Sharing: GOODBYE 2009!

Sigh (A happy one indeed)! The year 2009 has finally come to an end. And it was a wonderful year full of a lot of learning, activities, new things, happiness, achievements…… for all of us.

I would like to thank AMMA BHAGAVAN for all those wonderful things that happened to me and my family during this year.

1. January brought me this job with www.burrp.com when I had been sitting at home after being retrenched from www.buzz18.com. While the whole world was screaming about economic crisis, I landed this job with an excellent pay hike. Thank you AB!
2. All the four of us in our family took Bhagavan’s Skype Darshan on April 5 and talked to Him personally with individual requests. What a darshan it was! Thank you Bhagavan!
3. Our house was renovated completely with internal wiring done, special lighting in the drawing room and painted in the colours of the rainbow. It looks gorgeous now. Thank you Amma!
4. Venkat’s heart disease was found and set right in a jiffy all thanks to Asian Heart Institute and Dr. Nilesh Gautam. And he is perfectly alright now. Thank you Bhagavan!
5. Viggy’s band Orion was featured in the entertainment section of Hindustan Times along with their picture. Thank you Amma Bhagavan!
6. Vinny joined her MBA at Jamnalal Bajaj Institute and is loving her classes and doing very well in them. Thank you Amma!
7. We bought an electronic notebook for Vinny for her birthday. Thank you Bhagavan!
8. I started my own blog ‘Flaming Sun’ under the guidance of Amma. Thank you Amma!
9. We had the vaastu of our residence checked out by Dr. Snehal Deshpande and made the requisite corrections. We have found a number of positive changes occurring in our lives after this, all thanks to her. Thank you Bhagavan!
10. Another super-duper occurrence this year was the purchase of our car, the cute red Wagon R. It’s just gorgeous and too convenient. Thank you Amma!
11. We all four of us went to Goa for a few days for our Silver Wedding Anniversary on September 13. It was a super trip organised by Vinny and Viggy. Thank you Amma Bhagavan!
12. Viggy went to Goa and later to Bangalore to take part in major music band competitions. Thank you Bhagavan!
13. Vinny managed to resign her job at Radio Mirchi and completed her notice period and went on leave for studying for her MBA 1st semester exams. She was extremely worried about how to juggle everything. The notice period, the exams and joining the new job. Bhagavan, as usual, set everything in perfect order in a DIVINE JIGSAW. Thank you Amma!
14. Vinny joined MDACS (Maharashtra District AIDS Control Society) as a Joint Director on November 18. She is probably one of the youngest to hold this post. This was one of the wishes she had made to Bhagavan during the Skype D. He has already made the wish true. Thank you Bhagavan.
15. I could attend the Arogya Deeksha at the Oneness University at Nemam and had such wonderful experiences. Thank you Amma Bhagavan!
16. It was a dream-come-true when I could take both my parents very comfortably for a darshan to the Oneness Temple and the best part was the newly organised darshan of Sri Bhagavan on screen. We are absolutely blessed indeed. Thank you Bhagavan!
17. Viggy and his band had a live performance at Not Just Jazz By The Bay on December 2 and it was received extremely well by the audience. Thank you Amma!
18. Viggy’s band Orion had another performance at Inorbit Mall in Vashi on December 18 and captivated the audience. The show was supposed to have been on for an hour and a half but went on for an extra hour due to public demand. Thank you Bhagavan!
19. Venkat and I went to Oneness Temple for Bhagavan’s LIVE Darshan and talk on December 18. It was an awesome experience. Thank you Amma Bhagavan!
20. Venkat went for the Maha Deeksha Level 1 conducted at Chembur during Christmas. He loved the three-day course and liked the highlight best – Darshan of both Amma & Bhagavan. Thank you Amma!
21. Saved the best for the last. :) My novel 'THE MALHOTRA BRIDE' was published in the month of May and is available for purchase across the internet all around the world. Thank you Amma Bhagavan! Better still, I have received my first cheque from the sales. :D

I have but brought to you a few of the highlights of our lives in 2009. Every moment, every breath, every action, every thought, word and deed was orchestrated by Amma Bhagavan and our lives are beautiful beyond words.

I can only say “Thank you Amma Bhagavan and please continue to run our lives on a second-to-second basis”.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

And now it is time to say Goodbye to the wonderful year that was and get set to welcome the New Year 2010 with open arms.

Recipe: SABUDHANA KHICHDI

I just tried out this recipe – my own – and it tasted quite yummy! Do try it out.

Ingredients:

Sabudhana – 2 cups (soaked in water for about 45 minutes and drained)
Onions – 2 large ones (chopped)
Garlic – 4 pods (chopped)
White Til – 2 tbsp
Red Chillies – 6
Groundnuts – ¾ cup
Rai – ½ tsp
Urad Dal – 1 tsp
Oil – 4 tbsp
Curry leaves – a few
Chopped coriander leaves – 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Roast the til till it crackles and put it on a plate to cool.
2. Add half a spoon of oil to a saucepan and fry the chopped garlic in it. Add the chillies when garlic is golden brown in colour. Stir for a few seconds and add this to the cooling til on plate.
3. Shallow fry groundnuts till crisp in one spoon of oil and add it to the plate.
4. Grind all the above mentioned ingredients into a coarse powder in the mixer.
5. Add the rest of the oil to the pan, crackle the rai in it before adding urad dal.
6. When the dal turns pale brown, add the chopped onion and fry till golden brown.
7. Add curry leaves and coriander leaves, mix and then add the soaked sabudhana.
8. Add salt and cook stirring often on a slow fire.
9. The sabudhana turns glassy when cooked. Add the powdered masala at this point and mix well.
10. Serve hot.

Sharing: A DATE WITH BHAGAVAN

Bhagavan had invited a little more than 2,000 people from Maharashtra for a class at the Oneness Temple on Friday, December 18, 2009. My husband Venkat and I were a couple of the lucky ones that were chosen.

We reached the Oneness Temple by 7.30 am in the morning. There was absolutely no trouble reaching the temple that is situated at Sathyavedu in Andhra Pradesh – all thanks to Bhagavan – despite the turmoil that was burning in the Telugu state. We walked around the premises waiting for the class to begin.

The call came to assemble in the ground floor hall of the temple at 10.30 am. We walked inside while being watched by curious monkeys that were hanging around – literally – on the marble carvings and pillars. We all settled down in front of a huge screen and waited with bated breath for Bhagavan to appear.

11.30 am and He was there on the huge screen, blessing us and smiling at the uproarious welcome that greeted him. After a couple of bhajans, Bhagavan began his talk.

I have done my best to bring to you everything that Sri Bhagavan shared with us on this auspicious day.

Bhagavan spoke to us about Mukti. Mukti is described as a state of no desires, no problems and one of a Sanyasi. In today’s world, as we approach 2012, the state of Sanyasi is not required to attain Mukti and a Grahastha (family man or woman) can very well attain Mukti. ‘No desires’ does not mean that we have to give up or squash our desires but that all of them will be granted before we attain Mukti. All our problems related to health, wealth and relationships will be resorted before attaining Mukti.

Bhagavan plans to concentrate on granting our desires and solving our problems and He promises to resolve both within six months. Most of us have been attending the many courses at Oneness University and have had many dreams fulfilled and problems sorted out due to the teachings there. But there are still many things that need taking care of. What Bhagavan says is that all along we have been listening to teachings. Now the time has come to learn everything as an experience.

He gave the example of a Westerner who had attended the 21-day course at Oneness University. Let’s call him Tom. He had tremendous pain on his left shoulder and the left side of his chest. It could not be cured despite meeting several doctors and undergoing many medical examinations. To begin with, Tom underwent an experience that he had had when he had been about five years of age. He had been playing at the beach along with his friends building sand-castles. While they were all digging in, young Tom fell inside and the others jumped over him without realising that he was buried under the sand. Luckily for Tom, an adult passing by saw what was happening and saved him from sure death. This had caused a lot of pain on his left shoulder and chest. Usually, when a person undergoes a past experience, the charge disappears and the pain immediately goes away. But not so in Tom’s case! In the next class, he was taken even further back in time, into his mother’s womb. There, Tom could feel his mother’s pelvic bone pressing against the baby Tom’s left side. The pain never left even at this point and he had to wait for the next class. Then, he was taken into a past life experience four hundred years back. Tom had been a soldier in the cavalry in that incarnation. The horse he was riding jumped suddenly and Tom fell off. He was crushed by other running horses, jumped over his left shoulder and chest and had died because of these injuries. The pain immediately left the present day Tom. The charge of the experience four hundred years back had returned to haunt Tom in his mother’s womb, later at the age of five and till the present day.

Bhagavan spoke about how life is related to the way a baby is born, whether naturally or by Caesarean, about the reactions of people who are gathered around the baby at that point, the mother’s response and more. These have lasting effects on the person you turn out to be and this can be either positive or negative. It is the negative that blocks success and wealth, breaks up relationships or spoils one’s health.

Bhagavan plans to remove these negative charges in his classes by giving us many experiences from childhood, at birth, in the womb and past lives.

The next important thing that will be done is to remove the fear of death. For this, all participants will be taken to the other lokas to meet their ancestors and friends who have passed away. Meeting them will make us realise that they are all very much with us. Death is but going from one state to another and is supposed to be a wonderful experience.

Then we will receive experiences with Lord Shiva and Maa Kali where the ego will be removed and we begin to feel Oneness. Bhagavan also promised us a trip into the other lokas such as Vaikuntam to meet Lord Vishnu, etc. All these experiences will be for Hindus. A Christian or Muslim or those belonging to other religions will have varying experiences that they can relate to. And of course, each individual’s experience will be his own, different from the others.

Then we will be given experiences of Oneness with the other human beings on earth, Oneness with all other living things such as animals, insects, etc and lastly with plants and trees. Bhagavan says that all along we have only heard of these but in the following classes will experience these.

Then Bhagavan explained about the relevance of the year 2012. He says that it is important for three reasons.

1. One era is marked from the time when the Kurukshetra War began in the Mahabharata. 2012 is the culmination of 5,300 years since then and marks the end of the feeling of division and the beginning of Oneness.
2. It is also the end of the cycle of 24,000 years of Sathya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dwapara Yuga and Kali Yuga.
3. This one is totally fascinating! 2012 is the mid-point in the lifespan of the Universe. The Universe began as a small dot 37 thousand billion years ago. It has been evolving since then with the creation of galaxies, the Sun, the Earth, the Moon, etc. Life appeared way later and Man even later. Today, at the mid-point in the lifespan of the Universe, Man will evolve as a Mukta (enlightened one) in the year 2012. Imagine what kind of a progress the Universe will face over the coming 37 thousand billion years when the beginning point will be Mukti of Man. The mind boggles! A small dot to Mukti of Man to what….? Absolutely enthralling.

As Bhagavan says, there is no end to Mukti. You keep growing in your consciousness level even after death.

How will Bhagavan conduct these classes for 64,000 chosen ones from around the world?

Most of the classes will be conducted locally, where the person is living. Bhagavan will be conducting the class Himself through Skype Darshan and not through Acharyajis or Dasajis. There may be a few classes conducted at the Oneness Temple.

By the end of 2011, Bhagavan plans to get his force of 64,000 ready with 108 types of Muktis and make them fit to increase the consciousness of the world population by the year 2012.

Then Bhagavan and his family plan to retire by 2014 when the whole world is transformed to Oneness.

Sharing: VISIT TO THE ONENESS TEMPLE

On my visit to Chennai in November, I was very keen to take my parents to visit the Oneness Temple in Golden City at Varadaiyapalem. It was also a first-time visit for me. I was kind of disappointed when I heard that is was not possible to take darshan of the Golden Ball.

But it is obvious that Amma Bhagavan wanted to give me way more. Bhagavan was giving a screen darshan for fifteen minutes each Sunday morning and we had planned our visit on November 29, 2009 which was a Sunday.

I have to thank my sister Jayashree and her friend Lakshmi for the loan of her car. It was too convenient. Then it was my sister Lakshmi’s colleague Ramesh who acted chauffer. I have to thank both of them for this.

The best was that both my parents could travel the couple of hours up and then down despite the states of their health and visit the temple of Amma Bhagavan. My mother refused a wheel chair and the use of the lift and walked up the staircase to the third floor level praying throughout for Amma Bhagavan’s blessings.

The temple was a sight to see – a superb structure that is made completely of white marble. The weather was just beautiful, warm and mild. As we climbed up the stairs, we could see the green trees and plants for miles to come from all directions.

We reached the huge pillarless hall and took our seats in front of the video screen awaiting darshan of the Lord. Crowd poured in while everything was so well organised and there was not a murmur of disturbance. There were people from all over India and abroad who had come to take the darshan of Sri Bhagavan. There must have been at least 3,000 people in the hall.

And then He was there on the screen! We were just so lucky to have Bhagavan’s darshan peacefully for about 15 minutes while He blessed us and blew us a kiss too! THANK YOU BHAGAVAN!

Film Review: ROCKET SINGH: Salesman of the Year

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Shazahn Padamsee, Gauhar Khan, Naveen Kaushik, D. Santosh
Director: Shimit Amin

The film is all about Harpreet Singh Bedi (Ranbir Kapoor) who has just managed to get a pass class in graduation. He is simple-minded and straightforward with all his values inculcated by his loving grandfather (Prem Chopra). With no thought of going on for further studies, Harpreet decides that the job of a salesman would be just perfect for him.

He gets a job as a sales trainee at a big company selling computers called AYS. That's where he finds out all about the cutthroat practises of sales. Harpreet being the honest chap that he is, puts his foot completely in his mouth when he writes up a complaint against the general manager of another company when the latter demands a bribe. That's when he faces the malicious side of his boss. Will Harpreet stick to his honesty and carry on with his life or will he buckle under pressure from his boss is what the rest of the film is all about.

Ranbir Kapoor has yet again proved that he is a fine actor by playing his role to perfection. He gives an excellent performance as the young Sardar who is too honest for his own good. The actors playing the part of Sunil Puri (MD of AYS) and Nitin (Sales Manager) have done superb jobs of their roles. Gauhar Khan as Koena, the receptionist-cum-telephone-operator is good. Shazahn Padamsee (daughter of Alyque Padamsee and Sharon Prabhakar) as Shereena has a very small role that is passable. Nothing that requires great acting skills. D. Santosh (Rajguru of Legend of Bhagat Singh fame) has done a commendable job as Reddy. The movie itself is a fun watch as you can well relate to the characters and you can feel the crowd around you feeling happy and sad for Harpreet in turn as his life swings on a balance.

Verdict: Go for it. It most definitely is worth a watch.

Rating: *****

* Silly

** Shaky

*** Smart

**** Snazzy

***** Super

Health: AROGYA DEEKSHA

The Oneness University offers a health course that is conducted in many local languages and also in English. I attended the six-day course in Hindi at Nemam on the outskirts of Chennai from November 23-28, 2009. All I can say is that I am blessed that I could take part in this course.

Oneness is to bring synchrony to the Body, Mind and Spirit.

Purpose of this Arogya Deeksha:

1. A shift from a state of disease to a state of well-being by healing at the Physical, Psychological and Spiritual levels.
2. A strong body to cope with the changes that are inevitable in the face of transition – as strong as steel.
3. A shift from dependence on medicine to alternate form of healing. The body has its own self-healing system. But we take medicines to offset negative effects of atmosphere, quality of food, etc. This has blocked the self-healing ability of body. The course helps awaken self-healing.
4. Prepare the body for Mukti – increase in the Level of Consciousness.

We all automatically assume that well-being is all about physical fitness. Over these six days we got to know that physical health is but 10% of the total health of a person. The Holistic Healing Programme talks about healing at as many as eight levels:

1. Physical Dimension: This is all about pure physical health that can be maintained by deep-breathing techniques, intake of large quantities of water, eating the right kind of foods and regular walk and exercise. We were also taught about the different medical systems such as Allopathy, Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Unani and Chinese. We were also taught how constipation causes 90% of physical sicknesses.

2. Emotional Dimension: This is about the impact of negative emotions on our systems. This is the major cause of all illnesses. The course deals with different emotions and situations that affect different parts of our body. I am citing a couple of examples here. There are many more that you can gain from awareness at this level.
(a) If you keep controlling yourself every time you want to say something either because you can’t or because you won’t, you tend to have a pain in the neck. Continuous neck-sprains are generally caused by this problem. Awareness of holding one’s words back breaks this and the pain disappears. Believe me, this happened to me in a matter of seconds.
(b) Self-criticism leads to chronic skin problems. My son’s skin problem that had dogged him over years – no treatment had worked – disappeared within 24 hours when he became aware of this.

3. Vocational Dimension: Job satisfaction is very important to maintaining good health. If you are bored or unhappy with your job, it tends to cause illness. One way of breaking the monotony is the Oneness Dance Therapy (ODT) that was taught here. If you dance your way through your day, it tends to make life more interesting and so your job. Then there are those types of work that put pressure on some parts of the body. A teacher is pressured on her vocal chords as she talks a lot. Preventive Yoga is taught to help these conditions.

4. Nutritional Dimension: The right kind of food intake, the balance of nutrients, etc. are dealt with here. It also talks about the Acid-Alkaline content that needs to be kept at balance in our bodies.

5. Mental Dimension: Maintaining a good mental health regime, using both sides of the brain and how to do it were taught in this. We were also made to learn how the mind chatters non-stop using up all our energy and creating illness and of course, the cure for this was shown.

6. Philosophical Dimension: Whether we are believers or non-believers, old or young, we all follow some philosophy or belief in our lives. It talks about how these blind beliefs affect our lives and our bodies.

7. Spiritual Dimension: This teaches all about how one should always live in a state of Joy and also how to make it happen.

8. Karmic Dimension: The course finally deals with this section that is about the accumulation of karmas (the result of good/bad thoughts, words and deeds from a lifetime and more) and how to get rid of diseases caused by this.

Nine faithful Doctors one must have in one’s life:

1. Dr. Sunshine – Walk outside in a garden or on the road between 6-7.30 am or 4.30-6 pm for about 15 minutes.

2. Dr. Fresh Air – Inhale more fresh air by deep-breathing and brisk walking for half an hour every day.

3. Dr. Pure Water – 10-15 glasses of water to be consumed per day.

4. Dr. Healthy Food – Avoid coloured food, excess salt and sugar.

5. Dr. Exercise – Brisk-walk, Yoga, Pranayama, Oneness Exercise.

6. Dr. Rest – Quality sleep for 6 hours is a must. Change of routine by doing something creative or playing an indoor or outdoor game helps a lot towards this.

7. Dr. Posture – Correct posture is very important. Don’t cross your legs. It affects the organs in one’s lower abdomen and also the muscles in your legs.

8. Dr. Healthy Mind – Constructive emotions lead to good health.

9. Dr. Fasting – Give the digestive system a holiday. Do a 12-hour fast once in 15 or 30 days while drinking lemon water or wheat grass juice during that time. Break the fast with a light soup and salad.

The Divine Quotient: Most of what has been mentioned here may be learned by one from outside sources. But what is special about attending the course at the Oneness University are the Deekshas - transfer of divine energy that is offered to everyone. These cleanse a person at all eight levels, making the transit into a healthy lifestyle totally possible.

I have brought to you but a few highlights of what I learnt during the programme. It is a must to attend this one as it brings about a total healing of one’s Body, Mind and Soul.