Awesome experience with Rudra Puja at MGR Janaki School in Virugambakkam

Couple of days back, I had an awesome experience attending the Rudra Puja by a swami from
Art of Living.  Just thought of sharing the details here.

It was held at MGR Janaki School in Virugambakkam. Started of with satsang. Swami came
and talked for some time.

The first thing he asked is, Are you ALL Happy?. Most of them said YES and raised their hands.
He said, this is exactly what we want to spread.

There were some crackers bursting outside the venue while he was talking. He immediately said,
they are bursting the crackers for us only, since we are going to do the puja.

He spoke about the 2 devils for the puja, one is mosquito and other is mobile. Asked us to switch
off the mobile and shared a guru story about mosquito.

Then he spoke about Bhagavad Gita (talk between Lord Krishna and Arjuna), Ashtavakra Gita
(talk between Sage Ashtavakra and King Janaka), asked everyone to vote for the upcoming elections, encourage 18+ people to register to vote, save a girl child project, Gurudev's Andhra Rail tour in Feb 14 etc.

Here is a picture during the puja

Here is one more long shot

1.1 What is Rudra Pooja

God is worshipping us every day! Imitating all that god is dong to us is pooja.
An action born out of a blossomed mind is pooja. Honouring from the heart which
is full is pooja. Gurudev throws new light on the meaning of the word pooja.

OM NAMAH PRANAVARTHAYA SHUDDHA JNANIKA MOORTHAYE NIRMALAYAPRASHANTAYA DAKSHINA MOOTHAYE NAMAHA

Understand the word ‘pooja’. ‘Poo’ means ‘poornatha’, fullness. ‘Ja’ means ‘born out of’.
That which is born out of fullness is pooja. When your consciousness becomes so full and
in that state when you do an action that is known as pooja. When heart is full and you are
overwhelmed, when an action is done out of that overwhelming state and gratitude is expressed,
that is known as pooja.

Rudrapooja is an ancient practice that has been followed in India since time immemorial.
Rudra means Shiva – The Benevolent, The Destroyer of evil. Pooja means that which is born of
fullness. Through this pooja one can aim for inner peace and fulfillment.

This Pooja, where Lord Shiva is worshiped in His Rudra form, is hailed by all Vedic scriptures
as one of the greatest Poojas to remove all evils, to attain all desires and for all round prosperity.

In this Pooja after the traditional Ganesha Pooja, Kalasha sthapana etc, the Shiva Linga sthapana
is done. Then Laghunyasa is recited. The Shivopasana mantra and the 108 names of Lord Shiva
are recited.

Then Sri Rudram (chapter 16 & 18 of Yajur Veda) is recited and the Shiva Linga abhishekam
is done with the prescribed 11 ingredients like water, milk, curd, ghee, honey etc. The Sri Rudram identifies 346 desires of human beings to be fulfilled to have a peaceful daily life and invokes Lord Rudra to fulfill all of them.

The Astrology scriptures have repeatedly prescribed this as a remedy for several planetary Doshas.
Whether you want peace or prosperity, progeny or progress in profession, health or wealth the
Rudrabhishekam Pooja is the ideal one. It will be done in your name and with your sankalpa,
i.e., the specific purpose for which you are getting the pooja performed. This Pooja will be
performed exclusively for you.

1.2 Why Rudra Pooja

The world is a play of energy, negative and positive. When we pray to Shiva – the Lord of
transformation; the entire negative energy around us in the form of disease, depression, and
unhappiness gets transformed into peace, prosperity and joy. Peace around us, in the mind,
body and soul.

http://www.artofliving.org/in-en/shivratri-rudra-puja

Art of Living PreTTC - Volunteer Training Experience

With the blessings of Gurudev, recently I had the opportunity to attend the Art of Living PreTTC -
Volunteer Training in Chennai. Just thought of sharing the experience here.

It is a 4 day program spread across 2 successive weekends. The prerequisite is 1 art of living
part 1 program done one year before, 1 part 2 (AMC) program.

This time we had the opportunity to get a very senior teacher Gopal Ji as our PreTTC teacher.
I really enjoyed the morning yoga, pranayama, kriya, since he himself does it as a role model.

There are various processes as part of this program like how to give intro talk about AOL,
qualities of a leader, get to know about AOL in detail, different type of meditation techniques,
food and evening satsang (don't miss Gopal Ji's satsang).

After coming out of this program I felt rejuvenated, you are more than what you think you are,
personal inhibitions are eliminated (especially during the seva activity during the week).

If you are looking to get to know more about Art of Living, fine tune your individual skills
to be successful both at work/home, to take up AOL TTC in future, this course is right for you.

Here is a photo of PreTTC team

Introduction to Art of Living in Tamil

Here are couple of brochures to introduce Art of Living in Tamil

Intro to Art of Living

Benefits

Location

When a person thinks of objects...

I was recently reading the Bhagavad Gita Commentary by Swami Venkatesananda.
Came across these 2 verses(62,63) from chapter 2. Just thought of sharing the same.

When a person thinks of objects, attachment for them arises.
From attachment desire is born.
From desire anger arises.
From anger comes delusion.
From delusion loss of memory.
From loss of memory the destruction of discrimination.
From destruction of discrimination he perishes.

Let me try to explain this with an example. A person loves his car so much(attachment).
From this attachment arises possessiveness (desire). Somebody hits the car on the road.
Now, the owner is angry with the person. Due to this a quarrel happens and the owner gets
into delusion. Due to delusion the owner losses memory (like he can claim it in insurance etc).
From loss of memory there is destruction of discrimination. finally he goes to a pathetic
situation. Solutions are discussed below.

For more readings refer to:
http://dailyreadings.com/Feb_22.htm
http://www.swamivenkatesananda.org/clientuploads/publications_online/song_of_god.pdf

Drum Stick Plant is growing up

On September 27, I posted a blog on Krya Natural Detergent Powder. During that time
I mentioned about drum stick seed. The plant has come up. Here are some photos.

Krya Natural Detergent Powder Review/Feedback

I recently bought and used the Krya Natural Detergent Powder. Just thought of writing a review
about the same.

Couple of months back, we bought a washing machine and started using surf excel matic.
The washing quality was good. Somehow I didn't like the chemical smell and was looking
for a natural detergent powder which can be used in washing machines.

Few weeks back, I was browsing through The Hindu website and came across Krya products.

Visited their website krya.in on a Sunday and ordered both washing powder and dishwash powder.
Both were nicely packed and delivered on Tuesday. Somehow I was excited to open the pack,
not sure why. Here is the picture:

So far we have used the detergent powder alone. Will write a separate review for dishwash
powder later. Here is a separate picture of detergent powder pack:

I just took half of the detergent powder and put it in a plastic box. Remaining I kept it in the box
itself with a clip. Here is the picture of plastic box.

When we wanted to the washing, I put about 10gm or spoonful of the detergent powder in the bag provided. Here is the picture:

And the kept the bag just inside the drum. As shown here:

Before washing I just took a picture of my socks (it is used generally when
I am at home) just to see the results.

Now you can see Krya and the washing machine in action:

After the washing got over, we removed the bag from the drum and
put the residue in the plant (drum stick seed) we are trying to grow.

Here is the picture of the socks taken sometime in the evening

Overall, I felt the washing quality of both surf excel matic and
krya are same. Since, I was looking for a natural product krya is
right for me.

Beetel 450TC2 : Multiple device Wifi access issue has been resolved

I had issue with multiple devices accessing the beetel 450TC2 Wifi.
This has been resolved. Just thought of explaining the same here.

Couple of months back I wanted to get a broadband connection and
approached Airtel for the same. They said, they don't give modem.
Hence, bought a beetel 450TC2 from a shop.

The Airtel person came and replaced the default firmware with a new
one and rebooted the 450TC2. When the screen came up it said beenatone.
I asked him why it is showing beenatone. He said, the default firmware
will work for one wifi device only and this beenatone firmware will
work for multiple wifi devices.

After this, I was able to use multiple wifi devices to access the internet.
But one peculiar thing is the DSL, internet lights were not glowing,
only power and WLAN lights were glowing. Like the one below.

After some time the modem started giving problems, like I will be
using the internet and suddenly the wifi will go off or after I shutdown
and bring back my system it may not be able to recognize the wifi.
I will have to go to network preferences in mac and remove the preferred network
and connect again. And the internet connection was inconsistent for several weeks.

Hence, I took the modem to the beetel service center in thousand lights.
They said, since the firmware has been replaced, it would have affected the IC.
And sent the modem for repair. He said, even though it is under warranty it will
cost Rs.300/- to service the modem. The person at the service center was
very helpful. He gave a standby 450TC1 for me to use.

After about a week, he called me and said your 450TC2 is ready. I went
there with my laptop, phone. Tried accessing youtube with both the devices
with wifi. One of them worked and other didn't work. Informed about the
same to them. They replaced the firmware again, with a new firmware.
I think it is from beetel itself. Then I was able to access youtube with
both the devices.

After coming home, I checked the same again with multiple devices and it
started working. So far no issues. Hopefully it continues this way. Apart
from power and WLAN, DSL and internet lights started working. like the
one below.

Applied for Aadhaar card in Nesapakkam, Chennai

Recently I applied for the Aadhaar card. Just thought of sharing the experience here.

Our watchman said, the enrollment is happening at Chennai Higher Secondary School
in Nesapakkam which is close and I may have to get a token.

I went there and asked couple of people where it is located. They pointed me to a
room.

There were couple of people waiting before me. Once they are done, I had shown the
NPR receipt (which was given sometime in 2010). Here is a sample.

Since there are no one waiting, He gave me 2 options, to bring my family so that the
enrollment can be done the same day or come back on a designated date to get the token.

I called my wife to join me for the enrollment. Once she came, both of us went inside.

He checked my NPR receipt, took my photo, IRIS scan, finger prints, asked me to check
the name, address, mobile, email, data of birth details on the screen.

He also asked for some proof like PAN card, ration card, voter ID card etc. I had my
voter ID and he just checked it. Somehow I find there were in a sense of urgency to
complete the process, not sure why. Not able to read through the screen in quick
succession.

Then my wife took her photo, IRIS scan, finger prints. I was waiting in the bench.
Looks like he was asking my wife the same questions and verifying the details.

After that he gave us the printout of the enrollment details. Here is the sample.

After coming home, I was just going through the printout and found couple of spelling
mistakes, my wife mobile number/email id not updated properly.

Went back to the school and asked them to update the same. Here again he gave me 2 options

Since the Aadhaar number is not yet generated, we have to take the IRIS scan and finger
prints again to make those changes. If we make any changes before the Aadhaar number
is generated, he said it will take a very long time to get Aadhaar. not sure why.

The other option he gave is, wait for the arrival of Aadhaar number, then we can make
those changes ourselves. I settled with the second option and left home.

Art of Silence (Part 2) Program feedback

Last week, I was going through the Art of Living website, looking for programs to attend
in Chennai. Previously I have attended the Art of Living Part 1. Came across the Art of
Silence (part 2) program which is happening in Egmore.

Called up the organisers and they said it is starting the same day with Gurupooja and
satsang. Went for the Gurupooja and satsang and registered myself for the part 2 program.

Next day morning around 7 it started with Yoga, pranayama, kriya. After that series
of interactive and very useful to life sessions.

Later in the evening the silence started and lasted for about 3 days. During these days
apart from silence, there was lot of yoga, pranayama, kriya and meditation sessions.

Both the teacher Kishoreda and volunteers have done an excellent job in keeping the
program to its optimum.

From the participants there were people from various backgrounds like software engineers,
house wifes, young and old, people who had mental problem, who had health issues.

For people reading this blog, I strongly recommend attending the art of silence (part 2)
program near your place. Prerequisite is art of living part 1 program.

ITR-2 Compile Error in hidden module: Module 1 has been resolved

Couple of days back I was trying to file the india income tax return for AY 2013-2014.

During that time, I encountered "Compile Error in hidden module: Module 1".

The same has been resolved. Not sure whether this will help you. Just thought of 

explaining the same here.

1) To start with, I went to https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/ and downloaded the

ITR-2 xls file into my MAC.

2) Opened the same using Excel 2004 for Mac. Somehow the buttons inside the

xl sheet didn't work for me. (Macros enabled)

3) Then I went to a browsing centre and downloaded the ITR-2 form and opened the

same using Excel 2007. This time the buttons were working with "compile error..."

4) I went ahead and filled in all the required values and sent the xls file to 

efilinghelpdesk@incometaxindia.gov.in explaining my problem.

5) They replied and asked me to go through this link  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307410 

and resolve the issue. I tried the same, it didn't work for me.

6) Then, I sent the xls file to my mail id and went to a different browsing centre

7) Opened the xls file using Excel 2007, somehow the "save XML" button worked for me here.

8) I was able to upload the xml and get my ITR-V