Making Love with Life

[Via Ode Magazine]

A warm smile. An unexpected compliment. Moonlit nights. A bear hug.

The smell of burning logs on a cold wintry night, the soft rhythmic sound of wind chimes in my balcony, the rain soaked breeze entering my bedroom window. Seeing a long awaited mail in my inbox, smell of freshly sharpened pencils.

Decorating a perfect Christmas tree and dreaming of Santa Claus. Having a frothy cappuccino with warm, blueberry muffins at my favourite café.

A deeply satisfying kiss!

Go read more….

The Nibble Theory

Way back in ‘73, she was one of the first women to enter the field of management consulting and had to face discrimination and nibbles like: “Why are you here?” “Who’ taking care of your children?” “What would a woman know?” “Hey, you’re pretty cute to be doing this kind of work”.

Where other’s would have given up, Kaleel’ a story of dogged determination and persistance. She went on to live a strong legacy - The Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group and even more enduring would be her book: “The Nibble Theory and the Kernel of Power”. Buy it and read it. It is a small book, less than 75 pages, but contains a very powerful message on self empowerment. Not only does the book encourage you to look at yourself deeply and grow, but more importantly, help others grow too!

A reviewer on the back cover of the book says “[This book] is an excellent resource for leaders, managers, and anyone who wants to improve their interactions with others”.

This is why I love HIM!

Bawa and Dinesh, senior Art of Living Teachers have started writing about their experiences with Art of Living in their outstanding blog titled Sounds Interesting. Bawa and Dinesh are phenomenally good teachers and human beings. If you get a chance to take a course with them, don’t miss it for anything.

There are few blogs and postings criticizing Guruji and the work the Art of Living does and I have experienced it personally too when when people come and talk negative and I have always smiled and let it pass because as Guruji says “The purpose of words is to create silence”. Today’s post in Bawa’s blog is about a Q&A session with Guruji recently in Germany, where Guruji was asked about the negative writings in the blogosphere. Here is the complete transcript:

There are various online blogs and forums where some (misguided?) people post defamatory and inflammatory things about Guruji… He was asked about this in a recent Satsang, someone who happened to be there wrote an account… Here it is:

In a satsang at the Art of Living centre in Germany last night, someone asked Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: “Guruji, I have observed that Guruphiliac seems to follow your every move and then write negative things about you. Why are they doing this?”

This is the gist of what Guruji said: I have inherited an ancient lineage and my job is to further its cause. Neither by thought, nor through word, nor by deed, have I ever done any harm to anyone, nor will I ever do so in the future; it is simply not in my nature. Nobody can expose me because there is nothing to expose: I stand tall, clean and naked in front of the whole world.

I do whatever maximum good I can, and I inspire others to do so. These people who keep writing about me simply cannot leave me alone - they must be in deep love with me! (laughter) When they keep comparing me with other people all the time, I must have made a very deep impression on them. I cannot help it if they can’t get over me - that’s the way I am! If I am that bad and fake, they should simply be able to ignore me and move onto the truth –why are they are holding onto me, again and again?

If they are trying to teach me a lesson, if their intention is to correct me, then I’m sorry, I am incorrigible! (laughter)

If their idea is to stop people from coming to me, and if people do stop coming just by reading these blogs, then I really thank them; it is good for me, it reduces my responsibility! If they think I am doing this for publicity, they are unaware of the disadvantages of popularity. I pity them. Celebrities enjoy only popularity, but spiritual leaders have a huge responsibility with that popularity. People do not go to celebrities for guidance and blessings, but with spiritual leaders they do.

If they think I have no right to exist on this planet, then they can crucify me; I am afraid neither of death nor of being defamed. I am not afraid, because nothing can destroy me.

We do charity with the hard earned money from our courses. We are, of course, rich with people and with good character, and I am ready to share this wealth with anyone.

Lest they understand that their hatred is nothing but love standing upside down.

Spirituality and Workplace Series - About Oneness

Lance Secretan - ex-CEO of ManPower - has written a superb book on Conscious Leadership titled “One - The Art and Practice of Conscious Leadership”

This book is based on the premise that we are all one and are connected to each other in ways that are not apparent on the surface, but dig a little deeper and we find the connections. It is divided into two parts - the first talks of the oneness and how we seemed to have lost the oneness and the second part talks of 6 principles (CASTLE - Courage, Authenticity, Service, Truthfullness, Love and Effectiveness) that help us regain the oneness.

I loved this book. Lance draws superb examples from Industry and his practice which makes this book immensly readable. Plus each of the chapters relating to the CASTLE principles have a workbook that allows space for one to reflect on the principles in our own situations.

Click here for Lance’ blog. (Corrected the link!)

Bliss at noon!

It was sunny and hot today afternoon, but it was cool and airy inside the VM! Needless to say, it was the Master himself leading us all into a deep meditation. Don’t know where the 30 minutes flew away… The joy of being in His presence and meditating with Him is priceless!