Bye bye 2012: Looking back with Gratitude to God and Guru

Bye bye 2012. I am grateful to Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, my beloved lord, guru and best friend, for all His love and blessings throughout the year. I offer my humble pranams  to Bhagawan for His love, constant presence and protection in my life and for my family members. I am equally grateful to you, Bhagawan, for the wonderful friends you have brought into my life at the right time and the many ways in which you are taking care of me and my family. The year 2o12 also marks my 25th year at the lotus feet of Bhagawan Baba. 

Bye bye 2012, Welcome 2013

Many things make 2012 one of the happiest years in my personal life. My husband's law firm Axess Legal Corp opened its second office at Lajpat Nagar in May 2012. This is also the year I visited many new places that I hadn't visited before: Ooty, Gavi, Coonoor, Manali, Pune, Hrishikesh, Haridwar. These trips are far more precious and priceless to me because those I love and respect and revere were with me. The experience of being with them is in itself a great blessing because I learn from great spiritual truths from them and that time or that moment cannot be bought with any amount of money or any degree of desire. It has to simply manifest itself as a blessing. And it did. And hey, don't miss reading the birthday surprise that I gave my mom.  My dad and my sister Geethu pampered me and Adi a lot by sending some beautiful gifts from Australia. Adi got his first professional sports kit, thanks to 'Geemaa' as he cals her. I got some fabulous winter clothes that she chose painstakingly and it suits me perfectly. I couldn't have chosen better. Dad got me tons of stuff too and I loved it all. I shared some tiny knick knacks that he brought from Australia with my close buddies. The yummy chocolates didn't stand a chance as Adi and Sanand finished it. :) 

It was also wonderful to be there for my mom-in-law's birthday too and we celebrated that as well in a sweet way and I was excited to be there for her. I also feel that these blessings are God's will to a great extent. Thank you Baba for making it happen.

My best friends Juhi, Anu and Neelam are the ones who give me a reason to smile every day. They are full of love, positive energy and goodness that I am beginning to feel that it is contagious and spreading to me. They are practically like family and I feel very blessed to have them in my life because they love, pamper and care for me so deeply that I can't imagine what I would do without them. I pray to God to bless them with all happiness in 2013. 

A dear friend called Sree is joining a new organization and I am so happy for her. 2013 will bring a tremendous change in her life and I pray for her success too.

Another good friend Michu from Twitter is getting married on January 1st 2013 and my heartfelt wishes and thoughts go to him and his better half as they begin a wonderful chapter in their lives. To all my friends and colleagues, I pray that God brings them lots of happy moments, great opportunities to excel and many fun filled occasions to celebrate throughout 2013.

But wait, I am not over yet with 2012 at least. 

My greatest joy remains my son Jyotiraditya, whom I call as Adi. That goes without saying, doesn't it? My 6 year old son Adi who began to learn mantras at the age of 2, is now mastering mantras with minimal help from me and on his own initiative. Learning mantras has sharpened his concentration, speed in thought and his teachers say that he finishes answering questions within minutes and that too correctly. 

I have seen and heard of many moms with Hitler-like schedules when it comes to their kids studies and homework. I am proud of not being a mom who works on her kid's homework as if the world depended on it. 

Adi is the owner of his studies, we revise, do everything we can to discuss projects, prepare for performances at school and so on. But ultimately I am proud to say that Adi studies on his own, takes his own growth very seriously, asks for help only when he feels stuck and he is very proud of the fact that he is not spoon fed into doing homework or class work. I am told by his class teacher that he is the best reader in his class. Also, for Dusshera celebrations, he represened his class and spoke about the spiritual and cultural importance of Dusshera celebrations. 

Adi's school-teacher at The Millenium School, Noida, told me, "He is a pleasure to have in the class not just because he is the brightest and among the best students but because of his personality and he is very well-behaved. He is that rare type of child who will be missed by teachers and students if he is not in class even for a day."

What more can I ask from God? Nothing but constant omnipresence and loving divine protection in my life. 

Prayer to Ganga Maa

Two days back, I was at Rishikesh and I had bowed before the Ganga aarti, I prayed to Ganga Maa, "This is my first darshan of you here. Nothing in this world can be as beautiful as you, Ganga Maa - flowing so serenely yet with an inner zeal, a ferocious depth that no mortal like me can ever fathom, the icy coldness is what hits the logical minded perhaps. But I have come as your daughter. The dirt that les in the minds and actions of others - how serenely you take it on yourself without complaint, without expectations that we will change our ways and realize what we are doing is a grave sin. To throw you into the pit of dirt is not possible because it is divine energy that courses through you. You are Ganga Maa - my mother. Bless me for I have sinned unknowingly. Cleanse my Karma so that in my spiritual sadhana I can be strengthened to move ahead. Forgive me for not coming to you earlier. Forgive me for an iota of doubt that had lodged itself in my mind that perhaps you are just another river. Before you, I surrender my ego. All I want is to experience my oneness with the divine energy that you are carrying. All I want is to stand here and experience the sheer ambrosia of Ganga." 

The Ganga darshan is how I am ending  the year 2012. I bow before Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sai Baba for the year 2012. I pray that all of you, dear readers, bloggers and friends, may be blessed in 2013 with God's abundant grace, love and divine energy. By following the path of God, we learn to respect the divine nature in ourselves and in every living being around us. 

Samasthaa lokah sukhino bhavanthu

Samasthaa lokah sukhino bhavanthu

Samasthaa lokah sukhino bhavanthu

Happy New Year to all of you. God bless you all.