Centenary Birthday Remembrance

Shri S.B. Mani Iyer.

D.O.B.23/09/1919 D.O.D. 12.07.1985

Dear Appa,

You are the inspiring force who keeps me growing and going. Being known as Mani Iyer’s son is the highest accreditation in my life. Grateful to you for whatever I am today you had enriched my life with good ethics and morals which you personified in your life.

I still remember your words of advice during the initial years of my career, “Life is not about what you know it is about what you do not know.”

Whenever I come across disappointments in life I am reminded of your words “Let go of the past, accept the present and have faith in what the future holds”.

Your Mantra of life செய்யும் தொழிலே தெய்வம் (Work is Worship) and you were a living example for it.

I am happy that I could imbibe some of your good qualities and in the process grown gracefully. You are alive in my heart and will always be there. It is your centenary birthday so Pranaams to you and as always, I seek your blessings.

M.Gopalakrishnan

Sikh Community Is Very Dear To Me: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar On #DilSeSewa Telethon

While speaking at the #DilSeSewa telethon, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Founder, The Art Of Living Foundation said that 'Sewa' is part of almost all traditions in the world. He added that the Sikh community which is known for its langars considers 'Sewa' as a very sacred act. He also highlighted the crisis faced by the daily wage workers who lost their livelihood during the COVID-19 lockdown and added that providing food to the hungry also provides reassurance to them that there are people out there who care for them and they are not alone.

Gurupurnima 2020 Guruji's Message.

Guru Purnima is a day when the seeker revises his journey. He reviews his journey from, what he has experienced in life and how many hurdles he has faced and crossed. 

For a Seeker this is the day to review, re-dedicate and then rejoice in gratitude. These are the 3 things that Guru Purnima brings to you. The celebration is for re-dedication and rejoicing in gratitude

Every seeker have 3 modes that he goes through:

The first mode is pashu-bhava – the Basic Instinct.

The sadhak (seeker) wants to satisfy his basic instinct, his needs, to get rid of his misery, so he becomes a sadhak. A sadhak is seeking to be free, to get liberated. Liberated from what? From misery and lack. Lack and misery are what one wants to be free from. One wants to experience abundance. This you know when there is someone to take care of you, when there is the power, the divine, who is taking care of you. This Faith is pashu-bhava. It is the basic mode.

The first mode is confidence that there is someone who is taking care of my needs. I am concerned about my needs, right? When you know there is someone who is providing for you, then you are relax, you have comfort. If you have a dog at home, a horse, or other animals, the animals know their master is there and the master will provide for them. There is confidence and a certain loyalty for the master. That loyalty and confidence is the first mode of sadhak.

The second mode is veera-bhava –  Valor and Conviction 

The second mode of sadhak is vira-bhava or invoking the Valour within you. Life poses many challenges where things get shattered. In these moments, your confidence get shattered. You start doubting your own abilities. You start doubting your progress. You start doubting yourself and everybody else, which is a reflection of your own self-doubt.

When these turmoil come, when these arise in you, when you have the valour of ‘I will go through this. I will I will come out of it successfully. I will achieve this. Come what may,’ invoking that valour is the second mode of the seeker.

The first is Confidence and Faith. The second mode is Conviction and Valour to move on the path. ‘I will go through, come what may.’

The third mode is Divya Bhava – The Divine Power

And then the last one, the Divine power, when you feel total oneness with the divinity. Sacrifice and dedication in vira-bhava lead you to Divya-bhava, which is divinity.

What is divinity? It is when you see that everything is a game. The whole universe is just a play and display of consciousness. You are not shaken and not moved by anything whatsoever.

Nothing can take away the purity, serenity and the love that you are.

You know sometimes, we can say we are all love but others are bad. No. In divya-bhava, you see the role of everyone else also divine, not just yours as divine. You find every single role, whatever it is, as divine, as a game, as a play. That is divya-bhava

These are the three modes a sadhak moves in life as time progresses.

 A  Message of Gratitude

It is my good fortune that brought me into this knowledge in the year 2000. Ever since I did the course my quality of life has been on a continuous improvement. I am regular in my daily sadhanas at home and rarely did I miss the weekly Sudarshan kriya until the Corona pandemic halted our weekly follow-up classes a few months ago.  As an avid reader I used to read Guruji’s knowledge through the internet.

There has been a huge transformation in me, from insipidity to energetic, from uncertainty to clarity, from conservative to open-minded and from an introvert to an extrovert the change has been very amazing. The transition from being a chain-smoker to a non-smoker was the turning point in my life.

I also learnt that one need not be restless to prove that he is dynamic. Similarly being contented is not a sign of lethargy. This knowledge helped me change my attitude towards life which in turn helped me in my day to day work enabling me to be unperturbed during times of crisis. As happens to everyone in this world I too had some hard times which I could surmount very easily with the Divine Grace of Guruji and HIS precious knowledge.  Today I am a senior citizen living a comfortable and peaceful life for which I will always be grateful to Guruji.

Now during these Covid-19 times, anxiety, fear and stress had been invading every home throughout the World. Frustration, anger, insecurity, fear, anxiety, disappointment etc., are prevalent the world over and people are finding it difficult to lead a normal life in the lockdown. Fortunately with Guruji guiding us through his online meditations twice a day and our regular practice of sadhanas we are able to handle the situation and maintain our serenity. For more than 100 days now without any discontinuity I have been enjoying Guruji’s Meditation sessions and knowledge discourses. I am grateful to Guruji for keeping me healthy, happy and content.   

I had a passion for writing and wanted to publish a magazine which got fulfilled with the help of Art of Living Faculty Sri. Durga Prasad Dashji. With his encouragement and constant support I could pursue my passion and together we created an E-Magazine in the year 2005.

We are proud to inform you that our Lighthouse E- Magazine will be completing 15 years in a couple of months. We attribute this accomplishment to the Divine blessings of Guruji that kept us going and growing. I am grateful to Guruji for the gift of the company of some brilliant individuals whom I met along this journey; all of them inspired, loved, encouraged and brought the best out of me.

With tears of gratitude flowing down my eyes, I bow down in Sashtanga Namaskaram to the lotus feet of Guruji in respect and gratitude for all those wonderful things HE has showered upon me. This Gurupurnima gives me yet another opportunity to renew my Sankalpa of spreading Guruji’s message far and wide across the World.

Seeking HIS blessings and grace as always.

Jaigurudev

Mani.Gopalakrishnan