How Short Is Life?

How short is life? Did you ever stop to think about? To wonder how short is my life going to be and how am I spending it? What will happen when I die?...

Wherever our spiritual teacher is there is a group of people from all parts of the world who have traveled the globe just to get his association. Amongst the international group now there is Sripad Bhakti Achintya Madhav Maharaj who is a priest from Russia. He is very unique and always has ideas and examples for presenting spiritual concepts. He is a big strong man with a sweet yet stern looking face. He looks a little intimidating because of his extremely focused personality but once you get to know him and he gives you his surprise smile and random outbursts of jokes you see how sweet he is. He does a lot of preaching in Russia and always has some new presentations and ideas to share. He is especially unique because he uses video clips and other types of media presentations from different places like youtube etc., and transforms their meaning into spiritual concepts based on the philosophy of Bhakti Yoga. Today he showed us a movie clip about life and how short it is. It is made for an Xbox commercial I think. Have a look. But, if life is so short? What are you going to do? Play video games?

A Panorama of Kolkata

The city of Kolkata, apart from having a population of more than 4 million people, 16 different official languages, and a variety of different religions and spiritual practices, is quite the stimulus for getting into documentary filmmaker mode.

Every outing presents a colorful palette of life varying form the brightest to darkest shades of existence. The people of Kolkata, as embodiments of the richness of their culture, eat, sleep, bathe, groom, and even die in public, boldly and openly displaying all aspects of life and Indian culture in such a way that will surely change the tourist’s vision of existence. Kolkata is known to be the city of the artsy, the quaint, the intellectual — indeed, anyone with a zest for life and its mysteries. It is also well known for its diverse spiritual practices and demigod worship amongst which the worship of Durga is most popular. As a radio-television-film major from San Jose State University, I am stationed at a yoga center, which is the destination of hundreds of international pilgrims that travel afar to join in daily spiritual practices under the guidance of a spiritual teacher. With camera and tripod in hand I roam about amidst this picturesque world looking to expose the essence of my surroundings and creatively broadcast it to the world.

Limbo

There are times of transition when one feels like she is in some sort of limbo. I have just made a big move, I have decided to leave my official enrollment at school to go live in India and make spiritually educational films for the public. I have been editing video to give to my Guru and have been somewhat progressing but I do have a feeling like I’m in a limbo. Like I do not know what I am doing, who for, and what is my result.

Actually, if I could for once feel like I am not expecting the result, it would be so much easier. Yet that is not exactly the feeling that I have. There is a deeper question,: who am I, what am I doing? Everything must begin from this type of inquiry. If one sincerely inquires and hankers to know the truth, then it will surely come and reveal itself.
If I stop expecting position, name, fame, etc. from the things that I do and clearly identify these tendencies within myself, then maybe I can change….I must be willing to accept that these things are within me, otherwise there is no room for change. I remember doing network chiropractic care in Santa Cruz and S.R.I. which is a type of breathing exercise in which you identify your weaknesses and try to nourish them through breath and the acceptance and acknowledgment of their existence. Once I was able to accept my situations and feelings etc., and therefore identify them, I could heal. My body would actually heal. All of these things originate from the subtlest part of our existence and can make physical changes. So my limbo situation, it is temporary but if I can use this distress to take more shelter of prayer and divine guidance, that will be my utmost benefit and in that regard, that negativity will become positive. It will become a positive event for me if I can take more shelter of prayer.