The moment you are aware that you are judgmental, you are already out of it
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Bangalore ashram, Jan. 18:
Q: Why do we need to put in so much effort to physically meet you or is it that the Guru creates unavailability for some purpose?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Not at all! I am easily available. I am most easily available. You know you enjoy putting effort and whatever you get after putting effort, you enjoy more. You don’t enjoy what you get easily. This is normal human psychology.
Heart yearns for the old. Mind yearns for the new. Ego yearns for the difficult and unique.
Ego takes pride in doing difficult things. ‘Look I did such a tough job! I achieved such a tough thing! No one has achieved what I have achieved. I did something unique.’ Just be aware of these laws of nature, how the mind and heart works. I am not saying that is good, or that is bad. That is how it is.
Heart yearns for old. Heart takes pride in old friendship. Like wine is sold when it is old. New wine has no value. You don’t say, ‘This is my latest love, my fresh love.’ We go for the latest model - latest computer, latest car. We don’t say, ‘Oh this is a two decade-old car which I bought now’ - unless it’s an antique. We take pride in having the latest model or something which is unique. Like climbing the Mount Everest.
‘Oh, I climbed the Mount Everest.’ A very tough job. What do you get after climbing the Mount Everest? You don’t know! People go in hot air balloons across the world. Very tough job. Why you want to go in hot balloon when planes are available (laughter) and create so much heart ache, anxiety? Because the media is after you for you are doing something tough. Why do you want to do the impossible because the ego wants to do something. The memory clings to the negative. If ten positive things happen and one negative thing happens, the memory just goes and holds on to it. The Self is just a witness of all this phenomenon.
Untouched, unruffled, unconcerned with what happens to the mind, intellect, ego. It is just there, just enjoying. That is why if you have got just a glimpse of the Self, it doesn’t matter. The Upanishad has also declared that once you get glimpse of that unchanging aspect in you, the very central aspect of you, then everything else is futile. Knowing this, everythingbecomes glorified.When you are centered,ego becomes all encompassing,body glows,intellect becomes sharp,memory becomes sharp.All layers of existence simply glow when the Self is realized. I don’t like to use word self realized. It has been used so many times and distorted too much. I would say when you have a glimpse of Being.
Q: How does one know when to put effort and when to have patience once we are on the spiritual path?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When you are getting onto the spiritual path, you have to put effort. You have to put effort to come here (to the ashram). You don’t get a holiday, you don’t get train or plane ticket. When you want to come here, someone will come and distract you saying, ‘Let’s go to Goa and enjoy, have fun and this and that. Let’s go to watch movie. Why to go? What’s the fun in meditation and sitting with the eyes closed? Let’s keep our mind open and take everything from a movie.
Like this 100 obstacles and 1 million temptations will come. Then you put effort, ‘I want to go, I want to meditate, I want to be centered, I want to go within’. That much effort you need to put in. But once you reach here, no effort is to be put. You simply sit. That’s it. You don’t have to do anything.
This doesn’t apply to ashramites (ashram residents) here. (laughter) You have to get up in the morning and go for sadhana. You can’t say, ‘I have come to the ashram, now let me sleep and relax.’ I give you another example. To get into a train, you put effort. You go, stand in a queue, get to the right platform and then the right coach with all the luggage. At times you have to forcibly get your seat, especially, here, in some of the trains in India. (laughter) But once you sit inside the train or plane, then that’s it! Then there is no effort. If then, also you keep the luggage on your head and run inside the compartments, it has no meaning. You are not going to get to the station any faster. Then you either end up in a police station or a mental hospital!
To begin a practice you have to put in effort. But once you are on the path, you have to relax. You won’t reach any faster if you keep running inside the train. Know that all is done for you. You don’t have to put effort. There is effort to light a candle. Once it is lit then no effort is required to pull the light out of thecandle. Light is coming to you on its own. But you have to light the candle. You have to put that much effort to switch on the lamp. If you don’t even switch on and say, ‘There is no light’, then you have to put that much effort. (Once you do that), then you find light is pouring on you. So you have come here. Just relax.
In hindi, it is said:Shamma jali hai tere liye,Tujhko kuch nahin karna hai.
(The candle is lit for you, you don’t have to do anything)
Q: Guruji, the Master and the Self are most charming. Obviously, the mind moves towards that which is most attractive. How to effortlessly establish the mind on the experience of the Self?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I think I have already answered this.
Q: Guruji, even after being on the spiritual path, feverishness is still there. What to do to get rid of this feverishness?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It’s good to have little bit of that feverishness. That’s ok. Maharishi Patanjali also said in the yogasutras ‘tivra savenganam asana’If there is little feverishness, there is intensity of longing. It’s easy. It’sgood. It takes away laziness in you. It takes away procrastination in you. That is why the path needs to be attractive so that it takes away lethargy in you. The Master has to be attractive. That is a professional need. (laughter) So that you are able to handle distractions, so that worldly, small things don’t hold you back. Movies and little pleasure hold you back and keep you in the same circle. I am not saying don’t watch pictures. But prioritize your life from small material gains to higher values. That is what spirituality is all about. That is what the Master is all about. Higher values have to be more attractive to keep you on the higher plane,higher path.
Q: What can we do on our level to get people of all cultures and religions together in celebration?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: We are already doing it. We continue doing the same thing. Call everybody and say, ‘Let’s sing together, let’s do service together, let’s sit together in silence.’ Silence is the best form of prayer. Often prayer is in some language – German, Hindi, English, Spanish. In fact, they all mean the same. But silence is one step further, one step beyond the barriers of language which the whole universe can understand. Nature resonates with it. Silent prayer! Prayer in words also has to lead you to silence in the heart. Purpose of words is to create silence. Purpose of action is to bring deep rest. Purpose of deep rest is to bring you fulfillment. In fulfillment you find joy, bliss. Purpose of love is to create blissful state deep within.
Q: What is the difference between prayer and meditation?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I have already said it. Prayer is asking, meditation is listening. In prayer, you ask, ‘Give me this, give me that, giving instructions,demanding.’ In meditation you say, ‘I am here to listen, what is it that you want to tell?’ Listening to God is meditation. Asking God is Prayer.
Q: How to be non-judgmental?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: By studying your own past. Look at how many times you have been judgmental. Every time you have been judgmental, you have been on the wrong foot. So just be aware of that. The moment you are aware that you are judgmental, you are already out of it. You can’t be judgmental in the present moment. You are judgmental in the past.
Q: Guruji, you say, ‘I am you and you are me’. But I feel a difference. How to realize that I am you?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: In silence, in service.
Q: I don’t have a job and parents and relatives worry about it and keep on asking, ‘Where am I? When am I going to have a job?’ What to do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You don’t have a job (Yes, came the reply). Keep looking for a job. Don’t be too choosy. Once you get a job that they won’t ask the same question. They will ask something else. (laughter) When are you getting married? And once you get married, the question will be, ‘When will you have kids?’ One after another,people will keep asking questions and you are not to satisfy them all. Count on those paths, status.(Then the person asks, ‘Guruji, I am contented but my parents…’ to which Sri Sri replies: There is no but - if you are contented - the ‘but’ disappears!)
Q: Why does our mind run after fame money and glamour? Is it necessary?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well, you got this question! First, you understand that the mind is running. Then you get this question, ‘Is it necessary?’ I leave this question to you. It is very personal, very individual. I don't think it is necessary. But myanswer will not necessarily suffice for you. It is has to come from within. Otherwise, it will be just a mood making. ‘Oh, I don’t want money’, but one part of the mind will say, ‘No, I need money.’ One mind will say, ‘I don’t need fame andanother will say, ‘No, I need fame’. Like this, the conflict starts happening. But when you wake up and see, and see those people who have had all this - how shallow and hollow they are, then naturally you find there is no significance in all this. Then neither will you crave for it, nor will you make any effort to renounce it. People who say, ‘I don’t want fame’, inside, somewhere, the mind is saying, ‘Oh, I want fame, I want fame’. When the sun hasarisen, what is the use of a torchlight? You are moving with a torchlight and suddenly you realize there is no meaning in moving with the torchlight, when the sun is there.Then that is your experience, your true experience. So when you run behind things which are illusive - you will realize that it is causing more pain, more suffering and ‘it is not giving me what I really want’.
Then there is fulfillment, centeredness, a subtle solid strength comes from within. Then if fame comes, money comes, it doesn’t touch you. It comes or doesn’t come, doesn’t matter to you. ‘I want it’ or ‘I don’t want it’ are two sides of the same coin. Somewhat we need to be – let it be.
Q: How does one handle disappointment when something undesirable happens or you lose a dear one? How one can still smile and be centered?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Come on, wake up and see. It’s all a dream. Things happen or don’t happen. It is still a dream. An intelligent person won’t sit and cry, ‘Oh,yesterday this happened in the dream, I was the Prime Minister’.
Just imagine someone is very happy because yesterday, (in his dreams), he was the prime minister or became the richest man in the world. What will you say? What to tell them? It’s foolishness, stupidity. You are overjoyed about a good dream and you are miserable about a bad dream. A dream is a dream. Come on. Wake up. Have a cup of tea. (laughter) Herbal tea. (Huge Laughter and applause) By the way, I don’t drink any tea, not as a habit. Sometimes, if I go somewhere and they only have tea and nothing else, just to satisfy them I will have.
Q: When to use dispassion and when to use compassion?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When you are bothered about an attachment, use dispassion. And at all other times, use compassion. In fact, you can’t use compassion. Either you are compassionate or you are not. It is not a screwdriver which you can use at sometimes and keep aside some other times. Compassion is like your nose. To realize it is there you have to be there and if it is not there, you are also not there. (Huge laughter) Got it? To realize you have a nose, you have to be there and to realize it is not there, you won’t be there.
Q: What is the alternative solution for white sugar and tea?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You know, don’t be too fussy about anything. You can’t go to a restaurant and say, ‘You can bring me only jaggery tea and no white sugar tea’. Your body has got enough capability to adjust itself. So, sometimes you have to have white sugar, it’s ok. Your immune system is strong. But don’t make it a habit. Every day, eating a lot of white sugar. Jaggery is the most desirable one.
Organic food is the most desirable one. But sometimes you don’t get organic food, don’t think you are immediately going to fall sick. People who are too finicky about food, their immune system keeps going down and down and down. People who are too fussy about food and all that, they don’t have thestrength to defend themselves. When do you give your immune system a chance to work? When something challenging is given to the immune system. So now and then, once in a while, the immune system should be challenged. Then the self defense will come up from within. Otherwise, you become so finicky and you become so weak and then anger comes in the mind. ‘Oh ah.. I want only organic food. I want only this. I can’t have junk food.’ Your system should be flexible, adjustable. And that can happen when you make itmentally strong. You resolve mentally that ‘this is not going effect my body so much’. I am not saying eat unhealthy food. No, not at all, but I am saying, ‘Don’t be too finicky about food, quality of food and this food.
Chose a middle path. You know, people in India live or are born in slum areas, and their immune system is so strong. They don’t get affected by diseases easily because their immune system is getting to work. They can come out of any illness. Chose that middle path.I suggest internationals who have come here not to go for hawker food unless you find it hygienic. Don’t have cut fruits on the street for knives may not be sterilized. You better not go for that. You can go for whole food.
Q: When do we know we are on the middle path?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When you don’t fall off, you are on the middle path.
“That which you cannot express is Love.That which you cannot reject/renounce is Beauty.
That which you cannot avoid is the Truth.”
~ Sri Sri Ravishankar
© The Art of Living Foundation
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‘Unless you know the principle of the universe, you cannot know the Self’
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Today’s satsang was a beautiful glimpse into the secrets of the universe which is beginning-less and endless.
It began by celebrating Acharya Ratnanda’s (Guruji’s father) 86th birthday. He spoke a few words filled with love and enthusiasm to the several hundred currently training to become Art of Living teachers.
Pitaji: Today I am very proud and humble: proud to be seated next to a mahatma (an elevated soul) and humble because I am one of his millions of followers. All my life, I have said, “Life is for Living.” Today I know, “Life is for living ONLY.”
L.I.F.E – L is love, I is integrity, F is fellowship – a sense of belongingness with the whole world and E is enlightenment. For me, My Master is the cause, the reason and the result of enlightenment.
To progress in life, be young. Be receptive. Even a child can teach you.
You say, “I know everything!” We can be and should be young because we are following a young Master!
As the audience applauded, Pitaji’s birthday cake was cut. Then Sri Sri spoke:
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: “There are four levels of speech – para, pashyanti, madhyama, vaikari.
The language we speak is vaikari. It is the most manifest form of speech. Chatvari vak parimita padani – there are four levels of speech and the intelligence knows all forms. Human beings speak only the fourth level. Subtler than vaikari, is madhyama. Even before you say it, the thought form is cognized. When you catch it at that level, it is madhyama. Pashyanti is cognitive. There is no need for spoken words. Para is the untold, un-manifest knowledge that is beyond.
The whole universe is spherical. It was never born nor will it ever die. It is anadi, beginningless, and anantha – endless. Then what is the job of Brahma, the creator? They say there are many, many Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva in every yuga (age). In time and space this keeps happening. So what is the source of this creation? Parame vyoman – beyond the akasha (space). Knowledge lies beyond the akasha. Knowledge lies beyond the five elements.
Richo akashare parame vyoman
Vedas which were cognized are not vaikari. This cognition is beyond the space. All the Divine impulses are established in that field which is all permeating.
What is akasha? Akasha is described as vyoma, vyapti – it means all-permeating, all-pervading. What is it that is beyond akasha? It is unimaginable to think of something that is beyond space. Only a scientist can understand this. Everything is contained in akasha, all the four elements are in akasha. The most gross is earth, then water, fire, air and space. Air is finer, subtler than fire. Space is the subtlest. Then it is air-fire-water and earth. What is it that is beyond even akasha? That is the mind, intellect, ego and the Mahatattva. This is tattva gyan – knowing the principle of the universe. Unless you know the principle of the universe, you cannot know the Self. When you go beyond the akasha, it is an experiential field. The whole realm begins beyond the akasha.
The ancient seers have spoken about the Dravya guna sambandha or relationship between the substance and its quality. There is a very interesting debate if we can separate the quality from the substance. The whole philosophy is very interesting and the conclusion was that you cannot separate the quality from the substance. Can the sweetness in sugar be separated from sugar? Will it remain sugar still? Can heat and light be separated from fire? Will it still be fire after that?
What brings the quality into the substance? What comes first – the quality or the substance? There are many questions like this. The subtler you go is the paramevyoman. yasmin devaadhi vishwe nishedu. -All the devis and devtas reside there, in that space. Yattanaveda yati vaanaveda - What is the use of knowing the vedic hymns and mantras without knowing the parame vyoman, without understanding the principles of the universe?
Swarupa is the quality of that space. It cannot be fully translated in English. Swarupa is that consciousness. From the Swarupa happens the Sputa or explosion from which Svarita, creation flows and Sakaara – manifests with name and form. All the millions of beings in the creation were formed from the Swarupa.”
After this most astonishing revelation about the creation of the universe, was a presentation by Archana Sharma a Particle Physicist from CERN, Geneva, Switzerland who shared a few glimpses of their efforts to identify the god particle with the help of the LHC (large Hydron Collidor). Sri Sri has often said, “Spirituality begins where Science ends.” In today’s satsang we had the opportunity to hear about that which is beyond space, beyond expression and the attempt of science to know the unknowable.
“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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‘Love is that which cannot be expressed or hidden fully’
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“If you keep trying to express it, then it will become just a sound and the feelings are lost. Saying “I love you” everyday and every time, it eventually turns into, “I can’t stand you!” Too much expression spoils things. If you don’t express at all, that is also not good. There needs to be moderation. Just like a seed – it does not germinate if you scatter it on the surface nor if you bury it too deep. It needs to be sown at just the right depth. In the same way, moderation is necessary.
Q. What is the importance of lemon in aura cleansing?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Have you see lemon juice under the microscope? It looks like the rays of the sun. When you see vitamin C under the microscope, it looks like a sunflower. Some substances like salt, lemon, chilies etc, have the potential to remove negativity. In the west, bathing in the ocean for rejuvenation and improving health is popular. The burdens, the worries in the mind, harmful influences are reduced in this way. Faith also works here. Even when you take regular medicines, if you don’t have faith in the doctor or the medication, it may not help you at all.
Q. How does one achieve strength (Shakti) and devotion (Bhakti)?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: With rest - you achieve devotion. When you put in effort along with rest you get power or strength. Effort and prayer, both, go together. Either is incomplete without the other. For completion of any task both are required.
Normally women only pray and men only put in effort but both should do both.
Q. I don’t know whether I should give importance to family or to my career.
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You have to look out for your career. Your parents will be happy when you have a career. If you have no job and you sit at home, will they be happy? No! Then they (family and career) have both come together.
Q.I have never been successful in life. I consider myself to be a load on my parents’ shoulders.
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Drop your laziness and don’t be too choosy. Whatever work you get, take it up and do it. Do not think it is beneath your dignity. Do not think you are not successful. Every work is attached with honor and dignity.
Q. Guruji, there is lot of confusion in family because one member follows Art of living and another member follows some other spiritual path, pranic healing.
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Both just stick to your own path.
Q. During meditation, the mind wanders to so many places. Once you said, “Let the mind go wherever it wants to”. Does that mean me and my mind are two different entities? If yes, then what is the mind and who am I?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When you try to keep hold of your mind, it runs here and there. When you become aware of the wandering mind, then you realize you are bigger than the mind. When you find you are not this mind, not this body, not anything else, whatever remains is the Self. Knowing your Self, recognize the Supreme Self. Then you find you are everything. You are the mind, the thoughts, you are the whole world. But that happens at the second level. When you know your Self, you know the Divine. Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma – Everything is One Divinity. Knowing this, become established in this knowledge.
Q. Guruji, you once said desires come and go. Those which need to be fulfilled stay and others simply vanish. But what about those desires which stay and are not fulfilled?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Have patience & perseverance.
Q. Why am I so crazy to be here!!
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Because I am also like that. Only a rich can make others also rich. Only a liberated one can bring freedom to others. Only a devotee can evoke devotion in others. A person in love with the Divine makes others also like that. Whatever is there within you that is what others receive and that is what you perceive in others.
Q. What is a soul mate?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: First you meet your soul, then you can find out about soul mate.
“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
'When we are joyous with ourselves, then nothing from outside can seem boring to us'
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'When we are joyous with ourselves, then nothing from outside can seem boring to us'
India (Art of Living International Center, Bangalore), September 8:
Q. Why is it difficult to get focused on things that I don’t like to do?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : If you don’t like something, then your focus is all the more on it. If you like something, then you focus on it. When you’re neutral about something, when there is no aversion, then there is no focus.
Studying the nature of mind is itself is an amazing phenomena. You will be thrilled knowing and learning more and more about your own mind. When I say mind, I don’t mean just mind. I would rather say the consciousness because the mind is one function of the consciousness. The perception is what we call the mind. The perceptible aspect of the consciousness is called mind. The judgmental aspect, the intellect.
The study of consciousness is the most difficult. And with time and maturity, everybody gets it.
Q. Can we aspire for something higher like enlightenment at the age of twenty one?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : Definitely. You should aspire for enlightenment and enlightenment is unconditional happiness, unconditional love and a life in which you are in the driver’s seat. You must aspire for enlightenment. Right from when you recognize to aspire anything in life. Go to the highest first and all the good things will come along, you don’t have to make an effort for it.
When I say you don’t have to make an effort, I mean you don’t have to sit and worry about it. When you aspire for the highest, your action will be spontaneous and in the spontaneity you will see things have started falling into place.
Q. What is a self referral attitude?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : Being in touch with your very center. When you worry there is a tendency to lose that focus or centredness. It is the same when you are tired or too busy. Self referral means coming back to yourself, to your center again and again. The core value within you.
Q. Are there any plus points of doing a job other than earning money
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : Money and experience. That’s all and some discipline. If you have to do a job you have to discipline your life in a certain fashion.
Q. Is there a gene for knowledge, any nadi (channel for energy flow) that has to be opened for creativity?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : Definitely and you all have it. And it opens whenever you listen to knowledge.
Q. How does it feel to be so Divine?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Absolutely natural.
Q. We are not supposed to marry in our own gotra (family tree). Scientifically, what does a gotra mean?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : Gotra is a family tree, like you know if you marry your own siblings, or cousins, they say the genes will not develop properly, children will not develop. The family trees go back to some rishis in the past. And they say that gotra means we belong to this (a particular) family. Today what the scientists say about blood groups was known to people thousands of years ago. Yet people from the same gotra have spread. If you marry in the same gotra the children will not be too healthy. That is the main thing. It’s better to avoid.
But those were the thoughts from some thousands of years ago but now since we have gone so far away and the population has spread so much, it has become so vast. I don’t know how relevant it is. But (marriage within) gotra is better to avoid.
Q. Many times parents out of over attachment, prejudiced opinions and being football of the relatives opinions stop us from doing seva. Can we make seva our career?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes.
Q. What is beauty and how to enhance it within and around us?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: First of all you should know you have a beautiful mind. The mind is free, it is loving, beautiful, satisfied and not feverish. So when the spirit is centred or your mind is centred, that beauty shines through.
Q. Could you speak a little bit about Sanskrit and its greatness? I would like to take it as one of my Ph.d topics.
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, do it. Sanskrit is the mother of all languages. Whether it is English, Russian, German or Italian, there is a lot of Sanskrit in it. Of course, Sanskrit is the base of all Indian languages.
Q. Every day, in different corners of the world, people ask you the same questions. Don’t you get bored? I am very inspired by your patience.
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : My consciousness is nitnutan (new every moment). First we get bored with ourselves and then bore others or get bored from others. When we are joyous with ourself, then nothing from outside can seem boring to us.
Q. How do we gear up for enlightenment?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Wanting it, itself is half done. The rest is a little discipline and you should know that you will get it. It will be given to you. That’s why you have the path, the guru. You will just get it. Shama jali hai tere liye, tujhko kuch nahi karna hai (The candle is lit for you, you don’t have to do anything). You don’t have to do anything just be hollow and empty from inside.
Q. I have a habit of recalling the pleasant memories of life again and again, as it gives a glimpse of the same pleasure as I felt in the past. Is it something to be cautious of, can it hinder my growth?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It’s alright, don’t make an effort to sit and go on remembering the past. I think you have too much free time. Get busy and start working. There are so many things to do in the world. Where is the time to live in the past, recollect all the past. Right? The world is new every moment. Go with it. Don’t turn back and keep looking back. Move forward.
Q. Why does everyone not aspire to serve the society, in their youth?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It must be there. There is no heart that does not get affected at the sight of misery. This we assume. At one time, everyone should desire to do seva. This we cannot say.
Q. What is the essence and secret of life?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : Essence and secret! It will be whispered into your ears when you go into meditation. Do (Sudarshan) Kriya and meditation.
Q. Why is that we are unable to understand the mind- which is the most powerful thing in the world?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Have you begun to understand it? (reply: No) then start from somewhere and then we will see whether it is fully understandable or not.
(From the Office of His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar)
© The Art of Living Foundation
‘Have faith that only the right thing will happen to you’
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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
What Sri Sri said today
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Bangalore, India, June 14:
Q. I’ve heard your talk on the Ashtavakra Gita (the conversation between Sage Ashtavakra and King Janaka on the knowledge of the Supreme Self). When King Janaka explains Aho! In wonderment, what was the reason? How can I achieve the same state of wonderment?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When Ashtavakra imparted the knowledge to King Janaka, wonder arose in him. Aho! He wondered, ‘How did I not recognize this truth for so long!’
Once he realized this truth, he said, ‘Salutations to myself!’ Namo mahyam! The transforming experience that ‘I am the paramatma, the Divine consciousness' came to him.
The knowledge dawned that there is no difference between myself and the Divine consciousness which is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient.
Leaving behind the limited mind and being established in the infinite consciousness is the Ashtavakra Gita.
We search for the Divine everywhere except within us. The process of puja or worship is to lead us from the external world to within. The highest expression of puja is meditation. In puja, we use and honor the five elements which form the basis of this creation and we honor ourselves as well.
When we do achamanam or offering of oblations, we offer water to kesava, the Divine within us. Each process in the puja leads us within.
When you go to sleep at night, think that the Divine is within me, ‘Salutations to the Divine in my heart!’ Meditate upon this, and then go to sleep. Then see how the quality of your sleep is!
There is no difference between the Guru, the Self and the Divine. Antarmukhi sada sukhi - He who perceives the Divinity within, whose mind is turned inward, is always happy.
The Divine consciousness is not limited like the body but is present everywhere like the space.
Honoring this divine consciousness is the Ashtavakra Gita.
Q. Between karma and bhagya (good fortune or luck), which is more important?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When you are in front of the television, do you listen to the voice first or watch the screen? They happen simultaneously, isn’t it? In the same way, both karma (action) and bhagya(good fortune) are important. When we perform appropriate actions, then we become bhagya or fortunate. When we have good fortune, then our actions are fruitful.
Q. Everyone comes to you with their problems. Do you have any problems of your own?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I have no troubles. That is why I can take away yours. If the doctor is sick, then can he heal you? Since I have no problems, you have come to me.
(Sri Sri points to a large crowd of jawans (soldiers) who came for satsang and applauds their commitment to the nation. He tells the audience:)
When we eat our food everyday, we must remember with gratitude the farmer who has worked for it. Anna Dhata Sukhi Bhava is a traditional blessing that wishes happiness to the giver of food. We should bless the soldiers who guard our borders at the cost of their own lives. They are the wealth of our nation. They should be happy and their families should be happy. Our blessings will surely reach them.
(From the Office of His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar)
© The Art of Living Foundation