aterrizara mi trabajo ideal, no TTC-1 durante el lapso antes de unirse la nueva empresa, y el día uno sólo como hemos terminado el almuerzo de bienvenida parte, me dijeron por nuestro director para iniciar los preparativos para visitar nuestro US HQ!!!

Lo conseguí mi visa procedimientos hecho (una breve historia de mi visita a embajada de USA en Chennai puede encontrarse en otro puesto que escribí un año atrás) y fue tratado como un rey en el viaje a California. Llegué a viajar en clase, sí!!! Fue recibido por una limo, sí sí!!! Stayed in holiday inn resorts sí sí sí!!! Y tiene que visitar fantástico picnic spots en los fines de semana, uno de ellos es esquí en Lake Tahoe y el otro es mi todo el tiempo favorito fin de semana destino vacacional, la ciudad de San Francisco! La única 2 cosas que yo no consiguió hacer en ese momento estaban a viajar en mi propio coche y visitar LA para ver Hollywood y Disneyland. Pero espere, la historia no termina aquí...

La parte restante viene pronto...

The Secret – How it worked for me. (PART - I)

2009-03-16T18:03:00.006+05:30

Last month a youth asked Guruji a question in the Q&A session in the ashram satsang:

Q: What is your opinion on the new age knowledge in movies like ‘The Secret’?
A: I have been talking about this for last 28 years. INTENTION – ATTENTION – MANIFESTATION. (This is not verbatim)

I have a clear-cut intention behind writing this blog: Upon perusing my experiences of utilizing the law of universe in my life, the reader goes and gets a copy of the secret book or DVD for herself asap and starts experiencing the secret in her own life. Additionally picks up the CD of Gurudev’s talk entitled “INTENTION – ATTENTION – MANIFESTATION.”

This is how I made the secret work for me…

(WARNING: To the reader it may seem utterly selfish that, I used the secret to achieve my own personal ambitions / material world comforts; but it served me as a proof that the secret really works and so I can go ahead and recommend it to others around me and use to for the betterment of the society in many more harmonious ways. E.g. The other day in ashram satsang someone brought up the issue of war going on in Sri Lanka and Guruji told us all to pray for the safety of the civilians caught up in war between the army and LTTE. A few moments of sincere prayer for our troubled brothers and sisters around the world after finishing our sadhana really helps coz they say - faith moves mountains!)

The basic reason behind most of our decisions and actions is – to gain happiness. Whether our actions come out of Love / Fear / Greed, the ultimate goal is to be happy, peaceful, joyful, etc. Let’s start with discussing what are the THINGS that we THINK can make us HAPPY. Obviously I’m thinking from the perspective of a young person, it would vary based upon what stage of life the person is, what are his/her experiences about life so far, and what is his/her views about what life has to offer to them in future.

So to keep it simple, for me it was to get a “good job” while continuing the progress on the spiritual path...
Good job = 1. Interesting/challenging work. 2. Nice work place and colleagues. 3. the most important of all - loads of cash in the bank account at the end of every month.
And other desired perks include flexible work hours, business trips abroad, and so on...

So I wanted a really “GOOD JOB”. Not to mention that ever since I did the Art of Living course and started practicing the techniques, grace has been overflowing in life and the more I immerse myself in Sadhana – Seva – Satsang, the more I experience unlimited showering of grace in the life…

So I get surprisingly good grades, I get a good start to my career, find nice people with similar interests where ever I go, and then a better job, and then even a better job with a bigger pay package and the story continues just like with any one else who has come under the umbrella of a true master.

Now comes the part where I experimented with exercising The Secret…

From 2004 till 2006 my base was in the city of Pune – a very active city on the map of Art of Living. And I got this strong desire in me that I want to be more in Guruji’s physical presence while He is here in this lifetime. This was my #1 thought during the times after the Silver Jubilee celebrations in 2006. This was followed by thought #2: to get a job in Bangalore with the following requirements:

1 The work must be matching my interest.
2 The job must involve business trips to US.
3 The package must be unbelievably excellent.
4 The office must be very close to my residence.
5 The company must be a promising product startup.
6 I should get to play a leading role in the built up of team.

The secret says that one has to be absolutely clear about what one wants when taking the first step i.e. Ask. Then it says that one has to prepare to be in line to Receive what one has asked from the universe. So in my search for the new employer, I first filtered out companies that were not “a new network security product startup in Bangalore with HQ in California”. Then I went ahead and checked their websites to see there office location in Bangalore, and found out how far it is from the Ashram using google maps. After getting satisfied with these preliminary aspects, I started interviewing with the selected employers. I have to confess that I interviewed some other companies that did not perfectly fit the above criteria; but that was mostly done either to get some interview practice or to get a sponsored trip to Bangalore in the pretext of personal interview with the company – the real reason being to visit ashram and meet Guruji.

One more wish I had at that time was to visit the land of opportunities – the united states of America! Because, at that time many of my classmates had flown to the states, either for higher studies or as part of their jobs. So I decided to put ‘the secret’ in practice, and said, “I don’t know how, but I’m getting the next job which sends me to US on short business trips”.

So I got not one but a couple of offers lined up for me to choose from, both offering most of the things I had in mind! And I applied the secret and used even more filters like…
a) Which company has less work pressure - so that I can get ample time to visit ashram / do more sadhana seva satsang!
b) Which company has more opportunities to visit US,
c) Which company offers a better pay package and a better leave policy – very important if you wanna take at least 2 advance courses a year + do other courses like TTC, Blessings course, etc.
d) Which company had a nicer set of people in the management and so on and so forth…

If it would not have been for the knowledge of ‘the secret’, there was no chance that I was going to think of myself to deserve such a dream job. I mean if you say I want huge salary but less work and more fun! anybody is going to say it is an unrealistic expectation. So if I had no idea about the universal law of nature, I might not have landed such a Picture perfect job!

Of course everything was not a piece of cake and I had to make intelligent choices and take steps towards fulfillment of my desires. I had to take a fair amount of risk, be alert to grab the right kind of opportunities, and most important of all be extremely patient while the things worked out over a span of a couple of months. For example the company I joined at that time PacketMotion, Inc. was opening its new office in Bangalore. So I was going to be one of the first few people to come on board! Those who have worked in fast-paced product startups know how grueling it can be work in such company in the early stages of its lifetime. Just to prove the point, let me give you the full picture of the recruitment that happened at PMI… I was interviewed (together with around 25-50 other candidates) by the CEO, COO, CFO, CTO, and the CA (Chief Architect) of the company in their newly setup office (although it hardly sounded like an IT office with no visible computer hardware on the floor). And they made offers to around 10 prospects including me. This list also included the GM who was to manage the team in India. But in reality when I joined, I realized that I happened to be the first and only successful engineering recruit of their India development centre among those offers! bcoz all the other guys including the GM did not dare to join and chose a safer option somewhere else!
I wish they would have known this beautiful proverb – “The ship is always safe at the bay but that is not what is is made for.”

I still remember the day I got the call from one of the companies that made me an offer… That day Guruji was in town and a bunch of us Guruji’s fans or fanatics whatever you may call us (me, my parents, & Shreejith’s parents I think) went chasing Him all over the town! Early in the morning we were present amongst a small set of people to witness Guruji’s visit at Anand’s spice factory, where He happily accepted my request to garland Him for the first time in my life!!! Then on to the renowned college campus of MIT on the other side of the town (this college is owned by the same trust which awarded Gurudev “Shri Saint Dnyaneshwar World Peace Prize later that year), where Guruji addressed thousands of students and guided us into a beautiful meditation. By this time I had given a surprise leave notice to my boss and was on the way to the Airport to bid a farewell to Him for some time. And while we were awaiting his entry into the airport, I got the confirmation call of the new job offer!!!

PART II of this post coming soon... So keep checking:-)

Mi oficina

2009-03-13T21:59:00.006+05:30

Some of the breathtaking views of my current office campus - Leela Palace.... (Marvell Semiconductors occupies the 2nd floor of the palace that stands near old Bangalore airport:-) Wonder how did I get into such a heavenly place? Well, it's very simple - I just applied the principles explained in the movie 'The Secret' while looking for a new employer:-) Of course I believe that one also needs other sources of good luck to be in such a place and in my case it's an open secret - you gotta do the the Art of Living course and practice the techniques learnt in the course:-) You can get back to me if wanna know more about how to apply 'the secret' in your life or how to make your dreams reality by following the techniques taught in the Art of Living courses:-)

Maestro Uno

2009-02-27T00:10:00.000+05:30

Mi primer ensayo en español

2009-02-26T23:50:00.000+05:30

Hola! Mi nombre es Sandesh. Me llama Sandy. Soy estudiante de Espanol. Vivo en una casa muy hermosa en la ciudad de Bangalore. Tengo gusto del tiempo en Bangalore mas que Pune. Muchas veces llueve por la tarde en en Bangalore.

Trabajo en una empresa de informatica como ingeniero mayor de software. Mi oficina es muy magnifica pero es muy lejana. Esta en la segunda planta del Leela Palacio en el camino del aeropuerto. Cocina mi comida pero cuando soy agujereado yo como en los restaurants proximos.

Amo Guruji y quiero conseguir más cercano a él día por día. Visito Ashram siempre que Guruji este presente alli. Amo el conducer de mi coche muy rapidamente. Ése es todo para ahora. Adiós.

The US VISA Brigade

2007-04-03T22:08:00.000+05:30

This blog's a bit blunt in-the-face style n I prefer to keep it that way coz I write it within 24 hours of going through a wonderful torture trip to get the US visa approved. Oh by the way I write this stuff for sheer pleasure n don't care what others think about me when they read this stuff, but if in the course of writing if I wag my tail once in a while, I presume I have the full freedom to do so:-) so read on if you like it…

Probably "Me in VISA-land" might be a better title for this write up… like "Alice in Wonderland" but anyways...

So here’s the scene: I am preparing to visit our company’s US office for the first time on a B1 visa and have to take visa interview in hot hot Chennai to enter the land with a bunch of people who seem to be extremely paranoid about security of their lives (more so post 9/11). Now I've given enough number of interviews in last couple of years to be numb to any kind of pressure in facing an interview but I feel this one is different... here’s what happens on the way…

Monday 6am and I'm happily sitting in a taxi to Bangalore airport to take a quick flight to Chennai for the VISA interview scheduled at 2:30pm. And I have no idea about the kind of circus I'm about to witness and participate in for the next 24 hours of the day… I'm well in time for a 8:30am Indian Airlines flight at airport so I decide to grab a snack at a CCD parlor outside the airport. the veg roll is so crappy I throw it right away as it must have been the worst VEG thing I’ve ever eaten in my life. I wonder if just outside an Indian airport if you get this kind of 'veg' food, what will happen when I am inside the airport or when I look for it on the other side of the planet! But I've now got used to the fact that you can't expect to keep your test buds happy once you are out of your home town... this enlightenment occurred to me only after shifting to Bangalore recently after missing all those wada pav breaks n pava bhaji nights:-)

8:45am in the bay of Bangalore airport: sitting in the plane waiting for the takeoff… its getting kinda late... and hot inside... so it’s getting on to some of the passengers' nerves… we are told that there’s 'fueling' going on in the plane... I understand… such a big plane… take your time guys… it’s much better than announcing in the middle of the flight that we’re running out of fuel… pretty odd reason for the amount of delay though… but.. I'm sitting in seat #2D and one of the flight attendants is really *beautiful* so I'm not much bothered by the delay these guys are making;-) but the IA guys look in a mood to delay the flight further… anyways I know no one & nothing in Chennai yet to spend time with once I reach there and above all I'm not carrying my cell phone today, so I'm pretty relaxed...

so back to the 'la chica bonita' in the front, she gets into a fight with a couple of irritated travelers and I can see the anger and frustration building up on her face. I ponder over it... these flight attendants are so much stressed all the time here, I better become a yoga teacher fast n start taking courses for them;-) even organizing & assisting courses for them won't be a bad idea either isn't it?;-) But suddenly my sweet (day) dream is broken by an announcement by our darling attendant - that everyone has to get off the plane & return to the airport! So far I'm thinking that my company done smart work by selecting the IA flight since even if it gets canceled, I have the next Kingfisher flight as a backup option so I still prefer to chill. Bye bye pretty lady, I’m gonna miss you…

So undisturbed by this sudden flight cancellation, I walk out grinning (thanks to the amazing knowledge they give on the Art of Living courses) with a bunch of other fuming passengers... so here we are: trafficked back to the airport, kicked out of airport from one door, again allowed in from another, issued a new ticket immediately to minimize the public pressure now building on the IA staff, then again taken back out of the airport through another door into the international airport! Up we go through the immigration check and various other counters and hurdles, some more passengers have lost their temper and some have started venting their anger on any kind of official they can catch hold of around them… some people have started praying, some have started discussing how such things are happening everyday here and the usual grumble against everyone & every public thing in India. I wonder if people think the same about their county in the other parts of this world…And again we are asked to get out of airport and return to the arrival lounge, this drives some more people crazy and I can see many faces showing the signs of pressure cookers building inside their heads, some are letting the steam go off by catching hold of any IA officials they can find in the vicinity...

If you have come reading till here, congratulations I'm sure if so many people can go through such a parade at the airport, that too when they have other connecting flights to catch and important business meetings to attend in other parts of world, you can definitely digest reading all this merry-go-round game at the airport... so back to the IA bandwagon... the officials now try to pacify the growing unrest & panic amongst the passengers by offering free snacks and voila! Seems like the sounds of “free” & “food” seem to have a magical effect on people! I say to myself: better keep this in mind… you never know when & how these small things about the behavioral patterns of human mind you learn can help you in business when you go around the world in future! Somehow after testing everybody’s patience the plane is repaired and we are back on board scheduled to depart at 10:45! One thing I notice is during all the drama that is going on, I am in a surprisingly relaxed and joyful state of mind which seems to come out of a hidden confidence that whatever happens I’ll be granted the visa with the power of blessings conferred on me by my mom and my Guru. It’s just that I’ll have to go through the heat to be worth it and learn some things on the way.

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So here we are back on board, much to my delight in the company of the “pretty lady” and the rest of the crew! Oh what a pleasant surprise this has been… I never though we’ll meet again so soon... So even though the dumb IA officials have allowed 'free seating' (which becomes another reason for some guys to go crazy), I make sure I’m back to row#2 where I sat before… for the obvious reasons;-) No prizes for guessing this one!

But it looks like the IA delayer drama is not finished yet! We hear they are trying to figure out what happened to the missing passengers! Someone from behind suggests they just drop them and go and the pretty lady gets more irritated... she simply announces that yes they’ve decided to follow the guy's instruction and leave the missing people behind!

Amongst all this drama and confusion as to why the flight is not taking off, one of the IA ground officers decides that he’d like to do some of the paperwork regarding the flight standing right in the front aircraft door enjoying the cool breeze coming there! (they said he wanted to be doubly sure that the the flight would be able to carry the weight of so many people and their luggage! this brought some scary thoughts in the minds of the passengers) its OK, I sympathize for him… what’s wrong if the poor soul wishes to catch some cool breeze standing next to wings of the plane? But some of us seem to think otherwise… now there are funny taunts being thrown from behind... like “What are we waiting for, Xmas?” and my favorite one being… “May be the pilot doesn’t have a boarding pass, so we have to wait…” ha ha ha ho ho ho! i cant control my laughter sitting there right in the middle of everybody...

Oh but the poor attendants! look at them... they are again under attack from the enraged passengers and again, and the same free food experience comes to their rescue as the flight takes off… once the food is served, everyone happily shuts their mouth and be nice to the crew! Finally we land in the land where they approve VISA… VISA-land as I prefer to call it… It’s “the place” where the US consulate will kindly hand me over my passport with visa stamped on it sometime in the evening... I think. But not so easily boy, the waiting game has just begun…

Anyways I’ve already made friends with another guy on the flight whose VISA appointment is at same time as mine, so we rush off together in a taxi, have lunch, and join the long long long queue to get inside the consulate. There is a special provision made by the US embassy to make sure you are fit enough to travel to US and survive in the US deserts there if need be: here's the procedure: you stand in a queue under the scorching heat thrown out by the chennai sun with no shade around the place and enjoy the tanning in what looks to be a never ending queue for unpredictable amount of time. For me it turned out to be bit more than an hour of burning and sweating in the hot Chennai sun. But wait there are so many queues which you have to negotiate to meet the king who is eager to hand out you your visa inside the heart of the palace… If you succeed to pass this sun-burn stage, you'll feel like you moved through the rest of various queues inside in a jiffy because of nothing else but Einstein’s law of relativity.

By the time we get inside the core consulate premises, it’s already past 2:30 and I have already shed good 5 ltr of sweat! We’re lucky enough to get a nice briefing from the chief in charge of the consulate as to how to maximize our chances of getting the visa approved. Pretty hilarious… the guy says don’t give premeditated answers before fully listening to the question… like if you are asked “How old are you?” don’t answer “fine thanks!” ha ha!

Ultimately after sitting in various lines of chairs and anxiously trying to figure out what questions are being asked at the interview counters and what is the approval vs. rejection rate at which counter, I’m finally made to stand in the FINAL queue for the interview. I’ve noticed that those going on tourist visas are being grilled hard by a couple of ladies and their rejection rate is pretty high… and I’m in front of one of those deadly looking ladies! But u know we have always an unfair advantage we call it GRACE and we experience waves of GRACE & GRATITUDE because of the kind of GURU which we’ve got… so I am suddenly eliminated from this queue and put in some other queue probably after God has doubly made sure that my patience is thoroughly tested and that I’m getting somewhat ready for the grill I might face anywhere anytime on the back of this planet. so here we are in the queue at a counter manned by a smart young US chap in navy blue shirts… and boy his hit rate is good!!! Suddenly I realize that it’s my turn at the counter and here’s the conversation that follows between us…

Blue shirt: Hello, how are you?

Me: Doing great! Thanks! How are you? (That was a pretty premeditated answer;-)

Pause…

(Blue shirt goes through my DS156 for a while…)

Blue Shirt: Tell me about this product of your company…

Me (very happy to brag): “Sir, It’s a network security appliance which tells you who is doing what on you network. Meaning which user accessed which files which she was not supposed to do!

(Blue Shirt is pretty interested, wants me to talk more, so I go on for a couple of more sentences full of techno jargon from the networking and security world which he seems to be very interested in listening to)

Blue Shirt: So you’re like a “Big Brother”

Me: (Smile) (It takes a second for my tubelight to click what he means by big bro…)

Me: Yes!

Blue Shirt (Signing my papers): Your visa is approved; it’ll arrive at your place soon”

Me: Thank you Sir!

(I leave the counter blessing the soul in the blue shirt. I am surprised at the end of all this parade how easy it was… and not so surprised at the same time… coz always I had the faith that I’ll get it anyhow).

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Anyways moving on… I hurry out quickly making friends with another happy B1 guy who happens to be living nearby and guides me to the bus stop for railway station… hey but wait… my day in VISA-land doesn’t end here… now here starts the final leg of working on my patience… so far I’ve not traveled much by road or train so far outside my own state and all my recent journeys have mostly been restricted to flights or comfortable sedan drives… and here’s an overnight never-ending? train journey from Bangalore to Chennai waiting for me… in between places where nobody seems to understand what I speak and everybody thinks (or may be expects) that I understand & speak their languages. Anyways I get down at this railway station where thousands of people are waiting to get on the train of their destination and they are all waiting in a way you feel they have been waiting there for days if not weeks & months!

When the company HR decided to reserve a train ticket for me instead of flight, I agreed thinking that it would count as a unique experience traveling amongst so many people of different backgrounds n languages n traditions and I might learn some things on the way so that tomorrow even if I am asked to go and work in a village in the most remote part of India I at least have some bare minimum skills or ideas to handle that… but once I enter the gigantic old British style station all my ideas of adventure melt away and I’m left with nothing but a file in hand and some money in my pockets, staring at the ocean of people in front of me! I'm trying to figure out how do I spend the next 5 hours there. A quick walk around the station reveals its map and the places of interest to me (at such a place and time what else but snacks & books can be on anyone’s mind?) After making a couple of phone calls I decide to try my luck at a net café… sorry: closed… so I enter a book shop and start scanning novels of my favorite authors… and there’s this guy in the shop who thinks I’m here to stay for next few hours so the hulk tries to whisk me off by giving me various hints n threats like “we don’t run a library” etc. I just ignore him and continue browsing through the range of John Grisham & Paulo Coelho books till I finalize on a novel from each of the authors. I enter the ocean of people and manage to find a place for me to sit in front of a flat screen showing train schedules in intervals between rains of commercials pouring out through it… I open one of the novels after I am convinced they are just repeating the same ads & schedules on the screen and that it will take at least a couple of hours more for my train to arrive on the charts. Aha! Finally some training… how to concentrate reading a book 100% in the ambiance of hundreds of people flowing in the background and trains roaring in & out occasionally adding more of such herds of interesting people all around you!

So once I felt I’m confident enough that I can now read a book anywhere in the world, whether I’m sitting on the edge of the grand canyons or travelling on a boat caught up in a thunderstorm, I decide to escape the place and enter a pizza outlet nearby. As in most of other places here, the guys across the counter just ignore me... to my advantage this time... now I can happily get lost in the novel again. Finally someone thinks may be I’m here to eat something so they ask me what I want. I ask for a hot chocolate, but we don’t have it sir, pat comes the reply… so I settle for a junk food read indian version of pizza and dip back inside my book… after gulping down the spicy junky stuff with the help of half a dozen glasses of water, I catch a quiet corner and continue to guzzle the pages when I find some company... a guy who earlier in the day attracted tad of attention of the officers in VISA consulate for the hustle-bustle he was making… my question whether he got the visa approved or not surprised him coz me being a quiet or shall I say cool;-) customer at the consulate he could not recall seeing me there… so we strike a conversation and he tells me that he is going to US and find some customers for his home-run factory’s product in health supplements industry… unfortunately he has a train to catch earlier than me so we quickly exchange our business cards and goodwill wishes and decide to part. The day has been really good in terms of networking; I’ve finished all my visiting cards I brought with me today! So I dive back into the novel again. After a while the electricity goes off so I have to give up reading and focus on the public announcements of train arrivals and departures. Aha! Another learning on the way: I can figure out how they pronounce most of the numbers in tamil… its bit similar to kannada only isn't it! And my train is also announced so I walk briskly and gaily to the platform and start looking for my compartment. Wow! It’s the last one on the other end of train! Good I decided to board the train early enough… although I’ve always hated how my parents asking me to follow precautions everywhere I went; today the importance of taking precautions is reiterated through self-experience - which is more effective than anyone else forcing it on you!

So I settle down in my suite of warm bedding and go to sleep only to be woken at one of the Bangalore stations. Now here is the funny part of the whole trip… I am thoroughly confused where I am so I walk down from my suit towards the door in order to find out which station it is. There is a family talking in Marathi so I ask them where we are and the man says 'cantonment'... and guess what I ask him back… "you mean Pune cantonment?" And this guy’s like where in the world are you young man? oops... I boarded a train in Chennai to come to Bangalore! This is not Pune man even if you so wished it would be!

Finally I drop down at majestic and come back to home sweet home in a blank state of mind… I start deliberating: what was the good part and what was the bad part about this one day trip to the VISA-land? Probably good thing is my VISA got approved… probably only other interesting thing was the pretty lady in the morning flight I must have been dreaming about her all night in my sleep I guess… I hope I get to see her again soon! Third good thing about the trip was the boost in the confidence I got from the whole trip… that I can survive in an unknown foreign land and can sustain all the surprises and situations thrown at me... and still enjoy the whole ride! I guess this is the magic of EXPERIENCING GRACE & GRATITUDE, HAVING A MASTER SUCH AS HIS HOLINESS SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR, PRACTICING THE SPIRITUALITY AND CONTINUOUSLY STRIVING TO LIVE IN KNOWLEDGE. Hope I continue to learn a lot as I start my journey to the country they call 'the land of opportunites'!!!

The Last Breakfast...

2007-03-23T16:13:00.001+05:30

Before I started my journey on the lookout of new horizons and new dreams, the day before the takeoff for TTC to Bangalore, mom prepared my most favorite breakfast dish at home. I've been always confident that any of these wonderful dishes which mom prepares, if we were to put it on the menu of the top most multi-star multi-cuisine restaurents in the world , it would definitely win lots of accolades and fetch a good amount of green stuff for the place:-)

So here goes my most favourite dish for you... hope I don't need to tell you what it is!

My (old) new Laptop

2007-03-21T15:37:00.000+05:30

Now that I've really started using this baby, let me bring it in front of the world as the world needs to know which laptop did the great man they called Sandy_Hackman used when he was working as a software engineer in the early days of his career!
The funny thing about it till now is that I was waiting for it for such a long time but when I finally got it, I had no time using it. In fact till now it has been more useful for the project group which I am (or was) guiding before coming to Bangalore. Anyways here is what it looks like..

Featurewise it can be still concidered powerful with 2Gigs of RAM and dual core 1.7 dual core Intel processor. Video is not so great but the 15.9" wide screen has decent visibility from all angles. One of the nice things i like about it are the multimedia controls mounted in front: they really help at times when you wish to suddenly increase or mute the volume or pause a movie. Also i like the way we can easily copy photos from digicam by simply inserting its flash card into the slot onboard it sounds easier than a USB connection. I think an external USB mouse and a good headphone will get this baby to rock n roll! Hope to see lot of videos n listen to lot of knowledge talks with it in the days to come... If you wish to buy one for yourself from US, I would definitely recommend the Dell Inspiron series... just log on to www.deals2buy.com and check out the best deal in "Dell Deals" section... Happy Shopping!

AOL Pune Friends Get-together

2007-03-21T15:07:00.000+05:30

Here are a couple of snaps from the Garden Court party with a few close AOL friends.

(L 2 R clockwise)... Bhushan, Omkar D, NSR, Rahul, Harshal, Amol, me, Arvind, Omkar N.

More of these later...

Last Team Party with Nevis at Shisha...

2007-03-20T20:00:00.000+05:30

(L 2 R)... Kapil, Syed, me, Chandra, Chidu, Ashutosh, Abhinav

Nevis Fairwell at Flags

2007-02-23T19:32:00.000+05:30

2007-02-23T19:29:00.000+05:30

Sri Sri Ayurveda Camp at SSRVM

2007-02-20T15:30:00.000+05:30

SSRVM Building where Sri Sri Ayurveda Camp took place.
Consultation in progress...

Nadi Pariksha for SSRVM students...

Dr. Ganesh, one of the young talent from the fleet of experienced SSA doctors

Divya Aushadhi - The Sri Sri Ayurveda Medicines

Sri Sri Ayurveda health products & suppliments... world class packaging & quality!

The ever-enthusiastic volunteers whose efforts deserve a big applause for a job well done... always!

Birds sighted after the camp from the beautiful riverside campus of SSRVM.

DSN ROX

2006-07-18T15:54:00.000+05:30

Quick update:

Can’t stop marveling how life has taken a u turn after completing DSN. Feels like I’ve found that smile of mine which I had last for more than a couple of years. It took me two full years to enroll myself back into the DSN! But now I’m left wanting more of that crazy stuff. And what to say about these guys who come here to run them… Vikram Hazra - Dinesh Ghodake - Vinod Menon - Nitya Pragya - Bawa they all rock big time! I had no idea that His arsenal contains such powerful circuits. If you aren’t getting what I record here, get in touch with me asap to know how you too can experience such an amazing wave of energy and enthusiasm! Nowadays people around are surprised by sudden change in me in the sense the decibel levels in my laughter have gone up drastically and I feel so damn confident all the time while talking to everybody can’t help it can simply call it post-DSN power syndromeJ
Sunday tree plantation program at the school was a grand success and it was fun watching all those tiny tots doing it 100% with the sand filling and watering stuff. It was divine grace making it happen all the as we just stood and watched the “muddy” action taking place. Fingers crossed for the inauguration of SSSPA tonight! Next target: bigger tree plantation drive on NDA-road that would be something! Will require a lot of planning & hard work this time and we’re all set to take the challenge head on!!!
Had to miss our Sunday morning kickoff against UGS but it was nice to know that we beat them 4-0 and are at the 2nd place in the group rankings. All the upcoming playoffs are against good opponents and will have to perform well in all of these if I have to retain my striker position in the squad. Although DSN workout is helping in getting the body back in shape apart from reducing the sleep & food requirements effortlessly, need to start working on stamina front now. That’s all for now new project plan has arrived and I’ll have to fight a bit to get good grip on it this time…

These Days in my life…

2006-05-24T20:21:00.000+05:30

Finally… ... ... Succeeded in parking her in the Nevis parking slot in the basement! After so many days, here I was, walking smugly into office as a long-awaited ambition was finally fulfilled! And I was all the more puffed up walking into my cubicle with just a couple of guys in before me at something past 9. For the baffled ones, reaching before 10am to the office (maybe starting from home before 10am for office would be more appropriate) had remained a big dream for me for a long of time and I write this in the joy of finally making it! Thanks to a wonderful group meditation & knowledge session earlier in the morning (calling it night would be more appropriate for me:-)

Last night’s dinner was amazing with a very special persona visiting us. When I heard his name from mom when she gave me the news that he’s going to visit us, my immediate reflex was recollecting the lesson on wildlife in Nagzira sanctuary in our high-school textbook, Marathi being my favorite subject in those days. Maruti Chitampally, although being a well-renowned ornithologist and author of a range of popular Marathi books based on his study of wildlife in the state, seemed to be a man of few words initially. He was on an un-publicized visit to Pune and had specially come to our house for knowing more about the Art of Living from me and mum! And as our discussion proceeded over the dinner we were all mesmerized by his rich knowledge & experience acquired through his decades of study in the deep forests of the country. His anecdotes about the bison fights and elephant suicides were truly breath-taking. I am very much looking forward to visit one of the tiger sanctuaries with him in the coming year! For the time being I’ll have to live by the sankalpa of planting a few useful trees which he introduced to us. I thank God for being so much fortunate to meet such a person so easily at home!

Lastly summer time being time for holidays n guests n mangoes n ice-creams, my appetite’s been thoroughly entertained last whole month with all kinds of crazy food stuff. Need to control it more and do something about fitness levels as the June football tourney is not so far away. There’s an idea cooking up in my mind to start a small football club of a few AOL mates just for getting together & having fun playing football, let’s see how it materializes. Hope more guys join as the world cup football fever is in the air. Visited crossword on weekend with friends. God I need to break this deadlock. Every time I go through a few books - like one or two - but when it comes to making a decision as to which one to buy, I am thoroughly confused - add to it the price factor and like a fool I walk out with empty hands. God, someone give me a nice solution to this problem.

On social service front children & education is again on the top of the list with a visit to an orphanage near saswad village on the occasion of Gurudev’s B’day and participation in a peaceful protest rally against government’s reservation bill on weekend. And now once again SSRVM, our beautiful school with its unique methodology is my prime focus. Add to it preparations for the upcoming YES!+ courses and Bawa’s visit!!! Man, wish for it with all your sincerity and it all comes walking right in front of you. Anyways that’s all for now. Enjoy Guruji’s B’day snaps all the way from the serene German Ashram for a while. Disclaimer: I’ll be very partial here putting up only the ones in which my dearest teacher Bawa’s making an appearance. Watch one of the pics closely, I suspect Bawa's opening some gift while he thinks Guruji's buzy attending others;-)

Reporting after a long time...

2006-04-21T14:43:00.000+05:30

Quick Update on some of the happening things these days… Finally got the guitar learning lessons going on. Looks like it’s going to be lot of fun but will require a lot of hard work & patience too; and I’m all prepared for it. Last week nobody at home, so time for me to utilize the freedom till I drop dead in the night.

Finally got a chance to watch this movie What the bleep do we know Didn’t watch it completely but whatever part I saw from the look of it, I can say its one movie which can change your life. You’ve got to see it to believe it. I found that I was more in the present moment effortlessly, more joyous with a high level of enthusiasm, and at the same time experiencing a sharp level of awareness which was a big pleasant surprise for myself!

Vikram was in town after a long time and we had a couple of night outs with him sharing his experiences in Bangalore during silver jubilee preparations in last 6 months. This guy’s got an amazing future lined up as Gurudev Himself suggested him to join Sumeru Software Solutions. Guruji’s interview on Sahara TV at Hrishi’s place was fantastic. It looks like media is throwing lot of attention on Guruji & His work after Silver Jubilee with so many channels including CNN & CNBC airing their interviews with Gurudev again and again.

Got a chance to do some revving up with my still-so-new Indi on the long stretches of express way on weekend after a long time. This is the second time I’ve taken her out on express way and I found her running sturdily even at 110+! Sunday evening with Rishi Nityapragya was rocking as ever. The revived version of the famous UB40 song “I can’t help” which Rishiji & Amol sang was simply mind-blowing. I’ve thought of learning to play this one on guitar as soon as I get a decent grip on it. The program was attended by some of the top political leaders from area including formed home minister. And that too, leaders from two major political opponents were invited to sit next to each other! That reminded me of night of the Silver Jubilee when people from Pakistan & India were roaming with flags of both countries waving together. I don’t think this has ever happened in the history of the two countries before. Only a Master like Gurudev can make such things happen. I liked the idea of introducing spirituality to the political leaders & decision makers of the society since they need to instill the spirituality & human values into themselves & the society if we want this country to progress.

Wednesday night was a big starry surprise. Time: 5:30. Place: office parking, IT park basement. We were just 4 of us, me, Sagar, Ranjeet & just one football set to go for a short practice session. Suddenly Ranjeet says let’s go to Sinhagad, we called up few more guys and within an hour we were cruising towards the fort in a couple of cars. Ranjeet said there would be enough moonlight to make the climb, so I was relaxed. But as the climb started at 7pm, there was no sign of moon & its light and we managed to get a glimpse of the beautiful crescent of moon only while returning back to city. The most amazing part of the trek was the skies full of stars. I found myself standing below such a beautiful star-studded sky after ages. It all reminded me of years when we used to exercise till late in the evening on the open grounds of our athletics club. You don't get to see so many starts in the city nowadays. On contraty if you watch the city from a plane in the night, it looks as if its reflecting all the stars in its bright lit roads. Anyways we reached back home past two but this night will remain in my memories for quite some time! More on it later…

My dream destination!

2005-12-14T14:53:00.000+05:30

Just less than 70 days left for Silver Jubilee!

Man, its hard to wait so long!!

Silver Jubilee Countdown and Nevis Launch

2005-12-13T15:28:00.000+05:30

Things are exceptionally happening these days with just less than 70 days left for Silver Jubilee of the Art of Living! And everyday I am feeling more n more enthusiasm springing up within myself and the people around. And the more I make myself available for the Silver Jubilee work, the more amazing experiences come my way!

Some of the highlights…

YES!+ gang’s got their funds raising going by going door to door collecting “paper raddee” from people and selling it off to raise their share of contribution. The last week’s response has been amazing. No wonder as the ideas has come straight from Bawa’s camp. The raddi fever hit me too this Sunday as I went out and generated a cash of cool 101.50 bucks in just 10/15 minutes. Basically I did it intending to remove this mental block of “how can a software engineer with a salary that makes best in town jealous go asking for five kilos of raddi door to door?” And am glad I have learnt my lesson…

JUST DO IT! And you will know.

When you have the “YES” attitude in life, training happens every hour of the day. And it surprises you when you see how much you can do in a short span of time. Twas exactly the lesson of the day for me on weekend as I went on a race to finish one task after another… a visit to finalize the deal for my new beauty (don’t get me wrong it’s the new Turbo Sunrise Pearl Indigo), an intro talk in an elex firm, then some muscle work at the YES!+ course venue, and finally reached the weekly follow up venue to make arrangements for the next day. And man what a freezing moment it was as I entered the hall. It was full of chairs n big platforms n furniture sheets all stacked wildly on top of each other with things like carpentry & painting material spread all over the place. The worst, the carpenters just ran off the scene as I asked them to help clean the place for the next day’s events. And there we were, Rao uncle, who happens to be the MD of an elex company of his own and me, doing muscle work taking out all the stuff lying there. This is the fun part about being a volunteer in AOL, and the one which accelerates your growth in all the departments of life. A software developer and a CEO learning how to cleanup a hall full of mess within half an hour in an optimum fashion! No wonder I was feeling sleepy at 10PM after a long long time!

Time to work on some bugs as time is so less and so much is yet to be done about silver jubilee preparations. Oh by the way yesterday night had a blast at the company launch party at garden court. Got rid of one more block: “What kinda image people will have about me, esp. what my boss will think, if they see me up on the dance floor!” Anyways the event organization was really professional and the programs presented were well-performed so enjoy a couple of snaps from the show here.

2005-12-05T19:59:00.000+05:30

WOW! One more batch of YES!+ graduates with shining smiles

and man what a blast it was! But wait….

If I continue writing about it here, all these blogs of mine are gonna look the same!
coz I never saw a YES!+ course which was not rocking or where rains of Guru’s grace were not pouring all the way! So let me swank upon something else this time...

Let me think…

Intelux's new laptop?
Priya’s birthday bash at midnight?
gossip in Ashwini’s wedding celebrations?

no no no

the fact’s am bored of writing anything of this sort in fact I’ve been getting bored of doing anything and everything in life these days except when I am in the present moment/ in knowledge/ experiencing divine grace/ enjoying meditation/service/satsang. otherwise nothing’s giving me that joy which I crave for I’m bored of doing the same things again and again, meeting the same set of people everyday, dealing with the same kind of problems, eating same kind of food, driving the same old roads, reading nauseatingly similar novels, even sleeping in the same place every night and I can’t believe the list goes on it’s like some punch is missing from everything I do

everything I do I feel so mechanical doing it like I don’t know why am I doing all this all the time just eat, sleep, work, dream and die one day? juss like millions did and millions keep doing to the end of time? Definitely not! That’s definitely not what God meant when He gave anyone life on this planet but it’s so amazing how we (sorry I) keep running in pursuit of something which we I don’t even understand neatly. So now tell me GOD what to do?

Simple. Just do what the Master has told work for the cause bring smile on faces around you help the less privileged ones through service and everything comes to you without even asking for it! then even if your car crashes at the speed of 100, you come out alive with all your bones intact and spirits untouched same reason why am not daunted by the IKE crashes on 1148 in last few days as these crashes are nothing compared to the one that He has made us survive!

Anyways I keep getting this feeling many times when I think… which I usually forget to do… that I need to desperately do something… do something about what… probably need to find out what I’m gonna do… about this whole life in the coming days… probably god only knows… but I’ve kept my options open… which gives me false security and further entangles me… oh my god… my heads spinning… better talk something solid which makes sense.

How about a change? like like like plans to join a guitar class or may be buying a honda city? seems more realistic ain’t it? yes the things which entangle us the most in this unreal world look the most swanky and solid all the time! Time for me to go home and read Yoga Vasistha!

Anyways enjoy the beauties... Porsche Carrera GT and a classic Gibson box guitar.

Bawa n Dinesh

2005-11-10T19:43:00.000+05:30

Ever since the wave of YES!+ has hit the town, I've been extremely fortunate enough (probably due to the balance of good karma carried over from the last birth) to be in the presence of these two pristine jewels of the Art of Living. And I have observed a transformation happening in the quality of my life coming in their presence... That every time I meet these Guru’s angels, I experience loads of joy & excitement when they are around. Not just this, notably in the coming days am more fresh & exuberant all throughout the day and am least influenced by the problems of the small mind. In the presence of Bawa and Dinesh I have come to experience what the 'company of the holy ones' truly means. Here's jotting down my few words of gratitude for these Guru's Gangsters of Grace. The two swans that keep spreading the light of Master's Knowledge & His Grace day & night everywhere they go…

Bawaya Tasmai Namaha

Till late there were only three persons in this world who had a very special place in my heart. If I have experienced true unconditional love in my life, it’s connected to either one of these three people...

First one without doubt is my mom, my pillar of strength and my reason to pursue a materialistic life in this world. She has been more than just a guardian angel for me… She’s played the role of a mentor, a true friend and an all-time aficionado!!!

Then there is Rajat, my neighbor’s 4 years old toddler. With him I have shared some of the best moments of my life. I can never forget the joy in his eyes every time I declare to him a new dish mom’s preparing for us or show him the new racing car that’s sent by my bro from Bangalore for him… it’s the same air of excitement I saw in him as the two of us had jumped celebrating my project bagging the prestigious “Concept of the Year” award in Concepts when I was in the final year of engineering. Having fun with Rajat is undoubtedly my best choice on any given holiday.

And then the best of all…
MY MASTER HIS HOLINESS SRI SRI RAVI SHANKARJI!

The One person who single-handedly put me out of all my miseries & inhibitions in life and has given meaning to my life filling it with so much of joy and peace, it's difficult to express in words.

Om Namo Bhagawate Vasudevaya

And lo and behold as I announce the latest addition to the list...
BAWA. One person who makes me feel so much special...
Every time I meet him. I hug him. I speak with him. It's a magical experience of a lifetime. His very presence just opens up fountains of happiness in my heart.

I would never forget the way I felt when I met him in person in Mumbai when I was there for the YES!+ follow up, a mind-boggling brain-child of Bawa. I was sitting in the hall of a devotee's place where Bawa n Dinesh had come for a meeting when Bawa called me inside to say good-bye when we were about to start our trip way back home. After exchanging a couple of sentences we just hugged lightly before I left the room. And I don't know what happened!
I was experiencing an unparalleled heavenly gush of joy all over my existence such that I had never experienced before in my life. I was feeling as if I wanted to kiss everyone and everything in front of me, such was the magical felling of love & joy that was springing inside me after those moments of being in the presence of Bawa. There is something in his aura that leaves me watching him in awe every time I see him living life in his own impeccable way. I have just these words to offer for him…

Bawaya Tasmai Namaha
I luuuoooveee Bawa

Dinesh: The Ultimate Messenger of Master.

When I think of Dineshji, my mind is immediately filled with total respect and reverence. I am immediately reminded of the beautiful verses of Swami Vivekananda...

“Men, men these are wanted: everything else would be ready, but strong vigorous, believing young men, sincere to the backbone are wanted. A hundred such and the world becomes revolutionized.”

In Dineshji I find a perfect balance of all these qualities and much more which assures me that even ten such “Dinesh Ghodke” are more than enough to bring about the revolution around the planet.

Dineshji has that air of confidence and humility in his presence that makes you fell so light in his presence. One remains dazed watching him in action working untiringly towards the goal of his life... to spread Guruji's knowledge to people around the globe in order to bring about a transformation in the society and a smile on everyone's face. In him I find the strength of a lion and the elegance of an elephant. No wonder he’s one of the best gems in Guruji’s chest of senior teachers taking courses as diverse as the powerful DSN course, the heavenly peaceful Advance course and now the most action-packed course on planet, YES!+. It gives me complete confidence that with teachers like Dineshji putting their best day n night towards making Guruji’s vision a reality, the world is definitely going to better place to live in the years to come.

Long Live Dinesh Bahiyyaa!!!

Twas Grace

2005-11-08T17:42:00.000+05:30

Looking back at the last few days in my life, I wonder if I’m still alive or this is just a dream I am still sailing through. One fine weekday morning I had peacefully felt asleep in my car returning from an overnight trip to Bawa’s place, expecting to be working quietly in the office within a couple of hours. And imagine my confusion when I woke up to find myself boarding a brain scan table in an operation theatre of a hospital! It took me some time to believe what had happened. We had come out alive from a high-speed expressway crash in which our car had run bang into a toll plaza with speeds nothing less that 100 kissing a Scorpio stationary in the toll lane which in turn had transferred the impact into the Accord standing in front of it. More stunning was the fact that I had jumped from the back seat onto the front wind shield breaking it apart rebounding heavily on top of the front seat occupants with a slam. No wonder the cop who came to meet us in the hospital first checked if I could correctly read the numbers of fingers he’d raised to check if I was still sane in my brain!

But a scene of a car pulling into a toll plaza full-speed and then suddenly dropping from 100+ to 0 seemed a bit difficult for me to image and I let go of that effort ever since. If someone inside the toll plaza had got to witness our crash, I would consider the chap real lucky, not for watching such a spectacular crash, but for being alive and not hit by us! But the miracle of the whole stunt was that all throughout this feat I never felt a pinch of pain or trauma. No, no, I’m not claiming that am a superman or a yoga master with a slick body to withstand all this pain & shock… it’s just that I was sleeping all the way through until I had comfortably landed in my hospital bed. I don’t know if it was because of the heavy dose of painkiller injections which they had administered on me I never experienced any pain till leaving the hospital. And after the healing touch by Bawa the next day, I always felt as perfect as a healthy athlete and as peaceful & happy as a saint even after coming home and getting off the pain killers.

Time for some thought pondering ….

My mom used to scold me over my late morning sleeping habits everyday but this is what I got to hear from Bawa when he visited us in the hospital… “Hey Sandy, how come you kept sleeping when you get to experience such a crash once in your life time?” This made me feel proud of my sleeping first time in my life;-) Then Bawa asked me which girl I was flirting with when I got hit in my eye so badly and now it’s become a common question in office too as I refuse to repeat the same old story every time a friend passes by and checks out the special effects which have sprung up in my left eye. When Bawa was seeing us off, I jumped out of my bed to accompany him till the door and he shot back forcing me to lie down in the bed joking that I had to ensure I used the bed good enough for all the money that I’d paid for it. And then he gave me the healing touch on my forehead and I don’t know for how many hours I slept happily & peacefully then after!

And I’m so dumb that it took me a couple of days and many friends’ remarks to realize that it was He who had saved me from this impossible-to-escape-alive kind of accident. I can bet that after taking a look at the torn down car, no one would dare to say that the persons inside might have walked out of this wreck alive, that too on their own feet. The definition of “Divine grace” as found on wikipedia says “it is believed by Christians to be the sovereign favour of God exercised in the bestowment of blessings upon those who have no merit in them.” I dunno what’s in my account of merit but now I have 100% faith that it was grace and only grace that saved me. Till the date I was not quite comfortable with the matters of faith probably as a side effect of reading too many sci-fi books on U.F.O.s and extraterrestrial life outside planet in my school days, but after getting this new lease of life, a new-born beam of faith has landed into my heart. In one of Guruji’s talk, he says that Guru’s love for his devotee is hundred times more than a mother’s love for her child. Whenever I used to listen to this, I never used to understand its meaning. I just used to wave off my ignorance thinking that I don’t have the level to understand such hi-fi knowledge. And after hitting the car windshield with head and living to tell the tale despite breaking it, I think my brains have got a bit wiser now. I have experienced what a Guru’s love for His devotee is in this whole drama of car-crashing. I completely owe this new birth of mine to the grace of my Master H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji. My faith in God n my Master has multiplied manifold after this incidence.

I remember just a week before this expressway stunt happened, I was talking in a YES!+ introductory seminar that we had arranged in a girls hostel of a medical college. As all the girls watched in rapt attention, I was boldly announcing to them that after attending the YES!+ course, I was ready to take on any challenge in the world with full confidence. Very little did I know at that time how much true that my sentense was… it is amazing to see how Guru gives strength to his devotee’s words… A day after completing the first YES!+ course, I lost my wallet while freaking out in a theatre with the new YES!+ friends and the teacher. Then a month back I had lost my mobile while on a late night intro talk spree on a college campus. And now I had to witness the loss my best girl friend… my little metal silver Alto! I used to love her eternally for her sheer power and reliability and for the unlimited freedom she offered me every time I rested in it. Besides she was blessed with the touch of feet by some of the most holy people walking on planet right now… Rishi Nityapragyaji, my role model on the path Dineshji and the one and only impeccable Bawa.

After all these losses I have come to understand that such material loss is nothing as compared to the importance of love that we share in our life with the people around us. Also I have learnt that during all these potentially troublesome times I was deep rooted in service activities of AOL, that alone gave me enough strength to fly through all these shocking losses like a cloud with an interrupted smile on the face. It could be something as preliminary as spending a weekend evening setting up the YES!+ course or even coordinating the development efforts of the silver jubilee web portal, but now I have come to experience that doing service gives you enourmous strength in addition to the unmatched satisfaction which you get in doing it. And I found that everytime the loss was handled smootly by Guruji without making me go through any kind of inconveniences or trauma. Man if you've read this far and haven't done the Art of Living course, I recommned you run and do it as soon as possible... The grace which follows in life comes in handy while dealing with stunt like these...

That’s all for now, work is calling as our company launch is round the corner and I’ve got loads of testing to do for my module...

Singing off with gratitude and blessings.

P.S. Keep looking for a special blog on Bawa n Dinesh. Coming up shortly...

Freedom & Fun its all happening here!

2005-10-18T14:25:00.000+05:30

Last few days were full of freedom with mom out of town and work pressure a bit low. So spent lots of time reading novels, going out with friends and playing lots of football! It was kind of freaking out to celebrate the freedom!

One thing I have noticed is days are never bad when you are in a good company. That’s my experience for last few days ever since the YES!+ magic hit the town. And then some… The cool & bright teachers of the Art of Living. They are the master magicians of making people happy single handedly and the best thing about them is that they never seem to run out of fuel. I don’t know who powers them to live their life this way but I suspect their boss must be an exceptionally elegant juggler of human psychology. All the time these AOL teachers are so full of energy, it looks as if fountains of enthusiasm& happiness are spraying from within them 24x7 all time long. It’s indeed an elevating experience to watch these Guru’s gagsters in action… the way they blow with so much of joy & love. My God, I never thought life could be so much fun! Then I remember what my teacher Bawa taught me once…

“If you follow fun, misery follows you. If you follow knowledge, fun follows you.”

Sometimes I get these little jets of artificial intelligence when I want to make sense out of everything I do to ensure my life is progressing. It’s the idea of putting my life on track of “constant improvement” or whatever my fanatic mind calls it. I wonder if everyone is gripped with same kinda ambitious thinking who match my kinda background and my level of maturity??? But thanks to the people around every time I’m about to get lost in such shots of thinking suddenly comes a wave of resolution in the form of the firefighters of the AOL. A senior teacher visiting town or some special course happening. And that’s enough to shake me out of my slumber! The thoughts of being in the company of the holy ones alone excite me and get me out of shackles and do some solid service. I find this the best way to distress and enjoy life to its fullest while we’re here.

Looking forward to have another blast as the next YES!+ course starts tomorrow!!!

The Da Vinci Code unleashed

2005-10-05T16:13:00.000+05:30

The major discovery of last week was undoubtedly that of Holy Grail and the Sangreal documents. In four nights flat as I relentlessly devoured half of the sensational book by Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, a new world full of hidden secrets become alive in my contemplation. The line between the fiction and reality in this cracker novel is as thin as a silicon wafer and definitely packs a punch for the first timers. By first timers I mean people like me who haven’t taken any extra efforts till the date all their lives to learn more about the major religions in the world except what was learnt in the school history books.

After breaking my virgin status on the secret of Holy Grail, the first thing I did the next day was to check out what the world had to say about this explosive work of Brown on net. There were pro-Christianity sites claiming everything about Brown’s theories was a hoax and many sites & discussion groups with their focus on discussing secrets hidden in famous paintings like Mona Lisa and the secret societies like Priory of Sion.

The one which gave me the best insight into the matter though was the website of the author himself where he clarifies his inspiration behind writing the book and the kind of responses he has received since the launch of the book. I was well satisfied for the day to conclude my research on the topic. Though I have to complete half of the volume, I’m already positive about recommending the book to people around me.

Time for me to do some secret divulging from my side…

“I didn’t go for the book; the book came to me all by itself.”
- me right here right now with toung in cheek

Long Live NFA!!!

2005-10-03T15:47:00.000+05:30

Things at Nevis are pretty happening these days…especially on the sports front ;-)

We had a dramatic football thriller on Sunday morning with guest entry of our young & energetic CEO Charles Dauber getting on ground to have a taste of it! And boy did he get a real taste of it? With Ranjeet, our inspirational captain sending the ball in net just before the full time to level the game in a 2-2 draw! The solo goal by Ranjeet was undoubtedly the best move of the tournament so far and a much needed one for us after second-half comeback by Wipro strikers had silenced the NFA (read Nevis Football Association) camp.

The Nevis footer comeback was right away followed by a humble come back in the chess tournament by us (meaning a team of two comprising yours truly and Digambar) to finish the week off strongly after a tough start on Saturday where we opened the tourney both losing in the starters. Saturdays picture of one win & three losses was suddenly twisted to make Nevis look strong in the score sheet with 3 wins out of 4. I firmly believe all the credit goes to our perseverance which I think is an absolute must for excelling in this game of wits.

There were a few personal sacrifices done to manage the quintessential work at office, family commitments, my services at AOL, and the indulgence in the passion for sports and secrets! But finally it was worth the experience. And my belief in the fact that life should be taken more as a game these days was deepened my the string of events on Sunday. Man, last few weeks have been somewhat hectic, not that I didn’t love doing what I did, but the flurry of activities & responsibilities on various fronts made me crave for a bit of some change. And the weekend &amp; week off were perfect in giving me that break to get my contentment & energy levels back to normal. Long Live NFA!

P.S. if you feel you should be part of such cool action on weekends and some hot action on weekdays at work and happen to be in the field of network security, don't be shy to send your resume to me right away. We are marching towards releasing our flagship product soon, so people with sales & marketing exp. in US/India are also most welcome!

2005-07-19T16:38:00.000+05:30

Amit reading it out for us, @45 degrees!

2005-07-19T16:36:00.001+05:30

Knowledge at 45 degrees!

2005-07-19T16:36:00.000+05:30

Hot Knowlegde discussion in chilling weather!

2005-07-19T16:34:00.001+05:30

Amit@90Degrees

2005-07-19T16:34:00.000+05:30

Chilling@bhajeeStalls

Knowledge Session at 45 degrees

2005-07-19T16:15:00.000+05:30

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.

2005-07-18T14:06:00.000+05:30

Slurp, tastes yummy.

2005-07-18T14:05:00.002+05:30

Water Please!

2005-07-18T14:05:00.001+05:30

Finish!!!

2005-07-18T14:05:00.000+05:30

Elephant's Rorin

2005-07-18T14:04:00.000+05:30

Soupssss' Taste is Amazing!

Rajat's Dinner

2005-07-08T13:42:00.000+05:30

Rajat - 4 years old toddler of our neighbor - is a lovely friend of mine. We've spent loads of great weekends together in last 3 years and we have a wonderful bond of friendship ever since his family shifted base to our neighborhood. Nowadays it’s hard to keep in touch since I hardly find time on weekdays to check out what Rajat is up to. Previously we used to play computer games & watch cartoon movies on my PC in night but ever since we stopped doing that, reason being my PC's whimsical crashes and my concern him being addicted to gaming so early which is harmful to his mind & body, the only time to catch up with Rajat are weekend nights.

So one such Sunday night Rajat & I had a great dinner together. The menu was perfect as per our taste & we both enjoyed it a lot. So here are some pics of the great boy in action having his lunch – 100%.

2004-11-20T12:03:00.002+05:30

Veda boys chanting mantras

2004-11-20T12:03:00.001+05:30

Mondat morning Rudra Puja

2004-11-20T12:03:00.000+05:30

View from 1st floor

2004-11-20T12:02:00.000+05:30

SSRVM Student Snap in VM

2004-11-20T12:01:00.001+05:30

Fountain Spot

2004-11-20T12:01:00.000+05:30

View from Vishalakshi

2004-11-20T12:00:00.001+05:30

Before Evening Satsang

2004-11-20T12:00:00.000+05:30

Looks Divine isn't it?

2004-11-20T11:59:00.000+05:30

First Sight of it!