Have very less experience in taking portrait pictures, (not that I have a lot of experience in other types of pictures, but relatively speaking 😉 ) and I took these candid pictures.
When I surprised him with the “quiet” picture on the camera LCD, he commented “hmm… I look like a Don!”
I added “yeah, but a very peaceful Don.”
He quipped “Dons by themselves are very peaceful, they only disturb other’s peace! ;-)”
Used gimp to do some editing and removing of background.
At 67, a retired railway officer and happily married living with his wife, with all 4 children well settled, a very ordinary man with an active social life merging with society, and in a jovial mood most of the time…
…and who would ever imagine that this gentleman is a highly learned and experienced meditation teacher?! 🙂
Yet he dosen’t carry around any kind of image of a guru or something – he breaks all stereotypes that meditation is some kind of esoteric thing meant for highly serious people. He says “we Indians are natural meditators – its in our genes!” and recounts stories of his childhood where it used to be just like a game – someone would tell the kids – cmon, sit just like how your grandfather sits… and they would imitate their grandfather sitting in stillness, just for fun, to see for how long they could manage it! 🙂 Both him and his wife simply radiate pure love!
[Btw as for me, my visititing him was more as a friend than a student. The visit was just a result of a series of chance encounters and incidents. Anyway currently he’s travelling to some place near Mumbai with his wife (also a meditation teacher) and he has his own schedule after that. And so do I, back in Bangalore. Time knows when we will meet again… but anyway life goes on!]
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