One such excuse arose soon after my first meeting. Our beloved Mumbai city had faced its worst crisis on 26^th November 2008 when a handful of terrorists unleashed unprecedented violence on its unsuspecting citizens. There was shock, pain, anger, fear—not just in Mumbai but across India and the world. I, too, was disturbed and angry and was trying to make sense of the tragedy. A trusted friend was among those who lost their lives in the massacre that had lasted four long days. My mind was confused, my heart was in pain. Yet, I wanted to feel love and practise forgiveness. I kept Dada’s strong emphasis on forgiveness in mind but it seemed extremely difficult to put into practice in that instance. So I decided to reach out and ask him directly and he graciously agreed for a one-to-one meeting.

The 1000w smile

As usual, being in his presence was, in itself, soothing enough that the mind became peaceful and all questions vanished. His smiling face was like a 1000w bulb that banishes all darkness from your heart. His humble demeanour aroused in my being a sense of compassion that cannot be described. All I can say is that feelings such as anger, anxiety, hatred and resentment have no place in presence of the light of compassion.

Suddenly, I knew that everything that was happening was in divine order. The apparent injustice pervading the world isn’t something to be angry about or afraid of. What is needed is to connect with the source of wisdom that in intrinsic in each of us and then follow its guidance. I realised that the world out there is only a reflection of my inner world and so all change must begin with me. The world will change when I do.

I was silent. Dada’s loving presence had worked its magic. Since all my turmoil melted away, I let my mom, who had accompanied me, interact with him. She had been very keen to meet Dada and he, too, was delighted to meet her. He made sure she felt comfortable and heard. That’s the thing about him—his love doesn’t discriminate. Since then, every time I met Dada, he never failed to inquire about my mom.

Message to the world

Later, I requested him to say a few words, a message for the world, in the wake of the terrorist attacks. I had carried an amateur video camera, just in case he agrees, which he did. As I turned on the camera to record, Dada began speaking, compassion and love oozing out of his every word. His message was just like him: simple and practical, yet extraordinarily profound. In his impeccable diction, he underlined the importance of faith and urged people to focus on cultivating character. He said that there is an invisible force that is always with us whether we know it or not. If we have faith in this force, we will have courage. And with courage, we can meet any challenge, no matter how arduous or perilous it seems. (Watch the video clip below)

Dada, the epitome of love and compassion, himself merged with the invisible force exactly a year ago. Of course, he is still available to you whenever you feel the need for his loving guidance. Just tune in with faith.

Watch: Dada’s message on the important of cultivating character

The post All you need is faith appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

It’s been said that the most important thing in life is to decide what is important. Using your personal values as a touchstone to navigate through the inevitable challenges of working towards your goals is critical. The term “values” may seem overused—and abused—but don’t let that disillusion you. Your values represent what is most meaningful to you about work, relationships and life in general. Acting from your values will give you a solid foundation that can inspire, strengthen and renew you every step of the way.

Without a strong sense of your values to guide you, it’s easy to get caught up in other people’s agendas. While it’s noble and necessary to support others, it’s critical not to lose your way in service of someone else’s needs.

Working with your values is a continuous process. Think of your values as your “truth and meaning” metre. While there will be fluctuations in things that matter to you most at different points in your life, your core values are not likely to change.

These checkpoints can help guide you to a deeper understanding of what you value most:

1. Know your beliefs

Beliefs drive all behaviour. Beliefs run our lives in ways that we are often unaware of. You have beliefs about everything—success, work, money, relationships and, most importantly, who you are and what you are capable of. The more you connect your actions to your beliefs, the more power you will have to make changes in your experience.

2. Cultivate greater self-awareness

Think of self-awareness as your power tool. Becoming more self-aware requires a commitment to honest self-assessment. It can be challenging to not only tolerate the emotional discomfort of looking at our behaviour truthfully, but to do it without harsh self-judgment. Developing a more mindful approach will support you in doing this important on-going process.

3. Expand your emotional repertoire

The road to success isn’t just paved with ambition and determination. You’ll need a bigger briefcase of feelings to support your efforts and connect you to others. It’s a cliché but find your passion. Activate your curiosity about the unknown. Hone your confidence through honest self-evaluation. Practise patience—it will serve you well in all circumstances. And regardless of your personality, develop your people skills by engaging empathy and demonstrating gratitude.

4. Wherever you are, be all there

It’s easy to get scattered and unfocussed these days. Problem is our focus is more on doing than being. Full attention is a rare quality and most people will sense your interest and caring when they receive it. Staying “present” will also help activate your conscious awareness, regardless of the situation.

5. Don’t get hooked by comparisons

There’s nothing more distracting and emotionally debilitating than getting bogged down in envy and jealousy. It is one thing to admire and adopt the positive qualities of others—but don’t put yourself down in the process. We are all unique.

6. Manage fear

Fear is learned. We’re not born afraid. It is parents, teachers, friends and the culture in general that teach fear—often in subtle ways. While fear can have a protective quality, mostly its insidious grip prevents us from taking actions that can benefit us. Fear wears many disguises and because emotional contagion is real—we must safeguard against “catching” it from others.

7. Don’t attach “results” to every action you take

Sometimes the path to success can feel like a race. We get lost in judging every activity as progress or regression. This kind of thinking often brings on anxiety and doubt. Assume that there will be “failures” and missteps along the way—all are a welcome part of the learning process.

8. Stay humble

There’s no shortage of boasting and self-promotion out there. Humility can seem soft or passive in the face of it. Don’t buy into those ideas. Humility is grounding and promotes appreciation.

9. Don’t succumb to cynicism

Cynicism can become a default feeling and worldview. Energetically it is draining, for you and others. Pursuing your goals will undoubtedly mean you will meet challenges and have setbacks. Don’t join the cynic’s club when that happens. Assess your situation positively and regroup using your highest level of thinking and most resourceful emotions.

10. Prioritise peace

Too many people postpone peace. In the hustle and bustle of life, it’s easy to relegate times of peace to an occasional vacation. Staying on the path to achieving your goals requires time spent in quiet reflection. Rest and relaxation is essential. Make space in your life for peace—and it will find you.

Any path toward professional success will have its twists and turns, but when you’re standing on the foundation you’ve built—you’ll keep your balance.

The post You can succeed without compromising your values appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

And then I got involved with yoga, spirituality and finally Kundalini Yoga. While practising Kundalini Yoga I came to one major conclusion, “If your presence does not work for you, nothing will.” You can have a room with three people in it. Someone walks in, nobody notices him. Or you can have a room with a 1000 people in it and one person walks in, and everyone stops what they are doing to look at this person. What do you think is the difference?

It is the calibre of the person.

When you walk into a room, your aura and your energy field is instantly recognised by every soul in that room. Every one of those souls knows exactly what you are all about. The people in whose body those souls reside may not know it but their souls do.

Haven’t you regretted a relationship or a business deal with someone and told yourself, “Oh, I had a gut feeling about not doing business with him and I should have listened to it.” That was your soul talking to you and telling you what it read about the energy of the other person.

So, all those years that I spent trying to ‘learn’ things to better my business skills were a waste of my time. Whether you want to impress your boss, your girlfriend or people around you in general, you should know that all of that is possible if you understand the meaning of calibre. Perfecting your calibre not only attracts people to you but also brings abundance, bliss and joy into your life.

We all have an aura—a magnetic field. Our actions determine whether this field will expand with time and keep expanding or it will shrink down to the bare minimum on account of those actions.

There are six fundamental truths to expanding your magnetism:

Honesty

Living an honest life, not lying to anyone, not cheating anyone and never coveting what does not belong to you, expands your aura. Every time you cheat someone or grab something that is not yours, it shrinks your magnetic field.

Humility

When you look at another soul, what are your thoughts? If you feel you are superior or are condescending to them, hurt their feelings out of your pride, you automatically shrink your aura. Being humble and living with grace is one of the most powerful ways to expand your aura.

Intention

When you meet someone, do you want something out of him or her? When you advise a client, do you have their interest at heart or do you just want to squeeze them off their money? When you say I love you to your loved one, are you being authentic or are you expecting something in exchange? You wear your agenda on your sleeve. Souls around you sense your intention and are immediately repulsed with ulterior motives and shenanigans. Having pure and clean intentions attracts positive energies and gives a big boost to your magnetic field.

Gratitude

You don’t really need to shell out a lot of money to thank someone. When you feel gratitude for someone’s actions deeply from within your heart, it is more than enough. Even if that person is not looking at you or even near you, your soul’s expression of gratefulness creates a wave that reaches that person and is registered with their soul. This flow of grateful energy is expansive and beautiful.

Compassion

This one’s definitely the most powerful. When you have love flowing out from your heart, your soul soars high; almost as if you are levitating. With compassion you heal yourself, cleanse your chakras and purify your soul. This expansion of energy is so powerful that it attracts anything that you wish for or need. Your aura shines and your skin radiates with the glow of love and kindness. Loving is the ultimate booster for our magnetic fields.

Wisdom

Wisdom is not gained from reading self-help books and listening to get-rich-quick audios. Wisdom comes from just knowing the stillness, the silence of your soul. It comes from understanding the texture of your soul and the purpose of your life. The ability to see the simplicity in complexity of life, and bliss even in the pain—that is true wisdom. The wisdom of being in a state of Zen comes from always being in bliss, peace, harmony.

When you adhere to the six truths, you live a life that is continuously evolving, growing and you keep climbing up the spiritual ladder. This adds to your calibre, your charisma, and when people see you they understand the meaning of the phrase “If your presence does not work for you, nothing will.”

The author is a kundalini yoga teacher and founder of www.anahata.in

This was first published in the January 2015 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

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As is the usual practice, I had planned to do some research/home work on J P Vaswani. I asked my colleague Rahul Baji to help me in this effort. We were happy to have an opportunity to meet a person of this stature. When the meeting was re-scheduled to an earlier day, I was a bit concerned because I usually like to do my homework before I meet someone for an interview, but in this case I couldn’t. Nevertheless, I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to meet him. Fortunately for me, Rahul had managed to do some research on the internet, based on which he prepared a decent list of questions we could ask Dada.

The moment arrived. I was looking forward to meeting him because I had heard and read so much about him. But nothing could have prepared me for the encounter that ensued. As he walked into the room, I and Rahul knew this experience would be different than what we had imagined.

My first feeling on seeing the radiant face of Dada was that I am meeting a living saint. His politeness struck a chord. The way he bowed to us when we greeted him, the warmth with which he approached us, the endearing smile on his face, were welcoming and comforting. His soft-spoken manner, his gentle laughter and near-perfect diction added another dimension to his splendid aura.

When I started my “interview“, I felt like I’ve never felt before. It’s indescribable. It was kind of like a combination of nervousness and happiness. From the very first interaction with him, I instinctively knew that the list of questions were inconsequential. My instincts were right. I proceeded with the interview and went on to ask him the first question. His response was something only someone of his stature could have given. Merely two questions later, I no longer wanted to look at Rahul’s painstakingly prepared list of questions. The interview had somehow got magically transformed into a spiritual experience where I felt I was in a presence of a beautiful human being — a bona fide expression of God.

As our discussion progressed, I was no longer an editor/journalist. I became a witness. In doing so, I could see love for all humanity oozing out of his every cell as he shared with us his exquisite thoughts about how each individual could seek health, happiness, harmony and fulfilment. His thoughts were at once simple and uncommon.

What struck me and Rahul the most was that here was a man who didn’t simply preach that God is in everyone – he believed so himself. This came across emphatically throughout our discussion, but specifically when I thanked him for sharing his thoughts with us and he quickly thanked me in return, saying: “I too have heard it as you are hearing it. I have not said it. I am one of the listeners”.

During the entire engagement, I noticed several unique traits about Dada: the endearing smile is a permanent feature on his face. His ideas on surrendering to God, serving others and making others happy, living in harmony with nature and such were not merely intellectual concepts. He lives by them. His whole life is an example of a man who practises first, then preaches. His sincere humility is known to inspire. His genuine compassion is contagious. Certainly, I was infected. And so was Rahul.

I was feeling blissful and blessed in his presence. I wanted to continue hearing his soothing voice, listening to his soul-uplifting thoughts and watching his glowing face. No wonder I wanted this meeting to go on and on. But I knew that it had to end. And that thought saddened me. I asked him to bless me and once again he flummoxed me with his humility by asking me to bless him. He then held my chin and said, “You are that.” I felt I had been touched by God because only God can be perfect.

When I turned and looked at Rahul, who was sitting next to me, he was wiping the tears in his eyes. Everyone else in the room also had moist eyes. Dada’s presence is so overwhelming that when the time to leave comes, the heart yearns for more.

[With inputs from Rahul Baji]

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