OSME Digest: Lessons

A guru is a shortcut to god.

It’s the guru who helps you live life, who makes you mindful of the lessons, and makes you a worthy recipient. There are lessons aplenty as life happens every day. But would it be possible to absorb those if it weren’t for the guru’s grace? 

As I sit reading the insightful blogs on OS.ME, I soak in all the lessons they have for me more easily now. The power of these intimate stories is not lost on me anymore. I navigate on this spiritual literary journey to emerge richer in knowledge and experiences.    

The learnings arising from os.me have transcended the platform to my inbox, Instagram and the likes.

This past week, many of you shared some excellent suggestions with me. I am trying to imbibe the lessons/learnings. I have made a few tweaks to the weekly round-up. That’s the first suggestion.

Pratik shared an article with me on Instagram about how to make newsletters more engaging. Although he did say I didn’t need to agree with what the article says, I immediately picked up two things. One of the seven tips is not to call your newsletter a newsletter — therefore, round-up only (fine! waise we call it the Digest, anyway 🙂 ). Thank you. The second suggestion also made sense to me; more about it at the bottom of this weekly round-up (see, I am a quick learner). 

I am also adding a video to the newsletter, a valuable suggestion made by Rohit. And there are many other helpful recommendations which we are working on.

Without much ado, in this Digest, I share with you what each of these articles taught me. And I’d be waiting to hear the lessons you drew from each of these. If anything moved you or helped you reflect, do share it with me in the comments (you know I take your suggestions and comments seriously). 

Oh! Are you wondering why we are talking about the guru, teachings, lessons and more when there are still a good two weeks to Guru Purnima? Well, because I have another exciting challenge for my OSME family. It’s going to be grand. More about it further down this news… err… post. 

Wisdom from Swamiji

The Guru: Just like the full moon that softly dispels the darkness, a genuine master lights up your soul, writes Swamiji. This one piece of wisdom will answer all the questions you ever had about how to choose a guru and who a guru is.

Surrendering to a Guru: Surrendering to your guru is the greatest step towards enlightenment. It’s an art. But what does it entail? Let my guru answer it. Our dearest Swamiji on surrender and beyond. 

Just like the full moon that softly dispels the darkness, a genuine master lights up your soul, writes Swamiji. tell a friend

Transformational Experiences 

My Meditation Journey with Q&A – 1: Sushree Diya Om is known for her deeply personal and unalloyed truthful articles. Her flash memoir is an account of her meditation journey. It gave me answers to several questions. It’s intoxicating in a healthy way. 

The Fountain of Youth: In June 2019, Zack Om Bazarnick went on a family trip to Yosemite National Park. Good on him because the following year pandemic hit and we have all been locked up (I couldn’t keep myself from saying that). Pardon the digression. That trip turned out to be quite a spiritual journey. Now, he is “searching for that fountain of youth, that cleansing and rejuvenating waterfall that we all contain within ourselves”. A rejuvenating journey of an article taught me to always remember: we are the universe, the universe is us.

Love Knows Your Address!: What you give, you receive — double the amount. And don’t worry about how, ‘coz it will find you. It always does. Konkona Datta loved someone dearly. But that turned into a one-sided love story. However, love found her again. This time, seven times over. Konkana taught me to only give to the world what I want to receive. 

Put Your Luggage Down: Manjit was sipping her coffee, tension writ large on her face. A stranger walked up to her and gave her an invaluable life lesson. Every time I stress over things that are not in my control, I think about what the stranger told her.

साधू की क़लम से – २: Our Vidu Swami from the ashram has penned this poetic prose. The sheer joy of reading Hindi this good is unparalleled. But even more rewarding are the thought-provoking articles followed by questions that make you ponder. This article has taught me a million things, I am sure you will love it too.  

The Day I Accepted My Death: All of five year old, Sagar Takker was faced with death. In that moment, he accepted it. This article taught me an important thing about life, we fear death too much. The fear becomes intense as we grow older. Maybe it will teach you not to see death as the monster it is made out to be. Also, it hit me with nostalgia so hard — my dad taught me to ride the bicycle too. He’d run with me, trying to balance it for me. Ok, I am getting all emo now. 

Tasty Chilly Mind: Sometimes, we wallow in sorrow without realising it might be our creative output. Yes, Neelanjan taught me we are the creators of sorrow. If we can create it, we can create joy, too. Now, I am just waiting for the call of nature to wake me up. 

Life Cycle of a Wave of Anger: This quick guide on making anger fangless by Swati Gunwant is fabulous. It is going to come in handy everytime anger raises its head. It taught me to observe it and deal with it mindfully. 

Watch This Now!

Have you subscribed to the OS.ME YouTube Channel yet?

OSME Challenge!

In the run-up to Guru Purnima, I have some thrill in store for you.

The OSME Guru/Unlikely Teacher: Starting July 8 through July 19, you can write a post about your Guru or an unlikely teacher who taught you an invaluable lesson. We are looking for a real transformational slice of your life. Only one post would be considered per member. If you write more than one post, drop the link to the post you want us to consider in the comments below. Don’t forget to attach your post to “Guru” under the “Philosophy” theme. 

The unlikely teacher could be just about anyone or anything who helped you discover your truth & become a better person.

Dates to remember:
Start: July 8 (12:01 am IST)
End: July 19 (11:50 pm IST)
Result: July 21 (winners to be announced in the newsletter)
There might be something special in store for you, who knows!

I might be sharing a post too. Let’s see. Meanwhile, tell me about the lessons you picked up this week? And stay OSME.

Until next…

PS: Well, the other suggestion in the article Pratik shared — do not tell people to subscribe, just lead them to the button. Ok then, there is the button, you know what to do 🙂

Weekly round-up of transformational experiences and wisdom. Click now! tell a friend