Kottu Rasam

A few years ago, during a train travel, there were these bunch of Isha yoga meditators in our compartment. They were so real, charged on life and a happy lot. They were all going for a Himalayan Trek and so many of them held great positions professionally. But they were doing a lot of service and volunteering without throwing any weight around. I always hold high regard for people who do service without any motive behind. And this group immediately attracted me. They told me about Isha yoga and I decided to join soon after the travel

I joined yoga to lose a  little weight but there came a point where I started seeing life differently.
I still remember the glow on my face soon after I got initiated to the Shambavi Kriya and the peace it generated around me.

As they say 'You don't choose the GURU, when the time comes the GURU chooses YOU'.

Many of my friends ask me, if I do yoga what are the benefits, will I get this or will I get that? All I can say is when you do certain things without any expectations, you will be surprised at what you get back in return.

When you start following a spiritual master and accept somebody as your GURU you are called as a Spiritual Seeker.  There comes an yearning in you to know something that you don't know. You don't believe anything blindly but want to know. You follow an enlightened or an evolved soul to know.

When I speak of spirituality I am reminded of so many things. I  remember the first time I saw my master, I knew deep from my heart that there is more to this man. He is not just a yoga teacher. I even got a chance to meet him for a few minutes. He got up to greet me while I just fell at his feet. He spoke to me in English and asked me some questions.  I could not answer a thing, but only sobbed uncontrollably. Even as I write this tears roll down.  He just watched me cry and asked me if I had anything to say. I cried even for that. He then blessed me and gave me a few flowers. I have those safe till date.

I can go on and on about my connection with Isha. There's more to it.

It so happens that when you start following a master, the way the world starts noticing you is entirely different. Everything that you do, the way you sit, speak, dress up, do things anything at all becomes connected to your spirituality.  The first attack is always from the parents and spouse. They are the ones who know us inside out and  how mad we can get.
When a furious row happens in the house, the first target is your GURU. 'You speak so much about spirituality, but look at how miserable you are!!!! , nothing has changed, all the yoga that you do is a waste of time. !!!

People don't understand that we are still seeking and not enlightened. Comparing us to a Buddha / Mahaveer / Christ is only ridiculous. We are only seeking and trying to transform ourselves. Please appreciate us for that effort.

Okay!! Today I made this famous south- Indian Kottu Rasam. This Rasam can be prepared in minutes not needing to add dal of any kind. When you have those lazy days where you don't even want to go out for lunch/dinner, you can prepare this in minutes. It is also given to convalescing  patients.

This Rasam with a few papads/poppadums and a dash of ghee on a cup of hot rice will taste heavenly on a rainy day.

Ingredients:

• Tamarind Wate - 1 cup
• Water - 1.5 cups
• Tomatoes - 1 (you can omit it if you are lazy to cut them)
• Salt to taste
• Rasam Powder - 1 tsp
• Mustard, Jeera and Tuvar Dal - all put together 2 tsp
• Red chilli  - 1
• Ghee - for seasoning

Method:

Boil the tomatoes with tamarind water.

Season mustard, jeera, red chilli and tuvar dal in ghee and add it to the boiling rasam.

Add salt and rasam powder and the remaining water.

I love to sprinkle a little bit of freshly ground pepper at this stage.

When it comes to a boil, switch off and garnish with cilantro.

Enjoy!!!