Swami Pragyapad, one of the senior most teacher in Art of Living Foundation came to Pittsburgh on his 4 days visit to Pittsburgh and what an amazing wave of knowledge & Wisdom soaked in peace and humor took over the city. As soon as Swami ji landed, he was straight drove to a strong gathering of more than 200 people for Health & Happiness Workshop. This was an awesome experience for the Participants and for the media also that a Swami teaching a workshop about well-being of life in a CHURCH (the First United Methodist Church of Pittsburgh). Swami ji gave the secrets of healthy life and happy and peaceful mind. He taught 'subtle Yoga' and this is amazing you can do it any where in your office, during flight or watching TV which is so helpful in today's fast life and can relax your body. (you got to learn it, its just amazing :-)). Swami ji taught the Art of Living course for around 70 people and that was just awesome and he also visited SV Temple and Hindu Jain Temple of Pittsburgh and had interactive session with almost with 100 people.
During these sessions Swami ji also gave life solutions to be happy and peaceful and here are few Q & A during this session:
Q. If everything is God and God is inside me also then while praying who is praying whom?
A. (I just loved it!!!)In this universe everything has dual personality. e.g. and then Swamiji shown his index finger and said this is finger and also this is Swami pragyapad, isn't it? So when we just stuck in our small identity we are some person individually but when we are aware of te whole (God) we are the part of God or more precisely we are God. (Wowwww.... isn't it!!)
Q. How to deal with bad habits?
A. Do not try to break the habit at once. Rather break it into small commitments. Say you are smoking 30 cigarettes a day, don't say that tomorrow I will not smoke at all rather say tomorrow I will just have 25 cigarettes then next day have 20, next week come to 10, coming week just take 5 cigarettes and slowly come to 1 cigarette a day then 1 in 2 days like that reduce the dependency and be free.
Q. How to deal with the problems?
A. In response to this question swami ji asked how is your body when you are happy? It is more energetic and upbeat than when you are not happy. So when we can deal with the problem when we have more energy or less energy. Definitely with more energy. So we need to be happy to deal with the problem because that time we are more energetic. So for small problem we need small happiness and for big problem we need big happiness to begin with. Wowwww... isn't it? So happiness comes first rather than after solving the problem.
Q. About relevance of knowledge! (I loved it)
A. In the both temple Swami ji started his talk with this. He said if you any scripture whether Bhagwad Geeta, Yog Vashishtha, Upnishads or Ashtawakra Geeta they all start with question. So it will be good if participant ask me question and I answer them rather then I keep telling things which you might not be interested in knowing.
Q. What is the difference between Art of Living course and Art of Silence course?
A. In Art of Living course the teacher sits on the driving seat and participant sit on seat next to him and teacher take the participant on the ride and show him see how is this is your min, this is your intellect, this is how your ego look like and this is your true self and so on.... while in Art of Silence course (which is also called Art of Living Part 2 course or advanced course) the roles is reversed. The Participant sits on driving seat while teacher sit next to him and as a participant you go on a ride and have the experience of your own mind, intellect, ego, self etc and teacher guide him for what he is experiencing :-) Wowwwwww... isn't it?
Also Art of Silence course is like 1000 times more fun and joy than what you get in Art of Living Course!
Q. Why one need Guru on the spiritual path? Why one can't get knowledge from scriptures?
A If you see any field whether football, soccer or music in every field you will find there is a coach to train. Also today we have all the gadgets, books, CDs, DVDs for every knowledge yet we send our kids to School. Because all the things you can't get it by yourself. Isn't it? Also tell me if you want to learn swimming or football, can you learn by reading a book. You have to come down to the field. Isn't it! Same way on this path also you need a coach or teacher whom we call 'Guru'. Sometime it might be possible that Student may outshine the Teacher :-)
Q. How to deal with the criticism? and argument!
A Just see that when you work in team the difference of opinions may come and they will come. But don't let difference of opinions to create difference in hearts. Have patience and listen to other person also and tell your point of view. Remember the person is more important than everything else. He quoted Guruji example sometime when He is dealing with big projects and somebody comes crying that Guruji my cat is missing, He has given first priority to console that person. Also don't get stuck in anything. It is 100% your choice to walk out from the argument. Above all have lots of fun. After any arguments just go and have ice-cream together :-)
Many more things coming soon :-)
All Glory to Gurudev!
During these sessions Swami ji also gave life solutions to be happy and peaceful and here are few Q & A during this session:
Q. If everything is God and God is inside me also then while praying who is praying whom?
A. (I just loved it!!!)In this universe everything has dual personality. e.g. and then Swamiji shown his index finger and said this is finger and also this is Swami pragyapad, isn't it? So when we just stuck in our small identity we are some person individually but when we are aware of te whole (God) we are the part of God or more precisely we are God. (Wowwww.... isn't it!!)
Q. How to deal with bad habits?
A. Do not try to break the habit at once. Rather break it into small commitments. Say you are smoking 30 cigarettes a day, don't say that tomorrow I will not smoke at all rather say tomorrow I will just have 25 cigarettes then next day have 20, next week come to 10, coming week just take 5 cigarettes and slowly come to 1 cigarette a day then 1 in 2 days like that reduce the dependency and be free.
Q. How to deal with the problems?
A. In response to this question swami ji asked how is your body when you are happy? It is more energetic and upbeat than when you are not happy. So when we can deal with the problem when we have more energy or less energy. Definitely with more energy. So we need to be happy to deal with the problem because that time we are more energetic. So for small problem we need small happiness and for big problem we need big happiness to begin with. Wowwww... isn't it? So happiness comes first rather than after solving the problem.
Q. About relevance of knowledge! (I loved it)
A. In the both temple Swami ji started his talk with this. He said if you any scripture whether Bhagwad Geeta, Yog Vashishtha, Upnishads or Ashtawakra Geeta they all start with question. So it will be good if participant ask me question and I answer them rather then I keep telling things which you might not be interested in knowing.
Q. What is the difference between Art of Living course and Art of Silence course?
A. In Art of Living course the teacher sits on the driving seat and participant sit on seat next to him and teacher take the participant on the ride and show him see how is this is your min, this is your intellect, this is how your ego look like and this is your true self and so on.... while in Art of Silence course (which is also called Art of Living Part 2 course or advanced course) the roles is reversed. The Participant sits on driving seat while teacher sit next to him and as a participant you go on a ride and have the experience of your own mind, intellect, ego, self etc and teacher guide him for what he is experiencing :-) Wowwwwww... isn't it?
Also Art of Silence course is like 1000 times more fun and joy than what you get in Art of Living Course!
Q. Why one need Guru on the spiritual path? Why one can't get knowledge from scriptures?
A If you see any field whether football, soccer or music in every field you will find there is a coach to train. Also today we have all the gadgets, books, CDs, DVDs for every knowledge yet we send our kids to School. Because all the things you can't get it by yourself. Isn't it? Also tell me if you want to learn swimming or football, can you learn by reading a book. You have to come down to the field. Isn't it! Same way on this path also you need a coach or teacher whom we call 'Guru'. Sometime it might be possible that Student may outshine the Teacher :-)
Q. How to deal with the criticism? and argument!
A Just see that when you work in team the difference of opinions may come and they will come. But don't let difference of opinions to create difference in hearts. Have patience and listen to other person also and tell your point of view. Remember the person is more important than everything else. He quoted Guruji example sometime when He is dealing with big projects and somebody comes crying that Guruji my cat is missing, He has given first priority to console that person. Also don't get stuck in anything. It is 100% your choice to walk out from the argument. Above all have lots of fun. After any arguments just go and have ice-cream together :-)
Many more things coming soon :-)
All Glory to Gurudev!
Comments
Thats gr8 sharing of event ,Q&A& nice to c ur photographs...