Guruji's Birthday!!!!!

13thMay a very auspicious day, poojya Sri Sri Guruji's birthday,and such a great coincidence that Guruji was born on Shankara Jayanthi Day(the birthday of Adi Shankara),in a place named Papanasam(meaning removal of sins)and christened on the 11th day which also happened to be the birthday of Sri Ramanuja,the renowned preacher of Bhakti or devotion.Such a wonderful and interesting combination of knowledge and devotion,in the consciousness of the new born.Isn't that indeed beautiful?????

The Abudhabi chapter of the Art Of Living organised a wonderful satsangh and celebration of Guruji's birthday on 13th May 2008.Being a member of the global family(AOL)I was witness to the celebration and I must say it was simply a blast.

The satsang was lead by Siddarth Mohan who had come all the way from Chennai for the occasion.His rendition of "Kaun Kehta Hain.........,Satchidanada,Jhoola Jhoole Nandala,Radhe Radhe Bol...were all simply awesome.The hall was reverberating with claps and dance and I guess you need to be there to truly experience the euphoria.Was ecstatic,really great.

I am indeed thankful to my teacher here at Abudhabi for giving this opportunity.

Sharing a few notes about Guruji which I read.,

Sri Sri is as compassionate as Jesus, as playful as Lord Krishna and as erudite as Adi Shankara. He has this uncanny ability of helping people unburden their stress-filled minds. His invaluable sayings act as balms for wounded souls. Here's a sample: " Life is a ball in your hands to play with. Don't hold on to the ball."

Guruji is a unique combination of wit and wisdom, seriousness and playfulness, who would provoke you to "celebrate while you are alone, celebrate when you are with people, celebrate the silence and celebrate the noise. Celebrate life and celebrate death." It is not surprising then that, the Art of Living is all about accepting life in its totality and its motto is to "only connect.

According to Sri Sri even though the world is a mixture of happiness and sorrow, it shouldn't deter any one from seeking enjoyment in whatever one does. He elucidates, "It is written in the Upanishads, the Atman, soul, is Satchidanandamaya (complete bliss). Spirituality is not boring. It is the Rasa (flavor) of life."
This blissful state can only be attained when one follows the religion of humanity, or in Guruji's term—Manav Dharma, by spreading love in each human soul. Beloved Guruji has even unfolded the path to this state, simply follow it: "How far to Heaven? Just open your eyes and look. You are in Heaven."

Just so, did go on a ride to heaven with the superb satsangh,needless to metion the sumptous prasad served.I believe anything served as prasad tastes that much more delicious because it has the blessings of the Guru.

Hope I am granted the grace of attending more such satsanghs in future and also a day when I will be blessed to have his darshan and receive his blessings.

Jai Guru Dev!!!!

Aditi Devo Bhava!!!!

Oh !! this is one of those experiences which anyone would for sure want to forget but for no rhyme or reason keeps coming back every now and then.Last year I visited USA and spent some enjoyable months with my DD.I also visited UK and spent some great time with my nephew and family.Also the fond memories and experiences of my maiden trip to UK during 1978-79 were there with me all through my stay at UK.

We went to Edinburgh and it happened to be the Edinburgh festival week, so lots of activity around,crowded &colourful and it all looked so very beautiful.We walked down the streets looking at all the fan fare everywhere inspite of the drizzles.It was decided that we will dine at one of the Indian vegetarian restaurants & so our table had been booked for 9 pm.After enjoying some good, lively &entertaining music on the streets and also quite a bit of window shopping we thought it was right to be at the restaurant on time,so headed there.We reached a few minutes early(my experience starts here),but were asked to wait out because it wasn't still 9pm(our table I told you earlier was booked for 9 pm).We thought it a bit rude that people will not let you in because you are before time,anyways we did not give too much thought to that and so waited till we were ushered in at 9.15pm (I thought so atleast!)Keeping to time seemed to work only one way!!!.We wanted to use the rest rooms so went in there.I am yet to see a rest room similar to that one(many Indian rest rooms are sure better off).Anyways,will not harp on the small and to be neglected issues.We were sitting and waiting for someone to attend for at least 15 minutes,and after what seemed ages a waitress did show up and wanted to take order for the number of glasses of water we needed.This was sure a funny beginning I thought(new to me people taking order for water),clueless about what was in store.Another 10 minutes later the same waitress turned up again to take our order.She was not very fluent in Englishand probably new to this place and so had to ask another person to take our order.A stiff and unfriendly lady stood there in front of us(I am not sure if she is the owner too).She was in a saree (and reminded me of the Indian government hospital nurses who were overworked, and so looked jaded and worn out) and was ready to take down our orders.We ordered a meal (thali)for all the five of us except one amongst us who wanted to have a snack.Here is where it all started.She started off in a very curt tone,' sir you must order a main dish for each one of you,I cannot take order for a side dish alone' (even if it be from one person).May be if she had conveyed their hotel rules in a more human manner we would understand and appreciate,but that was not to be.Her tone started getting aggressive and rude and finally reached a stage where one of our guests politely walked out asking us to enjoy our dinner.(I confirmed my opinion about the waitress ...overworked nurse!!!)I was right I guess,she was such a rude female.....someone like that in the hospitality sector is a bad choice for sure.Usually you expect to see smiling and cheerful faces when you want to enjoy a good dinner after a nice day.She was so off putting I must say.
Kids brought up in a decent and good surrounding are for sure upset and anxious when people raise their voices and sure enough, our kid expressed her displeasure by shedding silent tears and clinging on to mama for dear life.After a lot of contemplation we decided to walk out of the place which was so unfriendly and rude to people.We cancelled our order and what followed was simply unimaginable.We have the owner (or I don't know who)yelling at the top of his voice and shooing us out and also telling us of his two decades of experience in this business and what not . He had the audacity to come right behind us up to the street and continue his rants and bang the door on us."Oh God forgive them for they know not what they say"!!!
I must say it is embarrassing when you have people looking up at you wondering what is wrong,specially when you are not at fault.Anyways we didn't react to his rantings, we just walked out and found a beautiful Gujrati restaurant across the street and had a lovely dinnerYou can see the delicious spread (Raj bhog thali).There is a saying in Hindi which says "dane dane pe likha hai khane wale ka naam"!! It was destined that we eat here and not there.

What I wish to point out here is that,basic qualities of courtesy,a smiling and pleasing face and making guests feel at home and enjoy their meal there, are very important for people in the hospitality sector.I do hope there are not any more restaurants in this small world of ours like this one which has no respect for its clients.It probably reeked of racism which is again appalling because it only goes to say that you are against your own fellow brothers.

Somehow I was reminded of this today morning and so here goes!!!!

Just another incident in life but for sure I must mention that I did for sure enjoy my stay at Edinburgh and Aberdeen.A memorable trip for sure.