So this is the first year I've ever come out of silence on the 1st day of the new year. I'm excited to have just come out and share my thoughts from a few days of silence and meditations. For one reason or another, I felt like the silence was too short. I crave doing a 10 day silence course. I've done one or two, and I love it. I'm excited about the next opportunity to do one when school / time / life permits.
I feel like doing silence with college students had a different feel. The atmosphere was lighter and more fun vs. deeper and more serious. The group sattva / tattva seemed light and pleasant. I had a good number of negative thoughts and opinions come up and I even went on a major trip of negativity. I believe I may have hurt some people with my negative thoughts and I deeply am sorry for hurting anyone. I am glad to have dealt with going low in tamas within the silence course. With a guide like Dinesh Ji, I knew I would come out on top! I am glad I did the course and am looking forward to more courses in January and February for the Upanishads and Shivatri with Gurudev.
What insights can I share from the course. I have five advices that I made for myself that I'd love to share here. In fact, here's my letter from deep silence I wrote to myself:
"Dear Ritesh Ji,
I want to write to you and give you five unsolicited advices. You have a good heart and are going in the right direction. Here are some thoughts for you.
1) Do not feel guilty. Things happen. The small mind will come up with past samskaras. Let them come. And then let them go. See them flowing down the river of consciousness.
2) Be a witness. Be a witness to the small mind. The numerous thoughts that come and go, and just watch...just be!
3) Be present to every moment. Your whole life is planned out...no need to plan any more...it's all with Gurudev.
4) Be equanimous...no matter what, do not lose your center...your cool.
5) Be love...love everyone. Even those with bad thoughts / negative feelings towards you. Love them the most."
I feel like 2015 will be a great year of personal transformation. I'll complete my first year of the MA program in Yoga, my summer internship, and finish 1/2 of my 2nd year of the MA program. I'll have hopefully taught twelve Art of Living Happiness & / Sri Sri Yoga courses in 2015. I'll get a chance to visit my friends and family in the US for a few weeks and come back home to Mother India. I want to also be more selfless in 2015...serve the community, serve the students, and serve my beloved Gurudev.
So 2014 in review...what a year...I feel like I had an amazing year of transformation. I had so many good things happen to me spiritually and in the material world. I will speak only to the material world though. I closed two large deals in 2014 that I really wanted to get done with AI and AP. I also got the chance to teach about 6 AOL courses and also got my official Art of Living India teacher's code. I also received the India AOL Teacher's manual. I remodeled my cottage house by Mozart's Coffee Shop in Austin and built my dream sunroom with sky lights and Italian Porcelain tile. I put in my dream granite slab counters, Whirlpool Gold Stainless Steel Appliances, etc. etc. My cottage house was sweet, but I'm done. I leased out the house in June and moved to India in July. I spent a month with my beloved, Gurudev, traveling from the Bay Area, to Boone, NC, and then finally to Canada. I feel blessed to have spent that month with him. I hope to spend quality time with Gurudev again after I graduate either in India or in North America. I also had my parents come visit me in India in November. I was happy that they had the chance to see how well settled I am in India. Well, that pretty much sums up 2014. I stumbled a couple of times into women, but have renewed my vows as a Brahmacharya and Yogi. I hope these wonderful women that I've met along the way of life find the love they are looking for. I sincerely hope that if they seek marriage and children, they get what they are looking for. Ultimately, I hope that more people will come to find the ultimate joy in divine love and the pursuit of truth.
In 2014, I finally feel like I left the nest of my parents being 3 hours away and my sister being 15 minutes away...they were great sources of comfort in my life. I feel like my nuclear family connection is not what it was. I'm not sad about it, and I do not have any feverishness about the distance, but I do feel like they were a beautiful part of my life for so many years. I loved taking my niece and nephew out and seeing them so happy...they were my anti-depressant for a long time...just being with them lifted me up so much...I loved them dearly when they were young. I still cherish the time we had together from when RNR and NER were born until I left in 2014. I feel like I'll re-enter their life at some point when they need me. I hope their life is smooth, but may their life be filled with LIFE and intensity, for this is how life is lived fully! I hope to see them blossom to full potential. I am also so grateful for my family taking courses in the Art of Living. My niece and nephew took the Art Excel course, and my sister and Dad did the Happiness Program. I hope in 2015, my sister and Dad will do Sahaj Samadhi meditation.
I sometimes wonder how I left behind my dream home, my 7 seater hybrid luxury SUV, a job I loved...my own independent and successful professional lifestyle, my friends and family, and what I thought was an amazing city; but I realize that being closer to Gurudev means more than anything in the material world. I would do anything to be close to him, closer to my master, closer to my beloved Gurudev.
Love and Jai Guru Dev,
An Aspiring Yogi
I feel like doing silence with college students had a different feel. The atmosphere was lighter and more fun vs. deeper and more serious. The group sattva / tattva seemed light and pleasant. I had a good number of negative thoughts and opinions come up and I even went on a major trip of negativity. I believe I may have hurt some people with my negative thoughts and I deeply am sorry for hurting anyone. I am glad to have dealt with going low in tamas within the silence course. With a guide like Dinesh Ji, I knew I would come out on top! I am glad I did the course and am looking forward to more courses in January and February for the Upanishads and Shivatri with Gurudev.
What insights can I share from the course. I have five advices that I made for myself that I'd love to share here. In fact, here's my letter from deep silence I wrote to myself:
"Dear Ritesh Ji,
I want to write to you and give you five unsolicited advices. You have a good heart and are going in the right direction. Here are some thoughts for you.
1) Do not feel guilty. Things happen. The small mind will come up with past samskaras. Let them come. And then let them go. See them flowing down the river of consciousness.
2) Be a witness. Be a witness to the small mind. The numerous thoughts that come and go, and just watch...just be!
3) Be present to every moment. Your whole life is planned out...no need to plan any more...it's all with Gurudev.
4) Be equanimous...no matter what, do not lose your center...your cool.
5) Be love...love everyone. Even those with bad thoughts / negative feelings towards you. Love them the most."
I feel like 2015 will be a great year of personal transformation. I'll complete my first year of the MA program in Yoga, my summer internship, and finish 1/2 of my 2nd year of the MA program. I'll have hopefully taught twelve Art of Living Happiness & / Sri Sri Yoga courses in 2015. I'll get a chance to visit my friends and family in the US for a few weeks and come back home to Mother India. I want to also be more selfless in 2015...serve the community, serve the students, and serve my beloved Gurudev.
So 2014 in review...what a year...I feel like I had an amazing year of transformation. I had so many good things happen to me spiritually and in the material world. I will speak only to the material world though. I closed two large deals in 2014 that I really wanted to get done with AI and AP. I also got the chance to teach about 6 AOL courses and also got my official Art of Living India teacher's code. I also received the India AOL Teacher's manual. I remodeled my cottage house by Mozart's Coffee Shop in Austin and built my dream sunroom with sky lights and Italian Porcelain tile. I put in my dream granite slab counters, Whirlpool Gold Stainless Steel Appliances, etc. etc. My cottage house was sweet, but I'm done. I leased out the house in June and moved to India in July. I spent a month with my beloved, Gurudev, traveling from the Bay Area, to Boone, NC, and then finally to Canada. I feel blessed to have spent that month with him. I hope to spend quality time with Gurudev again after I graduate either in India or in North America. I also had my parents come visit me in India in November. I was happy that they had the chance to see how well settled I am in India. Well, that pretty much sums up 2014. I stumbled a couple of times into women, but have renewed my vows as a Brahmacharya and Yogi. I hope these wonderful women that I've met along the way of life find the love they are looking for. I sincerely hope that if they seek marriage and children, they get what they are looking for. Ultimately, I hope that more people will come to find the ultimate joy in divine love and the pursuit of truth.
In 2014, I finally feel like I left the nest of my parents being 3 hours away and my sister being 15 minutes away...they were great sources of comfort in my life. I feel like my nuclear family connection is not what it was. I'm not sad about it, and I do not have any feverishness about the distance, but I do feel like they were a beautiful part of my life for so many years. I loved taking my niece and nephew out and seeing them so happy...they were my anti-depressant for a long time...just being with them lifted me up so much...I loved them dearly when they were young. I still cherish the time we had together from when RNR and NER were born until I left in 2014. I feel like I'll re-enter their life at some point when they need me. I hope their life is smooth, but may their life be filled with LIFE and intensity, for this is how life is lived fully! I hope to see them blossom to full potential. I am also so grateful for my family taking courses in the Art of Living. My niece and nephew took the Art Excel course, and my sister and Dad did the Happiness Program. I hope in 2015, my sister and Dad will do Sahaj Samadhi meditation.
I sometimes wonder how I left behind my dream home, my 7 seater hybrid luxury SUV, a job I loved...my own independent and successful professional lifestyle, my friends and family, and what I thought was an amazing city; but I realize that being closer to Gurudev means more than anything in the material world. I would do anything to be close to him, closer to my master, closer to my beloved Gurudev.
Love and Jai Guru Dev,
An Aspiring Yogi
No comments:
Post a Comment