Idol Worship !!!!

There was a request to Guruji to talk on Idol Worship…

This is not an explanation for a gyani (One who dabbles in Knowledge), it’s for a premi (a lover)

We require some name and form to anchor our mind to. When we do Pooja to an idol, the starting mantras mean something like, Oh my God, who is within me, come on out here into this idol, so i can play with you! and then we do the Pooja, mimicking God: He has provided us with food, so we offer some rice (as if it’s ours to offer, What belongs to God, we simply give to God), and we offer flowers, etc…

Then just as He is doing our aarti with the sun and the moon, we light a small lamp and do His aarti… Pooja means that which is born out of fullness of the heart (Poo ja = jo Poornata se Janam leta hai woh) it’s done with deep gratitude and a sense of mischief… and when we have finished, the mantras say, ok, now that i have finished playing with you, come back within me…

Its very difficult for our minds to even begin to comprehend the immensity and vastness that is the (formless) God… so we create a name and a form, and can get some relationship, some anchor and then we worship that…

When the Guru Granth Saheb is printed in the printing press, it is just printed paper… But when it is installed in the home or the Gurudwara, then it becomes Sacred and Holy… It is the consecration of the book that makes it the Guru, and that is through our feelings for it… It’s just a book, until we ourselves through our feelings make it the Guru, and venerate it.

(I have to add my own thing here: Pooja when done the right way, gives incomparable deep meditative bliss, to experience just come to the Bangalore Ashram any monday morning at 7:00 am… AND you do get really, really nice food to eat afterward as well! :))

In the days of yore, there were no mobiles or internet, and it was very difficult for a lover to communicate with his beloved… So, whatever had to be said was simply said to a photo… Now, that photo was not the beloved, was it? just a representation of the beloved…

Similarly, we do Pooja to the Idol… as a representation of God!

SOURCE: www.bawandinesh.name

Fruit Rhapsody...Yummmm!!!!

Well this one comes directly from my kitchen(Hell Yeah...no lame recipe was referred..although its a good idea to learn a thing or two from those books)...As you know Im a big fan of cooking and I like to experiment with my food in terms of texture, ingredients and what not...
My inspiration is ofcourse the very talented Mr Khurshid Batliwala aka Bawa..This happens to be my first independently made dish...I call it Fruit Rhapsody which when crudely translated means "Poem of fruits"....
This is a very simple dish to make and hardly requires any skills or never heard of ingredients :) ...Well you need fruits like Banana,Pomegranate(anar),papaya,grapes(preferably both green and black ones),one juicy pineapple,watermelon chunks,musk melon(optional),apples(i like them green),a couple of shredded carrots and a bar of dark chocolate...
The procedure is very simple all you have to do is to cut the fruits in equal chunks.Make sure you do not put any citrus fruit into it coz' it wont go well with the chocolate and also avoid too much of watery fruits like watermelon as it'll make the entire mixture soggy..Take a bowl and half fill it with all the fruits which are homogeneously mixed with each other by now..Then grate the dark chocolate into fine pieces and spread a layer of it over the half filled mixture generously :) ..Then again add the mixture of fruits on the remaining half..Now when the bowl is filled with fruits again add the grated chocolate but this time don't forget to add tiny chunks of chocolate along with it...Its almost an out of the world experience when a chunk of chocolate enters your mouth with one of the fruits...Make sure you use the entire bar of chocolate as a generous garnish and in the end garnish it with shredded carrots...It works as a moisture retainer and also add a mysterious sweet taste to the entire mixture :)..Now that you are done with the mixture keep it in the Freezer for atleast 15 minutes and ta daa raa Fruit Rhapsody is ready to be served...

Arrested for Laughing :D !!!!!

This is from an actual trial in the UK : A young woman who was several months pregnant boarded a bus.

When She Noticed a young man smiling at her she began feeling humiliated on account of her condition.
She changed her seat and he seemed more amused.
She moved again and then on her third move he burst out laughing….

She had him arrested!

Then the case came before the court, the young man was asked why he acted in such a manner.
His reply was: When the lady boarded the bus I couldn’t help noticing she was pregnant.
She sat under an advertisement, which read: ‘Coming Soon: The Gold Dust Twins’.
I was even more amused when she sat under a shaving advertisement, which read: ‘William’s Stick Did The Trick’.
Then I could not control myself any longer when on the third move she sat under an advertisement, which read: ‘Dunlop Rubber would have prevented this accident.’

The case was dismissed!

(Courtesy www.bawandinesh.name[do visit this site.really kicks ass] :) )

My Back(and Front)bone...Baaghis \m/

Well now that I have been given creative license to unleash the lurking writer within me,I thought why not take a dig at my friends or as Sidhu might put it "my pals" :D .... I don't know whether we were destined to meet each other or its was just that another social accidents where we guys happened to bump into each other :)..But whatever it was,I am glad it happened :)
If a regression analysis has to be carried out one would notice that each "baaghi" comes with a distinct personality(or rather lack of it) :D ranging from borderline schizophrenics to guys with Head,Arm,Toes,Fingers on their shoulders...But all in all our USP is Harmony in Diversity(Yeah Right)!!!!! Now I being a perfect host would like to introduce our Motley Crew(A motley crew is a cliché for a roughly-organized assembly of characters. )
Lalli Bhai who is no less a freak of nature is someone who can leave you scratching your heads with his whims and his sudden hyperactive cravings where he acts like a zombie and starts kissing people(Read:Men) :D ... Lalli is one of the most responsible and most patient guys in our group..Lalli possess certain occult powers wherein he gains the sympathy of every single specimen of fairer sex..All the female friends I have known turn into frizzled hair Monsteresses when something ill is spoken of Lalli :D...They consider him winged or haloed(hah!!yeah right)...But he can actually save you some serious bucks during your marriage as you can hire him for free as a Pandit(which considering his past record,blemishes the sacred title of a pandit :) )..He can throw in couple of mantras but rest be assured you'll either end up having divorce or having a three headed baby :D
Manu Bhai who again my friends is someone not very famous for his sanity... :) Being the one with most female attention is both a source of inspiration as well as an object of jealousy...His ways are so arcane that you need to have an extra coating of cerebral fluids to protect your system from an imminent Brain Stroke :D ..All in all Manu Bhai is a complete package, a true friend who can stand with you in every thick and thin and put in his everything to make sure his friends are not messed up with :) Manu is our very own desi Hitch :)
Sidhu Bhai aka "Aristocrat" is one of the most sophisticated people in our group..It seems when god was packing him and stuff the crane who is supposed to deliver babies in a bag(Dnt tell me you dnt knw about the crane..man haven't you been seeing your cartoons) got stoned midway and messed up the address as actually he was supposed to deliver the package somewhere in England :D...He is one of those sidekicks in the P.G Wodehouse's novels(minus the stained teeth) whom you feel like respecting for their obnoxious mannerism and all...Sidhu bhai is a gem of a person,always smiling and I personally have never seen him getting all worked up for anything..Peace personified ...You stuck up in something and Sidhu bhai is there with his smile before you even know it...And yeah Sid is a great Guitarist...Scandal Point rockss \../
Pallavi m.k.a(mostly known as) PC is the only person in our group who makes you feel good that how so much more you eat there is someone who's there to give you a competition and PC my friends wins hands down :D...PC is one of the most caring and sweet people to have blessed our lives...She provides the much needed stabilty to our otherwise unstable group...She always pays for our coffes at CCD :) Her leadership skills are commendable and worth giving Stalin and Hitler a run for their money :D..She gets angry very quickly and man if you are in her way at that point in time she'll pulverise you into pieces..If Shakespeare had to do a sequel for Taming Of Shrew,PC would fit in like as we call it "hands in glove" and at the end of it all she would have ended up shouting at poor Shakespeare himself :D :D...
Aneesh Bhai aka Joy Bhai is a Rock God himself and only person in our group to have a living girlfriend...Rock is his religion and so is his money saving skills... :D...An awesome guitarist who happens to be the founding father of "Scandal Point" ...He has always been there for us whenever we required some intellectually challenging solutions...He is a classic living example of how our lives are going to be once we get married and trust me we( minus joy bhai) still have to learn the difference between "fetch" and "sit" :D
Smriti Mam aka Mam is the most charming antithesis of the general buildup of our group...Her maturity and her level headed thinking makes our group come alive..Although she is in Mangalore and the sole employed indivisual of our group still has managed to remember us..which is cool...and yeah she is someone who sends you gifts when its your birthday(only if she remembers it ":)
Finally,we have the "kid" of our group..Dr Sarunika Chaudhary a.k.a. Saru( Yeah she is a doctor right!!!!).Although she is the youngest( Imagine she is just in her teens and Lalli is like a fossil compared to her :D!!!!) in our group but I guess she is suffering from a sort of Progeria(Yeah Remember Paa!!!) where her wits has grown beyond her years... :) She can give Humphery Bogart run for his money when it comes to "being in the moment" types intellectuals...Its hard to resist the feeling of pulling her chubby cheeks while you are around her..If consumerism in India has been showing green shoots oflate its just because of the fact that Dr Chaudhary has had her share of shopping binges,which oflate have reached epic proportions ;)..Manmohan Singh is a happy man!!Her prescene just makes you smile and makes a you feel at ease...Its almost natural for us to pamper her,she leaves us with no option :)!!!
The Bottom line still remains that I love my friends with marrow of my bone and although we fight with each other most of the time we still manage to a grab a cup of coffee and ask "aur suna kya chal raha hai"...Each one of my friends have transformed my life in a very special way and each one has taught me something or the other which has become an integral part of me....Guys I Love you all and hopefully we'll manage to meet once every year :)