Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Genghis Grill – Restaurant review

Taking a hint from my buddies Anoop and Shraddha, I am writing up this restaurant review

For the busy people, Genghis Grill is a new Mongolian grill on Westgate blvd next to Central market. Place has a good ambience and waiter was very friendly, they accommodate vegetarians and cook our food on a separate grill. I recommend the place to be tried once.

Here is the long version; Other day I took up the intention to do my groceries and thanks to the television by the time the intention manifested it was close to 9:00PM. After completing my shopping, I was driving out thinking about dinner and my eyes fell on this place “Genghis Grill”, a Mongolian grill, after a couple of moments of hesitation decided to at least look at the menu before making a decision. Thankfully they were open and the hostess was friendly and handed me the menu. Looking at the menu I could hardly find anything vegetarian and the food menu was 1 page and the rest were drinks and desserts. I guess the hostess understood my dilemma and explained that don’t have to order from the menu but I can create my own and handed me a bowl.

After I got seated, the waiter took me around and explained to me that I need fill the veggies to the bowl and take it to the grill and let them know that I am a vegetarian. Now, here is the interesting thing, in my previous times (before Rajima and Bhagavatam) I would have been concentrating more on veggies “I think I like and I think I know” and be pretty discriminating, but this time around I concentrated on what was available right in front of me and ended up adding a few pieces of pretty much everything. For the sauce part, I picked the easy one and went with island teriyaki. On the lighter side, I wasn’t surprised when the grill guy gave me green token number 1 (they have different ones for meat and veggies). I went and sat at my chair and couple of minutes later the waiter arrived with my cooked food.

Unlike the other Mongolian grills in town, in this place they stir-fry the noodles/rice with the veggies and the sauce (no rice on the side). The food with all the veggies tasted real good, the veggies had good flavor and were fresh. I think addition of the veggies that I previously used to ignore added extra flavor. I loved the food and the service.

The cost was a tad on the higher end but I have no regrets. Later on, I came to know the restaurant is fairly new and probably less than a week young. So, near future is a good time to check out this place.      

ps: there is a small trick to make the food taste real good, do the Bhagavatam with Rajima and you will know.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Rajima tour update

As I have described in my other blog entries, she is tough, she is hard, she blasts the ego in all forms, she is a fire brand, she is one of the few who resides in the moment, she is one of the few who is well versed in scriptures and one of the few who fully understands the hidden meaning of the ancient scriptures and one of the very very few who can translate them in a way that they make it to the heart directly (it happened to me). Just her presence is electrifying.

It is true that her fire brand way could appear harder to accept but keep in mind it is the same fire that can transform. Some of us are fans of her knowledge while some others are fans of her presentation skills,  while others are fans of her singing  and as for me, I am a fan for she is Rajima. Experiencing her presence in Bhagavatam (2011) and the Art of Living course (2009), my conclusion is: go with an open heart and an open mind and you do not have a choice but to love her and experience the divine love and the presence.

For reasons inevitable, Rajima will not be teaching any more Art of Living programs in her current tour, that means you cannot be lazy like me and miss one event and hope to catch up with her on the next event. In a way it makes life simple, no confusion and no schedule conflicts and so on, just show up for her Bhagavatam and Bhagavad Gita.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Knowledge snippets from Texas Ashram

Yesterday was Rama-Navami and guruji gave a beautiful perspective for Ramayana.

Rama stands for light/shine inside us (or as Rajima puts it that which is shining in us is Rama)

Dasharatha is Rama’s father, the name means lord of ten chariots. We with our 5 external senses of 5 senses of perception form the Dasharatha

Kausalya is Rama’s mother, the name means skill (which can be attained by purifying, I will get to this later)

Hanuman is the breath

Sita is the mind

Ravana means the one who does not listen to anybody, he comes up with 10 different types of logic to prove he is right (stands for his ten head). He stands for Ego

So, if we look at the story of Ramayana in a nut shell, we (Dasharatha) with the skill (Kausalya) can give rise to the light (Rama) in us and this light with the help of breath (Hanuman) will rescue the mind (Sita) from the ego (Ravana)

Now the skill, the skill can be attained by act of purification, here are things we can do to become pure.

Seva – Purifies the action, self less action

Satsang – Purifies the mind

Sadhana – Purifies the thought/memory, he mentioned pranayamas, Kriya and meditation

Knowledge – Purifies the intellect, Ashtavakra Gita, Bhakti Sutras, Bhagavatam, Yoga Vasishta and so on

Charity – Purifies the money, guruji said at a minimum 1% of our money should be donated to charity

Fasting – Purifies the body, guruji said to listen to the body and fast 1 or 2 days every six months.

He also spoke about calm with in and action outside and not the other way.

ps: I may have Satsang, Sadhana and Knowledge jumbled, it doesn’t matter just do it all.      

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Bhagavatam with Rajima

The other day I was sitting in my office at ~5:30PM and I got a call from my buddy Sanjeev asking me to show up for Rajima’s Bhagavatam sessions. I had almost made up my mind not to go and looking for other excuses to completely make up. Then suddenly there was a shift in my mental state and I decided to show up to the session. After 14hrs (spread over 5 days) of intense sessions, I cannot thank Sanjeev enough for making that phone call.

Bhagavatam as Rajima said on the first day of the class is not just stories but about life, it is about me and you and it is about the lessons to be learnt to lead a righteous life.

Being born and brought up in India, most stories that Rajima talked about during the sessions were not new to me but the fact that it is also my story in the present life was completely new to me. The perspective Rajima presented to the stories were new, fresh and hit home. I had heard and read quite a few commentaries on the stories in Bhagavatam, but none came closer to what Rajima had to offer last week. In an essence she gave the right vision to the story.

If you are like me and had the questions like,

  • Why was Sudhama being a friend of lord Krishna (the king and god) was so poor?
  • What is the significance of Elephant Crocodile story?
  • What is the significance of Amruta Manthana (churning of the milk ocean)?
  • Was god fair in sending Bali to the underground?, even though he was such a good king and so on and so forth

My sincere suggestion is for to you attend a Bhagavatam session with Rajima. I will do a complete injustice if I even try and answer these questions, the answers coming from the right source makes all the difference. One thing I would like to share though, there is a big significance for all the avatars of the lord (it is not just the story of evolution) and the stories associated with it. Here are a couple of learning I would like to share, don’t get stuck in the physical level of the story or get attached to the form, do not treat the scriptures as cock and bull stories.  

The best part I still admire about her is her punctuality, she started on time, she ended on time. Her sense of humor, her impromptu songs (in multiple languages) and the motherly love I felt during the time is something all of us to experience. Not a single moment in the sessions I felt bored or the question “when will this end” arose in me, in fact when she used to say, “we will stop with this story for tonight/today”, I used to feel, “No Rajima, please keep going”. Of course I should be considerate to the vocal chords of the 60+ year old woman.

During the question and answer sessions she insisted that we should, ask things that matter to you, that is bothering you, that can help you make your life better and not hearsay and/or imaginary things and the answers were right on the money. 

This is the second time that Rajima has given commentaries on the Bhagavatam in Austin, first time was in 2009 and I didn’t attend. This time around in 2011, I almost missed it too. I definitely consider myself lucky for having completed this session.

There are DVDs of her earlier sessions available for sale but my friend it is secondary or even tertiary, her presence is what matters. If she is in your town and conducting these sessions, do not miss it, just show up. 

With my wife and baby daughter being gone to India for a trip, I sure was to get bored (I experienced that for the first couple of days in the week) but thanks to Rajima, the week went past like a breeze. I am sad the series have ended. 

Rajima – just show up for whatever she conducts

Dear Friends

If ever in your life, you find that Rajima is in your town or neighboring town and you are free other than the usual mental excuses, then just show up to whatever event she is conducting. Let it be Art of Living Course or Know Your Child (KYC) workshop or Bhagavatam or Bhagavadgita or whatever else, I assure you from my heart that you will not regret your time you spend with her.

People rave about Rishi’s and Swami’s but I say if you haven’t experienced the nectar called Rajima, you have missed out on the finer things in life. Her interest in developing me as an individual can only be matched by a handful of people in this world. Her extensive knowledge from time zero to present, her eloquence of speech, her analysis of the ancient scriptures and showing me how it applies to each and every one of us in our day to day life, can probably only be surpassed by herself.

She is the total package of knowledge, experience and eloquence (each in right quantity and proportion). She is Fun, Firm and Fair. While sitting through the Bhagavatam sessions, I got to experience her unique ability to draw parallels between ancient and present times and between different religions. Her ability to instill pride in ones own culture by giving the actual meaning behind the rituals and the way she describes why certain gods in Hindu philosophy are represented certain way is a thing of beauty.  

There are DVDs and talks recorded or books and blogs that you can find in the internet or market, take my word they are all secondary. What matters is her presence, what matters is the motherly figure sitting in front of you and nurturing you like only a mother can do, what matters is you being there to soak in the divine knowledge. 

Last time when she came to Austin, I did the Art of Living course with her and wrote a blog article titled “10 things I loved about Rajima”. This time around I completed the Bhagavatam session and the KYC workshop and words can’t do justice to what I experienced (but words are one of the good means of communication we have and I will write up about my experiences with both of them). I do not need those 10 reasons to love her any more, I love her for she is Rajima, I love her for she cares.

So, in conclusion I repeat again, just show up whenever you can for Rajima’s events.

ps: I almost missed out on this once in life time opportunity, the credit of getting me there goes to my buddy Sanjeev

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

Fast in support of Anna Hazare

Today during the Bhagavatam session our teacher Rajima brought up the topic of Anna Hazare who has started a fast until death to get the bill against corruption done right. She said we believe in praying, having a strong intention and doing peaceful protests to get things done rather than retorting to violence and extremism.

So, she asked us to have the intention to eradicate corruption from the whole world and fast a day in support of Anna Hazare. I have signed up to fast till dusk tomorrow. Will you do it with me and support the cause?