Listening

Via [Before I forget] an interview with Daniel Goleman at FT

“Listening poorly is the common cold of social intelligence. And it’s being made worse by technology. To have a human moment, you need to be fully present. You have to be away from your laptop, you put down your BlackBerry, you end your daydream and you pay full attention to the person you’re with. It may sound rudimentary, but think about how often we just keep multitasking and half pay attention. You can overcome that by becoming mindful of what is happening.”

A Guru waits for his loved ones!

Little incidents like this show the real, compassionate and gentle face of my dear Guruji.

Last evening, in our weekly satsang, I had the opportunity to meet Capt Roy, a pilot with one of the leading airlines and this is what he told us about his meeting with Guruji.

Apparently he was scheduled to fly down from Pune to Bangalore and when he reached the airport, he saw a lot of crowd and security. He asked one of the police officers on duty as to what was happening and the police officer dismissed him saying “koi baba ja rahe hain” (some baba is flying out).

He got in the airport and saw a lot of youngsters wearing the Yes+ T-Shirts and that’s when he realized that the “baba” the Police officer reffered to was none other than Guruji himself.

When Capt Roy reached the plane and checked with the flight attendants they confirmed that Guruji was actually scheduled on his flight!

In a true Art of Living style, Capt Roy opened his mid flight announcement with “JaiGurudev”. After the flight reached Bangalore, Guruji told the flight attendant that he would like to meet the pilot and he would wait for him below on the tarmac.

Guruji disembarked and waited for a good 15/20 minutes for all the passengers  to disemabark and for Capt Roy to finish his post flight duties and met him.

Moments like these are precious. Just goes to show how much Guruji cares for his devotees.  Irrespective of how busy His schedule is, Guruji takes care to meet his devotees and when he is talking to you - even though it could be for as short as 30 seconds, he ensures that his attention is on you for that period, irrespective of the mingling hundreds trying to get his attention.
Towards the end of the conversation, Guruji asked Capt as to when he would be seeing him again and Capt replied “During the first week of Feb at the Pranayam Dhyaan Shibhir Guruji”!

So all those in Bangalore, here is your opportunity to get to do Yoga, Pranayam and meditation with Guruji himself on Feb 5th to Feb 8th at the Palace Ground. For more details contact +91-80-28432273/74

The present moment

“Each moment of now is what we could call a branch point. We do not know what will happen next. The present moment is pregnant with possibility and potential. When we are mindful now, no matter what we are doing or saying or working on or experiencing, the next moment is influenced by our presence of mind, and is thus different from how it would have been had we not been paying attention, had we been caught up in some whirlpool or other within the mind or body or the outer landscape. So, if we wish to take care of the future that, when we get there, will also be now, the only way we can do that is to take care of this future of all past moments and efforts, namely the present. The only way we can do this is to  recognize each moment as a branch point and realize that it makes all the difference in how the world, your world, and your one wild and precious life, will unfold. We take care of the future best by taking care of the present now.

Ample incentive to act with integrity and presence, and with kindness and compassion, for ourselves and for others. Arriving someplace more desirable at some future time is an illusion. This is it.”

- Coming to our Senses  - Healing ourselves and the world through mindfulness, by Jon Kabat Zinn.