Insurance

This post is somewhat on the lines of my earlier post Long Term Investing, but i've been reflecting a lot about what my association with the Art Of Living, daily practice of the Sudarshan Kriya and Guruji have meant to me over the last 7 1/2 odd years and was inspired to write this.

We all buy insurance for various things in life. Home insurance to protect ourselves if god-forbid a catastrophe like a fire should happen. Life insurance to make sure our loved ones have financial security if something were to happen to us. We insure our vehicles such as cars, bikes to ensure that an accident does not leave us with hefty bills.

All this to protect what ? Items that we hold dear to our happiness and peace of mind ? We pay a premium now so that we are protected in the event of an unforeseen event that we don't know about and in fact don't want to have happen to us at any time. Ironically there is an aspect of spirituality here too. We insure to protect something, while knowing at the same time that it won't last forever. Implicitly we acknowledge that nothing will be safe forever.

And life is quite unforeseen isn't it ? As I have experienced too. Life is full of surprises. People get sick - extremely sick at times. Accidents happen. Jobs are lost. I have personally had to use health and auto insurance.

But the greatest insurance to me through life's travails has been my spirituality. Through tough times, traumatic times, unforeseen challenges, physical and mental pain, disappointments - the only thing that had steadfastly stood by my side is my sadhana, satsang, knowledge and the grace of the Guru. The ability to keep my mind sane through tough challenges and keep the faith strong - even smile sometimes through problems - has been the most precious thing to me in the last few years.

I've been reading the papers and often read news of young, highly qualified professionals/ students committing suicide for various reasons - job stress, family problems, a failed love affair, loneliness - and it pains me. Not just because a promising life was cut short, but because he/she did not have the tools and techniques to handle the agony that the situation in life was presenting. Looking around me, i see that it is the need of the moment - a way to handle our stresses and challenges without giving up,or collapsing, or destroying our health - and facing life with equanimity and smilingly.

Now as I face the most challenging (so far) phase of my adult life, I am glad I bought insurance many years ago - the Art Of Living course. It serves me each day, each moment, when I need it - unfailingly. It helps me manage this complex beast called the MIND and calm it down - no matter what. It helps me dispose off the garbage accumulated during the day and be free.

This to me is the REAL Life Insurance. I am grateful for the grace of the Guru that brought me to this precious knowledge when I most needed it. And it is my duty now to reach out to others so they may have these most precious tools when they need it too.

Are you insured ?

Jai Guru Dev,

Long Term Investing

What is good investing ? For a completely finance-challenged person like myself, it would be investing in those things - money, education, possessions, health, relationships that would keep me comfortable in the long term.

Everyone invests for a return. Otherwise there is no point investing.

Good fitness means good health at an older age and less vulnerability to health problems. Having money means that when the rainy day arrives, we are not running helter-skelter to meet our needs and those of our family. Positive relationships would mean having good company and friendships and hopefully help when one needs it. A good education means increasing the probability of getting a good well-paying job.

For how long do these investments keep me company ? No longer than I am in this body. And how long am I going to be able to keep this body ? 1 hour / 1 day / 10 years / 50 years. Do I really know ? There is a finite time limit on the ability of my investments to give me a return.

Ever thought of investing for the real future ?

Sadhana - Sa (forever) - dhana (wealth) : that wealth that stays forever.

The scriptures tell us that the mind is just energy. Physics tells us that energy is never destroyed - just transforms from one state to another. Whether one believes in rebirth or not - it is a living scientific reality around us. How else do you explain a 1 year old infant suffering from an incurable disease or a 90 year old person living a healthier life than someone half his/her age. How does one explain Adi Sankara who united India with his knowledge and attained enlightenment at the age of 21 ? Or a Sri Sri Ravishankar who chanted the Bhagavad Gita at the age of 4 ? Or........

Numerous examples exist in our daily life that tell us of the effect of the mind and the impressions it carries from lifetime to lifetime. Mind - Energy - never destroyed but taking on different bodies from time to time and manifesting those impressions in that body. A cleaner mind with fewer negative impressions = a better and happier life in this body.

So - you are not this body. Your mind never perishes. You - the spirit never die !

Wouldn't you rather carry a cleaner and purer mind with you ? Would you rather not carry the rubbish of this life time on to the next ? In the light of this do not all other investments (though important) seem short term ?

Diversify your portfolio. Invest really long term. Invest in you.

Do the Art Of Living course.

Jai Guru Dev ,

Ay Zindagi

This one inspired by Rekha's post on faith.

Why is there suffering/pain in a tough situation ?

Sri Sri says "Suffering is a product of limited knowledge"

What limited knowledge ?

The Part I course says " Accept situations and people as they are"

When in pain or suffering, the last thing I want to do is accept. After all who wants pain ? The best solution is to try and escape it and to enable this, the mind is ever willing to :

• jump into the glorious past
  
• jump towards a non-existent future OR
  
• take flights of imaginary fancy .
• keep asking the eternally unanswerable question "Why ?"
  

None of this helps and muddles the mind even more.

Question to self : Isn't it easier to just accept ?

Another way is resistance.

• This is NOT happening to me
• This is not happening to ME.
  
• THIS is not happening to me

Another point of the Part I course says "What you resist persists".

When I resist obviously the suffering persists . And what am I resisting ? The flow of life ? I am but a little boat caught up in this ocean of samsara which throws up perfect storms now and then. Of what use is my resistance ?

Question to self : Isn't it easier to not resist, live the knowledge and just BE ?

Guruji says that when we are faced with a storm - to gulp it in its totality and then we realize that there is really no storm .

Reminds me of a beautiful song from the movie Sadma :

Aye Zindagi Gale Lagale
Hum ne bhi
Tere har ik gam ko
Gale se lagaya hai Hai na ?

Roughly translated :

Oh Life Embrace Me
I've embraced all the suffering you've given me
Haven't I ?

When no knowledge works, faith does ...infinite faith does WORK - especially when the Storm is a long one.

Jai Guru Dev,

Another Journey Begins

I just finished my 4th Art Of Living Part I course at Pune yesterday. Heres a summary :

1. Before the course, I was worn out - After it I feel so light.
2. Before the course, I felt so disconnected, After it I feel so connected .
3. Before the course, I was scared , After it not any more.
4. Before the course, I wondered if I would finish, After the course - er well I finished it didn't I ?
5. Before the course I felt very egoistic, After the course much less .
6. Before the course, I had a bad cold , After the course, I am fine.

If you have done the course, please repeat it, if you have not, please DO IT at your earliest. What better time than the turn of the year to renew and refresh oneself , go closer towards the self and start a grand new year !


Jai Guru Dev,

The Journey Begins Again ......Continues

After months of longing, I had the opportunity to take the Art of Living Part I course again today. A nice and small daytime course started at Aundh Pune.

With loved-one on the recovery path, it was easier to take this decision and actually sign up for a course during the peak morning hours (10:00 am - 1:00 pm). These hours in the last few months have been witness to the most hectic, frantic and exhausting experiences. How life changes and that too in a matter of days !

This will be my fourth Part I course and also the first one in India ! Cool ! My previous repeats have all been very interesting. Each repeat of the Part I course brings up something new in me. The same knowledge reveals itself in a new light, the practice deepens, the reverence for Guruji increases and the profoundness of the course (described by a favorite teacher of mine as "The essence of the Vedas"), reveals itself one more bit. Guruji says this about taking courses again and again "Punah Punaha" - Again and Again - until it becomes part of us.

I wonder what new light this one will throw up.

Oh - but "Expectation Reduces Joy" .

Jai Guru Dev,