You are the Source

"If you are given 10 compliments and 1 insult, you will hold on to that 1 insult. You will forget all the 10 compliments.

Similarly, in life there is 80% joy: 80% happiness and 20% problems but your mind makes that 20% into 200%. Life isnt only disappointments. There can be only one disappointment - that is about your mind. Expecting wrong things at the wrong places, making wrong choices.

You dont have to be disappointed in life about many things. You be disappointed about only one thing that is your own mind. When this mind is causing so much problem, why dont you drop it? Why you hang on to that mind?

Have you done something about your mind? Have you learnt to drop it or tune it? It is just out of tune I tell you, it needs a bit servicing (Laughter). If you service your mind you will see everything is proper. It runs properly on wheels."

- Excerpt from a discourse "You are the Source" by Sri Sri Ravishankar,

The Art of Living Foundation

... ... ... ... ...

This path is not a place where you have to keep a long face all the time, to be so serious that you are digging the mountain. Here you sing, dance, listen to knowledge, sit still and meditate.. all the aspects have come together here.. isn't it !!

Meditate, celebrate, serve and smile.

You are Love, You are Joy!

Life is a single skip for joy...

first day with kids

What do you do when the kids you are teaching English to are having a conversation, in their mother tongue (in my case Japanese), unaware that you understand every word they are saying??

Today was my first day of work at Codomo GEOS. I had expected it to be a nightmare which, to my relief, it wasn't. I taught a range of kids from 2yrs to 12yrs. All the lesson's target phrases were learnt through silly games I prepared. For the first time in my life I felt exposed cuz the kids rip you apart by scrutinizing and commenting on every part of your physical and mental state. For instance, a group of 6yr olds concluded that I was from the moon cuz I wore circular earrings, pendant and bangle all of which were silver in color. After this they started talking about all the countries I could possibly be from Arabia because I wore heavy eyeliner.

Throughout the lesson I was emotionally charged up hearing so many comments in Japanese. They had no idea I understood the language and went on about things casually. But Im barred from speaking in Japanese to them because if they find out they will always talk to me in Japanese - which is not the reason of coming to an English conversations school.

To conclude, at my first day of work I -

- was mostly red in the face cuz the kids scrutinized everything I did

- heard tons of weird comments abt every instructions I gave

- said "mo-ikkai", the Japanese for one more time instead of saying it in English (what kind of an English teacher am I? lol)

- learnt that planning your lesson before a class is THE MOST important thing

- realized that the lesson may never go according to plan

But then again everyday is different and new. For now I've 2 days of holiday starting tmr during which I am going to sleep. Yipeeeeee!! :)

More musings later...

The Speaking Tree - The Times of India, 11 Aug 2009

Young people today engaged in self-exploration are looking for inner peace. They question the relevance of rituals and religious practices. Religion needs to be reinterpreted to suit the context of modern times; otherwise today’s youth might lose faith in Sanatana Dharma – the timeless faith.

The hallmark of Hindu tradition has been its great capacity to adapt itself to the lifestyles of people without losing its identity, and helping seekers focus on attaining the transcendent absolute.

The inquiry into the nature of God and self, and the practices thereof could be termed as the Hindu way of life. The ultimate aim of a Hindu is God-realisation through the spiritual practices he adopts. It is a way of life which respects and accepts all paths to self-realisation.

Hinduism is based upon the qualities of acceptance, absorption, continuous change and expansion. It is thus a dynamic, living, ever-growing set of ideas, rituals and spiritual practices. It incorporates constant acceptance and freedom of thought for all other Religions of the World.

One cannot be ‘converted’ to Hinduism. For every other religion, there are ‘rites of baptism’. Hindus consider that everyone is naturally on a journey to reach a higher awareness through the cycle of birth and death; and that the soul continuously reincarnates to experience Karmas – the effects of actions performed in earlier incarnations. This is something automatic.

In a way, everyone who is trying to explore their divinity is practising Hinduism.

Hinduism is a way of life and does not conflict with any religion for it is simply the commitment to search for the truth. One does not have to give up one’s religious identity to follow Hindu practices.

The greatness of Hinduism lies in its infinite capacity of acceptance and allowance. As long as an individual is mindful of ‘raising consciousness’ – of self, community, and humanity as a whole, one is following tenets of Hindu religion.

This has been termed as ‘Shreya’ – the essence of the Hindu way of life, in a single word.

(Finally know the meaning of my name :P tee.hee.hee)

- Relevance Of A Faith That Is Timeless

by Deepam Chatterjee

The Times of India, 11 Aug 2009

Tralaaa~ Tokyo .. "I'll be back!"

The past two weeks have been remarkable.

I visit my Japanese family in Beppu for the birth of my sister's baby. The baby girl, was late by 9days and finally born after I cooked a huge Indo-Mexican meal for my would-be-mommy-sister. I was utterly happy! I also spent sometime with my nephew, Souma, who is the most outspoken 2yr-old-japanese boy I've met.

Beppu is also the city where I lived for 4yrs during my Undergrad at Ritsumeikan APU so it holds a special place in my heart. I met up with a friends over softball game practice and had dinner with two of my English language students, Kimiko and Miki. Miki, who now has 3 grown up kids, is a busy mom and it was amazing to see her manage the crazy lot. She had 3 kids in a span of 4yrs and her eldest, Ryunosuke, is 4 while Kaede and Aoi are 3 and 1.

During the entire trip I realized how much energy goes into raising kids. After the age of 25 life sort of 'seems' stagnant cuz our face doesnt develop that much and all the pictures look the same with a few pounds here and there. But with kids every month is different from the previous cuz you can see how they change and grow-up :P I found a new (probably hidden)sense of respect for my own parents for raising 5 of us siblings, who so different from one another. It still is quite a job handling us all together!

Since my return to Tokyo last Sunday, I have been hopping from one friend's place to another's. I will be relocating to Hikone city, near the largest freshwater lake Biwa-ko, to work for GEOS for Kids. Im super excited about this chance as, at some point of time in my life, I want to write books for kids and getting a chance to be with them this close is electrifying!

Anyways, with tons of new changes saying goodbyes is always the toughest. But if I never go how will I ever return home?

Tralaaa~ Tokyo .. "I'll be back!"