Petrichor

This Summer is spelt and felt in Vancouver, BC for the family. It is a crazy land. Hippie land. water-land. Hope land. Ridiculously beautiful land. Many more positives hold good here. The city is so close to my perception of San Francisco, only better. I have never seen this city with more grateful eyes. But my first view of Vancouver was not this great. If Vancouver is the big city, Calgary is the quaint, faint town/village. And it definitely felt so the first couple of days. My being was filled with thoughts at the first sight of homeless people. Where did they come from? Are there such people here too, in Canada? The freeze-to-death winter in Calgary probably made them non-existential there. And it took me this city to realize that I had settled down in my own world(with my own idea of it, of course)...in just over 2 years!!! I found myself looking in all directions. I had no clue where I was. Not to bother what I was doing here. I was everything from resistant to suspiciou...

A couple months ago, I was extremely fortunate to host a friend for a couple of days. Two days spent in her presence & company is possibly the richest memory I can ever treasure. I learnt lessons by talking to her, listening to her & observing her. One important lesson I learnt was to "Distance myself". From anything. From everything. Specially from other people's lives. When I was told this, it hurt. Quite a bit. The situation was such. A common friend was going through a rough patch. And this common friend is very dear to me, almost like family. So, I was a little(okay, very) concerned that she would end up with a wrong decision, for her or her family. It is not one of those poking-your-nose scenarios. I was genuinely concerned. But this friend, asked me to distance myself from the whole thing. She said, "Let her figure it out for herself". I was not convinced that that was the best solution at that point in time. But I have extreme respect for this pe...

I walked to a small temple nearby. It was a special day for the little one. A quiet moment for us. S loves to play with the kittens in the temple. I bought an archanai plate from a vendor outside. He was the first one I saw. But another vendor, a lady, a usual(vendor) was watching this & as I entered the temple started abusing. Usually my mother buys from her & today we bought it from someone else. I reminded myself, "A quiet moment...". I patiently told her that it was not intentional(& I am not a regular at the temple nor was the archanai). She was in talking mode- not listening. So I continued my way into the temple. The temple took my mind off a little from the incident. This place is almost like how it was when I was a child. I had spent days eating lunch here. On my way out, I had to pass the same lady. Now, she was wild. I told her, "I was going inside the temple...Do you have to be so angry? Next time I will remind myself to buy from you." What I...

I received an email fwd from a friend that read, "Can water be affected by words? Dr. Masaru Emoto, a Japanese scientist, believes so. And he has proof." "Dr. Emoto took water droplets, exposed them to various words, music, and environments, and froze them for three hours. He then examined the crystal formations under a dark field microscope. And he took photographs. The results were totally mind-blowing.", reads the email with lots of pictures of water crystals. I looked up this guy's name on Wiki & I was a little surprised that he is true. :) I looked up his website . Now, from what I read, this guy is not a champ or a pro in what he says. His words may seem illogical & ridiculous too. He may not have credibility to prove his own experiments. But that does not necessarily mean that it is not the truth. What if water does respond to emotions? As the email read, we have 70% water inside. That makes a huge difference if what he says is truth. This is on...

I was so tired that I was not sure if I would be up until midnight. I had to be somewhere next morn at 7am & I was sure I did not want to wake up the whole night & crash at 6am. When I turned on the webstream from Isha, I was in for surprise. The whole program kept me up, awake & energized & I found myself swaying & dancing & embracing the night to the best I could. I should've known it earlier. It was Isha, after all. What else did I expect? Meditating at midnight with Sadhguru was something I never thought of at last year's Shivarathri. The dogmatic ideas of my logical mind seem to get weaker. Maybe I should toss them out myself :-) Instead of going into the details I can sum it up, "This is one day, er night that was something like never before". Thank you Isha for the oppurtunity. Turned out, a lot of us were dancing to Sivamani's & Vikku Vinayakam's tunes. Absolutely fantastic!

Just two months after my association with Isha, I found myself sitting on a plane to TN to take an advance course. It was like I had no other option. I just had to do it. I still had to do my Shambavi at noon when I reached IIIS before lunch. So, I took the oppurtunity to meditate in Mahima. I had just seen it from the outside when I just checked myself in. So, after shower, I found myself entering the doors of Mahima. SILENCE!!! There, looking at me was the most powerful picture of Sadhguru. It brought me a chill. When I could finally take my eyes off that picture, I looked up to the ceiling of the dome. I knew immediately. This place is something! I did my Shambavi. When I had to mouth words as part of my meditation, I found the whole of Mahima say it with me in reverberation. Thinking of it gives me goosebumps even now. If Mahima does not move you in any other way, at least the size will! It is HUGE!!! I found some time to hike around the paved grounds. As if I needed more solitude,...

For the past couple of months, different things are happening in my life that makes me live in the "now"! Sometimes, it is so easy to let go of things. Other times, when I see dear ones sick or affected, my heart reaches out to them. Why do they have to suffer? Someone I talked to yesterday told me, "It is their KARMA. What else can you blame it on?" I don't know if I want to believe in it. Why are so many people falling sick? Why do so many people die in a way you would not want your worst of enemies to suffer? I agree. The only certain thing in life is Death. But why can't everyone die peacefully? I understand "why" is out of my ignorance. May be I will get an answer some day. But it is really troubling. So many people suffer with so many things & I sometimes fight for things immaterial. Life is full of lessons & realizations. May enlightment dawn upon me! All this on the day of Pongal. Well, Thai piranthal vazhi pirakum!