Introspection on Gandhi's beauty.

Today is Gandhi's 69th death anniversary. I want to side track a little bit and write about him. My post will be a little India-centric.

Wow, its been a while since he died, or rather killed. Lately, India has been lucky; a visionary and inspirational leader has taken leadership of the country paving the path to great potential ahead of us. However, today is the day to reflect on India's roots, about its history and origin and so I shall introspect about Gandhi, my second favorite international figure through time.

Unlike most nations, India is lucky; it is born from one man's vision of a non-violent nation. Despite the bloodshed of religious violence marking India's transition to violence, that one man's word quickly prevailed in allowing a peaceful birth of India and Pakistan. India took its first step into the future, the non-violent way, providing an intriguing and unique case study for generations to come.

Many visionaries are born lucky: with a gifted mind or great wealth in one form or another. But, what makes Gandhi so precious is his averageness. He was simply average: not bright, nor gifted with wealth and opportunity. Yes, he was the son of a Prime Minister of a small province, and he got lucky to be pushed to study in UK, but he was a pauper by all standards and he had to work for everything.

Gandhi's humble beginnings in thought and intellect is what makes his journey through our 20th century so beautiful. Out of meager beginnings, he rises out to become one of the iconic, monumental and turning points of human potential. Gandhi's willingness to experiment, question and stand up to conventional thought was acquired. He was persistent in pushing his boundaries, challenge his every thought and grow out of his shortcomings. And, out came humanity's diamond, out of his self-effort.

His biography titled, 'Stories of my experiments with truth' says it all. Given a limited set of skills and resources by nature, he has used his self-effort to be the best possible. He has successfully advocated and advanced critical human values of equality & non-violence, encouraged the importance of self-reliance of rural communities, focused on the empowerment of the individual, cleanliness, self-governance, need I go on? His ideas were way ahead of his time. He was not interested in leading a generation of followers on his philosophy. He wanted to live it and show the world it can be done.

If Gandhi was alive today, he would have hated what we do in his name. He never wanted to be glorified, nor turned into a symbol. He wanted his words heard through how he lived. He wanted each of us to question, learn and grow fearlessly, to help one another and be self-reliant. He wanted India to grow out of its spiritual stagnation and work towards its betterment. Unfortunately, history took an acrid turn after his forced departure. His name was given to a family which used his name to rule India for majority of the time since Independence. Though his image lies in all corners of the country: from the wallets, police stations, government offices to street signs, his words were not translated into our life style. Youth waste away their life through vices bought with paper baring his very image. India will benefit a lot more if they spent a little time learning his message, than the energy spent in superficial attempts at patriotism, let alone the eternal wastage of time through other means.

Gandhi is not gone. He lives through us, his vision of self-empowered nations remains through every single one of us. He gifted Indians a nation built on very sacred values and has shown the rest of the world an example. It is high time our youth stop dwelling in chatter, see through the cloud and start working together for a better future; as Gandhi has envisioned for us.

Thank you Gandhi for your story. You have shown me that anything is achievable by humans, that a brave, fearless heart with a single-minded vision of the best can allow us to march through this misty desert and build a paradise for generations to come. You are forever in my heart, and I only hope that I will be my best and put my efforts on continually advancing my self-growth, while working towards empowering the weak.

And, I am happy your vision continues through the Art of Living foundation, a beacon for all youth to work for the best, nothing less.

Weekly kriya followups.

Today, I want to talk about my Friday night outs every week! Its the one thing I really look forward to. Moving to a new city is tough, especially if it is due to work. Where do you make the right set of friends? How do you create/ connect with a group and make meaning friendships like you had during school or growing up in your hometown?

For me, thankfully, I am plugged into the Art of Living network. So, when I moved to Toronto, all I had to do was go to a long Kriya follow up; eligible for the Happiness program graduates. Every week, all across the world, from well organized centers to residential basements, graduates get together for their weekly followup. All I had to do was visit www.artofliving.org, put in my coordinates and find the nearest followup. You will be surprised at how many of you have one right next door!

Not only do I get the amazing benefits from the long kriya group practice, I get to connect with dynamic young individuals who have amazing stories to tell. Sometimes the group hangs out afterwards for food, or get together for a nice meaningful volunteer activity. The beauty of these groups is that it is a group of individuals who value the positive spin added to their lives. So, naturally, the group is a highly sattvic (or positive) one. It is an environment that quickly turns strangers into good friends. You have to remember one thing about Art of Living: Everyone is family. And, you are treated as such. The longer I have spent time with the group, the more I have healed from my past issues, and the younger I feel. Its simply because it is the best concentration of good, caring, happy, dynamic, mindful and self-aware people you can run into. They have led me from darkness to light. And, believe it or not, I am academically and professionally more successful as a result.

But, more importantly, I am no longer alone.

Art of Living workshops - Happiness program

Today's post is simple, a brief focus on the first workshop offered by the Art of Living: The Happiness program.

The workshop is really to re-introduce us to happiness, experientally. A multi-day workshop, taught over a 3 day period, it is designed to heal and raise our awareness of our potential. Along with beautiful processes that are simply filled with fun and profound practical wisdom, the S.K.Y (Sudarshan Kriya) breathing technique is introduced. 

S.K.Y is simply marvelous. Consciously or not, every person has a toolkit of measures and responses to deal with various issues on a day-to-day basis, be it exercise, daily showers, a weekly house clean, or a simple phone call home. We develop our own ways to sustain our lives. However, they don't compare to S.K.Y's ability to thoroughly fulfill the primary intention: to cleanse and energize the mind and body to help us face life effectively and ace at it. On the way, it is amazing to observe how a long list of problems both physical and mental disappear with its practice. And, to top it off, you become part of the Art of Living network where you can plug into any corner of the world. And, you are always treated as family :)

Yes, its easy to over-state the effectiveness of any solution, but >350 million people managed to learn it in >155 countries? And, the tons of research done to its benefits (www.aolresearch.org)? And, the millions of individuals lead a transformed, fulfilling life as a result. Especially for people suffering with mental health issues, S.K.Y is a miracle. Speaking from personal experience, when you have a tool that gives you control of your own wellness, that instills an enormous sense of confidence in life and that is something no amount of mental health support can offer.

I have begun this blog with the one purpose of spreading positivity, but I want to encourage my readers to think about the intention and the reasoning behind my happiness. I have a Masters degree in Engineering, working for one of the foremost technology companies in the industry, so convincing me on something is hard without well founded evidence. Through my own experience practicing S.K.Y, observing how it has supported and enhanced me in the last few years, and especially the community I got to connect with as a result, I have gained a lot. And, this blog is my attempt to share my experiences and my journey as I travelled from head to heart.

Introduction to the 'Art of Living foundation'.

'Art of Living' is a beautiful organization. Founded by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the aim is simple: bringing a smile on every person on the planet and to realize the vision of a "One World Family".

What is it that attracts me to Art of Living as the single way into the future? Witnessing the world, I could only come to one conclusion on its functioning: scattered, unfocused and limited-vision entities attempting to make decisions for the rest of us, while poorly motivated actors failing to achieve the desired outcome beyond their own supposedly self-interests. I really see Art of Living as the key to the future because it dissolves all levels of barriers and aims to heal and empower the individual who is really at the root of it all. Art of Living provides an incredible platform for the individual to rest, heal, grow and re-discover the inner charm within. And, a group of happy, empowered individuals motivated to share and realize the grander goal of spreading joy and helping their community leads to some truly amazing things. Zoom out a little bit, and imagine what millions strong communities spanned across the globe can do?

Its quite simple really, in 35 years Art of Living has grown to be the largest volunteer-run NGO in the world. It connects cultures, religions, communities and countries in such an intimate way that my pessimism has turned around. Over 350 million people have benefited from Art of Living's programs world-wide. Innumerable Art of Living volunteers engage in wonderful projects all around the world: re-building communities, resolving communal conflicts, disaster-relief etc and the world is an improving place as a result (Some of my following posts will go into detail on some of these projects). Inspired by one man, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a platform has been created to allow for positive change to occur in monumental proportions globally and quickly. And, the crazy thing of it all, is that it is true.

The brilliance lies in the organizational structure of the foundation (arguably the world's largest startup), the unique and almost miraculous effectiveness of the workshops, a simple and profound unifying philosophy that allows for people of all faith and backgrounds to connect and work together, a beautiful and grandiose vision for the World and behind it all: harnessed power of the individual.

Ground reality...

The world is a tough place for most. Hundreds of millions of people suffer from an uncountable list of problems, let it be resource deprived communities, war torn countries, disease stricken neighbourhoods, or issues like slavery, lack of education, domestic violence. Our oceans and air we breath is a giant garbage dump. We rampantly and carelessly hurt our environment. One estimate states an almost 52% loss of biodiversity on the planet over the last 4 decades alone. In the mean time, entire countries are displaced due to wars, an estimated 46 million humans are subjected to some form of slavery, 2.5 billion people worldwide lack access to basic sanitation, let alone the discussion about electricity, education, nutrition, jobs etc.

When you stop looking at western media's selective news coverage and really open your eyes, the truth is inevitable; that the human way of approaching life is skewed in a very fundamental way. Why else do we keep repeating our mistakes and succeed in provide a heavy resistance to improvement? Be it for simple issues that we can fix: climate change, animal cruelty, preserving bio-diversity, at the very least voting for the right politician.

For the longest time, I wanted to change the world. I knew deep within the truth that 'nothing is impossible by humans'. Yet, looking at this careless, almost lazy way humans allow for disaster after disaster to occur deeply pained me. How can Earth be made into a sustainable home for the soon-to-be human population of 9 billion within a century or two? Yes, there are institutions setup to resolve this very problem. And, recurring UN millennial goals are striving towards that goal, but one cannot hope to solve the human problem by throwing billions into thrashing the place and a few peanuts saved up for the cleanup!

The key in resolving this I soon realized, contrary to popular thinking is in healing and empowering the individual.

Why am I happy?

The summer of 2014 was pretty amazing. Having discovered the Art of Living's Happiness workshop and having learnt the S.K.Y (Sudarshan Kriya Yoga) breathing technique, life turned around. It was like a light bulb going on in my head and seeing all this energy to finally live life fulfillingly.

Life began to flow. I had a melodious rhythm to life. I was able to organize my life to focus on my priorities and develop good habits. I was becoming better, and that is a feeling I loved. But, put all that aside. Why was I happy?

That summer, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the founder of Art of Living was visiting Montreal. And... I got to hear him speak live and meet him in person. Not often in life do we meet people who are smiling and help us smile. Fewer still are people you hear going out of their way to help the needy. I have only read in history books of the handful of men who have left a mark in their respective century, let it be the more recent likes of Mother Theresa, Mahatma Gandhi or Nelson Mandela. And, that's how I felt when I sat in his presence.

And, what felt more weird was when I looked around and realized the community I was with. A group of amazing folk who are striving to bring the world together, raise the level of awareness, joy and wellbeing in individuals and communities at large, dissolving the boundaries of religion, caste, creed, ideologies and bringing humanity as one. That's when it hit me. I have finally found a collective community spread across the world with the simple goal of making this world a better place, to elevate our level of human suffering to levels of epic celebrations. I was home.

My first post

Hello everyone,

Upon great introspection on the nature of the internet and its natural tendency to bubble up negative news and negative thoughts, I have decided its time for me to create a positive blog, a blog with optimism, a blog with enthusiasm, a blog with hope.

Every person has a great deal of history, unique in its turns and twists, in its joy and pain, in its successes and failures, and they have an amazing way to shape the individual. Its makes each of us unique and special in ways we seldom appreciate. And, we carry this history and experience as a burden locked in our hearts, minds and presence around others. Time seems to make us heavier and slower, weighing us down with history than 'lighter and better' with the experiences and knowledge living in this world.

Similarly, my life had its ups and downs, moving out of my home country when I was 13, going for an Engineering degree in Canada, barely turning 17. Life did its job on me, and turning 23, I felt I was 67 years old. And, one bright day, cycling home to work, I hit upon Art of Living, in Montreal; and that week was when I was really born.