Alaskan Cruise: A Smorgasbord of Magical Moments
7 days. Sunny days. Gibbous moon rise. Unending plates of tummy goodness. Overflow of Aquarius. Never ending laughter. Unfathomable wisdom. The beautiful ebb and flow of waves. Rocking moments. Literally. And figuratively. With none other than the guru of joy!
There is so much to write about. Where do I even start?
I will begin with a poem dedicated to the gibbous moon rise over Juneau, the night our cruise left from this beautiful port dotted with pretty flowers and protected by towering lush green mountains:
The moon tonight, so full and yellow, like a painting, so nice and mellow. Sometimes you feel calm for no reason, and cannot pinpoint that its a meditative season. A moon, so full and yellow, gazing at it I become
empty and hollow.
The beautiful, scenic, variegated, one of a kind, Alaskan cruise experience was heightened by the sense of belongingness I experienced with my extended family from Art of Living.
The weather during the trip was unusually good leaving no room for complaining faces and making many of us cruise folks hang out on the deck a lot more. So much so that, one of the locals in Juneau commented — “We never usually see a clear sky in Juneau, even in summer. This is something unusual!”
Never a dull moment, chaos mixed with joy, chasing the guru when we got the time and having beautiful music/satsangs when it was nine.
Although it was just 7 days, it seemed like I had spent a month onboard the cruise — Taking a true vacation from the worries of the world and basking in the glory of the beauty — Both outer and inner. Speaking of inner beauty, we had multiple moments to reflect on it and actually experience it. What really is inner beauty? This was expounded very beautifully by Sri Sri in the knowledge sessions…
Shall we do something Interesting?
The knowledge sessions were the highlight of the day. Who could forget the beautiful line that Kashi Bhaiya (our beloved Art of living teacher from Bangalore Ashram) would pull out of the hat: “Let’s do something interesting!”
And when he put it that way, even simple sitting yoga would become a joyous expression of being. With an ever present smile and an amiable presence, it was a joy to even listen to Kashi Bhaiya speak. His witty one liners would leave the audience in splits and set the stage for the master to step in. When the mind is light, the light is ready to make its presence felt — Gurudev, as we call him, would then join us to take us deep into an experiential understanding of the highly potent Shiva Sutras. Sutra means a thread that connects the mind to something of importance. For example, Chittam mantrah is a sutra that points to how the mind when one-pointed takes on the form of a mantra.
Why learn about the sutras? What is this knowledge all about? Can’t we just read books instead of listening to lectures? Just reading books, will make these sutras and their explanations seem like an intellectual excursion. But with the presence of a master like Gurudev, and the meditations that he led, the knowledge and sutras become alive, charged with energy and seem more relatable and applicable to our lives.
Indeed, everything gets magnified in the presence of the master — The joy, the chaos, the intensity and the longing. Its like we got handed the floodlights when we were used to searching in the dark with a match stick.
Om Namah Shivaya, Shivaya Namah Om….
Gurudev sprang a surprise in Bay Area before the cruise, by leaving us with a beautiful song on the divine. When he sings it, he goes all out, and the ecstasy is writ all over his expressive face and swaying hands.
He came back to this song again in the cruise. At the end of every knowledge session, there is a moment of stillness as everyone is soaking in the wisdom shared, with hearts melting in wonder. As time stands still, out came the song from his lips… “Om namah shivaya, shivaya namah om…. Om om shivaya om, hara hara shiva shambo…” and everyone caught onto the song, clapping and singing in unison. As he left the stage and exited the hall, the whole space reverberated in the currents of Shiva (which refers to un-manifest consciousness — the inner beauty within us) leaving everyone in ripples of bliss. Such is the experience, that even these words don’t even begin to do justice to what we felt as a collective. Being in the presence of Gurudev, is really like having a window to glance out into infinity. I have written more on this in the blog here
These kind of experiential knowledge sessions aren’t new to us. We have had many sessions of what’s called “Meditation 2.0” over the years with different topics related to being, mind and meditation touched upon.
Even just before the cruise, we had a “2.0” session in Seattle…..
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Beyond Mindfulness — Meditation 2.0!
“What does the 2.0 stand for?”, an inquisitive participant asked at the grand McCaw Hall in Seattle. Gurudev looked at him, smiled and then said sweetly, “I don’t know!”. “I figured that much”, said the participant. Not one to leave the wisdom behind, he responded beautifully with, “When the mind and body come together in unison, then it leads to shunya/zero/emptiness — Hence 2.0”. An instant applause broke out in the hall. This was the first of the many interesting questions to be asked that day post meditation!
“Did you know how much time we meditated for?”, asked Gurudev. “15 minutes”, “30 minutes”,… responded the audience with their version of the time lapse. “40 minutes!!!” he replied. There was a gasp in the room — Time had literally stood still. How else can you explain 40 minutes elapsing right in front of you, when it felt like just 15 minutes???
This was a phenomenon that would repeat itself at 2.0 events at Juneau, Alaska and Victoria, BC where the Alaskan Cruise had scheduled stops on.
Even though I have been to many “Meditation 2.0” events — Every time, I take back something new — Some new piece of wisdom sticks more firmly. Different facets of infinity make their presence felt beautifully and uniquely at every talk. “Same old wisdom, yet never ever the same!”
Train to Infinity
Aside from stops that had Meditation 2.0 sessions led by Gurudev, we also had stops with beautiful vistas and scenic landscapes available to enjoy. One such stop was a place called Skagway — An incredibly scenic location with rivers, mountains, helicopter rides, fireweed flowers, and train rides to offer.
A bunch of us hopped onto the train to la-la land from Skagway in the afternoon. If being in the presence of infinity in knowledge sessions and on the cruise wasn’t enough, the sights and scenery on the train ride put us in a space of wonder — where time stood still and infiniteness reigned supreme. I have shared more thoughts on this in my blog here.
The not so secret, informal satsangs
A major highlight on our cruise was our nightly get togethers at Garden cafe, no matter how busy the day was or how tiring the day excursions were. We call it satsang and we would look forward to it every night!
“Satsang is just that — When you sat and sang, it became satsang”, mentioned Kashi Bhaiya on the cruise — Another witty one liner that had profound meaning buried in it. Satsang means being in the company of the truth. And singing from the heart space with a bunch of folks puts us in satsang, the import of Kashiji’s sutra! What began with 20 people collecting together on Monday night at the deck next to Garden Cafe on the cruise, soon ballooned to 100 exuberant folks chiming and jiving to the rhythms of percussion and singing led by Kashi Bhaiya. Bhaiya always made it a point to intersperse spontaneous, deep and witty wisdom with the songs.
“The left brain corresponds to logic and right brain to creativity. Satsang helps you stay in tune with the left brain and puts you in touch with your heart, your devotional space”, he mused on one of the nights. “While left brain likes to keep things interesting, the right brain doesn’t mind repetition especially when it helps you move into a loving space. That’s why people in love don’t mind repeating the same thing over and over. And that’s what we are doing here in satsang through the songs”, he mentioned in a matter of fact way. These nuggets of wisdom would move us from head to heart, making us hold onto every word that was being shared.
A beginning with no ending
The cruise for many of us was a window into infinity, a window that lasted a week. Although the cruise had to end, when we returned to Seattle — The memories, the moments, the divinity, the beauty, the stronger friendships and the deeper understanding of life are things that will keep us moving forward. I see this grand cruise celebration as just the beginning of another chapter with many more to come. Indeed, anything in Art of Living is at the same time ancient (like we have been here before ) and ever new, just like the puranas.
That’s why I was telling my friend — The next time we get the opportunity to go on a cruise with Gurudev, I am sure it will be sold out the same day!
If you ever have a chance to get an Art of Living experience of any kind, don’t miss the opportunity — Because there is nothing better than taking a dip in the waters of the divine!