Poem by Rumi

A lover asked his beloved,
Do you love yourself more than you love me?
Beloved replied, I have died to myself and I live for you.
I've disappeared from myself and my attributes,
I am present only for you.
I've forgotten all my learnings,
but from knowing you I've become a scholar.
I've lost all my strength, but from your power I am able.
I love myself ... I love you.
I love you ... I love myself.

--Rumi.

Old Pals meet.

Recently three of my school friends after quite a gap of time. So v four guys/gals decide to go on a short trip to celebrate our reunion..

So we search and find that Tithal is a place to go. I and my friend book the tickets and travel date arrives....

That day was great.. it started very early for us and ended late as well...I and my friend picked up the other two pals and reached station by 5:30 in the morning..

Soon moments began to unfold themselves.. good interaction started between all of us.. everyone spoke about their life, some things good somethings not soo good.. but that's the beauty of life i feel..

Reaching the tithal beach took some time but where the time passed nobody knew...

The beach was good and its calm waters gave us an open invitation to enjoy on its wonderful shores,

Moments again began unfolding this time showing different colours... i spot learned a card game played... (essential learnings can happen anytime... :).. )...

After some slowly hunger took us over... we found a restaurant nearby and had a good food... The food was tagged Punjabi but taste from all over India were present in the food... :)...

Back to beach in some time.. we were actually totally exhausted... but decided just keep talking..

More word started flowing in.. and it was like every aspect of life was touched....

Returning back i was feeling nostaglic.. but it was the present moment at that time.. we spent the remaining time talking as well...

Finally our stop came... we de-boarded the train.. reached our vehicles... and went back to home...

On my way back my mind still lingered in the past.. all those happy moments were still alive in my mind's playfield....

I reached home... went straight to bed.. some happy dreams came to my mind....

In the morning i had to rush back to baroda and finally to office....

Thanks a lot my friends... for making my day wonderful and with memories which i'll cherish for a life time....

Commitment.

Dear All,

New wishes to all!

Actually last year has been very dry for me in writing even a single blog. Time seemed to have flown away. But this new year has blown fresh air in my writing and i vow to myself to get back to writing.


Thanks ,

Arjun.

Living Alone ;;;!

Living Alone ; C'est Live.

Living alone can be really so much fun.. :) You can do whatever you want; roam around wherever you want; Cook whatever you like.Recently I had a chance to live alone and discover myself more when i had to live alone for some time. I will share some of the experiences i had during living alone and it is still going. I am living alone for around 6 days or so. But i thought now is the time to write some thing before the thoughts get lost in myself.

I am getting up early these days; i don't know but there is a strong desire to do some things in the morning; like exercising, meditating. I just get up and start doing some things. In the meantime ; i also went some times to the supermarket to get some things for survival. I daily surf and surf and surf... and it seems endless.... I have also started thinking about my whole life. I have realized that whatever i do today is some how affecting my life. I am constantly trying to remember and remind my self who i am and what i am on this earth to do for.

I have also started food for myself. Just the beginners stuff but good enough to feed and nourish my body. I prepare Rice; and rice and some more rice with boiled pulses. I also take eggs in the form of omlette as well as may be some thing but edible.

Professionally i have come attached to my work and also technically i keep on searching and reading new things. Most importantly i am trying out lot of thing these days. I have started jotting down my thoughts and on more regular basis. I do only work that is done in the view of the future... :)

Personally i am now emotionally well balanced; learning how to tackle everyday emotions; getting to myself and in terms with living alone. Initially i was supposed to join my colleague and his wife with a tour to Italy; but some times life is not always what you think;;; I had to stay back because of some foolish reasons. I was some what hurt and frustrated...... but i decided to move on and today i feel lucky that i had to chance to stay alone and learn about myself. I know what are my weaknesses are now and i am trying hard to overcome ; changing my weaknesses to strengths; my preconceptions and blocks about my self seem to get removed.

Ok guys taking your leave; I guess now its time for me to cook some food.... :)



Have a nice day guys/ gals....

Do remember what ever life gives just accept and try to extract the essence from it ; because life first teaches a lesson then gives the moral... :)

So-Called First Crush..!

Crush and Infatuation are two words which are more or less similar to each other. I had the experience of a crush like situation when i was in the last year of the college.I think for security reasons it would better not to give any names or identity. Let she be person X for all of us.. :-)...

For the first time we all went for a treat in CCD. x was laughing in a coversation & i was skipping heart beats. For several days i had trouble sleeping at night. Because somehow i was occupied with her thoughts & words. For few days i was troubled about what the hell was happening to me??

I had to discuss the problem with two of the most wonderful friends in my life. They counselled me regarding the situation. But somehow for somedays i was not able to study a single word of my so important course study.

These are the symptoms which were observed in me:-
* Restlessness.
* Happiness.
* Complex emotional conditions.
* Constant thought of X.
* Feeling like laughing at any time.
* Sleeplessness.

My mind was getting out of control all the time. I was feeling; everything was beautiful.
It was a different and probably the first experience of me regarding these things. Most of the time my mind floated in air. I feeling like singing songs with X & also may be write some things to her regarding my feelings.

Wherever X was i wanted to be avec her. Steadily my madness ( sorry no better word.) went on
increasing and increasing. I was feeling intensely agitated from time to time. But both of my friends helped me a lot. They told just to hold on to myself. Then i held on that for some time. It reached a peak level and then finally came down to a very normal stage.I was out of it. I knew there is always a fine line between infatuation and true love, for this case it was sheer infatuation. I was happy that i had such experiences. Such kinda of experiences really help you lot in tackling not so technical but the emotional problems.

I really want to thank a lot my both friends, who from their past experiences took me out of
the things.


Regards,

Arjun.

First Trip in an Aerooooo Plane!!

Hello All,
I am back after a long break. Just got busy in Job and other stuff.Well this time i talk about my first trip ever in my whole life in an aeroplane.

As some of you might know that recently i got an onsite oppurtunity from my company to France. So for some time, i am in France, away from my own country India.I am learning a lot of things in this trip. This is first of them, travelling in plane for the first time!!, I will write about all my learnings & experiences slowly slowly one by one.

Starting with just to describe my tentative itinerary . I start my journey on 21st august evening from Vadodara, the place where i work in India. Then after that i had to catch a International Jet airways plane to Brussels in Belgium from Mumbai. Meanwhile i had to catch up a colleague in Mumbai, as we both have to go for the same mission in France.

I started from my home in Vallabh Vidyanagar , the place where i was born and my parents live, at around 3:45 PM in the afternoon . We took a taxi from VVN to Baroda. It was long for me , i was both excited and somewhat nostalgic at the same time. I also remembered GOD for giving me this wonderful oppurtunity and also i also prayed for my parents, as they were going to live alone for some time without me for the first time!! i was just getting worried about them.

But don't mind guys/gals they are happy for me, and are eagerly waiting for me back in India.. :-)...

Reaching the Vadodara, domestic, airport we took out the luggage. Then the wait started as we were early enough for the flight. My dad was constantly giving me tips for the travel, mom was also telling things. I consoled them that i can manage the things, no problem at all. Then the time came for the initial checkin. I said bye to my parents and went straight to the Jet checkin counter. I checked in the luggage and was given the boarding pass for the domestic as well as the international flight at the same time.

I had to wait for sometime. Finally the moment for security check came. I said a very final bye to my parents ( a very big one... ) then headed for the security check. Just enjoying every moment , i went for the check. It took around 10 mins to get things in place again. Finally the flight boarded. Initially i had to catch a shuttle bus from the airport to the plane itself. I took it and reached near a big/gigantic plane. The plane was standing still and it seemed it like spreading its wings and waiting for the passengers to arrive & fly.

I had a ticket of the economy class, so i had the climb into the plane from the rear side.. :-)..i went inside for the first time, it was a amazing feeling just to climb a plane, especially when you have the bigger picture in mind. I went up to my seat, just to see it was occupied by a girl..! and she was interested in seating on the window seat, and i guess it would not be polite to say no to a girl..:) so i said ok....
Finally i was all set, stuffed with some lime juice, a nice seat belt.. :) the plane got ready for take off. It started slower then fast, faster.. and voila!! it took off.... and the feeling in itself was great!! Oh man m in Plane and flying too....!! In 45 minutes the plane was supposed to land in Mumbai.
Those were some of the most memorable 45 minutes of my life. I felt like dancing in the plane. I thanked GOD for what all he has set up for me. In around 45 min i landed in Mumbai. Then i was taken to the arrival terminal in a shuttle bus.

Reaching the arrival terminal i had to move thru another Jet counter to get some thing like the immigration form etc. then i went to the international terminal. During the whole journey i was thinking about the first experience of the plane. It was really awesome. Finally i reached the international terminal. I waited some time for the colleague. Then we both again went thru the security check etc.

Just at the end it was now time to board the international flight. I was given the chance to board early as some how my seat was in the last few rows.. :) ( last but not the least.. ! ).. I boarded the flight. It was a long journey & found that the seat was slightly uncomfortable for me ... in the beginning but later on adjusted.. :)... I took some food, then some juice.. I entertained myself with the system ( TV) provided by the aircraft. Finally took a cat nap for a while. The whole journey came to an end much early than expected.. :)... Me and my colleague landed in Brussels at round 7:30 in morning next day.. We both took a stroll back at the airport, collected our luggage.

Our boss cum colleague was present there at the airport just to pick us.. ( & such a nice person he is... ). We just stopped for a small coffee at the airport.. Then our boss took us in France, We checked in the hotel first then we went for the first day in new office !! Voila that ended my wonderful trip and i had to get started with some work the same day :(.... In the evening we were taken back to the Hotel by a kind colleague and i just went to my room, had some food and slept... just to get up the next morning... :).. subah ho gayi mamu...

It is really a good experience just to have a ride in plane , for whatever time it may be.. i propose you all reading this blog, just to have a plane ride atleast once in your whole life time.....

A Day Worth A Gem!

Wikipedia explains Gurdwara as "the doorway to the Guru", is the Sikh place of worship and may be referred to as a Sikh temple. The most famous and the holiest gurdwara is the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar, in northern India.
Life is what u make out of it. This was my feeling until that day when i had a chance to visit this religious place called 'Gurdwara'. Life is more subtle than we think it to be. There are certain other factors apart from our work which influence our lives.The factors can be GOD,LUCK, our own limiting thoughts ,results of our own past deeds or may be /can be anything. Our thinking is mostly bound to the materialistic pleasures we perceive through our mortal five senses. Our mind is bogged down by the useless thoughts of the past and is busy making plans for the future , in this process we lose our wonderful present.

I have felt how the experience of the present moment can be so much enjoyed.Without diverting your minds much, lets start our journey. Recently i had to chance to visit this wonderland which in worldly terms is called the Gurdwara. Some things happen in your life, when u least expect it. This visit also happened as a sudden surprise. Still this surprise was worth soul stirring. I had been many temples, religious places but never to this place.

Some of friends also came there, i don't know if they had visited before. We were accompanied by one of our good punjabi friend, who had been kind and patient enough to answer some of our religious and common doubts about the religion. She gave us step by step instructions about the rituals which we need to follow in the Gurdwara. I think it won't be wrong to thank her right now only.

As a sign respect, a ritual we need to cover our heads with a cloth before entering the place. This practice triggered a thought like mind is always wandering here and there and gathering useless data, by covering the head we insure that the thoughts are not wondering any more. Our mind are like vessels and covering the vessels with a lid will protect it from getting polluted. It also conveyed to me that by the wearing of the cloth we convey a hidden message to our mind that we are now staying only in the present moment in the memory of GOD. Another thought which came is like GOD is pouring blessings on us, and we collecting it our selves, and the cover is provided so that the blessings stay there forever in our minds and lives.

We needed to climb some steps we could finally enter the place. Before that we had to wash our feet. Washing the feet conveys that we are getting rid of the materialistic dirt which i think knowingly or unknowingly we gather all the time, physically i got rid of the dirt in my feet, and also mentally tried to get rid of the all the burdens which have been carrying knowingly or unknowingly. Next came climbing a few stairs,for which i felt as if my soul is getting elevated after getting rid of the worldly burdens.

Nextly as instructed the thing goes as we need to walk to the Tomb of the Guruji, and touch my foreahead in front of Him. (In punjabi it is known as "Mattha Tekna" erros and omissions expected :-)..... ). Initially i was reluctant to actually walk to the Tomb, but my friend just motivated me to just go for it. I started walking and suddenly i felt very happy as if i have been delighted without any reason. It seemed that all my desires, thoughts are slowly coming to an end. There is no such thing in world as a desire for me. Every step was feeling elevated and it was like a divine force surrounding, protecting me, bestowing blessings on me. I went totally blank for a second or so. Just coming back to my senses i realized that i have reached the last place where i could reach for . I slowly bowed my head, and silently came back. I felt that life with divine intervention is far better than living a aimless life. I found a state like action in inaction and inaction in action.

Then for some time we sat for hearing some religious teachings. I understood little but may be some point of time in life i would to learn from that. Hope at that time my friend would be helping me out ... :-).... in understanding them. Thereafter as planned we had to go for lunch, in Gurdwara it is known as "Langar me khana khana" ( please bear with my so so punjabi/hindi.).. The place was a large mess kind of setup. Every one feeding themselves some good and divine food. With divine food i mean that food prepared in the memory of GOD and also taken as gift of GOD to us. Every face has some kind of satisfaction which was pouring out of them. May i don't because it s there festival, and or there was something which was really working behind them.

After some time i sat for food. There again as sign of great respect we need to ask for food with two hands open , as if we are asking for a blessing from a GOD. I have never seen before such thing but really liked it. We are giving so much respect to our food, that very thought gave me a great feeling.

Finally we all after finishing our food came back from the place. During the journey back home my mind as free as a bird flying high in the sky, as if i have known some thing which i was looking for. It was a holistic experience, and for me it was feeling a void space of my mind with a mystic experience.


I still sometimes remember the whole experience, i am not sure but may be the journey towards attaining GOD and self realization starts from visiting a religious place....

Regards,
G-O-G-O-L.