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Faith is giving the Divine the chance to act.
If you find that you are going through testing times, it is for you to realize that you are much bigger and you can overcome that.
In the world, we see so many successful people who do not meditate. We also see many meditators who are not successful in terms of name, fame, money, achievements, etc. How do we explain this?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well, what do you call a success? Is it just having a big bank balance? People may have had a lot of fame and name, and a big bank balance, but they may be unable to smile, or they may not be having a good night’s sleep, and many cannot enjoy their meal. Do you know that?
To me, success is the undying smile on someone’s face. To me, success is the confidence in a person that he can win, that he can overcome any obstacles, or any situations in his life.
That is success! Look at some of the wealthy people, they are so scared of even making friends with anybody. They think that their friends are just there for their money. They get into that state of paranoia. Do you call this success? There are many so called famous people, that even if you squeeze them, there is not an iota of joy in them. I don’t call it success.
Well, if you want to be successful and famous, you can do all that, but you have to keep a healthy body and healthy mind. For that, you need to meditate my dear! Meditation is not a direct way to success. It is like watering the root of a tree. When you water the roots, then there are fruits, are flowers and greenery. If you don’t want to meditate, don’t meditate. There is no compulsion. Get thoroughly stressed, and be stressed. If stress can bring you success, well, you should go for it. Who asked you to meditate?
Wake up, please wake up. Meditation is not an obstacle for you to be dynamic and successful in your life. In fact, it helps you. If some people are meditating and they are not successful, it is their choice...
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well, what do you call a success? Is it just having a big bank balance? People may have had a lot of fame and name, and a big bank balance, but they may be unable to smile, or they may not be having a good night’s sleep, and many cannot enjoy their meal. Do you know that?
To me, success is the undying smile on someone’s face. To me, success is the confidence in a person that he can win, that he can overcome any obstacles, or any situations in his life.
That is success! Look at some of the wealthy people, they are so scared of even making friends with anybody. They think that their friends are just there for their money. They get into that state of paranoia. Do you call this success? There are many so called famous people, that even if you squeeze them, there is not an iota of joy in them. I don’t call it success.
Well, if you want to be successful and famous, you can do all that, but you have to keep a healthy body and healthy mind. For that, you need to meditate my dear! Meditation is not a direct way to success. It is like watering the root of a tree. When you water the roots, then there are fruits, are flowers and greenery. If you don’t want to meditate, don’t meditate. There is no compulsion. Get thoroughly stressed, and be stressed. If stress can bring you success, well, you should go for it. Who asked you to meditate?
Wake up, please wake up. Meditation is not an obstacle for you to be dynamic and successful in your life. In fact, it helps you. If some people are meditating and they are not successful, it is their choice...
Dear Gurudev, why do I go on and off in my sadhana (spiritual practice)? I hear that other people do this as well.
A: Well, it's natural. When there are fruits in the tree you enjoy the fruits and you forget to water the roots.
And then when the tree starts drying out then you water it again. This is how we do.
Once, twice or three times you go through this cycle and then you become intelligent, then you make it part of your life.
Once it is part of your life then you will feel so uncomfortable if you don't do your practice even for one day.
Even for one day if you are not in knowledge, it throws you off, you feel as if you're missing something, or there is a lack of something.
So, you need to make these good practices part of your life, like brushing your teeth.
One day you don't brush your teeth, do you feel comfortable? You feel so awful, isn't it?
Just like dental hygiene, this is mental hygiene!
A: Well, it's natural. When there are fruits in the tree you enjoy the fruits and you forget to water the roots.
And then when the tree starts drying out then you water it again. This is how we do.
Once, twice or three times you go through this cycle and then you become intelligent, then you make it part of your life.
Once it is part of your life then you will feel so uncomfortable if you don't do your practice even for one day.
Even for one day if you are not in knowledge, it throws you off, you feel as if you're missing something, or there is a lack of something.
So, you need to make these good practices part of your life, like brushing your teeth.
One day you don't brush your teeth, do you feel comfortable? You feel so awful, isn't it?
Just like dental hygiene, this is mental hygiene!
On a free day, just lie down somewhere outdoor and keep looking at the sky. A moment will come when the mind becomes still, there are no thoughts and you don't know where you are, but you know you are.
Shiva tattva is total; it is complete. Shiva is where the mind dissolves. He is formless yet sees all. He is the formless core of existence and also the goal. He is the seer, sight and the scene. He is without a beginning or end. He permeates the entire creation. He is never born and is eternal. He is the fourth state of consciousness, the non-dual consciousnesses that is present everywhere.
Be like water. It rises above the stones and flows. Similarly rise above obstacles in life and move through them. Have patience and flow over them.
Meditation brings inner peace, gives energy to cope up with difficult situations and unites the hearts and minds of people.
' It takes Courage to say “I Am” '
Only in deep rest can the Divine come, not by doing. All the doings are to help you become silent. Not enjoying the bliss or the peace takes you further - otherwise the bliss or the peace can create cravings. If the existence wants to give it, then fine.
It takes courage to say "I am". Your true nature is bliss. But trying to enjoy the bliss, you step down from is-ness to am-ness - "l am peaceful", "I am blissful". And that is followed by "I am miserable". "l am" is dispassion. You can be anywhere and be dispassionate.
Dispassion is welcoming everything. Centeredness brings energy, a spark. Enjoyment of bliss brings inertia. If you are dispassionate, the bliss is still there. When the freezer is full of ice cream you do not bother about it. Dispassion takes away the sense of scarcity. Passion is a sense of lack of abundance. And whenever everything is abundance, dispassion happens. And when dispassion is there, everything comes in abundance.
Question: What do we do when we catch ourselves enjoying our bliss?
Answer: Then we feel stupid. Just an understanding we are enjoying it, creates a shift. There is no effort. Knowledge is better than action to make you free.
Only in deep rest can the Divine come, not by doing. All the doings are to help you become silent. Not enjoying the bliss or the peace takes you further - otherwise the bliss or the peace can create cravings. If the existence wants to give it, then fine.
It takes courage to say "I am". Your true nature is bliss. But trying to enjoy the bliss, you step down from is-ness to am-ness - "l am peaceful", "I am blissful". And that is followed by "I am miserable". "l am" is dispassion. You can be anywhere and be dispassionate.
Dispassion is welcoming everything. Centeredness brings energy, a spark. Enjoyment of bliss brings inertia. If you are dispassionate, the bliss is still there. When the freezer is full of ice cream you do not bother about it. Dispassion takes away the sense of scarcity. Passion is a sense of lack of abundance. And whenever everything is abundance, dispassion happens. And when dispassion is there, everything comes in abundance.
Question: What do we do when we catch ourselves enjoying our bliss?
Answer: Then we feel stupid. Just an understanding we are enjoying it, creates a shift. There is no effort. Knowledge is better than action to make you free.
Sri Ganesha
“Ganesha is the formless Divinity - encapsulated in a magnificent form, for the benefit of the devotee.
Gan means group. The universe is a group of atoms and different energies. This universe would be in chaos if there was no supreme law governing these diverse groups of entities.
The Lord of all these groups of atoms and energies is Ganesha.
He is the supreme consciousness that pervades all and brings order in this universe.
The essence of Ganesha is brought out beautifully by Adi Shankara.
Though Ganesha is worshiped as the elephant-headed God, the form (swaroop) is just to bring out the formless (parabrahma roopa) .
He is, 'Ajam Nirvikalpam Niraakaaramekam.' This means Ganesha is Ajam (unborn), he is Nirvikalpa(attributeless), he is Niraakaar (formless) and he symbolizes the consciousness which is omnipresent.
Ganesha is the same energy which is the reason for this universe. It is the energy from which everything manifests and into which everything will dissolve.
We are all familiar with the story of how Ganesha became the elephant-headed God.
Parvati became dirty when she was celebrating with Shiva. When she realized this, she removed the dirt from her body and created a boy out of it. She then asked him to keep guard while she bathed.
When Shiva returned, the boy did not recognize him and obstructed his passage. So Shiva chopped off the boy's head and entered.
Parvati was shocked when she saw this. She explained to Shiva that the boy was their son and pleaded with Shiva to save him at all costs.
Shiva then instructed his helpers to go and get the head of someone who was sleeping with their head pointing to the north. The helpers then got the head of an elephant, which Shiva affixed to the boy's torso and Ganesha was born!
Does this story sound strange?
Why should Parvati have dirt on her body?
Didn't the all-knowing Shiva recognize His own son?
Was Shiva, the epitome of peace, so short-tempered that he cut off the head of his own son? And why an elephant head on Ganesha?
There is a deeper meaning to all this.
Parvati is symbolic of festive energy. Her becoming dirty signifies that celebration can easily become Rajasik, or feverish and can take you away from your center. Dirt is symbolic of ignorance, and Shiva is symbolic of the Supreme Innocence, Peace and Knowledge.
So when Ganesha obstructs the path of Shiva, this means that ignorance, which is an attribute of the head, does not recognize knowledge. Then knowledge has to overcome ignorance. This is the symbolism behind Shiva chopping off the boy's head.
And why the elephant head?
Elephant represents both gyan shakti and karma shakti.
The principle qualities of the elephant are wisdom and effortlessness. The enormous head of the elephant signifies Wisdom and Knowledge.
Elephants don't walk around obstacles, neither are they stopped by them. They just remove them and walk ahead – signifying effortlessness.
So, when we worship Lord Ganesha these elephant qualities within us are kindled and we take on these qualities.
Ganesha'sbig belly represents generosity and total acceptance. Ganesha's upraised hand, depicting protection, means, 'Fear not, I am with you', and his lowered hand, palm facing outwards means endless giving as well as an invitation to bow down, this is symbolic of the fact that we will all dissolve into earth one day.
Ganesha also has a single tusk which signifies one-pointedness. Even the implements Ganesha wields are symbolic.
He carries in his hands, the 'Ankusa' (signifying awakening) and the 'Paasa' (signifying control). With awakening, a lot of energy is released, which without proper control, can go haywire.
And why does Ganesha, the elephant-headed God travel on something as small as a mouse? Isn't that so incongruous? Again there is symbolism that runs deep.
The mouse snips and nibbles away at ropes that bind. The mouse is like the mantra which can cut through sheaths and sheaths of ignorance, leading to the ultimate knowledge represented by Ganesha!
Our ancient Rishis were so deeply intelligent that they chose to express Divinity in terms of symbols rather than words, since words change over time, but symbols remain unchanged.
Let us keep the deep symbolism in mind as we experience the omnipresent in the form of the elephant God, yet be fully aware that Ganesha is very much within us.”
“Ganesha is the formless Divinity - encapsulated in a magnificent form, for the benefit of the devotee.
Gan means group. The universe is a group of atoms and different energies. This universe would be in chaos if there was no supreme law governing these diverse groups of entities.
The Lord of all these groups of atoms and energies is Ganesha.
He is the supreme consciousness that pervades all and brings order in this universe.
The essence of Ganesha is brought out beautifully by Adi Shankara.
Though Ganesha is worshiped as the elephant-headed God, the form (swaroop) is just to bring out the formless (parabrahma roopa) .
He is, 'Ajam Nirvikalpam Niraakaaramekam.' This means Ganesha is Ajam (unborn), he is Nirvikalpa(attributeless), he is Niraakaar (formless) and he symbolizes the consciousness which is omnipresent.
Ganesha is the same energy which is the reason for this universe. It is the energy from which everything manifests and into which everything will dissolve.
We are all familiar with the story of how Ganesha became the elephant-headed God.
Parvati became dirty when she was celebrating with Shiva. When she realized this, she removed the dirt from her body and created a boy out of it. She then asked him to keep guard while she bathed.
When Shiva returned, the boy did not recognize him and obstructed his passage. So Shiva chopped off the boy's head and entered.
Parvati was shocked when she saw this. She explained to Shiva that the boy was their son and pleaded with Shiva to save him at all costs.
Shiva then instructed his helpers to go and get the head of someone who was sleeping with their head pointing to the north. The helpers then got the head of an elephant, which Shiva affixed to the boy's torso and Ganesha was born!
Does this story sound strange?
Why should Parvati have dirt on her body?
Didn't the all-knowing Shiva recognize His own son?
Was Shiva, the epitome of peace, so short-tempered that he cut off the head of his own son? And why an elephant head on Ganesha?
There is a deeper meaning to all this.
Parvati is symbolic of festive energy. Her becoming dirty signifies that celebration can easily become Rajasik, or feverish and can take you away from your center. Dirt is symbolic of ignorance, and Shiva is symbolic of the Supreme Innocence, Peace and Knowledge.
So when Ganesha obstructs the path of Shiva, this means that ignorance, which is an attribute of the head, does not recognize knowledge. Then knowledge has to overcome ignorance. This is the symbolism behind Shiva chopping off the boy's head.
And why the elephant head?
Elephant represents both gyan shakti and karma shakti.
The principle qualities of the elephant are wisdom and effortlessness. The enormous head of the elephant signifies Wisdom and Knowledge.
Elephants don't walk around obstacles, neither are they stopped by them. They just remove them and walk ahead – signifying effortlessness.
So, when we worship Lord Ganesha these elephant qualities within us are kindled and we take on these qualities.
Ganesha'sbig belly represents generosity and total acceptance. Ganesha's upraised hand, depicting protection, means, 'Fear not, I am with you', and his lowered hand, palm facing outwards means endless giving as well as an invitation to bow down, this is symbolic of the fact that we will all dissolve into earth one day.
Ganesha also has a single tusk which signifies one-pointedness. Even the implements Ganesha wields are symbolic.
He carries in his hands, the 'Ankusa' (signifying awakening) and the 'Paasa' (signifying control). With awakening, a lot of energy is released, which without proper control, can go haywire.
And why does Ganesha, the elephant-headed God travel on something as small as a mouse? Isn't that so incongruous? Again there is symbolism that runs deep.
The mouse snips and nibbles away at ropes that bind. The mouse is like the mantra which can cut through sheaths and sheaths of ignorance, leading to the ultimate knowledge represented by Ganesha!
Our ancient Rishis were so deeply intelligent that they chose to express Divinity in terms of symbols rather than words, since words change over time, but symbols remain unchanged.
Let us keep the deep symbolism in mind as we experience the omnipresent in the form of the elephant God, yet be fully aware that Ganesha is very much within us.”
True happiness is when you find inner stability, inner comfort and when you know you are connected to something much bigger than what you can even imagine. True happiness is when you know that there is some power in you which is unshakeable. The love or God that is deep inside you is that which manages or keeps the orderliness in the whole creation. When you know that then, nobody and nothing whatsoever can take away your happiness.
A mature intellect is devoted.
A mature heart is full of knowledge.
And meditation matures your intellect as well as your heart.
A mature heart is full of knowledge.
And meditation matures your intellect as well as your heart.
First of all connect to yourself. When you go deep in yourself and let go of all the anxiety and know that you are loved by the universe, you get inner strength. You are surrounded by that energy of love and you’ll just melt in meditation. That is what gives that inner strength. It makes you childlike again - free from inhibitions, free from worries, natural!
Joy is the love what is.
Sadness is the love of what is not.
Sadness is the love of what is not.
Relationship means adjustment, it is giving. But at the same time leave some room for the other partner to give. This needs a little skill - to make the other also contribute without demanding. If you demand, the relationship is not going to last long. Demand and blame destroy love.
The way we worship may be different, the way we celebrate in life may be different, our language and our ways may be different, but we all belong to one human family. When we forget this, mankind moves towards disaster.
If there are ripples on the surface of a lake, we cannot see the depth. Similarly unless the mind is restful, we cannot experience the harmony and union within us.
Fulfillment is so beautiful. The one who is satisfied even before their desires are fulfilled, knowing that all their needs are taken care of, peace and joy will be given to that person.
Be light. Smile. Drop. Learn the tendency to drop and smile and move through.
Love makes you vulnerable. Love is very delicate, it makes you very vulnerable deep inside. Love makes you weak. However strong one may be, in love you become so weak. Yet it is the greatest strength on this planet.
Each moment one has to be at ease with oneself - not trying to improve, not cultivating anything, not practicing anything.
God gives us miracles every day in our life but we don't see it. Become aware; see the abundance.
Meditation makes you realize that the kingdom of God is within.
BALANCE: Balance in activity, balance in food and balance in your rest, your sleep - will bring equilibrium within you. A lazy person cannot achieve samadhi, meditation, yoga. Neither will those who always work too much, they are too tired. They sit on the bed and fall asleep, they cannot meditate either. Somewhere in-between ....
Harmony in sound is music.
Harmony in movement is dance.
Harmony in mind is meditation.
Harmony in life is celebration!
Harmony in movement is dance.
Harmony in mind is meditation.
Harmony in life is celebration!
Life is nothing to be very serious about....
Life is a ball in your hands to play with....
There is no need to hold on to the ball....
Life is a ball in your hands to play with....
There is no need to hold on to the ball....
Beings
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