none before never again

It was sometimes in the year 2002, when I had my second divine opportunity to travel with Gurudev on his then probably first trip to Punjab. Lot happened onway which perhaps deserves much bigger time and space to be shared. However one particular incident on our return trip from Jalandhar to Nizzamuddin Railway Station, New Delhi that caught my attention twice in the week during my meditative sojourns, needs articulation. I happened to stay with Gurudev throughout the trip whenever he went and it ofcourse was an experience of inexplicable kind, deeply transforming, leaving me extremely gasping for breath acute shortage on words... Someone bought me a return ticket in executive class coach of shatabdi express train Gurudev was travelling back in. Luckily we were seated very close together and as usually is the case seat next to him becomes a musical chair for those who wish to get a personal 5minute divine proximity. The journey of 5hours just zipped past. Time to al...

After conducting second session of G3 I had such an inner surge to take a short trip of rameshwaram and kanyakumari. Me and my brother in law(wife's brother) decided pronto and left at 6pm one evening. Stayed night over at Namakkal. Morning, saw fort, visited ananjeya and vishnu temples before heading towards kolli hills (thought may be my ancestors of present day kohlis or just turned kolli by the time the original northern clan landed south) to bow down to the kolli deity. Visited amazing ancient shiva temple besides a 1300 steps steep inclined staircase to marvelous aakash ganga(ganges falling from sky) waterfalls. Moved out towards Rameshwaram same day hoping to touch down by evening to catch a glimpse of setting sun and perform rudrapuja by the beach.. well destiny had other plans, around madurai minutes before the fork that if taken left would lead to Rameshwaram or right to kanyakumari somehow I got intuitive idea to go right instead and we ended up landing on southern most...

Sudden demise of Nikhil Sen, reminded me of what Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji has been mentioning during satsang queries. We are all moving towards our individual final destination riding on a conveyor system. Some ahead some behind, does not matter for the goal will one day be reached sooner or later. Thing that struck me in Nikhil's sudden exit, and is a big mystery, when the moment to exit arrives no one knows. This brought back few memories that I have of subtle significance that I thought would be worth sharing. I knew Nikhil very little, therefore probably least qualified to write about him. However, each interaction with him showed that he had a serene personality and vibrancy. One of my first interactions with Nikhil were perhaps initial days of joining the AOL family. During VM inaugural 2003, back stage seva with then known teen deviyaan (Nandini Sen, Rajita Kulkarni and Chinky Sen) got me in touch with Nikhil as another fellow family member. Since at that stage I w...

यूँ तेरा मुझे धीरे धीरे खुद से दूर करना तुझमे जो तू है ओर मुझमें जो में हूँ उस के करीब लाने की साज़िश जो मुकाम कभी देखा नहीं उस रहगुजर से होकर बेखबर खौलती रेत पर जगमगाते सिता...

कैसी कशिश है कैसी खामोशी पागल मनवा क्षणिक उदासी रुकी थमी सी गहरी बेहोशी कांच के टुकड़ों की झिलमिल सी बिखरी कण-कण में तरंग निराली इक भीतर से उठती जलती आग तप्ती लहलहाती सी घु...

वो शक्ति की रातें वो गंगा के कहकहे वो टहलते हुए झील के किनारे किनारे वो गुरुकुल की घंटी से आत्मा का जगना वो नंगे पाँव मंटप से राधा कुंज तक आना वो गुरुकुल से आगे शक्ति की रेखा ...

Unlike what it is known for, Goa is indeed a place full of rich ancient heritage and temples. During my recent trip during shraavan month for performing #rudrapujas all over the state of Goa, it was an eye opener to learn so many samuhik pujas were organized in temples. Starting with one in Bhavani Devi Temple, Madgao (originally known as Mathagram - a village of 9 temples) I could not resist visiting the Holy Spirit Church before first puja, which I learnt was built after filling in the water tank inside premises of ancient Damodar temple (Shiva temple). How could one start shiva pujas without bowing down to the age old place of the deity, I thought to myself and told the coordinator to just take  me there. I really wanted to go inside and touch the base of the church at the place it was raised from ground up, however seeing the discomfort of the coordinator in doing so just told him to take the car around the place and mentally bowed down in reverence. How can the spirit be upro...