Change Your Perception by Rahul Joshi

This is written by a very Dear friend Rahul Joshi, who volunteers with the Yes Plus team Noida Full Time and works Part Time with Adobe Inc

Life isn't designed to run from the hardships.

But is to teach you to face challenges with smiling lips.

Troubles ain't meant to make you depress.

But they come to make you accordingly dress.

Quarrel never shows someones protest.

Rather, People Quarrel to show that even you can be the best, unlike the rest.

And neither do people criticize to show dislike.

But they instead grill you for your next strike.

Friendship doesn't means a timely support.

But, is a feeling that someone's always there to escort.

LOVE is not meant to ask.

But, it's rather a give and forgive task.

A Celebrity Hero - Guru Stories

Yesterday I attended a Guru Puja and Satsang organized by a Yes Plus Teacher Shreya Ramkumar at her home in Chennai. One of my Juniors from college Dewang Vora accompanied me to the puja as he was very keen on it. I reached early to help her in arranging the place. A few of Shreya's kids also dropped in for the puja. At 5.30 pm, bang on time Neelanjan Bhardwaj a.k.a Anil arrived, he was the one who was to perform the Guru Puja. On his arrival Shreya told me that he was a Kick Boxer earlier and he did look like one, standing at 6.5 feet and a very huge built he was very intimidating. The Puja then started with the customary chanting of OM 3 times after which the chanting began and once the Guru Puja chanting was over, the satsang team took over and sang a few bhajans.

Once it was all done then everyone got into a group while having delicious prasad ( Sundal, Sweet Pongal and Modak ) and then began discussing knowledge and how we came into the path and more importantly and the most interesting thing - GURU STORIES.

Everybody had their share of experiences and Guru Stories. that was when Anil began to share on such Guru Story of his. He started by saying that once while driving on his bike he got hit by a vehicle from behind, which forced him to over railings of the Fly over he was going on.

That was when I said, " SO YOU ARE THE ONE"?, and he was like, Oh man this is for the umpteenth time that I have not been able to finish my Guru Story.

I had already heard this story from Gauri Bhake a teacher in Delhi when I was volunteering in one of her courses. So this Guru Story of Neelanjan would be shared by many such teachers when they would be talking about GRACE.

The Story then continued for those who had not heard it,

So the moment he fell off the bridge, the others driving behind were scared to look down on his certain death. But when they looked down they saw Neelanjan waving at them frantically from a truck that was full of HAY which was coincidentally moving under the bridge. Every one there was dumbstruck n speechless as it looked like a completely filmy scene which would have taken more than a few retakes to perfect. But then as its said, when the divine is the director, perfection becomes the order of the day.

That's when I added, Neelanjan you are a Celebrity Hero for Guru Grace Stories in most parts of India.

Neelanjan's story is mentioned in a post on Bawa n Dinesh da's Blog - http://bawandinesh.name/chennai-story/

Examination...??? Oh my Gawd.... not Again.......

The very thought of an examination gives jitters all over my body even after so many years and for many other kids who are studying in some form or the other. It also raises many a concern in the minds of the Parents about the progress of their child.

Most Students are so very worried at all times during Exams, It so reminds me of myself

Examinations in Schools n Colleges are so heavily weighed by the Parents that they always feel that any kid who gets a high percentage of marks in school and college examinations is by far an intelligent kid and the one with more responsibility.

What everybody fail to understand here is that these examinations are just a test of some knowledge that has been dumped into the kids heads, whether they want it or not. They cannot really speak in volumes about one's intelligence and Moral Responsibilities and Values.

One of my mentor's Mr. Virat Chirania, would always raise a question when addressing any group of youngsters as to on a Scale of 100 how much would you give value to the 15 yrs of education that we compulsorily are given, how much does that add value to your personality and character. Astonishingly after a series of such sessions we came to a conclusion that most youngsters agreed that it is more of the Soft Skills that we otherwise learn from our experiences in life that are more valuable than education in itself.

Whether you score 100 or 60 it doesnt really reflect on your Character and your personality. We may take examples of very highly succesfull people in their respective fields of work, Right from Bill Gates to Steve Jobs to Dhirubhai Ambani to Sachin Tendulkar to Warren Buffet to to 50 Cents all of them had less of education but they were very very high on the soft skills aspect of life.

A study by the top job recruiting portals and the HRM of various companies have revealed that Job offers have been given in plenty to candidates with an average score of 60-70 percent than to most of the toppers as the study shows that the candidates with 60-70 percent scores are the ones with all round abilities to perform while the others are just inclined only to studies.

The main cause for concern here is the fact that these toppers are merely awesome pukers and that they dont really have any real understanding of the subject.

Children Learning and Mugging Up the answers - Last minute studies

To have really passed the examinations in Life we may reflect on a few situations and how we would have acted in these situations.

1. How much do we value Punctuality, are we always in time for our meetings, appointments , dates or we keep the others waiting.??
2. How often do we stand up against anything thats wrong, or do we give in citing peer pressure and fear of the wrath of the superiors.??
3. Do we initiate Bribe at any given situation, like telling Mom to buy you a bike in case you pass with Flying colors.??
4. Do we always finish up any work or task that we have agreed to perform at all costs or do we give up in between citing some silly reason.??
5. Do we do things because we like doing it or because we have committed to it.??
6. How do we address any elderly person that we meet.??
7. Do we offer a seat in a bus/ train to anyone who is old/ pregnant or is handicapped at all times or have we ill treated them.??
8. How often have we given up and contemplated suicide or thoughts its not my job.
9. Has there been a situation wherein you have lied that has come to haunt / hurt you in future.
10. How often have we only complained about the Pot Holes in the Roads, the Scams, the Slums and never ever taken any step towards eradicating the problem.
11. Whether you Drink and Drive or whether you use your mobile phone while driving ??
12. Do you ever cross the railways tracks or use the foot over bridge always ??
13. How much have we valued every piece of information that has come our way ??

These questions would have surely gone into the mind ringing various alarm bells asking you to wake up soon and realise the value of life and to pass the real test and examinations in life. All I am asking of you is to be aware of everything that is happening and to be at the tip of your toes in order to make your life completely fruitful.

Some eventful events in my Life wherein I have failed/ passed examinations.

• I have always had only enough pocket money to be able to just somehow manage my expenses at all times till now. So when ever I used to be Stopped by any Traffic Polic constable, the first thing I would do is to simply switch off the vehicle and put the keys in my pocket and just stand there alongwith the Officer. I would not show that I am very busy and instead just stand there with a long face asking him to pardon me. It would take a longer time but the constable in the end would just forgive me and let me go away.

There are two facets to the story, In case one we may say that I dint bribe the Officer in order to escape and that was really kool. If we see another side to the story we may easily observe that I broke the rules in the book and got away with it. The right thing for me to have done would have been to accept the violation and to have got a challan prepared by the Officer and to have paid the fine in a respective court. 

Had all of us requested for a challan at all times when ever we violated the traffic rules then we would be in a more stronger position to eradicate Corruption on the roads.

• It is not easy to be working in a job just for the sake of working. At all times one must always ask a question to oneself- Will I still be doing this job if I had 100,000 Dollars in my Bank Account. If the answer is yes then, it is purely because of one's love for the work that one wants to be in that particular job. Here the examination is when we decide with our heart more than the mind.

Realizing that we need to learn more in Life than these stupid questions and answers.

Every moment of every day in our Life is an examination that we have to keep giving in the school of the LORD. So one must be very conscious of every activity that they are doing because they must know that the Lord always is keeping a very close vigil on our activities.

Happy Days Ahead and All the Best for your Results.

May all of us Pass the Examinations with Flying Colours.

Jukebox Grace

A Jukebox for me is an instrument wherein I can go and make a request for the song that i really wanna hear . This post is about how grace took over in the form of a jukebox just to fulfill this petty little wish/ craving/ eagerness to listen to a particular Bhajan.

When I used to stay in Mumbai I would volunteer with the VnV Yes Plus team and would regularly attend the Thursday Yes Plus Satsang in Goregaon. The crowd would majorly be the entire gang of VnV team. It would start at 7.30 p.m and go on till about 9.30. The evening would comprise of a few Bhajans and a short meditation and then finally a knowledge session that would be conducted by Virat Bhai and Vasudha Didi.

Whenever I travel out of Mumbai there is nothing more than the VnV Satsangs that i Miss. Every thursday that I miss the Satsangs feels so Incomplete. I do keep pinging the guys in Mumbai on my Blackberry telling them that i miss them a lot.

I love all the Bhajans that are sung, but there is one particular bhajan that is sung there and that is just so reviving "Pandu Ranga Jaya Vithale", I had heard this song last on 9th December 2010 and then I left for Delhi to attend my MBA Convocation. I had my return tickets to Bangalore boooked on 25th Decemeber alongwith the enitire Yes Plus Gang and so in the 12 Days that I was in Delhi I volunteered for 2 courses with Deepan Mukherjee, one in Noida and one in Vrindavan where I was the OTC and the only Volunteer. This was the second time that I volunteered with Deepan Bhaiya as the only Volunteer which helped me learn and improve in leaps n bounds. Deepan Bhai is a celebrated singer himself and takes wonderful Sasangs. I repeatedly kept on asking him to sing the song "Pandu Ranga Jaya Vithale"  but he dint sing the song. He instead sang "Lena Hoga Janam Hame Kai Kai Baar" one of my other favurites that i had requested him to sing. Inspte of listening to all the wonderful bhajans for some reason i was still missing "Pandu Ranga Jaya Vithale" for some reason.

Once I was done with that I left for Bangalore in order to be in the Ashram and do Seva in the Vishala Canteen that was taken over by the Yes Plus gang during the Winter Break. I reached the ashram on 28th Dec did seva in the vishala canteen washing the dishes with Chirag. We had loads of fun washing the dishes. We created loads of jingles like "Bartan maanj bartan maanj bartan maanj be, hum nahi bartan manjenge to woh kisme khayenge" and a few more.

The clocked had ticked past 7.30 pm and everyone was rushing to the Vishalakshi Mantap ( VM ) for the evening Satsang. By the time we kind of wrapped up work and began running towards the VM the clock was already at 7.50. I was in for a very pleasant surprise as i huffed n puffed when i reached the shoe stand and began ascending the stairs towards the main gate of VM, that was when i realised and heard the bhajan being sung and there i could hear "Pandu Ranga Jaya Vithale, Vithale, Vithale" I was just motionless for a few seconds as it took forever to sink in that a wish of this tiny miniscule nature was taken care of and so I kind of was so grateful to Guruji for being there and fulfilling every wish.

I also realised that everything is being taken care of and that all my wishes will surely come true. I also realised that i really just have to enjoy life to the fullest giving the Guru the freedom to work his magic and paint my LIFE.