Tree Planting

Art Of Living Foundation will be joining Student Conservation Association and Nature Consortium for a tree planting project on Saturday 3/7.

Please contact Brian (bcarver1@gmail.com) by March 1st if you would like to sign up for this event.  It is a great way to be out in the community doing service and also letting people know that Art of Living is out in force in Seattle!

There may be people that want to come to the yoga rave that evening as well :)

When: Saturday, March 7 from 10:00 AM 4:00 PM
Where: Meet at Cooper Elementary 1901 SW Genesee St. Seattle, WA 98106

Lunch is provided, but bring water, snacks, sunscreen, rain gear, long pants, layers of clothing, and appropriate shoes.

Love without wisdom brings trouble

"Make God be your Valentine. We will never be ditched, deceived or deprived," said Sri Sri Ravi Shankar at a Satsang in Kolkata on Saturday
when the city was in the grip of the Valentine's Day fever. The Art of Living founder said the world is so distraught because of the absence of love. "Even if there is love, the problem exists. Because, there is wrong expression of it. Love without wisdom (gyan) can also bring trouble. If love comes with wisdom, there will be joy, satisfaction and benediction," he said addressing a crowd at the Rabindra Sarovar stadium. On the attacks on people celebrating Valentine's Day, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said: "The extreme reaction comes out of fear. Our culture, heritage is not so fragile that one celebration would destroy it. There should be due respect to decency and decorum. But if you apply force against the violators, they will only increase. Force is no solution. Let it happen, if something is bad, people will reject it automatically." The Art of Living Guru prescribed five steps to get out of sufferings. First, you have to understand the time you are in. Secondly, do some Yoga and Sadhana. Yoga will stop bad things from happening in your life. Thirdly, think that you have overcome many a problem in your life and will eventually also overcome the problem causing you suffering. Next, you must understand that there are people whose suffering is much worse than yours. Put yourself in the seva' of that person. Finally, have complete faith in nature's law no suffering is perpetual. Suffering will come and go. "There are two modes you can be in participating and witnessing. We apply both wrongly and end up being unhappy. You must participate in joy and witness suffering. Whenever there is happiness, participate no matter whose happiness it is. When there is suffering, observe it. But what we generally do is that we only participate in suffering, whoever's it is. But when there is real cause of happiness, we become its mere witness," he said.

Divine is your Valentine

You don't need to worry to maintain knowledge. When knowledge is lodged in you
as wisdom, it will never leave you. Wisdom lodges itself in your heart. Make
the Divine your Valentine (your sweet Beloved). This is the last thing to do
and the first thing to do. Keep your heart in a safe place; it is too delicate.
Events, small things make strong impressions on it. And you cannot find a
better place than the Divine to keep your heart safe and your mind sane. When
you keep your heart in the Divine, the moving time, the passing events, will
not be able to touch it, will not create a scar. A precious stone needs a
setting around it, gold or silver, to hold it and to wear it; so wisdom and
knowledge are that setting around the heart which will hold it in the Divine.

See the Divine in your Valentine and make the Divinity your Valentine (your
sweet beloved). Just BE. . .and know that you are LOVED... That is BELOVED.

Taking Responsibility For Your Feelings

Often people think caring, being compassionate, means catering to the emotional needs of another peroson. They think they need to say, "Oh, how are you feeling? You are sad today? You are depressed? Oh, just tell me what is it." They sit, listen and console the person; they support and in fact encourage the other person's feelings of negativity and misery. Pampering a person in this way just leads to a bigger mess.

Just realize how often you ask people how they feel. See, today you feel good. Tomorrow you don't feel good. Who cares? There is no guarantee you will feel good after doing anything. You may feel miserable. You may suffer. You don't need to care for people's emotions at all. This may look very cruel, but I tell you it is okay, because it makes you strong.

A wise person does not care for emotions because emotions are ever changing. And everyone has to work out their own karma. If you are feeling bad, you must have done something terrible in your past. Otherwise, why would you feel bad? Nature is never unjust. Nature always does justice. If you are unhappy, it's becuase of your own karma. If you are suffering, it's because of your karma. Suffer. Finish it off. Suffer and finish. Nature brings joy to one who has done good and brings suffering to those who have down wrong acts.

It is not necessary to care for anybody's feelings at all. Absolutely not. You needn't complain at all. The question is, are you doing your job? Do your job. That's it. That makes people really strong. And no one complains. Nothing to complain about.

Once a very educated gentleman went to visit an enlightened master. A third person spoke with them, and then left the room, and in half and hour, that person met with an accident on the road and died. When the news came, the master just kept silent for a minute or two and then started doing his usual business. The gentleman said, "There's no compassion here. I cannot understand this."

For a Master, for an enlightened person, death and life is nothing. It's like going from one room to another room. A big deal! Time, inifinity. Dead and gone. So what? The person who is knowledge neither cries for the living nor cries for the dead. Do you see what I am saying? It's not lack of compasson. But compassion we often misunderstand as pampering, telling nice words, giving attention - all those things. There is no way you can demand that kind of attention in the company of a true master. If you demand attention - get out! Straight. When you complain, you will be asked to just get out. Do your job and be happy. That's it.

That strength of discipline helps people to go beyond their feelings and emotions. I think that is good because then you are busy doing something. You are not sitting and thinking, brooding over, expecting someone to console you or to uphold you. Isn't it? Simply working, simply busy and achieving your goal. Your mind is focused on that. Then that brings so much strength in you.

Certainly I don't want you to whine and complain. No way. I don't care how you feel. I care for you and I don't care how you are feeling. You feel up and you feel down - it's so much moodiness. So much wasting of time happens in this.

Take responsibility for your own feelings. In the world, often people throw their responsibiliy of their feelings on others and on situations, circumstances. Somebody else is responsible for my feeling down. Because you said this thing to me, I am feeling low. You didn't look at me, so I am feeling low.

You know, no one is responsibily for the way you feel. YOU are totally responsibile if you are feeling happy or unhappy. Take that
responsbility. When you take responsibility, you gain power. Then you become happy.

JAI GURU DEV

January 2000
Bad Antogast, Germany