Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Friday, November 27, 2009
‘Do something useful to everybody & if you do that, then everything else is taken care of’
4:39 AM |
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Chennai, Nov. 26: The Mahasatsang had the characteristic elements of an Art of Living celebration: Gaan (music), Gyaan (knowledge) and Dhyaan (meditation). A team of highly talented musicians played a series of fusion pieces integrating Western rock and Indian classical music, after which Sri Sri spoke and guided everyone into meditation.
“The 3Ms are very important for any occasion - Music, Meditation & Meals
“Truth is that which you cannot avoid nor confront
Love is that which you cannot hide nor express totally
Beauty is that which you cannot possess nor reject.”
Sri Sri then led the thousands, who had gathered for the Mahasatsang, into a meditation.
Later, there was a series of questions from the audience:
Q. Where is the mind and where is it in the body?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Who or what is asking this question and what is going to listen to the answer. Intellect is that which registers the answer yet it is the mind which is looking for the answer.
Q. How to conquer the five senses? Can you explain in one sentence?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When you have sunlight and a candle, then the candle becomes insignificant. Likewise, other things become insignificant.
Q. When do we know that we are made up of love?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Love cannot be known or understood. It can be felt only. The child doesn’t ask his mother – ‘What is your qualification, what do you do? Who are your friends? Tell me, then I'll love you’. Just like our body is made up of carbohydrates and amino acids, we are made up of this substance called love. Anger, greed, jealousy are all just distortions of love.
Q. How to control terrorism?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The whole world and all religions are debating on terrorism and how to control it. I tell you - Indian spirituality and spiritual knowledge have the power to reduce terrorism and fanaticism.
Q. Is astrology a science?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, definitely astrology is a science yet that doesn’t mean all astrologers are scientists. (Laughs)
Q. Allopathy has no cure for cancer or tuberculosis. Can Ayurveda or Siddha cure them?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Most definitely. You know, the Siddha system is only available in Tamil Nadu. Ayurveda is available all over India.
Q. Will the world be destroyed in 2012? Is that true?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: People used to say this in 1999 - that world will be destroyed before the Millennium. In fact, in Canada people stocked up six months worth of groceries (laughs).
There will be a positive spiritual shift that will happen. You know, people are meditating in Terra Del Fiago (near South Pole) and in Norway (near North Pole) and chanting Om Nama Shivaya, becoming vegetarians and taking up Indian traditions.
Q. Guruji, we have two requests for you. Why don’t you come more often to Chennai and start an ashram here?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Tomorrow we are going to get a meditation hall started here. You all should come here and meditate.
Q. Why don’t we start an exclusive Art of living TV channel to spread the knowledge of the Art of living?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Why should it be restricted only to one channel? It should be on all channels (laughs). However if you want to start one, you have my encouragement. The channel should not just be meditation or music alone. It should be spiritual knowledge with knowledge on what’s happening in world.
One final thing – Whenever you have any worries, you can just post or courier them to me. Do something useful to everybody and if you do that, then everything else is taken care of.
“That which you cannot express is Love.
That which you cannot reject/renounce is Beauty.
That which you cannot avoid is the Truth.”
~H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
© The Art of Living Foundation for Globalizing Spirituality
“The 3Ms are very important for any occasion - Music, Meditation & Meals
“Truth is that which you cannot avoid nor confront
Love is that which you cannot hide nor express totally
Beauty is that which you cannot possess nor reject.”
Sri Sri then led the thousands, who had gathered for the Mahasatsang, into a meditation.
Later, there was a series of questions from the audience:
Q. Where is the mind and where is it in the body?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Who or what is asking this question and what is going to listen to the answer. Intellect is that which registers the answer yet it is the mind which is looking for the answer.
Q. How to conquer the five senses? Can you explain in one sentence?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When you have sunlight and a candle, then the candle becomes insignificant. Likewise, other things become insignificant.
Q. When do we know that we are made up of love?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Love cannot be known or understood. It can be felt only. The child doesn’t ask his mother – ‘What is your qualification, what do you do? Who are your friends? Tell me, then I'll love you’. Just like our body is made up of carbohydrates and amino acids, we are made up of this substance called love. Anger, greed, jealousy are all just distortions of love.
Q. How to control terrorism?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The whole world and all religions are debating on terrorism and how to control it. I tell you - Indian spirituality and spiritual knowledge have the power to reduce terrorism and fanaticism.
Q. Is astrology a science?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, definitely astrology is a science yet that doesn’t mean all astrologers are scientists. (Laughs)
Q. Allopathy has no cure for cancer or tuberculosis. Can Ayurveda or Siddha cure them?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Most definitely. You know, the Siddha system is only available in Tamil Nadu. Ayurveda is available all over India.
Q. Will the world be destroyed in 2012? Is that true?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: People used to say this in 1999 - that world will be destroyed before the Millennium. In fact, in Canada people stocked up six months worth of groceries (laughs).
There will be a positive spiritual shift that will happen. You know, people are meditating in Terra Del Fiago (near South Pole) and in Norway (near North Pole) and chanting Om Nama Shivaya, becoming vegetarians and taking up Indian traditions.
Q. Guruji, we have two requests for you. Why don’t you come more often to Chennai and start an ashram here?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Tomorrow we are going to get a meditation hall started here. You all should come here and meditate.
Q. Why don’t we start an exclusive Art of living TV channel to spread the knowledge of the Art of living?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Why should it be restricted only to one channel? It should be on all channels (laughs). However if you want to start one, you have my encouragement. The channel should not just be meditation or music alone. It should be spiritual knowledge with knowledge on what’s happening in world.
One final thing – Whenever you have any worries, you can just post or courier them to me. Do something useful to everybody and if you do that, then everything else is taken care of.
“That which you cannot express is Love.
That which you cannot reject/renounce is Beauty.
That which you cannot avoid is the Truth.”
~H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
© The Art of Living Foundation for Globalizing Spirituality
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Tuesday, November 24, 2009
‘Music and harmony cleanses the emotions, enriches the heart’
1:36 AM |
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Bangalore ashram, Nov. 17, 2009:
Everyday you should meditate. You brush your teeth, you have a bath to keep your body clean. Similarly, you should listen to a little bit of knowledge and meditate. Cleansing of the intellect happens through knowledge - that knowledge which tells you that everything is impermanent. Music and harmony cleanses the emotions and enriches the heart. By giving, the heart becomes pure. With knowledge and meditation, everything becomes pure.
Q. Guruji, when someone dies why do we say Ram naam satya hai {Ram (the divinity within) is the truth}?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When someone dies you realize that this is the truth. One day everyone is going to die. When you are alive you don’t realize the truth. You are caught up in unwanted things.
Truth is something which you cannot avoid.
Beauty is something which cannot be renounced.
Love is something which cannot be expressed.
These three things are more than enough to remember. It enough to digest.
Q. What does a yagya consist of?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: In any yagya, there is dhyan (meditation), daan (giving), gyan (knowledge) and gaan(music)
Gaan nourishes the right brain. Gyan nourishes the left brain and dhyan nourishes both.
One grows due to yagya.
Q. Guruji what qualities should we look for when we choose our life partner?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well, (smiling) I don’t have the experience! Ask those who have the experience. And you can take more help from the matrimony department!
You know why they say that marriages are made in heaven? It is because the choice is already made for you. You just have to take it and move on. You are free from choices. Move on with what you have on your plate.
You know the best thing is that you don’t focus on the drawbacks. Focus on the positive. In a relationship if both the people have their focus on spirituality then they will move ahead together like parallel lines move, without clashing, to infinity. The moment they will shift their focus and focus on each other, there will be clashes. So it is very important that both are on the spiritual path.
Q. Guruji, how was the Vishalakshi Mantap (the five-tiered, lotus-shaped meditation hall in the Bangalore ashram) made?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Manuji (a devotee) said, "Guruji, we must have a hall where people can meditate. So I made a drawing and it was made. Earlier, there was no hall. The Ashtavakra talk (Sri Sri’s commentary on the Ashtavakra Geeta) happened under a thatched roof, where rain water would be leaking.
Yet when we inaugurated the Vishalakshi Mantap, the hall was already too small! So many people had come. You know when people meditate together then the energy radiates in the world.
Q. Guruji, what is the secret of this place?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar(smiling): The secret is here (pointing to his heart).
“That which you cannot express is Love.
That which you cannot reject/renounce is Beauty.
That which you cannot avoid is the Truth.”
~ H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
© The Art of Living Foundation for Globalizing Spirituality
Everyday you should meditate. You brush your teeth, you have a bath to keep your body clean. Similarly, you should listen to a little bit of knowledge and meditate. Cleansing of the intellect happens through knowledge - that knowledge which tells you that everything is impermanent. Music and harmony cleanses the emotions and enriches the heart. By giving, the heart becomes pure. With knowledge and meditation, everything becomes pure.
Q. Guruji, when someone dies why do we say Ram naam satya hai {Ram (the divinity within) is the truth}?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When someone dies you realize that this is the truth. One day everyone is going to die. When you are alive you don’t realize the truth. You are caught up in unwanted things.
Truth is something which you cannot avoid.
Beauty is something which cannot be renounced.
Love is something which cannot be expressed.
These three things are more than enough to remember. It enough to digest.
Q. What does a yagya consist of?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: In any yagya, there is dhyan (meditation), daan (giving), gyan (knowledge) and gaan(music)
Gaan nourishes the right brain. Gyan nourishes the left brain and dhyan nourishes both.
One grows due to yagya.
Q. Guruji what qualities should we look for when we choose our life partner?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well, (smiling) I don’t have the experience! Ask those who have the experience. And you can take more help from the matrimony department!
You know why they say that marriages are made in heaven? It is because the choice is already made for you. You just have to take it and move on. You are free from choices. Move on with what you have on your plate.
You know the best thing is that you don’t focus on the drawbacks. Focus on the positive. In a relationship if both the people have their focus on spirituality then they will move ahead together like parallel lines move, without clashing, to infinity. The moment they will shift their focus and focus on each other, there will be clashes. So it is very important that both are on the spiritual path.
Q. Guruji, how was the Vishalakshi Mantap (the five-tiered, lotus-shaped meditation hall in the Bangalore ashram) made?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Manuji (a devotee) said, "Guruji, we must have a hall where people can meditate. So I made a drawing and it was made. Earlier, there was no hall. The Ashtavakra talk (Sri Sri’s commentary on the Ashtavakra Geeta) happened under a thatched roof, where rain water would be leaking.
Yet when we inaugurated the Vishalakshi Mantap, the hall was already too small! So many people had come. You know when people meditate together then the energy radiates in the world.
Q. Guruji, what is the secret of this place?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar(smiling): The secret is here (pointing to his heart).
“That which you cannot express is Love.
That which you cannot reject/renounce is Beauty.
That which you cannot avoid is the Truth.”
~ H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
© The Art of Living Foundation for Globalizing Spirituality
Thursday, June 25, 2009
‘Have faith that only the right thing will happen to you’
3:29 AM |
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What H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said today:
Budapest, (Hungary), June 23, 2009:
Excerpts from a public address:
Music unites all our hearts. Like music is the rhythm of the sound, the harmony in the sound, life also has to move in harmony. When all the different aspects of life are harmonized, life becomes music. Otherwise, it is noise!
All that is needed to make life harmonious, palatable, blissful – is called the Art of Living.
In a guitar, all the six strings have to be tuned; a drum needs to be tuned. Similarly, the various aspects of life have to be tuned. Our relationship with our Self, the people in our family, in the work-place, in society – all these need to be tuned.
The nurturing of the physical, social and spiritual aspects is called the Art of Living.
To be complete, be in peace with our Self, to be able to smile from the heart – we need to do certain things.
There are four sources of energy – food, sleep, breath, and meditation.
Breathing is very important; without breath, there is no value for our bodies. Yet neither at school, nor at home, have we been taught the importance of breathing. If we can understand the power of the breath, we can have a say over our thoughts, our feelings. We can control anger, negative moods. A few minutes of deep meditation gives so much energy.
You are made up of a substance called love. Like the body is made up of amino acids etc, the spirit is made up of love. Yet we have done very little to understand this. Everyone wants to love, and be loved, but we have not attended to the inner core of love. The power of love is so deep. It can heal people spiritually, physically, and emotionally.
The Art of Living is about enhancing that inner space of love in our life, and life around us; and that is meditation.
If you meditate in one place, it creates positive situations around you. Meditation is so much needed in the world today, it is the need of the hour. It brings peace to us, and changes the vibration in the environment.
When you leave this evening program, leave all your worries with me, as your gift to me. Go back home with a big smile. That is my mission, to bring a smile on every face, a smile that does not fade. Whenever you have worries, just post them to me! Have faith that only the right thing will happen to you. Trust in yourself and in God. Remove all negativities. The mind can go towards the negative. This is where the Sudarshan Kriya* helps; it turns the negative into the positive. It turns hatred into love, anger into awareness.
Sudarshan Kriya* - A powerful breath pattern devised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
© The Art of Living Foundation
Budapest, (Hungary), June 23, 2009:
Excerpts from a public address:
Music unites all our hearts. Like music is the rhythm of the sound, the harmony in the sound, life also has to move in harmony. When all the different aspects of life are harmonized, life becomes music. Otherwise, it is noise!
All that is needed to make life harmonious, palatable, blissful – is called the Art of Living.
In a guitar, all the six strings have to be tuned; a drum needs to be tuned. Similarly, the various aspects of life have to be tuned. Our relationship with our Self, the people in our family, in the work-place, in society – all these need to be tuned.
The nurturing of the physical, social and spiritual aspects is called the Art of Living.
To be complete, be in peace with our Self, to be able to smile from the heart – we need to do certain things.
There are four sources of energy – food, sleep, breath, and meditation.
Breathing is very important; without breath, there is no value for our bodies. Yet neither at school, nor at home, have we been taught the importance of breathing. If we can understand the power of the breath, we can have a say over our thoughts, our feelings. We can control anger, negative moods. A few minutes of deep meditation gives so much energy.
You are made up of a substance called love. Like the body is made up of amino acids etc, the spirit is made up of love. Yet we have done very little to understand this. Everyone wants to love, and be loved, but we have not attended to the inner core of love. The power of love is so deep. It can heal people spiritually, physically, and emotionally.
The Art of Living is about enhancing that inner space of love in our life, and life around us; and that is meditation.
If you meditate in one place, it creates positive situations around you. Meditation is so much needed in the world today, it is the need of the hour. It brings peace to us, and changes the vibration in the environment.
When you leave this evening program, leave all your worries with me, as your gift to me. Go back home with a big smile. That is my mission, to bring a smile on every face, a smile that does not fade. Whenever you have worries, just post them to me! Have faith that only the right thing will happen to you. Trust in yourself and in God. Remove all negativities. The mind can go towards the negative. This is where the Sudarshan Kriya* helps; it turns the negative into the positive. It turns hatred into love, anger into awareness.
Sudarshan Kriya* - A powerful breath pattern devised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
© The Art of Living Foundation
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