Kailash-1

Dear Friends 

Those of you who wonder what is Sankalp Pooja, this is a little precursor. 

When we set out to do some action(s), personal, professional or social, we always prepare with the right attitude of the mind with the hope that the action yields the results that we anticipate. This creation of the right attitude of the mind, is called Sankalp. Those of us who are familiar with the rituals in Hinduism will know this from the performance of the priests at various religious and social functions. 

Therefore, now that we are beginning our preparations for the yatra to Kailash, we pray to Shiva, [these two letters, "shi" "va" means the auspicious one; one who helps us keep the "shree" {pure}" in our "vash" {control}, that He gives us the right attitude of the mind in enabling the preparations and remains with us till we reach His Abode and forever thereafter. This Sankalp will be taken by everyone who is going for this auspicious yatra. It is indeed a rare privilege that He has bestowed the thought upon us to undertake this great pilgrimage. {Some of you may not relate to the use of the word "pilgrimage". Pilgrimage is a journey or search for great moral or spiritual significance; at least this is what wikipedia says!!} Then what is this great moral or spiritual significance?

Human beings are constituted of three components; body, mind and intellect. The purpose of the human life is to reach nearer to our origin, which is nothing but peace and happiness. This is easier said than done, because we are living in a world of constant disturbance and a constant expectation of happiness; from things outside of us. Little do we realise that, what we search for and expect is deep within us, in our own bosom. The efforts at undertaking pilgrimage or attending satsang (which is what we will do on Sunday at the Sankalp Pooja) is to make our minds and intellect more and more pure with the aid of our body (thus all our three components work in tandem) and to reach that peace and happiness within us, which is our birthright. 

I hope to share more of such thoughts with you all, again and again, over the next few months. Please feel free to fill this space with your own as well.

I look forward to each one of you participating in the Sankalp Pooja on Sunday 18th (those of you who are in Mumbai) and benefit from this auspicious beginning for reaching the auspicious one!!

With Prem & Om