Amit Online Yoga Center

We live in an imperfect world and yet expect our relationships to be perfect!  We want people; friends, family, cousins, colleagues, bus drivers, traffic attendants, almost everyone, to be flawless – but it’s a tall order to ask for, isn’t it?  And we conveniently forget that we ourselves are not perfect. Overcoming our ego and accepting others ‘warts and all’ or as they are, is a very big part of living in harmony.  Trying to change others is not.

We anticipate that when we agree to do something with someone, it should happen like clockwork.  Well not always.  Hope for the best but expect to be ready to change gear at any moment.  The less we demand of others, the more friction-free and happier our relationships will become.

People are intuitive and can pick up when we are trying to change them, control them, or fix them!  We love people, but at the same time, we love molding them as if clay and believe that perhaps a slight comment here, a remark there and a jerk in jest, will put them into ‘shape’.  Anyone sensing that you are out to change them will resist and most likely run in the opposite direction.

If a picture paints a thousand words then the camera paints volumes! With the increased use of mobile phone cameras people everywhere are maximizing their liberties and taking footage of the latest alarming war crimes, or documenting teacher-student conflicts in schools, or recording unsanitary mobile food vendors and their concealed, repulsive habits.  With evidence in hand, everyone from government officials to street hawkers are being asked to be more responsible and accountable.

Some people wonder if values matter anymore since certain individuals seem to be ascending the rungs of fame and swiftly crossing wealth brackets despite their lack of morals and ethics.  But isn’t it only a question of time ‘before one gets caught in the act’; if not by the judicial system or the media, then surely by the moral expectations of fellow citizens.  Losing the trust, approval and esteem of fellow friends and customers, has to be the harshest sentence one can experience.

The Stephen Covey Foundation surveyed 54,000 people and asked them to identify the essential quality of a leader; integrity was by far the number one response!  Since humans have the ability to choose, they have a greater responsibility toward the world.

One method that people have been using for thousands of years to cultivate their inner light is the practice of retreating; withdrawing for some time from routine mundane activities and responsibilities. Often seeking places of natural beauty, the seeker aims to restore harmony within the soul through reflection, meditation, contemplation, and also harmony in the body through fresh air, exercise and healthy nourishing food. Once equilibrium is restored, the individual is then ready to return to their life’s role with deeper insight, clarity, renewed energy and enthusiasm.

The students of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University (BKWSU/BK) have recognised the importance of retreating from time to time to gain perspective and clarity and to rejuvenate their mind, body and spirit and so they consider an annual visit to their mountain retreat a must.

Often referred to as 'an oasis in the desert' Mount Abu is the highest peak in the 800 kilometre long Aravalli mountain range, in Rajasthan, western India. The peak of the