It was during one of the darkest periods of my life (atleast that's what I thought that time) that I was introduced to the Art of Living. My mother never quite approved the authenticity of the organization, the belief, but the Orthopaedic Oil from AOL worked wonders for her so she did not complain much (not that she has EVER complained about my life decisions beyond a point till last week) when I first enrolled for the 'Happiness Program'. The person who introduced me to it chose to part ways with me later, but I will forever be grateful for this one thing.
The same person and the same Happiness Program broke a very important news to me the next year and gave me the much needed closure. That evening, in between the Kriya, when even though I was broken and could not breathe to SO-HAM, I first believed in the energy of Gurudev to guide/push/force you in the direction which you have to walk anyway, for better or worse, I'm yet to conclude.
That was that and there have been visits to the Bangalore ashram very happily. The roommates have made fun of the 'pahar hai baju mein'. The place has never disappointed anyone and I was very pleased when Being Social chose ahram for their Valentine's Day celebration with the orphanage and old age home folks.
What started with a very early Sunday morning and ended on a Monday morning high and cry had a beautiful day in between with the detailed ashram tour being the highlight.
The bright eyes with which the kids had the ashram food while we made a face, the sloppy prolonged kisses from the kids galore because I was in charge of the sandwich dept., the shake of leg by the Granny at a known Kannada song, the genuine attempt of a kid to stop the tears of other, the sleepy but sincere bye bye when we parted, the takeaways, the real takeaways! The art of loving which I thought I had mastered, first time ever, returned back in manyfolds from the kids.
As the good old school anthem said,
To be loved, as to love with all my soul!
Here, at least here.
