Sahaja Yoga - Pathway to serenity!!

Sahaja Yoga - Pathway to serenity!!

A few weeks back,I attended a Sahaja Yoga session organized by "Young Professionals Network" ,a committee for professionals, as the name suggests in my organization.
I have learnt a few meditative practices including ART of living(basics),simple meditation,traditional yoga.Though I practice yoga regularly,I could not really bring myself upto meditating daily due to lack of time and interest...So I just thought of attending this session for a new experience and learning.It takes just 5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes in the night and you are ready to embark into a divine journey..

Sahaja Yoga is a method of meditation which brings a breakthrough in the evolution of human awareness. It was created by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi in 1970 and has since spread all around the world.
Sahaja Yoga is different from the other types of Yoga because it begins with Self Realization instead of this being the unobtainable dream of a distant goal.
When the foetus is about 2 to 3 months old in the mother's womb, columns of rays of consciousness emitted through the all pervading power of Divine Love, pass through the brain to enlighten it. The shape of the brain being prism-like, the column of rays falling on it gets refracted into four diverse channels corresponding to the four aspects of the nervous system. They are (see the section on Chakras and Channels):

Sympathetic nervous system - right side


Sympathetic nervous system - left side


Parasympathetic nervous system


Central nervous system

The subtle energy enters through the centers in the brain and precipitates on its way to six more centers called chakras. The residual energy then settles down in three and a half coils in the triangular bone placed at the end of the spinal cord (sacrum bone), known as Kundalini. The fundamental of this living force is self-organization, self-regeneration and ascent. Through self-organization it sustains and protects. Self-regeneration is its innate ability to renew, heal, balance and recycle. Ascent is its capacity to transcend the mind and myth and attain collective consciousness."

Courtesy : http://www.sahajayoga.org/whatissy

A Visit to Anurag Homes - Another day in Paradise!!

I experienced another moment of truth at Anurag Homes Services on 27^th March’10.

It was a sunny morning of 27^th March’2010 when we started our journey with a couple of colleagues from office.It took us around ½ an hour to reach the venue.On entering the building, a lady approached us from whom we learnt some interesting facts about this place. She was one of the teachers who has been imparting education to the special children (mentally challenged) for some time now.

Anurag Homes Service was founded in 1990 by a person named Jaya Thakur Madhav .It initially started off with only 15 members and currently gives shelter to  55 special children and 25 old aged people aged 6 to 60 years.

These children also goto a school specially setup to provide training in  color concepts,body parts,shapes,money concepts, speech therapy,etc.They also have vocational courses for students aged 18 years and above teaching candle, phenyl  making,Book binding,Tailoring,carry bags,greeting cards,etc to enable them to earn names for themselves.

We were then introduced to Rama , the warden of the place who informed us that the home gets its donations through sponsorships from organisations, adoptions and sale of the items made by the students at various places, the cost of adopting 1 child being 12k for a year.They also have arrangements for a psychiatrist visiting the children every 2^nd 4^th Saturdays. Their IQ’s are also being tested on a regular basis.

Rama took us to the rooms where the children and old aged people reside.As we were heading towards the kitchen, we found 1 thin frail man sitting on a sofa...Seeing us he greeted us with folded hands on a smiling face but a long prevalent sorrow was clearly visible in the sad eyes.We entered the dining hall and kitchen after that.We met 2 cheerful ladies named Vijaylakshmi and Ratna who have been cooking food for 125 people for 5 years now!!

Finally,we stepped into the big hall where all the residents of Anurag Home were waiting eagerly for us.The plan was to celebrate birthdays of the children of the home and dance with them .We were introduced to Giri(fondly known as “Babai”) , a mentally challenged individual ,around 55 years of age.He seemed to be extremely delighted to see us and won our hearts with a warm smile and hand shake. We made him cut the cake and served refreshments to everyone. The happy emotions and radiance were clearly visible on everyone’s face!!

The next event to follow was dance.One of our colleagues had brought a couple of cds .The moment he started playing them the magic began.The enthusiasm and spirit with which these kids danced was mind-blowing. Its only when you come across such people that you can truly experience this great feeling of being happy with small things of life!!

After an hour of sweat,a  song contest began where the participant would be awarded with a chocolate.We encountered a couple of great singers (Bunny,Shahrukh)who picked up tunes ranging from “Chaiyaa Chaiyaa” to “Aaati kya khandala”.They made the atmosphere highly pleasant with their liveliness.

And finally it was time to bid adieu to the home and we again had 1 more day of our lives worth remembering and cherishing.

Holi 2010 at Old Age Home – Amberpet (Hyderabad)

I had always felt the eagerness to visit an old age home to experience
how they manage their lives when we complain about it most of the times
despite all the worldly pleasures. I had got a couple of opportunities
in the past but due to my laziness, I couldn’t pull myself up to fulfil
it.
And finally while working for Bank of America, Hyderabad, my process
gave way to another opportunity and I strongly made up my mind to make it at any cost.
On Sat,27th Feb,2010 at around 9 AM, I headed to office from where a
couple of my office mates would accompany me to the destination. We
started our journey in an office colleague’s car after loading all the
boxes to be given to the old age home residents as aids from the
organisation. On the way, we picked up his 2 little daughters who the
most were thrilled to set off.
The place was around 30 kms away from office and we literally struggled
to find the right way out since it was pretty much in the interiors. At
last 2 of our other office friends who had arrived there already
tracked us out on the way and led us to this place.
We all gathered at the reception hall where 2 of our colleagues who are
dedicatedly associated with this organisation and the warden of this
home familiarised us with a brief overview of this place. We learnt
that the contribution from the govt is bare minimum and a monthly
pension of scarcely 200/- is being provided only to the handicapped
residents of this home and only Rs.75 per person for purchasing basic
necessities. Here I must make a point that these 2 gentlemen have been
providing free medicines on a monthly basis and visiting them
frequently. That’s why they say that you can find GOD in human
beings!!!
It was time that we explored this place .There were 3 floors and we
began with the ground floor. I entered the 1st room and came across 3
ladies there. They would have been in their late 70’s and were decked
up in their best knowing that we were coming to see them .There were 3
iron beds and a bunch of trunks where I guess they would keep their
valuables. Sleeping on iron beds leaving the comforts of home at this
age!!!How miserable that can be!!!
We learnt from these ladies that they have been pushed to this place
due to reasons like children disowning them to son-in-law unwilling to
accommodate them. A thin frail lady sitting on her bed. On approaching
her, she informed that her son had brought her here due to unknown
reasons and now he is no more.Inspite of such pains, we could still
find smile on their faces .They were pleased that at least they could
recount their sorrow and pain to someone.
We then moved to the 2nd floor and stepped inside one of the rooms.

There were 3 handicapped ladies there,2 of them being blind and 1 with
a lost leg. We kept talking to them and cracked jokes to make them
happy .When we reached the 2nd room, we found 2 more blind ladies and a
polio-affected person who was trying to smile in spite of a partially
deformed face. When we asked them to narrate how they spend their
entire day, they gladly informed that radio is compulsory and they
can’t do without it. They had a small stereo kept to listen to music.1
of the ladies took out a small digital watch and communicated the time
(11:47 AM) excitedly by listening to the recording. What modest ways to
stay cheerful!!!
We then made to the topmost floor and entered another room.2 ladies
were lying on the bed and got up hurriedly sensing us inside. I used
the word “sensing” as 1 of them was blind and the other one who was
barely in her 40’s had a broken leg and could hardly sit up. They
folded their hands in gratitude that somebody had come to visit them.
The blind lady started speaking in English and we were dazzled as most
of them spoke in telugu only. She informed that she is a graduate who
used to be an office superintendent and post her blindness that was
caused due to an untimely eye infection diagnosis, she moved in here
around 15 years back. The most amazing thing to learn was that she is a
church counsellor and visits the church daily from 9-5 pm to offer her
service. She has not taken her disability as an alibi to stay back when
most of us are afraid to step out of our high comfort zones!!!
While I was chatting up with this lady, I heard a loud burst of
laughter coming from the other room. I finished my dialogue and rushed
into the other room to break into the suspense. I found a cheerful lady
well in her 70’s cracking jokes and laughing her heart out with
everyone.She asked me to settle down next to her..She was well
conversant with Hindi and Marathi. She revealed that her name was S-
Sakkubai and gave an extra importance to the S.There was this other
lady in the room who was walking on her knees.On questioning, we learnt
that she had lost her legs in a railway accident .She also informed
that her daughter was studying in the 10th and showed us her picture
as well. She also mentioned that her daughter visits her at times.
After visiting a couple of more ladies, we clicked pictures with all of
them and handed over the provisions we had brought for them..The
generous smile on their faces was deeply touching. We are seldom
content with the highly sophisticated systems in our lives but a few
basic necessities could make such a big difference to someone else’s
life!!!
The last event to follow was to celebrate holi with the home residents
and we gathered all the colors and sweets to rejoice the festival of colors. We went to every room and sprinkled colors on everyone’s face and
distributed sweets. They seemed to be the happiest as much as we were
enjoying the festivity in such a glorious manner.

It was then time for us to leave this place and all I can say is that
this was 1 of the best days of our lives , a day when we could bring smiles to a few less privileged people’s lives and be a part of their joy and distress!!!