My Son Siddharth

When I created this blog even I didn't know why I was doing it. And today I got my answer. This is my space for Siddharth, my son who is an Autistic. I don't plan to get into the details of the clinical prognosis for Siddharth. We both plan to move forward.

Siddharth, will this April, begin to go to a big normal school Drishti. For over an year now Siddharth has been studying in a school for Autistic children called Darpan. Sid has been doing quiet well. But then each time stagnation comes into the development process of this child I panic. Sid who had been thrown out of the last school for his teachers were convinced that he will never be able to write, can now write upto 100, draw a few figures , write his English alphabets big and small and even a few words which have at the most three alphabets.

Siddharth loves to sing and his passion for music is immense. But then this limited to hearing and then singing alone. Sid, as I call him at times, has till time not shown any inclination for any particular musical instrument.
My search now is to introduce Sid to the world where people don't understand him or his state. I take him out to all places I go. But then these are as obvious the known places where no one objects to how Sid behaves. He is not a violent child but he restless, very active and cannot sit in one place for long. He cannot sit through a movie or sit straight in an restaurant. But then he has this immense capacity to connect with people on one to one level. Sid hates crowds and can manage to stand alone in a crowd . This is my first intro to my son and as I discover more of him each day, I will record it.

The Master of Music: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

"Is enlightenment really possible for the average person? Yes. Big Yes. Enlightenment is very possible for the ordinary individual. Actually it is easier than for some one who thinks that they are special ....whenever someone is ordinary, simple, innocent and natural, that is enlightenment"

'THE day you feel hopeless, horrible, and worse, on that day get out of your room and ask people, What can I do you for you ? that service you have done that day will bring a revolution inside you. It will change your whole gramophone record.

‘LOVE is seeing God in the person next to us, and meditation is seeing God within us.’
‘THE more we open ourselves, the more room we will have for God to fill us’

‘A PRAYER Give me not thirst if you cannot give me water. Give me not hunger if you cannot give me food. Give me not joy if I cannot share. Give me not the skills if I cannot put them to good use.’

‘IN science you have knowledge first, and then FAITH follows. In spirituality, faith comes first, and then Knowledge follows. For example, the knowledge that pesticides and chemical fertilizers are good for plants came through science, and people had faith in it, and all over the world they were used. And then another knowledge came that they were not good and the faith shifted to organic farming. The same with antibiotics. The knowledge brought faith, the knowledge changed, and then faith changed.’

‘ENLIGHTENMENT is the very core of our being; going into the core of our self and living our life from there. We all came into this world gifted with innocence, but gradually, as we became more intelligent, we lost our innocence. We were born with silence, and as we grew up, we lost the silence and were filled with words. We lived in our hearts, and as time passed, we moved into our heads. Now the reversal of this journey is enlightenment.’

‘ IT is the journey from head back to the heart, from words, back to silence; getting back to our innocence in spite of our intelligence. Although very simple, this is a great achievement. Knowledge should lead you to that beautiful point of "I don't know." The purpose of knowledge is ignorance. The completion of knowledge will lead you to amazement and wonder. It makes you aware of this existence. Mysteries are to be lived, not understood. One can live life so fully in its completeness, in its totality.’

‘ ENLIGHTENMENT is that state of being so mature and unshakable by any circumstance. Come what may, nothing can rob the smile from your heart. Not identifying with limited boundaries and feeling "all that exists in this universe belongs to me," this is enlightenment.’

‘OUR breath plays a very important role. The breath is the connecting link between the inner world of the mind and the outer world of body and environment. You see, there are seven levels of existence, body, mind, intellect, memory, ego and being. Meditation works by bringing an effort from the level of being to the mind. With the breath we bring this effect to the physical level as well.’

‘LET it be. If the ego is there, just embrace it, take it.’

’FEAR is egocentric. Worship is the only way to let go of the fear. In worship you say, "It's all you, and you, and you.’

‘OUR ego wants to do something that is very difficult. The ego is not ready to accept something simple, something natural, something that is easily available. The nature of the ego is to do difficult things, not simple ones’

‘THE Divine is not an object of the ego. It doesn't demand from you something that is impossible for you. You don't have to do something that you cannot do. No need for that at all.’

’WHEN the ego dissolves, all discomforts go away with the ego. Discomfort is not because of "something;" it is because of ego -- a separated-ness.’

‘THE direction of life is towards one thing: that is love. You be prosperous and have no love, that prosperity has no value. You are on spiritual path but you don't experience, then that spiritual path is no path, it is very dry: it's all up here.’

‘THE secret is hidden somewhere very deep, and that is what we can call the Divine Love -- that love which is so total, which is so complete, and which is so fulfilling.’

’LOVE, the Divine Love, everyone is looking for such a love that never dies. As time goes it seems to be dying out. You see? Love dies out as time goes. But we are looking for some love that stands the time -- the old, ancient, strong, powerful Love.’

‘WHEN we express love too much, then also it disappears, dies out. It's like when you keep the seed on the surface of the soil, not a little deep inside, it doesn't grow.’

‘THE purpose of every practice -- spiritual practice, meditation, breathing techniques, and kriya, all this -- is to uncover something that blocks the expression of Divine Love.



Jai Gurudev,
The folowing Sutras, Compliments of:

R.Praveenji



Desire for Happiness

Your desire for pleasure or happiness makes you
unhappy. You examine---whenever you are miserable or
unhappy, behind that is your wanting to be happy.



Become Free

Before this earth eats you up, become free---free from
this feverishness that is gripping your mind, free
from
this craving for happiness.



Unlimited Joy

Your mind is not reasy for limitations. It wants
unlimited joy, unlimited pleasure---which the five
sense cannot give you.



Love Does n't Stay

Everyone loves in this world.Everything loves. But
that love does n't stay too long as love. It
immediately becomes hatred, almost immediately. But
yoga is that skill, that preservative, that maintains
that love as love throughout.



Wrapping Paper

Mind is that cover that is holding the Divine, the
Divinity within us. Once that wrapping paper is
unwrapped, you find, "Oh, this beautiful gift is here
within us!" You know, it's like everyone is given a
Christmas package, a beautiful package, and they live
with the beautiful without even opening it.


Eliminate the Cause

Eliminate the cause, the very root of negativity in
us. Instead of rubbing the mind with a positive
thought, go deep into yourself through the breath,
through meditation, and cleaning the system.


Belonging

You can't cultivate the "sense of belonging". You drop
the stresses and fear---it comes in. You already
belong to this entire existence. You 're not separate.



Mind is a Field

Mind is not just in one location. Mind is a field,
like
an electric field. Like an electromagnetic field, it's
present all over.



Garbage Collectors

A master does n't need any favor from you. He just
could take all that anguish and garbage which you
cannot lift by yourself, free you from that. All
enlightened masters on this planet are garbage
collectors. They do nothing other than collect the
garbage.



Suffering

Suffering is a product of limited knowledge.




You Think You Know

You think you know the world and "This is it". That is
the biggest problem. This is not just one world; there
are many layers in this world.



Only You

One one lever there are individuals everybody is
different---they 're young, old, intelligent, wise,
dull and all types. One one level we have different
types, but on a deeper level there is only you. Only
you, nothing else.


Longing

When you give a space, the longing in you increases,
whether it is for your spouse,or for God, or for
Guru---whatever. And when there is longing, your love
becomes really strong,powerful,unshakeable.



Partial Knowledge

Shadows appear very big, much bigger than you, but
they have no existence. Smaller the light, bigger the
shadow appears. If it is total darkness, then also
there is no shadow. So partial knowledge,a partial
light,partial vision,brings the shadow. And it makes
the shadow appear very huge, very big. But know it is
just a shadow.



Forgiveness

Forgiveness shield and protects your mind, your
spirit,
from being violent.



Just Happening - Surrender


You are a happening in this ocean of consciousness.
Your heart beats by itself; you're not making it beat.
Your breath moves by itself, sleep comes, you feel
hunger, you feel thirsty, you feel good, you feel bad.
All these phenomenon are happening in your life. When
this realization comes, a deep relaxation, a trust, a
feeling of "at home" and fullness arises in you. That
is surrender.



Nothing to lose


What are you afraid of ? What do you think you will
lose ? Just wake up and see you have nothing to lose
in the first place ! And, even if you think you have
something, how long can you hold on to it ?



Surrender is Not

Surrender is not an act. It's not again and again
trying to bow down and say, "Oh, I am surrendering,
I am surrendering." Saying that to yourself a hundred
times---that is not surrender.



Surrender Is

Open your hands up---that is surrender. It is your
very nature.



God is Not

God is not the object of sight; you can never see
God. God is not an object of hearing. God is not an
object of smelling or tasting. God cannot be perceived
through your senses, nor through the mind.


God Is

God is the Seer himself. Who sees---that is God.



Seeing God

You can live God. You can be God. But you cannot
"see" God, perceive God as an Object

Woman and rape

Had a chance to view a play recently. Pali Bhupinder well known theatre personality and playwright was the man and the pen behind this play. The play revolved around the issue of child rape and pain revolving around this issue. Sadly the play turned out be the oft repeated regressive Indian male psyche though the author of the play differs with me till date.
As usual the play had this mentally tormented girl Rose who at a school going age is raped by a much elderly man. To escape the social stigma and pain Rose's family shifts to a new place but Rose grows up to be a complex personality. She is pursued relentlessly by a boy belonging to a rich powerful politician family. Finally Rose relents to the boys request to marry her but on the condition that he be told about her rape. True to a filmy style the boy says it is not her fault but his Mom objects. Suddenly the play turned around with the rapist of Rose turning out to be the boys Father. Both the boy and his mother break their relationship with the rapist man and agree to wed Rose and make her their Bahu.
Brave ending and the play received many a congratulations.
But as a woman I fail to understand two things. How long will we contiue to make rape something much more than physical violation. I personally feel much a problems related to female sexuality can be solved if we women stop attatching so much importance to it. Why in the entire play had Rose to feel ,'shrapit,' condemned through out her life and why does she have to feel redeemed only after another male tells her that Rape is not her fault. All this when in these times we talk of women empowerment. Rose's balance in life comes after she gets married. One male rapes her and another tells her that it is not her fault. Where is Rose in all this and where is her inner strength. Can't Rose empower her own self? Does she need to get married just to prove that being raped is not her fault?