I have been writing quite consistently in this blog for some time now. The beginning of 2010 witnessed a lot of neglect to this blog from my part. But the latter part of 2010 saw some really great responses to my posts. Also mentionable are the wonderful emails that I got mainly for the Satsang -Bhajans book that I had compiled. So a quick flashback, here are some of the posts which according to the responses were amazing and you can definitely look forward to enjoying these posts if you have already not read it.
Looking forward to your encouragement and support from YOU to keep writing in the NEW YEAR 2011 ( probably in my own domain :)
Well, if you have not used Google Earth yet. You must. The first time I used it, I could not believe how such a premium software service is available to everyone for free. Its like you can have a look at each and every home on the earth just from the comfort of your computer that too without paying a dime. Google Earth is a free service from Google. You need to download and install it and it starts working like a charm.
A few years back I had tried locating our Ashram ( The Art of Living International Centre ) on Google Earth and was so thrilled to find the majestic VM looking like a white cream pie. I just then realised how so much green cover was there all around and inside the Ashram. The buildings were very few...
To view Ashram on Google Earth:
Latitude: 12°49'32.43"N
Longitude: 77°30'31.37"E
Well, the reason I'm writing this post is that, Google has just announced its fantastic new feature known as "historical imagery" where you can view the google earth image of that location at any date in the past starting from the day Google Earth started keeping records. You can learn more about this new feature from HERE.
For our Ashram, they have records since 2004. So I was very excited to see the changes that our Ashram has gone through in the past 7 years. Ashramites should definitely check this out!!
Ashram on July 2004.
Ashram on November 2010
So what's changed?
* I used to think that because of so much construction... the green cover of Ashram is depleting. I couldn't be more wrong... See how much green you see in the Second picture... Also the trees have become big and healthy! The trees around VM and amphitheater have become adults and a lot of new ones have come up!
* Impossible to miss is the Big Green Shed! The Yagnashala. Without it It wouldn't be possible to have 15000 people under one roof.. would it?
* Just below the Yagnashala across the road is the new hall., forgot the name but the Yes Plus Play Anand and Benaifer was rehearsed here!
* The buildings behind the Amphitheater!
* The Divine Shops Madhurya and other buildings.
* Oh My god! The entire Aparna was not there in 2004!
* Panchakarma building has become majestic comparatively (on the left)
* The new Canteen (the current one) Vishala was constructed making way for the old canteen to be the Darshan Place!
* Ganga Kutir - Still all the same! So Cute!
Talking about our dear Ashram brings so many memories of hearts being blossomed, eyes being filled, desires being fulfilled, smiles being stretched, buttons being pushed, knowledge being soaked, throats being choked, hugs being shared and souls being touched. All because of the Grace of the Master!
Also Have a look at the following two images showing the lake near the Gurukul in the Ashram..
Ashram Lake 2004
Ashram Lake 2010
By HIS grace, Did you notice how the muddy pond in such a short time has been transformed into a lush green Lake, so pure and graceful. Has that not happened in your life?
Starting with this post is a new series of posts which will feature some of the Divine Souls which have spearheaded the Art of Living movement and have been a pillar of support to millions around the world . They have shown by example, how to live life to the fullest. Living a life of high moral and spiritual values, they have brought smiles to millions of homes, and made a difference to the society through their service. In addition to their biography I would also add a bit of my own experiences with them wherever applicable.
The choice of whom to write about first is a most difficult one, because all the names which come to my mind are so unique and commanding in their own respect, that it becomes virtually impossible to choose. However, I have to start somewhere so I decided to write on Swami Suryapada.
The first time I went for a Satsang conducted by Swami Suryapada (belovedly also called as Chayanna), the definition of Satsang was changed in my mind. It was about two years ago in Bangalore that I went for his first Satsang, till then I had myself some experience of Singing in Satsangs. But sitting there in the hot sun at 1 pm, singing Shiva-Shiva-Hara-Hara I forgot the world and experienced so deep a peek into my own inner self that when I came out of it, I realised that the Satsang was over. Then after that I have attended numerous Satsangs conducted by him. First a brief introduction:
Swami Suryapaji (Chayanna) in one of his lively moods.
Born in Karnataka in Southern India, Swami Suryapada ji completed his Master’s Degree in Physics from the Bangalore University in India. He served at the prestigious R.V College of Engineering in Bangalore, India as Head of the Department in Physics until 1995. After taking Sri Sri Ravi Shankar as his Guru he became full time teacher with the Art of Living Foundation. An embodiment of Knowledge and Seva, Swamiji has a very deep understanding of the Upanishads, Bhagvad Gita, Ashtavakra Gita, Patanjali Yoga Sutras and the like. He has travelled extensively around the world, from USA to Taiwan, from New Zealand to Germany, taking the knowledge of spiritual values and sharing his expansive presence with sincere seekers. He takes the Advanced Meditation Course of the Art of Living Foundation.
Just as in the video above, He starts the Satsang with a powerful chanting which has an immediate calming effect for the mind and slowly leads the satsang to a pinnacle where even the most insensitive person will feel touched by the grace of his singing. Deep meditative experiences during his Satang is a regular phenomenon and people feel refreshed after attending his Satsangs.
Swami Suryapada's style is most unique as he does not sing the latest bhajan in vogue, but sticks to the simple tunes based on pure Ragas which will have the most powerful affect in an individual's consiousness. He has a very deep knowledge of the effect different sounds have on the mind of the listener, basically what effect a Raga has? Ragas are a collection of notes (ascending and descending) with a particular emphasis on some . Invented by ancient rishis and improvised by thousands of prolific musicians over thousand of years, different Ragas when used effectively, colours the mind with a particular emotion from which to slip into meditaion becomes very easy, and Swamiji through the years has mastered the Art of Satsang.
Swami Suryapada Playing the Harmonium.
Leading through devotion.
Also commendable is his efforts to make popular the old wiritings of various Kannada saints like Purandara Dasa, Kanaka Dasa, Basavanna etc. Bhajans like Bhagya da Lakshmi Baramma, Dasanagu Visheshanagu, Uma Katyayani Gauri etc have again started to be heard even by non Kannadigas, all credit goes to Swami Suryapadji's efforts to popularise them and also explain the meanings and expose the deep wisdom hidden in these devotional songs. In the video below he sings Dasanagu Visheshanagu.
Dasanagu Visheshanagu
The meaning of this song is very beautiful, I will try to explain with my limited understanding of Kannada.. It speaks about how the Body takes birth again and again , eighty lakh lifetimes have u spent... come and gone .... now the only way out is to become a disciple. He says "Become a disciple, a servant and then you will become SPECIAL ! "
Kannadigas who can explain in detail plz do so in the comments, I will put it up here :)
Yes! You read it right. This is the 101th post on this blog. It took some time for me to get here, Time which was interspersed with regular blogging days in between long periods of silence. I started this blog on August 2008, and the First Post I wrote was about my native place Sikkim. And without any prior intention, I just realised that my 100th post was also about Sikkim. It's a little spooky. But happy too.
The best part of Blogging so far was that it has been a big opportunity for me to know new people, connect with poeple whose ideas I like, make friends all over the globe and also an opportunity to give something of value to my readers. Just like my real life, I have spent most of the time in this blog writing articles about the Art of Living foundation, Yes Plus and it has been an immense pleasure to share my mind with all the Jai Gurudev-ed souls, many of whom I have deeply come to cherish.
Two Articles in particular have been a large success with regard to this, on both of which I have spent considerable time and energy and it has been worth the work, I think.
The Art of Living Blogs post has garnered attention from sincere seekers all around the globe and a lot of AOL content on the WEB has reached to the searching souls through the links in this post. Satsang - Art of Living Bhajans Lyrics is another post which I think has helped many people and which will continue to reach and make it easier for all Satsangis to rock to AOL Bhajans.
I thank all the people who have taken the trouble to subsribe to my blog! The number of people subscribing here has gone up to 63 as of today which is inspite of my long absence from here. Thank you again all the subscribers.
Special thanks to all the people who take out time to leave a comment. You should know that you make my blogging time all the more sweet and worthwile .
So keep the encouragement coming and wish me luck that I may keep writing.
Jai Gurudev!
For a long time I had this idea of making a compilation of Art of Bhajans(AOL) lyrics which people would be able to benefit even if they are in some remoter corner of the world.Now after conducting Satsangs for more than four years I finally decided to make a compilation of the lyrics of the most popular Bhajans in Art of Living Satsangs.. New singers and instrumentalists can print and use this e-book as a handy reference which can be carried to Satsangs.
Satsang – Art of Living Bhajans(AOL) Lyrics, is a free e-book in pdf format. You can print this book directly and spiral bind it for ease of use. My suggestion is to print the first two pages as colour print-out and the rest can be black and white also. REQUEST: Instead of posting this e-book as an email newsletter, I have just given the link so you can directly download it. But if you like this e-book then please leave a comment or send me an email saying that you have downloaded it. This way I will know how many have downloaded it.
Also if you have any suggestions for improvement,,, or if you find any mistakes..... As a service to all, you got to let me know about it.
Just for the sake of curiosity and also for google bot to show up this article when people search for it, I’m showing the contents of the e-book here: The albums indicated are mostly by Eminent singers like Vikram Hazra, Rishi Nityapragya, Bhanu Didi, Shalini and Srinivas, Gayatri, Sachin Limaye, Dr. Manikanthan, Divya Prabha, Valentin etc.
Ganesha
1. Vakratunda Mahakaya.................... 1
2. Ganesha Stotram........................... 2
3. Ganesha Sharanam......................... 3
4. Lambodara Hey Vighneshwara...... 3
5. Gauri Nandana Gajaananaa............ 3
6. Vinayaka Vinayaka.......................... 4
7. Gam Ganapataye Namaha............. 4
8. Mahaganapate Gajaananaa............. 4
9. Ganesha Om.................................. 5
10. Sri Ganaraya Jai Ganaraya.............. 5
Guru
11. Guru Stotram................................ 6
12. Guru Paduka Stotram.................... 9
13. Ajo Ananthaya.............................. 11
14. Jaya Guru Omkara....................... 11
15. Guru Matru Pita.......................... 12
16. Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu......... 12
17. Mere Satguru ki Chavi................. 13
18. Guru Charanam Sadaa Bhajo....... 13
19. Guru Satsagn hai Prano se Pyara. 14
20. Gurudev Bolo.............................. 15
21. Jaya Guru Deva Guru.................... 15
22. Vandeham Guru Padam............... 16
23. Guru Mahima............................... 16
24. Om Guru Paratpara Guru............ 17
25. Jaya Guru Om(In your eyes I see) 17
26. Satguru Tumhare Pyar ne.......... 18
Shiva
27. Chandrashekharaya Namah Om.. 19
28. Atmastakam................................. 20
29. Lingashtakam............................... 21
30. Shivoham..................................... 23
31. Shiv Shambho Shambho.............. 23
32. Om Namah Shivaya...................... 24
33. Shiva Shiva Shankaraya.................. 24
34. Shiva Raja Maheshwara................ 25
35. Shambho Mahadeva..................... 25
36. Sundaraananaa.............................. 26
37. Bhola Shankar Bhola.................. 26
38. Bam Bam Bhola.......................... 27
39. Parameshwaraya Shashishekharaya27
40. Om Namah Shivaya Shivaya Namah Om
SHIVA
41. Bhole Ki Jai Jai............................... 28
42. Namastasmai................................. 29
43. Hara Hara Bhole Shankara.......... 29
44. Om Namah Shivaya..................... 30
45. Shiva Om...................................... 30
46. Bolo Bolo Sab Mil Bolo.............. 30
47. Shankaraya Mangalam................ 31
DEVI
48. Durge Jaya Jaya Maa.......................32
49. Jaya Jaya Durge Maa......................32
50. Vishwa Lochani Amba...................33
51. Namo Sharada..............................33
52. Janani Jagadambaa.........................34
53. Vande Bhuvaneshwari....................34
54. Shree Kari Krupa Kari...................35
55. Vishwavilasini Vishalakshi Mata...35
56. Jagadodharini Mata Durga (Jago Jago Maa).....36
57. Niranjani Devi Bhavani..................36
58. Durge Nandini...............................37
59. Parameshwari Jaya Durga...............37
60. Mata Bhavani Maaheshwari..........38
61. He Maa (Gauri Shankari Maa).....38
62. Jaya Jaya Bhavani Maa..................39
NARAYANA
84. Narayan Narayan Jay Jay Govind....53
85. Narayana Narayana (slow).............53
86. Narayana Hari Om.......................53
87. Om Namo Narayana.....................54
88. Bolo Narayana Jaya Jaya Vithalla...54
89. Hari Sundara Nanda Mukunda.....54
90. Panduranga Jaya Vithalle...............55
91. Hari Narayana(slow)......................55
92. Hari Narayana Hari Narayana.......56
OTHERS
93. Rama Ho Rama Ho........................57
94. Om Namo Amitabhaya................58
95. Yena Dhammam...........................58
96. Ik Taara Bole Guru Teri Vani........58
97. Raghupati Raghava O Raja Rama...59
98. Allah Tero Naam...........................60
99. Your Home is in my heart.............61
100. Sagar mein ek leher uthi..............61
101. Tere Naam ke siva........................62
102. Shabdon Ke Jungle mein.............62
103. Main hoon Manzil.......................63
104. Tumse O Jodi...............................64
105. Shri Ram Naam Bolo...................65
106. Sri Ram Chandra Kripalu............66
107. Ajab Anokha Khel Ye kaisa..........67
108. Vande Mataram.............................68
SONGS
1. Phoolon Ke Rang Se......................69
2. Chandan Sa Badan.........................70
3. Raat Kali Ek Khwab mein..............71
4. Ek din aap yun...............................72
5. Naiharwaa.......................................73
6. Saiyyaan..........................................74
7. Aaj Mere Piya Ghar Aayenge.........75
8. Jiya dhadak dhadak jaye..................76
9. Tu maane ya na maane...................77
10. Dama dam Mast kalandar..............78
11. Tum Mile Dil Khile.......................79
12. Moko Kahan Dhoonde Re Bande..79
13. Tu Bin Bataye.................................80
14. Both Sides Now............................81
15. Annie’s Song(you fill up my senses)83
16. Rise and Pray(Wuku Tangdaze).....84
17. Falling In Love( or Rising?)............84
18. Imagine...........................................85
19. Amazing Grace...............................86
20. Today’s the day the wave remembers
.......................................................87
As of now (August 2010), This book has not been released in India yet. However I got my hands on it as someone had got it from the U.S. and just had the time to read about half of the book. (Thanks to Tapan bhaiya from Hyderabad)
Michael Fischman is one of the first few Art of Living teachers in the United States and has known Guruji since the early 80’s . Incidentally he describes his first meeting with him when he was still travelling with Maharshi Mahesh Yogi.
“Stumbling into infinity” is a book which I think comes in line with path breaking books like “ Autobiography of a Yogi” e.t.c. but which is much more contemporary and also relevant in this new age..
People who are associated with Art of Living or those who are even curious to know about what Art of Living is and who Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is, will find this book utterly fascinating. Its like reading the history of the Organisation written as a personal memoir...
Mike, through the very detailed stories about how Guruji helped and guided him personally to grow in the path, also presents a very personal face of Sri Sri, who is today among one of the most famous personalities of this century.
If you just want Guru stories... then this book is a treasure... also revealing a few stories about Guruji which were unheard of ... even in Art of Living circles..
I can’t help but write about a few which had a big impact when I read them:
First One:
Mike writes about Maharshi Mahesh Yogi’s visit to Anand Mayi Maa. She is the same saint who is mentioned as “ Anand mOyi Ma” by Paramahamsa Yogananda in “Autobiography of a Yogi”.
Maharshi Mahesh Yogi had taken Guruji(that time known as Pundit Ravi Shankar) to meet her. When Anand Mayi Maa saw Guruji, she faced to Maharshi and told “Oh! Today you have brought to me the Ganga!” .... a little later clarifying further Anand mayi maa says “You have brought to me the one who will wash away ignorance from this earth!”.............. (goosebumps..... JJ)
Second One:
Mike mentions about his first visit to India when he was staying in Jayanagar at Gurujis’ residence. Bhanu didi, Rajshree Patel and a few others are mentioned..
Amidst other conversations, Guruji casually says to Mike( the author) “ You know Mike, you should write down your experiences now.... someday they will inspire millions of people around the world...”
In 1989, this would not have made any sense . Now you know how...
Well "overflowing grace" ... that's the only phrase i can use to describe my life right now!!
Guruji is back in Bangalore after soooooo many months outside India. So to make it extra special, we all decided to go to the Bangalore International Airport and have the first darshan of him... And so after a couple of great mini satsangs at my home(which we have been having every wednesday for about a year now) and then at Indian Institute of Science, Rashmin Bhaiya, Saleel Bhaiya, Hema di , Madhu di and a bunch of the most enthusiastic volunteers we went to receive guruji...
There were already a few white kurtas fluttering outside the arrivals zone, our entry only made it much more noisy... as if to say 'let's get this party started!!" And so it did.....
After a wait of about and hour we were treated with his divine smile and i can't help sharing this but the closest you can get to him(physically) is in the airport!!
He was his usual graceful self and just glided into his car after a brief darshan to everyone.
And then Bawa and Dinesh Bhaiya came after half and hour till when Ramnik Bhaiya had treated us with some of his stomach crunching jokes, we all joined him generously.
It was nothing sort of a party to see guruji, all such senior teachers and volunteers together at the airport floor..... Guruji, Bawa, Dinesh, Girin, Saleel, Rashmin, Ramnik, Bawa's dad, Devang and a host of others. . .
It was an awesome midnight fun( The flight landed at around 1 pm!!!!)
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Swami Ramdev, Chidanand Muniji, Swami Umakantji & Acharya Balkrishanji & Shivamani
The divine in all the colours
Swami Ramdev said: ‘The love & celebration at the Art of Living congregation is bringing out the real essence of Kumbh.’
And when Guruji started playing holi with the huge devotee gathered. Just then,on behalf of Shankaracharya, his dandi swami paid homage to Sri Sri.
Too sad I could not go this time..... but definitely going next year......
For the time being enjoy these videos where Guruji is at his magical best!
I watched this awesome special effects movie just y'day. Even if you are a firm non-believer of the theme of the movie.. which is basically " The world's going to end in 21-12-2012" , i recommend you to watch it simply for the thrill of it.
As I entered the theatre, I came across this poster which shows a monk in Tibet watching the ocean drown the HImalayas and a thought passed that " wow,,, i think its gonna be awesome!" and so it was!
I'm not gonna reveal the whole story(but if you're a spoiler then you can read it in the net elsewhere), but just this that this special effects extravaganza by Roland Emmerich, director of "Independence Day" and "The Day after Tomorrow," took 6.48 million pounds in London alone which is the highest in sometime now.
Its nice to see(apart from the mind-boggling special effects) how the storyline connects different races,countries,religions and geography of the world. Also mentionable is how the movie moves between world events and the ordeal of one family who goes through this catastrophe.
Finally., yes! the world does come to an end as we know it but not the human race.... how some of us survive to ensure the continuity of our species and our planet.? I'm not gonna tell that! Watch it yourself!
And finalllllly, the research concept that saved humanity in the movie came from and Indian(though his Hindi is not that great!) The movie also starts in India and also probably ends here.
A significant number of blogs are now visible with content related to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's teachings and the Art of Living foundation.Most of these are blogs run by Art of Living teachers, volunteers and devotees. When I started blogging then I wanted a comprehensive list of blogs related to Art of Living.Google and Google Blog search helped but not quite satisfactorily.
So here I take up the initiative of bringing to you a comprehensive list of "Art of Living blogs".
I'm sure that online presence of Jai Gurudeved souls will increase tremendously in the coming years in parallel to the expansion in the family in the real world.( What is real? Let's not go that deep now!).
I am sure you will find some really interesting people/blogs and some really interesting things to read from the list below.
The list is not exhaustive and plz leave a comment if I have missed any.
1. Sounds Interesting : Bawa and Dinesh's blog pretty much dominates the blogosphere in terms of Art of Living presence. Daily views, comments,response are very high and impressive. The best of the lot in terms of look,content,maintainence and regularity.
2.Happynings : Rajesh Jagasia's blog. Very actively maintained and an excellent combination of knowledge,facts,Guru stories,adventures,recipes. The template is also very cool.
3.Rendezvous with Rashmin : Rashmin Pulekar's blog.One of my personal favorites and the simplicity of the blog is definitive of the man behind it. Full of knowledge and original content presented in a light and humorous manner. Look out for the latest fiery posts:)
4. Heart to Heart : Saleel Pulekar's blog. Again a superb combination of knowledge and seva experiences.
5.Hues of Joy : Abhishek Ratna's blog. Seva experiences and course happening's are a big hit.The template deserves a mention.
6. Vikram Hazra's blog : One of the star blogs. Or rather I sould say, the blog of a star. Guitar, music, seva,knowledge,travel experiences and everything else sent from his Blackberry device. Well maintained and updated fairly regularly.
7. Gaata Rahe Mera Dil : Ramnik Bansal's blog. Very well designed(by himself).Clean and fresh. Course happenings are the favorites. Please the read the latest article here.VVVImp.
8. Vivek Barun's Blog : This blog. U tell me how is it?
9. 2+1=0 : Kapil Saini's blog. Mixed articles. Seva experiences are a hit.
10. Keeping it Real : Bhawana Kapoor's blog.A vibrant new look. Thoughts on life and happenings. The poems are a big hit.
11. Beyond the horizon : Vinod Patil's blog.
12. Confusion : Jeet Bookseller's blog. Interesting articles regarding interesting things.
13. Life in full speed : Abhay Karnataki and Shabari's blog. Articles regarding seva experiences, Yes+ happening in Bangalore, knowledge and life in general.
14.Sounds Divine : Interesting design. Ask him who did it! Articles on courses, knowledge, guitar etc.
15.Season's of Consciousness : Very informative articles. Knowledge too.
16.Niranjani : One of the oldest and regularly updated blog. Some really informative articles can be found. A must read.
17.Aparna's Lounge : Very soothing design.Volunteer activities and regularly updated. Yes+ news from Chennai.
18. Scribble, Scrabble, Stroo.. : Akhilesh's blog. Informative articles.
19.Waves of bliss : Anand Jage's blog.
20. Guru Kripa : An excellent blog about articles realted to Guruji. Highly recommended.
21. Celebrating Silence : Guru gyan served. Updated very regularly.
22. Vinay's Weblog : Vinay Subramaniam's blog.
23. Celebrate life : Bhanuja's blog. A happy soul.Some really thought provoking posts.
24. Golden Sunshine, Golden me : Jatin's blog.
25. Andheri Yes+ : Yes+ activities in Andheri.
26. Masti Ki AAg : Yes+ activities in Bangalore.
27. Yes+ Chennai : Yes+ activities in Chennai.
28. Yes+ Pune : Yes+ activities in Pune.
29. Yes+ Ranchi : Yes+ activities in Ranchi.
30. Kashi Kshetra : Dinesh Kashikar's blog. Brilliant design and excellent content.
31. Anandji : Anand Rajendran's website. Simply Awesome.
32. Inquiry into the reality : Dinesh Nath's blog.
33. Art of Living SEattle : Very cool design.
34. 42 : Very thought provoking articles.
35. Seated under the bodhi tree :
36. Satyamevajayate
37. Guruvaani : Some really cool articles.
38. Breakfree : Komal's blog.
39. Welcome to the world : Sunand K Nambiar's blog.
40. I see beyond : Asish Raina's blog.
41. Living Literally
42. Mirror Image : Deepti Unni's blog.
43. Aho Aham Namo Mahyam : Vaibhav's blog.
44. Wisdomblog : The official blog of artofliving.org. Updated daily.
45.Art of Living, Pakistan
46. Whisper from the infinity : Nice design and superb experiences of people from around the world. If u like Guru stories(who doesn't) , this one is for u..
47.Art of Living Yoga - A collection of everything aol. Nice looks... and nice contents too.
48. Shambho
49. Re-living - Jitesh's blog
50. Dushyant Savadia - An international aol teacher's blog.
51. Virat and Vasudha's Blog - Amazing content and frequently updated.
52. Rick Evertsz - Contains the music sheets for some Aol Bhajans.
53. Urvi's World - Bright and Warm. Original content.
54. Stumbling into infinity - Blog for the Book.
55. Gopuaol - Gopalakrishnan's Blog
56. Suntrack with Arunji - Arun Madhavan Ji's blog.
57 AOLnewslinks - News related to Art of Living.
58.YESPLUS Kolkata - Art of Living Kolkata.
59. AOLinfo - Very detailed information and regularly updated.
60. AOL Life Stories - Experiences of people with Art of Living.
61. Lemonlyf - Swati Gupta's blog.
62. Art of Living Bangalore - Course details in Bangalore.
63. Celebrating-silence-of-life
64. AOL USA : Art of Living Foundation USA Blog.
65.Perception of Life - Gaurav and Sourav's Blog.
66.Art of Living Hong Kong.
67. Art of Living West - Los Angeles Center
68. Sri Sri Blogspot
69. Neelanjandev Bharadwaj's Blog
70. Swami madhusudhan
71. Artoflivingsblog : A Blog inspired by Sri Sri and Art of Living
72. ArtofLivingSecrets: One of the most happening Blog right now.
73. ArtofLivingUniverse : Well organised and nicely maintained Art of Living Resources.
So how many of the above do you read and which one's your favorite? Have I missed any blog???? Plz leave a comment on that!!
Madrasas are being shut down in Pakistan. Govt of India is giving them CBSE status !! Our Muslim brothers and sisters are being deprived of scientific secular education.
Out of 36000 temples in Andhra Pradesh, 28000 have closed down in the last five years.
The minorities in Nagaland, Mizoram & Kashmir have not got the similar privileges like the minorities in other states? The Govt is following different rules for different religions?
By the Home Minister's own admission : "India is surrounded by a circle of fire". Rajiv Gandhi's vision of a powerful "SAARC" is now defunct.
The Pakistani flag is now being hoisted in five districts of Assam. 92000 Hindu and 6000 Christians who have been evicted by Bangladeshi infiltrants, are now languishing in refugee camps. The government has turned a blind eye to this....
...the list is endless...
Don't be deceived. What appears to be communal is not communal, and what appears to be secular is not secular.
Vote for a Terror free nation, Criminal free politics,
Corruption free governance,
VOTE FOR CHANGE
Though I am not aligned and working for any political ideology or party, i think the time has come for a change. And to put it simply. Vote, vote for BJP. This time.
I have hardly mentioned about the time I spent at Sikkim. Have been busy with the Yes+ happening and 8 sem project and stuff. However, here I am! and I want to share a few things about the adventures I had when I went home.
This time it was different, I did not go to Sikkim directly but stayed for a night at Malda. Ashish had insisted for me to come and they had advertised "as a singer from Bangalore is coming and we should have a big satsang". The satsang was very good and though I was missing the rocking YES+ feel but the warmth with which the devotees there filled my heart was amazing. It is amazing to see how devotion and spirituality crosses all boundaries of geography,language etc.I am specially grateful to Asish and his family for the wonderful love which they extended. I never felt that I am staying in someone else's home with someone else's family. There was such intimate and 'no-show-off' love.
Then after a refreshing satsang at Malda, Ashish and me headed towards the mountains to have some adventure. Sikkim was so refreshingly cold and sometimes it made me miss the almost non-noticeable weather of Bangalore. We went to Tea Estates,monasteries,giant statues and had authentic Sikkimese food at more than one place.
We even boarded the cable-car. The cable car is between a very short distance just meant for recreation but it gives a very beautiful view of Gangtok, the capital town.
More than once I told Ashish that if the entire yes+ gang was here then everyone would have had so much fun. Plan a trip to Sikkim, i am sure you will enjoy a lot.
We took many photographs, here are some:
We found this banner welcoming us as soon as we got down at Malda railway platform.
The river Teesta is one of the two main rivers of Sikkim. The entire bus route of 4 hrs from Siliguri to Gangtok is along this river. Ashish was always looking for the window seat to have a view of the river.
Momos is a very famous dish from Sikkim. It basically is a dumpling of flour stuffed with veggies,usually cabbage,onion etc and steamed in a special vessel called 'Moktu'.
A bird's eye view of Gangtok, this one is taken from the ropeway.
The cable car(ropeway)
As every major city in India, the main road in Gangtok is also called M.G marg. Notice how clean is the road and there are flower pots and light fountains along the road. Perfect for a stroll in the evenings .
A candid pic of a young monk trying to get inside through the window.Reasons unknown. This picture is taken at the Rumtek Monastery.
I found this sign outside one of the monasteries. Just as its main purpose might be to prevent groups of people from making noise,, i also immediately thought of how we must always move forward in life no matter how many problems and challenges may come. There is "NO STOPPING OR STANDING". "KEEP MOVING!!!!"
The Prayer wheels.. when you enter a monastery, you must roll them.. They signify the wheel of Life-death, which keeps rotating..We keep taking birth again and again.. Once you complete rolling them and reach main hall, you attain "Liberation", " Moksh" in life...
It picked up like a wave in 2008 and according to my humble prediction it is the next level of social networking where everthing is short and instantaneous.
Well, if you have not signed up for twitter or don't know what twitter is the you may direct your browser here(Caroline has written it lucidly).
First things first, lets look at cold hard facts.Ever since the service started in late 2006,it has seen tremendous growth of the number of users maximum of which is in late 2008.According to the data provided by Hubspot, an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 new accounts are registered each day.And there were more than 5 million visitors in September 2008.I suspect it is much more right now.
So what does this mean to an average,not so geek blogger? It means that more and more people are meeting and will continue to meet at Twitter. The same concepts which made social networking sites like Facebook,Orkut,Myspace so popular etc may be applied but twitter has even more advantage. It is short,sweet,easily loaded, and you get the ideas of several people simultaneously.
So when most bloggers are busy discussing ideas,promoting products,driving traffic to their blogs/sites do you want to be left out?
Friends, twitter is the place to be in 2009!
It can do wonders to your blog in terms of traffic,ideas and networking.Most of the professional bloggers have a large following in twitter. Even Barack Obama has an account(though it was hacked some time earlier).Most of the professional networking bloggers have already taken twitter seriously and are religiously working to make the best use of this next big thing! Darren (of Problogger fame) has even launched a separate blog for twitter called twitip.com.
So my advice to all the bloggers out there who are not twitting, is to create an account and start experimenting with this powerful social media network.
A few tips just to get started:
1.Just get to know more people with similar interests as you and start following them.Most of the blogs have a 'Follow me' button like you see on my left sidebar.If they like you, they may follow you too.The whole point is to increase the followers who actually is interested in what you have to say.
2.Twitter asks 'What are you doing?', my suggestion is not to include irrelevant act of yours such as 'I am eating' or ' I am scratching my itch'.
It might turn some of your followers off and may stop following you.
3.Learn more about Twitter etiquitte or Twitetiquitte(if you may), by reading some great articles written by Darren.
Going by the statistics, for a majority of blog readers commenting is a pain! That is why for every comment maybe more than 50 people must have read the same article.So the topic I want to deal with today is why we should comment ? and equally important is How we should comment?
As with most of my articles, even this article focuses on the so called 'small blogs' or 'new blogs'.
When your blog is very new or attracting very less visitors then comments to your posts will be very less or virtually non-existent. I remember when I started blogging then I would check in several times a day to see if someone have commented on what I have written or not.Most of the times I would be sad to see 'No comments'. Then what did I do?
I started visiting likeminded blogs with interesting contents which matches my frequency and left a piece of my mind wherever I felt appropriate. I noticed that suddenly all those bloggers visited me back and left comments on my articles. As you can see there are lot more comment on my recent posts than what it used to be 3 months back. In fact I have grown a small community around this blog. The ratio of comments on my posts are much more than the global average considering the fact the daily page views of this blog is not so much.(maybe around 100).
So what are the benefits of commenting on other blogs? Here are short one liners:
1.Your own blog gets more visitors and more comments on each post. 2.If the blog is a 'do-follow' , you get a valuable backlinks which works wonders in the long run. 3.You build a small blogging community of your own . 4.You learn more because you need to be totally involved in the discussion to leave an effective comment. 5.If the blog is an 'A-lister' blog( the Big Boys), and if you happen to be among the first commenters, it can drive massive traffic to your blog. 6.By commenting frequently you build your own brand in the blogging community.People recognize you and therefore your blogs value increases. 7.You have the satisfaction and pride of participating in a discussion.
Equally important is the quality of your comment. There are a lot of spammers out there who just say a 'Good' or a 'Great' just because they want all the goodies that come with commenting. Your comment should be well thought over and if you are praising or voicing an opinion against an article or something , it is a good habit to explicitly state what you liked/disliked about the post.
And don't forget to respond to the comments on your post. The readers read the conversation on the comments and if they find it interesting then they might leave a piece of their mind too.
The bottomline is "Commenting is an art which if practiced with patience becomes joy."
By the way, you can start practicing the skills you read above by commenting on this post . he he :)
When I just started blogging, I was bewildered by the sheer amount of information to digest and apply it. At that time I would have been very happy if someone gave me a list of to-do things that would get me started to make my blogging effective as well as would be beneficial in the long run.Thus, this post is born.
This post is not meant for people who are seasoned bloggers but for those who have just started blogging and trying to figure things out.Hope it will be useful to you. Some of the things here are specially written keeping blogger blogs in mind but most of the tips apply to any type.
1.Use Google Analytics and start using Reader.
The benefit of registering your blog with Google Analtics is that you can track the progress of your blog from the very day it is created and it feels great to see those spikes.If you have never heard about Analytics then it is a free tool provided by google where Webmasters can track a lot of site statistics like no. of visitors,visitor sources,keywords etc etc. This is a must use for all people who own a site or blog . To know more about Analytics you can visit here.
When I started blogging I had not been using Reader, when I actually came to use it I found it to be a great tool to use.So a Reader of your choice(I prefer Google Reader) is a great way to keep track of the new articles published in your favorite blogs.More about reader here.
2.Get a nice template.
Customizing the template can give a great look to your blog.I have already written about this which you can find here.(blogger).
3.Install a nice favicon for your blog. I have already written about this here. So follow the link and get a nice favicon for yourself.
4.Submit your blog to blog directories.
This is one of the most important things to do if you want to take your blog to professional levels.Whats the benifit of doing this.
Well, first of all people will come to know that your blog exists and you will get some visitors who are interested in what you write.
The other thing is you will get a valuable link which helps to grow your page rank,technorati rank and also helps in search engines rankings.
So which all directories you should submit.
You can find a list of directories here.
5.Use Entrecard.
At first when your blog is very new, very few people will know that it exists. Entrecard is a free service where you can advertise your blog on other people's blog by earning Entrecard credits. I have been using this consistently and it is needless to say that it is a great source of traffic. But along with that I have made many precious blogger friends through this platform.
Learn more about Entrecard here.
6.Claim your blog on Technorati. Technorati is a directory of blogs where you can find some really cool blogs on any topic you want. It has a system which gives Technorati ranks and authority to blogs.Claiming your blog in Technorati will make your blogs presence felt in the blogosphere and you can also compare how well is your blog doing by checking your authority and rank.
Learn more about Technorati here.
7.Social Networking.
Every successful blog uses social networking to some extent to promote the blog.It not only brings quality traffic but also makes a sort of following for your blog. So start promoting your blog through the many social networking sites like Facebook,Orkut,Hi5 and many more...
Perhaps the most happening thing in networking now is Twitter. So if you haven't started twittering you can sign up here.Don't forget to follow me.
Know more about Twitter here.
I hope you gained some tips reading the above topics.Leave your feedback in the comments.I must have left out some important points, don't forget to point them out too.
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