Art Of Living, Seattle

The Deepest Love Possible...

2009-10-21T11:05:00.000-07:00

Rajshree Patel Shares her Experience with Gurudev

This experience is shared by Rajshree Patel ( Senior Faculty -Art of Living Foundation)

Have you ever witnessed or experienced a religious festival in India?

Such festivals are, to say the least, frenzied events. I somehow procured an invitation to attend the Navaratri (literally means “nine nights”) celebrations, which honours the nine aspects of the Mother Divine, at the Bangalore ashram. There it was, and continues to be, a celebrations, which honours the nine aspects of the Mother Divine, at the Bangalore Ashram. There it was, and continues to be, a celebration of silence amidst chaos. The atmosphere was simply electrifying. In spite of huge crowds, there was this incredible energy and serenity that I had never felt before.

After the festivities, we were sitting in a group with Bhanudidi, when she remarked: `This is the first Navaratri without Amma.’ I suddenly realized it had been a year since she had passed away. Bhanudidi continued talking about Amma’s last days: `I found her behaviour odd. It was strange that a strong-willed woman like her, who had always been in charge of everything, seemed to be turning over all responsibility. Maybe she was preparing me to take care of the house, children and family. However, she performed all the yagnas fully.’ The day after Navaratri, she was hospitalized.

Rajshree continues:

When Amma (Guruji’s mom) breathed her last in 2000, Sri Sri was at Varanasi. There were about 8000 people whom he had to address the very day he lost the person dearest to him. I was with him that day and saw the depth of his silence, serenity and patience in attending to everybody in those difficult moments. Yet the smile did not fade. To the devotees who were with Guruji at the time, and knew of his attachment to Amma, it was a lesson in equanimity.

Rajshree Patel recalls: `I always knew he loved his mother very dearly, but I did not realize the depth of his love until after she had passed away. At the International Millennium Course in Italy, a month or so after the death of his mother, I discovered yet another dimension to Sri Sri. On one hand everyone is the same to him, his love is impersonal and yet, I was learning, it was deeply personal. We were sitting in an assembly of 1500 to 2000 people. Someone in the front row was holding a magazine with Amma’s photo in it. Sri Sri, with a certain depth in his voice, was speaking of the importance of gratitude in life.

After a brief pause Sri Sri said:

“There was a woman in my life who loved me more than herself.” Everyone sat up. He gestured to the magazine and added: “She was my mother.” A tear of deep love and gratitude for her rolled down his face, and I suddenly felt a total connectedness to him and started crying uncontrollably. And for the first time in all the years that I knew him, I saw the deepest personal love possible, free of attachment and demands, yet full of gratitude.’

Satsang Schedule

2009-09-01T01:01:00.000-07:00

12/19 - Christmas Party
12/26- Sunita and Balu
01/02 - Vishwa & Vandana - Federal Way
01/09
01/16
01/23
01/30 - Shyam & Reshmi
02/06

Post a comment to schedule a satsang in your house. Also, please send an email to shyamlalp@gmail.com so that if we need to contact you for any reason, we can do so.

Love
Jai Gurudev

Guru, God and Self are Synonymous

2009-07-08T10:01:00.000-07:00

Guru, God and Self are Synonymous : Guru Poornima

published in Times of India July 12, 2003

An acharya (teacher) gives shiksha, which means knowledge; Guru gives diksha, which means heightened awareness.A guru does not simply stuff you with knowledge but he kindles life force in you.

In the presence of the guru you become more alive. The pinnacle of intellect is awakened intelligence. The guru invokes not only intelligence but also the intellect in you. Knowledge may not invoke intelligence, but in intelligence, knowledge is inherent.

Whether you like it or not, the guru principle pervades your life. Your mother is your first guru and then from science to spirituality, from birth to death, guru principle permeates your life.

There is a guru for every discipline - a religious guru (dharma), a family guru (kula), a rajguru (guru for
the kingdom), a vidya guru (guru for a particular discipline) and a sat guru (spiritual guru).

In the Upanishads five signs of sat guru are mentioned. In the presence of the sat guru; Knowledge flourishes (Gyana raksha);

Sorrow diminishes (Dukha kshaya); Joy wells up without any reason (Sukha aavirbhava); Abundance dawns (Samriddhi); All talents manifest (Sarva samvardhan).

Mind is connected with the moon and full moon is a symbol of completion and pinnacle of celebration.
Among the 12-13 full moons in a year the vaishakha full moon is dedicated to Buddha (his birth and
enlightenment), jyeshtha full moon to mother earth and the aashadha full moon is dedicated to the memory of
masters. This is Guru-poornima.

Gurupoornima is also called Vyasa Poornima. Vyasa is the embodiment of scriptural knowledge as well as
experience. When a guru or acharya delivers a talk the seat is called Vyasa peetha. Vyasa is familiar with
every avenue of existence, both material and spiritual. There is a saying Vyaso chishtam jagat
sarwam that means there is nothing under the sun that Vyasa has not touched upon.

As no sanchita karma is left in an embodied guru, self shines through, which becomes very obvious in the
presence of the guru. But all those qualities that you appreciate in a guru are also in your very nature.
Being with the guru is like being with one's higher self. Guru, God and one's own self are synonymous.

Often one recognises wisdom but sees a gap between wisdom and one's own life. The purpose of becoming a
disciple is to bridge that gap. Being with a guru means spontaneous integration of
life and wisdom. Respecting the guru simply means honouring your innermost nature.

Gurupoornima is the day when the disciple wakes up in his fullness and in the wakefulness he can't be but
grateful. This gratitude is not of dwaita (you andme), but of advaita. It is not a river moving from
somewhere to somewhere, but is the ocean moving within itself. So, gratefulness on Guru-poornima symbolises
that fullness.

The purpose of the Guru poornima celebration is to turn back and review and see in this
last one year how much one has progressed in life. For a seeker, Guru poornima is a day of significance.
It is the day to review one's progress on the spiritual path and renew one's determination
and focus on the goal. As the full moon rises and sets, tears of gratitude arise and repose into the
vastness of one's own self.

Guru Poornima 06 Talk

2009-07-07T09:57:00.000-07:00

A city without streets, a king without treasure, a merchant without business, a life wihout wisdom, a life without Guru, are all considered the same.

There are two aspects:
1. To have a Guru
2. To play the Guru

Why there is so much emphasis on Guru, especially in east? What is the role of a Guru? Why do you need a Guru?

Life is not simple. Its complicated. Opposites make life. There is pleasure and pain, happiness and suffering, generosity and greed, passion and dispassion. Life is full of opposite values. Mind is unable to handle these complications. It just breaks down. It needs support, a
breather. So wisdom, light, Guru is available.

When life and wisdom is inseparable it is called Satguru (true Guru).
When is this possible? You know when somebody is in trouble you give them great advices but same advices do not come to your mind when you yourself are in trouble. This is because wisdom dawns when you are out of the mess. If there is wisdom there cannot be mess. Guru is one who is
out of the mess. He watches the chaos. Sometimes creates the chaos. Have you heard of
circuit-breakers. They are used in equipments. It stops excessive flow of electricity and thus safe-guarding the equipment from damage. Guru is a circuit-breaker. When you cannot handle life Guru comes and saves you.
Whatever you cannot handle in life, give it to Guru. If there is some compelling desire that bugs you it will become botheration. Guru is someone who has unconditional love towards you. You offer your desires and pains to him. So having a Guru is to be able to SMILE :-) all the time,
walking with confidence, being fearless and to have a vision. And, that is wisdom.

You cannot say I've a Guru and still I'm worried/unhappy. That means you are not utilising Guru. Its foolish to say I'm in the drivers seat and I don't know how to steer or paddle the accelerator. Having a Guru means, job is done.

The other aspect is, to be a Guru. To be a Guru, is to be uninvolved and yet being full of love and compassion. Guru is uninvolved and yet full of caring and compassion. Can't you play Guru to one another person in the world? Can't you love one another person unconditionally without
expecting anything in return? If not, your life is incomplete. Play Guru to as many people. Anyways you give advice, now be wise. Wisdom is being centred, being I'm not the body, I'm the spirit, light and love. Don't wait for sometime in future for this to happen. Just start. Start
playing the role. Life needs both these aspects. Having a Guru and doing service.
Whenever criticism comes your way, it becomes botheration. And, when adolations come it becomes a pain. Many people breakdown due to praises and adolations. It becomes so difficult. Praises or criticisms can make you go crazy. And, Guru is the way, the skill, to unload your burdens, and keep mind sane.

Mother is your first Guru, then at different stages and field different Guru's come. Even your football coach is your Guru, then there is spirituality and the Guru who teaches you spirituality is Satguru.

Gurupurnima is to review your growth. How much I've grown in the last 1 year. How much stronger and wiser have I become. This review will give you encouragement. If you think you haven't grown enough in last 1 year then review last 2 years.... 3 years. If you still feel otherwise
then you have not utilised the knowledge. You have definitely grown and moved on! If you feel you are stuck somewhere, even that is growth.

Gurupurnima is to check your ego. People who follow righteousness get angry on other people and make themselves wrong. Their anger shows how unwise they are. From pride to anger to jealousy to greed, grow out of them.

On Gurupurnima, review yourselves, how much knowledge have you imbibed.
How much more to imbibe. Its a day if self-reflection. If there is some shortage, Guru is there to fill the shortages. This confidence brings fullness. Its a full-moon day. Heart is full. Life is full.

Today, make a wish. But only 1 wish and a specific wish, before you go to bed. Better is not to have any wish. Leaving everything to the divine. But when mind wants to make a wish, you can ask. You need to ask and ego cannot ask. Even to ask divine, ego comes in the way. When you make a wish, you feel you are nobody, nothing is in your hand, your inner
state is like a flower. It feels free. It doesn't feel inhibited. its delicate like feather.

(Couldn't capture the below in its entirety) In Patanjali, a father answers his son. Son can you see that house. What was there before the house? The son says, "Space". And what will be there if the house is not there, asks father. Son says "Space". Similarly you are not the body
you are the space. Its not the body in which the space is. Its the body in space.

(answering to something, he said) Only way to freedom is Yoga.

2009-05-13T11:09:00.001-07:00

Humor and Humiliation

2009-04-25T13:03:00.001-07:00

Humor and Humiliation
Humor is the buffer that saves you from humiliation. If you have a good sense of humor you can never be humiliated. And if you refuse to be humiliated you become invincible. Humor brings everyone together, while humiliation tears them apart. In a society torn with humiliation and insult, humor is like a breath of fresh air. A good sense of humor relieves you from fear and anxiety.Humor should be coupled with care and concern. Mere humor without care and concern or appropriate action often irritates those who come to you with serious problems.Humor can keep the spirit high, yet if overdone it leaves a bad taste. Humor without wisdom is shallow. Humor with wisdom creates an atmosphere of celebration.Humor without sensitivity is satire - it comes back to you with more problems. The wise use humor to bring wisdom and to lighten every situation.The intelligent use humor as a shield against humiliation.The cruel use humor as a sword to insult others.The irresponsible use humor to escape from responsibility.And fools take humor too seriously!To make an effort to be humorous is nonsensical.Question: How does one cultivate a sense of humor?Sri Sri: Humor is not just words, it is the lightness of your Being. You do not have to read and repeat jokes -- just being cordial and light-hearted brings out authentic humor. Taking life itself not too seriously (because you will never come out of it alive!) (Laughter) Having a sense of belongingness with everybody, including those who are not friendly Practicing yoga and meditation Having unshakable faith in the Divine, and in the laws of karma Being in the company of those who live in knowledge and are humorous A willingness to be a clown

On Judgements

2009-04-16T16:47:00.000-07:00

Though you have heard "don't judge," judgement comes unavoidably in day-to-day life. By the actions and behaviors of people, you either approve or disapprove. But always remember that everything is changing, and do not hold onto the judgement. Otherwise your judgement gets solidified like a rock. It brings misery for you and for others.

If judgements are lighter like air, like a breeze, they bring in fragrance, then move away. They could bring a foul smell, then move away. They should not stay there forever.

Judgements are so subtle that you are not even aware of their existence. Judging or labeling someone as judgmental is also a judgement. Only in the state of Being when you are full of love and compassion can you ever be free from all judgements.

Yet the world cannot move without judgements. Until you judge something as good or bad, you cannot do any actions. If you see rotten apples in the market, you say, "No good." Good ones you buy. If someone lies to you ten times, you think next time it also could be a lie. A judgment happens automatically.

See the possibility that people and things can change at any time and don't hold onto the judgements.

You need to judge your company. Your company can pull you up or pull you down. The company that drags you towards doubt, dejection, blame, complaints, anger, delusion and desires is bad company. The company that pulls you up towards joy, enthusiasm, service, love, trust and Knowledge is good company.

When someone complains, first you listen, then you nod, then you sympathize, then you complain.

Robert says, "Join the party."
Denise says, "I confess, you are absolutely right." (Laughter)

Your company can create Hell for you in Heaven -- or Heaven for you in Hell. Judge for yourself . . . !

Guruji And SIMI

2009-04-10T15:35:00.000-07:00

Guruji and SIMI

This happened in Kerela…
Sri Sri gave an audience to the SIMI (Student Islamic Movement of India) leaders. Four leaders from SIMI came to meet Sri Sri at the residence of one of the organizers. Following their entry, an air of tension enveloped the hall where hundreds were waiting to meet with Sri Sri. Naseeb, one of the devotees, guided them to the room where Sri Sri was sitting with a few of us. They (the SIMI leaders), were dashing youths in their mid 20’s. One of them was carrying the holy Koran. They were little stern and stiff. Their eyes were fixed and seemed to reflect an inner fire. They looked prepared to repulse anything that Sri Sri would tell them and most unlikely to listen to reason.
Sri Sri was His usual smiling self.
The stage was set. It had all the signs of a classic confrontation. On one side were the brash youth – intemperate, impatient, driven by ideology and out to prove their superiority. On the other was a youthful, realized sage, unperturbed, offering sane explanations that echoed an uncommon depth and breadth of understanding. Those of us in the room, were eager to see how Sri Sri would deal with these firebrands. Sri Sri embraced them and offered them chairs to sit. There was not an iota of difference in His attitude. Any casual onlooker could be forgiven for thinking that Sri Sri considered these gentlemen as amongst His most ardent devotees. Perhaps the only difference that we could see was that they were seated on chairs while the rest of us were on the floor! For us, it was yet another opportunity to witness the unconditional love that Sri Sri exemplifies.
The leader of the group spoke first. He asked
SIMI: You had wanted to meet with us.
SRI SRI: Yes. I wanted to understand why your organization was opposed to the Anandotsavam.
SIMI: We thought that holding an Anandotsavam (celebration) on December 6th was a deliberate move to insult our religious sentiments. Do you know about our religion?. Do you believe in the Koran at all?
SRI SRI: Yes of course.
SIMI: (Not expecting this answer, pointing to the Koran, they shot the next question) We believe that Koran is the only knowledge. What about you?
SRI SRI: This is one amongst the various knowledge revealed to man from time to time.
SIMI: But God has said this is the only knowledge. The way of the Koran is the only way. There is no other way.
SRI SRI: This message can be found in scriptures of all religions. In the Vedas it is said “Naanyah Panthaah Ayanaaya Vidyate” meaning “There is no other way but the way of Truth!” The same is said in the Bible, Jesus says, “To go to my father, you have to go through me. I am the only way”.
SIMI: But our scripture says worshipping any form or idol is evil, it is blasphemy.
SRI SRI: What is Good and Evil after all? It is relative. Relative existence is not the complete picture For example: Milk is good, but too much milk can kill you. Poison is harmful, but a drop of poison can save your life. Most lifesaving medicines have poison written on them! These are neither absolutely good nor bad they are just there. Truth transcends duality, and God is the Absolute and only Truth. So, where is the place for evil?
SIMI: Yet you Hindus worship many Gods, whereas our ideal is there is only one God and His message is what is required to go to heaven.
SRI SRI: There is only one god in many forms…
SIMI: (Restless and unwilling to listen to any explanation, they interrupted Sri Sri.) But the Koran says you should only worship Allah who is formless whereas the Hindus worship idols which are only stones.
SRI SRI: At this, Sri Sri suddenly asked them: Do you honour the Koran?
SIMI: (They seemed a little taken aback at this question from Sri Sri and with a righteous air answered). Yes, it is God’s word!
SRI SRI: Do you honor the Mecca?
SIMI: Yes, of course! That is our sacred place.
SRI SRI: So also, Hindu’s honour God’s creation as God. Just like sound (Koran), the crescent moon, Kaaba and the month of Ramadan are sacred for you, Hindus consider the River Ganges, the Himalayas, Saints as sacred. See, a picture of your daughter is not your daughter, but you still adore the daughter’s picture. When you see the picture aren’t you reminded of your daughter?
(They nodded a yes)
SRI SRI: So also, a symbol is not God but is honoured as God. This sense of honouring and sacredness makes you awake and alive. That is why the ancient Rishis said to feel the entire creation and your whole life as sacred. They considered God as omnipresent, as inseparable from His creation; like the dance and the dancer.
Sri Sri elaborated further – Spirit loves diversity. Is there only one type of vegetable or fruit? God created many type of fruits and vegetables. There is not just one type of tree, not just one type of snake, cloud, mosquito….Even you change your dress for different occasions. So how could this consciousness that manifested this whole creation be monotonous? There is only one God in many forms. Only one God is advocated. When you accept the variety of Divinity, you cease to be a fanatic and fundamentalist. A pregnant silence filled the room as they looked at each other expecting the other to speak. Then as a face saving measure, the SIMI leader replied, “I will need to go and consult my higher scholars.” With a compassionate expression on His face, Sri Sri said: Never mind, (with a wave of His hand) forget about religion. We are all human beings. Let us have a peaceful society. Let us focus on development.
SIMI: No No No! What are you saying? You are talking about this world. What we do here is immaterial. The Koran tells us that what matters is what you get in eternal life and not to worry about material life. By doing service to the society you will simply remain here. You have to obey Allah. Allah is the only God and Mohammed is the last prophet.
SRI SRI: At this Sri Sri stopped them and after a pause asked them: Do you think the Sikh Gurus are not prophets. Isn’t Mirabai a prophet? What about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu?
Once again, there was silence. Their expressions had changed. The rigidity had weakened and in its place was some confusion/uncertainty. Sri Sri seemed totally at ease unmindful of the challenges posed at Him.
SIMI: No! You can go to heaven only if you believe in Allah and the Koran.
SRI SRI: No my dear – there was Buddha, Mahavira, Nanak, Jesus, Shankara… Do you think they are not in heaven? If not, then I would rather be with them!
SIMI: You are such a nice person, but we pity you because you cannot get the truth. You can’t go to Allah. You can’t be rewarded by Allah. God will never show mercy on you.
SRI SRI: Never mind. (with a mischievous smile ) I will be with these people (Shankara, Jesus, etc.)
(Even as we were admiring Sri Sri’s patience and objectivity, we were concerned at the wrong indoctrination that these youths had been subjected to. We also observed a few others who were in the room were getting a little restive, possibly wondering why Sri Sri was spending so much time with these people who were obviously not at all receptive and that too when hundreds were waiting outside just for a glimpse of Sri Sri.)
SIMI: Do you know, that over 1400 years ago, in the middle of the desert, God revealed the secrets of creation. Even when there was no science, God said that the Atom is the smallest particle!
SRI SRI smiled and said: Yes, the same is there in the shaastras too which were known more than 10,000 years ago. In the shaastras it is said that the Earth is over 19 billion years old! Truth is beyond time and space. It is not confined to one time or one place One needs to have a scientific spirituality.
As if to conclude the conversation Sri Sri gave them Ladoo as prasad. By now there were traces of a smile on their faces. When they were about to leave He gave them a hug. They definitely seemed to be less stern than earlier. Could their attitude have changed? We wondered whether this (‘changed attitude’) would persist or would they go back to their old fanatic ways. But one thing was for sure, Sri Sri had made an impression that they would not forget!
Later, while Sri Sri was having His lunch, someone asked Him, “Why is that Islam is producing so many terrorists all over the world? No other religion has given rise to so many terrorists in the world. What is the reason?”
SRI SRI: Look at the commitment and the fire in them. Take the good from them and learn what you should not be doing. Don’t label them as bad people. They have not been imparted the knowledge of Vedanta. (Then as He was adding ghee to the chilli powder) He smiled and said “In this creation, there is a place for everything.”
Excerpted from an article written by Swami Sadhyojata and Harish Ramachandran
Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa

Ganesha Sharanam

2009-03-17T10:08:00.000-07:00

G----------------- C----------G---------

Ganesha Sharanam Sharanam Ganesha (2x)

C-------------------Am-------C---------

Ganesha Sharanam Sharanam Ganesha (2x)

G------- C----------C---------G---------

Ganesha Sharanam Sharanam Ganesha (2x)

G--------------- C---------G---------

Siddhi Vinayaka Sharanam Ganesha (2x)

C----------------- Am-------G---------

Buddhi Pradayaka Sharanam Ganesha (2x)

G--------C---------C---------G---------

Ganesha Sharanam Sharanam Ganesha (2x)

Second Stanza

G------C-------- G----------

Moriya Re Bappa Moriya Re (2x)

C------Am-------C---------

Moriya Re Bappa Moriya Re (2x)

G------ C-------- G----------

Moriya Re Bappa Moriya Re (2x)

G----------------------- C------------ G-------

Ganapati Bappa Moriya Mangala Murti Moriya (2x)

C------------------------ Am---------- C-------

Ganapati Bappa Moriya Mangala Murti Moriya (2x)

G----- C---------G----------

Moriya Re Bappa Moriya Re (2x)

(Repeat Second Stanza)

Satsang at Abhi's

2009-03-15T22:58:00.000-07:00

Holi Message from Gurudev

2009-03-10T13:31:00.000-07:00

Uplift your spirit with the joy of colour

Holi is a festival of colours. This whole world is so colourful. Just like nature there are different colours associated with our feelings and emotions: anger with red, jealousy with green, vibrancy and happiness with yellow, love with pink, vastness with blue, peace with white, sacrifice with saffron and knowledge with violet. Each person is a fountain of colours which keep changing.

Puranas are full of colourful illustrations and stories and there is a story related to Holi. An asura king, Hiranyakashyap, wanted everyone to worship him. But his son Prahlad was a devotee of Lord Narayana, the king's sworn enemy. Angry, the king wanted Holika, his sister, to get rid of Prahlad. Empowered to withstand fire, Holika sat on a burning pyre holding Prahlad on her lap. But it was Holika who was burnt, Prahlad came out unharmed.

Hiranyakashyap symbolises one who is gross. Prahlad embodies innocence, faith and bliss. The spirit cannot be confined to matter, only love. Hiranyakashyap wanted all joy to come from the material world. It did not happen that way. The individual jivatma cannot be bound to the material forever. It's natural to eventually move towards Narayana, one's higher Self.

Holika symbolises past burdens that try to burn Prahlad's innocence.. But Prahlad, so deeply rooted in Narayana Bhakti, could burn all past impressions (sanskaras). For one who is deep in bhakti, joy springs up with new colours and life becomes a celebration. Burning the past, you gear up for a new beginning. Your emotions, like fire, burn you. But when they are a fountain of colours, they add charm to your life. In ignorance, emotions are a bother; in knowledge, the same emotions add colour.
Like Holi, life should be colourful, not boring. When each colour is seen clearly, it is colourful. When all the colours get mixed, you end up with black. So also in life, we play different roles. Each role and emotion needs to be clearly defined. Emotional confusion creates problems. When you are a father, you have to play the part of a father. You can't be a father at office. When you mix the roles in your life, you start making mistakes. Whatever role you play in life, give yourself fully to it. Harmony in diversity makes life vibrant, joyful and more colourful.

© The Art of Living Foundation

Tree Planting

2009-02-27T11:12:00.001-08:00

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

2009-02-15T10:43:00.001-08:00

"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

2009-02-14T11:03:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-12T11:39:00.000-08:00

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

A Child's curious Entry into the Spiritual World

2009-01-28T11:40:00.001-08:00

A Child's curious Entry into the Spiritual World
As I was celebrating the Shankranthi this year, I was reminded yet again of an incident that happened sometime in the early 80s. This incident comes back to me every year, when I go from house to house, friend to friend distributing the 'Yellu Bella' as is the custom among Kannadigas. This year due to the prodding, persuing, persevering of my friends Raj & Meena, I am putting the beautiful and vivd memory/image in some nook and corner of my brain into words.My family has lived in Jaynagar right from early 70s to mid 90s. My daadi's sisters family, maama and naani used to live in various parts of Jaynagar, Bangalore. Added to that we had various relatons spread through the length and breadth of all the blocks of jaynagar. During those days there were hardly any vehicles, cars, scooters, mobikes etc. In short NO TRAFFIC. We children could roam around right from Lalbagh to Ragi Gudda freely without any fear.During those days, I remember mention of a Satsang every Thursday in ' That House on 41st Cross ', That House opposite to the play ground '. (The beautiful park opposite to VVK on 11th main was just an open ground then). If I remember correctly, there was a triangular shaped Nandini milk booth. But nothing else.). Even during those days, there used to be atleast 4-5 cars in front of the then residence of Amma, Pitaji, Guruji and Bhanu didi. Even I have attended a few during those days right up to mid 90s.The year and the incident that is etched in my memory might have happened in, maybe 82 or 83, I must have been in 2nd or 3rd Std. I had gone around distributing Yellu Bella from 2nd block to 4th block. For my company I had Lakshmi, who was my friend and neighbour and her elder brother Ravi, who was supposedly our bodyguard and caretaker. We proceeded from cross to cross and finally reached 41st cross. There on an impulse we entered Guruji's residence because even as children we were always very curious about the so called 'family that taught yoga to foreigners'.At Guruji's house, we were greeted by Bhanu Didi and Amma. We did not know who they were at that time. They asked us to sit on the mat and sing a Karnatic classical song. We both sang 'Lambodhara Lakunikara' which is the most favourite song of every little child who has been put into the rigours of classical musical training. We were thrilled to receive high praise and encouragement from both Didi and Amma which I am sure they were, are and Will be doing to everyone they meet. After that Pitaji and Guruji came out from one of the inner rooms and we women and girls were in the process of the exchange of Yellu Bella. The procedure includes us asking them to give us a plate in which we proudly arranged the Sugarcane piece, Banana, Sugar Doll (made by my mother and grand mother by pouring hot sugar syrup into little wodden moulds of various shapes and sizes) and the packets of Yellu Bella mixture. They accept it with the exchange of 'Yellu Bella Thinni, Olle Maat aadi' ( Take sweet talk sweet ).Pitaji asked Amma to give us a little bit of Yellu Bella then and there to eat and Didi went and got a small bowl that contained the auspicious and tasty mixture. Ravi was the first to dip his hand into the bowl and took a very generous portion of the mixture, Lakshmi was the next and them it was my turn. There was very little left of the mixture and it was mainly full of sesame seeds.The belief is that the jaggery in the mixture is distributed to multiply all happiness and good karma and the sesame seeds that denote bad karma and sorrow is distributed to halve all sadness and bad things in life. So when the bowl came to me Pitaji jokingly said ' Avalige beri Yellu mikkide ' (She has only sesame seeds left for her). To which Guruji, who had not said anything till then said 'Parvagilla avalige kodi, avalu adannu tadko taale' ( Its alright give it to her as she can bear it ). It was his way of teaching 'Opposite Values are Complimentary'.Even as a child this incident and the soothing assuring voice of Guruji captured my impressionable mind and left a lasting impact on me. When I came and recited the incident to my grand parents they just brushed it aside as the persistent questioning of a nagging, curious child. But this ncident kept coming back to me till one day in my college days in '92 I had gone again to VVK for a satsang and saw Guruji again. He was talking to all youngsters and asking them what they wanted to do and when it was my turn I said very loftily that I wanted to become an Art of Living Teacher and go abroad to take the courses to the western world. He just nodded.For many more Shankrantis and much more Sesame Seeds in LifeJAI GURUDEV !!!!!!!!!!!!!AshaI have typed this whole memoir in great haste and from childhood memory of 25 years ago. All mistakes are mine and are to be forgiven.--
Asha Ashok
Coordinator
Sree Veena Vidyaniketan

Guruji Speaks on Food

2009-01-24T13:28:00.001-08:00

Guruji Speaks on Food/Ayurvedic Tips by Sri Sri Ravi ShankarJanuary 23rd, 2009
Guruji Speaks on Food/Ayurvedic Tips by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
How many of you have body pains since early in the morning, raise your hand? (There was about 25% of the crowd raising their hands)
You know why? We eat the crops that are cultivated by using chemical fertilizers. This causes a lot of diseases in our body. Do you understand? We don’t detoxify the body. To get good yield we use artificial chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Because of these fertilizers, soil turns toxic and he produce from the soil in turn becomes toxic and our body gets toxic substances as we eat them, which cause disease and pain.
How many have hip, joint, back pains and different kinds of headaches. I don’t want you to tell me the number of headaches that you have at home!!! If we have to get rid of all these pains and diseases, we have to go back to our traditional method of farming. We have to do natural farming, Zero budget farming low-cost, more yield, better health. So we have to take this as a revolution to the farmers.
You know the white sugar is termed as white poison in western countries. As it covers the knobs of the intestine and stops the nutrients from being absorbed by the body. The children who consume a lot of sugar are mostly lean because of lack of nutrition. If you stop giving them sugar, they will start getting healthier. We eat a lot of sugar and reduce our body growth as well. So instead if white sugar you should start consuming cane sugar, which is in turn good for the body. It helps the liver as it has minerals. We have to know how to eat tell not how to eat more.
Similarly we need to learn breathing practices to keep our body healthy and earn meditation to get peace of mind and these things are very much essential for life. We should have knowledge and awareness on meditation, breathing practices and food.
Now let us switch on to cane sugar. The only difference that you may notice is that gulab jamuns would look much darker and jalebis would be of a different colour!!! It does not matter.
After 30 -32 years everyone should take 3 Triphala tablets at night. It sets right all the three doshas, vata, pitha and kapha in the body. . It eliminates toxins from the body. Even if there is a problem with the food, Triphala clears the stomach and helps in good elimination the next morning. It also maximizes anti- oxidization in the body. All of you should take “Triphala” and you can see the effect in your body within 5 to 7 days.
“Deva Vati” is a good cure for amebiosis and other diseases caused by change in food and water. It is harmless and every one must carry with them wherever they go. It replaces antibiotics like Flagyl and others. Two to three “Deva Vati” can cure ever.
In India , what ever we prepare we add turmeric in it. You know why? Because of its anti-oxidant properties and it has medicinal value. In 1980, we called upon scientists for a conference in Delhi . When asked about the use of turmeric, they said it is just a colour pigment without any value. Today, the foreigners may turmeric is an antioxidant and it can give immunization against Cancer and let we do not understand its real value.
In Tamilnadu we add turmeric in the pickles, especially the lemon pickles. Turmeric means Goddess Devi. She is incarnation of lemon, turmeric, and neem. All the three plants are considered sacred in our country and they all give good energy to our body. If we grow lemon and tulsi in each and every house we can have good health in our country.
You know in our country there is a shortfall in the production of pulses. We are importing nearly 40% of the pulses and if this continues we will not have sufficient food In the future. So we have to plant pulses in our home garden and our women can do it.
My Grandmother was in Papanasam even at the age of 92 years she used to do things for herself and she had a good system of eating. Like, eating “Agathi Keerai” , on every “Dwadesi” day ( The day after ekadesi Fasting) and she used to take two kinds of vegetables . She had laid rules for herself and hence had a lot of energy. In the next generation the energy level came down and now in our generation it is getting lower.
One more interesting thing you know our “Idly” is considered to be the most nutritious food in the World. Because it contains carbohydrates, proteins, enzymes, fats, amino acids and fibre.Every one should consume ghee. Ghee helps the body to absorb nutrients. If I start talking on food I can go on for hours together. “Idly” is said to be the complete food it is a happy thing to know don’t you think so.

A Guru Story...

2009-01-15T17:04:00.000-08:00

One of the teachers passed this along ...

“One afternoon in Bali, Guruji picked on this girl amidst 700 peop le doing the course and asked her to meet Him later. It turned out, that girl was planning to commit suicide right after the course (she was forced to sit
through it). Guruji "tried" cajoling her to change her stupid thinking and when nothing worked.....His voice became stern!

HE said "do you know how many times have you been on this planet.....18 times as a donkey...14 times as a dog....do you know how precious is this human birth haaan....and in this birth you get to see ME...do you even
realize this is such a BIG blessing.... you get to sit in MY satsang and it's only because of MY GRACE!" Nothing moved after that....the air was still and the room went beyond the realm of time and space!

I sat there in one corner with goosebumps all over my body and tears in my eyes! I realized...
We haven't chosen this path.....this path has chosen us!

With all my innocence and love, I bow down to the Master of the Universe
and ..........”

War And Games

2009-01-12T10:17:00.000-08:00

War and games have been part of life since time immemorial. They are both tendencies that have impacted human life and society, sometimes favourably and sometimes adversely. The Mahabharata war began with a game but what came out of it was wisdom of Gita. After the Kalinga war, Buddhism flourished, the golden period of Ashoka dawned. World has seen similar lessons after World War II, when tole-rance, pluralism and secularism gained prominence.

But when war became a game, we have failed to learn a lesson. For the mighty and powerful, war is just a game, as has happened in Vietnam and Iraq. Pakistan and India have fought many wars and the same is true of the Middle East. In spite of so many ethnic conflicts in central Africa, Congo , Ethiopia, Ivory Coast and now Sudan, no lesson has been learnt.

There is a thin line between game and war. While the East has chosen the concept of seeing life as a game, in the Middle East, it is jehad. One thing that seems to be common between war and game is that, in both, you need to be insensitive towards the other. If you are sensitive towards others' feelings, you can't defeat the other. That is why the concept of Life is a game or Leela in-sensitizes you to the pains and the pleasures of life.

Today, when children play video games, Internet, watch violent cartoons, they get in-sensitized. These games have turned into real life situations, leading to classroom violence. The last decade has seen unprecedented instances of violence in schools.

Dropout rates in schools in Washington DC is an alarming 50 per cent and there is an increase in gang violence amongst the adolescents the world over. The intellectuals of today have to devise ways to bring back sensitivity and sensibility in the younger generation, without which there will be neither safety nor security on this planet.

Fear of dominance of one community over the other, one nation over the other, have caused nations and communities to amass weapons. Amassing wealth and weapons has become a game. On many occasions, caste conflicts and cash conflicts are all subsidiaries of the arms race.

Many think that spirituality makes men realise the ultimate. Spirituality is definitely an antidote to war. It helps to prevent the game from turning into a war and war turning into a game. Spirituality, people often think, is just a practice. In fact, it is an attitude as well.

A practice is always bound by time but an attitude gets woven into that time. As practice, it is limited to occasions, to time and has time-bound effects. It is easy to adopt spirituality as a practice but takes courage, maturity and understanding to build it as an attitude.

It is attitude and intention that matters more than action. The Americans apologised for mistaken notion when they bombed civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq. When the Israelis pounded Lebanon or when Sri Lankan forces bombed Tamil Tigers' schools and hospitals, all they said was sorry, it was not our intention; it was a mistaken identity. Here, war has become a game.

Today, many around the globe say spirituality is the answer. Will humaneness in spirituality put an end to war? Will it make you submissive and docile? Will it take away the joy and fun in aggression? Will it make you an escapist? This stream of questions smoulders with no answers to put them off. In fact, it should not be. An answer can only be used once, but the path created by these vital questions can be trodden many times to an open-ended human evolution.

Bhagavat Gita Discourse

2009-01-06T01:01:00.000-08:00

Wed Dec 20, 2006 8:01 pm (SGT)

Reality in contradiction. ....by srisriravishankar.

Truth is contradictory, if it is not contradictory, then it is not truth! Bhagvad Gita is full of
contradictions. You can understand it only if you see it in totality.

At one point, Krishna tells Arjuna that action is the most important thing and without action one will be nowhere. But after that He tells him that action is all right but knowledge is better! Then Krishna says, ''You must become a yogi and drop everything around you.'' Then Krishna tells him: ''He is intelligent who sees 'action' in 'inaction' and 'inaction' in 'action'.'' What does this mean? It means even if you don't do something you have acted — simply by 'not
doing'.

If you do something then too you have not acted, for in your not acting here, something else could have happened — you could have done something else. Even
though you have acted, there is 'inaction'; because you did this, you couldn't do something else. So every 'action' has an 'inaction' and every 'inaction' has
got an 'action' connected to it.

And then Krishna takes Arjuna towards Dhyana Yoga —meditation. In the sixth chapter of the Bhagvad Gita, He tells Arjuna that since he is confused, there is no
use talking. He asks him to meditate.

Finally, Krishna says, ''Arjuna, he is the greatest amongst the yogis who keeps Me in his heart whether he meditates or not. He is the real yogi, because I am with him in whatever he is doing.''

The contradictions don't end there. At one juncture, Krishna says, ''Arjuna, there is nobody dear to me, nobody whom I love.'' And then gives a whole list of qualifications for those He really loves!

In another instance, Krishna tells Arjuna to act without looking for the fruit of action. Later He asks Arjuna to act properly, according to natural law. Then He tells him the way he ought to fight if he wants to win the war. So, at this point He is bringing Arjuna's attention to the fruit of action, but then He also tells him not to worry about the fruit of action.

Krishna was like a dear friend to Arjuna. In Bhagavatam, you will see that except for Vidura and
Udhava, nobody even thought he was enlightened; they all thought that he was just very smart. Of course, there were the Pandavas and the gopis who knew who Krishna was and how total He was from all angles. But many of them, including Arjuna, did not see him that way.

But then Krishna shows him, in one minute, that He is infinite. He tells Arjuna, ''You can't see without the eye of knowledge; so now I will give you a special eye of knowledge, which I have haven't given anybody in ages.

I am giving it to you now because it is time.'' With that, He gives him a vision, a flash. For that one moment the universe appears as a manifestation of Krishna to Arjuna.

Arjuna's mind is shattered that moment. He sees all of creation, everything — the mountains and the rivers, the past, the present and the future — dissolving in Krishna.

He sees that Krishna is that space, that infinity, into which everything is coming in and dissolving. For an instant, the whole life, the whole universe, all the memory and all that was associated with it just plays out like a movie and it frightens Arjuna.

Then Arjuna pleads, ''Oh! Please show me your simple, natural and friendly face. I like your simple smile and I want to see my friend. I don't want to see anything beyond. It is too much for me.'' This is called Vishva Roopa Darshana — the vision of the universal.

Thereafter, Krishna tells Arjuna about the yagyas and all the principles and the laws under which the society and universe works. Then He talks about sanyasa and how to be really centered.

For instance, an event or an instance should be seen as just that — an event, an instance or a happening. But it sticks to the mind and you try to get rid of it. The event assumes importance and the mind is caught up in it — ''Oh! He said that, they said this, they didn't say this, etc.''

Once the event goes away, then you feel a sense of great relief. You suddenly discover peace inside you.
Your very nature is peace. In the centre of you, you are peace. The moment this disturbance gets thrown out, you can actually feel it — all the brain cells, and the entire brain becomes so calm and settled the moment this garbage goes out.

And deep inside you can really smile as a flame of peace. Arjuna asks Krishna, ''What you say is very magical and joyful. But it's not easy. This mind is difficult to control. It's like controlling air — can anybody control air?''

Then Krishna says, ''I agree with you. It is difficult but not impossible. Abhyasena tu Kaunteya — with practice, dispassion and by getting to the centre again, you will succeed.'' You will see that Krishna tried everything.

Finally it was the display of the universal vision that worked on Arjuna. People cannot change just by visions also. Krishna does not really bring about the realisation totally from outside — it needs something more.

That is why after Krishna led Arjuna to the infinite vision, he speaks on what is dear to him, on devotion, and then he comes on all the other things you know — about creation and even about food.

But when Arjuna says, ''I give up,'' Krishna says, ''I can't do anything; you think and do whatever is best for you. First ponder on whatever I have said and then act.'' Arjuna says, ''No, now I am clear in my mind. I'll do whatever you will say.'' So, Krishna had to speak through 18 chapters to get him to that point. Krishna could have done it at the very first chapter.
But it is beautiful the way this knowledge has flown.

Everything may appear to be all contradictory, seen from all angles.

But that is in fact reality.

Transform Yourself

2009-01-02T01:01:00.000-08:00

Transform yourself
- Sri Sri Ravishankar

In this era of science and technology, we can be creative and productive, and at the same time not lose the humanness that we are all born with. Just material things or comfort alone do not make you comfortable. You may have a good bed to sleep on, but unable to sleep because of insomnia or worry! You need to get a broad understanding about yourself and your priorities. Clarity in the mind makes things much easier-understanding your basic emotions like love, your interaction with people around you, knowing about your ego or what your intellect or mind is saying to you and introspection will give you a few minutes of relaxation which is very vital. So, what is most important is introspection about one's own life and how to improve the quality of life-this intention itself will open many doors for you to feel better about yourself. First of all, find out for yourself whether you are healthy.

Health is...
a disease-free body.
a quiver-free breath.
a stress-free mind.
an inhibition-free intellect.
an obsession-free memory.
an ego that includes all.
a soul that is free from sorrow.

Have you ever thought what is the purpose of your life? What is the meaning of life? What is life all about?
These questions are very, very precious. When these questions dawn in your mind, only then your life begins! But, when these questions come into your mind, don't be in a hurry to get an answer. Those who know will not tell you and those who tell don't know! You can plug your ears and walk off! These questions are the tools by which you can dig deeper and the answers come from within you. Once these questions come into your life then you start "living" life rather than just existing.

To know for what you are in this planet, find out what you are not here for!
You are not here to be sad.
You are not here to blame.
You are not here to be miserable.
You are not here to worry.
You are not here to show off.
You are not here to get stressed out.
You are not here to get irritated and irritate others.
The list goes on.

All our struggles in life are to know more. You are trying your level-best to understand your feelings and emotions, and you get into more and more and more confusion. This is what has happened with psychology today. It tries to explain to you why you feel like the way you are feeling. The ''why'' arises always when you are unhappy. You ask ''Why this problem to me of all the people?'' Nobody ever asked, ''Why am I so happy?'' You want to understand, ''why am I not feeling good?'' or ''why am I angry?'', or ''why is this not happening?'' The more you try to understand and try to dig it, you seem to understand less and less. The mystery deepens, but an illusion comes as though ''I know it''. But that is for a short while. We ourselves do not know and we try to explain to others! Stop your explanations; your explanations have put you into a soup and make other people also more confused. You don't know what is happening in your mind. Mind is like a roller coaster-it's a crowd. Just be in the simple and innocent state of ''I don't know!''. This life is a mystery-beautiful-live it.
Living the mystery of life so totally is joy.
Becoming the mystery is divine.
You are a mystery!
When you see life in this context, clarity dawns in your mind and your life improves.

1 Review the context of your life
Look at your own life in the light of time. Millions of years have passed and millions will come. What is your life? 60, 70 or 100 years? Span of life is insignificant. It is not even a drop in the ocean. In terms of space you simply don't exist! This understanding dissolves the ego. Ego is ignorance of your reality, ignorance of your existence. Now, just to know this, do we have to do something else? Just open your eyes: ''Who am I? How I am on this planet? What is my life time?'' Awareness dawns in the mind, and you will stop worrying about little things like, ''this person said this thing to me and that person broke away with me and this happened with that person and I am going to say this....'' All smallness will simply drop away, and you will be able to live every moment of your life.
Your life reels around your context. You should be happy in life. All other businesses involve ups and downs which is very natural. If there is a body, then it will get cold, cough, fever or something else and it will go away. But take care to see that happiness is always established in you. That is known as purashaartha. Our love, faith and belief should be deep-rooted, then everything else moves on its own. How many events take place in life! Are you able to maintain your equanimity always? Not everything in the world is sweet. If you are grounded with faith, like the husk with grain, you will progress.

Take this decision: "Whatever happens I will be there. I will be grounded. God's protection is there on me. Whatever happens, I will never go down. I always have God's hand with me." Keep your mind in peace in all situations. The rest will be taken care of. You have to take at least one step forward, which is to be in peace and equanimity. "Oh! Nothing happened. Nothing of my work happened." If you are able to laugh in such a situation, then understand that you have protection with you! The world is filled with love. Everybody has love inside them. You have to see that in your mind.

Your head will be in the mud in a few years; don't put mud in your head while you are still alive! If you review the context of your life, the quality of your life will improve.

2 Know life's impermanence
See the impermanence in this life. That is the truth. Turn back and see that all that you did is like a dream. All have passed, the whole thing is finished. Tomorrow will pass. Now and then, a pinch of unpleasantness comes. It makes you aware of your pleasantness. Suppose you never had unpleasant moments in life, you would never have pleasant ones. Your life would stagnate in utter boredom and you would become like a stone. So, in order to keep you alive, now and then, here and there, nature gives you a little pinch. It makes life more lively. Accept it.

You don't have to be afraid in life. There is always support. So, every pinch that you are having in life is for the best, to make your life more lively and enjoyable. Day and night you work so hard. The whole week is spent working, coming home tired, eating, going to bed. The same routine the next day. Weekends have become another routine.

If you're awake, then you see there is so much foolishness! Just watch when four or five people get together and have a gossip session. In a gossip session, you can immediately change the topic of conversation. This is the thing with a crowd. If ten people are talking about the weather and you change the topic to stock markets, everybody will immediately talk stock markets, whether they know about them or not. It is great fun.

Being aware of this impermanent nature of our life, you find that there is something in you that has not changed. There is a reference point by which you can say things are changing. That reference point is the source of life. That is wisdom. With wisdom, your life improves.

3 Make your smile cheaper
A research done in England found that a baby smiles 400 times a day, an adolescent 17 times and an adult doesn't smile at all! The more successful one keeps a very stiff face. Is roughness a sign of success? Is being stressed a sign of prosperity, growth or dignity?

You should smile more. Every day, every morning, look at the mirror and give a good smile to yourself. You know what happens when you smile? All the muscles in your face get relaxed. The nerves in your brain get relaxation, and you get the confidence, courage and energy to move on in life.

You know, your smile is so fragile! Just one telephone call is enough to take it away! But what is the big deal about your feelings? Bundle them up and throw them into the ocean! Once you are rid of your 'feelings' you can be happy. Just see why your spirits go down? Because somebody said something stupid to you. And why did they say a stupid thing? Because they had some garbage they needed to throw out and you were there, ready to catch it! And once you have caught it, you hold on to it so passionately! Come on! Wake up! Don't let your smile be snatched away by anybody!

Usually, you give your anger freely and smile rarely as though a smile is costly. In ignorance, anger is cheaper and smile costly. In knowledge, a smile is free like sun, air, and water and anger is extremely expensive, like a diamond. Make your smile cheaper and anger expensive! You are here for a greater cause. Just remember that. Take a challenge: "Come what may, I am going to smile today and be happy!" Smile more.

4 Be enthusiastic and praise others
Enthusiasm is the nature of life. We often have a tendency to put cold water on other's enthusiasm. Reverse this tendency. Take every opportunity to praise others and support their enthusiasm. If you put down other's enthusiasm, the same may happen to you. As you sow, so shall you reap. Recollect how much enthusiasm and joy you had when you went to the primary school. Someone without enthusiasm is like a corpse. But as you mature, the enthusiasm curve declines. As enthusiasm declines, we stop communicating.

How would you like to see yourself ? Happy and bubbling with enthusiasm or dull and difficult to please? Often, you like to be pleased, appeased and cajoled. So you put up a tough, upset face and act difficult to please. If a person has to appease and please ten people all the time, it will be so tiring. People who keep a long face and expect others to cajole and appease them make others run away. Lovers often do this. They expend a lot of energy in cajoling, and this brings down the joy and celebration of the moment.

If you feel down, appease and please yourself. Your need to be appeased by someone else is the sign of grossness. If you want attention, all you get is tension. It is not possible to attain Divine Love with a complaining face. Become one whose enthusiasm never dies.

5 Make meditation a part of your life
The higher goals in life can only be realised through a few minutes of meditation and introspection.

What is meditation?
Mind without agitation is meditation.
Mind in the present moment is meditation.
Mind that has no hesitation, no anticipation is meditation.
Mind that has come back home, to the source, is meditation.
Mind that becomes "no mind" is meditation.

Deeper you are able to rest, dynamic you will be in activity. Even though deep rest and dynamic activity are opposite values, they are complementary. Before the body leaves you, you learn to leave everything. That is freedom. What are you looking for? Are you looking for some great joy? YOU ARE JOY!

I will give you an example. Have you seen dogs biting bones? You know why they bite bones? Biting wounds their mouth. Its own blood comes out and the dog feels that the bone is very tasty! Poor dog spends the whole time chewing the bone but getting nothing out of it! Any joy you experience in life is from the depth of your self, when you let go all that you hold on to and settle down being centered in that space. That is called meditation. Actually, meditation is not an act; it is the art of doing nothing! The rest in meditation is deeper than the deepest sleep that you can ever have because in meditation you transcend all desires.

Meditation is letting go of anger from the past and all the planning for the future. Meditation is accepting this moment and living every moment totally with depth. Just this understanding, and a few days of continuous practice of meditation can change the quality of our life.The best comparison of the three states of consciousness-waking, sleeping and dreaming-is with the nature. Nature sleeps, awakes and dreams! It happens in a magnificent scale in existence, and it is happening in a different scale in the human body. Wakefulness and sleep are like sunrise and darkness. Dream is like the twilight in between.

And meditation is like the flight to the outer space, where there is no sunset, no sunrise, nothing! I am sure that deep within, every one of you feel that you have not grown, meaning you have not changed, not grown old. This indicates the soul in you, the depth in you, the spirit in you doesn't change, doesn't grow old, it's not aging. The body is aging but something in you is not aging. Getting in touch with that something that doesn't age brings beauty in life. That is meditation
Transform yourself - II
- Sri Sri Ravishankar

6 Go to the most beautiful place
Only if there is alertness and presence of mind can your life improve. For this, you need to cultivate the habit of listening. Most of us are not good listeners. When you are listening to somebody, the speaker's very first sentence triggers some conversation within you. You are constantly agreeing or disagreeing with the speaker. Have you ever wondered whether you can listen without any thoughts or pre-conceived notions? To cultivate the habit of listening, you have to "go" to a place where everything is beautiful!
Where is this place? That most beautiful place is within you! When you come to this place, then any place is beautiful. Then, wherever you go, you add beauty there.

Learning something about our breath is very important. Our breath has a great lesson to teach us: for every rhythm in the mind, there is a corresponding rhythm in the breath, for every rhythm in the breath, there is a corresponding emotion. So, when you cannot handle your mind directly, through breath you can handle the mind. Neither at school nor at home does anybody teach you what to do when you are upset or angry or depressed. The first thing we did when we came to this planet is that we took a deep breath and then we started to cry. The last thing we'll be doing: we'll breathe out and make others cry! In between, the whole life, we are breathing in and out, but, we have learnt very little about our breath! No breath, no life... know breath, know life!

We need to learn a little bit about our breath. We need to know a little bit about all the layers of our existence-body, breath, mind, intellect, memory, ego and the self. This is what I call Art of Living, learning a little bit about ourselves, the seven layers of our life. And that makes you be in the present moment, and it helps us to maintain the innocence that we are all born with, and feel at home with everybody, anywhere. What I would suggest is, take one week off every year for yourself, like you take your car for servicing. During that time, align yourself with nature, wake up with the sunrise, do some exercise, eat proper food, just as much food as necessary, some exercises, yoga, and some breathing exercises, a few minutes of singing, and then some silent moments, enjoying the creation.

Book yourself on a trip to this most beautiful place in the universe. Then you find that every day is a vacation and a celebration!

7 Communicate effectively
Learning to communicate effectively with everyone is a skill worth possessing. Most of the time you find that you are out of place. Communicating without prejudice is vital for success.
If you are faced with someone who knows more than you, be like a child and keep your ears and eyes open for learning. If you are faced with someone who knows less than you, be humble and strive to make them as good as or better than you. Play with a small child as you played when you were a child. Talk with an elderly person remembering that one day you will be like that. Communicate with a person of your age group like you are his/her best friend.

This world is varied beyond our imagination, and there's always something to share, learn and teach. When you are centered, you become a powerful communicator. And when your communication improves, your life improves.

8 Take out time for yourself
If for the whole day you are engaged in only gathering information, you do not take out time for yourself to think and reflect. A few quiet moments are sources for creativity.
Some time during the day, sit for a few minutes, get into the cave of your heart, eyes closed, and kick the world away like a ball. But, during the day be 100 per cent attached to the work. Eventually, you will be able to be both attached and detached. This is the skill of living, the art of living.

Renunciation refills your energy. Creativity cannot happen only just through efforts. There is a beautiful story about Chhatrapati Shivaji. At one time Shivaji became so frustrated about ruling his kingdom that he went to his guru Samarth Ramdas and told him that he is fed up and that he just wants to renounce everything. Ramdas told him that he can renounce everything. Shivaji became so happy and relaxed at the very thought. Then Ramdas told him: "Now I am the king and you are my servant. Will you do whatever I ask you to do?" Shivaji replied: "For you I am ready to do anything." Ramdas said: "Very good. Will you run this country for me?" Shivaji replied: "Yes, I will run the country for you!" Total renunciation had brought zeal and enthusiasm in him.

Creativity springs up when you are relaxed. You have to renounce all work you have done the whole day, only then can you rest in the night.

Though many times pain, struggle and frustration have brought out creativity in some people, these are not the only reasons for a person to be creative. Millions of people in the world are struggling or frustrated, but they are not creative. So, taking out some time for yourself improves the quality of your life.

9 Better the world around you
A river needs two bunks to flow. The difference between flood and a normal river is that water flow is regulated in a river. During floods, water has no direction. Similarly, the energy in our life needs some direction to flow. If you don't give direction, it is all confusion. Today, most people are confused because there is no direction in life. When you are happy, there is so much of life-energy in you; but when this life-energy doesn't know where to go, how to go, it gets stuck. When it stagnates, it rots. For life-energy to move in a direction, commitment is essential.
Life runs with commitment. If you observe every small thing or big thing in life, they go with certain commitment. A student takes admission in a school or college with a commitment.

Needless to say, a family runs on commitment: mother is committed to the child, child is committed to the parents, husband is committed to wife, and wife is committed to husband. Greater the commitment you take, greater the energy/power you gain to fulfill that commitment. Greater the commitment, easier things are. Smaller the commitment, suffocating it is for you. Smaller commitments suffocate you because you have more capacity, but you are stuck in a small hole!

When you have ten things to do and if one thing goes wrong, you can keep doing the ten things; the thing that has gone wrong will set itself right! But if you have only one thing to do and that goes wrong, then you are stuck with it. Usually we think we should have resource and then we will commit. Greater the commitment you take, greater the resources will come to you automatically. Whatever you are committed to brings you strength. If you are committed to your family then your family supports you, if you are committed to society, you enjoy the support of society.

Commitment will always bring comfort in the long run. Make a commitment to make this world a better place to live.

10Nourish your emotions
A person without emotions is like wood without any juice. You need to make your life interesting to make people be with you. This will happen when you nurture yourself with music, prayer and service.

The way to expand from individual to universal consciousness is to share others' sorrow and joy. As you grow, your consciousness should also grow. When you expand in knowledge with time, then depression is not possible. The way to overcome personal misery is to share universal misery! The way to expand personal joy is to share universal joy. Instead of thinking "what about me?" and "what can I gain from this world?", think "what can I do for the world?"

Silence heals and rejuvenates. Silence gives you depth and stability and brings creativity. Service leads to the dynamic experience of heart. It creates a sense of belongingness. Lack of service can land a person in depression. Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Pain is physical. Suffering is mental. If you are not sensitive to others' pain, then you are not a human being. That is why you need to serve. Service alone can bring contentment in life, but service without silence tires you. Service without spirituality will be shallow, and cannot be sustained for a long period. The deeper the silence, the more dynamic the outer activity. Both are essential in life.

When you bring some relief or freedom to someone through seva, good vibrations and blessings come to you. Seva brings merit; merit allows you to go deep in meditation; meditation brings back your smile. When you sing and pray from your heart , your emotions are nourished and you become "lively".

11 Plan short and long-term goals
At any given point of time, our mind is oscillating between the past and the future. Either it is angry or sad about the past or anxious about the future. Whatever actions you do in this state of mind, you regret after some time. This is how you get caught up in the same old cycle. Does it mean that you should not plan your future? No! You should plan your short and long-term goals. Then, and only then, life gets a channel, a direction to flow. When the mind is totally in the present, the right planning happens. Not only should you plan your goals, but plan the means and methods to work towards them. Where would you like to see yourself after three years? After 20 years? After 40 years? Don't be feverish about the results. Give your 100 per cent. If you are feverish about the results, it will lead you to disappointment.

Do not make a list of all the things you want to achieve. Select few things that really matters. Once a teacher brought a glass jar to the class and a bag with some big stones, some small stones and some sand. He asked the students to put all the contents from the bag into the glass jar. Some students put the sand first, then small stones and by then there was no place for the big stones. The teacher later explained that had they put the bigger stones first, then the smaller stones, there was always space around the stones for all the sand in the bag. This example teaches us an important lesson in prioritising things. If we put things that will give us maximum fulfillment in the long term, smaller things will automatically fall into place.

Among all planets in the solar system, the earth is privileged to host life in its many forms, and, among all the species, humans are most privileged, for, they can host knowledge. Again and again you remember that you are peace, you are love, you are joy and that you are hosting the creator. If you do not realise that you are the host, you live like a ghost!

Transform yourself - III
- Sri Sri Ravishankar

12 Prayer is a vital tool
Prayer is a vital tool to improve your life. It also nurtures values like integrity and honesty. Prayer happens in two situations, or in a combination of situations. When you feel grateful or when you feel utterly helpless. If you are not grateful and prayerful, you will be miserable. In either case your prayers will be answered.
What you can do, you do.
What you cannot do, you pray for!

It is said the divine dawns in you when you pray for it, when you cry for it, when you sing for it. The divine is only waiting for you to dig a little deeper into yourself. Because, it can then fill you with much more nectar! Divine wants you to create more space in you. Cry from your soul for help. This is for those seekers who are weak. Those seekers who are strong-with the power of knowledge-can sing with that joy of what they have achieved! The moment you sing in gratitude, in glory of the divine, it immediately dawns in you, and fills you up again. One type of people is grateful for all their growth. The other type is helpless and weak. Both will be helped.

Spirituality is not some ritual, or doing something. It's a very pleasant, uplifted state of being and seeing that the whole world is all spirit or consciousness. Use prayer to bring integration in your personality. Whatever you do, know that the higher power has the final say and it will always be for the best.

13 Implement changes if needed
Sorrow simply means that viveka (discrimination) is overshadowed. Viveka means knowing that everything is changing. Your body, your emotions, the people around you and the world-everything is changing. Time and again you have to awaken to this reality. You are often fearful of change. Change is inevitable in many fronts though security is hooked on to stability. You know there is a need for change to improve your life, but you feel secure in the old pattern. You need the courage to implement changes whenever it is necessary. You have to evaluate the pros and the cons. You have to see whether that gives you short-term joy and misery in the long run or short-time pain and joy in the long run.

Life is a combination of both change and non-change. So, use your intelligence and courageously implement changes when you feel that there is a need for change.

14 Identify your limitations
Every time you are unhappy or miserable, you are just coming in touch with your own boundaries! And what can you do? You can just feel thankful: "Oh, I came in touch with my boundary, my limitation. This was my limitation." You just turn the whole situation into a prayer: "Let there be peace, not just in me but in everybody." Prayer is that moment when you come in touch with your limitations, your boundaries.

You are peaceful, you are joyful, you are happy as long as you have not come in contact with your boundaries. At that moment what can you do? You can just say, "My Lord, my God, You made me become aware of my boundaries. You bring peace. I am giving it all to You." That very moment you will start smiling. However hopeless the situation is, you will walk through it, sing through it, dance through it! This is love.

In Hindi, love is written with two-and-a-half letters. They say, "Who is a master, who is a pundit, who is a wise person? Not one who has studied a lot of scriptures, but one who has studied the two-and-a-half letters." And this two-an-a-half letters is at this moment. It is a test of the moment, when you come in touch with your limitations, your boundaries. You are happy, peaceful. Are you in the boundaries? Or are you maintaining your boundless and the innocent love in the heart? Is it remaining? If it is, then nothing can rob you of peace.

15 Do not lose your friends
Mistakes keep happening all the time. Often you want to correct them. How much can you correct? There are two situations when you correct others' mistakes.
1 You correct someone's mistake because it bothers you. But even if you correct it, this does not work.
2 You correct someone's mistake not because it bothers you, but for their sake so that they can grow.
To correct mistakes you need authority and love. Authority and love seem to be contradictory, but in reality they are not. Authority without love is stifling. Love without authority is shallow. A friend needs to have both authority and love but they need to be in the right combination. This can happen if you are totally dispassionate and centered. When you allow room for mistakes, you can be both authoritative and sweet. That is how the Divine is, the right balance of both. Krishna and Jesus had both.
Don't make a mistake by pointing out mistakes!

Once a lady came to me and said her husband had lied to her. She was very upset. I asked, "Why does your husband lie to you? Because he loves you, and is afraid to lose your love or hurt you. If he did not love you, he wouldn't lie to you!"

Do not tell a person a mistake he knows he has committed. By doing this, you will only make him feel more guilty. A magnanimous person will not pick on the mistakes of others and make them feel guilty; he will correct them with compassion and care.

16 Don't look for perfection
Many a time, you become angry or miserable because of the feverishness for perfection. If you are too much of a perfectionist, you are bound to be an angry person.
In a state of ignorance, imperfection is natural and perfection is an effort. In a state of wisdom or enlightenment, imperfection is an effort; perfection is a compulsion and is unavoidable! Perfection is taking total responsibility, and total responsibility means knowing that you are the only responsible person in the whole world. When you think that others are responsible, then your degree of responsibility diminishes. When you are in total vairagya (dispassion), you can take care of even insignificant things with such perfection. Perfection is the very nature of the Enlightened one. When we are joyful, we don't look for perfection. If you are looking for perfection then you are not at the source of joy. Joy is the realisation that there is no vacation from wisdom. The world appears imperfect on the surface but, underneath, all is perfect. Perfection hides; imperfection shows off.

The wise will not stay on the surface but will probe into the depth. Things are not blurred; your vision is blurred. Infinite actions prevail in the wholeness of consciousness, and yet the consciousness remains perfect, untouched. Realise this now and be natural.

In this world, everything cannot be perfect all the time. Even the best, the greatest of actions, performed with the noblest of intentions, will have some imperfections. It is but natural. Unfortunately, the tendency of our mind is to grab the imperfection and hold on to it. And, in the process, we end up making our moods, our minds imperfect and our souls reel with this nonsense. It is imperative to get out of these cycles, and to become strong and courageous from within.

17 Let us be unpredictable
We often behave like machines. A compliment makes us smile and an insult makes us frown. We don't have to react in the same way always. You have the freedom to respond differently. You don't have to answer all questions posed to you. As people have a right to question, you have the right whether to answer or not.
So, be unpredictable!

18 Have a sense of humour
You are endowed with certain naughtiness as a child. Keep it alive. Humour will grease all tough situations. One who has humour can sail through any conflict. Humour is the buffer that saves you from humiliation. If you refuse to be humiliated, you become invincible. Humour brings everyone together, while humiliation tears them apart. In a society torn with humiliation and insult, humour is like a breath of fresh air.

Humour should be coupled with care and concern. Humour can keep the spirit high, yet if overdone it leaves a bad taste. Humour without wisdom is shallow. Humour without sensitivity is satire-it comes back to you with more problems.

The wise use humour to bring wisdom and to lighten situations. The intelligent use humour as a shield against humiliation. The cruel use humour as a sword to insult others. The irresponsible use humour to escape from responsibility. And fools take humour too seriously!

How does one cultivate a sense of humor?
Humour is not just words, it is the lightness of your being. You do not have to read and repeat jokes.
Taking life not too seriously (because you will never come out of it alive)!
Having a sense of belongingness with everybody, including those who are not friendly.
Practicing yoga and meditation.
Having unshakable faith in the Divine and in the laws of karma.
Being in the company of those who live in knowledge and are humorous.
A willingness to be a clown.

19 Don't be afraid to make mistakes
Whenever a boundary is broken, it creates some fear. The fear creates dislike. This dislike puts us back in the boundary. And to keep yourself in the boundary you put forth defenses. When you try to defend your position, it is such a stress. Every time you try to defend your position, it makes you more and more weak. Drop all your defenses. When you are totally defenseless, that's when you'll be strong.

Your knowledge of a mistake comes to you when you are innocent! Whatever mistake has happened, do not consider yourself a sinner because in the present moment you are again new, pure and clear. Mistakes of the past are past. When this knowledge comes, you are again perfect. Often, mothers scold their children and afterwards feel so guilty. Okay, you got angry at your kid once or twice. Why? Because of a lack of awareness! Awareness was missing, so the anger came up. Knowledge of the self, truth and skills can bring out the best in you. So, don't be afraid to make mistakes, but not the same mistakes. You have got to be innovative even in your mistakes!

20 Overcome your prejudice
Your prejudice against gender, religion, caste and class does not allow you to mingle with everyone around you. Often, you don't sit with people who are not economically or socially at par with you. You have to learn to break that barrier. Also, there is age prejudice. Teenagers don't like to have fun with elderly people and vice versa. Gender prejudice is more prevalent in rural areas. Caste system is present even among the royalties of Europe, the UK and Japan.

Religious prejudice is well known. There are good people and bad people in every community, religion and every section of society. Don't be prejudiced against them. At the same time don't be shy about your identity. When you overcome prejudice, you will be very natural, and your quality of life will improve.

21 Feel that "I am blessed"
There is so much talk about success. Have you ever thought what success is? Success is simply ignorance about one's capabilities. Success is ignorance about the power of the self. Because you assume you can do only this much. If there are obstacles, you are clear about your objective. With a calm and serene mind, think of many possibilities. Know that failures are stepping stones for greater success. Actually, there are no failures in life. All the seeming failures are only stepping stones for greater success. If you feel the obstacle is too much, deep prayer can work miracles.

The feeling that "I am blessed" can help you overcome any failure. Once you realise that you are blessed, then
all the complaints disappear.
all the grumbling disappears.
all the insecurities disappear.
a sense of not being loved disappears.
wanting love disappears.

Ego is always ambitious and wants to do tough jobs like climbing Mount Everest. Whereas in a simple act like watching a butterfly, watering the garden, watching the birds or the sky, can bring deep relaxation, and relaxation connects you with your source. Seemingly trivial actions open a new dimension and bring in immense peace and rest. Just come out of your little shell and feel free.

There is a saying: Behind every successful man is a woman. I will modify this: Behind every success there is the Divine saying "I am behind you".

22 Do random acts of kindness
Abiding in the self you become the valentine for the whole world. Spirit is the valentine of matter, and matter is the valentine of spirit. They are made for each other. They uphold each other. If you do not respect the spirit, then matter is not pleased. If you honour the spirit then you will care for the world, and when you care for the world it will take care of you.
You are the Christmas tree. At the time of year when no tree bears anything, it has many gifts to offer. A Christmas tree bears the gifts and the lights not for itself. Similarly, all the gifts you are carrying in your life are for others. Anyone who comes to you, you offer them your gifts. When you show kindness, your true nature comes into play. Have you ever done acts of kindness without expecting anything out of it?

Our service should not be mechanical. Once some boy scouts were at a Sunday service, when the priest said, "You should serve." They asked, "What is this service? Could you give us some example?" He said, "Suppose an old woman wants to cross a road, go and help her cross the road."

So the boys went and looked for a whole week, but there was no old woman trying to cross a street. Finally, four of them found a woman walking on a footpath. One of the boys went and asked her, "Madam, would you like to cross the road?" She turned and said, "No." He was disappointed. So another boy went and asked her again, thinking, perhaps, that the first boy hadn't asked properly. The woman was now a little bit confused. She wondered why she was being asked this. So, she said, it was all right for him to take her across the road. Once they had reached the other side, a third boy came and asked her, "Would you like to cross the road?" Now it really bothered her. When the fourth one approached her, she almost screamed and ran away!

You don't have to plan acts of kindness. Just do something spontaneously. When you do random acts of kindness, you come in touch with your true nature.

23 Be a student, always
Know that you are a student forever. Do not underestimate anybody. Knowledge may come to you from any corner. Remember the ancient saying "let knowledge flow to me from all sides". Each occasion teaches you and each person teaches you. The world is your teacher. When you are always looking to learn, you will stop underestimating others. Humility will dawn in your life.

There is a nice story. A man earned a lot of money and then gave all his property to his son. The son then built a small house behind his big house and told his parents: "Now you have to stay there."

So the old couple stayed there, while the son and his family lived in the bungalow. One day, while playing, the grandchild came to his grandfather's home, where everything was in pathetic condition. The grandchild said, "Grandpa, be careful with your plate and chair. Don't break them." When he asked why, the child said, "Because tomorrow, my father will need them." One does not realise this fact. You are also going to be old one day.

24 Dream the impossible
Unless you have a dream, you cannot realise it. Every invention has come out of a dream. Dream the impossible. Obviously, dreaming employs something which is beyond your perceived capacity. Consider the faculty which is the preceptor of the dream. Some dreams have impacted your daily living and others have not. Some dreams you remember, and others you have forgotten.

We are all born in this world to do something wonderful and unique; don't let this opportunity pass by. Give yourself the freedom to dream and think big. Have the courage and determination to achieve those dreams that are dear to you. Many a time people who dreamt big were ridiculed, but they remained strong to achieve their goals.
Do something creative. Not a year should pass without doing something creative.

25 Compare your performance
As we flip the calendar, we need to keep flipping our mind as well. Often, our diaries are full with memories. See that you don't fill your future dates with past events. Allow the space for creativity to dawn. Celebration of the New Year allows you to be wise. Learn and unlearn from the past, and move on.

In the past year, how many days were you in sanyas? How many days were you struggling, being caught in maya? Turn back and remember the whole year. Do not run away from anything. Do not reject anything. Do not go away from anything. At the same time, let your attention be on the self. This is a delicate balance. That balance is yoga.

A poor man celebrates the New Year once a year. A rich man celebrates each day. But the richest man celebrates every moment.

How rich are you? If you celebrate every moment, you are the Lord of Creation. Review the year while you celebrate. This is your homework. Compare your performance in the year before last and smile.

The year 2007 is fortunate because you are living at this time!!! When you are living for the sake of the world, the world is fortunate. Let time celebrate your presence. You keep smiling as ever.

When you let time celebrate you, you are a witness amid celebration. The heart always longs for the old, the mind for the new. Life is a combination of both. Let the New Year bring into our life ancient wisdom and modernity, as life is incomplete without either of them. Don't feel shy to speak about human and spiritual values. The time has come now to call the whole world!
Be ever new, happy you!!!!

Seattle Boat Ride with Guruji

2009-01-01T10:17:00.000-08:00

New Year Message from Guruji

2008-12-31T14:10:00.001-08:00

Learn and unlearn from the past: Become free
- By Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Every year, we begin the New Year wishing others happiness and prosperity. What is the sign of prosperity? The sign of prosperity is freedom, a smile and the willingness to share with people around you, without fear. The sign of prosperity is the trust and confidence that you will get whatever is needed in life. Welcome the year 2009 with a smile from within. As we flip the calendar, we need to keep flipping our mind as well. Often, our diaries are full with memories. See that you don't fill your future dates with past events. Learn and unlearn from the past, and move on.You want to be free from greed, hatred, jealousy and all such imperfections. If the mind is holding all these negative qualities, it cannot be happy or peaceful – you cannot enjoy your life. So the first step is to see that negative emotions are due to the past and not let the past affect your experience of life now. Forgive the past. If you cannot forgive the past, then your future will be miserable. This new year make up with someone with whom you are not on good terms. Commit yourself to dropping the past and starting a fresh life. When the new year arrives wish everyone with a sankalpa (intention) for peace and prosperity for all the people on the planet. With the economic meltdown, looming terrorism, with floods & famine around, do more selfless service. Realise that our foremost priority is to check violence in the world, to free the world from domestic and societal violence. Make a resolution to do more good to society, help the people who are in need and bring solace to those who are suffering. Take responsibility for the nation. The spiritual dimension of life brings a great sense of belongingness, responsibility, compassion and caring for the whole world, for the whole humanity. The spiritual dimension in the truest form smashes the narrow boundaries of caste, creed, religion and nationality and gives one a broader awareness of life present everywhere. This year, let your devotion flower. Give it a chance to work. We should experience the divine's presence, the divine's light around us. You should have a desire in your mind to experience this. Has such a desire ever risen in you - that you want the highest peace? The whole world is running by this divine light. When you sing or pray there should be total involvement. If the mind is preoccupied elsewhere then that is no prayer at all. You are like a free bird. You are fully open. Feel that you are flying like a bird. Learn to fly. This is something which you have to experience within yourself. There is nothing else. If you consider yourself as bonded, you will remain bound here. Be free. When will you experience freedom? Become free right now. Sit down and become content. Spend some time in meditation & satsang so that your inner self becomes strong enough to deal with the challenges. When the mind relaxes, the intellect becomes sharp. When the mind is loaded with small things such as ambition, feverishness and desire, then the intellect loses its keenness. And when the intellect and observation are not sharp, life does not express itself fully, ideas dont flow and abilities diminish day by day. With this understanding, step out of your little mind and that step will solve many problems in your life. Be natural. Be with love. Involve yourself in service. Celebrate your life .............CELEBRATE NEW YEAR - 2009

Who wins

2008-12-27T13:19:00.001-08:00

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.
He said: 'My son, the battle is between 'two wolves' inside us all.
One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority,
lies,false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.'
The grandson thought about it for a minute, and then asked his grandfather: 'Which wolf wins?'

The old Cherokee simply replied: 'The one you feed.'

-Mahendra

Guruji Blesses Bahrain

2008-12-25T23:58:00.000-08:00

Guruji Blesses Bahrain!!

- Bhramara

Dear all,
JaiGuruDev!

Bahrain was blissed out with Guruji's overflowing blessings!!
November 18th 2008 will be an unforgettable day for AOL, Bahrain !!

None of us had the least inkling of what was to unfurl on the 18th of Nov 2008...
In the afternoon (Nov 18th), our chapter co-ordinator was informed of Him transitting Bahrain on the way to Delhi from Cyprus...His flight would land at 6-30pm and His return flight at 11pm was all that was known .. also that He expressed the wish to 'come out' of the airport!!

What went on for the next couple of hours was true sanghachatwam ...telephone lines ringing some with both the ears busy answering mobiles and landlines..the Indian Embassy was approached, doors were knocked ..influential people approached.. to organise His visit pass/visa, the Hotel where He could stay and meet all His eager devotees. SMS after Sms...updating ...several ladies were onto cooking their special dishes for Him.. several minds working ..with One cause..to get Guruji to where He was most wanted..devotees hearts!!!

And that's exactly what happened ..Inspite of speculation till the last moment..nothing could stop Him..He just made things happen...the hall was booked at a Five star hotel..Crowne Plaza.. thanks to the manager at Crowne
Plaza and thanks to the Indian Embassy and our dear Ambassador ..His visit pass was arranged... .and others sent off SMS es to all the devotees. about the surprise visit .... most of whom gathered to be with the Master who transformed them . Soon after He landed He was driven to the Crowne Plaza by the Ambassador ,where devotees longing to meet Him had gathered..

After freshning up..He met with top representatives from the press/Radio ....and later eating a little of what each and every 'motherly' lady had cooked, He went onto be with His dear devotees.. Meeting every single one of the multi national & multi religious group of devotees ..walking through the packed hall..His never fading
smile..oblivious of the previous hectic itinerary..Capturin g every ones hearts and minds...
'Chitta Chor!'
..He then got all the little ones. onto the dias and played along with them in His lovable child-like way..looking at one and throwing the chocolates on the opposite side ! He said we should all be like a child.....He was literally surrounded by kids of all ages ..on all sides..He then answered some questions...

Will I ever find peace ..?
SriSri: Are you not peaceful Now!

When I get up in the morning should I consider it as my first day/last day on this Earth?
SriSri:With a twinkle, He said '''the choice is yours!!'

How do I find peace?
SriSri: (Giving the analogy of driving a car.).He said while driving we look in the rear view, side mirrors and in the front and do this almost simultaneously. . But our leg is always on the accelerator. .and finally when the fuel in the car is over ..it stops.. Our life /mind are as if on the accelerator throughout.. we don't stop even though we pass home/shops.. Learning to apply brakes is the skill..and that is meditation.. to be able to go deep within..into silence..that is peace!!

When will I be enlightened? Will I be after 10 days of silence?
Sri Sri: You do not need 10 days..you can be enlightened even after 2 days !!

Time and again He mentioned that while He was supposed to go to Muscat ..in the near future ..He found Himself in Bahrain..'He said " I wanted to give you a surprise..but you have surprised me!! In such a short span of a few hours..you could arrange all this and get so many people together!!'
He makes us feel as if we have done it all..but all of us know who is behind all this...afterall its His grace .love and blessings..we are just one of those gopas putting up our little staff..!!!

This is when He said ..all one has to do is take a sankalpa..a wish ..an intention ..and let it off into the universe...things will manifest... ''Courier all your worries and botherations to me and be peaceful'

He then went onto lead a guided meditation ..with all the kids trooping out with a couple of 'kid sitters'..what was 25 minutes seemed like only 5 minutes to some of the teenagers who were fortunate to be a part of this
momentous occasion.. Sweet melody followed..with singing of a few bhajans..culminatin g with
'Allah Hu..Allah Hu.. We wished time would freeze..as we did not want Guruji to go...unanimously
all of us wished Him to stay longer...nay forever!!!.. this is possible in the frame of timelessness. .but getting back to ground reality..it was time for Him to leave...to be able to catch His next flight..(someone rightly
said that He lives on planes!!!)

In all this excitement.. He made sure Fred, the sweet German ashramite /videographer who accompanied Him ,was looked after, fed and cared for..only shows how He cares/is centred/and is love personified. ...a big
WOW!!
Continuing to bless and hug people on the way..He finally got into the car waiting outside to be driven a little into the city before finally getting to the airport..

It was like a dream come true...nay most are us are really marvelling at how things took shape..and are totally zapped ..in wonder and amazement! He left us all feeling deeply satisfied, hearts full & brimming , blissed out
totally.
In retrospect.. several devotees had premonitions of His visit..some had dreams, some had intentions, some just prayed..Gratitude flows to our dear Guruji for making this happen, & all the members of AOL, Bahrain for just
being there as a family..

Well all that can be said is that the 'Ways of the Divine are mysterious' and like Guruji says ..'You never know when what will happen..keep your houses clean..I may visit them anytime..!!! '

So, dear ones..'Just make a wish ..and leave it into the Universe..!! '

Love,
Bhramara.