Sriram and Sivananda Lahiri..

Naan Sriram-oda pesi erandu vaaram aiduchu..I was trying to get hold of him for the past 2 days, but couldnt..paiyan romba busy considering the fact that millions of dollars and the future of IEEE 802.16 (WiMax) are riding on his head!!..he was shuffling between South Korea, Chennai and Bangalore..So innaiku avan bangalore-la thaan irupanu theriyum..So called him up..It was so much fun talking to him..When I called him up, it was almost 10:00 pm..Oru one hour pesi irupom..Our discussion ranged from family, love, kalyanam, iyer, vadamal, ashtashasthram, PhD, physics, biology, Artificial intelligence, jobs at google, REC Trichy, food, renting properties in bangalore (Ref:Viji :P), and then finally into our favourite topic spirituality..

Avan solitu irunthan - that nowdays he doesnt think of God that much and he wants to start praying properly again..I was telling him that the same thing is happening with me, and atleast he is not able to pray since he is very busy..Iravu pagalnu velai seyran..so he doesnt have time to pray..moreover, he has mastered the Rudram, Chamakam, Vishnu Sahasranamam and the Taittrya Upanishads and currently doing Kriya Yoga..naama appadiya - I am virtually free - and still I dont pray with full concentration..I have become so lazy..Even though I have mastered the Sudharshana Kriya through the Art of Living course - I stopped it now..Reason - laziness!

So Sriram told me something beautiful - which I wanted to share with u all..He told me that there are three types of devotion..

1) One type of devotion is like the cat and the kitten, where the young kitten (soul) is totally dependent on its mother cat's (GOD) will. It is picked up by the mother in her mouth and carried here and there..So the soul doesnt do anything..No effort on its part..GOD knows what to do and he just directs u..This is known as the marjara school of thought..

2) The second type of devotion is like the monkey and its baby..Also called the markata school of thought..Here the monkey clings to the mother tightly..It does not let the mother go..Similarly through steadfast devotion, we hold onto GOD..We dont leave him away..So we put the effort here..

Then finally Sriram said it is for us, that Adi Shankara in his Sivananda lahiri says about the third type of devotion..where we are like the monkey tied to a rope. The rope is held by the owner who is GOD. We tell him that "GOD, even though I luv u - I am not able to control my senses..I am not able to do anything by myself..So it is upto u to handle me"..and then GOD would take care of us..

So Sriram was telling that we should follow the third method, and GOD will take care of us..

Manaivi amaivathelam iraivan kodutha varamnu solluvanga..en vishayathula, GOD has been very kind to bestow me with a great friend who is also my spiritual guide..So nanbarkal amaivathum iraivan kodukum varam thaan :)..