Define: Love by Gregeory David Roberts

Love is the passionate search for a truth other than your own. Any definition of love must be broad enough to include all the many and varied forms of love, from the love of parents for children to the kind of love that keeps poorly paid researchers struggling to find a cure for a communicable disease; from romantic love to the kind of love that keeps teachers working to bring new generations into the light of understanding.

My definition includes its essential elements for the following reasons:

“Passion,” because there is no love without passion: You can’t be half-hearted about love, because love is all or nothing.

The “search,” because love is an active thing, not a passive thing: You can’t sit around, loving things by intention — you have to get out there and connect in order to love.

“Truth,” because love is inextricably connected with truth: You can’t love something that is a lie, and you can’t love something with a lie.

And “other than your own,” because love reaches outward from within: The idea that we can love ourselves is solipsistic nonsense, in my view, because every act of love involves engagement and interaction with others, directly or indirectly. We can like ourselves or dislike ourselves, but it takes two — or many more than two — to make love exist.

Companionship

Let it be comfort
and a medium of the all knowing
Let it become what you aspire
and a mode of growing

Let it teach
and compliment the spirit
Let it not breach
the boundaries of merit

Let it nourish
and kindle the soul
Let it flourish
like the garden for all

Or it shall perish
Dwindling the spirit
and its faith in love...

I am love, grace and the Universe!
Nisha Balani
April 16, 2011

The World Cultural Festival

Brandenburg, Germany, 2^nd Jul 2011 - 3^rd Jul 2011

Celebrating Harmony in Diversity

The World Culture Festival, to be held July 2-3, 2011 at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, will be a celebration of the diverse cultures of the world. With an expected attendance of 70,000+ people from over 150 countries, this Festival will showcase music, dance and food from across the globe.

The Festival will mark the 30th anniversary of The Art of Living Foundation, a UN-accredited non-profit whose programs have benefited over 55 million people in 151 countries across the world.

The Festival will recognize and celebrate the traditions and values of all cultures and peoples of the world. It will also highlight the vast cultural heritage of India. Special programs on Yoga, Indian-dance and vegetarian cuisine will allow participants to experience the richness of the Indian subcontinent.

For more information: http://www.artofliving.org/world-culture-festival

To Love, Serve & Remember

Why have you come to earth, do you remember?
Why have you taken birth, do you remember?

To love, serve and remember...

This beautiful song by John Astin came to me during a breath workshop. Three simple sentences summarize is essence my spiritual path. I have come to earth to love, serve and remember.

I have been told to blog more often. With all the extensive travels I did this past year I should have blogged throughout but sometimes not documenting the details of events leaves an after taste that wouldn't exis if it's details were captured. I sometimes I felt I that I was either not documenting enough or too much. Perhaps this is a common issue for amatuer writers. This year in recap has been one of the most adventerious years of my life. Adventure never seems to leave me and neither do I want it to part. But this last year especially has been extremely eventful and worth writing about.

I started reveling around this time last year. I headed out to Bombay which is where I was born. I've always loved bombay, it's history the contradicting property, colonial history, alternative fashion and historic parks, mosques, churches and temples all in one area. One of my favorite places in Bombay is haji ali, an Islamic shrine in honor of a dervish who spent his life in Devine love and preaching Devine love. His shrine sits in the the middle of the Arabian sea. The mile long walk with no side railings in the middle of the ocean to get to to the shrine is what attracts me most about haji ali. I have seen people from all walks of life on that one mile walk. Vendors selling food, flowers to offer, offing scarfs (an Islamic tradition), ad even change to distribute among the poor. I paid 5 rupees for loose change of 50 rupees so that I could distribute them amongst the homeless.

Bombay travels included Leopold's, taj, causeway bay, and a lot of other eateries and clubs that will always be remembered. Leopold's soon became one of my comfort places to grab a bite and drink plenty of kingfisher. Kingfisher is a very delicious beer local to india...

February 2, 2010

I arrived in Hong Kong on January 25^th, 2010. With hope filled in my eyes and a sense of familiarity. I had been here before for a week. I visited HK for a week in October when The Moore School of Business sent me for Citi Bank Business Case Competition that hosted 21 International schools. Melbourne won the tournament and walked away leaving the other 20 schools in question of their analysis. But none the less, I was back and it was good to be back.

I walked the familiar terminal and after some asking around found my way to the red taxi stand. I remember researching before my first visit about the transportation system in the city. There are Green, Red and Blue taxis, each designated for their respected regions. I knew which one I needed and without asking again I told the driver in English, "Clear Water Bay" and started to help in load my luggage in the trunk.

"I need to buy an electric convertor before we go to Clear Water Bay please", I said, looking at the cabbie in his review mirror. He didn't understand what I was asking for. He spoke broken English but it was good enough for a cabbie. I struggled to explain what I needed and suddenly pulled out the electric cord for my laptop and showed him my pin, "Aahh!" he signed. We stopped at the local lamps and fans shop in a little market area off of the highway. I jumped out and jumped right back in with two convertors. I was excited to see my new apartment.

The ride was pleasant and I was hungry. I was biting away at a shrimp and corn wheat sandwich that I picked up at the 711 at the airport along with a cell phone recharge voucher. I had a good feeling about this. It felt right.

I enjoyed a hot shower and slipped into the bare mattress without sheets under a blanket that I took home from my flight from HK to Tokyo in October. That blanket had served me well and it became special to me, even more. But it was much colder and I knew I needed a real blanket, food, milk and other necessities. The next day I made my way to a nearby restaurant. I feasted away at a chicken in white garlic sauce with rice and watched Chinese soap opera on a television from the 90's hung high on the wall. I had to go to Hang Hau, a nearby shopping plaza village. I cabbed it back with three huge grocery bags and a large bill. I stocked up the kitchen and fixed myself a satisfying ramen noodle and soup meal for dinner. I needed to feed myself a satisfying meal after an alright lunch and no dinner the night before.

I was getting into shape. Slowly and steadily. The next morning I made my way to 1 University Road, to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. The vast hills and the deep valley's that dove into the ocean one after another made up a magnificent landscape. I had fallen in love with those mountains and promised to return. I was good to see myself keep the promise. I served my soul well to see them still stand tall and guard the coast of the university and the villages that found their abode in them.

After registration and some frustration with bureaucracy I started walking around to the familiar places, the library, the café, the lunch hall… UST and most locals refer to the University was a very western and diverse university for its kind in its region. I saw several exchange students walking around. You can tell an American apart from the Europeans. This has become easy in the past few years after my visit to Europe.

They International students office arranged a tour for the exchange students, The China Cultural Tour, our tour guide was a short and a funny medical student who was here from Beijing and did tours part time. He enjoyed what he did and it was easy to tell….

 

(Will be updated periodically…)

Asheeqati₄

I have been accused
of unnatural intoxication
a kind of infatuation
appreciated, not abused

Accusation of nursing madness—infused
like happiness, contentment—a conjugation
on a path for ecstasy—of preservation
with received reaction, I am only amused

I took upon this voyage with its hue—technicolor
guided by instincts of shakti₁
driven by love, grace and bhakti₂
yes, you can call me bipolar

I want nothing more than mukti₃
I only thirst for you—asheeqati₄

Nisha Balani
December, 2009

Shakti₁(Sanskrit): Goddess energy/power
bhakti₂(Sanskri): an active involvement by the devotee in divine worship
mukti₃(Sanskrit):liberation, Nirvana
Asheeqati₄(Arabic) My beloved

India and China

And finally I fought against the odds and am finally going to Hong Kong for a semester study abroad.

I start this trip from India. I will be spending a month in India before I take off for HK.

I will be documenting my travels, experiences, pictures, videos and insights on this blog to share with other me's out there who would be interested. And of course for friends who will be reading this through facebook streaming.

Please feel free to provide feedback, comments, suggestions and random thoughts while I am on my voyage.

Grace,
N

Hong Kong

I stand before you in honor
Not adornment, but plead
My head held high
I ask for grace
For mercy

The cloudy haze prominent today
Filthy yet beautiful
Settlements on this cliff
Stories, legends, lives
A butterfly dancing away

O! Save the islands
from the mist
For I want to return
One day-

Nisha Balani
Fall 2009
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

On Time Travelers Wife

Swinging through
Past and future
Visiting present often
Veering your beloved
With little or mo sign
Wandering like an orphan

I have known you
For before than here
Before now

You visited me
You evoked love in to me

Concioisly I waited
With clothes, food and parched lips
For another story
For another glance
Perhaps a kiss of serenity
Unfolding mystey

For I have known you
Before than here
Before now

Now I bear your legacy
With which I am in harmony
I nurture in my womb
Of which I am entitled
I winder-not worry
Can you see your tomb?

For I want to posses
That which I never did

I have known you
Before than here
Before now...

Nisha Balani
In reaction to 'The Time Travelers Wife' the movie, writen on a plane to Hong Kong, Fall 2009

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Natural Intoxication?

I have been accused
of being high
The learned put it out as
"unnatural intoxication"

Accusation of nursing
a madness,
What they call
accusation of love, if you may
a feeling of all-

Accused and said no more
Silence would speak for itself-

Nisha Balani
Summer, 2006
Mumbai, India

Serenity

I am aloof of my ego.
I am complete.
Can you hear me laugh? This laugh of serenity.
Only those can hear who recognize the laugh.
I have mastered.
I am aloof of my ego.

What you do on to me, is not me.
I am not me.
I am not this body, mind or my memory.
I am none of those or more. I am.
And this that I am, is unshakable.

Swirling and Whirling. I am.
Swirling and Whirling.... and Whirling... I am...

Ultimate Complexity

"The Universe as we know, began in almost absolute simplicity, and it has been getting more complex for about fifteen billion years. In another billion years it will be still more complex than it is now. In a billion years-- It is always getting more complex. It is moving toward...something. It is moving toward some kind of ultimate complexity. We might not get there. An atom of hydrogen might not get there, or a leaf, or a man, or a planet might not get here, to that ultimate complexity. But we are all moving towards it--everything in the universe is moving towards it. And that final complexity, that thing we are all moving to, is what I choose to call God.

If you don't like the word God, call it Ultimate Complexity. Whatever you call it, the whole universe is moving towards it. "

-Gregory David Roberts Shantaram.

Don't just stare at me, come take a dive.
Don't just wonder of my depth, come look.
Don't just ponder on your thoughts making poetry,
Instead soak your feet and taste me...

For I have been flowing through this town long before
Your Grandfather sat on the banks and counted his quarters.

I wont hurt you. Come play with me,
I gleam, I shine, I quench.
I am the River that has been flowing
Through your town
Even when James counted his Quarters.

-Nisha Balani
August 2009

Not Waving But Drowning- Stevie Smith

Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.

Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he's dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.

Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.

Come to me

I long for you
Even though I touched you not too long ago...

I crave for your smell
Even though I was aroused by your aura

I seek for your glare
Even though you lay your eyes on me for more than I expected....

I sit here
Wanting you a little more each day
I wait patiently
For I know you will come to me....

Lilith

Of Adam's first wife, Lilith, it is told
(The witch he loved before the gift of Eve,)
That, ere the snake's, her sweet tongue could deceive,
And her enchanted hair was the first gold.
And still she sits, young while the earth is old,
And, subtly of herself contemplative,
Draws men to watch the bright web she can weave,
Till heart and body and life are in its hold.
The rose and poppy are her flower; for where
Is he not found, O Lilith, whom shed scent
And soft-shed kisses and soft sleep shall snare?
Lo! As that youth's eyes burned at thine, so went
Thy spell through him, and left his straight neck bent
And round his heart one strangling golden hair.

-Roseetti

Art of Living News Article (USC)

The first Youth Empowerment Seminar Plus (YES+) is coming to USC next Thursday to give students a chance to relax, rejuvenate and cleanse.

Nisha Balani, a third-year global supply chain and operations management student, volunteered for two years with The Art of Living Foundation, before organizing the first workshop ever to be held at USC.

"The reason I brought this to the university is to help the attention deficiency, the rate of depression, the anxiety of students and the tendency [to commit] suicide among students," Balani said. "All of these things can be eliminated through breathing exercises to rejuvenate your own mind, body and soul."

This five-day intensive workshop involves a series of yoga exercises, meditation techniques and ancient yoga rhythmic breathing techniques.

"There's no prerequisite or requirements for this," Balani said. "All you have to do is come with an enthusiastic smile, comfortable clothing and a desire to do something good for your body, your mind and your life."

Balani said this course is necessary in order to achieve a significant change in one's life.

"To get something profound in your life, it's not going to come by doing something little, it's going to come by doing something profound," Balani said. "A five-day workshop is a commitment, but you won't get this from a 30-minute DVD."

Balani said she has had people tell her that after several months of the workshops, they've stopped taking medications for their asthma, attention deficit disorder or sleeping disorder. She said these workshops have the ability to prevent diseases later on in life as well.

"Tension and stress and negative thoughts manifest in a disease or a disorder later on in life through cell memory and that's why doing this cleanses yourself internally," Balani said. "You bathe everyday to cleanse outside, you must cleanse inside as well.

The Art of Living Foundation, a nonprofit education and humanitarian organization, was founded in 1981 by spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. It's currently one of the United Nations' largest volunteer-based non-governmental organizations.

"It offers workshops and seminars to teach you how to breathe," Balani said. "It's not a religious organization. It welcomes people from all walks of life and teaches you to live better by learning to breathe better."

"The Art of Living Foundation offers programs to uncover the strength, peace and joy that lie at the core of every human being," according to its Web site.

These workshops are taught in 150 countries, and more than 6 million people have been affected by the breathing exercises, Balani said.

"I always say that the mind is like the kite, the string is like the breath, you can control your thoughts and your breath and choose to be happy," Balani said. "Happiness is a choice."

The workshop will be taught by Mona Shah, an international traveling teacher who has been teaching for the past 17 years.

"[Shah] not only teaches students, but trains others teachers to teach college students," Balani said. "It took an entire year to get her to have faith in USC, because she doesn't teach small workshops, but more than 15 people have already signed up."

Balani said these workshops equip the participants with tools and techniques to empower their lives and become more responsible.

"On a larger scale, it also makes you a more responsible global citizen," she said. "It also makes us aware. We live our whole lives without being aware. It's very easy to lead these situations, everyone just needs to learn a technique to do it."

Liz Segrist
News Editor
The Daily Gamecock

For University of South Carolina

http://media.www.dailygamecock.com/media/storage/paper247/news/2009/03/20/News/FiveDay.Yoga.Class.Aims.To.Improve.Lives-3677298.shtml

On Letting Go

Its easier than one would think,
to surrender and sit back
Its easier than to fight
to simply let go...

I sit here by the river
listening to the water
she tells me to flow
she asks me to mimic her

Its easier than I ever thought
to bow down and join hands
Its easier than to see you cry
to simply be...

Familiarity

familiar in him I see a soul
engulfing every part of me
familiar in him I see a fact
of reaching out to flee

familiar is this familiarity
of us so familiar w/ each other
familiar w/each other
familiar oh so familiar
is this a lie? please tell me!

familiar I see a soul
engulfing his significant other
familiar in him I see a fact.. an act
of reaching out to flee...

familiar yet ..not
so ironic...nothing other
familiar..so very familiar
that when I look into his eyes
I loose the sense of comparing familiarity!

-Nisha Balani
June 2006