Notes from SPIRITUAL CAMP AT LONAVALA.

OUR SPIRITUAL CAMP AT LONAVALA.

-          Sandhya Bhaskar

The camp was organized by Uday Sir at Samskrita Niketanam, Lonavala. There were nearly 25 of us who participated and had an enlightening and enjoyable weekend.

Our day would start with early morning guided meditation  then classes, followed (with significant periodic breaks for tea, breakfast, lunch, then again tea/snacks and dinner excellently cooked by Mani uncle, with guaranteed weight gain of 2 kgs. in two days).

On the first day the NLP sessions conducted by Anupam Acharya, a very confidant and promising youngster gave us a lot of insight on “Self  Fulfilling Beliefs” and also on the ‘type’ of person we are with his questionnaire on A,V,K,Ad.  This generated a lot of excitement amongst all of us, as each  one wanted to know if we were an Audio person, a Visual person, Kinesthetic person or an Audio Digital person.

Since the topic of the camp was ‘BRAHMAVID BRAHMAIVA BHAVATI’, we were looking forward to all the beautiful and in depth, yet simple explanation from Uday Sir. Needless to say, we got much more then expected, as usual.

After dinner, on both the days we had beautiful singing Satsang, where most of us pitched in to sing bhajans including Sir. Particularly our guest Prof. Iyer and his wife regaled us with some superb semi-classical songs.

The concluding day was the most enjoyable. We were all asked to ‘Enact Skits’ on the basis of the subject matter of the work shop. All the 3 groups gave their best and most hilarious performances, much appreciated, and brought out hidden talents. And the last ‘Master Stroke’ was by Guruji himself, who made us climb and conquer ‘Mount Everest’, by banishing our fears and inhibitions.

It was a real pleasure to meet and interact with so many multitalented and multifaceted people. Like minded and inspiring, all in their journey towards fulfillment, knowledge, realizing and understanding the ‘Absolute’.

‘GURU GOBIND DONO KHADE, KAKE LAGU PAAY
  BALIHARI GURU APNE JIN, GOBIND DIYO DIKHAY’.

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The following is the compilation of camp notes by participants.

Contributors: Sarala Menon, Giridhar Mansukhani, Sandhya Bhaskar, Anupam Acharya, Prof. Narayan Iyer, Megha Tendulkar and more.

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Vedanta

Brahmavid brahmaiva bhavbati.

Knower of Brahman becomes Brahman

Brahman is the source – when you know the source you become the source.

In Vedanta ‘Moksha’ means the freedom from the need to become something other then what you are. We are mortals we want to become eternal. Doing, having, becoming. The conditions change. These conditions don’t belong to me. They belong to Creation.

Moksha is freedom from need to become different from what you are.

All conditions belong to the creation. Conditions come and go but i am beyond conditions.

Life is dance of creation (a play)

You are not connected to any state. You are manifest in all the states.

Only the ignorance goes. Mistake of being a jiva is gone. The search is ignorance.

If Bramhan is not there – no jeeva. If appreance is not there  - no jeeva.  If ignorance is not there – no jeeva

In knowledge there is only one way to see... rope is seen as rope. In ignorance there can be many ways... rope is seen as snake, stick, or streak of water etc.

The searcher and the searched are the same. Bramhan associated with ignorance is jeeva.   Brahman with knowledge is ‘Jeevan Mukta’

"Search is like Lehrein doondhe Sagar Ko".

Orientation takes time. Knowledge does not take time.

"Repeat constantly until Knowledge is registered"

"Doubt the doubt".  "But….. ? Yes, BUT!!! 

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Upaasana

Upasana – will, visualization, Invocation. .

To see things as they are = knowledge

To see things which are not there = imagination, visualization. 


Knowledge is seeing what is as is. Ignorance has different ways of seeing. Imagination has infinite ways.

Every upasana and prayer have results (phalam).

Upasana is generally mental (manasika)

UPASANA – Invocation. You can invoke Ishwara in the ‘Altar’.

Manasa Puja: You can invoke Iswara within you. You become the altar.  Visualise yourself as Lord Shiva – your mind is Parvati. Kailasha is your body. Your sensory experiences are a Pooja to the Lord. When you go to sleep you are one with the Lord – that is Samadhi. All your movements are Pradakshina (circling movement) to the Lord. Whatever action I do with my hands is worship unto the Lord.

Every moment is auspicious. Every thought is auspicious. My body is a temple. I offer myself to the Lord.

I am the altar for the worship. Where ever I go there You are, so the worship goes with You. Therefore You and I are not apart Oh Lord!

The Lord is ALL POWERFUL – You are Small Powerful.

Karma – because it is physical, it has limitations. Upasanas, being mental, are not limited by physical restrictions. So scriptures say Karma leads you to a lesser world relative to the higher world gained through Upasana. Both the worlds however, are exhalted when compared to this mortal world.

    NLP- Neuro Linguistic Programming. 

Principles of Neuro Linguistic Programming


1. A person is not his behaviour
2. A person is a map maker
3. Maps are made of pictures, sounds, smells, feelings, and tastes.
4. When you change a map, you change the emotion state.
5. There is no unproductive person; there are only unproductive states.
6. If one person can do it, others can learn it.
7. There is no failure; there is only feedback.

  * Every person has his unique model of the world

 * Every behaviour has a positive intention

 * Our restrictive beliefs can change.

 * If what you are doing does not give you satisfaction, try doing something you want.

 * Take 100% charge – do not blame.

* Be SMART in setting your goals –
S-specific,
M-measurable,
A-achievable,
R-realistic,    T- time bound.

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NLP Goal Setting:

What is my (specific) personal goal?

What is my (specific) career goal?

What is my (specific) social goal?

Where am I now with the goals?

If I achieved this goal now, what would I a)hear, b) feel, or c) see?

What will achieving this goal allow me to do? 

Who are the ones who benefit? I...? or others too?

To achieve these goals what reasons do I need?

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Planning for Life time Goals

Three Universal Needs

1.      Need to be independent

2.      Need to be related to others

3.      Productivity (contribution to team)

Five Need Levels

1.      Physical

2.      Financial

3.      Emotional

4.      Intellectual

5.      Spiritual

Using Your Inner Powers

1.     Self Awareness

2.     Independent Will

3.     Creative Imagination

4.      Inner Conscience

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Visualization for setting life goals

Choose your goals with care

Use thought experiments. Imagine positive and negative scenarios and alternatives/remedies.

Don’t live life like an accident.

Talent should produce results. Don’t waste your talent.

Visualization should be unconditional.

The destination should be very clear.

Willful thinking required, not wishful thinking.

I choose happiness, therefore i am happy.

Find your own mount everest and climb it.

Take 100% responsibility for reaching the goal while visualizing.

100% trust that the goal will be reached is surrender. (Give God the power of attorney)

Creative Visualization – When you visualize, mentally you have already reached your goal that you have set. You have to follow up the visualization by taking concrete action. No need to worry about the goal.

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Exercising Self Awareness

Awareness of what is and what is not

Questions to ask myself:

What makes me glad at present?

My rating: ?

What makes me sad at present?

My rating: ?

What makes me scared at present?

My rating: ?

What makes me mad at present?

My rating: ?

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What are my goals?

Healthwise:

Careerwise

Familywise:

Societywise:

Otherwise:

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When I have reached the top, 1) how do I know it (see it, feel it, hear it) and 2) what would be my further goal?

Some Answers:

1.      Successful, Applause, Satisfied,

2.      Help others to achieve what they need.

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When I have reached the fulfilment, what would I do? What type of person would have I become?

Some Answers:

1.      No need. Contented. At peace with myself and world.

2.      No material desire. More freedom.

3.      Share and help those who need help.

4.      More loving and giving (sharing) person.

5.      More open minded.

6.      More time for study and self analysis.

7.      Good qualities over flow. Contribution.

8.      "Fulfilled. I will feel I am the best,happiest, free,and the latest",(no one can go beyond this state)

9.      Contributor. I will share my experiences, Listen to others to understand and guide

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What are the obstacles which prevent me from realizing (reaching) my goals?

Some Answers: Not enough resources to help others as i would like. Not enough motivation and active enough. (confusion)

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10 ways of cheating myself from reaching my goals?

Some answers: "Fear of ...... self strength...... support,.. Data,... Knowledge,... Money,... Success,....A cceptance,.....Survival".

"Be a CEO of your own life" (I felt that I can drive away all the fears.)


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Achieving your Goals

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Creative Visualization is about “Thought Experiments”. Experiment in
the mind before you actually do anything. Make all your mistakes in
the first creation: mental creation. Learn to see life with a
perception. Learn about life before it happens. Let it not be an
accident. For that, learn from history. Learn from other people’s
lives, from biographies, from other people’s achievements. In creative
visualization there is positive thinking. 

 An important aspect is to understand that in this learning journey, my
excellence lies in finding out what the Master has not told me. In my
humility I understand that it is not that the Master does not know.
But He wants me to experiment.

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The camp was a wonderful experience and it has helped to become strong in true sense. I was able to support myself and others too.Could become resourceful and sustain my efforts and summon enough courage to make decisions.The context was very relevant to daily life