Vasudha Jhunjhunwala

Thank God! I woke up…

My little hands were busy building the most beautiful and magnificent sand castle in this whole World.

10212983-happy-girl-building-sandcastle-on-a-beach

Nobody would have ever seen something so well crafted, so well designed, I thought to myself. Determined to reach perfection, I toiled and put the best effort I possibly could, to achieve my goal. I was almost there and now only a flag for my castle was missing. ” After adding the flag I would prove my castle’s supremacy over all other’s”… oops! I was day dreaming again.

sandcastle

It did look magnificent. I couldn’t wait longer, with great excitement for future galore that I ran as fast as I could to fetch MY flag…

It took me a long time to complete the important task at hand, as it was challenging to find that supreme identity, my perfect flag. Nothing felt satisfactory but I was determined not to settle for anything but for the very best. And so I searched and searched and searched….after a long..long..long.. struggle, I finally found something which felt right. Yes!!! THIS IS IT, I was overjoyed. And I ran back to hoist my dream, my flag over my castle, Now that perfect moment of success was so close….

And the moment arrived…The moment when my destiny surprisingly brought me to the absolute truth…

I reached to meet the infinite ocean, as the ocean was all there was to meet. The rising waters had consumed my universe, my world, my castle in itself. The castle had merged. Everything got washed away, all the efforts and with it, my dreams of success..

When I looked at the sight with dismay, I felt a strong sense of loss. As if the ocean was announcing to me ” I am the only one” “Yes! I am the only one who owns the world and I rule the world with my laws”. Something inside had shrunk as I felt the same salty water dripping down my eyes, which was also rising and falling in front of me.

But not for long…

Something caught my attention again.. “What on Earth is this, Such a beautiful bright shining pearl, I had never seen anything like this before”. And another dream followed – I must make the world’s most beautiful necklace…let me look for more pearls… and I got busy again…

I have slept a million nights and more, to dream a million times and more…

And this never ending cycle of dreaming again and again and yet again continued…

I woke up a several times in between, now and then, but only to fall asleep again..

But I choose to wake up today!!

And remain awake, praying to never sleep again, for Truth’s sake.

Thank God! I Woke up to God’s presence before I retired to sleep..

By “some” grace, by “some” blessings, I too got a peek..

Beyond the “narrow walls of my experiences” lies an infinite ocean so deep..

An ocean filled with “Swans of love” , One always seeks..

But this rare gift is for the courageous, and not for the those who are meek..

Let’s remember to pray tonight- keep me awake oh lord, before my final retirement to sleep!!

Where my home lies.. :)

A knock from here,

A knock from there,

The opposites keep pushing me back, but “where”!!

Back in-between,back in the center,

Coming back home, Heavens I enter..

I walk away from fire,

I walk away from ice,

Feeling thanda thanda cool cool warm warm nice..

So I let life guide me to the right,

So I let life carry me towards the light,

As it brings me back “there” , “where” my home lies.

A narrow escape..

We encountered unexpected traffic while returning on the Western express highway this Sunday evening. It seems some flyover is being constructed because of which such heavy traffic was there. Cars were moving bumper to bumper and I was having to use the break every minute. We were in acceptance and peace inspite of chaos around us. Thanks to the Art of living course which has trained us to accept the moment as it is 🙂

It was around 7.30pm when we were passing by from under Malad flyover(at a speed of around 20km/h) in a flash of a second a BEST bus came in full speed and almost sandwiched our car, with the flyover on one side and the bus on the other as it wrongly over took another bus. I applied sudden breaks (God’s intervention), if there had been a one second delay, our car would have collapsed into the moving bus. Om namah shivaya, thinking of it still gives me goosebumps!
I felt a surge of anger at this foolish act of the careless driver. Who had just proved with his rash driving that he does not care for the lives of common man.

Instead of letting go (like most of us do, since we are so habituated to take unjust in our country) I followed him. He stopped outside Dindoshi bus depot to drop passengers. At that moment, I took my car ahead and parked it right in front of the bus, so that he could not escape or move.
We were 4 girls in the car – Mrunal, Mamta, Ranjeeta, myself, along with Shashwat. 3 of us got down and demanded an apology from the driver.
Did the driver respond respectfully and admitted his mistake? Forget about an apology, this guy had not slightest of regret about what he had done. He was in complete denial and looked into our eyes as if telling us , ‘What you girls can do to me..do what you like..I don’t care.’ 2 officials came from the bus depot and instead of supporting us they started asking me to remove my car and instead file a complain in the police station.

Displaying IMG_20140504_202004.jpg — At Dindoshi Bus Depot

I was adamant not to move. In the mean time, I called the traffic Commissioner and requested him to intervene. VBI had done a project with the traffic department which was very appreciated by him. He was kind enough to call the ACP who immediately helped us by sending a traffic cop to help us. The message was posted on the group and in no time 5 of our Hero volunteers came to help -Mandar, Monish,Pratik.. (Pratik was at the celebrations of his parent’s 30th anniversary and was kind enough to drop everything and come).

I could clearly see divine’s intervention at this point .We were only girls with a child but help came in from all directions in no time. The bus depot officials called for police too. A flood of people surrounded us now. The traffic cop was very supportive and helpful. And even the police. Both bashed the driver and did not give in to his stories. By now the driver had realized that he won’t be able to get away with this and he may even loose his job.
He came to me and resentfully apologized.I patiently explained him that his job needs him to be very responsible as lives are at stake. The traffic cop took his licence and filed a complain. As a punishment the driver will not be driving for atleast 15 days.

I sincerely hope that after this the driver and his other colleagues will get a learning and they would be more careful on the roads. Every citizen’s life is important and cannot be taken for granted!
We in India, have started giving up very soon to the unjust that happens around us, we have made ourselves believe we are the chickens in the truck – helpless and unaware! And that is one of the reasons for the state of affairs in our country. We should come together and create pressure groups and stand by each other in times of crisis. Like is said ” Sanghe Shakti Kalyuge”, VBI gives us that platform. Every wrong action needs to be reported and demanded for justice. When more and more citizens do this we can have a JUST India .

For all of us who witnessed this incident it got further reaffirmed -“Bhakt Kabhi Haar nahi sakta “, a devotee can never lose:)) . As a devotee we are bestowed with infinite strength by the divine. Prayers at the feet of Gurudev, who nurtured us on this path and made us recognize the infinite strength in us.

Jai Hind
Jai Gurudev

– Vasudha

Junior Voteathon!

Shashwat and his friends appealing to all parents and elders to make India win by voicing their opinion through VOTE!

‘Oh my God! Is this what you meant?’

Story one

Five cars honking at the same time, while passers gave me a look with utter disgust, oops!! I was in a no entry, zooming my car in the wrong direction.

I cursed the stranger in my heart, for having told me a wrong way. With fear in my heart, not wanting to get caught, I took a U turn and slowly made my way in the lane before .

Oh! Here comes the temple.. and comes the signal after that … and now the right turn opposite the state bank… and yes I reached my destination… The Heart said – ‘Sorry stranger – Oh my God! This is the way what you meant?’

Story two

I Have been popping the same medicines for days, and every time I ask the doctor, he says ‘continue, continue with the same medicines for few more days’. But nothing seems to be improving in me!

“So what if he is our family physician? He too is a human first , prone to the weaknesses like greed. He surely gets commissions for prescribing these medicines.. Who knows?? I will be alright anyways, let me give these up!”

I left the medicines but the ulcers increased and so did the pain,so much so that it could not have been worse …. Heart said- ‘Sorry doctor – Oh my God! A precaution is what you meant? ‘

Story three

‘I won’t allow you, no matter what. These two wheeler’s are too risky! Don’t you read the newspaper everyday!? So many accidents are reported every day.’
“But father, But, But…..”

‘This is the final decision! You will not get a bike, that’s it!’

“Who says he is a father, he is a Hitler. He has no clue about the reality, just makes too much fuss. All my friends have two wheeler’s..”

One of those beautiful rainy days, me and my friends zoomed on his bike enjoying life to its fullest, I closed my eyes to save the moment in my mind..They say, I opened my eyes much later, at the hospital… “What happened how did I reach here?” , they said it was that biggest pot hole we crashed into, we became unconscious immediately .. Heart said -‘ Sorry father- Oh my God! This likelihood is what you meant?’

“My” Story four

Me- “Guru? Why do I need a Guru in life? I can teach the world “The Art of Living” myself..

The words of wisdom from elders , the laws of dharma taught by saints, yoga, meditation all sounded obsolete to me.

Until one day, when my Guru found me and I started my journey on the spiritual path and it all started making so much sense.
And even now, after fifteen years of walking the path, A feeling of wonder constantly knocks the door of my heart ‘Oh my God! Having a Guru, this is what it meant?? ‘

I am sure many such stories unfold in every life, when the meaning of words are revealed much later. They remain like those codes which never popped on the screen of life. And we reject them thinking they are untrue or unwanted, isn’t it.. 🙂

Doesn’t matter if these stories do not make any sense to you, sometime in future it may happen that the chord gets struck (like it did for me) and you say – ‘Oh my God!THIS IS WHAT YOU MEANT..’
Until then keep Smiling 😉 🙂

#VoteWisely

I stood by them one day, but I regret my decision today. What seemed like a ray of hope leaves me with only despair today!

IAC movement at Gateway of India, Mumbai

That spoken truth & those ideologies for change, are now being kicked far away and unmindfully being compromised. Those high principals that resonated in their voices and seemed their very foundation, have shaken and crumpled down today. With their irresponsible actions they have proved that they are no Heroes. Like I had thought and many others like me did too, who stood shoulder to shoulder in their fight against corruption. Most of those ‘real’ leaders of the IAC movement such as Sri Sri, Anna ji, Kiran Bedi ji and others, no longer stand with them today. May be because these able leaders realized much earlier that they had those among their team members, who were callow and unworthy.

Time alone could have proved that those who are victims of their own weaknesses, driven by greed for power, who could compromise their love and devotion for their country, were no role models .Arvind Kejriwal talked about fighting the corrupt to gather support from the Aam Aadmi (ordinary citizens) and when the testing time came to stand by his words, he gave into those very corrupt hands (against whom he campaigned) for the sake of being in power!

He failed yet again, when time compelled him to take another test to prove his words and deliver his tall claims, when he ran away and quits his position as a chief minister of Delhi

Is a chief ministers position so ineffectual?
Couldn’t he have atleast put a few corrupt leaders behind the bar staying there?
Was Rome built in a day, then can the deep rooted corruption in Indian political system end in a day?
Did he reach out to the Aam Aadmi, to consult and take advice before quitting?
Was his decision to quit powered by lust to gain more political power?

Bitter answers to some of these questions in future will prove if his love for the Aam Aadmi was driven by convenience or commitment, isn’t it!

Making noise is not enough! It’s when one goes through the tests of time and proves one’s ideologies by complementing actions that his/her character outshines that of ordinary mortals.

It feels evident to me today, that Arvind Kejriwal and his party members are continuing to take advantage of the innocence of my countrymen to fulfil their political ambitions, while we are failing to see any further than his hollow words. My heart aches to see such games being played. And the innocent being disillusioned by the pomp and show of his ‘fake idealism’.

Is our country so cheap and are we so naive that we will let them rob our country and bring it down to docks. Like they left Delhi in the middle of nowhere??

Can ‘you’ and ‘I’ be sure that he will not join hands with the corrupt again and compromise ideals for being in power tomorrow?
Can we really trust them to govern our country which faces terrible threats from looters inside and outside, when they failed to deliver their promises just yesterday?

Wont their amateur and childish hands need much more skill and experience to nurture our wounded motherland?Why are they in such hurry to grab power? Can we afford to take a chance and hand over the greatest responsibility of protecting our borders in such hurry?

Of course we can’t . They owe it to us to prove themselves first. Before coming and asking us for votes. Actions speak louder than words. Until they do not prove with their committed actions, we shall wait and they shall wait too. 2019 is only 5years away, will be happy to stand by them another day if they pass the tests of time. I will be glad if they proved me wrong in future and gained my trust back and also that of my fellow citizens.

For now, we shall go with the lesser evil, with an expert who has experienced hands and his actions have written larger volumes of achievements than any of them out there.
I will choose actions and experience over words. As my mother land is grappling for every breath and I cannot trust the newborns to breathe life back in her, who are falling and failing to deliver at every step.

So that I won’t need to regret another day, I shall vote wisely.

What about you?

#VoteWisely

Jai Hind

Let the truth triumph! Satyamev Jayate !

– Vasudha Jhunjhunwala

In Between..

In ßetween words, is silence
In ßetween silence, is truth

In ßetween events, are emotions
In ßetween emotions, is poetry

In ßetween desires, is contentment
In ßetween contentment, is gratitude

In ßetween action, is rest
In ßetween rest, is surrender

In ßetween sorrow, is happiness
In ßetween happiness, is bliss

In ßetween matter, is space
In ßetween space, is creation

In ßetween failure, is success
In ßetween success, is dispassion

In ßetween challenge, is prayer
In ßetween prayer, is longing

In ßetween logic, is faith
In ßetween faith, is “the” strength

In ßetween greed, is service
In ßetween service, is love

In ßetween death, is life
In ßetween life, is immortality

The purpose is in ßetween….

CrAzY!

A soul full song & a Cup full tea
Have no meaning & that makes “me”

No flowers, no cherry blossoms, no twilight, no stars
Crazy is this moment, Is this not Mars???

Meanings there are, meaning there aren’t
Neither should nor woulds, no losses no grants .

The train blew a whistle, the heart hears a sound
CHUK chuk DHAK dhak, am “I” really bound!

No truth, no expressions, no laws, no ideas, no Vows
The “I” is freeeeeeed & flying NOW ..

Birthday gift :)

How does one feel when GOD himself visits and adorns one’s home??

The heart celebrates along with the entire nature. Such was the feeling when Gurudev visited DeoNiwas. Our ancestors in heaven also celebrated with us:)

Blessed are we for this lifetime and more….. One of the most cherished moments of my life are captured in this film by AKHIL. A birthday gift that i will be grateful forever 🙂 Sharing with all my dear ones..

A special gift on this Christmas Day

I was walking out feeling grateful after an extremely eventful day which could ‘otherwise’ have been quite a topsy-turvy experience…

More than 9 hours had passed after the first delay of our flight to Nice was announced.We were whiling our time in so many different ways at the Zurich airport. Shopping windows , clicking pictures of the decorated Christmas trees a second and a third time, drinking tea,coffee, juice, water..
And all of the above again and again for last many hours …
After all, how creative can one be with the limited possibilities of entertainment at an airport and that too after having taken a long 9 hour flight and sleeping very little at night ..
We had arrived at Zurich at 6 am after a long flight of 9 hours from Mumbai on this Christmas Day(quite unaware of the series of events, Santa had in store for us)

Hoping that our flight departure will be announced soon as it was already 5 pm now, we continued making desperate attempts to keep ourselves entertained at the this hour.

Until that last ray of hope also turned down into a black hole – As we got up and started our walk towards the departure gate, we happened to see the information screen which said – flight to Nice delayed further.
Delayed further ..Oh my God, why again!!!

When we inquired at the information desk, we were told that the airport at Nice was shut because of bad weather. And they would not guarantee the departure time until the airport reopens .
Without loosing a minute. We googled ( sincere thanks to Google, life would be very blue without google on the blue planet) and found that a storm had hit Nice. The same that had hit England few days back/travelled south of France/Paris was without electricity on Christmas Eve/storm hits Nice…

Do we want to be received by a storm on Christmas?? Ofcourse we are still young and adventurous but getting stuck in a storm would be stupidity not adventurous , isn’t it..
And we are wise beings ..

But how about the hotel bookings.. And the air tickets.. The onward journey from Nice .. The rerouting charges.. Where would we stay in Zurich .. It’s Christmas Eve wouldn’t the hotels be damn expensive.. Etc etc ..
Within a second, the storm in Nice felt quite distant from the storm of thoughts that had hit inside us..

Though we all know that the only thing certain about life is that it is uncertain, Yet whenever we come across a situation when we come face to face with another uncertainty the mind is the first one to betray us. Like a best friend behaving like a stranger suddenly…

Took a deep breath In (to energise) and then a long deep breath out (to relax) -thanks Guru for this magic mantra a deep realisation is what followed- there was no use struggling.

Patiently taking one step at a time we started unknotting this challenging new puzzle. What is the best thing to do.. Let’s see
Number One….
Number Two….
Number Three….
The outcome that followed was a patient, well thought decision of staying back in Zurich. Took exact 10minutes to make all the changes, few calls and few online bookings and we were almost sorted..
Yes Almost.. Remaining was only the last mile to be covered of cancelling our booking and getting our luggage (which was through checked in earlier in Mumbai). Which we were suppose to only receive after reaching Nice.
This should be simple-
After visiting a few airport counters ( all of us are quite aware of these formalities aren’t we) we finally seemed to have reached the point where the destiny of our luggage would be announced by the airport ‘God’ (of course that was God for us, after all he had our luggage/ our life with him). The airport God announced- “I regret but it’s Christmas, we are short of staff today, no one to sort your luggage and so you shall only get your luggage after the flight departs to Nice, which is uncertain, we are hopeful may be after 4-5 hours from now’ .
Wow! such kind words from God! Just 4-5 hours more..
Siddharth immediately intervened and asked “Could you please send our luggage to the hotel” to which God kindly replied “Yes , but it will reach you only by tomorrow”

Have you seen Tom and Jerry, it’s Shashwat’s and my favourite cartoon. All my jackets are in the suitcase and it was really really COLD outside, I imagined Jerry’s condition after being abandoned in a freezing winter..

When nothing works one thing surely does and so, I just closed my eyes and prayed from my heart, a sincere/deep prayer .

YES!!! I saw ‘the airport God’ talking over the phone with his colleague – explaining something in German.
Yipee.. I knew the prayer was heard and something will soon happen. And I told this to Siddharth “he is getting our bag” Siddharth thought, I was hallucinating… No I was not 🙂
Within 20 min the luggage came, yes a miracle had just happened for us. A prayer had just got answered .

I removed our jackets and we were soon walking towards the exit, with a grin..
With gratefulness in our hearts and with a feeling of being taken care of , feeling warm and comforted, We walked out.

The Christmas tree bears so many colorful gifts. I had just unwrapped one, on this Christmas Day and so there was a big grin on my face.. After an eventful day like today the heart was full of a Gratitude for the care and love God bestowed on us .

What a beautiful Christmas gift, Gratefulness itself, I thought to myself….. 🙂

The Best Gift - Gratitude :) — The Best Gift – Gratitude 🙂