RAW for Week of April 14, 2022
1.Maintain a simple altar in the same room that you sleep in. Observe your general mood throughout the week and record your observations. 
This was a hard RAW for me. i have a photo of Ganesha in my bedroom but to set up an Altar, gave me mixed feelings. But since i have given up so many rituals, this one became comfortable after a few days. I thought of this as having to stay in a hotel room with my parents. So the feeling was:

• Be disciplined in all ways, go to bed early and wake up early to serve them.

2. Contemplate on the following questions: Does God Exist? Who or what is God? Can God be known?

• God does exist as i go to Him(no one else can solve some of these problems!) for solutions to problems – He looks after me and at me.
• I feel this Great Power that is always protecting me and guiding me in the right direction- i have given the reins of my life to Him to take me on my life’s journey.
• When nice things happen around me, people see me for what i am, then that i feel is Him – i know He exists through these events.

2. Go to a local park and pick up litter for an hour. Go by yourself and be with yourself. No technology. Trash picked

1. Listen actively. Allow others to speak freely.

• Followed this with Mother first and then to some at work place(been doing this for quite some time) and sure enough, the improvement is they understand me more and appreciate me.
• made me see deep inside them.

2. Go to a local park and pick up litter for an hour. Go by yourself and be with yourself. No technology.

• i was indeed surprised to see no to very less trash in 3 parks near our place. I managed to find peanut shells on the path way although that is bio-degradable. Had never done this by myself so wondered what the passers by would think but put myself in the shoes of a dasi of Bhagavan and collected a few other trash. This RAW really humbled me.

RAW for Week of January 27, 2022
1. Listen actively. Allow others to speak freely. 2. Go to a local park and pick up litter for an hour. Go by yourself and be with yourself. No technology.

1. Listening more & speaking less has helped deepen my thinking, pausing to think before speaking & embarking on a journey inwards. Able to focus on my thoughts more.
2. This past Sunday afternoon, Vandana & I went together, picked up litter in a park and a High school close-by. Due to the cold weather, not many people were there, hence we decided to go together. Attaching pics.

RAW for Week of January 13, 2022-1. Count how many people you talk to face to face. Observe how you interact with different people. 2. Pick a good joke and tell the same joke to a new person each day.

• Every day on an average i was talking to about 5 people. Mostly work related and sometimes asking them about their family.
• This telling the same joke to a different person everyday made me tired inside and feel artificial – so was this RAW to remind me that if i lived the same way as earlier, i would not be evolving? i should feel tired of acting in this world so i can make time for BEING.

RAW for Week of January 6 to January 12, 2021-Refrain from looking at yourself in the mirror. (Please use discretion. Don’t stop using mirrors while driving because of this RAW!)

• This raw was not so hard as the fasting or sleeping early raws. This could be because of the fact i was used to being this way during the silent retreats.
• Although, i am guilty of looking momentarily in the big glass doors as we enter at work – still remembered the raw and looked away.
• Helped me remember Guruji’s words: “Looking into a mirror, we only see our superficial selves. This should evolve to looking deeper into ourselves where the real beauty lies”.

RAW for Week of December 30 to January 5, 2021-Pick a food or drink that you consume too often or excessively, and fast from it without exception.

• my snack after work was a small cup of bhujia, which i got hooked onto and it almost became a habit. When this raw came up, was wondering(cringing inside) what to refrain from and my son Anish suggested bhujia. i thought twice about this as i can usually keep away from As and Bs for a RAW but this time wanted to fast from it from then on.
• And thanks to this raw, i have never had the feeling that i needed to go back to it.

RAW for Week of December 23 to December 29, 2021-Sleep by 9 p.m. Sleep on the floor using only a simple makeshift bed (pillow, sheet, blanket).

• This raw proved to me how one is/ one should be the controller of one’s body.
• If not for this raw, the already existing manomala would just add more to it by indulging the senses in media and luxury.
• i have not been able to sit still cross-legged for more than 10 minutes due to sciatica problems. But ever since this raw, the mind has successfully taken over the body and i am able to sit and do my contemplations – tearing up as i write this as my prayer to Bhagavan has always been that i should be able to sit on the floor and do my meditation, do my things myself until i die and do service for others until i die – and sitting on the sofa or chair thus far was hurting me inside. How can i not be grateful to Bhagavan and swamiji for this grace?

RAW for Week of December 16 to 22, 2021-Go for a 30-minute walk or run by yourself, without use of any electronic devices during this time

• Definitely enjoyed the cool walks and natural sounds – although the sounds of big machines ploughing through Mother earth to make homes made me sad.
• Thoughts were going in all different directions, but was able to bring them back to asking the ‘why’ questions.
• Found that the reasons and answers are in me and not outside and i need more reflections to get clarity and be established in these answers.
• Then again, am so thankful for all this guidance.

RAW for Week of November 18, 2021-Avoid touching your body needlessly.

• When i sit for contemplation and place my folded palms on my lap, i feel its weight if my focus did not go beyond lifestyle, body, breath and back to body.
• so i tried placing my up-turned palms by my side on the floor and felt i could go beyond body consciousness.
• my reflection on this raw is, if the above said is a burden on my contemplation, then time spent on just paying much attention to body – taking taking long showers, etc. could be spent on nature walks, wondering why i am not able to come up with ways to serve, reading books that inspire etc.
• Also time spent in sensuous pleasures will make me spend more time in exhausting newly accrued vasanas. my only goal in life is to make this life my last life on earth.

RAW for Week of November 11, 2021-Sit down and practice keeping your body still for 5 minutes. 
i observed that keeping the body still was hard several months ago, especially during the silent retreats even though it was usually for only 20 to 25 minutes. But the practice there helped make this RAW easy. i feel that if the body is still, then it is easy to observe the mind and chant to quietude.
My daily prayer rituals used to take 40 minutes, but now i spend 5 minutes to clean up place and do rangoli and then instead of rituals, i close my eyes and go thru the sequence in quietude. The noise around me do not bother me. my next step is to remain quiet for 20 to 25 minutes of contemplation.

RAW for Week of November 4, 2021-As soon as you wake up in the morning, record the details of your dreams. 
Very interesting RAW. i usually sleep for 5 to 51/2 hours and so when i finish my prayers and lie down, i am switched off and don’t usually have dreams. But ever since this RAW, have had a few dreams.
my observance: they are related to some talk that happened earlier that evening that wasn’t processed fully (no manana) and so i started paying full attention to all that was spoken to me, and if it bothered me I consciously surrendered it to my Original Parent and asked Him to take care of it for me and i did not have dreams. This is just a marvel.

RAW for Week of October 21, 2021-Write down one act of service that you performed and why you did that particular act.
Did not want to think of the service i do for others and only remember that done to me. But this being the raw:
My very close friend, diagnosed with cancer had her surgery last Thursday. Came back home on Saturday. She has a 12 year old and they all love south Indian food. So cooked for them and also made pakoras as the weather was cold and rainy.

RAW for Week of October 14, 2021-Observe your relationship with social media. Are you dependent on it or is it a functional tool in your life?
Found that i’m not addictive to watching episode after episode of Home Improvement shows, Marvel series, Cooking shows and for that matter even Spiritual talks by swamijis. Have parameters set for tv and talks. Feel like reading and clearing up space- internally feeling that mind is being cleared.
Using the phone for its purpose and seeing media information once for 15 minutes and once in the evening for 15 minutes. Not forwarding messages and commenting to all that comes in. i feel it is a functional tool in my life right now and i owe it all to swamiji! Ever indebted to our Guruparampara!

RAW for Week of October 7, 2021
Refrain from speaking any negative words.

Hari Aum to everyone. I had shared the reflections for this RAW during class but was encouraged to post it here. My observations from applying this RAW can be summarized as follows –

1. Negative words came from negative thoughts when the situation was not according to my expectation. Catching myself to respond rather than react – i realized that adding more negativity to a negative situation isn’t going to help anyone. i am not the doer or deserver of this situation so simply accept, adapt and move on..
2. When engaged in inspiring and meaningful work, there is no room for negativity because there is a lot of natural absorption in positivity. Most of the past 5 weeks I spent in crowdfunding campaign for Chinmaya Vishwa Vidyapeeth 🙂
3. The negativity arises as a habitual response due to past conditioning. One can only give what one has in them. When one snaps out of the past conditioning and comes into the present moment – one realizes that there is no negativity in the present moment. The present moment just is.

Aum Shanti

Class I: Don’t look at or use any screen before 9:00 AM.
My secular work starts at 6.00 am. I was aware that swamiji said even for secular work, i cannot see screens. But i promised myself no screen for 2 hours after waking up. Thus was able to get my 5 pages of writing done and on some days reflection too. Love all these RADs as they make me want to walk this path even seriously. Thanks to swamiji!

Class II: Clean and organize your car. Now observe how you feel about your car and how you feel while you are in your car.
A clean car is like a mind with less thoughts. It is happiness and feels peaceful. Still have some gas station bills in the central compartment that needs sorting- will do soon and then clean the dust off the dashboard for a clear mind! 🙂

I tried to minimize and not use screen for non work related things. When I needed to work then only the screen was used.

This helped me to read and exercise more. This also gave me some quite time and my time.