OCT 21
"A real Master teaches you to accept everything that happens in life. He helps you to be thankful for both good and bad, right and wrong, enemy and friend, those who harm you and those who help you, those who cage you and those who release you from the cage.
The Master helps you forget about the dark past and the bright future full of a thousand promises. He helps you live life in the present moment with all its fullness. He lets you know that the whole of nature - everything, everybody, even your enemy is helping you evolve and attain perfection."
~ Amma
OCT 22
"Asangoham, asangoham, asangoham punah punah:
Satchidananda roopoham, ahamevahamvyayah:
Nitya shudda vimuktoham, nirvikarohm avyayah:
Bhoomandandaswaroopoham, ahamevahamavyayah:
Nityoyam niravadyoyam nirakarohamachyatha:
Paramananda swaroopoham, ahamevahamvyayah:
Anatar jyoti bahir jyoti, pratyak jyoti paratparah:
Jyoti jyoti ahamswayam jyoti, atma jyoti shivosmyham"
"Unattached, unattached, unattached, am I (to the body, mind, intellect,
I alone and changeless exist in the form of consciousness and bliss.
I am ever pure and free, without change of form and nature.
I am ever full- I alone exist changeless.
I am eternal and without boundaries, immutable and unshakable,
I alone exist I changeless in the form of consciousness and bliss.
Effulgence am I both inside and outside,
The light which is apparent as well as transcendent.
Light of all lights, self effulgent, the light of the atman,
Filled with auspiciousness am I"
OCT 23
Q: In a world full of jealousy and hatred, how do I go on a path of humbleness and serenity?
Sri Sri: Don’t label the world. Some people are this way, but don’t pay too much attention to them. Just move on. Let them get cooked in their jealousy. It is alright. That which you put attention on, will grow. Manifestation follows intention and attention.
If your intention is clear, I tell you, you will move on. If someone is jealous, what do you do? Just move on. Your attention should be on something higher, on the blossoming of the self.
OCT 23
How to be free from Craving Aversions even when people behave unfavorably...
"Astrology itself is Panchanga (a tool used to determine and study the planetary positions and their effects upon an individual).
Suppose you are angry at somebody, then you keep thinking, ‘Why did he do this to me?’ Now if you have knowledge of Jyotish (Vedic astrology) then you will understand that there is no fault of that man. You will think, ‘It happened because of some effects of the motion of some planets in my planetary chart. So I had to bear insult’.
This is mukti(liberation).The mind which was entangled in Raga- Dwesha (cravings and aversions) with that person gets detached. Jyotish helps you understand that your time is bad; which is why even good people quarrel with you and if the time is good, even your sworn enemies help you in times of need. So when you understand this, then the Raga- Dwesha in your mind gets dissolved and mind becomes quiet."
OCT 23
Jeevan Mukti...
"When we are contented in life, then that is jeevan-mukti (being liberated while still living). It is a stage in which you feel – ‘I do not need anything more in this life. I am contented and I will serve others to the best of my capacity. This whole world is mine; all this is my reflection (of the Self) and my own nature.’
When you become so firmly established and strong in this knowledge from within, then contentment and joy dawns in you. All the complaints disappear. Everything becomes available even before the wish arises. Within no time, all the required knowledge comes to the mind. This all is called jeevan-mukti."
- Sri Sri
OCT 24
From a beggar, the Guru lifts you to the status of the Emperor of the Universe. From a mere Receiver, he makes you a Giver.
~ Amma
OCT 25
Reverence and ownership
"Often you do not have reverence for that which you own. Whatever you revere becomes bigger than you. When you have reverence in all your relationships then your own consciousness expands. Then even small things appear to be significant and big. Every little creature appears to be dignified. It is the reverence in every relationship that saves the relationship. Often you lose reverence for that which you own, and this happens unconsciously.
When you have reverence for the whole universe, you are in harmony with the while universe. Then, you do not need to reject or renounce anything of this universe. Reverence in ownership frees you from greed, jealousy and lust. Cultivate the skill of having reverence every moment in your life."
- Sri Sri
OCT 26
"Those whose karmas are good have this firm belief, ‘God is with me at all times. My Gurudev is with me, and I have all the inner strength that I need’."
- Sri Sri
'Owning responsibility for all your experiences in life makes you powerful and will put an end to grumbling, planning counter attacks, explanations, and all those host of negative tendencies. Owning full responsibility you become free.'
- Sri Sri
OCT 27
When skilfulness blossoms within us, then that is Yoga. It is said “Yoga karmasu-kaushalam”. When we do something, we do not do it half-heartedly thinking ‘Will this happen or not?’, or, ‘May be it will be only half-done or so’, or, ‘Oh! This is going to take a lot of time’, etc.
Once you decide upon something, just do it. When things start to happen merely by our thinking about them, then that ability is called a Siddhi (extraordinary ability). The goal of human life is to be able to gain this Siddhi, and not just to enjoy the pleasures and material gains of the world.
- Sri Sri
OCT 28
"You can spend the whole life worrying, grumbling, brooding over things and being miserable, or the same energy could be used to uplift you to unimaginable heights.
Again and again, withdraw your mind. If your mind is running all over the place, it is because of the objects of the senses."
- Sri Sri
OCT 20
Knowledge Sheet: Skill
In Praising!
Often, when you praise, you praise in comparison to someone else. In order to
praise one person, we put down someone else and when we want to point out
somebody's mistake we praise another.
Some are stingy in praising, and some are shy.
And some others are simply not used to.
Some praise with motives, and some others just to elevate.
Others praise themselves in order to hide their low self-esteem.
The real praise dawns in a blossomed state of consciousness.
The praise that comes out of an elevated state of consciousness is simply its
nature and is quite different. Normally praise comes out of craving and pride.
The praise from a heightened consciousness is always out of fulfilment.
Praising can no doubt elevate the consciousness and bring enthusiasm and
energy. At the same time it can also bring arrogance. Praising is a skill.
When someone praises you, do you take it without shying away?
Accepting praise without shyness, is also a skill.
OCT 18
Knowledge Sheet:
Authenticity and Skillfulness!
Authenticity and skillfulness appear to be contradictory, but in fact they are
complementary. Your intentions need to be authentic and your actions need to be
skillful. The more authentic the intention, the more skillful the action will
be. Authentic intention and skillful action make you unshakable.
Skill is required only when authenticity cannot have its way. Yet skill without
authenticity makes you shallow. You cannot have an authentic action and a
skillful intention. If you try to be authentic in your action but manipulative
in your mind, that is when mistakes happen.
John: Is it possible to have a powerful intention, like greed, that is
authentic?
Sri Sri: If your intention is colored by greed, over-ambition, etc. then your
intention is not authentic. Whenever your intentions are impure, it pricks your
consciousness, so it cannot be authentic. Authentic intentions are free from
negative emotions. An action that is not skillful leads to negative emotions
and an intention that is not authentic harbors negative emotions.
Gayatri: If our intention is authentic and yet our actions are not skillful,
what should we do?
Sri Sri: Carry a handkerchief (laughter).
Question: What is the best skill to deal with intention?
Sri Sri: Do not keep any sankalpas (intentions) to yourself. Offer them to the
Divine.
Actions can never be perfect but our intentions can be perfect. Actions always
have room for improvement. Action means growth and movement, and that needs
space. The depth in you and the freedom in you bring out all the skillfulness
in you. Krishna was the most skillful because his silence was so deep.
OCT 18
The Way out of Suffering
"You all must have heard the story of how Lord Krishna lifted the huge
Mount Govardhana entirely on his little finger. The (prefix) ‘Go-’ means
knowledge, and knowledge is so vast, like a huge mountain. But one who has
blossomed in knowledge can lift even a huge mountain very easily and
effortlessly, using just his little finger. Can you lift anything with your little
finger? You cannot actually lift anything using the little finger, isn’t it?
But here, Lord Krishna lifted the entire Mount Govardhana using just his little
finger.
The word ¬Govardhana means that which enhances and augments our knowledge. So
when we stand in the enclosure of knowledge, we receive a protection, a shield
from the storm and the heavy rain (signifying misery and suffering). To shelter
yourself from the miseries of the world, you must come under the protection of
Mount Govardhana (knowledge), and by doing this you will continue to blossom,
and progress more and more in knowledge.
The word ‘Go’ has four different meanings: Jnana (knowledge), Gaman (travel),
Prapti (to receive) and Moksha (liberation). Gaman means to keep on moving
ahead in life and not look back at the past. Prapti means to reflect upon all
that you have received. When you look back at your life and reflect upon what
you have received, you will realize that you have received nothing other than
knowledge in your life (meaning: everything else received in life being
momentary or temporary).
When death comes before you, there will be only two questions to answer for
yourself: one is how much knowledge have you received, and second is how much
love have you given to everyone around you. That is all there is to the act of
giving and receiving in life. In receiving, you have to reflect on how much
knowledge have you received, and in giving you must see how much love have you
shared with everyone. When such knowledge increases in your life, then that is
what Prapti is.
So all four of these: Jnana, Gaman, Prapti and Moksha come to you when you are
under the protection of Govardhana, which the Lord lifted so simply with his
little finger.
When Lord Krishna lifted the mountain, all his other Gwalas (cowherd friends)
also stood with Him below the mountain and placed their bamboo sticks to lend
support to the mountain. They wanted to feel that they too are a part of this
and are contributing in some way. They too wanted to satisfy that sense of
doership in them.
The meaning from this is: we must not think since that God will do everything,
why should we make any efforts? No, you too should make your efforts and put in
your stick along with the others (contribute in upholding the mountain). God is
anyway doing everything, but does not mean that you do not do anything and
remain idle.
No, you too have to contribute your efforts and place your stick under the
mountain. So the deeper meaning here is that we must do our duty and what we need
to do. Instead of being idle and negligent, we must become proactive and
responsible. Doing this combines all the three together: Karma, Jnana and also
Bhakti (devotion).
How is that so? To save oneself from misery and suffering, one cries out to the
Lord for safety with a sense of love and faith, this is Bhakti. Placing your
own stick under the mountain (making one’s efforts or doing one’s duty) is
Karma Yoga. And knowing that the Lord is upholding everything and taking care
is Jnana. All three are important in life."
- Sri Sri
OCT 17
FACTS & FIGURES:
During the last three days of Navaratri annadaan the following quantity of
food
ingredients were used!
Rice - 8.1 tons,
dal - 5 tons, salt- 1 ton,
ghee- 1.5 tons,
jaggery- 5.1 tons,
vegetables - 63 tons
OCT 17
Where there is joy,
there cannot be ego...
"Where there is joy, there cannot be ego. A person who is full of joy will
never behave wrongly with anyone. Such a person will not go about hurting
people and create problems for others.
One who troubles others is actually suffering himself, and is hurt or wounded
in some way. Such people give misery and suffering to others around them. One
who has suffered injustice tries to do injustice with others and make them
suffer. A person who is happy and content will never trouble anyone else in
anyway. Such a person will never steal from others.
So knowledge, happiness and love are the greatest enemies of the ego. Lord
Krishna is the symbol of love and joy. How can the ego survive where there is
love? The ego is only scared of love, nothing else. That is because ego has to
bow down before love. No matter how great a person may be in the world, he has
to melt before the love of his own child. When the child falls sick, then no
matter how strong and brave the person may be, he melts out of love and concern
for the health of his own child. He naturally gets worried.
So love, happiness and naturalness are the greatest enemies of the ego. And
what does Lord Krishna represent? He is the symbol of happiness, joy and being
natural. He is the very source of bliss."
- Sri Sri
OCT 17
Knowledge Sheet:
Spiritual significance of Ramayan!
Ramayan is an epic story about King Dasharatha, who had three wives, but no
children. Along with his wife Kaushalya, he performed a yagya called
Ashwamedha, after which they got four sons.
Dasharatha means one who can run ten chariots at a time; You are Dasharatha;
Your body-mind complex is Dasharatha. The ten chariots are the five organs of
senses and the five organs of actions. The five organs of senses are eyes,
ears, nose, tongue, skin. The five organs of action or Karmendriya enable us to
interact with the material objects of the world; these organs are hands, feet,
organs of ingestion (mouth), organs of excretion (rectum) and organs of
reproduction (genitals).
Kaushalya means skill - A skill is required to be able to draw the mind away
from the Maya and establish it in the Self!
Ashwa means today; that which was not yesterday, not tomorrow, but
"Now....in this present moment", Ashwa also means horse. Our senses
are like horses that keep running in different directions.
Medha means purification;
Ashwamedha is when one’s mind and intellect is totally in the present moment
free from the anger and regret of the past and free from the anxieties and
fears of the future. By being in the present moment, purification happens. When
medha, your intellect is so deep in the present moment, nothing can shake it.
What can shake your intellect is only the past. If you can snap yourself out of
the past every moment, you are free, that is liberation. You are liberated
because you have snapped out of the past. This is purification.
Rama - The words "rays, radiance" come from the Sanskrit root word
Ra, which means to shine, to radiate, brilliant, light. Ma means within me; in
my heart. So, Rama means the light in my heart.
So, when Dasharatha and Kaushalya came together, and performed the Ashwamedha
yagya, Rama was born. When the mind-body complex uses some skill and gets into
the present moment, purifying the mind and the heart, then Rama, which means,
the light in our hearts is born. This is the spiritual significance of Sri
Rama’s birth.
Four things come out of you when Ashwamedha is done:
Rama, which means the light in our heart shines (Born of Kaushalya)
Lakshmana, means awareness, mindfulness (Born of Sumitra)
Bharata, means all talents (Born of Kaikeyi)
Shatrughna, means one who has no enemies (Born of Sumitra)
The first wife’s name is Kaushalya, which means skill. In Hindi, you say
‘Kushalatha’, meaning skillful.
The second wife’s name is Sumitra, which means good friend. There could be many
friends, but not all are good friends. Many times, friends drag you in the
wrong direction; take you in the wrong way. Sumitra is one who takes you in the
right direction.
The third wife’s name is Kaikeyi, one who sacrifices herself and brings
benevolence. Kaikeyi is one who stands by your side, although she appears
differently; but deep within, she does benevolence, with a cover. It is like a
doctor who gives you a bitter medicine, or a vaccination. As soon as the
children see him, they start yelling and crying, but the vaccination does good
to them. Similarly, Kaikeyi who apparently, outwardly, is not pleasant, but
inwardly, does that which is good for you.
So, these are the three wives of Dasharatha.
Ravana means the one who clouds or covers the "light within",hence
Ravana is also called the EGO. The 10 bad qualities, which are represented by
10 heads of Ravana that cover the spirit within are:
1. Kama vasana (Lust)
2. Krodha (Anger)
3. Moha (Attachment)
4. Lobha (Greed)
5. Mada (Over Pride)
6. Matsara (Jealousy)
7. Swartha (Selfishness)
8. Anyaaya (Injustice)
9. Amanavta (Cruelty)
10. Ahankara (Ego).
Ramayana is happening in your own body. Your soul is Rama, your mind is Sita,
your breath or life-force is Hanuman, your awareness is Laxmana and your ego is
Ravana.
When the mind (Sita) was stolen by Ravana (the ego) then the 10 bad qualities
start dominating and cause emotional pollution. This makes the soul (Rama)
restless. Now the soul cannot reach the mind on its own, it has to take the
help of the breath - the prana. With the help of the prana (Hanuman), the mind
(Sita) got reunited with the soul (Rama), and the ego (Ravana) vanished. This
is exactly what we do in Sudarshan Kriya This is the spiritual
significance of the story.
Story Time:
When Sri Rama was building the bridge to Sri Lanka, a lot of monkeys were
helping him build it. So the monkeys were picking up stones, writing on the
back of the stones Sri Rama and putting it in the water. When they put the
stones in the water, they would float. Again, this has a spiritual
significance. When the name of the Lord is with you, you will not sink in
society, you won't sink but you will float through the ocean of misery.
All the monkeys were writing Sri Rama, and all their stones were floating. When
Sri Rama saw this, he was so surprised. He thought, ‘What? These stones are
floating!’ He wanted to try it himself. So he took a stone, wrote Sri Rama and
put it in the water. The stone sank! Sri Rama was surprised.
One monkey was sitting there and watching, and he started laughing. Sri Rama
was a little embarrassed. The laughing monkey said to Sri Rama, ‘Those who you
throw away from your hands, how they will float? They will only sink!’ This is
to say that the devotees are so much more powerful than the Lord himself;
devotees can do so much more than the Lord himself.
OCT 16
The strength of a
relationship lies in its ability to accommodate rough patches. How well you
handle it gives you skills. See the situation as an opportunity to learn to
adapt, to be accommodating. Excel in exhibiting your character rather than
changing the other person.
Don't wait for someone
to bring you flowers. Plant your own garden and decorate your own soul.
OCT 16
Knowledge Sheet: DON'T
BE GRATEFUL!
Warning! Watch out! This Knowledge Sheet contains explosives! It can explode
your head or your heart. If it explodes your heart -- nothing is left! If it
explodes your head -- everything is attained!
Guruji: How many of you are grateful here? (Everybody raises their hand.) If
you are grateful, you don't belong to Me! (Everyone is shocked.) You are not
part of the Master. When someone gives you something, you are grateful.
That means you feel separate. You are not grateful to yourself.
Gratefulness is inevitable. When you go beyond gratefulness, then union
happens. No "I," no "you" remains. You are part of the
Master. You are just One Being with a thousand heads and a thousand arms, but
with one heart. You have got to be grateful on the path, but you have to
transcend gratefulness. Better stop being grateful. (Laughter.)
When you are grateful then you are the center, you are more important. When you
are grateful to God for having received something beautiful, for example,
eyesight, who is important? You or God? You! So your gratitude indicates ego.
Richard: But you are not grateful?
Guruji: I am simply great and I am full! (Laughter) Don't be grateful; just be
great -- and be full! (Laughter)
This Knowledge is very dangerous! When you are part of the Master, you have
every right to be happy. You have every right to Knowledge, happiness, and the
whole universe!
Angelika: Small children don? feel grateful as long as they feel one. They take
everything for granted.
Meike: You are not grateful to your own hand which feeds you.
Ananda: On one of the courses you said in the thanking process, "Now,
thank yourself for being here!" So you can thank yourself.
Guruji: if you wish, you can! This is true celebration: thanking yourself!
Balder: Could you say something about the relationship to friends and the
relationship to the Master?
Guruji: Your friends tie you to the world, to the matter. The Master ties you
to the Divine, to the spirit.
OCT 16 - Bawa
When you have a body and
you are stressed and angry, or sad and frustrated or feeling depressed, you
have a way of expressing it. You can shout, scream, hit, cry whatever and vent
out those negative feelings...
When you die, the physical body drops off, but you take your mind, memory and
intellect with you. Just imagine how it would be, if your mind has all that
turmoil but you don’t have a body to express it! You can’t cry, you can’t
shout or scream… Your worst nightmare is nothing compared to what you would
undergo if you committed suicide. It is said that suicides come back with
deformed bodies when they are reborn… That they are condemned to live through
circumstances far worse than they were in when they took their own lives.
Suicide is a karmical catastrophe.
Feeling suicidal just indicates lack of energy, low prana, and no wisdom. Doing
very regular Sadhana, lots of Yoga, attending Satsang will quickly snap you out
of it. A few advance courses will see to it that tons of energy is pumped back
into your system, and soon you will not even recognize the “other” person who
was feeling suicidal.
Suicide is the extreme form of depression which comes because you keep asking
What about me? With Knowledge, Meditation and Seva you can move through it and
start living and enjoying life once again…
We all die, whether it is through some disease or an accident, young or old,
death is certain… Life is fragile and this is all the more reason not to
postpone the important things in life… saying i love you, and thanks, doing as
many advance courses as you can, spending more time with the people you love…
Guruji is not here to save you from death… He is here to help you cope with
life, and He is here for your ultimate enlightenment… As far as He is
concerned, death is simply a longer sleep than usual… A cousin of mine was lost
at sea, missing presumed dead. When my mother asked Guruji about him, Guruji
became thoughtful and then gently said, he died, but he is already back!
Guruji is here to see to it that if and when you come back, you have a say in
it… When you are enlightened, you don’t have to come back… you CHOOSE to come
back and play with life… Guruji takes you beyond Karma…
Death is the ultimate adventure… but like all good things, you HAVE to wait for
it to happen, otherwise it becomes a tragedy and a calamity… Meditate, Breathe,
do Seva and quieten your mind… This will make you happy, peaceful and satisfied
in the Here and the Hereafter!
OCT 12
Knowledge Sheet:
Sadhana!
Q: Gurudev, it is said that sadhana gives desired results. If a demonic person
does sadhana, will he also get a boon?
Sri Sri: Yes, it has happened in the past. Ravana did so much penance. And
there were so many demons that became powerful by doing penance. But because of
their ego, they made some or the other mistake. That is why they were not
completely successful.
Q: Gurudev, sometimes I feel I am giving too much attention to the destination,
i.e., Moksha (liberation), and so I forget the journey, i.e., life. What to do?
Sri Sri: Just Relax! This is part of life. Life is love, energy, enthusiasm and
freedom. And freedom is Moksha. Moksha is not an end, at some place. Moksha is
throughout life, at various stages.
Moksha means relief, and relief from work is essential. Relief from non-work is
also essential. If you are simply sitting, lethargic and then you do something,
you feel happy. You feel the energy. So everything is there. Just Relax!
Q: Gurudev, I don’t understand Sanskrit since I am from outside India. Could we
have some session to understand Sanskrit better?
Sri Sri: You don’t need to understand much. In fact English language has got a
lot of Sanskrit in it. Even the names of months are in Sanskrit only. November,
December, January, all these months, the names are in Sanskrit (November – Nav
Ambar (ninth sky), December – Dash Ambar (tenth sky))
So there is no need to understand much! All that we need to do here is just
enjoy the vibes of the sound (mantras) and relax, and then meditation happens.
Of course, if you want to learn, then there are many opportunities to learn.
There are so many ways to learn. But basically even people who speak different
Indian languages, they don’t understand these Vedic hymns. Nobody understands
them. What is important is just its vibrations, the intonations, and how it is
chanted. That is what is most important.
But if you want to go scholarly into it, you are most welcome. You can go into
Google and get the meanings. But the meaning that you may find on Google are
very incomplete. That much you should bear in mind and then read it. It is not
totally correct but not totally wrong also.
Q: Gurudev, is getting a certain experience the goal of Sadhana? I haven’t got
any experience in my Sadhana till now. This keeps bothering me.
Sri Sri: No, never mind! It is the experience of going from the scenery to the
seer that is important. If experiences come, they come. If not, never mind!
Still it is okay. Experiences change all the time.
Oct 4
Amavasya (New Moon)
starts today. Next 10 days of Navratri are most auspicious days to meditate;
fruits of your meditation are 100 times enhanced.
Oct 4
Khurshed Batliwala
And so, Navaratri
begins... 9 nights of a different type of celebration. A celebration full of
meditation and silence... And of course the grand Poojas. A time to step out of
the worldly into the other worldly
This year in the ashram we will be reading a few stories from the Puranas will
be read. They are stories on the surface but have interesting deeper spiritual
interpretations. These stories are like riddles waiting to be solved. And it
will be up to all of us to think about it and figure out the deeper
meanings.
Q. Gurudev what are the 10 Maha vidyas?
A. Vidya is that which you get through effort. The knowledge that comes to you
when you are in deep meditation is called para Vidya or Maha Vidya. Avidya
(ignorance) is annihilated when Maha Vidya dawns.
Moksha is relief. And you need relief from work or even non work. Even when you
are doing nothing and get to do something you feel relieved. So Moksha happens
all the time. Just relax!
Once Sri Ram asks Hanuman, what is it like to be Hanuman?
Hanuman says when I feel I am the body, I am your servant. When I feel I am the
jeeva (individual consciousness), then I am a part of you and when I see myself
as the Soul... Then I am You!
Q. It's getting a certain experience the goal of Sadhana?
A. Going from the scenery to the seer is the point of Sadhana. Experiences can
come and go, don't bother about them. Relax more and more...
First evening of the Navaratri celebration at the Bangalore Ashram 2013
Oct 5
Khurshed Batliwala
Gurudev in silence is
such an awe inspiring experience... He floats in and out of Satsang. Here but
not really here. Sometimes I think His feet don't touch the ground... He is so
Graceful...
A field of some vast indefinable something surrounds Him and envelopes everyone
here...
The meditation is fantabulous, like I always say to everyone every year, if by
any chance you can come here to the Bangalore Ashram, do yourself a super big
favour and just come!
These few days of Navaratri, eat a little less than usual - more fruits and
stuff which is easy on the system and Meditate a lot more than usual.
These are precious days... A very very Happy Navaratri to everyone!
Jai Gurudeva!
Love
Bawa
Oct 5
Lord Vishala was in deep
rest and sleeping and from the wax of his ears, 2 demons were born Madhu and
Kaitaba who basically started making a nuisance of themselves attacking this,
pillaging that, etc
They even attacked Lord Brahma who then went to Lord Vishnu and asked Him to
sort them out saying they came from your ears.
Lord Vishnu fought with the 2 of them for 5000 years. But couldn't defeat
them.
So He prayed to the Mother Divine and asked for Her help to vanquish these
trouble makers. She helps Lord Vishnu finally defeat the terrible two by taking
them under water.
Nice story Happy Ending and all that.
But there are deeper meanings. What kind of interpretation can you make out of
it? What does it mean that the 2 demons were born out of the wax in Lord
Vishnu's ears? Why couldn't He defeat them? Why did He need to go to the Devi?
And what's with the water?
Put on your thinking caps and write out your own interpretations to the riddle
of Madhu and Kaitaba!
Oct 6
The answer to last
night's riddle from Gurudev
Madhu = craving, Kaitaba = aversion. Both are born out of hearing about it. And
both our craving and aversion, the more you fight them, the stronger they
become.
The only way out is going to spirituality, Knowledge (Mother Divine) ... And
water signifies love. The sanskrit word apah is the same for love and
water!
So to win over craving and aversion you need spirituality and Knowledge coupled
with love.
Oct 6
Bramhacharya: Bramha is
infinity, charya means moving in... So Bramhacharya means moving in our true
nature, exploring the infinite aspect of ourself. This brings great strength to
us. Realizing that we are a globe of Light... And being in this world as if we
are part of the vast infinite sky.
The 2nd day of Navaratri almost over... These precious days go soooo fast.
Today got a super hit of tamas. Waves of lethargy washed over me... But I had a
few course sessions planned so had to go and amazingly once I started taking
the tamas dissolved like dew in the hot morning sun... The eternal fight
between commitment and feeling - You always win over anything when you follow
the commitment!
Jai Gurudeva!
Love
Bawa
OCT 6
Today's riddle is the
story of Mahishasura, another demon.
Mahishasura was an extreme trouble maker the product of Rambha a demon and a
buffalo.
Strangely he was also pious and did many Poojas to gain favour of Bramha. When
Lord Bramha appeared to him, he asked for immortality. Bramha said that's
impossible, one who is born has to die. So Mahishasura asked that no human, no
asura (demon) and no deva (God) could kill him. Only a woman could slay
him.
He is so powerful that he overtakes all the portfolios of all the Gods through
this boon that he manages to get from Bramha.
He even displaces Indra the King of heaven and the entire creation wept in
desperation.
When this happens a war council of the Gods convenes and radiant energy from
each of them effulgent and brilliant emanates and when all these wonderful
energies meet, they create the Divine Mother as Durga. Supremely powerful,
enchantingly beautiful, exquisite and armed with the weapons of all the
assembly of Gods.
She is riding a Lion and she roars her challenge to Mahishasura. The entire
creation shakes and a wave of fear overtakes Mahishasura for a few moments.
He sends entire armies to fight her, thousands of soldiers, elephants, vehicles
of war... This is described is vivid detail in the story. She effortlessly,
almost laughingly exterminated them.
Finally Mahishasura comes to face Her and after a dramatic battle full of very
expensive special effects she kills him. Bramha's boon is realized. A woman
finishes him off.
Peace, prosperity, goodness, wonder are restored to the entire Creation as all
the Gods sing The Devi's praises and exalt Her.
So what's the hidden meaning behind this very dramatic story?
Kapil who is here says the moral of the story is Don't mess with a woman on a
Lion! J
Jai Gurudeva!
Love
Bawa
OCT 7
The answer to last
night's riddle from Gurudev
Mahishasura is lethargy,
dullness, inertia. And when Inertia takes over us it overshadows (Mahishasura
taking over all the God's portfolios) all our good qualities. And to fight this
demon buffalo, all skills, all ideas are required... This is the Mother Divine.
The army of Mahishasura is all the reasons why dullness comes to us in the
first place... For example bad company, intoxicants, wrong food etc. This can
be defeated only thru the strength of the Mother Divine.
OCT 7
The riddle of the Mother
Divine exterminating 5 Demons.
Shumbha, Nishumbha were very powerful demons with a big army with 3 super
generals...
Dhumralochan, the one with eyes of smoke...
Chanda, a demon with only a head
Munda, a demon with only a body.
The Devi killed them off one by one.
Dhumralochan she reduced to Ashes simply by saying hmmmmmhh!
Chanda and Munda were killed by a subtle lasso of Light.
Then a firce battle ensues where Shumbha and Nishumbha and the rest of their
demon armies are also vanquished...
Peace, happiness are restored to the Creation.
This whole process is called a Maha Yagya... A grand fire ceremony like the one
that will happen in the ashram starting in a day or 2.
What symbolism can you breathe into the characteristics of the 3 demon
generals?
Who are Shumbha and Nishumbha?
And why is the war called a Maha Yagya?
Jai Gurudeva!
Love
Bawa
OCT 8
The answer to last
night's riddle from Gurudev
Dhumralochan = one who
is not clear, full of confusion, Lord of wrong ligic... Hmmmmmhh is the ego
busting process which brings clarity (do an art of living course to experience
this)
Chanda argumentative mind, one who keeps thinking and does nothing. Says no to
everything you say... Impossible to communicate with.
Munda is the one with just the body, no head... Means one who cannot
understand anything. The person trying to explain something to him is
doing an exercise in frustration.
The Devi kills them with the lasso of Light. Meaning with the power of deep,
yet subtle Knowledge.
These 2 demons can only be vanquished like this.
Shumbha and Nishumbha are ones who doubts oneself and others
respectively.
Am I Good enough? Did I meditate? Would I be able to do this? Is Shumbha.
Does he/she love me? Why are they praising me? What's in it for you? Is
Nishumbha.
These demons are not outside, they come now and then right inside us. And when
they are there, so much negativity happens in our own minds and in our
environment.
The great fight is about generating faith in ourselves and the world around us.
This brings such peace and joy both within us and around us. That is why this
fight is called the grand Yagya. Yagya is that which purifies and brings peace,
love and joy.
OCT 8
Devi Bhuvaneshwari = She
is that energy that transcends matter, yet is present in every particle of
creation.
Bhuvana is that energy by which we experience the universe around us. But
staying so much entangled in the world outside tires us. Praying to
Bhuvaneshwari elevates us.
Bhuvaneshwari is the one who rules the creation.
OCT 8
The Devi and the Demon
Raktabeej
An extremely sinister demon Was Raktabeejasur. Of course he was a malignant
demon but with a super power. Every drop of blood of his spilled on the ground
would spawn another Raktabeejasur as powerful as the first one... Making him
quite impossible to kill.
The Devi of course was one up on this, she simply made her tongue huge and
drank his blood before it hit the ground and killed him.
Now go ahead and interpret!
OCT 9
The answer to last
night's riddle from Gurudev
Raktabeejasur is the
deepest of impressions present in us. Stuff that's so enmeshed in our systems
that we have no control whatsoever... Stuff that's hard wired into our
DNA.
So how to defeat this demon? Through Sadhana, Sudarshan Kriya, Shakti Kriya...
In fact there is a research going on in Oslo which seems to indicate that doing
Kriya brings about a change even in the DNA.
The blood of the asura is like negativity which spreads virally. However for
negativity to spread, there needs to be some base. The Devi drinking the blood,
not allowing it to fall on the ground signifies not giving the negativity a
absence to spread.
Jai Gurudeva!
Love
Bawa
OCT 8
Trivia; The Devi kills
Chanda and Munda and so she is also called Chamundeshwari... One who is
victorious over these 2.
She slays them at the Chamundi hills (close to Mysore) which are about 2 hours
away from the Bangalore Ashram... And then she rests at the Panchagiri hills
where all the Gods sing her praises.
And Panchagiri hills is exactly where the Bangalore Art of Living ashram is!
Infact in the beginning our ashram was called Panchagiri ashram...
Jai Gurudeva!
Love
Bawa
OCT 9
The utterly magical
moment when Gurudev comes out of Silence... People who have not experienced
this are really missing something in life. I have been on so many Navaratri
celebration... From the time when there were hardly a 100 people present for
the 9 days till now when there are thousands upon thousands here.
And this moment always brings a fountain of gratitude in my heart and tears of
joy in my eyes...
Jai Gurudeva!
Love
Bawa
Oct 9
Today's story was about
how benevolent and generous the Devi is fulfilling all desires asked by her
devotees... During this precious time of Navaratri, all can ask the Devi
whatever their heart desires...
Gurudev always says that we all ask for BIG things... Love, peace, wonder,
beauty for all in the world (along with whatever we wish for ourselves)
Oct 10
Beautiful day, blessed
evenings... The grand Poojas have started...
Everyone be happy, wish all the best for everyone and everything
Jai Gurudeva!
Love
Bawa
Oct 11
Among the many offerings
made to the Mother Divine during Navratri are music and dance performances as
well. Sri Sri played the veena today at the end of Maha Sudarshan Homa.
Oct 12
The closer you go to the
Divine, the more you have joy, peace, love, enthusiasm, wonder and that indescribable
feeling, one that cannot be put into words in your life.
Let everyone get a glimpse of this blissful joy that we are experiencing.
These yagyas that we do in this way (the correct rites and rituals as
prescribed in the ancient texts, done in a meditative atmosphere in the
presence of the Satguru) does exactly that - brings us closer to the
Divine.
Let us feel gratitude for all the Rishis and sages who through time immemorial
have preserved this ancient Knowledge for the benefit of all mankind.
Know that all you wish for will come to you in its own time - you simply need
to feel grateful and be happy.
Oct 13
People with contentment
usually do not act. It is easy to act out of frustration. The real skill is to
be contented and still act. From the silence and stillness of Navratri, it is
time to act now. Today is the day to feel blessed to be an instrument to do
good in society. Happy Dussehra! - - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Oct 16
Body has its cycles, the
consciousness not getting involved in them is a real skill.
Q. Why do we offer ghee in the Yagya fire?
A. Different kind of engines. Some require petrol, some require diesel... The
Yagya fire is tuned for ghee!
What is the role of a spiritual Master in politics?
When things go wrong, then it's a spiritual leader's obligation to take a stand
and act to bring things back to normalcy. This He does without any desire for
Himself to gain anything and without entering into politics.
(Everyone reading this, whichever country you are from in the world, if you are
eligible, get yourself a voter registration and id and when it's time to vote,
please go and vote and take active part in the democratic process... If you are
lucky enough to live in a democracy)
Jai Gurudeva!
Love
Bawa
Yet another navaratri is over... The fire in the Yagya shala is still smoking,
still sending blessings to all of creation... I am full of gratitude that I was
privileged to attend this magnificent benevolent celebration and as I write
this I have goose bumps and moist eyes...
A very Happy Dusherra to everyone!
Navratri Celebrations
2013: Day 1
Today we will be
starting the celebrations with the ancient tradition of Rudrabhisheka, where we
worship Shiva in the form of Lord Rudra. During Abhisheka the incessant stream
of water pouring through the chanting creates a Divine atmosphere to take us
inwards. So while the pundits are chanting we just relax and soak in these
vibrations. — at Art
of Living International Ashram.
05.10.13
The story of the demons Madhu and Kaitab was narrated (from Devi Bhagavatam).
The audience was asked to figure out the meaning behind the story,
specifically:
1. Who are Madhu and Kaitab (Who or what do they represent)?
2.What is significant about the fact that they were formed from the dirt (wax)
in Sri Vishnu's ears?
3.Why was Bhagavan Vishnu unable to overcome them? Why did he who was all
powerful need the assistance of Devi Duga in Conquering them?
4.What is the significance of Devi destroying them under water?
This is an unusual riddle that requires depth of thought. So, post in your
replies...
06.10.13
The nights of Navaratri are like the nine (“nava”) months in the womb of the
mother. “Night” is also called “ratri” because it gives rest and brings
rejuvenation. It is a time to go inward, to go back to the Source.
06.10.13
The Celebrations during Navratri honor and worship the Divine Mother, the
guardian force of this creation. We are all floating in the effulgence of a
scintillating, unseen, vibrant cosmic energy of the Divine Mother or the
Devi.
Pic: Special Navratri AMC participants make their way to Annapurna Hall for
lunch.
06.10.13
Today's puja and satsang in the presence of Gurudev at Yagyashala at 6.30 pm.
06.10.13
Shlokas from the fifth chapter of Durga Saptashathi are distributed among the
audience, so that everyone can participate in the singing of these beautiful
shlokas that praise the Divine Mother's qualities. This is to be sung every
evening.
07.10.13
During
Navratri the seeker gets back to the true Source through fasting, prayer,
silence and meditation. While fasting detoxifies the body, silence purifies the
speech and brings rest to the chattering mind, and meditation takes one deep
into one's own being.
Navratri Celebrations
2013: Day 2 - 06.10.13
In
last evening's satsang (06.10.13) the story of Mahishasura Mardini was narrated
from Devi Bhagavatam. Here are questions the story churns up for us:
1.What is the significance of Mahishasura as a buffalo?
2.He's so powerful that he begins to overrule even the Gods - even the great
Trinity (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) could not conquer him and finally the Devi
had to be approached for help, what can we understand by this?
4. First Devi had to conquer his vast armies, only then could she finally
conquer him. How do you decipher this?
Once again we look forward to to your answers! So please post!
INTERPRETATION
OF STORY:
Yesterday we heard the story of How Devi slayed demon Mahishasura. We've
received over 1,100 responses from people all over! This is how Gurudev
explains the subtle meaning:
Mahishasura represents dullness, inertia and is thick skinned like a buffalo.
When tamas (inertia) reigns it overshadows all +ve qualities.Only Devi Shakti
can destroy this tamo guna. We need every tool in our tool-kit, akin to Devi's
weapons, to overcome inertia - the tools of Sudarshan kriya, pranayama, yoga,
meditation, wise company, right food, seva and satsang! The inertia developed
from association with bad tendencies (like the vast armies of demons) like
wrong company, alcohol, intoxicants, etc. When tamas is destroyed we are filled
with the enthusiasm and joy of the victorious Devi Durga who resides in us!
Ma
Durga appears in 9 forms or Nava Durgas, each form adored on each of the days -
worshipping her 9 forms acts as a shield to ward off negativities. The first
day she is worshipped as Shailputri. “Shaila” means “stone”, “putri” means
“daughter”. Praying to her brings strength like a stone. It brings commitment,
courage, and composure. Chanting her name centers the wavering mind and makes
it steadfast. She is associated with the Mooladhara chakra.
On the second day she is worshipped as Brahmacharini. Brahmacharya is celibacy.
Brahmacharya has another meaning as well. “Brahma” means “infinity” and
“charya” means “moving” – Brahmacharya means “moving in infinity.” Knowing your
vast nature, not thinking that you are just the body; you move in the world as
though you are space. The more joyful you are the less you feel the body. The
more you are in the infinite consciousness the less you feel the tension or the
physical weight of the person – that is “Brahmacharya”. This aspect of the
Mother Divine is present in the Svadhisthana Chakra.
Today, the Divine Mother is worshipped in the form of third Navadurga - Chandra
Ghanta. This form of Devi is depicted as wearing a bell-like ornament in the
shape of the moon. The moon is connected the mind and the Ghanta or the bell is
an instrument connected with alertness. The ringing of the bell brings the mind
to the present moment. Just as the moon waxes and wanes the mind also wavers.
Chanting the name of this Devi the mind is in our control with alertness.
Art of Living International Ashram
TODAY'S PROGRAM: 5.45 pm - Devi stuti chanting;
6pm - Lalita Sahasranam chanting; 6.30 pm - Rudram followed by satsang. This
schedule will continue till 9th October 2013.
This is the DEVI STUTI (for you to sing along!):
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Vishnu Mayeti Shabdita |
Namastastyai Namastastyai Namastastyai Namo Namaha ||
To that goddess who in all beings is called Visnumaya,
Salutations to thee, again and again.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Chetanetyabhidhiyate |
Namastastyai Namastastyai Namastastyai Namo Namaha ||
To that goddess who in all beings is Consciousness,
Salutations to thee, again and again.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Buddhirupenasamsthita |
Namastastyai Namastastyai Namastastyai Namo Namaha ||
To that goddess who in all beings is Intelligence,
Salutations to thee, again and again.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Nidrarupenasamsthita |
Namastastyai Namastastyai Namastastyai Namo Namaha ||
To that goddess who in all beings is Sleep,
Salutations to thee, again and again.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Kshudhaarupenasamsthita |
Namastastyai Namastastyai Namastastyai Namo Namaha ||
To that goddess who in all beings is Hunger,
Salutations to thee, again and again.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Chhayarupenasamsthita |
Namastastyai Namastastyai Namastastyai Namo Namaha ||
To that goddess who in all beings is Reflection,
Salutations to thee, again and again.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Shaktirupenasamsthita |
Namastastyai Namastastyai Namastastyai Namo Namaha ||
To that goddess who in all beings is Power,
Salutations to thee, again and again.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Trushnarupenasamsthita |
Namastastyai Namastastyai Namastastyai Namo Namaha ||
To that goddess who in all beings is Thirst,
Salutations to thee, again and again.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Kshaantirupenasamsthita |
Namastastyai Namastastyai Namastastyai Namo Namaha ||
To that goddess who in all beings is Forgiveness,
Salutations to thee, again and again.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Lajjaarupenasamstitha |
Namastastyai Namastastyai Namastastyai Namo Namaha ||
To that goddess who in all beings is Modesty,
Salutations to thee, again and again.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Shantirupenasamstitha |
Namastastyai Namastastyai Namastastyai Namo Namaha ||
To that goddess who in all beings is Peace,
Salutations to thee, again and again.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Shraddharupenasamsthita |
Namastastyai Namastastyai Namastastyai Namo Namaha ||
To that goddess who in all beings is Faith,
Salutations to thee, again and again.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Kantirupenasamsthita |
Namastastyai Namastastyai Namastastyai Namo Namaha ||
To that goddess who in all beings is Forgiveness,
Salutations to thee, again and again.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Lakshmirupenasamsthita |
Namastastyai Namastastyai Namastastyai Namo Namaha ||
To that goddess who in all beings is Good Fortune,
Salutations to thee, again and again.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Vrittirupenasamsthita |
Namastastyai Namastastyai Namastastyai Namo Namaha ||
To that goddess who in all beings is Activity,
Salutations to thee, again and again.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Smritirupenasamsthita |
Namastastyai Namastastyai Namastastyai Namo Namaha ||
To that goddess who in all beings is Memory,
Salutations to thee, again and again.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Dayarupenasamsthita |
Namastastyai Namastastyai Namastastyai Namo Namaha ||
To that goddess who in all beings is Compassion,
Salutations to thee, again and again.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Tushtirupenasamsthita |
Namastastyai Namastastyai Namastastyai Namo Namaha ||
To that goddess who in all beings is Contentment,
Salutations to thee, again and again.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Matrurupenasamsthita |
Namastastyai Namastastyai Namastastyai Namo Namaha ||
To that goddess who in all beings is Mother,
Salutations to thee, again and again.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Bhrantirupenasamsthita |
Namastastyai Namastastyai Namastastyai Namo Namaha ||
To that goddess who in all beings is Doubt,
Salutations to thee, again and again.
STORY OF SHUMBHA AND NISHUMBHA:
Today's story goes like this...
Shumbha and Nishumbha were two powerful asura (demon) brothers who defeated the
devas (Gods) and starting ruling the three worlds. Dhumralochana (the
smoky-eyed one, with a blurred vision), Chanda and Munda served in their army
as their chiefs. Chanda would oppose everything that was said to him and Munda
was a headless demon. In the fierce battle between the Devi (Goddess) and their
armies, Goddess Kali simply grunted "Hmm!" and reduced Dhumralochana
to ashes and subdued Chanda and Munda with her subtle paasha or noose of light.
Having sacrificed Chanda and Munda in this battle that was a maha yagna, she
came to be known as Chamundi. Finally, Shumbha and Nishumbha were also
liberated in the hands of the Devi who severed their heads and limbs. Once
again, Dharma was restored and peace and harmony reigned over the three worlds.
Questions to ponder over:
1.What does Dhumralocana represent and why was he destroyed by the Devi
grunting "Hmm"?
2.What do Chanda and Munda represent?
3.Why were they subdued with a noose of light?
4. What do Shumbha and Nishumbha represent?
5. Why was this battle called a mahayagna (great sacrifice)?
Gurudev’s Interpretation of the above story –
The Asura Kings: "Shumbha" means
doubting oneself and "Nishumbha" means doubting others. These asura
brothers represent doubt at every step. When the mind is clogged with doubt
about one self or others, neither peace nor progress is possible.
Their Army Chiefs: Chanda means opposing head. Chanda will oppose anything you
say. He represents argumentative people. "Munda" does not have a head
at all, so it is of no use telling such people anything at all. There is no
reasoning power – wrong logic and perception prevail. The noose of light
represents wisdom. True knowledge also purifies like fire along with
establishing the mind in the light of the Self. True knowledge has irrefutable
special logic that you can't oppose or reason. It simply uplifts.
"Dhumralochana": "Dhumra" means smoke and
"lochana" means eyes – smoky eyes, with blurred vision. There is no
clarity of perception. This happens as we accumulate stresses. Saying
"hmm" dissolves barriers in the mind. Breathing techniques, sudarshan
kriya free us from stresses and allow us to see things as they are.
Negative forces come up only due to lack of Shakti. When you are full of energy
and enthusiasm none of these asuras (demons) can come in you. This battle is a
maha yagna because it is the great purifier.
Art of
Living International Ashram October 8
“Namastestu
Mahaamaaye Shreepeete Surapoojite
Shankha Chakra Gadaa Haste Mahaalakshmi Namostu Te.”
Meaning: "O Mahaamaaya, abode of fortune, worshipped by the Gods, I salute
Thee. O Mahaalakshmi, one who has conch, disc and mace in Her hands, obeisance
to Thee."
Everything in this Creation is made up of the three gunas or qualities: Sattva,
Rajas and Tamas. The first three days of Navratri are attributed to Tamo guna
when the devi is honored in the form of Maha Durga. We have now entered the
phase of Rajo guna (8th - 10th Oct), during which Ma Lakshmi is venerated. The
last three days (11th - 13th Oct) are attributed to Sattva guna in which the
Devi is honored in the form of Maha Saraswati – The Goddess of Wisdom.
The Lotus is associated with Goddess Lakshmi. The red or pink in it represents
Rajoguna, the functional aspect, and the white represents Satoguna, the purity
aspect. In other words, this symbolizes progress in both mundane and spiritual
walks of life side by side.
Art of
Living International Ashram October 8
"True
freedom is not an "I don't care attitude. It is lightness from within, a
genuine smile and lack of stiffness. Such freedom will not being
arrogance." - Sri Sri
Pic: Little Soham plays and smiles and giggles away while his parents enjoy a
meal at Cafe Vishala.
Art of
Living International Ashram October 8
Knowledge
shared at satsang:
Kushmanda: Manifesting the Creative Power of Nature
Today is the day to honour the Mother Divine in the form of Kushmanda, the
fourth Navadurga. “Kushmanda” means pumpkin. A pumpkin has so many seeds and
each seed contains the potential for so many more pumpkins. This is
representative of the creative power and its eternal nature. The whole Creation
is like a pumpkin. As Kushmanda, the Devi contains the entire Creation within
her. She is the Devi who can give you the highest “prana.”
Bhuvaneshwari
The fourth Mahavidya aspect of Devi that is honoured during Navratri is
Bhuvaneswari. Iswari is the one who 'rules'. Bhuvaneswari is the one who has
lordship over the whole world. She is the energy that transcends matter yet is
present in every particle of creation. The world is made up of the five
elements : Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Space. The energy that we experiences
through the five senses in this world is Bhuvana. It is so tangible, yet
infinite. When we are constantly dealing with matter, it drains our energy.
Association with Bhuvana energy elevates and refines the quality of our
consciousness.
Art of
Living International Ashram October 9
DEVI BHAGAVATAM: Story
from last evening's satsang (8th Oct)
Raktabija was an asura
demon who believed he was invincible and came to battle the Devi and her army
of Shaktis (energies). He did not believe that beauty and valor could be
together and refused to acknowledge the power of the Divine mother. Rakta means
blood and bija is seed. From every drop of blood spilled, one more Raktabija
would emerge. Soon there were thousands of Raktabijas in the battlefield. To
end this proliferation once and for all, the devi chamundi drank every drop of
blood before it touched the earth as the various Shaktis attacked him. Finally
Raktabija himself was destroyed and it became clear that the divine power is
the only invincible force in this creation.
Some things to ponder over...
1. What does Raktabija signify?
2. How can we be free of a negative force like Raktabija
GURUDEV’S
INTERPRETATION OF STORY TOLD ON 08.10.13:
Raktabijasura - is like gene in blood. Sometimes your behaviour is not in your
control, it’s in your genes. Sudarshan Kriya and Meditation are required to
tackle Raktabijasura. When such energy comes to us, transformation happens, the
gene changes.
A field has to be there for something to flourish. Don't provide a base for the
tendency to act. Instead go into silence or use mantras and awareness to
overcome wrong tendencies.
Pic:
After 5 days Gurudev broke his silence, looked at everybody, waved, said
"Jai Gurudev" and asked "Are you all happy?"
On the 5th day of NAVARATRI we honor two aspects of Devi:
SKANDAMATA, THE 5th form of NAVADURGA:
Skandamata is the mother of Skanda or Subramanya. She is depicted as riding a
lion with the baby Skanda on her lap. This signifies courage and compassion.
Skanda is the skillful one. Often with skill arrogance comes. But here the
skill is combined with a humility that nurtures innocence.
CHINNAMASTA, THE 5th form of MAHAVIDYA:
Chinna means 'severed' and masta is head. The severed head is a symbol of
complete ego-lessness. Pure unconditional love is
Chinnamasta. She is the pure field of energy where ego cannot reach. She is
depicted as holding her head in her hand signifying that the ego is in control.
She cuts asunder the ego and establishes us in the space of love, naturalness
and harmony. She is dancing over kama (desire) and rati (feverishness). Having
a say over our desires is a blessing of Chinnamasta.
DEVI
BHAGAVATAM : Last Evening’s (09.10.13) Story
The Devi Mahatmya begins with king Suratha who has lost his kingdom meeting
Samadhi - a vaishya (businessman) who has been driven out of his home by his
family. They meet and together approach Rishi Sumedha (literally means ‘proper
intellect’) who tells them story of the Devi and her conquest of the asuras.
Hearing this both Suratha and Samadhi pray to the Devi and she appears to them
as the Devi Chandika and asks them to choose their boons.
Both hear the same story yet the king saw the Devi vanquishing the asuras. He
saw that the people who had usurped his kingdom had done an evil act. So he was
inspired to pray to the Devi for justice. He asks to become ruler not only in
this birth but also in the next. The Devi blesses him to become the Manu (Law
maker) in the next manvantara - Manu Savarni.
Samadhi is a businessman. Yet his name suggests otherwise. Being in the
material, his sights are firmly on the spiritual. All it takes is a little push
for Samadhi to come searching for truth. Realising that the negative forces are
within, he seeks pure wisdom and devotion which is the highest wealth. The Devi
is pleased and grants his wish too and the vaishya is enlightened.
The Devi is like a wish fulfilling tree. It is up to us what we seek.
In this puja, in the most auspicious presence of our beloved Master, it is time
for us to dive deep, experience victory over any negative forces in our mind
and soak and rejoice in his love and wisdom.
SIGNIFICANCE
OF TODAY'S HOMA & PROGRAM:
The celebrations at the Art of Living Navratri are marked by a series of yagnas
and homas to nullify all the misery, sorrow and pain, provide solace and bring
in peace throughout the world.
They are also meant to protect the environment, by instilling honor and
reverence for Mother Earth. Scientifically, the Homas have proven to purify the
atmosphere, casting a healing effect on the mind and the body.
Gurudev says it is enough to simply bathe in the healing sound of the
chantings, knowing the literal meaning of the mantras is not required, as the
mantras have a profound effect that goes beyond words.
All are Welcome to attend ALL Pujas, Yagnas, Satsangs and have prasad. In
gratitude, you may also participate by taking a Sankalpa in the Yagnas.
Sri Maha Ganapathi Homa: The rituals begin with an offering to Ganesha, the
Lord of Auspiciousness. Ganapathi Homa is symbolic of removing the obstacles
before initiating any new venture.
Date: Thursday, 10th Oct, Puja Time: 8.30 am, (Sankalpa timing: 7.30 am),
Venue: Yagyashala
Sri Navgraha Homa: Performed to propitiate Nine Planets, which influence
various spheres of life. It nullifies the negative impact created by the Nav
Grahas or Nine Planets.
Date: Thursday, 10th Oct, Puja Time: 9 am, (Sankalpa timing: 8 am), Venue:
Yagyashala
Navratri Celebrations
2013: Day 6
Capturing
today's Sri Maha Ganapathy Homam, Sri Subrahmanya & Navagraha Homam and
celebrations of the day at Art of Living International Ashram, Bangalore.
The whole universe is nothing but groups of atoms, groups of qualities, of
energy. Gana means group and a group cannot exist without a Lord.
Today
the Navdurga Kathyayini is honoured Kathyayini represents the nurturing aspect
of the Divine Mother. She embodies the values of sharing and caring. Young
girls pray to Devi Kathyayini for good husbands. Marriage comes with a sense of
security, commitment, togetherness,, team spirit and belongingness. She
signifies the finer qualities of being in a relationship. The ultimate
relationship is the Union with the Self.
6th of Mahavidya's is Tripurabhairavi: She is the brilliant energy that dispels
and protects us from negativities in all the 3 states of consciousness. She is
depicted with fire all around her. Fire is a purifier. Her energy purifies us
from within and outside. She is the light of the knowledge that dispels
ignorance and darkness from our lives.
Program
Schedule for 11-10-13
Sri Maha Rudra Homa: Rudra is the manifestation of Lord Shiva. It is one of the
most ancient Homas from the text of Vedas. It is done for overall prosperity,
health, happiness and removal of obstructions.
11.10.13: Sri Maha Rudra Homa starts: 9am at Yagnashala, (Sankalpa at 8.30 am)
Sri Maha Sudarshan Homa: Offered to Lord Narayana, it signifies the removal of
ignorance and illumination of a new life enriched with knowledge. Sudarshan
signifies the discus of Lord Narayana. It is supposed to be the infallible weapon
of Lord Narayana. It bestows clarity and helps remove blocks in the mind. His
HolinessSri Sri Ravi Shankar has blessed us with the Sudarshan Kriya.
11.10.13: Sudarshan Homa
starts: 5pm at Yagnashala
LIVE WEBCAST 11th October puja at 9am
Register on www.artofliving.org/navratri-webcast
LIVE TELECAST of 12th
October Puja at 10am on Shraddha Channel
Today
we have entered the 3rd and concluding phase of Navaratri (11th - 13th Oct) and
have have entered the phase of sattva of purity, in which the Devi is honored
in the form of Maha Saraswati – The Goddess of Wisdom.
The 7th day of Navaratri is dedicated to the 7th Navadurga - Navadurga
Kaalarathri : Rathri means rest, deep rest, absolute rest. Without rest, how
can you be bright. Kaalarathri represents the deepest rest so that you can
attain dynamism.
The 7th of Mahavidya's is Dhumavati : Dhuma means smoke. Smoke is an indication
of fire. However, when the fire burns, the smoke is gone. She represents the
ignorance veiling the knowledge. She is the mature, elderly force representing
the unified field where maya and ignorance cannot reach. She brings us to the
path of dispassion.
She wears white - the colour of dispassion - which contains all the other 7
colours - representing the aspect of celebration with dispassion. When there is
dispassion, life is full of celebration, like a harmonious song, and this is
the essence of spirituality. This is the meaning of the presence of the guru
tattva in our life - a life full of celebration.
Saturday, 12th October
2013: SRI SHATHA CHANDI HOMA
Sankalpa: 8:30 am; Puja: 9 am
Venue: Yagyashala
WATCH THE LIVE TELECAST ON SHRADDHA CHANNEL: 10 am Onwards.
We are all participating
today in the Shat Chandi Homa. It is the doorway that enables us to experience
new dimensions of the Unseen, that takes us from the gross to the subtle, that
opens new doors to the subtle world.
Beautiful!
This is a type of Kirlian Photography?
Couple
scientist from Kerala made a presentation today in ashram during Satsang about
the aura reading they did of our Guruji this Navratri and found that the halo
was so golden and divine as we see in the artistry pictures of gods like
Krishna, Jesus, Buddha... They also took the photography of change in energy
when Master would arrive between us during Navratri. The dark and vibrant colors
(signifying stress and negative energies) in Yagyashala suddenly turned in to
pleasant green (signifying bliss) and this was not just limited till Yagyashala
or to a person but every single sitting there and much far beyond. Also they
took series of photographs during Rishi Homa when we welcome 11 Rishis, they
found that all the Rishis when invoked did came with a different energy from
above and merged into the Kalash and while leaving she could predict they
blessing us in abundance as an halo of energy. They also did research on the
Aura of "Shakti Drops" and "Ojastiva" and halo was kind of
a same of our Guruji and they measured wavelength of aura through "aura
gun", they found that after taking "Shakti Drops" and "Ojasvita"
the aura of person increases by 50% P.S. : Shakti Drops are scientifically
proven to be the best for any disease even it can reduces the cancerous cells
much effectively than chemotherapy. In the end she mentioned "if anyone
still has a doubt if HE is divine this should clear their logical mind" :)
Although she was new to Art of Living and Guruji her tone in her voice was
clearly revealing her madness about our Master :) She added she was so excited
that she couldn't sleep for 2 days after seeing this. Kudos to the couple.
Wonderful job :)
OCT 14
Guruji’s
Message on Vijayadashami - शांतिरस्तु , पुष्टिरस्तु
, तुष्टिरस्तु - Peace,
Prosperity and Happiness
OCT 14
Be
happy. This is a blessing and an order.
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Once we brought two Swamis (recluse monks) from India. We took them to Disneyland. I wanted them to experience the world, have some fun. The first ride was ‘splash mount’ roller coaster and that really scared them. They came out and said, “Guruji, all our Vedanta went back to India.
We keep saying everything is maya but we were so scared” They accepted it with such innocence. It is easy to say everything is maya when we sit somewhere comfortably. But when we are failing from such height! “My heart was beating so fast. All the scriptures we studied ran away to Bangalore. We were left shaking.” And they were laughing.
Body-mind complex can go through all these. They said, “Guruji, it is so scary.” When they saw the next ride, they went off in the other direction. “No no, no more rides, we just want to walk.” We had to convince them that ‘small world’ ride was good (laugh)
- Sri Sri
(An excerpt from Kathopanishad)
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There are three levels of spiritual practices.
This is something I have not spoken about before.
The first one is called Anva Upaya. The second is Shakta Upaya, . and the third one is Shambava Upaya. .
Shiva, Shakti and Anva. All practices in the world can be categorized into these three categories. So, Anva is the lowest; means the very beginning. All the japa, mantras, poojas, yogasanas, breath control, everything comes under Anva Upaya. They are called Upayas, which means remedies.
Above this is Shakta. Shakta is only mental, i.e., inside. There is no outer thing, no mantras in it. It is the effect of the meditative state, that is Shakta Upaya.
When you do singing, meditation, pranayam and Sudarshan Kriya (Kriya begins with Anva Upaya but then), it leads to Shakta Upaya, when you are just energy. Here there is no effort, there is no doing. Just a little bit effortless effort is there.
Then the Shambava or Shiv Upaya is just pure awareness. Just a state of awareness.
Shambava Upaya means that there is no means (way) to do it, it is just a happening, it will just happen. Even then it is still called an Upaya.
So the purpose of Anva and Shakta Upaya is to go to Shambava Upaya wherein you become one with Shiva (the fourth state of consciousness). There is no two, there is no doer, you are Shiva, and that is Shambava Upaya.
Usually people like Jiddu Krishnamurti and others who have experienced some degree of Shambava Upaya, they simply discard the other levels. If you read, some people have said that there is no point in doing pranayama, or, there is no point in chanting mantras, or there is no point in doing Pooja. They are all talking from the level of Shambava Upaya, but all these practices have their own place too.
See, for example, if you go to the Prime Minister of Canada, the Mayor of St Mathieu's doesn’t matter much. But suppose the Mayor of St Matheius has a say as well, then even if you go to the Prime Minister the mayor of this town can put some hurdles, isn't it? The beaurocrats can put some hurdles.
So the ancient system is attending to everybody and giving everyone their rightful place. And that is how all this, Anva Upaya, Shakta Upaya, everything is maintained because they have some purpose.
This is deep knowledge.
- Sri Sri
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‘Every emotion in the mind has a corresponding sensation in the body. Usually we link our emotions with an event. This reinforces the emotion. But when you de-link the event from the sensation, when you observe the sensation as a pure sensation then emotions get transformed.’
- Sri Sri
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'Unconditional love comes naturally as your consciousness blossoms. You can’t force it on yourself or cultivate it. I don’t know how to cultivate it. It’s simply a phenomenon. When your consciousness expands, rises, then, what comes out of it is unconditional love. You say, I’m here for you and I want nothing from you. This comes to you and it has come to you with some people but with many others, you have some expectations.'
"Unconditional love doesn't mean being foolish. It means you become more sharp and aware. You don't become a doormat and be misused for your compassion. Be strict where you have to - not with anger but with love. Strictness with compassion is special and worth developing."
What is Unconditional Love - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
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Q: What holds us back from really Being Free, Really Being Realized.
Sri Sri: You crave pleasure, which in Sanskrit is called Sukha, and you are afraid of sorrow, dukha. You think everything should be logical and you’re obsessed with desires.
Sukha, Dukha, Logic and Desire – these four things pull you backward.
Isn’t it amazing? Although pleasures have been momentary and have left you empty, yet one still hopes for more pleasure. This sukha – the craving for some unknown, unseen great pleasure – Holds you back.
Another thing that holds you back is fear. What are you afraid of? You are afraid of experiencing some sorrow. You have passed through many stumbling blocks in life, which you thought were impossible. Yet you remained untouched by any of them. You were shaken at that moment but later on you found that you were as complete as you were before.
And then there is desire for more. Wanting more and more and more. We burn with desire and this burning with desire doesn’t allow you to relax in the peace of your being, desire means that the present is not okay. When I get this or get that, I’ll be happy. Hanging your mind in the future is one way of being miserable. Unless you let go of the desires, you can never find peace, you can never rest in divine love.
When you are able to let go, you blossom. Every bud takes its own time to bloom. Don’t force a bud to become a flower.
When reasoning or logic breaks down, you tremble. Sooner or later you again find some logic, some reason and feel comfortable with it. Reality is BEYOND LOGIC. You cannot capture truth by logic. If you can logically explain your life and its experiences, then you have not lived life fully, you have not known life fully. If your experiences can be put into slots of logic, then you have missed something very beautiful, something basic in life.
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Centeredness and Commitment..
‘If you’re miserable now, you probably made other people miserable in the past and now it’s your turn. Some roughness will come in life – then handle it. Smile through it. Whatever roughness you face is really nothing. ..the roughness you are feeling is just the minutest percentage, only the amount essential for your growth. That is why it is there. The moment you are centered, it won’t come at all.’
‘The greater your commitment, the greater nature will support that commitment with more energy and greater help. And the means will come to you automatically. That’s the beauty of life, the magnanimity of life, the way to expand in life.’
- Sri Sri
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Be Grateful
(Excerpts from Ashtavakra Gita)
All is present in life and in time. It’s upto you to take what you can extract. You can be happy with a handful of sand in your hand or you can hold pearls. It’s upto you to pick from life and time what it gives you…
Don’t hold anyone responsible. We think somebody else is responsible for our misery, our problems and all our joys or sorrows. No one other than you is responsible, and feel grateful.
..be grateful for everything. We can’t take everything for granted. If we start taking things for granted, gratefulness will die in us.
Grab every opportunity to be grateful in life. Then you will see sorrow will disappear from your life. But we are doing the reverse. We grab every opportunity to grumble. This is the only shift, the major shift, the biggest shift.
- Sri Sri
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It is all 'ME'
(Excerpts from the Ashtavakra Gita )
It’s all me.. fulfilled. Your separateness from people causes all the commotion inside you. Competition arises..then you blame yourself, and think this is not right and then you try to show off that you are something and in trying to show off you lose your naturalness..
Don’t try to show off.
It’s the fulfillment that is so beautiful..that draws everything to you..like all rivers flow into the ocean.. the one who is satisfied all his needs are taken care of..
So much peace and joy will get to that person..
Tonight when you go to bed just bring into your mind. There are no people at all in this world. Who is there? Only You.. Everybody else is just puppets, shells. Your own karma will get into those shells and reflect back onto you.
We are fighting with ourselves. If we are angry its with ourselves. Anything we do, we do to ourself. It is me all over, from a stone to the Brahman. Total inertness to total aliveness..
- Sri Sri
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"Purity of the body and the consciousness is tapas. In this process, whatever is happening, burn, cook and live through it. If you have not been cooked, you can never experience bliss. If your mind is not matured, you can never experience your true nature."
Pragnaparaadha...Mistake of Awareness
"Speech and the mind also need certain maturity.. Turn back and see you have spoken hours and hours.... several thousands of hours.... What is the result of all those talks. Has it brought any solace to any soul, any mind, any heart...
Has it brought tranquility in one !!
Has it brought any direction to ANY life !!
Every speech is an impulse of energy and intelligence.. your intelligence and energy is flowing.. you are throwing so much power out of you. what has come out of them!!
This very body, this intelligence, this mind this speech so much has been given to us but we simply waste it..
People who do not know, if they waste, it is excusable.. people if they know and yet waste it like that it is Unpardonable...
Pragnaparaadha !!
Having known still doing the same thing..
Person who does not know and does something, he is not responsible.. But One who knows and still goes on, its Pragnaparaadha...Mistake of Awareness..
They need to go thru tapasya, austerity, burn, hard work..."
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Q. I get bored with everything. people, places, everything. What should I do?
When you come from a space of taking, then you will get bored. Boredom is seeking joy in action, which you don't get. The world has nothing to give you. In the beginning you might get little bit of joy. So you keep doing but soon there is nothing there. Know that you are joy, you are bubbling joy.
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Desire...Anger and Joy
(Excerpts from the Ashtavakra Gita )
Joy doesn’t happen with fulfillment of some desire. Joy is your very existence. When your desires melt away..Love dawns and dominates in life.
Desire arises – body gets stiff, mind gets stiff, heart gets stiff, emotions get stiff.. If desire doesn’t get fulfilled - anger rises within.
Desires arise in you as a natural phenomenon, just don’t let them stick on to you.. Just let them loose and evaporate and the right desires will get fulfilled. And if the desires are not congenial for your growth, for your evolution, they will simply dissolve and disappear and vanish.
- Sri Sri
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The story of Maharishi and Guruji and the beginning of Art of Living..
From Michael Fischman's memoirs in his book "Stumbling into Infinity.....
There were so many stories floating around, including one that Maharshi was angry and disappointed with Guruji when he left. I asked him once if there was any truth to these rumors. He frowned to me and shook his head back and forth, indicating that these tales were not at all accurate. He spoke softly, almost whispering, and i leaned forward so i could hear. He said that there was never a face-to-face meeting. Maharshi was in Europe, preoccupied with health challenges at that time, "I was literally at a crossroads, waiting at a train station," he said. "I could board a train that would go to Shimoga or another that went to Delhi". If he chose to return to Delhi, he would continue to be with Maharshi but restricted by the limitations and politics of the TM (Transcendental Meditation) movement. Then he smiled and said, "I knew that if i took the train to Shimoga, something new and original would come up. There were so many people waiting for me there." It is still hard to know what happened after that. Guruji said that there was some correspondence with Maharshi by mail and there was a phone call or two. But I'm still not sure if they ever saw each other again.
Guruji is often cryptic about past. I have never heard him give a comprehensive history, though I would sometimes probe like a detective in a crime
novel, assembling the bits and pieces into a time line. Guruji told us that during the time he was serving Maharshi, he was well aware that he would
eventually become a personal guru to millions who were waiting for him around the world. But he was still hesitant to start something new.
"At one point I had to make a decision whether or not I should start teaching the program, Sudarshan Kriya ," he explained, "I know that eventually courses were going to happen, but i still had a one-percent reluctance, wondering whether i should bring this knowledge out at that time. It wasn't that i was confused, I just didn't think that we needed to start another organization. I was already giving knowledge and so many people appreciated and loved me." "I decided to seek some advice from a 300 year old saint, he said "Devraha Baba, who lived above the Ganges River." He so casually mentioned the man's age. Was he exaggerating ? I knew that yogis had the ability to do many supernatural feats, but I didn't think that anyone could live to be 300 years old. "As i was traveling on this long train ride from Delhi to Varanasi," he continued, "the conductor on the train approached me. He was a nice person. I could tell he was very evolved. He didn't know me, yet he started speaking to me as though we were old friends: 'You've come into this life with a special purpose. Why do you want to go back without completing your purpose, or postponing it ?
Then he told me he had a vision: Coming out of the heart lotus was a young man with long hair and a beard who would be ushering in a new yuga(era), spreading knowledge and having satsang with huge crowds of people all over the world. At the time his words made no sense to me, "said Guruji. "I couldn't understand why he was telling me this. And I don't think the conductor knew that i was the man in his vision. He even told me about our (Art of Living) logo. He said he saw the sun surrounded by two swans. "By the time I arrived at Ganges, "he continued" , "it was dusk. There was no moon that night and it was getting darker and darker, and you couldn't see anything. The man who ran the ferry that went across the river refused to take me to hermitage. He said that it was too dark and he couldn't see where he was going. I had to promise him fifty rupees more so that he would finally take me. "Devraha Baba lived alone along the Ganges in a small hut that was on a platform elevated by poles. The 300 year old saint had a disciple who lived in a small boat that was tied to one of the poles of hermitage. He stayed there day and night like a watchman, bringing the old man fruits and vegetables, or anything that he needed.
"When i arrived, Devraha Baba came out to greet me. He said, "I" m so happy to see you have come'. "I felt it a little shy. I was very young and he was such a old man saying this to me," Guruji explained. "I thought he might be teasing me. He gave me a big melon and said, "Water is flowing, it has to flow. If it stops, it will rot. So satsang should flow. Satsang is that force that allows the grace to flow in the world. Satsang is essential in the world so that the world dosen't rot. You have to carry on the satsang everywhere in the world'. "I didn't even have to ask the question, "Guruji said, "and still an answer came." I was still struggling with the notion of a 300 year old saint, when Guruji continued. "Later when i back to South India, I met another saint, Kodi Swami, a 450 year old man. He's a very nice being. People came from all over for his blessings, his darshan." A 450 year old saint ? I thought Guruji was really pulling our legs now, But he wasn't. I later learned that Kodi Swami was a revered saint who spent the last thirty years of his life in Puravipalayam, a small village near Pollachi, in the state of Tamil nadu.
"This 450 year old saint had a devotee who attended to him who was 80 years old, "Guruji said, explaining that the devotee's father and grandfather had served the saint in the same way. "So when i met Kodi Swami, I said to him, 'Baba (father), give us some knowledge. "He just smiled and laughed. This man speaks very little. Then he said, with a bit of sarcasm, "All knowledge is already there. If Shiva comes and asks me for some knowledge, what knowledge can I give ? He too said that I must do this work and bring out the Kriya and this knowledge. He gave his blessings, 'You should not stop. You should teach this course, this program, all over the world'. "
Although the advice was clear from two saints, I still hesitated to start another organization. Yet I knew, when knowledge has to some, it will come." There were other factors that pushed Guruji to venture out on his own. For one thing, he needed to protect his father's and Maharshi's reputation. In the late 1970s Maharshi started a Vedic gurukul, a Vedic school for Brahmin boys who wanted to be trained as Vedic pundits. Maharshi's vision was to have a school where, in addition to a traditional vedic education, these boys could be given the knowledge of accessing the Self through deep meditation. After establishing several schools across India, Maharshi wanted to open one near Bangalore. He contacted Guruji's father, Pitaji, a respected leader in the Hindu community, to recruit some boys for this new school. After nine monthsof traveling through South India. Pitaji had recruited 175 students for the new school. But soon after it opened, the TM movement decided to consolidated its schools, and relocated the new students to Maharshi's ashram outside Delhi. Coming from South India, these young boys found it difficult to adapt to the northern climate and culture. The cold winter, combined with drastic changes in diet and austere conditions at the new makeshift ashram, made it difficult for these children to adjust, and many wanted to leave the school. The parent were contemplating legal action against the TM movement for breaking their agreement.
A lawsuit would not only affect Maharshi's reputation but also Pitaji's. He was directly responsible for the children welfare. To complicate matters, Maharshi couldn't be reached. Yet something had to be done. "I had to start a school in Bangalore", Guruji told us, "Everybody was baffled by my decision to take over the school, even my friends. "He doesn't have any income. He doesn't work anywhere. He doesn't gain money or earn money, nor does he ask donations from anywhere. How is he going to manage this school ? 'People thought, maybe he went a little bit crazy, " he said with a laugh. His eyes widened as he told the story. He seemed amazed at his decision, "its difficult to manage two children and bring them up, "he said. "Here i am taking over a school with 175 children, with the responsibility to house them , feed them, and teach them - every thing free of cost, like an orphanage, without any aid or any help from anywhere."
For six months, the children stayed at parents' home, "cooking, bathing, sleeping -- they were everywhere in the house." Then one day, while the boys were performing one of the traditional vedic rituals, a gentleman approached Guruji. "I am so touched by this ceremony," I am going to New York for a trip and will be gone for a while. Here are the keys to my house. Use it as you like." So the school moved to the man's huge house, which was called Gurukrupa, and was able to stay there for the rest of that year. Today young pundit boys continue to attend Ved Vigyan Mahavidyapeeth, which is an accredited institution, and they live at the ashram campus near Bangalore. The school wasn't Guruji's only challenge, While he was in TM movement, he met with opposition from the other devotees. Despite his sweetness and calm presence, these devotees were jealous of his closeness with Maharshi.
At that time, Guruji was blossoming into enlightenment, and many of India's chief ministers and government officials, as well as other swamis in Delhi, were becoming very fond of him. People would request his company and seek his blessings. So his rivals had him deliberately put in charge of vedic school in Noida, so that he would be kept away from public. At another time, Guruji was running a center in Delhi, and while traveling to train Vedic pundits in meditation, his adversaries cut his phone line, put a stop on his bank account, and even had the tires slashed on his car. And one day, when he was expecting many dignitaries for a huge banquet, the cook was dismissed, and he was left with no food or any way to entertain his guest, But somehow, miraculously he managed to pull it off and everything worked out.
When Guruji was talking about these times with us, he said, "All these obstacles brought many siddhis(abilities), somehow, i was able to manage. I never complained to Maharshi, never grumbled. I would never tell Maharshi all the things they used to do.However, he found out and asked me why i didn't tell him. I said, 'I can't be useful to your work then. You have so much to attend to. I want to lessen your burden and not to add to it" Listening to his stories, i felt inspired. I wanted to serve Guruji in the same way he had served Maharshi. But part of me wondered if it was always going to be as easy as it had been so far. -An excerpt from the book "Stumbling into Infinity" by Michael Fischman .
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Knowledge Sheet: The Most Desired Transformation
Your Excellency, and my dear ones and the audience. As Dr. Denis Broun just mentioned, crisis brings out the best and the worst in people.
Just a week ago, there was a crisis in India. During this crises, there were people who plunged in to save others and there were some who exploited even for a glass of water.
It is in these moments of crisis that we can gauge ethics, whether it is genuine or cosmetic. Ethics cannot be cosmetic, it has to come out in a genuine manner. Now, how does one bring about genuine ethics in people, or make a person feel that one has to really be ethical.
I just want to narrate an incident. There is a corrupt person working in a bank, he is a trouble-maker and he does not listen to anybody. I asked them to send him to me, so I could have a word with him.
I told this gentleman, ‘Would you like your driver to be honest with you or cheat you?’
He replied, ‘I don’t like my driver to cheat me, it is obvious.’
Then I asked him, 'Would you appreciate it if a colleague is cheating on you?’
He said, ‘No, I don’t want my colleague or friend to cheat on me.’
I said, ‘Look, you don’t want your boss to be dishonest with you. You don’t want your subordinate to be dishonest with you. You don’t want your colleague to be dishonest with you. You expect honesty from everyone, sincerity from everybody; how about you?’
That suddenly made him sit back and think, ‘Yes, I don’t even want my maid servant at home to cheat on me, I don’t want my driver to cheat on me, I don’t want my colleague on whom I have to rely on to cheat on me; then why would I cheat on someone else?’ He had never thought about it like this before; it made him think, re-think!
'When my behavior affects so many people around me, and I am affected by others’ behavior; what I don’t want others to do to me, why should I do to others?'
This is the basic line of ethics.
This sense of awareness when it comes from within, then life is on a different paradigm. There is a very visible shift.
When the recent Himalayas tsunami happened, I didn’t tell any of the volunteers to go and do something. Without me telling anyone, there were already thousands of volunteers who just plunged into various activities. I would say this is real ethics, the real feeling that comes from your heart.
When we inculcate this in the educational system, bring attention and awareness of one’s attitude and behavior, we find a sea of change in our society.
If you have ever been to a prison anytime, I mean just to take a look at it; if you had a word or two with people in the prison, you would see that they are good people. These people who are condemned as criminals, there is a good person hiding inside them, there is an ethical and compassionate person hiding inside them too. That personality needs to come out, blossom and flower.
When I visited prisons, I spoke to thousands of inmates. They said they committed the crime in a moment of an emotional upsurge, when they were not in control, and then they regretted it.
How can we help these people who are corrupt and involved in criminal activities? I think it is possible. If we can educate them on how they can handle their own mind and their emotions then that would bring a big change.
They say, 'Neither at school nor at home has a broader vision about life been given to us. Nobody ever told us to attend to our emotions our minds.’
A sense of inner cleansing can bring about ethics.
Stress and violent tendencies in an individual need to be checked. I am sure if these tendencies are checked, and if people are given tools or counseled to get over these tendencies which they have acquired either due to ignorance or through difficult family situations, we can bring about the best of ethics from within them.
If those in correctional houses can be transformed, I am sure the common man can realize and live those ethics in their day-to-day life; it is not so difficult. I don’t find any reason for us to not believe in a more ethical and compassionate society for the coming generation. Of course, the present situation looks very bleak; we see crime and violence everywhere.
In the last year in America alone, there were 10 million acts of crime and violence recorded. If you go throughout the world, we have 7 billion people; I am sure there is a few billion acts of violence that is happening in the society. I feel it is high time we put our attention towards bringing back the ethics, not just in business, but in the social and civic society.
There are four pillars of our society and we need to attend to all the four pillars - politics, business, faith-based organizations, and the civil society. Unless ethics percolates in all these four different areas of our human society, we cannot find the most desired transformation happening.
Once again, I will reinstate the point that ethics needs to be inculcated, cultivated and nurtured. The seed is already present in every human being, it is already there, it just needs a little more nurturing - in politics, business, faith-based organizations, and also in civic society. If all these four institutions work together, we can definitely make a difference in this coming century.
With these few words, I congratulate the organizers, and all of you who have come here to deliberate on this very important topic of today’s Ethics in Business. Thank you very much.
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This universe is so beautiful. There are so many types of flowers, fruits, trees, animals, human beings; such variety has been created so that you can be happy. But the human mind is such that it does not allow you to be happy. Even in the best of places, the mind goes on with the memory of something that happened in the past; this is what is so amazing.
The mind is the biggest mystery. Your own mind can be your best friend or your worst enemy. The mind is responsible for our happiness as well as misery. When the mind is in the present moment, everything appears to be beautiful. However, when the mind is a mess; even in the best of places, it can find a thousand reasons to be miserable.
There are five modulations of the mind:
First, the mind wants proof for everything. How can you get proof for everything? Impossible! Second, the mind does not understand things the way they actually are, but thinks something else. You thought something; a little later found out it was not actually like that; a little later, concepts break down. This is called Viparyaya. Third, the mind has its own imagination; when nothing of the sort actually exists. Fourth, the mind falls asleep. If it is not thinking of anything, then it falls asleep. Fifth, the mind is stuck in the memory of the past, or worried about the future.
These five modulations prevent one from being alive in the present moment and enjoying it.
Yoga brings the shift; it helps you to sail over the modulations of the mind. How is this possible? First, is to know that you are going to leave everything here and go. You are not going to take anything with you when you leave this world. The cause of misery is holding onto things; mine, mine, mine!
- Sri Sri
Q. When clothes get smaller, we recognize physical growth. How do we recognize spiritual growth?
Sri Sri: Very easily. It depends on how you go ahead in every situation, especially bad situations. Do you deal with the situation with courage, and peace? If so, then, that is sign of your spiritual development. The more you smile, and the more you are happy, the more you are spiritually developed.
Sometimes, in spite of doing a lot of sadhana, you get angry, and then you tend to think that you have not developed spiritually.
Don’t blame yourself. Even though you get angry, it is not the same as before. Earlier your anger would remain for long, now it subsides. To other people, you look the same but if you look within, the anger comes and goes away quickly. Earlier it used to take five years, now it takes five minutes to go away. This is our experience. That is why you should not blame yourself when you get any negative sentiments. Witness the feeling and let it go. With practice, the consciousness becomes stronger.
A plant has to be watered but when it grows into a tree, it is no longer necessary. Similarly, if the inner consciousness becomes stronger, all these vikaar (distortions) get erased.
Vishranti vikar mita (Deep rest removes negativity). That is why people are jailed. They are tired of doing bad deeds, so we let them take rest. When they rest, the negative thoughts get destroyed. There is no rest deeper than meditation.
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We invite you for Seva in Guruji's presence in August 2013!
Come and celebrate with us
Everyone who is over 18 years of age, physically and mentally fit and has completed either Part-2 or YES++ or DSN or YLTP is eligible
Contact Ashram HR Email: hr@vvmvp.org Ph No. 080-67262806/03 (Call between 9:30 AM-6 PM)
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I tell you, deep inside you is a fountain of bliss, a fountain of joy. Deep inside, your center core is truth, light, love; there is no guilt there, there is no fear there.
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The dates for the Vedic Wisdom Program 2013 at our beautiful Bangalore Ashram have been announced! Please help us SPREAD THE WORD to all those that might be interested...
This year the program will be open for participants from all over the world, both males and females! A unique opportunity to learn more about the ancient Vedic knowledge and how it applies to and is relevant in today's modern world...
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Q: Gurudev, my parents have been married for 25 years but they do not get along with each other. When I go to my father he seems correct, and when I go to my mother she seems correct. What do I do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: My first advice for you is to keep going to both of them. Tell them both that they are right and continue making efforts to maintain the friendship between them. Don’t give up. If you try 100 times at least one time something good will come out. See, already 25 years have passed, and another 20-25 years will pass like that. We will see later what happens after that. Do not try too much to maintain peace in such a situation. Just accept the way things are and relax. It is difficult to change the nature of people. It is better to leave them the way they are. If the fire is too much then sprinkle some water. Stand in between if they start to fight. You are sensible and strong. That is how things are in our society.
There was a gentleman, and someone asked him, 'Why do you fight with your wife?' He replied, 'What do you mean? She is my wife and I love her, so how can I go fight with someone else? I can only fight with the one I love'. That is very true. See, they will fight now and then, but then they will get back together and love each other also. It is okay. Don’t interfere too much and don’t worry.
JaiGuruDev
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One incident was when Mahatma Gandhi was travelling in a small train uphill to Darjeeling. Darjeeling is a hill station in India, and you have a small train that goes there. It is a narrow gauge train. Now what happened is that, when the train was moving up the hill, somewhere, the engine got itself disconnected from the coaches. So the engine went ahead and the coaches started sliding backward.
Just imagine on a big hilly terrain, coaches are sliding backward, what would happen? There was huge panic, as people were between life and death. Any moment the coaches could fall off the hill, and one would not even find a trace of a bone. It was the Himalayas.
So while there was panic all around, Mahatma Gandhi was dictating letters, and he said to my teacher; he used to call him Bangalori, because he was from Bangalore; ‘Bangalori, take dictation.’
My teacher said, ‘Bapu (father, referring to Mahatma Gandhi), do you know what is happening? We may not be alive. We are in-between life and death. The coaches are moving backward with nothing to stop it, and its gaining speed.’
Do you know what Mahatma Gandhi said then? He said, ‘Suppose we get saved, we would have wasted all this time. If we die, we die. But if we are saved, we wasted so much time? So, come on, take dictation.’
With trembling hands my teacher was taking dictation.
He used to tell me, ‘Look at this old man, he would not waste a moment of his life.’
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"Namah sri sambhave svatmananda prakasa vapuse"
I bow down to the wealth that brings peace and fills the body with joy.
Once, a man won ten lakhs in lottery. His wife was worried as to how she should break the news to her husband because it might give him a shock or he might even suffer a heart attack due to sheer excitement. So she went to a priest. He said, "don't worry. I will come with you, and together we'll give him the news." So the next sunday he went to their house and asked him, "my child, suppose by the grace of God u were to win ten lakh, what would you do with it?" The man answered, "I'd give half of it to the church, Father." No sooner the priest heard this, he had a heart attack.
Wealth should bring peace. Being wealthy should not bring arrogance, hostility, jealousy, disgust or boredom. Many times, when you receive a gift from someone, your state of mind changes as soon as you receive it. Have you observed this? When you receive certain things, you receive not only the gift but the intention along with the gift. That is the reason why, in the past, people accepted things from others only after careful observation. If they did accept, then they would immediately give a gift in return. An old saying says, "Why should we take others' things that we do not want?" It is because such wealth might bring peace or disturbance. Nobody wants a disturbed mind.
Today we have completely forgotten this tradition. However, there is one thing we did in the past and continue to do today: when we celebrate weddings, religious ceremonies and other rituals, whether on happy or sad occasions, we invite guests for food and after food give them each one rupee as dakshina, or offering. This practice is more prevalent in villages. Do you know the reason behind this? This is to express gratitude to the guests for attending the ceremony and eating the food. The belief is that the guests have given them peace, and in this way, certain negative karma leaves and positive karma is restored.
-His Holiness Sri Sri Ravishankar
Jaigurudev
Source of the story: From the book "Shiva Sutras" by guruji
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One of Buddha's disciple Sariputra got enlightened. When he got enlightened, Buddha told him to go to the world and preach. "Carry on my work" Buddha said. Now Sariputra left to teach, but he was crying and crying and crying. People asked him, "You are enlightened. Why are u crying?" He said, "Who cares for this enlightenment? It could have waited. I didn't even bother about it. I never asked for it. But the joy of being at the feet of Buddha was so great; being a devotee was so great. Now I am missing this. I would have preferred that to enlightenment." There is no separation or distance, and there is no difference, yet it has different joy. That is devotee.
Attraction is everywhere, love is somewhere, but devotion is again rare. Devotion is very beautiful. A student comes to a master, teacher or Guru with tears in his eyes. There are so many problems and when he leaves also, he carries the same tears, but the quality of tears is different. It is of gratitude and love. It is so beautiful to cry in love. One who has cried in love, knows the taste of surrender. The entire creation rejoices it. The entire creation is longing for one thing, transformed tears- from salty tears to sweet tears.
-His Holiness Sri Sri Ravishankar
JAIGURUDEV
Source of the story: From the book "GURU"
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Circle of Life
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Q: How does one come out of the cycle of birth and death?
Sri Sri: Why do you want to come out of it? Because you find it miserable, right? But when life is blissful, then you coming back to the planet will help a lot of people on this planet in the future. So why shouldn’t you come back?
Suppose I come back next time, wouldn’t you like to comeback with me, and have a lot of fun here? We can have a lot of fun! Life is all fun.
‘Ananda dhi khilbi bhootani jayanti’, the whole world is made out of bliss. We have come to play here. Take life as leela or play.
This is the greatest gift of India to the world; we said, ‘Life is a game’; ‘Life is a play’. It is not a struggle. When you think of life as a struggle, you are miserable.
Just see, on a football ground, you will find people falling and fighting over one little ball. If you see it all as a struggle, you wonder why they are struggling so much. Just give one ball to each one of the players, let them kick it in the goal, and sit in the goal if they want to! However, if you see all this as a play, then it is fun! Someone is pushing the ball from here, someone is kicking it there. The whole thing is a game. There is fun.
In the same way, you see life as leela, as a game, not as a struggle. This answers most of the philosophical questions that the world poses.
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An Indian-African immigrant from Kenya was in London; this was a long time ago when I went there. This gentleman came up to me and said, ‘Gurudev, I wish to own a BMW car. Please bless me’.
I said, ‘Okay, God willing you will get it.’
Six months later he came and met me. He was happy and he said, ‘Gurudev, I got it (the car). But the streets of Birmingham are so small that I find it so inconvenient to park it here and there without it getting a scratch on it. What to do?’
You know, in Birmingham the streets are smaller than they are here.
Few months later, he said, ‘Gurudev, it is becoming a difficult thing for me to have this car. Now I am miserable. I want to sell this car off but there is no buyer’.
You didn’t have it and you were unhappy. Now you have it and you are unhappy.
There is something seriously wrong with the way we look at life. This is where we have to have that wisdom, to turn it around and see that happiness is not related to what we have or what we don’t have. It is simply our state of mind. -Sri Sri
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Q: What is the difference between ordinary and extraordinary people?
Sri Sri: Extraordinary people think they are very ordinary.
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KEEPING THE FAITH
To move towards growth in life, we require faith in three things — in oneself, in the goodness in society and in God. However, looking at the recent incident in Kedarnath, where so many innocent lives were lost, one wonders if God exists. If He does, why would He do such things to His own devotees? It is on these occasions that faith becomes fragile and one tends to lose it. However, it is also on these occasions that faith is most needed too. We must remember that God is impartial; He is present everywhere and not confined to particular location, although pilgrimage centers are centers of high energy bringing solace and touching the innermost chord of faith. When disaster happen in such places those who die anyway attain Him, those who are saved thank Him and retain their faith but it is the relatives of the departed, whose faith goes through a testing time. They reel with the question, “Why? Why? Why?” and it is quite natural that they turn negative. When your near and dear ones leave suddenly, your faith is shaken but faith is what helps pull you through the tragedy. We do not get anything by losing our faith. In fact, faith holds our mind together in times of crisis and prevents it from falling even more in despair and blame. This is a time for prayer. When fear takes over our mind, prayer helps keep it steady. Let us pray for peace to those whom we have lost and for strength to their families to overcome this grave tragedy.
Let us also be grateful for all the lives that have been saved. The passion with which volunteers have come forward to help out in this calamity stands to show that there is a lot of humaneness in people. Stories of crime and corruption in the news may cloud it, but we must not lose our faith in the goodness in society. If we start believing it is full of thugs and thieves, we cannot function at all. Having faith in the people and the world around us is essential to move ahead.
Finally, having faith in ourselves, we must do what is within our capability as well. For example, millions of people visit our pilgrimage places, but we do not have arrangements to handle that kind of crowd there. Except a few, all of them are in bad shape due to neglect. We cannot totally stop natural disasters from happening but we can certainly be prepared for them. Many such places, including Kedarnath, don’t even have proper roads. The passage to Amarnath is just a few feet wide and caters to lakhs of pilgrims going up and coming down at the same time. Even the shortest way, through Baltal, is a 14km long one way trek through hilly terrain without a place to rest or any arrangement to carry someone in an emergency or a blockage. When these places attract people in such large numbers, they need to be developed accordingly with better facilities, medical support, transport and communication systems.
At the same time, the paranoia in the minds of people about going on pilgrimages due to the Kedarnath flash floods must be addressed. We do not stop flying because of air crashes or going on the road because of accidents. Without faith, we are frightened by events, feeling lost and anchorless. Difficult times can bring out our hidden courage and potential in more ways than one and unshakable faith gives us the strength to smile even through catastrophes.
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Handling Insult - Buddha Story
One day Buddha was walking through a village. A very angry and rude young man came up and began insulting him. "You have no right teaching others," he shouted. "You are as stupid as everyone else. You are nothing but a fake."
Buddha was not upset by these insults. Instead he asked the young man "Tell me, if you buy a gift for someone, and that person does not take it, to whom does the gift belong?"
The man was surprised to be asked such a strange question and answered, "It would belong to me, because I bought the gift."
The Buddha smiled and said, "That is correct. And it is exactly the same with your anger.
If you become angry with me and I do not get insulted, then the anger falls back on you.
You are then the only one who becomes unhappy, not me. All you have done is hurt yourself."
"If you want to stop hurting yourself, you must get rid of your anger and become loving instead. When you hate others, you yourself become unhappy. But when you love others, everyone is happy."
The young man listened closely to these wise words of the Buddha. "You are right, o Enlightened One, "he said. "Please teach me the path of love. I wish to become your follower."
The Buddha answered kindly, "Of course. I teach anyone who truly wants to learn. Come with me."
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What's happen when you Meditate
Do you know what happens when you meditate? You are creating a rapport with the other realms of reality. When your mind is still, when meditation is happening, you are not only purifying every cell of your own body, but you are spreading positive energy all around you.
Your meditation brings peace and joy to people who have already passed and gone to the other side, which is very, very important.
When you are silent, you are not putting things into the mind from the world; you are letting yourself free, cleansing the body, and cleansing the mind. During this time, some thoughts may bombard your mind. Some old things may just come and bother you. Never mind, don’t be scared. The fact you are sitting is good enough. Whatever happens is all for good. If old thoughts are coming and bothering you, never mind, they just come and they go.
Nevertheless, keeping silent is very, very precious, not just for you, but also for the subtle creation. For the world also, because you are creating such positive vibrations every minute you are in silence, every minute you are meditating! In addition, the full moon, the ocean and meditation, all go very well. The mind is agitated if it is involved in too much activity. Time to time, as you take yourself back from activity, then agitation disappears, meditation wells up.
- Sri Sri
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Knowledge Sheet: Aggression as a means to overcome depression
Lack of idealism is the main cause of depression among the youth today. Life appears to be so meaningless to these children, who are either too scared of the competitive world or bogged down by heavy stimuli. They need an inspiration.... And Spirituality is that inspiration that can keep the spirit up!
Aggression is the antidote to depression. Depression sets in if there is a lack of zeal to fight. Depression is lack of energy, and anger and aggression are a bolt of energy. When Arjuna was depressed, Krishna inspired him to fight and thus reinstated life back in Arjuna. If you are depressed, don't take Prozac - just fight - for any cause!
If aggression crosses a certain limit it leads you back into depression. That's what happened with King Ashoka, who won the Kalinga war but became depressed. He had to take refuge in Buddha.
WISE ARE THOSE WHO DO NOT FALL EITHER INTO AGGRESSION OR DEPRESSION.
That's the golden line of a Yogi. Just wake up and acknowledge you are a Yogi!
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Knowledge Sheet: Walk Like A King!
Why do Angels have wings, what is the symbolism of that? Can you please talk about why we have Angels in the Christian tradition.
Sri Sri: Man had a fascination to fly. He wanted to dominate space.
Man could walk the Earth, he could dive into the ocean and swim in the water. But what he could not do is fly. So Angels, which he considered one step above him, he gave them wings. He thought, Angels have wings because they are more powerful than man and they can fly and can go anywhere they want.
But today with the kind of airplanes we have, Angels will be much slower. We can reach much faster than them. We will leave the Angels behind somewhere.
Nobody with wings, however powerful, can fly faster than an aircraft or a helicopter.
So it is just a concept that they are more powerful than us, because it is only then that they can help us.
Angels mean those who can help us, who are more powerful, more equipped than us.
Now don’t imagine that an Angel is going to come with wings, and take you with them, and give you flowers, and all that.
Also, we see many times, Angels are depicted as children.
Do you know why are they depicted as children in the Christian tradition? This is to show innocence. The higher you go, you have to be pure and innocent inside, not cunning and crafty.
Who is cunning and crafty? One who does not have the ability to walk like a king. Someone who has less power has to manipulate and be cunning and crafty.
Someone who is very powerful, why would they be cunning and crafty? If you have the ability and the power to do things in a straightforward manner, you would not do anything surreptitiously. You will not need to.
All those people who do cunning things have no self confidence. They don’t believe that they can achieve things at their will; they think they have to do some manipulation to get there.
So Angels are depicted as children with wings because they are innocent. They are depicted to have a stout body, just like a two or three year old baby.
If you see all the Michelangelo paintings, you will see most of the angels are babies. It simply represents innocence and purity, and then ability - more ability than normal human beings.
I tell you inside you there is an angel.
In Christian tradition it is said that everyone has a guardian angel. It is not that they are only guarding you, you are part of that guardian angel; you are that! You simply have to realize that you are an angel. You have the power to do what you want to do. Know this and relax.
How do I find the right balance between striving for improvement and being contented with who I am and what I am doing?
Sri Sri: Do you know how to ride a bicycle? Exactly like that!
When you want to have balance, you will definitely have it. Just this thought, 'I want to balance my life', is good enough. You are already moving in that direction.
Now when this question arises, ‘How do I do it?’ Know you can do it. Ask yourself, your consciousness will tell you.
‘I am not balanced, I am missing out on this’, your consciousness will say it. Then you listen to your consciousness.
If you are attending to your work too much then your consciousness will prick. ‘Hey you are forgetting your family, your wife, your children, your husband’ Then you say, ‘Okay I will attend to them’
If you’re getting too immersed in the family and forget about all other things then your consciousness will prick, ‘My god what have I got into, what did I get into, day and night I’m just immersed in family affairs, I’m not being useful to the world, I have to do something I have to pursue my cause, I have to do justice to my work’. The mind will prick. Then you do that.
This wanting to keep balance in life, that very thought is good enough. It is like the fuse in the electrical system, whenever the electric current surges too much the fuse will break and save everything else. Like that a little amount of guilt must be there like the fuse in the system.
You don’t justify but that little bit is okay to have, like the fuse in an electric system. You know about the electric system and know that in the electrical board there’ll be one small box called fuse. So whenever there is an imbalance in current, the fuse will burst and save the rest of the electrical system. Like that in life, a little bit of guilt is okay but not too much.
Like salt in the food. If there is too much salt can you eat it? No. Got it? So wanting to have balance is good.
I am sensitive and easily hurt. What is good about being sensitive?
Sri Sri: Life is a combination of sensitivity and sensibility. Sensibility is of the intellect and sensitivity of the heart.
Usually people who are very sensitive they forget reason, logic. Their sensibility becomes less. And people with a lot of reason, always thinking about logic and sensibility, seem to lack sensitivity. Life needs to be a beautiful balance of both. You need to be sensitive yet strong. Usually sensitivity is equal to emotional instability. It should not lead to that.
Your sensitivity should not lead you to emotional instability. If you are strong and sensitive then you have made it in your life. Got it.
You have to be sensible and sensitive, both.
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I am in you as you.. You are in me as me..
Ha! What a Blessing ..
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Knowledge Sheet: What Really is Sin?
He continues further by saying, 'Iccha-dvesha-samutthena dvandva-mohenabharata. Sarva-bhutanisammohamsargeyantiparantapa'. (7.27)
Lord Krishna says, ‘Why is it that so many are not able to know Me? The reason is Ichha (cravings or desires) and Dvesha (aversions). They are constantly stuck between their desires and aversions.'
When someone is caught up in Raaga (intense cravings), or consumed by Dvesha (hatred or spite) towards someone, then that completely fills their mind and they cannot see anything else. A person who intensely craves for someone or has too much hatred for someone, such a person falls into the trap of Moha (attachment).
All living creatures are affected by this, and all of them suffer because of this very reason.
A person who is suffering and is miserable cannot see anything else or understand anything. Even if something good is happening around him, he not able to see it. Such a person lives in his own world. That is Bhrama or Bhranti (delusion).
When such a person has a problem in his life, be it regarding money, or relationships, etc., then all that he can see is the problem. His mind is completely engrossed with the problem and nothing else. He spends his day and night worrying over it, even years, but he is not able to overcome it.
If someone suffers a loss of some kind, then that loss grips the person so completely that he is unable to see anything beyond it. This is what Lord Krishna calls as Moha (attachment). He says,‘One who is caught up in such attachments is not able to recognize Me as the one pure Consciousness that pervades everything. He is unable to recognize My vast brilliance. I am so vast and so majestic, he is not able to see that. So why does this happen, and who is able to recognize Me?’
He explains about this in the next verse:
‘Yesamtv-anta-gatampapamjananampunya-karmanam. Te dvandva-moha-nirmuktabhajante mam drdha-vratah’. (7.28)
Lord Krishna says, ‘One whose sins have reduced and who has begun to receive the merits of his good deeds, such a person becomes free from the conflicts of cravings and aversions, and worships Me dedicatedly. And also (on the other side), one who believes in Me is automatically cleansed of all his sins. One who takes refuge in Me, and sees Me as the pure Consciousness is freed from all his sins, and all his good deeds begin to bear fruit'.
In the next verse He says, ‘Jara-marana-moksaya mam asrityayatanti ye. Te brahma tad viduhkrtsnamadhyatmam karma chakhilam’. (7.29)
Lord Krishna says, ‘Those who wish to be free from (the problems of) old age and death; for whom I am the only shelter, and who rely completely upon Me for everything, such noble people surely attain (the highest pedestal of) the Brahman. This is what spirituality really is. And they are the ones who are able to understand the ways of Karma also’.
He then says, ‘Sadhibhutadhidaivam mam sadhiyajnamca ye viduh. Prayana-kale api cha mam teviduryukta-cetasah’. (7.30)
Here, Lord Krishna says, ‘Those whose Punyas (meritorious deeds) begin to bear fruit are freed of all their sorrow, and they begin to get drawn towards Me. Those whose sins are not cleansed remain stuck in ignorance and delusion’.
This is the difference between Paap (sin) and Punya (merit). This is the definition of the two. Sin is that which does not allow you to come to the spiritual path. See, if you walk towards the light, the darkness (of ignorance) automatically starts to disappear. But sin is that which does not let you move towards the light. And this is what causes misery, pain and suffering.
We have also seen this happen in the courses and workshops. People who are yet to undergo some suffering and misery, they are just not able to come and attend the course. Their karma is such that it stops them from coming and experiencing the course.
They are not able to attend Satsang, and even if they attend it, their mind is racing elsewhere. All this is because of their unfavourable ( paap) karma.
Those who walk this path and receive Self-knowledge are freed of suffering.
With this, the seventh chapter comes to an end. In the next chapter, Lord Krishna explains what spirituality really is. Spirituality is that which brings you merit, and causes the light (of Self-knowledge) to dawn in your life.
Once you are on this path, you never feel that you have aged. Old and elderly people who are on the spiritual path keep their enthusiasm till their last breath.
No matter how old they become, their face still glows with joy and happiness. They have a child-like innocence in them. So how can you call someone who has such a child-like innocence in them as old? How can you call people who are unafraid of death and who keep smiling as old?
When a person completely understands that I am not the body, I am pure Consciousness, then such strength dawns in him. How can such a person be fearful of death anymore?
Such people feel free from old age and death (having realized their true nature that is eternal). They are filled with happiness and enthusiasm. They are free from the conflicts of craving and aversions.
Otherwise you see so many people who till the last moment of their lives keep worrying about their son, or their daughter, or grandchildren, etc., (This is happening to my daughter, that is happening to my son). You need to realize that everyone has brought some karma with them, part of which is Paap and some part is Punya. And they have to pay off the debts of their bad karma and also experience the merits of their good karma.
Lord Krishna says, ‘But those who have complete faith in Me are freed from their karma and their sins are cleansed. This is what spirituality really is.
'People usually think that spirituality means to keep practicing Karma Kaand (rites and rituals of worship as mentioned in the scriptures) throughout their lives. But that is wrong. If you keep turning the beads of a japamaala (a rosary) all your life, that is not going to bring you any merit. But once the faith towards the Divine gets strongly lodged into your heart, then that is it.
For example, you all are sitting here in Bangalore. You are all aware you are in Bangalore, isn’t it? Does anyone have to remind you again and again about this? Do you need to keep chanting ‘I am in Bangalore’ ten times to remind yourself about it? Who would do that? One who has some doubt. If you are in Delhi but have this misconception that you are in Bangalore, then you have to remind yourself again and again that you are actually in Delhi and not in Bangalore.
So, when Lord Krishna says, ‘Believe in Me with strong dedication and unwavering faith’, He does not mean to say you should keep on chanting His name again and again. No, it is not so. Once you have faith in Him, then that is it. Then you should not doubt it one bit. This is what knowing the Divine truly means. Once you know Him and have total faith in Him, then it stays with you forever. Such knowledge can never diminish. It is always with you.
Delusion can never stay for long. It comes and goes. It has no permanent existence. Knowledge can never be destroyed. It is only because of one’s sins that knowledge gets veiled by ignorance. By doing good deeds, the veil of ignorance gets lifted and knowledge dawns in life. This is what spirituality is.
There are three different types of Taapa (manifestations of Divine energy): Adihautik (pertaining to the material realm), Adhyatmik (pertaining to the subtle spiritual realm) and Adidaivik (pertaining to the celestial realm of the demi-gods). Lord Krishna says, ‘I am all three and I am also beyond them as well’, and He simply leaves it at that, so that Arjuna can ask a question about them.
Here He creates a chance for Arjuna to ask a question, and also to check whether he is attentive or not (laughter). He wants to check whether Arjuna has been able to digest all the knowledge given so far. So Lord Krishna gives the knowledge, but at the very end of the chapter, leaves a small gap to give Arjuna a chance to reflect and ask questions.
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Knowledge Sheet: To What Extent Is Idol Worship Acceptable?
Dear Gurudev, my question is about idol worship in the Hindu religion. Christians don’t have churches everywhere. Mosques and Gurudwaras are also not everywhere. Then why do Hindus have temples everywhere? Under every tree and in every corner you see a temple. To what extent is idol worship acceptable?
Sri Sri: Who says that idol worship is not practiced in Christianity? Even Christianity gives importance to idol worship. They put the symbol of Cross anywhere, even on the road, or on top of the hills, isn’t it? Many mosques are also being built at many places.
Now to what extent is idol worship acceptable in Hinduism? This is a question worth pondering upon.
Wherever people have opposed idol worship, some other form of symbolism has come up.
What is an idol? It is a symbol. The Divinity which is formless, which cannot be described, which cannot be seen or touched, to see and understand that Divinity you need a medium. And that medium is what you call an idol.
God does not reside in the idol but an idol points you to God.
See, in your house there is a picture of your grandfather on the wall. Now if someone asks you, 'Who is your grandfather?' You point to his picture. Is the picture your grandfather? No. Your grandfather is no more, but if someone asks you, you point to his picture and say , 'This is my grandfather'.
So a picture (or idol) is a medium or a symbol, that is why it is called pratima (an image or idol).
And it is good that there is not just one symbol or image as God. Otherwise people would think of God to be that way only. That is why here in India, we have thousands of different images of God. You can see God in any of these forms, whichever is dear to you (Ishta Devta: referring to a particular deity being fondly revered and worshipped by a person or a group of people).
All the rays come from the same sun but the rays have seven different colors. This is why we have the Pancha Devta (referring to the five primary deities or forms of the Divine that are honored in all rites and rituals: Lord Shiva, Goddess Parvati, Lord Vishnu, Lord Ganesha and the Sun God), and the Sapta Matrikas (referring to seven different forms of the Mother Divine: Brahmani, Narayani, Indrani, Maheshwari, Varahi, Kaumari, and Chamunda).
Similarly God is one, but our ancestors have given different names and forms to God.
Then there is the tradition of establishing an idol of the Divine through chanting, and devotional worship. Whichever form is established with chanting, with devotion, and is given a seat of honor becomes honorable.
See, someone can simply keep the Bhagavad Gita, or the Guru Granth Sahib (the main scripture of the Sikhs) anywhere. But when you worship it, bow down before it, offer service to it, and food to it, then it has a different meaning. And if you also give the form a shape, or a face then that bring even more devotion in you.
For example, just by looking at Lord Krishna’s face, Meera Bai (a great Indian saint) became so deeply in love with Him. Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (revered as one of the greatest saints and devotee of Lord Krishna) reached the highest state of consciousness on seeing the form of Lord Krishna (referring to the image of Lord Krishna standing with a flute in his hand, wearing a peacock crown and dressed in brilliant yellow dress under a tree).
One who needs an idol, can use it as a staircase to reach the Divine. But don’t get stuck with the idol. Always remember that God is within you.
That is why in the earlier days, the ritual of going to a temple was to sit with oneself (to see the Divine within) for sometime after looking at the idol. One should not leave the temple without sitting for some time. But nowadays what people do is, they sit for a few seconds for the sake of sitting and then get up and leave. This is cheating.
In earlier days, the idol would be kept in the dark, in the Garbha Griha (the sanctum sanctorum of a temple housing the idol of the deity) and you could only see the deity’s face when shown with the light of an earthen lamp.
The message behind this is for you to remember that God resides deep in the caves of your heart. You need to see Him with the light of Self-knowledge. This is the true essence.
People in ancient days would decorate the idols very beautifully, so that your mind would not wander here and there, and you would be completely captivated by the Divine. They would make beautiful idols out of marble, and adorn it with beautiful clothes and jewelry. It is like going window shopping. Many people even today go window shopping, isn't it. They see all the nice things and they feel good. Why? It is because the mind gets attracted to beautiful clothes, good fragrances, flowers, fruits and good food.
Our ancestors knew this, and so they would keep all these items by the idol to retrieve the mind through five senses and directed it to the Divine.
The Buddhists also use this strategy to capture the mind. This is why they make such beautiful idols of Lord Buddha and the Bodhisattvas from emeralds, sapphires, gold and silver. They keep flowers, fruits, incense and sweets before the idol so that the mind together with the five senses becomes centered in the Divine.
Once the mind settles down, they ask you to close your eyes and meditate. This is the second step. In meditation you find God within you.
There is a very beautiful saying, 'Manusyanam apasu Devata manishinam divi Devata. Balanam tosha kashteshu gyanino atmani devata'.
-(A verse from the Sruti in Vedanta literature)
When a person asks ‘Where is God?’, the wise ones reply with this verse, which means, ‘For human beings, love itself is God; for the highly intellectual ones, they see the Divine in all Divine powers and Divine qualities; the less intelligent ones see God in idols of wood or stone; but the wise ones, see God in their own Self (Atman)’.
Tomorrow we will have the Chaturdashihavan in the ashram. You all can participate in that. As the chanting goes on, you can all meditate.
See, though there are elaborate rituals prescribed for pooja, we do not really need to perform them because when we meditate, we see everything is the Divine. But for the sake of preserving the ancient traditions and customs, we should perform all these rites and rituals. This is why we should regularly light a lamp, offer flowers to the deity, so that our children can learn from this and the future generations can be aware of our ancient traditions and rich cultural heritage.
Why do we celebrate Diwali? There is no real need to celebrate it. But if we do not, then how will we tell the future generations of the cultural and mythological significance of the festival and how our ancestors celebrated it and why. So if we do not do all this, then an ancient process, a sacred tradition will be lost.
When you go deep into all of this, you will see how wonderful everything is. That is why Lord Krishna says, 'Everything is Me'. So you need not abandon these customs and rituals.
Gurudev, the way today’s TV serials depict characters like Mahadev, Parvati, Jalandhar, etc., is it realistic? Please shed some light on this.
Sri Sri: Well, it does not quite appeal to me either.
They show Parvati (the consort of Lord Shiva and form of Mother Divine) as someone who keeps getting angry, keeps getting upset so easily and keeps yelling every now and then. These are not divine qualities. Divine qualities are that of equanimity, happiness, naturalness, simplicity, and foresight. This is what should be shown.
See, there are some divine forces and some demonic forces. But these serials ignore this and are portraying these Divine characters as human being, and that too not normal human beings, but people who are emotionally unhealthy or filled with negativity and misery. So I do not think this as a very wise thing to do. This is one thing.
Secondly, you should not take the story as the real truth, but you should extract the deeper meaning behind the stories that are portrayed. Otherwise it becomes just another form of entertainment and nothing more.
For example, in the program, a demon named Jalandhara emerged. Now where did this demonic energy come from when everything is Lord Shiva? When there is nothing beyond Lord Shiva, then this demon too must have come from Shiva.
So all the demons that have ever emerged are a part of the Brahman, and not separate from it. This is what you must understand first.
The story goes that Lord Shiva became very angry with Indra’s arrogance.
Lord Shiva is the manifestation of peace (and is pure consciousness), and Indra represents the collective consciousness or mob psychology.
They say one Indra is equivalent to a 1000 eyes, which means representing a mob of 500 people. A crowd generally has a consciousness or mind of its own, what is known as mob psychology, which is most of the time destructive. They will go somewhere and burn or destroy some public property and create nuisance. This mob mindset always has a destructive tendency. So it was very natural for the Shiva Tattva (the element or principle of pure consciousness, and bliss) to get angry at this destructive consciousness of Indra.
So anger arose from the peaceful Shiva Tattva. But the anger did not stop there. Lord Shiva’s anger took the form of a demon (a personification of the destructive nature of the Lord’s fury). No matter where anger comes from, even if it comes from God, it will surely have a reaction and come back to that person. Everything ultimately returns back to the source where it originates from, even anger.
So the anger (represented by Jalandhara) too had to come back (and dissolve into) to Lord Shiva, who was its source. Lord Shiva invokes the Adi Shakti (referring to the Mother Divine as the primordial energy) to destroy Jalandhara.
Lord Shiva represents the peaceful aspect of consciousness, while the Mother Divine is the energy which is responsible for all activity in Creation. Now, Adi Shakti is the combination of three energies or powers: Gyan shakti (the power of knowledge), Kriyashakti (the power of action), and Icchashakti (the power of will).
So when Lord Shiva and Adi Shakti became one, they defeated the anger that came from Him. In this way they destroyed Jalandhara, the demon who kept trapping people in the web of delusion using his powers. This is the essence of the story.Knowledge Sheet: To What Extent Is Idol Worship Acceptable?
Dear Gurudev, my question is about idol worship in the Hindu religion. Christians don’t have churches everywhere. Mosques and Gurudwaras are also not everywhere. Then why do Hindus have temples everywhere? Under every tree and in every corner you see a temple. To what extent is idol worship acceptable?
Sri Sri: Who says that idol worship is not practiced in Christianity? Even Christianity gives importance to idol worship. They put the symbol of Cross anywhere, even on the road, or on top of the hills, isn’t it? Many mosques are also being built at many places.
Now to what extent is idol worship acceptable in Hinduism? This is a question worth pondering upon.
Wherever people have opposed idol worship, some other form of symbolism has come up.
What is an idol? It is a symbol. The Divinity which is formless, which cannot be described, which cannot be seen or touched, to see and understand that Divinity you need a medium. And that medium is what you call an idol.
God does not reside in the idol but an idol points you to God.
See, in your house there is a picture of your grandfather on the wall. Now if someone asks you, 'Who is your grandfather?' You point to his picture. Is the picture your grandfather? No. Your grandfather is no more, but if someone asks you, you point to his picture and say , 'This is my grandfather'.
So a picture (or idol) is a medium or a symbol, that is why it is called pratima (an image or idol).
And it is good that there is not just one symbol or image as God. Otherwise people would think of God to be that way only. That is why here in India, we have thousands of different images of God. You can see God in any of these forms, whichever is dear to you (Ishta Devta: referring to a particular deity being fondly revered and worshipped by a person or a group of people).
All the rays come from the same sun but the rays have seven different colors. This is why we have the Pancha Devta (referring to the five primary deities or forms of the Divine that are honored in all rites and rituals: Lord Shiva, Goddess Parvati, Lord Vishnu, Lord Ganesha and the Sun God), and the Sapta Matrikas (referring to seven different forms of the Mother Divine: Brahmani, Narayani, Indrani, Maheshwari, Varahi, Kaumari, and Chamunda).
Similarly God is one, but our ancestors have given different names and forms to God.
Then there is the tradition of establishing an idol of the Divine through chanting, and devotional worship. Whichever form is established with chanting, with devotion, and is given a seat of honor becomes honorable.
See, someone can simply keep the Bhagavad Gita, or the Guru Granth Sahib (the main scripture of the Sikhs) anywhere. But when you worship it, bow down before it, offer service to it, and food to it, then it has a different meaning. And if you also give the form a shape, or a face then that bring even more devotion in you.
For example, just by looking at Lord Krishna’s face, Meera Bai (a great Indian saint) became so deeply in love with Him. Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (revered as one of the greatest saints and devotee of Lord Krishna) reached the highest state of consciousness on seeing the form of Lord Krishna (referring to the image of Lord Krishna standing with a flute in his hand, wearing a peacock crown and dressed in brilliant yellow dress under a tree).
One who needs an idol, can use it as a staircase to reach the Divine. But don’t get stuck with the idol. Always remember that God is within you.
That is why in the earlier days, the ritual of going to a temple was to sit with oneself (to see the Divine within) for sometime after looking at the idol. One should not leave the temple without sitting for some time. But nowadays what people do is, they sit for a few seconds for the sake of sitting and then get up and leave. This is cheating.
In earlier days, the idol would be kept in the dark, in the Garbha Griha (the sanctum sanctorum of a temple housing the idol of the deity) and you could only see the deity’s face when shown with the light of an earthen lamp.
The message behind this is for you to remember that God resides deep in the caves of your heart. You need to see Him with the light of Self-knowledge. This is the true essence.
People in ancient days would decorate the idols very beautifully, so that your mind would not wander here and there, and you would be completely captivated by the Divine. They would make beautiful idols out of marble, and adorn it with beautiful clothes and jewelry. It is like going window shopping. Many people even today go window shopping, isn't it. They see all the nice things and they feel good. Why? It is because the mind gets attracted to beautiful clothes, good fragrances, flowers, fruits and good food.
Our ancestors knew this, and so they would keep all these items by the idol to retrieve the mind through five senses and directed it to the Divine.
The Buddhists also use this strategy to capture the mind. This is why they make such beautiful idols of Lord Buddha and the Bodhisattvas from emeralds, sapphires, gold and silver. They keep flowers, fruits, incense and sweets before the idol so that the mind together with the five senses becomes centered in the Divine.
Once the mind settles down, they ask you to close your eyes and meditate. This is the second step. In meditation you find God within you.
There is a very beautiful saying, 'Manusyanam apasu Devata manishinam divi Devata. Balanam tosha kashteshu gyanino atmani devata'.
-(A verse from the Sruti in Vedanta literature)
When a person asks ‘Where is God?’, the wise ones reply with this verse, which means, ‘For human beings, love itself is God; for the highly intellectual ones, they see the Divine in all Divine powers and Divine qualities; the less intelligent ones see God in idols of wood or stone; but the wise ones, see God in their own Self (Atman)’.
Tomorrow we will have the Chaturdashihavan in the ashram. You all can participate in that. As the chanting goes on, you can all meditate.
See, though there are elaborate rituals prescribed for pooja, we do not really need to perform them because when we meditate, we see everything is the Divine. But for the sake of preserving the ancient traditions and customs, we should perform all these rites and rituals. This is why we should regularly light a lamp, offer flowers to the deity, so that our children can learn from this and the future generations can be aware of our ancient traditions and rich cultural heritage.
Why do we celebrate Diwali? There is no real need to celebrate it. But if we do not, then how will we tell the future generations of the cultural and mythological significance of the festival and how our ancestors celebrated it and why. So if we do not do all this, then an ancient process, a sacred tradition will be lost.
When you go deep into all of this, you will see how wonderful everything is. That is why Lord Krishna says, 'Everything is Me'. So you need not abandon these customs and rituals.
Gurudev, the way today’s TV serials depict characters like Mahadev, Parvati, Jalandhar, etc., is it realistic? Please shed some light on this.
Sri Sri: Well, it does not quite appeal to me either.
They show Parvati (the consort of Lord Shiva and form of Mother Divine) as someone who keeps getting angry, keeps getting upset so easily and keeps yelling every now and then. These are not divine qualities. Divine qualities are that of equanimity, happiness, naturalness, simplicity, and foresight. This is what should be shown.
See, there are some divine forces and some demonic forces. But these serials ignore this and are portraying these Divine characters as human being, and that too not normal human beings, but people who are emotionally unhealthy or filled with negativity and misery. So I do not think this as a very wise thing to do. This is one thing.
Secondly, you should not take the story as the real truth, but you should extract the deeper meaning behind the stories that are portrayed. Otherwise it becomes just another form of entertainment and nothing more.
For example, in the program, a demon named Jalandhara emerged. Now where did this demonic energy come from when everything is Lord Shiva? When there is nothing beyond Lord Shiva, then this demon too must have come from Shiva.
So all the demons that have ever emerged are a part of the Brahman, and not separate from it. This is what you must understand first.
The story goes that Lord Shiva became very angry with Indra’s arrogance.
Lord Shiva is the manifestation of peace (and is pure consciousness), and Indra represents the collective consciousness or mob psychology.
They say one Indra is equivalent to a 1000 eyes, which means representing a mob of 500 people. A crowd generally has a consciousness or mind of its own, what is known as mob psychology, which is most of the time destructive. They will go somewhere and burn or destroy some public property and create nuisance. This mob mindset always has a destructive tendency. So it was very natural for the Shiva Tattva (the element or principle of pure consciousness, and bliss) to get angry at this destructive consciousness of Indra.
So anger arose from the peaceful Shiva Tattva. But the anger did not stop there. Lord Shiva’s anger took the form of a demon (a personification of the destructive nature of the Lord’s fury). No matter where anger comes from, even if it comes from God, it will surely have a reaction and come back to that person. Everything ultimately returns back to the source where it originates from, even anger.
So the anger (represented by Jalandhara) too had to come back (and dissolve into) to Lord Shiva, who was its source. Lord Shiva invokes the Adi Shakti (referring to the Mother Divine as the primordial energy) to destroy Jalandhara.
Lord Shiva represents the peaceful aspect of consciousness, while the Mother Divine is the energy which is responsible for all activity in Creation. Now, Adi Shakti is the combination of three energies or powers: Gyan shakti (the power of knowledge), Kriyashakti (the power of action), and Icchashakti (the power of will).
So when Lord Shiva and Adi Shakti became one, they defeated the anger that came from Him. In this way they destroyed Jalandhara, the demon who kept trapping people in the web of delusion using his powers. This is the essence of the story.
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Knowledge Sheet: Prabdha karma and Sanchita Karma
Strange are the ways of Karma. The more you understand it, the more amazed you become. It brings people together and separates them. It causes some to be weak and some to be strong. It makes some rich and some poor. All the struggle in the world, whatever it may be, is the bondage of Karma. It cuts across all logic and reasoning. This understanding will lift you from getting stuck to the events or personalities and help you in your Journey to the Self.
Question: So a thief can say it is my karma to steal?
Answer: Then the police have the karma to catch him too! (Laughter)
Only human life has the ability to be free from Karma. And only a few thousands aim to be free from it. Only through Grace can the bondage of Karma be burnt. Performing actions cannot eliminate Karma.
Some karma can be changed and some cannot.
When you prepare halwa, if sugar is less or ghee is less, water more or less, it can all be adjusted, repaired. But once soji is cooked, it cannot be reversed.
If the buttermilk is sour, milk can be added, salt can be added to make it drinkable. But it can never be reversed back to milk.
Prabdha karma cannot be changed. Sanchita karma can be changed by spiritual practices. Satsang burns the seed of all negative karma.
When you praise someone, you take on their good karma. When you blame someone you take on their bad karma.
Know this and surrender both good and bad karma to the Divine and be free.
What do we get upset with? We don’t get upset with the birds, or the clouds, or with Nature. We don’t get upset with the environment. So, what do we get upset with?
We get upset with the people around us. Our enemies upset us and our friends upset us as well. Our mind gets stuck either in our friends or in our enemies. We either think about our friends or we think about our enemies the entire day.
People become our enemies even when we have not done any wrong to them. Many people have had this experience. We didn’t do any wrong to them; neither did we misbehave and still they became our enemies. This is very surprising!
We think, ‘Oh! Why has he become my enemy? Until yesterday he was my friend.’ In the same way, we do not do any special favours for some people, yet they become our close friends.
That is why I tell you, this is some astonishing and mysterious Karma – how some people become our enemies and some our friends.
So what should we do? We should place both our friends and enemies in one basket, and just become empty from within and be joyful. All these happenings (people becoming friends and enemies) are run by some law and we don’t know how and where it comes from. We just can’t say when someone’s feelings towards us will change and whether it will be in our favour or not in our favour. We just can’t say. That is why we should place absolute faith on our Self, on God, and not on friendship and enmity.
We should not waste our time thinking about friends and enemies.
What do you all think?
This does not mean you distance yourself from your friends, or that you stop making new friends. That is not what I am saying. Friendliness should be in our nature; love should be in our very nature. We are love after all!
When someone comes and sits beside us, we do smile at them and exchange a few words. This does not mean you think, ‘Anyways, who is a friend or who is an enemy, there is nothing to share with anyone’, and you walk around with a gloomy face being angry with everyone – this is not a sign of wisdom. This is ignorance and foolishness.
We must interact with everyone around us but at the same time be centred from within. Do you understand?
When we are centred, then we will not feel sad, angry or possessive. Then we will not have disappointment of any kind. Otherwise many times what happens, we become sad – ‘Oh! Look, I made him such a good friend and today he does not even talk to me. I did so many favours for him and he has turned against me!’
By thinking all these thoughts we waste the time we have in the present. We should not do this, Okay!
It is futile to search for a true friend in the world. Befriend the Truth (Divine) and the World is yours.
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Knowledge Sheet: Swadharma!
Gurudev what is Swadharma, and how do I know what is my Swadharma?
Sri Sri: Swadharma is that action which is in accordance with your nature. It is acting in accordance with your skills and talents, your own nature (svabhava), and that which you are responsible for (karma) .
Any action that does not make you feel afraid or restless is Swadharma. That action which you feel compelled to do, without which you feel restless is swadharma. Now do not misunderstand this and say, ‘I feel restless if I do not drink alcohol’. No! Not at all.
Every time you feel restless, it not always because of Swadharma. But at the same time not following your swadharma always makes you feel restless.
That is why it is said in the Bhagavad Gita, ‘Swadharme nidhanam shreyah paradharmo bhayaavahah’ (3.35).
When we do something without authenticity, just to show off to another person, that is when we feel fear because such action is not genuine, it does not come from the heart. But when we do something that is authentic and from the heart, then there is no fear.
When someone speaks lies, they definitely feel scared somewhere inside. But someone who speaks the truth does not feel scared at all. In fact speaking the truth and abiding by it brings so much strength to you, isn’t it? This is what Swadharma is.
When we follow that which comes naturally to us in our life, then it brings abundance and prosperity to us. When we flow in accordance with our nature, we grow from within. Any action that uplifts us is our Swadharma.
Dharma is that which holds the mind, intellect, memory and our inner soul together in harmony. Growth comes when we follow our swadharma.
Gurudev, in the Gita you have said that God is everywhere, but how can one experience this practically in everyday life?
Sri Sri: See, these are two aspects to knowledge. One is Bodha – the knowledge itself, and the other is Vyavahara – meaning following the knowledge and experiencing it practically.
You know that in your house, the doors, tables and chairs are all made of wood. But you cannot use a table for a chair, nor can you use the chair in the place of a door, isn’t it? Although the cot, the door and table are all made of the same substance (wood), still you cannot use one in place of the other, because practically they are each different from the other and have their own uses.
In the same way, there is one God present in both the young and the elderly. But if you say that they are all one (by the same God) and start touching the feet of young children and blessing the old people, then they will think you have gone crazy. They will think there is something wrong with you. So the way you behave has to differ from person to person. You cannot behave in the same way with everybody. But you should have a feeling of Sambhaava – meaning to see the one Divinity within everyone and everything around you.
When you understand this knowledge of,Advaita (Indian school of philosophy that stresses on non-duality) and keep it in your heart, then you become more firmly established in the Self. Only then will you come to this conclusion that though there is the same soul (Consciousness) within everyone and everything, yet you have to treat everything as per its own nature (meaning to discriminate wisely yet see the underlying oneness of everything around oneself).
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Knowledge Sheet: Everything Is An Expansion Of That One
Today is Shankara Jayanti. It is Shri Adi Shankaracharya’s birthday (the greatest Guru of the Advaita school of Indian philosophy).
Adi Shankaracharya propagated the teachings of the Advaita (non-dual) philosophy. According to Advaita, everything is made up of only One thing. In Advaita, it is said: ‘Sarvam khalvidam brahmam’, which means everything is made up of Brahman or the One Consciousness only; it is all Vasudeva (another name for Lord Krishna).
So the diversity that you see is not reality. The reality is that which is unseen (and can only experience).
It is like those animal shaped biscuits that we used to get. Have you seen those biscuits? They are all in different shapes – a cat, a dog, a horse, an elephant. Children like to play with such biscuits. So the same ingredients are used to make these different biscuits of different sizes and shapes.
Today you see different animal shapes made out of chocolate as well. But ultimately it is all made of the same chocolate only, isn’t it so? And all of them taste more or less the same. But children enjoy seeing the diversity in these chocolates. So even though they all appear to be different, essentially they are the same. Everything that we see appears to be different from each other due to Maya (illusion), but that is not true.
There is a story of Adi Shankara.
Once, Adi Shankara was sharing, ‘This whole world, that is everything, is nothing.’ So, he was saying, ‘This is all nothing.’ Like the modern day scientists say, ‘All this matter is nothing because it is all just waves.’
As he was saying, ‘Everything is nothing’, just then a mad elephant started running towards him. So Shankara ran to take cover.
Then someone said, ‘Oh, that elephant is nothing. Why are you running?’
Shankara then said, ‘The elephant is nothing and my running is also nothing.’
Such was the profound intelligence of Adi Shankaracharya, and you will rarely find someone like this.
What he said a thousand years ago matches exactly with what modern science tell us today. We know this by different names and theories such as the Theory of Relativity. But it is one and the same thing. Everything is an expansion of that One thing only.
A great scientist called Professor D’Hoore had come here recently. He told me that he had been studying matter for the past 45 years.
He said, ‘Gurudev, I studied matter for 45 years only to find out it doesn’t exist! So today, when I give a speech, people think I’m speaking about Buddhism or some Eastern philosophy because I say that matter doesn’t exist, what exist are only waves.’
Today science has reached the same conclusion, i.e., what appears is not real, and that which is unseen is real, and which is everything. So everything is Vasudeva (another name for Lord Krishna) only.
Now when I say everything is Vasudeva, do not think that this means there is someone with a peacock crown, dressed in bright yellow clothes, standing under a tree beside Radha and holding a flute (referring to Lord Krishna’s attire). If you think this, next you will start to wonder, for how many years he has been standing with a flute in his hand, and that his hands and feet might be aching from holding the flute all the time (laughter). So do not misunderstand it this way.
This is why in the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says, ‘Avajananti mam mudha manusim tanum asritam. Param bhavam ajananto mama bhuta-maheshvaram’. (9.11)
He says to Arjuna, ‘People mistake me to be a human being (meaning being limited to the physical body), they are not able to recognize Me. I am that pure consciousness from which everything has come, and due to which everything exists.’
Those great people (Mahatmas) who see Vasudeva in everything and everyone are indeed rare.
There are some people who think, ‘Vasudeva is in everything but not in me. I am just a servant. I am nothing, not even worthy of the dust of the Lord’s feet. I am very insignificant’. No, do not think this way. If everything is Vasudeva then you too are Vasudeva. You are a part of everything, which is Vasudeva. There is nothing beyond Vasudeva.
Such wise souls who are deeply connected with their inner self are very rare.
Lord Krishna says, ‘Kamais-tais-tair hrta-jnanah prapadyante 'nya-devatah. Tam tam niyamam-asthaaya prakrtya niyatah svaya’. (7.20)
There are many people who worship different deities and gods to have their desires fulfilled. Some worship Lord Hanuman, some go to Lord Shiva, and some seek the blessings of Santoshi Mata (a form of the Mother Divine) and so on. They worship all the different deities and there are different desires behind why they do so.
Lord Krishna says, ‘People worship different deities for fulfilment of their desires. But the power that fulfils these desires through all those deities is Me and Me alone. And the devotion with which people worship these deities is also Me’.
There are so many different religious communities in the world today, not just one. And within each religion, there are so many sects. And different people believe and worship different sects, and they also receive some merit out of it.
Some believe in Jesus Christ, some believe in Allah, some in Guru Granth Sahib (a holy scripture of Sikhism), some in Jehovah. Whosoever keeps their faith in whichever religion it may be, they surely get something out it. If they did not get anything out of it, why would they have faith in the first place?
Similarly, some people believe in Goddess Kali, some in Goddess Vaishno Devi, while some devotees find that their wishes get fulfilled at Amarnath (one of the sacred places of worship of Lord Shiva in North India).
Someone might think that the Amarnath shrine is nothing more than a block of ice that gets formed according to some law of Nature. Why go there at all? No, people go there with all their devotion. For the devotees, the shrine represents the Divinity and it is not simply a block of ice. They see Lord Shiva in it and worship it with a feeling of devotion.
So Lord Krishna says, ‘Whosoever worships whichever deity, it is Me only who gives them the fruits of their worship.’
It is the One pure Consciousness which is giving everything to everyone. When someone goes on a holy pilgrimage like Hajj (a sacred pilgrimage for Muslims), they definitely get some joy from it. So Lord Krishna says, ‘I am the giver of this joy. This joy comes from Me and Me alone’.
Again I tell you, ‘Me’ does not mean someone with a peacock crown dressed in bright yellow clothes. It is the One pure Consciousness which is saying this, and which is present everywhere and in all things. That is what Vasudeva is.
That Tattva (principle) which holds both the Apara Prakruti and the Para prakruti together within itself is Vasudeva. And it is that Vasudeva that is saying, ‘Yo yo yam yam tanum bhaktah sraddhayarchitum icchati. Tasya tasyacalam sraddham tam-eva vidadhamyaham’. (7.21)
‘Whosoever, and through whatever faith that one comes to Me, I grant them the fruits of their worship according to their devotion. And it is Me only who is also the giver of this devotion. So the devotion is Me, the worship is Me and the fruit also comes from Me. But these fruits are only temporary. However the one who is wise knows Me by My true nature, and therefore he is best among all the four types of people’.
Anyone who has achieved self-realization has said the same thing, that there is only One (consciousness). Such people are able to see the oneness in everything. The one who do not see this are the ones who remain entangled in fights and attachments in the world. They pick up scriptures and debate among themselves, thinking, ‘What I say is the truth’, or, ‘My religion is supreme’.
But the wise one who has reached the pinnacle of devotion sees the Divine alone in everything.
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Learn To Look Beyond
(Below is a continuation of the post Everything Is An Expansion Of That One)
Lord Krishna says, ‘Sa taya shraddhaya yuktas tasyaradhanam ihate. Labhate cha tathah kaman mayaiva vihitan hi tan’. (7.22)
Lord Krishna says, ‘When a person worships whichever demigod, he surely receives the merits of his worship (from those demi-gods), as arranged by me. Do not think that there is some other person other than Me who bestows the fruits of devotion. All fruits of devotion come through Me (as all demigods are forms of Myself). This is the law of Nature’.
There is a law of nature. If you put your hand in fire you will naturally get burnt, and if you put your hand in water you will feel its coolness.
So Lord Krishna says, ‘Everything operates per laws of Nature, and it is I who has created these laws of Nature. This is why, I am (through the laws of nature) the one who bestows everyone with the fruits of their devotion. It is I who decides the merits that one must receive based on their actions, and not anyone else. I am the One (pure Consciousness), yet I am expressed through different forms’.
He says, ‘Antavat tu phalam tesham tad bhavaty alpa-medhasam. Devan deva-yajo yanti mad-bhakta yanti mam-api’. (7.23)
When people desire for small things, it shows that their intellect is very limited.
This is because once they receive these small things that they desire for, it all comes to an end in a short time.
Throughout their lives people desire for small things, like a promotion, or more money, or a more fulfilling relationship. But all of these are very limited (meaning: all these cannot give everlasting joy or contentment).
So people who keep making efforts towards such desires, and who spend their whole lives in achieving these desire are not intelligent. This is a sign of a limited intellect. We cannot say that they are foolish in doing so, but this is surely a sign of lesser intelligence. They make so much effort for very small gains in life.
By being devoted to the scenery (meaning having narrow goals, or desires for small sense pleasure), one only reaps short lived results. But one who is devoted to the seer (meaning the Self as a witness) within him receives eternal gains. The fruits of such devotion (of being focussed inward) never diminish.
So the creation (or life) is a process to shift your focus from the (limited) scenery back to the seer.
You place your faith on the scenery (here referring to the form of Divinity one prays to) because you get something from it. But whatever you gain is because of the devotion you have within, which is the devotion of the seer. Whatever one receives in life is due to their devotion (shraddha). Devotion always comes from within (the seer).
Whatever we receive in life is because of our devotion, and what we receive depends on the kind of devotion we have, to some demigod or goddess, or to a Guru, or to God. So what is more important: the scene or devotion? It is said that devotion alone is important.
And where does this devotion come from?
This is where Lord Krishna says, ‘Any devotion that one has comes from Me and Me alone, for I am that pure Consciousness. Those who pray devotedly to different demigods and goddesses become one with them, but My devotees attain Me’.
Those who believe in the Self receive self-knowledge. Those who believe that the demigods are separate from the Lord and worship them alone attain those demigods and merge with them. So Lord Krishna says, ‘One who is completely devoted to Me alone attains Me and merges into Me’.
So who is this Me? – This is what Lord Krishna explains in the next verse:
‘Avyaktam vyaktim apannam manyante mam abuddhayah. Param bhavam ajananto mam-avyayam anuttamam’. (7.24)
He says, ‘My Divine form which is eternal, unparalleled and beyond the material realm is My Para-Rupa (transcendental Divine form) which is not visible to the naked eye. Those who are unaware of this, and who think of Me as being limited to my (visible) physical body, or a personality are foolish. I am the Divine power and not a person. I am the pure Consciousness present everywhere. They do not know this Divine form of Me and look at me from a limited perspective’.
What does seeing in a limited way mean? It means getting stuck in little things like, ‘Oh, he looked at that person and he didn’t look at me. He spoke to that person and he didn’t speak to me’. This is all very petty behaviour.
In the Indian tradition it has always been said that you should not look at your Guru with your (limited) human intellect. This is because if you do, then you get caught up in petty thoughts like, ‘Gurudev saw him but did not look at me. Gurudev spoke to someone else but not to me. He speaks more to this person but less with me. He loves others more than me’.
Do not get stuck in such thoughts. All these come because of the limited human intellect.
Once you are with the Guru, then that is it! Just know that your devotion and His love for you are total and complete. Do not doubt or question it one bit. Do not think whether the Guru loves you or not because the Guru is a Shakti (power) and that power loves you very much. There is no other option because love is its very nature.
In the next verse He says, ‘Na-aham prakasah sarvasya yoga-maya-samavrtah. Mudho 'yam nabhijanati loko mam ajam avyaya’. (7.25)
Lord Krishna says, ‘I am not visible to everyone, and this is because of My own Yoga Maya (delusions about one’s abilities as one moves higher on the path of Yoga). It is because of this that everyone is not able to recognize Me. One who knows Me is surely an intelligent person, and one who does not, is ignorant’.
What would you call someone who looks at the sun and then asks you, ‘Is this the sun?’ When the sunshine is falling on your head, when its heat is burning the earth around you, would someone still ask such a question? The proof is so self-evident.
So Lord Krishna says, ‘Because of My Yoga Maya, not everybody can see Me. In this entire creation, I am the Avyaya (eternal principle or the underlying cause of all causes) behind everything that happens. I am not diminished by anything and I am not enhanced by anything. I remain unchanged. I am never born and I do not have any end. A foolish person is unable to understand this. One who has even a little intellect knows from within that I (as the Self or pure Consciousness) am neither born nor can I die. I have never experienced birth or death, although people around me are constantly growing old and changing with age. But when I am unchanging, how can I die?’
It is only that which is constantly changing that can die.
There is something within us that never changes. Every one of us has experienced this at some time or the other, in some measure. If we focus more on this unchanging aspect of our self then this realization dawns, that we are eternal. We will always be there.
So here, Lord Krishna speaks about that Atma Tattva (the soul or the self). He says that one who knows this Atma Tattva is truly intelligent.
In the next verse, Lord Krishna says, ‘Vedaham samatitani vartamanani cha-arjuna. Bhavishyani cha bhutani mam tu veda na kashchana’. (7.26)
He says, ‘I know everything. I know all that has happened in the past, I know all that is happening in the present, and I know all that will happen in the future as well’.
The Self deep within us knows everything. It has the knowledge of events that happened in the past, and all that will happen in the future. That which has the ability to know is the soul.
So Lord Krishna says, ‘I know everything and everyone, yet everyone does not know Me. There is only One power that is capable of knowing everything, and that is the Self. So the objects in the creation appear different, yet none of them truly know Me. Yet I know them all’.
People often ask, ‘If all this is true, then why don’t more and more people across the world walk the spiritual path?’
Lord Krishna explains this very clearly by saying, ‘The foolish ones cannot know Me. There are very few intelligent ones in the world and they alone are capable of knowing Me. The very sign of being an intelligent person is one who knows Me’.
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A great scientist called Professor D’Hoore had come here to the Ashram. He is a Scientist and an expert in physics. He said that this Universe is held together by three forces. If there were two forces instead of three, the world would have collapsed. These three forces together constantly keep the Universe stable. He showed this by drawing a model.
Just as a ceiling fan has 3 blades, these three forces together keep the Universe in balance.
Like the blades of a windmill, when one goes up, the other two blades come down, then it rotates and the one that was up comes down and the other two go up, and so this movement retains the balance.
In the same way, when there are three forces present together, only then can something operate continuously, otherwise it is not possible.
In a pendulum clock, the pendulum swings between two points only, and it continues to swing as long as it is wound. Once the winding gets over, the pendulum stops.
But these three forces act at equal distances from each other and hence keep the universe in balance.
So he said that this world is held in balance by these three forces, which is why it has continued to exist all this time. I said that Lord Krishna has said the same thing in the Bhagavad Gita.
Lord Krishna says that, ‘The three gunas, Sattva, Rajas and Tamas are all born from Me, but I am beyond them and not influenced by them’.
JaiGuruDev
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Q: Guruji, after all these years, I am still struggling, why? Love you Guruji!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You love me and then you are struggling. Struggling for what?
You are struggling for money, then don’t sit and day dream, do hard work. If one business does not work, choose another business and do it.
You can only struggle with two things, a job or relationship.
If you are not getting married, you have been too choosy and so things are not working. And if you are already in a relationship and then you are struggling, then of course the knowledge point comes here, accept people as they are. So you try to accept them more and more, but your mind says no. Know that it is because of the knowledge that you are able to sustain and survive. Do you see what I am saying? Somehow you are making things work.
So don’t think nothing works for you. I don’t think that is a fact.
The third issue could be health. There is no fourth issue. And being in The Art of Living always helps you to somehow manage all the three.
Don’t sit and day dream and only think about miracles to happen. Miracles do happen, but if you crave for miracles then they will take a back seat. Nature wants you to be dynamic.
There are people who have asked me, ‘Guruji, please give me some numbers for my lottery ticket. I just want to win a lottery so that I don’t have to do anything. Just do sadhana all the time and some seva.’ No ways!
First of all, decide what it is that you want from life.
Struggling with what? With money?!
You know money is something that you will always find people short of money. Always!
You can see for example, the richest country, the only super power on this planet is USA and it is under heavy debt; trillions of dollars of debt. You take big companies; many of them are in debt. The richer a person gets, the more expenses he has to do. At the same time, there are poor people who are contributing towards charity, poor people who take time to do service, which is amazing. They feel so much abundance.
The other day in India, a gentleman comes to me. He has a small shop; a small little kiosk for himself, and he had inherited two plots of land. So he comes to me and offers me one plot of land. He says, ‘I want to give this plot to you’, he insisted. He came with his whole family, his wife, his mother and said, ‘I have two, I want to donate one and keep the other one.’
The plot is in a very expensive location of the city and he could make a big fortune from it. But look at the heart in that guy.
I said, ‘Okay, I will take it, but it will be in your name only. You should keep it for me and you build your shop here. Sell the other plot and with the money that you get, do business.’
I could not say I won’t take this to him because he will feel hurt, so I said, ‘Yes this is mine, but it will be in your name and you should have it.’
Look at the broad mind of that person.
Another day, a very poor lady comes, and she had just one gold chain that she inherited. I was going in the car and she comes running and gives me an envelope in my hand.
Usually people give me envelopes with letters in it of some problems. So I took the envelope, and in it I found a gold chain. Then I told some people to go and find this lady and give the chain back to her saying, Guruji sent you blessings.
Do you know, during our silver jubilee, there is a beautiful story that happened! I came down from the steps on the last day and a small boy comes running to me with tears in his eyes and he gives me an envelope. I take the envelope and it had Rs. 5000 in it. I looked at that boy and I said, ‘What do you do?’
He said he is a laborer.
The money in the envelope that he had given me had two months of his earnings, and he said, ‘Please take this.’
He said, ‘I can’t tell you how much my life has transformed. Please accept this.’
I took just Rs.100 from that and returned back Rs. 4900. I told him, you know this Rs.100 is so precious for me, this is enough. I will take this. 2 months of his salary; someone who is a laborer who does manual work, he comes and offers. Such a big heart is there in people.
What I am saying is you too should feel abundance. You don’t have to be very rich to feel the abundance. In fact many rich people don’t feel abundance at all, they feel lack. They are not generous. But poor people are very generous; they have that feeling, that art.
Don’t imagine a situation where you will become super rich one day and then you will start doing some seva, no, nothing like that. You can feel abundance at any point of time. And the moment you start feeling abundance, you will see things will get better, got it!
Similarly, don’t be feverish about a relationship, just relax and you will find your relationship with people will improve and become better. If you are like a leech, clinging on to somebody in a relationship and bugging them, even though you say all nice words, that person will run away from you because they can’t handle it.
One aspect is to give love, and another is to know how to handle love, receive love as well. It needs only a centered, enlightened person. Now don’t expect that type of behavior from everybody.
You have to be very much at ease with yourself. If you are at ease with yourself, everyone will be at ease with you.
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Q: How to come out of a Difficult Relationship
Guruji - I am not so qualified to answer this.. Still...difficulties arise because you expect something from the other person. In a relationship never ask a person to prove his love for you.. Trying to prove your love for a person is such a big burden..
When mind starts doubting, policing...and it happens with both men and women..If you are too nice, the other wonders what's the matter.
-Don't question the other's love
-Give them enough space . Your spouse has the right to commit mistake and you have the authority to forgive. Both should have a big heart.
Difficulties are coz of 2 things
- Demand .. Spouse demands too much
- Trust.. Somewhere trust is waning
What you cannot give say sorry .. Life is about moving together.. Forgive and Forget. Don't expect someone to Prove their love for you...
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‘How is The Self?’
Sri Sri - It is empty like the sky and full like the ocean.
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Feelings....
"Everything is changing, leaves are falling and new leaves are coming. Who is counting how many leaves have fallen from a tree? So, why do you worry about how you feel or how you don’t feel?
You should bundle all your feelings and throw them into the ocean, and relax. Who cares?! Your feelings change all the time. Isn’t that so?
...How many times have your feelings changed? How often have they changed? So what is the big deal about it? We make such a big issue of our feelings.
I feel this, I feel that. Who cares? Just stand up! What you want to do in this world, just do it and just finish it. That’s it. Time runs like that.
......There is no time to express our love or to express life, where is the time to sit and think how we feel, how we don’t feel. There is so much to do in the world and yet nothing to do. They go together.
There is so much to do, and yet there is nothing you need to do. It’s all done; total fulfillment. "
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Q: What are effects of Past life karma on the present life? I feel I have done sins in past.
Sri Sri: Don’t waste your energy thinking too much on past life karmas. Use your energy to come out of the present problems. ‘Om Namah Shivay’ mantra, pranayama, Satsang.. – All these take care of your previous karmas. Surrender all your sins and move further in life.
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Q: What to do when we love somebody and he/she rejects you?
Sri Sri Love is the precious thing, you have offered her love and if she rejects, that’s her problem, her ignorance. You should move on.
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Marriage: Love and Respect
Marriage is not a matter of the head. It is not a job of your upper chamber, it is somewhere deep inside you feel attracted and you fall in love with someone and you decide to be together.
When you are together what happens? Being together more and more the attraction dies out. Love manifests in three forms.. Attraction, emotional attachment and then the spiritual dimension - surrender. Your attraction dies down when you are together. Love seems to have disappeared.
Another question of respect comes there. You respect something which is away from you. As you come together, the respect dies down. Love brings intimacy and in Intimacy respect is lost. But every individual is striving for respect. You have love but respect is lost.
This is the main problem in marriage. You feel you have been less respected. You have to be aware of all the dimensions of love then life blooms. Without this marriage would not be what it promises to be .
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Q: Gurudev, what is the significance of the wedding ceremony? If two people love and respect each other, can they just make a decision to live together?
Sri Sri: Marriage ceremony is a commitment. You live together with a commitment. When there is a commitment, you have full trust in each other. One aspect of your life is set. That is what is marriage.
Otherwise, the mind keeps looking for a partner. In marriage, that looking for a partner thing comes to an end, 'Okay, I have found a partner, I am set.' So now you can focus on other things.
When there is commitment, it puts you on track.
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PROMISE
If I had to promise you something, what would it be?
I can’t promise that you would always be comfortable…
Because comfort brings boredom and discomfort.
I can’t promise that all your desires will be fulfilled…
Because desires whether fulfilled or unfulfilled bring frustration.
I can’t promise that there will always be good times…
Because it is the tough times that make us appreciate joy.
I can’t promise that we will be rich or famous or powerful…
Because they can all be pathways to misery.
I can’t promise that we will always be together…
Because it is separation that makes togetherness so wonderful.
Yet if you are willing to walk with me,
If you are willing to value love over everything else ~
I promise that this will be the most rich and fulfilling life possible.
I promise your life will be an eternal celebration.
I promise you I will cherish you more than a king cherishes his crown.
And I shall love you more than a mother loves her newborn.
If you are willing to walk into my arms,
If you are willing to live in my heart,
You will find the one you have waited forever….
You will meet yourself in my arms…
I promise.
- Poem written by H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
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Whatever is yours will come to you for sure! ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
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Rapidfire With Shri Shri -
Can we ask you some rapid fire questions?
Sri Sri: Yes, go ahead.
Who are you?
Good Question to ask yourself.
Who were you in your past life?
That is a secret, I will tell you some other time.
What is and who is God?
What and who is not God.
How should we feel god?
Just be quiet. Don’t worry about him, let him worry about you.
How can the world be violence free and stress free?
By spreading The Art of Living.
What is future of Earth?
Bright with people like you.
What is religion?
Religion is that which puts you in the right track.
What is Truth?
That which cannot be defined and which cannot be avoided.
What is positive and what is negative?
Positive is what elevates you, and negative is what puts you down.
Who is Guru?
One who answers this question.
What is mind?
That which is asking the question.
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Q: What is the significance of the story of poison getting stuck in Shivji’s throat?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It has a deep meaning. Poison spreads with speech. Mind gets agitated with speech. All riots happen because of harsh words and lack of right knowledge. Shivji is also called neelkanth – which signifies when Mahadev drinks poison, it doesn’t reach his whole body. When there is fight between right and wrong thoughts, a poison is generated. Shiva tattva has power to hold on to that poison. Even if you have to criticize, do it from your lips and not your heart. When you do it from your heart, it harms you. When it is from the level of lips, somebody is benefitted in the society. You cannot have flowery speech all the time. That would be cheating yourself and others also. You have to show mirror to people. But that should not be from the level of the heart. Even if Shiva gets angry, that is not from inside. Same peace is there inside. It is like kids getting angry with their mother. In no time they retain their smile. This is innocence. It is the grownups who hold on to fights for long time.
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Lord Krishna says, ‘Sa taya shraddhaya yuktas tasyaradhanam ihate. Labhate cha tathah kaman mayaiva vihitan hi tan’. (7.22)
Lord Krishna says, ‘When a person worships whichever demigod, he surely receives the merits of his worship (from those demi-gods), as arranged by me. Do not think that there is some other person other than Me who bestows the fruits of devotion. All fruits of devotion come through Me (as all demigods are forms of Myself). This is the law of Nature’.
There is a law of nature. If you put your hand in fire you will naturally get burnt, and if you put your hand in water you will feel its coolness. So Lord Krishna says, ‘Everything operates per laws of Nature, and it is I who has created these laws of Nature. This is why, I am (through the laws of nature) the one who bestows everyone with the fruits of their devotion. It is I who decides the merits that one must receive based on their actions, and not anyone else. I am the One (pure Consciousness), yet I am expressed through different forms’.
- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Bhagwad Geeta
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In the Bhagavad Gita it is said, ‘Na hi jnanena sadrusham pavitram iha vidyate. Tat svayam yoga-samsiddhah kalenatmani vindati’. (4.38)
It means: There is no greater purifier than Knowledge. Everything is temporary. Everything is nothing. All of this is nothing. Just see all people that you see walking around, they are just ragdolls made up of the five elements. They are acting the way they do because of their karmas (actions) and samskaras (impressions). Some are rising in life because of the influence of their stars while some are having downfalls because of the influence of some other stars (referring to astrology). All of them are moving about here and there doing this and doing that, but one day everything will end. So you just let them do what they are doing. How does it matter to you? You should continue to live happily. We need to remind ourselves about this again and again. As you move about in society, no matter how many times this dust accumulates on you, simply brush it off and move ahead. Whatever is yours will come to you for sure!
Now knowing this does not mean that you do not put any effort and just sit and do nothing at home. You sit at home and say, ‘Oh Gurudev, please get me married. Please find me a suitable bride or groom for me’, no! You also must make an effort. If you sit with a sad face, who will marry you! At least smile and be cheerful. That is why I opened a Matrimony department here (laughter). Its progress has been a bit slow though. You all come and get things moving there. Go and sit in the matrimony office and ask the staff there to find someone for you quickly. Do not be too choosy. Whoever you get just choose them that is it! Everything will be fine afterwards. Anyway all of this is only going to last for a few days, whether it is pleasant or unpleasant. Very soon life will be over. One day we all have to bid farewell to this world. No one is going to last forever. What is the use if you are going to take 60 years to choose your spouse?
A gentleman who was 60 years old came to me said, ‘Gururdev, please find someone for me. Is my soul mate out there somewhere?’ I told him, ‘If you have not found your soul mate after so many years of searching, you will have to wait a little bit longer. Not very long, just another 20 years more. That level of perfection is still not visible in you, and it should be recognized by your soul mate also’ (Laughter).
We want to see everything perfect in others but we forget to look at ourselves. We do not reflect on ourselves. Reflect on yourself but then don’t get too entangled into the analysis. Do not overdo it. You have some good qualities and some not so good qualities, it is okay. Just keep moving ahead. Some things are fine, some are not, and it does not matter. You should simply keep moving forward.
JaiGuruDev
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Q: Gurudev, can you tell us more about Rishi Kapila? Very little is known about him.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Rishi Kapila lived in California. That is how the name California has come. Kapilaranea is the Vedic name of California.
At one point of time, Vedic knowledge was prevalent in all of South America and North America. In the scriptures, it is said, the time difference between Kapilaranea and India is 12 hours. When it is day there, it will be night here, and vice-versa; that exactly fits California, which is called Kapilaranea.
Kapila was the son of a lady called Devahuti. Today’s Detroit has some connection with Devahuti, and that is where Detroit gets its name from – Devahuti. Devahuti’s son, Kapilaranea, lived in California. He was the previous incarnation of Lord Krishna. He is the founder of the philosophy called Sankhya Darshana. Sankhya means counting the different elements and principles that the whole universe is made up of, i.e., Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Ether, Mind, Intellect, etc. Like that, 24 different tatvas or principles are present in his philosophy, which is why it is called Sankhya Yoga.
He speaks about how consciousness and matter are different, and the relationship between consciousness and matter is discussed in detail.
The second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita also is called Sankhya Yoga, where Lord Krishna speaks about how the mind and the spirit are different from matter, and self is immortal. This knowledge of self is given.
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Knowledge Sheet: How to deal with rude behavior!
What do you do when someone behaves very rudely to you?
Get upset
React rudely back
Get frustrated
Run-away from and avoid the person or the situation
Blame the person
Preach to the person
None of these will in any way strengthen you.
Then what are the options? See rude behavior in this light:
It indicates the intensity of their commitment
It indicates the amount of stress and insensitivity
It projects the up-bringing of the person
It indicates a behavioral pattern
It shows lack of knowledge
It shows lack of observation of one's own mind and its sensations
It shows you behavior to avoid
It is an opportunity for you to welcome and absorb the rudeness
It strengthens your mind
It unconditions the love that you are
The next time when someone is rude to you, make sure you don't get upset. Just give back a broad smile. If you can digest the rudeness, nothing whatsoever can shake you.
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Guruji, how can one establish an unbreakable connection with you?
Sri Sri: Oh, it is already there! Just believe that you have that connection. Do not make any effort for that. I am not a plug that sometimes there is electricity and sometimes there is no electricity. I am like the air. No one can go away from me.
This is a connection that you cannot break even if you want to. Neither I, nor you can break it. Has anyone broken connection with air? It is not possible.
Even if you go underwater, you have to breathe in air. I am not an electrical connection to give you 24/7 electrical connectivity. Just believe that the connection is there, that is all.
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Is unconditional love towards a married person a crime?
Sri Sri: Suppose you are the husband or wife of a person who is being loved unconditionally by somebody else, would you like it? Come on, this is not love, it is an emotional entanglement, get out of it.
Be firm and solid where you are, in yourself. Don’t try to break somebody else’s family; better you keep out, okay?
There are 7 billion people on the planet; nearly half of them are unmarried. You will find somebody better than the person whom you are entangled with.
I understand, when you are emotionally attached, nothing else comes to your head; you are in a bubble. You are in a little world of your own, thinking, sitting, talking, eating, sleeping, you think only about that person, you go crazy. This is the moment when you should remember that one day you are going to die. When you become aware of death, suddenly this moha, this illusion that you have gotten entangled into, leaves you. You should just remember about your own death. Knowledge of death sometimes makes life very intense, and very well founded. Otherwise, we live as if we are going to live here forever.
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Knowledge Sheet: Being with the Guru!
People have various reasons to be with a Guru.
Broadly they can be put in these 6 categories.
1) You would like to have your wishes fulfilled and because it is more pleasurable.
2) Everything else looks more painful to you and you come for comfort.
3) You want to evolve and become enlightened; you want to know higher Knowledge.
4) You have a vision or goal; you share a vision of the Guru. Missionary or visionary.
5) You are there to just serve and give comfort to the Guru.
6) You are with the Guru because you belong to the Guru. There is no choice.
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Narada bhakti sutra - 'Amrit swarupa cha'
Divine love is immortal, undying, because it is unconditional - it is not attached to some strings.
When you love somebody, you don't care what they do with you, how they behave with you. You simply love them. Even in the case of the child and the mother, you have had many such examples where the children are not so kind, but the mother is always kind.
You know, I heard about an instance in a train at a railway station, where a son had an argument with the mother, an elderly lady, and he really bet her up. She was all bruised, but when the police came to catch the son, she said, ''No, no, don't do anything to my son''. She prevents the police from taking action on her son, who has been very brutal. Getting angry she says, ''Never mind, he's my son''.
The police is trying to discipline her son, but she doesn't want that to happen!
Love is unconditional. Such unconditional love is amrit swarupa cha - undying, immortal, it makes you immortal. It is not that one day you fall in love and the next day you fall out of love. Devotion is not that. It stays deep inside, even if you don't feel it everyday on a day to day basis.
Often people feel devotion one day and they start repeating all those exercises so that they can feel it again, but it doesn't happen. But it remains, it is undying. Once someone tastes the pinnacle of love, they can never forget it, they can never leave it. So that love is undying.
Jai guru dev :)
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Q: What do you do when the one you love is in love with someone else?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Know that it is a test for your love to be unconditional. They are giving you an opportunity to be unconditionally in love. You can use it for your benefit to become stronger and grow in love, or you can get upset, angry, frustrated and jealous.
What would you prefer? To grow in jealousy and get all those jealous feelings inside of you; feel bad, upset and spoil your vibrations, or to be happy for someone else, wish the best for the person you love!
I know the second option is difficult, but the first is not easy either. It is even more difficult to bear the jealousy and walk around with it, isn’t it? Think about it.
Anyways, life is short. Everything is going to finish one day. Think about it, you will have more peace.
Whenever anything disturbs you, you feel injustice, uncomfortable, or you feel you can’t sleep or can’t handle it, remember it is all going to end! Everything is going to finish, and you will be gone from here. You will be able to sleep well. Again, this is dispassion.
Q. How should praise be used to motivate people?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There are three types of people- the wise, the crooked, and the immature. The wise man continues doing good work whether he is scolded or praised. Crooked people need to be praised in order to get them to do good work. And from time to time immature people need to be both praised and scolded for them to do good work.
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What positive effect does meditation have on ones faith and devotion?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Faith is the subject of the head; devotion is the subject of the heart ; meditation is the subject of the head and heart and connects them both.
A mature intellect is devoted, a mature heart is full of knowledge and meditation matures your intellect as well as your heart.
It is only a question of balance. All of your life becomes a meditation. Whether, you look at the trees or the flowers , you are in meditation.
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There are four kinds of attitude that are good to have in life:
1)Friendliness: Be friendly with people who are happy. If you are not friendly with happy people, you will be jealous.
2)Compassion: Do not be friendly with people who are miserable, instead, have compassion for them. If you are friendly with unhappy people you will become unhappy.
So, what should be the attitude with people who are miserable? Compassion, not pity.
3)Happiness: For people who are doing good work or who are successful in the world, you should feel happy as though you are doing it.
4)Indifference: For people who are doing horrible things in the society, destroying themselves, we usually get angry at them. When you are angry, your mind suffers a huge loss. You lose so much energy, you lose your mood, and your enthusiasm. When energy and enthusiasm goes away from you, you become angry and are no better than the other person. You do not know what you are doing. So, what should you do in such a situation? Have a sort of indifference in your mind.
These are the four attitudes that will help us to save our mind. This is what we need to do, save our mind at all costs.
- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
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We need to remember that we are a fire.
However, some ash has accumulated over the mind. Once you blow the ash away then the fire will rise up and shine brightly.
If there are too many worries in your mind, then just say ‘Hmm’ (with slight force), and all that ash that has accumulated on the mind will be wiped off and you will feel fresh and bright.
Often we sit and worry, ‘Oh, this is not happening’, or, ‘That is not happening’. Life is such! Sometimes what you wish won’t happen; sometimes what you don’t want happens. Never mind. Don’t sit and brood over it. Move on; march ahead remembering that you are fire.
When you know you are fire, nothing can burn you. People say, ‘I am burned out. Oh, I am so tired!’
What burned out? Come on! How can anything burn fire? Move on, knowing that you are fire. Let go of the past and move happily into the future.
And take life in its totality. Some pleasant, some unpleasant experiences – all these things happen and then they go away. Knowing that ‘I have all the blessings, I have the grace, the best will happen to me’, you should move ahead.
- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
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Q: What is the importance of chanting mantras?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When someone abuses you verbally, how do you feel?
If someone says that you are a donkey, how do you feel? What does it do to you? What does it create? Anger! It shakes you. It creates some negative vibrations; you feel angry. You feel some sensations in the stomach, the head.
If a bad word can create so much physiological reactions in you, do you think a very sweet name, a chanting, which includes a lot of energy of the cosmos, does not do anything to your body?
It is unscientific and stupid to think that a mantra does not do anything to your body. That is not the case! It does.
Mantras bring out all the positive energy inside you. It is called mantra kavach; a mantra creates an armor around your body.
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The 4 truths that Buddha Discovered – Sri Sri Ravishankar
When Buddha got enlightened on that full moon day in the month of May, it is said that he maintained silence for the whole week. He did not say a word.. Mythology says that all the angels in the heaven were frightened. They knew that it was only once in a millennium that someone blossoms like Buddha. Now he was silent! The angels then requested him to say something. He said, “Those who know, they know even without my saying and those who do not know, will not know even if I say something. Any description of light to a blind man is of no use. There is no point in talking to those who have not tasted the ambrosia of life, and therefore I am silent.
How can you convey something so intimate and personal? Words cannot. And as many scriptures in the past have declared words end where truth begins.”
The angels said, “What you say is right. But consider those who are on the borderline, who are neither fully enlightened nor totally ignorant.( Refer The way to get rid of the obstacles – SriSri ) For them, a few words will give a push, for their sake you speak and every word of yours will create that silence.”
The purpose of words is to create silence. If words create more noise, then they have not reached their goal. Buddha’s words would definitely create silence, because Buddha is the manifestation of silence. Silence is the source of life and is the cure for diseases. When people are angry, they maintain silence. First they shout and then comes the silence. When one is sad, they ask to be left alone and retreat into silence. Similarly, silence is the recourse one takes to if ashamed. If one is wise too, there’s silence.
When Jesus was asked, “Are you the son of God?” he kept silent; it was the wisest thing to do. When you are telling someone you have a pain in the leg and they want you to prove it, how is that possible?
When you cannot prove something as deep as pain how can you prove something like enlightenment or divinity? Joy and fulfillment bring silence while desire brings noise.
Look at the noise in your mind. What is it about? More money? More fame? More recognition? Fulfillment? Relationship? The noise is about something; silence is about nothing. Silence is the basis; noise is the surface.
From the very beginning Buddha lived a very satisfied life. Any pleasure was at his feet the moment he wanted it. One day he said, “I would like to go and see what the world is.”
He started thinking when he saw someone who was sick, someone who was old and someone who was dying. These three instances were good enough to bring in him the knowledge that there is misery. When he saw someone sick, he said, “enough! I have experienced it.” Just one glimpse of an old man and a corpse was enough Buddha said, “there is no joy in life; I am dead already! There is no meaning in life. Let me go back.”
Buddha set out in quest of truth, all by himself, leaving his palace, wife and son.
Stronger the silence, powerful will be the questions that arise from such a silence.
Nothing could stop him. He knew he wouldn’t be able to get away during day, so he quietly escaped at night and his search continued for several years. He did all that people told him to do, he went from place to place, fasted, and he walked many paths, before discovering four truths.
1 : “There is misery (Dukha) in the world.”
In life, there are only two possibilities: one is to observe the world around us and know from others’ suffering and futile exercises,
the second is experience it and find that it is misery.
There is no third possibility. If you are sensitive, you don’t need to go through all that yourself. You can look at those who are suffering and become wise.
2 : The second truth is, “There is a cause for misery.” You can be happy without a reason. Joy does not need a reason, laughter does not need a joke but misery has a cause.
3 : The third truth is, “It is possible to eliminate misery.”
4 : The fourth truth is, “There is a path to be out of misery.”
Following the four truths, he gives the eight-fold path of right equanimity, right vision, right silence, right meditation etc. Buddha also said that the three things to do are Sheela, which means conduct, Samadhi, which means an equanimous meditative state, and Pragya, which means awareness.
Buddha was born at a very interesting time in India’s history, at a time when India was prosperous and had reached its height in philosophical thinking. In a highly intellectual society, people think they know it all, but in fact, they have not known at all. This was the case in India. So Buddha said, “Come, I have a simple technique for you. Keep your concepts to yourself, but just come and sit.” Then Buddha gave them four steps.
They are:
1 : Observe the body (Kayaanu Paschana)
2 : Observe the sensations (Vedananu Paschana)
3 : Observe the flow of mind (Chittanu Paschana)
4 : Observe your true nature (Dhammanu Paschana)
So, Buddha spoke and taught for years. Thousands would sit still, observe and meditate and become free. Buddha would not indulge in any philosophic discussion.
I think it is mandatory for every psychologist to study Buddha! . Buddha has propounded all that there is to know about the mind and its functions in such a methodical manner.
Mind is noise; the source of the mind is silence. That’s why Buddha said, “no mind”. He was referring to the chain of thoughts that simply wander in the mind all the time.
At a time when there was so much prosperity, Buddha gave a begging bowl to his main disciples and asked them to go and beg! He made kings take off their royal robes and take a bowl in their hand! Not that they were in need of food but he wanted to teach them the lesson of becoming ‘nobody’ from being ‘somebody’. You are nobody; you are insignificant in this Universe. When kings and geniuses of that time were asked to beg, they became embodiments of compassion.
Observe your true nature. What is your true nature? It is peace, compassion, love, friendliness and joy and it is silence that gives birth to all this.. Silence swallows the sadness, guilt, and misery and gives birth to joy, compassion and love. Buddha came to take away the misery, the guilt, the fear, the arrogance, the ignorance, and bring back wisdom, strength, beauty, knowledge and peace.
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Let me tell you another story about an astrologer.
Once an astrologer went to a king. The king showed great reverence to the astrologer, made him sit and honoured him with gifts. The king then showed his palm and the charts to astrologer. The astrologer examined everything and then said to the king, ‘O King! You will lose your entire family. Everybody is going to die before you. You will be the last to die’.
The king got very upset upon hearing this and put the astrologer in the jail.
This news shook the entire astrologers’ community. They thought, ‘We cannot tell the truth to the king. If we do so, he will simply put us in jail. What do we do?’
When someone hears some negative prediction, they don’t like it. They obviously want to hear something nice and positive instead. And so it was for the king as well.
The king then called for another astrologer to appear before him. Many tried to escape this request but one senior astrologer agreed to meet the king. So, he went before the king, and the king welcomed him in the same way with gestures and gifts. The king then showed his palm to the astrologer. The astrologer said, ‘Oh King! What a great fortune you are blessed with! You have a very good horoscope. Nobody in history has had such longevity of age as you are going to have. In fact, nobody in your dynasty has had such great longevity’.
The astrologer never said to the king that he was going to outlive everybody else in the royal family. Instead, he told the king that he was blessed with great longevity and that he had a great horoscope.
The king was so flattered upon hearing the news of his long life and good health. He told the astrologer, ‘Ask whatever gift you want from me and I shall give’.
The astrologer said, ‘Please release my poor colleague who is in the jail’. So that skill in communication makes a huge difference.
There is a couplet in Kannada which means ‘Through words, fun and laughter happen, and it is through words that enmity can also happen’. So it is speech that creates conflict.
What is the conflict between North Korea and South Korea, and between them and America today? It is all because of the words that have been used; all because of the speech. There is no trade issue or anything else.
There is a song in Kannada which says, ‘Your speech should be so wonderful and sweet, that even Lord Shiva should simply listen and nod happily in agreement, saying ‘Oh yes, Oh yes’. So that is how lovely your speech should be.’ ~Sri Sri
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There is a story of Lord Buddha.
Buddha was walking with his devotees and disciples. He wanted some water and there was a pond, but just then a buffalo entered the pond and got out of the pond and stirred the whole thing, and so the clean water became muddy water.
So Buddha wanted some water from the pond, but his devotees said it has become dirty; we will find some other pond further.
Buddha smiled at them and kept walking.There was no other pond further, then Buddha said, ‘Go back and get the water from the same pond’.The devotees said, ‘No, it’s dirty’.Buddha said, 'Now you go check’.When they went back, the water had settled and they could take the water. When the water was taken in a cup, it settled down even further and clear water was on the top.Buddha then said, ‘Mind is like this. If the mind is in a mess, wait for a while, it will settle’.
Leave the mind for a little time and it will settle. It cannot be disturbed forever. All these disturbances are momentary. Just how it has come, it will go.
Every disturbance is momentary. So nothing to be done, just give it a little time, wait, and it will settle.
That’s the same with everything in life, sometimes you have to learn to be with it and allow it to settle. If you are in a hurry for the water in the pond to settle, it won’t settle, it will get dirtier.
-His Holiness Sri Sri Ravishankar
Jaigurudev
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"Namah sri sambhave svatmananda prakasa vapuse"
I bow down to the wealth that brings peace and fills the body with joy.
Once, a man won ten lakhs in lottery. His wife was worried as to how she should break the news to her husband because it might give him a shock or he might even suffer a heart attack due to sheer excitement. So she went to a priest. He said, "don't worry. I will come with you, and together we'll give him the news." So the next sunday he went to their house and asked him, "my child, suppose by the grace of God u were to win ten lakh, what would you do with it?" The man answered, "I'd give half of it to the church, Father." No sooner the priest heard this, he had a heart attack.
Wealth should bring peace. Being wealthy should not bring arrogance, hostility, jealousy, disgust or boredom. Many times, when you receive a gift from someone, your state of mind changes as soon as you receive it. Have you observed this? When you receive certain things, you receive not only the gift but the intention along with the gift. That is the reason why, in the past, people accepted things from others only after careful observation. If they did accept, then they would immediately give a gift in return. An old saying says, "Why should we take others' things that we do not want?" It is because such wealth might bring peace or disturbance. Nobody wants a disturbed mind.
Today we have completely forgotten this tradition. However, there is one thing we did in the past and continue to do today: when we celebrate weddings, religious ceremonies and other rituals, whether on happy or sad occasions, we invite guests for food and after food give them each one rupee as dakshina, or offering. This practice is more prevalent in villages. Do you know the reason behind this? This is to express gratitude to the guests for attending the ceremony and eating the food. The belief is that the guests have given them peace, and in this way, certain negative karma leaves and positive karma is restored.
-His Holiness Sri Sri Ravishankar
Jaigurudev
Source of the story: From the book "Shiva Sutras" by guruji
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Lord Krishna says, ‘Four types of people who do good deeds worship and remember Me.
First are those who are miserable. Misery makes people turn towards spirituality. When one is miserable, he often thinks, ‘Oh, I should just leave everything. Drop it all.’ The second kind of people who worship me are those who desire something in life. They know that they cannot achieve what they desire by their efforts alone and that they need the grace of God, or the Guru to achieve it. Such people who seek certain desires also worship Me’.
You will see an example of this during exam time. During exam time there will be a long queue of students at the temple (:D). The sale of sweets suddenly increases during that time (for offering to the deity in the temple).
People who have certain desires, go to the temple on specific days, like Tuesdays, etc., which they consider as auspicious. When someone has a job interview coming up, they bow down to God daily and offer prayers. Isn’t it so? At least on the day of the interview, surely they do all this, and even say, ‘Jai Gurudev’. So Lord Krishna says, ‘The second kind of people who worship and remember Me are those who have some personal desire they want fulfilled. Such people are also noble and do good deeds. They are intelligent enough to realize that they cannot achieve what they want without the grace of God’. These people are aware that they cannot achieve what they desire by their intelligence and efforts alone. They believe that luck or destiny plays an important role as well. Such people, who seek God’s grace to achieve their desires also take the refuge of the Divine. Lord Krishna says, ‘Those who desire material comforts and happiness from life also come to Me. These are also good people, and they have done some good deeds.’
Then there are those who desire something in life, yet they do not believe in God, and they remain full of worries. Such people have some bad karma. This is the problem with atheists. People who consider themselves as atheists, end up having a lot of fear inside. Whenever they have to complete some big task, they display strong conviction on the outside but inside they are weak and are always in doubt about what will happen in the future. They have nothing to rely upon for support, and feel that they have to do everything on their own. Everything appears uncertain to them. The world seems like a dark place and they become very shaky and unstable from inside. How can you consider such a person’s karma to be good? Those whose karmas are good have this firm belief, ‘God is with me at all times. My Gurudev is with me, and I have all the inner strength that I need’. Those who have faith in God, Guru and the Self do not fear anything at all. They are able to sleep peacefully. They will engage themselves completely in whatever they do (without any doubt). This is because they have faith (in their abilities) and they know that they have the support of the Divine in everything that they do. Life cannot progress without this faith. Having faith in oneself, faith in the society, and faith in that invisible power which is present everywhere, is important. And all these three faiths are one, they are not separate from each other.
Lord Krishna says, ‘The third kind of people who seek refuge in Me are the ones who want to know, ‘Who am I? What is this world? What is meaning of life?’
People who have a genuine thirst for knowledge also come to Me (Jigyasu). The fourth kind of people who come to Me are the wise and knowledgeable (jnani). They are those who know (the truth) and have faith in Me. One who knows the truth will definitely have faith in Me. How can one who knows the Self not have faith?’
‘So these four kinds of people seek refuge in Me: the miserable; the one who seeks material fulfilment; the inquisitive and the wise. And all these four kinds of people have very good karma’, Lord Krishna says.
Now you should turn back and reflect on those times of your life when you were depressed and you turned to the Divine; the times you wanted some desires to be fulfilled; the times when you had thirst for knowledge, and the times when you turned to the Divine as a wise person.
Wise (jnani) are those who see the transformation in their lives and with a feeling of gratitude surrender everything to the Divine. They feel, ‘I have received everything from the Divine in abundance. I do not need anything’. Those who surrender to the Divine with a feeling of contentment and with a deep sense of gratitude are the wise (jnani) ones. Such people do not feel the need for anything. They feel that even before they could ask, they received everything. Even before they could feel thirst, water was given.
A wise person is one who feels that he has received much more than what he deserves. When this realization dawns in a person, he is filled with love, gratitude and contentment, and spontaneously seeks refuge in the Divine. There can be no contentment without knowledge. Without knowledge there can be no gratitude. Those who are not content keep on demanding something or the other.
So there are four types of people who take refuge in the Divine. It is also possible that all these four types may exist in the one person. At first, one may be miserable and take refuge in the Divine. Then they may turn to the Divine because they want something from life. Then out of the thirst for knowledge, and then as wise person. All these four stages can happen to a person at different times in his life. It is not that you will always stay fixed at one stage forever. It is not that whenever you turn towards God, it is out of misery. That is not necessary!
- Bhagwad Gita gyaan by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji
JaiGuruDev
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DIFFERENT LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS ( - a beautiful story narrated by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar)
In Japan, there is a rule that a motel-owner must give free boarding and lodging to monks.
To test if a monk is genuine, the owner would ask a knowledge question. If the question is answered, monk can then stay. If the owner gives the right answer, then the monk will go further.
There was a motel run by two brothers. The elder one was very intelligent. The younger one was dull. The elder brother used to manage affairs such that he did not have to give free rooms to the monks. If the elder brother had to go away, he would tell the younger one: ‘If any monk comes here, act dumb. If you’re silent, the monk will not stay here.”
As soon as the elder brother left, a group of monks arrived. They said: ‘Come we will argue.’
The younger brother gestured: ‘I am in silence.’
The monks: ‘We will have a dialogue in silence.’ They showed the forefinger to indicate ‘one’.
The younger brother had only one eye. The other eye was bandaged. He showed two fingers.
The monks then showed three fingers.
The brother then showed a fist.
The monks became very happy and left.
When the elder brother came, the younger one explained what happened:
‘They told me that you have only one eye.
So I said, ‘You have two.’
They then said: The dialogue is between three eyes.
So I said: I will punch you.’
Later the monks returned and told the elder brother that the younger one had shared the highest knowledge in silence.
The monks narrated:
‘We asked: What is the one truth?
He said: Not one, there are two: Buddham and Dhammam.
We said: There are three things: – Buddham, Dhammam, and Sangham.
He said: They are all one!’
It was such a mind-blowing realization!
This story shows that different levels of consciousness can interpret different things, differently. Fools always create conflicts over nothing. And die for it. The intelligent will celebrate diversity. Fools can’t tolerate diversity.
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Q: Many people get the clarity in their mind from a young age of their passion to become doctors, engineers, teachers, etc., and they stick to it. Unfortunately I do not feel that way. I am not young anymore and this lack of direction scares me. What can I do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No, don't worry. Life is all designed.
If you don’t have the clarity of what you want to do, then meditate and go by your intuition.
I tell you, all professions are the same. People of no profession are happy. Look at doctors they are so miserable, because all their lives they have to be with sick people. For 15 hours a day they have to be with sick people and listen to all their problems, and even if they give them the solution they ask the same questions again. If you tell somebody that you have no sickness and you are fine, even then they get angry at you. So many doctors even when you are healthy have to say, ‘No, you are sick.’ This makes them happy. And you say that this doctor is the right doctor. He knows my problem and he has diagnosed it very well.
The plight of doctors is not easy; they cannot take days off and go somewhere. In the middle of the night they have to take calls. They usually have to guess and give medicines, and then they are nervous all night. These are the secrets of the profession. When you have a headache they can give you an aspirin, but not always do they know what to prescribe for all the problems. Sometimes they just have to guess.
Look at engineers. Working with machines day and night they become like machines. They have to. They say this, I'm not saying this. Engineers themselves say it. ‘Oh, it's so boring. All day and all night, machines, machines and machines.’ Even in their dreams they see machines.
If they work in a car factory, they see cars in their dreams. Cars that is moving without people in it.
Here, someone who was working at a car factory, he said, ‘Every night I dream of cars moving on the conveyor belt, or in a truck. There are no people in it!’
Lawyers; can't even ask them of their plight. They look for some problem to happen somewhere so they can survive. If everything is peaceful the lawyers have no survival. If a fight happens between two brothers, the lawyers are happy and they are smiling. ‘Well they can come to me and I can make some money.’ Fortunately they don't have to think much because there are already enough fights in the world and everyone has to come to them.
They say, ‘Come, I will solve your problem’. But it doesn't get solved very quickly. They will postpone it. No lawyer solves any case quickly. Why will they? The longer the case goes on, it is better for them. For every appearance they can bill the client. They are not that foolish to make the case go away just like that.
You take any profession there are flaws in it.
Religious people, it is an even bigger problem.
There is a nice story in the Ramayan, do you want to hear the story?
There was a stray dog that was walking on the street and someone threw a stone at the dog and chased it. So the dog went to court. It is said that in Lord Rama’s court, everyone got justice, even animals.
The dog said that the road is for everybody. He said, ‘It doesn't say anywhere on the road that dogs are not permitted here. I was walking on the road and this man hurt me; you should punish him.’ So Lord Rama asked the person if it was true. The person could not lie, and agreed that he had hurt the dog.
In those days, they used to ask the victims on what punishment should be given to the culprit.
So when the dog was asked on what punishment should be given to the man who hurt him with the stone, the dog said, ‘Make him the head of a religious institution. Make him a Guru of some Ashram.’
The people said that this is a very strange punishment.
The dog said, ‘Why are you asking? Just make him that. I was also a Guru in my past life, see what has happened! Then before dying, I thought that I should have been a stray dog that would have been better than being a Guru. See, that is why I have become a dog now. I had so much trouble. He too should become the head of an Ashram, and then he will experience what is trouble in life, and what is pain, and what is suffering.’
It is a very funny story in the Ramayan.
Every job, every profession, every work on this planet is not easy. Every profession is tough. No work is easy. And being the head of a religious organization is even worse because you have to take care of everybody.
If you do not look at any person then that person will complain that you did not look at me. Yesterday, you made me sad. You have come to make everybody happy but in the process you have made somebody sad. When you look at them they are looking elsewhere, and then they want you to look at them when they look at you; or they will become unhappy! What to do? And technology has made it worse! Do you know how many e-mails I have received? About 101,000 in the last couple of weeks, and I have to go through them. Every week, about 10,000 e-mails come. Sometimes 8,000 and sometimes 2,000, it varies, but they all pile up.
So, do not worry about any profession. All professions are the same. Find some job to make your life livable. You don't have to become too greedy and you don't have to feel a sense of lack. We need to feel abundance in our mind, in our heart. Money is something which can never be enough.
If you see, even billionaires are also wondering how they can make their money grow by two-folds and three-folds. This race never ends. I was in Davos this year and all the multi-billionaires were there. Just look into their eyes and their faces, there is no fulfillment there, there is no joy or contentment, there is no serenity and there is no sense of elevation.
Do you see what I'm saying? You can find a smile in a small hut, but you might not find a smile in a palace. You might not even find a calm mind in a palace.
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There is a story of Adi Shankara.
Once, Adi Shankara was sharing, ‘This whole world, that is everything, is nothing.’ So, he was saying, ‘This is all nothing.’ Like the modern day scientists say, ‘All this matter is nothing because it is all just waves.’
As he was saying, ‘Everything is nothing’, just then a mad elephant started running towards him. So Shankara ran to take cover.
Then someone said, ‘Oh, that elephant is nothing. Why are you running?’ Shankara then said, ‘The elephant is nothing and my running is also nothing.’
Such was the profound intelligence of Adi Shankaracharya, and you will rarely find someone like this.
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Adi Shankaracharya propagated the teachings of the Advaita (non-dual) philosophy. According to Advaita, everything is made up of only One thing. In Advaita, it is said: ‘Sarvam khalvidam brahmam’, which means everything is made up of Brahman or the One Consciousness only; it is all Vasudeva (another name for Lord Krishna).
So the diversity that you see is not reality. The reality is that which is unseen (and can only experience).
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Lord Krishna says, ‘Kamais-tais-tair hrta-jnanah prapadyante 'nya-devatah. Tam tam niyamam-asthaaya prakrtya niyatah svaya’. (7.20)
There are many people who worship different deities and gods to have their desires fulfilled. Some worship Lord Hanuman, some go to Lord Shiva, and some seek the blessings of Santoshi Mata (a form of the Mother Divine) and so on. They worship all the different deities and there are different desires behind why they do so.
Lord Krishna says, ‘People worship different deities for fulfilment of their desires. But the power that fulfils these desires through all those deities is Me and Me alone. And the devotion with which people worship these deities is also Me’.
Lord Krishna says, ‘Whosoever worships whichever deity, it is Me only who gives them the fruits of their worship.’
It is the One pure Consciousness which is giving everything to everyone. When someone goes on a holy pilgrimage like Hajj (a sacred pilgrimage for Muslims), they definitely get some joy from it. So Lord Krishna says, ‘I am the giver of this joy. This joy comes from Me and Me alone’.
Again I tell you, ‘Me’ does not mean someone with a peacock crown dressed in bright yellow clothes. It is the One pure Consciousness which is saying this, and which is present everywhere and in all things. That is what Vasudeva is.
That Tattva (principle) which holds both the Apara Prakruti and the Para prakruti together within itself is Vasudeva. And it is that Vasudeva that is saying, ‘Yo yo yam yam tanum bhaktah sraddhayarchitum icchati. Tasya tasyacalam sraddham tam-eva vidadhamyaham’. (7.21)
‘Whosoever, and through whatever faith that one comes to Me, I grant them the fruits of their worship according to their devotion. And it is Me only who is also the giver of this devotion. So the devotion is Me, the worship is Me and the fruit also comes from Me. But these fruits are only temporary. However the one who is wise knows Me by My true nature, and therefore he is best among all the four types of people’.
Anyone who has achieved self-realization has said the same thing, that there is only One (consciousness). Such people are able to see the oneness in everything. The ones who do not see this are the ones who remain entangled in fights and attachments in the world. They pick up scriptures and debate among themselves, thinking, ‘What I say is the truth’, or, ‘My religion is supreme’.
But the wise one who has reached the pinnacle of devotion sees the Divine alone in everything.
- Sri Sri
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Knowledge is born from the intellect, but when it gets mixed with ego it turns into ignorance. Such a person begins to fall.
It is the ego about knowledge that is most damaging and which brings a wise person down (into ignorance).
Now who can go beyond such an ego? Only a devotee can go beyond. Being a devotee means being humble, simple and natural.
- Sri Sri
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"So Lord Krishna says, ‘After several lifetimes, the wise ones come to me and seek My refuge’."
You are here at the right time..
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Guruji, Please tell us what is so special about the tip of the nose?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: All the sensory nerves end in the tip of the nose. There are two points that are important for alertness and focus of the brain - the ear lobes and tip of the nose. They are the marma points. These are the secret points. If you keep your attention on the tip of the nose, your focus improves, especially for children.
In the Jain tradition, they can multiply 100 numbers (avadhan). They focus on the tip of the nose. It’s amazing! They are faster than computers. Shathavadhanis, as they are called. Avadhan is the technique of holding memories in your consciousness. It is like a photographic memory. People who follow this technique, Avadhanis, can tell you what date was Tuesday in 1700. This knowledge was systematically erased. That is the unfortunate part.
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Q: What happens after death?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: What happens after death is the mind gets freed from the body, the spirit. The mind has memory and intelligence, so these two things become like a balloon. The karma, the deepest impressions form a balloon. It is like in sleep.
Death is nothing but a long sleep. Before going to sleep, see the last thought that you get, and as soon as you wake up, see what is the first thought that comes. Have you noticed? It will variably be the same though.
So the physical body decays and the pranic body with all the impressions forms a balloon and leaves the body and hangs around.
Don’t imagine a balloon hanging around! It is a light; an energy.
I will give you the best example. In a television station, they conduct a program and then they transmit it through the dish and the program remains in the atmosphere – it is the same way.
When you send an email from the computer, you type all the letters and then you press the send button. What happens? It goes into the space. Does your email remain in the space till it is downloaded? Even after several days you can download your email. Even one year later or ten years later you can download an email. There is no expiry date, isn’t that so. It is not like those greeting cards which sometimes people send you that expire in 24 hours. The messages or letters you send don’t hang as letters in the space, it remains in the space as energy.
Like that every soul is a particular frequency and every thumb is different because a thumb is like a particular cell phone chip.
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So after death, every individual energy stays, and the impressions it has taken, accordingly to that it experiences those stages there. But then after sometime that soul comes back.
The soul enters the body at three times – this is all a secret. It is called the birth secret and death secret. So the soul enters at the moment of conception, or it enters in the fifth month, or at the time of birth. So the three sections are there, but there is no way to determine when it enters.
So if at conception time it comes then what one should do to care for that?
Keep yourself happy. Usually pregnant women are kept very happy in India. Whatever she wants is provided to her. I would say, don’t watch all these violent movies, and scary songs, and scary things. Generally light flute music would be good because it is soothing. It is good to listen to music, knowledge and wisdom. All these things would be preferable.
The soul also chooses where to be born, the place to come. According to its wish it will just come there.
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If you are loving then you are welcomed everywhere in the world. If you can feel and be one with people anywhere you go, then people are ready to do anything for you.
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Question : Do we go to the Guru, or does the Guru find us?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There was a talented teacher. He was a great orator, who would convince people very well. He had a fair knowledge of scriptures and spiritual techniques also. He was very good, but he was not complete; he was in search of a Master. Everyone used to honor him, but he lacked that final touch. He just wanted to surrender to a Master. He didn’t have a Master at that time. Only when the time comes, the Master also comes.
So, the time had come. He knew who his Master was, and he was in search for him. When he was departing from the kingdom, the king asked, “Where do you want to go”? He said he wanted to meet such and such a Master in such and such and such a place. Then king said, “Oh, it is so far, 300 kilometers away. You cannot walk and go. You can take my palanquin”. So, he sent his palanquin. The teacher sat in the palanquin and started going towards the Master.
And then he arrived in that town. He asked a person carrying the palanquin to take him to the Master, and one of them, who was carrying the palanquin, stood up and said, ” I am him”.
The teacher was so moved that he fell at his feet. He said, “How could you do this?’ How could you carry me? From where you have been carrying me?”
He answered, “Half the way. I heard you were coming to see me, so half the way I came to bring you to me. Now come, Lets go.” So half the way Master came and carried the palanquin of the disciple and brought him to the place and said,” Here I am the person you are looking for.”
Like that God is already carrying you and is right there with you. You take one step towards the Master, and He will take ten steps towards you. But that one step has to be taken. If you take one step back, God will take ten steps back. This is the tradition of Masters. So much humbleness, humility and simplicity is needed.
JaiGuruDev
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... when your heart is filled with love, and compassion, you are so powerful. Never underestimate yourself.
There is a similar incident that happened last October in The Art of Living. Do you know about the cell phone story?
I was going to a particular village, where 2,000 youth had been doing lot of work for several years. While going to the village, I told the person who was travelling with me, to take three new cell phones.
When I went there, I asked, ‘How many of you lost your cell phones?’
Only three people stood up. They were working in villages, where cell phones are very expensive for them. The cost of the phone was the equivalent of maybe one or two months of their salary or more, and so they were so pained. So, I gave these three people new cell phones. Of course, it was just a coincidence!
One boy then stood up and he came to the stage and said he wanted to share something. He was in an advanced course and his wife was at home, and he had to talk to her. There was no battery on his phone and he had forgotten the charger at home. So he put the phone in front of my picture and asked, ‘Gurudev, let the phone be charged.'
The next morning, when he woke up, the phone was fully charged.
This boy showed me his phone and said, ‘Look, for one and a half years I have thrown away my charger, and now I only keep my phone in front of your picture and it gets charged.’
He threw his charger away!
I said, ‘My goodness, I need a charger for my phone! I can’t charge my phone by keeping it in my hand, or near my picture!’
That innocent village worker said that it has been a year and a half since he threw away his charger; he showed everyone his cell phone which was fully charged.
I thought this is a very exciting story. I came and shared it with around 150 internationals in the Bangalore Ashram. There were people from Russia and Europe.
With a lot of excitement I said, ‘Look, the power of a devotee is so much. The love is so much.’ They said that it has happened to them as well, as though it is not a big deal!
People from Scandinavia, Sweden, Russia, they all said, ‘It happened to me also!’
Miracles are in abundance! I think everyone has had some miracle or the other. We don’t look for it, they just happen.
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Dream big. Keep your intentions intact, don't worry about any setbacks and keep moving ahead. -Sri Sri
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Just think that those who hurt you are either foolish or ill. If you think like this, then you will not feel hurt. Okay? If you think that everyone should act wisely, how is it possible? Everyone has their own little mind, own desires, problems and ignorance. Just accept them. No one can hurt us until we permit them to do so. -
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
I was responsible for the proper functioning of credit card machines during Guruji's recent visit to Calgary. During one of the courses, I was informed that we were almost running out of paper rolls for those machines. It was friday afternoon and the company was unable to ship the rolls to us at such a short notice. So my wife Urvashi and I looked in all kinds of stationary and electronic stores, including staples, but without success. Finally a lady at Wall Mart suggested us to try at a nearby dollar store. Subconsciously, I did not expect dollar stores to carry an item which was not available at Staples but we still went and asked the cashier at the dollar store if they carried the paper rolls for those wireless machines. First she said no and suggested us to try a stationary store. When we were about to leave, she called us and said, 'Why don't you speak to this gentleman here who supplies the rolls for our store's machines'. I was astonished and taken aback! We then talked to the gentleman and though he did not have those kind of rolls with him at that time, he agreed to deliver them to us. As promised, the man delivered 100 rolls of paper at our doorstep. My Guru had intervened and as usual a miracle had happened. Something that even the biggest stores did not carry, got delivered to us. We are grateful to our Guru for his grace through which he keeps reminding us that he is always with us.
Jai Gurudev!
Urvashi and Simrat
Wish to share YOUR Guru Story with the whole world? Mail it to us at mygurustory@artoflivinguniverse.org and we will share it with everyone. Jai Gurudev!
June 10th 2013
Yagna creates energy, energy creates consciousness, awareness. Heightened awareness brings you close to the reality and the reality is a witness.
To realize that everything is happening you need heightened awareness. And to bring about heightened awareness you have to increase the prana.
Prana can be increased through:
Fasting, fresh food
Pranayamas, Kriya, meditation
Silence
Cold water baths
Total exhaustion, not letting sleep take over
Emotional peaks
Presence of the Master
Singing and chanting
Giving without a givership, service without a doership
All of these together is Yagna.
- Sri Sri
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Gurudev, when the mind gets stuck in a situation, it does not get out quickly. What does one do for that?
Sri Sri: It is okay, the mind is like that only. This is where knowledge is important. Knowledge is like holding on to a life jacket in a storm.
That is why it is called storms of emotions. The ancient people have compared emotions to an ocean; it like an ocean and you need to learn to swim across this ocean. Knowledge is the life jacket. So when you get tired of swimming, just put on the life jacket and you will make it to the shore.
Just imagine, if this knowledge is not with you and you are stuck in a problem, then what condition will you be in? What would you do?
If you had never done any meditation or pranayama, never listened to any knowledge, and you get into a situation where your mind is entangled with some girl or boy, then what would have been going on in your mind? You would have become mad, isn’t it? Be thankful that you at least have this knowledge. Knowledge is what will help you cross over safely.
For example, if somebody insults you, then the knowledge point kicks in, ‘Don’t be a football of others’ opinion’. This comes automatically. From somewhere or the other, a ray of knowledge arises within you to save you, to raise you above the event. Does it happen or not? (Many in the audience speak out in agreement.)
See how it happens for so many people.
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Dinesh Kashikar came in touch with Sri Sri in 1995 as a chemical engineering student in IIT. Now, he travels all over the world teaching yoga and silence programs. Watch him as he takes your queries
tomorrow 9.30 pm IST (2pm GMT) on Sri Sri As I Know Him
(http://tiny.cc/srisriasiknowhim)
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She teaches yoga around the world. He brings people to the silence within. Meet Kamlesh and Akash, internationational Art of Living teachers, as they talk about their experiences and take your questions this Sunday, June 9th, 7.30pm IST onhttp://tiny.cc/srisriasiknowhim.
Post your questions to them here: http://on.fb.me/11yUm9t
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Success means crossing a limit. To cross a limit you need to assume that you have a limit. Assuming a limit is underestimating yourself. If you have no boundaries, then where is your success? Anyone who claims to be successful only reveals his limitation.
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Look at the noise in your mind. What is it about? Money? Fame? Recognition? Fulfillment? Relationships? The noise is about something; silence is about nothing. Silence is the basis; noise is the surface.
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Q: It is said that winners stand alone. Is it really winning if you stand alone at the top?
Sri Sri: First of all, take this concept of top and bottom out of your mind. Every place is unique. If someone has kept you on the top then it is due to the efforts of all those who are at the bottom. If you happen to be on the top, be totally humble. The more you go up, the more humble you become. Humility is the sign of success. When there is humility, there are no obstacles.
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May 31st 2013 -
After death what remains in me? Is it only the soul or is it mind as well?
Sri Sri: Your impressions of fear, cravings and aversions will always go with you. That is why we must do meditation. Meditation erases all these unwanted impressions.
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June 06th 2013 -
When we die, only two questions appear before us:
1) how much love have you shared, and
2) how much knowledge have you gained.
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June 13th 2013 -
‘Sarvam Vasudevam iti’ (Everything is Vasudeva). Both Ravana and Lord Rama are Vasudeva only (meaning both are manifestations of the One Divinity).
Q: Gurudev, yesterday you said that anyone who has surrendered to God cannot do anything wrong. Even Ravana (the King of Lanka in the Ramayana) was a great devotee of Lord Shiva. Then how did he commit such a misdeed (referring to his abducting Lord Rama’s wife Sita)?
Sri Sri: There seems to be a different Ramayana that is followed in Sri Lanka. According to that, it was Lord Rama who made a big mistake (of leaving his wife unattended in the forest during their exile).
See, this is a matter of perception. In Sri Lanka they narrate a totally different story as to why Ravana, though being a king, abducted Sita.
Ravana’s sister (Surpankha) was attracted to Lord Rama and fell in love with Him. When she approached Him, He insulted her by refusing her proposal. And not just that, Lakshmana (Lord Rama’s younger brother) also cut her nose to discourage her from making further advances. Now, would a king forgive someone who has cut his sister’s nose? No king, or human being for that matter would forgive another person who harasses and harms their own sister. Would any person tolerate this? No, because tolerating such a thing would be a crime in itself. So, Ravana abducted Sita in order to avenge his sister’s honour.
But it is also said that Ravana kept Sita very respectfully.
Also, if Ravana was such an evil person, then he would not have agreed to be the priest for the pooja that Lord Rama did in Rameshwaram. Do you all know this story? Lord Rama wanted to do be victorious in battle against Ravana, and for that He wanted to establish a Shivalinga and worship it. Now to do this, a priest was needed, but in those days there were no priests found in Rameshwaram. So Lord Rama was in dire need of a good priest to perform the rituals.
Ravana was a staunch devotee of Lord Shiva and was also a Brahmin by birth. So Ravana’s brother Vibhishana (who was on Lord Rama’s side), told Lord Rama that Ravana was very well-versed in the rituals. So Lord Rama sent an invitation to Ravana to come and preside as the priest for the pooja at Rameshwaram.
Ravana accepted the invitation and came. But then he told Lord Rama that the pooja would be incomplete without his wife being present. No pooja or yagna can be performed without the wife’s presence. So he told Lord Rama, ‘Since you are a married man, both you and your wife have to sit together for the pooja, otherwise you cannot perform the pooja’.
Then Lord Rama said to him, ‘It is the duty of the priest to provide an alternative for anything that is missing. Since my wife is not with me (having been kept in captivity by Ravana at that time), please tell me what the alternative for this problem is. Can we keep a doll in her place as a substitute?’
Then Ravana said, ‘I do not believe in alternative. I would want everything to be present for the worship of Lord Shiva. So I will call your wife here for the pooja. After the pooja, please send her back to Lanka’.
So Ravana brings Sita for the pooja. After the pooja, when Lord Rama and Sita bow down to touch the feet of the priest, that is, Ravana, to take blessings, then Ravana blesses Lord Rama by saying ‘Vijayi bhavaha’ (May victory be yours!). He had no choice but to do so.
When someone touches the feet of a priest, he is left with no choice but to bless that person. So Ravana had to give that blessing to Lord Rama for which He had organized the pooja. He also blessed Sita by saying ‘Sumangali bhavaha’ (May you receive all that is best and auspicious always!) Such was Ravana’s magnanimity. After blessing both of them, Ravana took Sita back to Lanka with him.
This is a very exciting story. We always perceive Ravana as a villain, but even Ravana had many good qualities in him. This is why when Ravana was counting his last breaths and was at his death bed on the battlefield, Lord Rama told Lakshmana to go and touch the feet of Ravana and receive knowledge from him as he lay dying on the battlefield. Lord Rama said, ‘If I go to him (Ravana) then he will leave his body and his soul will merge into Me. So before that happens, go and learn all that you can from him’.
Do you know, there is a Gita by the name Ravana? It is called Ravana Gita.
Of the five Gitas that are present, it is one of them. Just like you have the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Ashtavakra Gita, Udhhava Gita, and Guru Gita; there is another Gita called Ravana Gita (the song of Ravana). In it, Ravana teaches many sermons to Lakshmana.
After Ravana completes his teaching, Lakshmana gives a signal to Lord Rama to come to Ravana. When Lord Rama comes to Ravana, his soul leaves his body as a bright light and merges with Lord Rama. This is a story from the Adhyatma Ramayana. I have not read it fully, I have only heard this story. But all of you should read it.
When you read it, you find that Kekayi (one of the wives of King Dashratha and a mother-like figure for Lord Rama) was actually a very noble lady. We usually think of her as a deceitful and evil woman. But it is not so at all. She was not a bad lady. She instructed Lord Rama to go into exile in the forest because He wanted to go.
So this is why it is said, ‘Sarvam Vasudevam iti’ (Everything is Vasudeva). Both Ravana and Lord Rama are Vasudeva only (meaning both are manifestations of the One Divinity).
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Maya....
Usually, when people want to overcome something, they do so by criticizing it. That is when it becomes nearly impossible to overcome it.
If you want to move away from somebody and you keep on criticizing them then you will never be able to move away from them. You will get even more caught up with them. You think more about the people you criticize than those whom you praise. You praise someone and you forget about it. But those whom you hate or have a conflict with, they stay in your mind only. Such people rent a space in your mind without paying any rent! They just do not seem to leave your mind, even if a rent control officer were to go there (laughter).
So those whom you criticize occupy your mind and you get completely caught with them. Similarly, people who keep on criticizing Maya get more and more caught into it. You must first honour Maya completely (because it is a manifestation of Divinity). So, honour that which does not really exist, because that is what Maya is – that which only appears to be true but does not really exist.
So Lord Krishna says, ‘Honour that also which appears but does not really exist, for that too has come from Me’.
- Sri Sri
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Q: If someone provokes us, should we keep quiet or teach them a lesson? If we keep quiet then they consider it as a weakness, and if we teach them a lesson, they say that we have not grown spiritually.
Sri Sri : To teach someone a lesson, you should be calm. If you have anger, if you are disturbed, you cannot teach someone a lesson.
At the same time, you cannot keep turning the other cheek all the time.
Teach the lesson, but with compassion. This will give you strength.
When you have understood the position of a person and why they are provoking you, you will deal with them with a calm and serene mind.
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Q: How do we tackle people who constantly spread negativity around us?
Sri Sri : First of all, know that nobody can constantly spread negativity. Second, deal with it with skill.
Third is to ignore.
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Guruji on his Birthday - 13th May 2013 - May 13 (Mai Tera) in Hindi means "I'm yours." So many of you who wished me in words and thought, I would like to reiterate that I am yours, now and forever.
Birthday Song
Sagar Mein Ek Leher Uthi Tere Naam Ki
Tujhe Mubarak Khushiyan Atma Gyan Ki
Tujhko Hai Anant Mein Jake Mil Jaana
Tu Hai Sundar Phool Is Sansar Ki
Sagar Mein.....
Tujhko Hai Anant mein Jake Mil Jaana
Tu Hai Sundar Boond Is Chetna Ki
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Gram Devata Pooja - 12th May 2013 - Venue - Gurupadukavanam - Evening
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Anugraha means grace. Nothing is possible in life without anugraha. When you receive a lot without making efforts for it, then it is said that you are blessed with anugraha. Do you understand what I am saying?
Usually you work hard at your job and then receive your salary. So you say, ‘I have earned my money’. But if someone gives you a gift, you do not say, ‘I have earned these gifts’. Can something that is earned be called a gift? No. You receive gifts without any efforts. So when you receive a great gift or an award that you feel you did not deserve, then that is called anugraha.
When we receive something that we are not deserving of, or which exceeds our capabilities, then that is what is called Grace. When we see that in our life, we have received far more than what we deserve or are capable of, then gratitude dawns in us. We become thankful, complaints disappear and abundance grows.
Who experiences a lack in life? One who thinks that ‘I am so capable yet I got nothing’.
Once there was a person who wanted to become the Prime Minister. He did not even have the capability to oversee a herd of donkeys, yet he wanted to become the Prime Minister. Now what do you say to such a person? His complaints will never reduce. He will be full of them. Being grateful means all your complaints in life simply disappear.
When you have this feeling in your heart that you have always received more than what you asked for, or more than what you deserved, then deep gratitude arises in you. When there is gratitude, there will never be a lack of anything in life. For such a person, whatever he wishes for will keep getting fulfilled.
Now you might say that this is quite difficult. Yes, it is difficult. It is never easy to achieve something. But when you take one step towards this, you will find that it is very easy.
Q: Gurudev, it is said that speech is of four types: Para, Pashyanti, Madhyama and Vaikhari. What is their significance in Sadhana (spiritual practices)?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: This conversation that we are having now is what Vaikhari is. Human beings are capable of interacting only by using this Vaikhari mode of speech. It is said, ‘Chatvaari vaak parimitaa padaani taani vidur braahmaanaa ye manishinaah. Guhaa trini nihitaa neaengayanti turiyam vaacho manushyaa vadanti.’ (Rigveda Samhita (1.164.45)) So human beings speak to each other using the fourth type of speech. The other three: Para, Madhyama and Pashyanti are used in communications which are at a much deeper level, where no language is used.
A state in which no language is used, yet the entire essence is understood completely is called the Para Vaani.
After death, when a person leaves his body, he also drops his ability to communicate using language. At that state, he simply observes all that happens, and by observation he gains knowledge. This is called Pashyanti (derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Pashya’ meaning to see or observe).
The Madhyama mode of speech is in-between the states of Para and Pashyanti.
Many times it happens that someone is speaking in a language that you do not know, yet you are able to understand what they are trying to say. Madhyama is such a state. For example, when the child is in the mother’s womb, neither has the child seen the mother, and nor has the mother seen the child. Yet they understand each other completely. There is no exchange of language in that state, then too, communication happens that is beyond language. This is Madhyama.
That is why this entire creation is called as the Hiranyagarbha (meaning the Golden Egg or Golden Womb). We are all present inside this Cosmic Womb and do not know what exists outside it.
Just like how the mother knows the child within her womb but the child does not know the mother; in the same way God knows us yet we do not know Him. That is why He is referred to as Agyeya (that which is ever-present but is unknown). You can never know the Divine, but you can experience it. And how can you experience it? By reposing in yourself. So Para Vaani is that speech in which no language is used, and it is also beyond feelings. In Pashyanti we communicate using our feelings also.
When we go into deeper levels of Consciousness, every sense organ of our body becomes capable of performing all functions. That means the functions of all the five senses happen through one organ.
So in such a state, by a single touch you are able to feel, see, taste and also gain complete knowledge about the object.
So every organ becomes capable of performing all the functions of the five senses (see, smell, taste, hear, and feel). So when the Panchendriya (five senses) dissolve and become one (sense organ), then that state is the state of Para-Chetna (pure Consciousness). That is the speech of Para Vaani.
That is why it is said, ‘Jaanat tum hi tum hi ho jaaye’ (when the knower, knowledge and the known all become One). That is why we say, one who is deeply devoted to the Lord becomes the Lord himself. Similarly, one who has attained the knowledge of the Brahman becomes the Brahman. In such a state, the lover, the beloved and the love are not separate from one another. They all dissolve and become one. This is the state of Para Vaani.
When you think of language, then there has to be one who speaks and another who listens. Two are needed for this (meaning a sense of duality). This is where you need Vaikhari. Vaikhari means the diversity that is present all around you. That is why there are so many languages in the world, and not just one. But there is only one Para Vaani, and everything is contained in that.
In Para Vaani, even before a word is formed you have instantly understood the meaning. So words are not needed at all.
All this appears very technical to understand. So when you have a scientific outlook, then it is easy to understand.
Q: Gurudev, neither Mirabai (a great female saint of India and a devotee of Lord Krishna) nor Sant Tukaram (a great saint from Maharashtra in India) had learnt classical music. Yet they are remembered even today for their bhajans (devotional songs). I also do not know how to sing. Please tell me if I will ever get a chance to express my devotion.
A flower never asks or waits for a chance for its fragrance to spread. Where the flower is, its fragrance will spread, that is inevitable. So wherever there is love and devotion, it cannot be hidden from anyone.
See, love is something that cannot be hidden. You cannot hide love, nor can you express it fully. Every time we try to express our love, we feel we have not been able to express it fully, and this is the problem of every lover. No matter how much they try to express their love, they find it is incomplete.
