Travelogue - The Desi Saree Story

    Just before Diwali this year, I got a call from my elder sister staying in Singapore."It's Diwali time, Let's do some Desi Saree Shopping!" she said excitedly. I was astonished at her desire and also immediately filled with what, why, how, where!

Turned out, she wanted an authentic hand-woven handloom Silk Saree and thus began The 'Desi Saree' Story...

Notes for Readers: The word 'Desi' describes the people, cultures of Indian subcontinent. a 'handloom Saree' is garment woven by hand on a pit or frame loom generally located in weavers homes and without the use of any electricity. The other kind of cloth / Saree is manufactured in Power looms. 

(File Photo)    

A Weavers Story:

     My mind immediately flashed back to my last trip to Varanasi, where we directly met weavers, showing us different varieties - Banarasi, Valkalam, Baluchari, Jamawar and many more.

            

    I remembered one weaver who brought boxes of his handwoven Sarees and just on opening the box we felt these were not the kind of colours we were looking for, so we asked him to close the box to save him the trouble of opening and again folding so many Sarees. We were totally taken aback when he said "It does not hurt to fold the Sarees over and over again and again, but it does hurt when you choose not to even take a look at our work. It takes 15 to 30 days to weave a single Saree with intricate work. At least take a look, if you don't like anything, no worries, but if you do like and buy something, this will help light the stove in our homes". 

    Notes for Readers: India produces roughly 85 per cent of the world's handwoven products, Handloom is one of the largest employment providers in our country after agriculture. While power looms have replaced handlooms the world over, they live on in India.

Where do I find the authentic handwoven Sarees?

    I was aware of the challenges being faced by weavers, but the question was how to reach them! I needed a single shop sourcing all varieties of Sarees from authentic weavers across India, and soon a perfect answer came up! Of course! The Madhurya Shop, from Weaver to Wearer! Link: Madhurya

Travelogue - Sri Sri Omkareshwar Ashram

       Super Excited to share with you all that, with this post today, I am starting my 'Travelogue Series', where I will be sharing about my amazing travel experiences, unique features & specialisations of the places I visit!

My first post in this series is about The Art of Living Omkareshwar Ashram (closest city Indore, Madhya Pradesh),

spread across 16 acres of land, a stay capacity for about 100 people, a Heritage school with 22 Veda boys studying ancient literature, a Gaushala (Cow Shed), situated on the most beautiful banks of River Narmada. 

Invite you to share your own experiences in Comments section below! Happy Reading.....

    

Bringing you 5 Interesting Facts about this ashram:

1. About River Narmada: Did You Know, that... 

• The Ramayan and The Mahabharata mention the river Narmada as 'Reva'. Religiously, it is referred to as a Virgin River, Brahmacharini Narmada, who never married.
• Narmada is the longest west-flowing river, rising near the Amarkantak range of mountains in Madhya Pradesh, meets the Gulf of Cambay, trumpet shaped Gulf of Arabian Sea.
• Narmada is the only river which has the tradition of Parikrama (circumambulated) from the source to sea and back; a challenging and incredible journey of 2,600kms
• a sighting of River Narmada is considered by locals as equivalent to a bath in River Ganges.
• Lastly, as per mythological legend, River Ganga comes once every year to Narmada to cleanse its own sins.

      Narmada Jayanti every year witnesses a beautiful celebration, not to be missed.

2. Proximity to Jyotirling: 

    This Ashram is only 10kms away from the 'Jyotirling Omkareshwar' and hence the name, this is one of the 12 revered Jyotirling shrines of Shiva, on the island Mandhata (Khandwa district, Madhya Pradesh, India); Needless to say, the pulsating positive magnetic vibrations of the location, help us naturally slip into deep states of meditations.

        Did You Know... the shape of the island Mandhata is said to be like the Devanagari ॐ symbol and hence the name Om-Aakaar-Eshwar (Omkareshwar means the Lord of the Om Sound). 

3. Three Banyam Trees at same location:

         The Ashram houses a 200 year old Banyan Tree - Actually THREE huge Banyan trees and it is said that the passer by saints say these trees are symbolic of Trinity or 'Brahma Vishnu and Mahesh'. 

        Did You Know... that The Banyan tree is considered as the symbol of immortality. It has aerial roots that grow down from its branches forming additional trunks and anchor the tree to the ground, therefore this tree is also known as 'Bahu pada' (the one with several feet). A rare sight to find 3 Huge Banyan Trees at one Spot, and a beautiful experience to sit and meditate below these auspicious trees. On a lighter note, this is also a very good spot for photographs😁😉

4. Swayambhu Linga:

           All the pebbles in the Narmada river bed are said to take the shape of Lord Shiva's emblem (the Shivlinga) with the saying, "Narmada Ke Kanker utte Shankar", which means that "pebble stones of Narmada, get a personified form of Shiva‟. These lingam shaped stones called 'Banalinga' are much sought after for daily worship.

        

Did You Know... that Banalinga is also called the 'Swayambhu Linga' meaning Self-existent mark or sign of God, as it is discovered in the shape of a Linga in Nature, it is not carved or crafted by human hands. Har Har Narmade!

    When Gurudev went to Omkareshwar, he blessed one such linga and a Rudra Puja is performed on the ShivLinga every Monday. It is said that a Pran-Pratishtha Pooja(bringing idol to life) was not done for this ashram ShivLinga as it was already Jagrut (Carrying High prana or energy). You sure can feel this divine presence, simply by sitting with ur eyes closed inside this Open temple, under the Banyan tree.

5. Heritage School: 

    With the vision to maintain Vaidic tradition for the generations to come, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji established the first Heritage Veda School in Bangalore in 1981. Here, the students learn both Vedas and Science. Omkareshwar ashram is home for one such Heritage school with 22 children. (Link: Sri Sri Gurukul Omkareshwar)

       Did you Know... Interestingly, Omkareshwar is said to be the place where Adi Shankaracharya met his Guru Govinda Bhagvatpada in a cave on the banks of river Narmada. This cave can be found even today just below the Jyotirling temple where an image of Adi Shankara has been installed. Watching the small children learning their sanskrit chants, dressed in dhoti-angvastra sure makes it a surreal experience, its like reliving the times when Adi Shankara actually walked this exact path to find his own Guru.

Many more local stories, amazing Narmada Aarti, overall make The Art of Living Omkareshwar Ashram a 'must visit'. The Spiritual Energy here is Unmissable. 

        'Ashram' in Sanskrit means 'without effort or toil', a place where you can effortlessly drop all mental baggage, all fears, insecurities and attain deep rest. Omkareshwar Ashram brings you this exact experience and in an absolutely effortless manner making the visit totally worth its while!

To Know More about my next Program at Omkareshwar Ashram: Link for All Programs

Have you been to the The Art of Living Omkareshwar Ashram

Do share your own experiences of visit in comments section below! Wishing Good Health & Happiness for all...!

ReDefine your 'Family'

#MemoriesForLife

Pankaj ji's participation in the Art of Living Teachers Training Program (TTP) in 1997 completely changed his life and later also changed mine! Below is picture from last day of Pankaj ji's Teachers Training Program.

Nitin bhaiya would visit our home very often, travelling from Gujarat to Bangalore would always include a stopover at Mumbai. I remember one such trip in June 1999, we were at V.T. station, bhaiya had boarded the train and he looked at me and said "mai next week Bangalore ashram me TTP le raha hoon; Pankaj tum ek kaam karo, isko (pointing towards me) bhej do". He instructed and I went! Thats it!

I had already been organising and assisting basic courses week after week, had already been listening to knowledge series back to back. I only needed a train ticket, which got confirmed at the last minute (like it always does for many of us, especially when we are going to Bangalore ashram).

I reached ashram and was asked "Do u have the TTP form"; I had never even seen any TTP form. I remember I had said

What are you afraid of?

It had been 5 weeks since Pankaj ji left for his heavenly abode & I went to sleep that night with a feeling of unfathomable loneliness and immeasurable sadness in my heart!

 "What are you Afraid of"? I saw my Spiritual Guru looking at me with a lot of concern in his eyes.

            "What are you Afraid of?" HE asked again. 

"Guruji I am very scared right now. I have so many questions and nothing makes sense; I see complete darkness ahead, and don't know what to do;"

       "But Why are you afraid when I have always been there with you holding your hand"

And at this point I woke up; sitting up straight on my bed I started wondering, Was it a dream? But it felt so real, as if Gurudev was right by my side.

That same day I went to see my beloved Nitin bhaiya(The world knew him as Rishi Nityapragyaji)

        NItin bhaiya looked at me and asked me the exact same question that I had dreamt about Gurudev asking me just the previous night "What are you afraid of?"

A Whole New World!

On 28 Sept 2021, the world around me came to a stand still!

We all have a focal point in our lives; A husband, parent, sibling, a loved one- for whom we wake up in the morning; For whom we manage to accomplish seemingly impossible tasks, one for whom we think and care more than we think and care about ourselves! 

One day, in a split of a moment - the focal point, the most important person in our lives is Gone! and we are left without an anchor; Left with a feeling like being pushed off a cliff without wings; Left with a bottomless pit of grief in our hearts.

We all have had moments like these where Nothing makes sense. A blank! A Dead End.

And THEN, we do see a ray of hope. A dim light, a reminder! a thought about the reason why we exist. a push to find the purpose of our own existence.

Today I had this exact experience and am prompted to write down this post at this late hour only as a way to ensure that I don't change my mind at the end of this dark night.

This post comes to share about the ReStart of my most favourite hobby of writing posts about my inner most feelings, experiences and learnings!

This blog will once again bring you sharing's about Leaps of Faith, about struggles, challenges and about survival and Hope.

Your support and encouragement, your views and thoughts - mean a lot!

Look forward to exploring together a Whole New World.  

In Gratitude, Luckshmi

9 Mindless Acts that Yoga & Meditation Practitioners Do!

Sometimes regular Yoga and Meditation practitioners do fall into patterns that we are not necessarily aware of!

Have listed here 9 mindless acts that I have seen people around me do; This blogpost is Just for Laughs, and It's not about Right or Wrong - It's just about being more aware of our own mind, our thoughts and acts. Please feel free to add your own special moments, in the comments section!

9. Avidya (ignorance) becomes most prominent when we go shopping. We are always on a look out for that perfect Yoga attire - one more kurta, white t-shirt, new tights, t-back, and the list adds on! -- Not enough space to keep my clothes? Ok! Lets buy a new cupboard (but the shopping cannot stop!) All this without realising that Yoga was never about external appearances, it has more to do with the space of one's mind, the contentment with what we have! Well, such is life!

8. When everyone around is knocked out and into a deep state of meditation during Rudra Pooja chanting(especially in the beautiful Vishalkshi Mantap in AOL Bangalore Ashram - you suddenly hear the loud bhastrika! and you want to stop being so peace-loving and want to go give that person a piece of your mind! Its truly Mindless, but Never Mind! 

7. Has it happened with you that just 2 days before an event - your main organiser vanishes for doing an Advance course(Silence retreat)?! People in this category are always Found with Eyes Closed: In a train, at an airport, at home, in office, just before start of a Social gathering, on the Mountain top after a trek, or when any urgent matter needs to be discussed - M E D I T A T I N G!

6. Aparigraha (Non-Accumulation) while on vacation, Really?: Where ever we go, our Yoga Mat and meditation chair and cushion and shawl and bottle of water and pillow and walking shoes and maybe also blanket goes with us! Else How will I do my Sadhana, my practice? The list of things we carry around might vary - but the point is- why is it so difficult to just be with ourselves without any supplementaries! Is Yoga really about ropes and bricks? Is Sadhana really dependant on musical instruments - any true practitioner will tell you it is not!

5. In front of every nice picturesque place- while everyone else is enjoying nature at its best - what do we do?? In Open Public places, We want to take a picture with a Yoga Pose! Will it be a Vrukshasan and a VeerBhadrasan? 
We become mindless of the Seer! - for now its the scenery thats important...

  
4. Remember that moment when there is tons of place in the room, but someone comes and puts their mat right Next to yours!! And You Suddenly want to stop your practice and just want to push their mat away!! (this one just had to be a part of my list )

3. When you talk to a dear friend about a situation in your life and the friend listens to one sentence and gives you 20mins Gyaan (knowledge).

This one is not always Mindless - I remember once a highly experienced teacher whilst showing me how to do Sheershasan using a rope- looked at my totally terrified face and had shouted at me, 'You have so much abhinivesha'!
(Abhinivesha in Patanjali YogaSutras is one of the 5 Sufferings / Kleshas. Abhinivesha  in its thickest form is fear and in its most diluted form is care) 
While he could have easily said, you are so scared, he chose to remind me in that moment of knowledge that was most applicable; and this reminder had also taught me to let life hang on to trust and faith rather than hanging onto concrete walls of concepts!

2. Have seen many Practitioners fall for Bhranti Darshan or Illusion! One can get pulled into this net without realising it! 
A person once came to Guruji feeling totally elated and said 'I have discovered who I am? I have seen the light that I am. Today while meditating, the light came out of my 3rd eye and stood right in front. I had a long conversation and got an answer to all my questions, I am very very happy."
Guruji laughed and said, 'Tell me something, if the light that came out of your body was YOU, then WHO was the one sitting in you and asking all those questions?"
Excess information, without practical application, or half knowledge gathered without proper guidance can led one into this net.

1. This one tops my list because its undoubtedly the most mindless act happening these days.

Remember waiting for one glance from your Guru / Master, waiting for that one moment that can transform my life completely?! ...and then suddenly there are mobile phones coming right in between you and your Master - because these days, more than meeting your Master, proof of the meet is important. After all its the photographs that get Likes on Fb, who cares about Transformation!

When Gurudev spoke about Guru-Mandala he mentioned people and situations, hey how come he never warned about the demon called 'mobile phone'!

The List would be longer for you all... Let's Learn, Laugh and Move On! 

After all, Life is all about Evolution, and Moving forwards is not about right or wrong - its all about New Learnings!

Shoes For the Soul: Learning’s from My 1st Trek

The Word “trek’ would mostly only have reminded me of the television Series ‘Star Trek”. Never ever had I visualised even in my wildest dreams ‘an actual, real, on foot’ trek up a mountain-top at a height of 1600 feet (490 metres) above sea level. Sharing 6 Life Transforming Lessons learnt on my 1^st Trek:

(Original Pictures from Trek in July 2017 to Sarasgad Fort, Maharashtra)

We started from the foothill at Pali Village (Raigad, Maharashtra) on our way up to Sarasgad Fort. First step onwards was an upward climb on a hilly terrain, in the mild drizzling rain.

1.  Well Begun is truly Half Done: 
        My biggest lesson was, Planning and Prior-preparation helps give a good kick start to an upward climb. Good to have at least one person along whom you trust fully. It's also a great help to join the company of people who are explorers on the path, but more knowledgeable than you.
        Be sure to make prior arrangements for atleast the known or predictable challenges ahead. For Eg. For a trek, prepare with good walking shoes; carry a haversack with minimal necessities like enough water, Glucon D, and some biscuit packets; maybe also a lightweight raincoat.

    The key is to travel light without any baggages (physical and emotional) and this gives a good kick start on  any uphill climb.

 2. On Every Difficult Path - There is No Substitute for Experience:

        the most important element was the presence of an experienced professional trekker who would help and guide at every complicated step of the climb. The trek leader asked us to either follow his exact foot steps, or, to place the next step forward, check if the foot is stable and then transfer our body weight on the front foot and lift the back leg. A technique that was most helpful through out.

        A Guru or teacher in our lives does exactly the same – sees a pathway where we cannot see one and guides us on every single step in our lives.

3. We find Our Best Friend and also Our Worst Enemy in Ourselves:

    All the way Up and Down the mountain, we were all in a single line. Even though, we are in a group, yet on an uphill climb, it's each to his own. One single person slipping downward would also mean throwing all remaining people behind him / her off balance.
    On a challenging path & in critical situations, opinions and judgements of other people don't matter at all. In the end, one's own mind can either be one's best friend or worst enemy. Win Over Your Mind and you can win the whole world!

4.  Letting go of knowledge about myself, helped discover a new 'me':
        On a Mountain trek, Nothing beyond the last 3 steps and next 3 steps existed in the world. No matter how big a worry or fear or anxiety might fill one's mind and heart, we cannot but keep your mind in the present moment and focus only on the immediate next step.  

        In life, just incase the tried and tested Meditation techniques are not appealing or working for you, go for a Trek. A Trek is as good as a 6 hour ‘Open Eye Meditation’, literally! 

    End of a long trek, the resultant satisfaction, sense of accomplishment, inner quiet and contentment is unparalleled. It changes the way we see ourselves and what we think we can do and cannot do!

5. Crossing Your Threshold: Its all Mind Over Matter:

        I am quite a fitness-freak, but still, nothing could have prepared me for the physical exhaustion that comes from climbing upwards continuously for couple of hours. At One point, I felt totally out of breath, throat parched, my sugar levels really dropped and I felt cold sweat on my forehead. 

        My legs were shaky from exhaustion. I felt unsure about going on. At this point, a dear friend said ‘Take a sort break and then continue. And Don’t worry, once you have crossed your own threshold, then you will be fine through out the remaining trek’. AND TRULY that is how it was! After this I even climbed 111 steps of more than 2 height each, without any problem whatsoever.

    This is true even in our lives. Once we manage to cross the maximum-known threshold of a seemingly impossible situation, then the problem ceases to exist completely.

6. We Take back Only Pictures, We Leave back Only Our FootPrints:
        Our Main Guide on the trek, Hitendra Patel, was ONE Consciousness “with the pathway, with the mountain, with the group”. In the Spiritual World, He would easily be referred to as a ‘true Yogi’. I was telling my friend at the end of the trek, ‘Remove this one person from the trek and it will all not be the same’.

        When even One person believes fully in a cause or a life path, then his consciousness is able to carry many other people along, up a mountain with total safety. Belief of the leader and willingness of the followers – truly helps Scale Mountains!

        An unbelievable experience, this 1st trek was followed by many more and each experience was extremely fulfilling because ultimately on completion of any challenging climb we leave back only our footprints and take back only memories!

Do share about your own trekking experiences and learnings from the same, in comments section below! Look forward to hearing from you all.

India, As I See it : Floods in Mumbai

Most of us would remember that Mumbai was flooded on 26th July 2005.

That morning I was in dadar market, out shopping with my mother.

2:00 pm: 

The 2 lane streets were filling up with water and my Mom and I felt, it was time to start moving homewards, only to avoid an excessive flow of evening traffic.

3:30 pm: 

We walked without finding a single taxi. We soon heard that the local trains had stopped because of the increased water level on the railway tracks; Offices were closing down early to help people get back home to safety.

4:30pm: 

We had walked 2.8kms and reached Mahim Church. By then, we were part of an ocean of people, moving in a single direction.

Each one walking with a single thought, “How will I get back home today?”

Traffic had come to a standstill.

Mobile signals were jammed; All around we saw scores of people, each one moving an inch at a time. 

5.45pm: 

We had slowly but gradually walked 4.4kms and reached bandra. My mother moved homewards and I moved on towards my destination in santacruz.

I was on my own.

Finding Cinderella

As kids, we have all enjoyed reading Fairy Tales and fantasised growing up and living a Magic-filled life in a Palace and also imagined living with Step-Mom's not 'Real-Moms'.

Is there a possibility that even today, we can find a Cinderella or a Snow White in our own lives.

Sharing 3 experiences, where I was able to connect to one or more Fairy Tale Characters:

Cinderella 

Once, as part of preparation for a birthday party, my elder Sister had kept everything ready for me: my outfit, accessories, shoes, handbag, my hair-do was planned, nail paint at the best nail-art gallery. 

I looked my very "best" in every sense of the word.

After the party, little tired and very happy, as I got into my worn-out pyjamas, bundled up my hair into a untidy bun, thinking about how my nail-paint would wear off after I got home, I laughed out loud and said "Oh! This is such a 'Cinderella-like Moment'. From princess to pauper when clock strikes twelve".

My sister retorted immediately, "Whats wrong about being Cinderella! She found her Prince at the end of the story".

A very positive thought indeed! 

We are able to connect to stories because the characters share challenges faced by each one of us. 

In a world where we are constantly battling between our free-will and destiny, stories can provide inspiration and positivity even in the most dire circumstances and help keep our hopes alive. 

Never Mind whether I am Cinderella or not, my Sister is most certainly the Best Fairy-God-Mother anyone could ever find.

Snow White

I recently encountered a challenge whereby no matter what I did, it was impossible to please a select group of people in a particular city who thought I was intruding in "their territory" and thus stepping on their feet.

3 Ways of dealing with all Champoos in this World

During my recent travel, I met an extremely irritating, rude character, who thought he was the only smart Alec alive on planet Earth blessed with rights to insult everyone around, irrespective of their age, sex and experience.

I gave this character a Nickname: Mr.Champoo Champiwaala. This world has many Champoo-like characters, only the names and faces change.

(The character depicted above is Ralph Wiggum from 'The Simpsons')

It angered me great extents that every lie repeated by Champoo more than 3 times was believed to be 'the ultimate truth'; while the honest ones had to sit silently and tolerate insult. Champoo got away with spending money collected for a good cause like it was his father's legacy, while he conveniently turned away deserving creditors as cheaters.

Meeting any Champoo can be a terribly unpleasant and unsettling experience. Here are my 3 ways of dealing with these extremely irritating characters:

Become Mr. Champoo's AEI (pronounced as आई ). 
(आई is Mother)

(This Blog does not support spanking of children; 

The Cartoon above is not to be taken literally and is only used for representative depiction)

A: Act

I once witnessed an incident where Champoo insulted a 60 year old and brought tears to this man’s eyes and all the ‘Good-hearted Pandavaas’ sat around and watched in silence.

Whether it is hurtful behaviour of a friend or horrid dominating in-laws; Whether it is rudeness of a government employee or getting cheated by a shopkeeper: "ACT": Don't sit quite, Do something;

This is not about 'Moral-Policing'; 

The Only 2 Questions to ask are:

Finding Aladdin's Magic Lamp

As children, we were all mesmerised by the story of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp.

The thought has surely crossed my mind several times 'Oh! I wish I had the Genie and the Magic Lamp'

But Wait!! 

Many of my wishes do come true; I think about something and BINGO!!! my seemingly impossible wish comes true. Some wishes simply don't materialise; Whats the secret! 

Does each ONE OF US have an Invisible MAGIC LAMP ALREADY thats simply waiting to be discovered.

Lets see if we can find our Magic Lamp. Lets Say….

• Each one of us is Aladdin, who is born with inherent skills but not the means for gaining access to grand results that we refer to as 'Magic'.

• My Mind, Intellect, Memory and Ego act as the Evil Magician. These inner faculties lead to the cave and thus help find my Inner Magic and they also lead me to judge, bring mistrust, remind me of past events when I failed, tell me grand results are not possible and thus cheat me into believing that I am a 'nobody' and I can achieve nothing.