I signed up for this opportunity immediately, pretty certain that all other teachers and volunteers all across Germany would sign up too. Somewhere along the way (a few days ago), however, I started getting the feeling that this workshop is "by invitation only" - the central team in Germany will decide who is invited to this event. I immediately picked up the phone and called one of the key organizers in Germany and asked if I can extend the invitation to those volunteers in Munich who I feel would be inspired and would benefit from this workshop. The response was, as expected, a YES :)
I set out to call the other teachers in Munich to ask them who they thought should be invited. I wanted to invite everyone who was either regular for knowledge, follow ups or service because all these were signs that the person was interested in this beautiful knowledge and would be willing and eager to join the Art of Living Munich Volunteer Group. Once again, the response from all the teachers was a big YES! Everyone was looking forward to attending the Synergize workshop and take all eager volunteers, new and old, with them.
In the midst of it however, a message came from one person that "headquarters" will decide who can and cannot join. I was immediately irritated and wanted to know - "How in the world can 'headquarters' know who the strong and eager volunteers are at local Art of Living Centers?" "Do they not want to empower all teachers and volunteers just like Sri Sri wants to empower everyone on this planet to take charge of their own lives and also contribute to community service projects?" And my mind went on and on... I messaged angrily back and forth and got more and more convinced that "headquarters" wanted nothing more than to hold on to their power and had no interest in empowering teachers and volunteers in local chapters. In the mean time, I kept going on in my mission to invite everyone who came to my heart and mind.
On Thursday we got together as usual for the weekly knowledge sessions :) This time, we are listening to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Commentaries on Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. Sri Sri explained in the first chapter how everything we percieve goes through so many layers of (what can be called) filters and distortions - any object or event that the eye 'sees' is really not 'seen' only by the eye. In fact, if the mind is lost in thought, the eye might be looking, but we will not 'see' anything. Going even beyond the mind, how an object is 'perceived' by us, depends on our own memory of things coupled with our intellect's conditioning (e.g. if we have been bitten by a dog, our memory of the bite and the intellect's dictation that dog = bite, will lead us to perceive a dog as danger. Another person, who loves dogs and has always been licked by them, will perceive the same dog as 'cuddle toy' :D) I was amazed by this knowledge! How incredible then that what I perceive as reality is not necessarily reality in any objective sense! It is a subjective reality - one that is distorted by my own concepts and conditioning!
After the knowledge session, I was somehow able to 'let go' of my feverish desire to invite everyone I know to the Synergize workshop. This morning, however, I woke up restless. Again I was irritated. I had no news from 'headquarters' about whether or not our Munich volunteers could come to the workshop. But I didn't want to send out a set of reminder emails and calls in this state of mind. So I started my morning yoga and pranayama with a prayer in my mind - "please guide me to the right action and the right line of thought and feeling." Soon I was deep in my morning yoga and breathing - happy and present. After Padmasadhana and Sudarshan Kriya, I was in a deep quiet state of meditation. A small thought arose during this meditation from absolutely nowhere - "We consider our perceptions of reality to be the one and only truth even though every object or event perceived by our senses is filtered through 5 different layers - of the senses, the mind, the memory, the intellect and the ego!” I started coming out of meditation with the realization dawning on me that just because I perceive that the "headquarters" as being disinterested in empowering the volunteers, they are not necessarily so! Maybe they are indeed eager to welcome as many new and old volunteers as possible! In fact, they had already said YES to bringing the volunteers from Munich to the workshop!
I also realized that just as my (often feverish and childish!) actions are dictated by my (limited) perceptions of reality, everyone else’s actions are also dictated by their own perceptions of reality – and accordingly, they, just like me, see their specific actions as being necessary to benefit (or protect or inspire) others! Most people (and certainly people in the Art of Living) are driven by good intentions! At worse, they, like me, just have limited perceptions! ☺ This realization brought my erstwhile restless mind back to a state of love. And this is the only state of mind from which I wish all of my actions to emerge ☺
Many years ago, when I did my first Art of Living course, our teacher told us that with regular practice of Sudarshan Kriya, yoga and meditation, our perception, observation and expression improves - I feel I am slowly understanding what he meant when he said this :)
So here’s to this beautiful knowledge of how our mind perceives reality and what the actual reality of human perception is, and to remembering that my perception of reality is not the only reality and reality is more than the sum total of my or people's perceptions :)
Today's Recipe: Matar Paneer
Ingredients
250 grams home made paneer (you can get the recipe here)
500 grams frozen or fresh peas
300 grams (or 3 large) tomatoes - chopped into small cubes
1/2 onion - chopped very fine (optional) - avoid this if you want to prepare a satvik dish :)
3 inch piece of fresh Ginger - grated
1 tsp Indian cumin seeds
1 tsp Turmeric powder
1.5 tsp Coriander powder
1/3 tsp Asafoetida (Hing)
1/2 tsp Garama Masala
1/2 tsp red chilli powder (optional) or 2/3 tsp sweet paprike powder
2 tablespoons + 1 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon of fresh cream (optional)
15-20 fresh coriander leaves
Salt to taste
Method
Cut the paneer into medium sized cubes. In a frying pan, add 2 tablespoons of oil, heat the oil, reduce the heat to medium, fry the paneer in the oil so that atleast 2 sides of the paneer are golden brown. Take the fried paneer out of the frying pan and set aside in a bowl. Add one more tablespoon of oil to the frying pan. Warm the oil. Add the cumin seeds. When the seeds start sizzling, reduce the heat again to medium, add the onion and fry till lightly brown. Add the remaining spices (other than Ginger) and stir to mix well. Once the spice mix releases its fragrance and is lightly sizzling, add the tomatoes - stir well. Add the ginger and salt, stir again. Add the peas - stir. Place a lid on top of the frying pan and let cook on medium heat for 10 mintes. Add the paneer - mix with a light hand to ensure that the paneer doesnt break too much. Once again place the lid on the frying pan and cook on minimum heat for another 3-5 minutes. Pour the fresh cream on top, garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve immediately.
