Wisdom from Guruji !!

Life is priceless. It is a gift from God. If we don’t care for it, we remain unhappy. When we care for it, we start receiving what we desire. I have come here to remind you one thing, do you know what? No, that is why I have come here to remind you of it (laughs). You don’t know why I have come here, right? I have come to remind you that there is one power that exists; God exists. If you don’t believe me then ask me. I’ll say, God exists. And He loves you a lot. Then you’ll ask, ‘Why did He give me suffering? If God exists, then why is there misery’? When we go against him or become ungrateful, then sorrow increases. When we are troubled, then we will have to seek God. Then we come to know that in times of pain, there has been someone by my side.

It is said that God measures and then attaches the tail on each animal. He did not attach the tail of an elephant to a goat, because it will not be able to carry it. Every animal is assigned a tail as long as it can carry. Similarly, every person’s problem is his tail. You face only those problems that you can handle. I have come to solve those problems that you cannot handle. All the Gurus and intellectuals in the society are there primarily to solve your problems. The whole world, and your friends and relatives are there with you. You are not alone. So, ‘God is there, He exists’; I have come here just to remind you of this fact. God is there and He loves you a lot and He is in you.

If for small and frequent intervals we quieten our minds, we will be able to establish that connection with him. Then, whatever you desire, will no longer remain impossible. ‘Jo ichcha kariho manu maahi, prabhu prataap kachhu durlabh naahin’ (A saying in a language spoken in north-central and eastern India that describes the previous sentence). This is a proven fact. All of us have gathered for a satsang here. The benefit should be that this smile that you are now wearing should never wither from your face. You have got your troubles here, leave it here, and go back with a smile, and be assured that your work will be done. It might take some time for it to be completed, but it will happen for sure. It may take some time, but it is not necessary that it will take time.

It has been thirty years since I have moved around the world. Today, you’ll find that in every corner of this world, the Indian culture and spirituality is being respected. If you go to the last city of the North Pole, Tromso, or to the last city of the South Pole, Tierra del Fuego, you will find people doing kirtan, pranayama and meditation. If you go there and say, Jai Guru Dev, you’ll find thousands of people. India is a wonderful place. The feet of God is attached to this place (referring to Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India where the satsang was organized). ‘Vishnu Paad’ (The feet of Vishnu) is attached here. This is the significance of Gaya. Buddha received knowledge at this place. Siddhartha became Buddha here and spread his knowledge all over the world. You are living on such a pure soil.

I want to reassure you that there is a power within you, which you are not utilising. If you utilise it, then you will have no reason to be sad. ‘Dukh main tyaag, sukh main seva’; Surrender in times of sorrow, and serve in times of happiness and joy. If we do this, then continuously, a wave of devotion will arise within us. If we are happy, we should do seva. And if we are upset, we must surrender it and have faith that our work will be done. Today, you make two lists; one consisting of what you want and the other consisting of what responsibilities you want to undertake. If our responsibilities are lesser than our requirements, then we will be unhappy. But, if our responsibilities are more than our requirements, then we will be happy. If we feel that we don’t want anything for ourselves, then a mystical power arises within us such that we are able to bless others as well. Then our ‘sankalpa’ (intention), what we require, starts happening. We are also capable of fulfilling others’ wishes. This is a proven science and not a superstition.

So, what do we need to do? What are our responsibilities? First, we should encourage chemical-free farming i.e. promote organic farming. All those who do farming here, should engage in organic farming. The Art of Living will help you get in touch with the market. You say that you don’t get the right price for your yield. That will not happen. Alright? Second, how many youths here are unemployed? We have opened a bureau on behalf of The Art of Living, the Employment Bureau. Those of you who are unemployed, file your names today with the bureau. Give your name, your qualifications, and your expectations, and we will definitely work it out. Do you know, many people from Bihar have come and have been trained at Bengaluru (Bengaluru, India). They are handling the Ashram there. The youth of Bihar are very brave and hard-working. Hard-working, brave and faithful; these three qualities are imbibed in them.

In between, something went wrong. For some years, it was known for the tension boiling here, for fights. But I know the inside story. The youth of Bihar are jolly and strong, and I want such youth. To construct this nation, we need the power of the youth. We are facing so much corruption. Do you know where corruption starts? Where the feeling of oneness ends, corruption begins from there. Where there is no spirituality, there starts corruption and selfishness. All of us are fed up of corruption and to eradicate it, all of us will have to put in some efforts. How do we do it? Firstly, we will take this pledge that neither will we give nor will we take bribe. If there is an officer sitting here, who accepts bribe, then I would like to mention that all these years he has been taking bribe and so has experienced what it is. He has spoilt his own name and caused bitterness in the hearts of others.

And what do we do with so much money? We collect this money, keep it in the bank and then we die! After our death, our children fight over that money in the court. You have made brothers, who are like Rama and Laxman, fight over money that you collected through your corrupt practices. Don’t do this. You stop taking bribe for one year. I am not asking for much. Just one year. But if things don’t work out, you can do what you want to. And all the youth of this place, who want to work for the nation for six months or one year, you are most welcome. There is a lot to be done for this country. All of us together would like to see a violence-free society. I remember, I came here around twelve years back. That year, things were a little serious out here. People used to say, ‘don’t go there, you can’t go there, there is a lot of danger out there’. Bihar meant fear. This was the condition. ‘A congregation was impossible. Who knows what will happen and when’? But that is not the case today. There has been a remarkable improvement since then. People are moving around fearlessly, and this is one good thing that happened. However, we have to walk a long distance. We have to do a lot.

All of us have to vow that neither will we give nor take bribe. If somebody asks for bribe, to issue a birth or death certificate, then go along with ten more people to them, not alone. Tell them, ‘We have vowed in Guruji’s satsang that we shall not give bribe, and so we can’t do this’. And ‘dharma’ is one such thing, that if you vow in a satsang, you will have to stick to it.

Second, alcohol is destroying this nation. We are very agitated to see this addiction to alcohol. The sale of alcohol has increased three times in our country in the past few months. It is being sold for lakhs and crores of rupees and people are becoming poorer. As long as the river of alcohol flows here, there will be no prosperity in this country. If the country wants to prosper and eradicate poverty, then we need to firstly shut down all alcohol shops. I tell all those addicted to alcohol to come to my ‘bar’, the intoxication you will absorb here will never die out. If you dance in the intoxication of a satsang, all other addictions will look trivial to you. People drink alcohol in marriages, when a child is born, and also when somebody dies. If a party wins an election, they drink alcohol, and in case they lose, then to forget that sorrow, they drink again. Whether people incur a loss or earn surplus profits, in either case, they drink alcohol. A chain of alcohol consumption is maintained in life, no matter what happens. We will have to change this condition. Do pranayama, kriya and meditation, you will realise what level of energy you have. You will automatically stop alcohol. To take care of our health we must use Ayurvedic products. In case of a headache, we use allopathic medicines. Use Ayurvedic medicines, do pranayama and meditation and all aches will vanish.

A person from the audience: We should stop the production of alcohol in India.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That is why I am here. When there will be no buyers, where will they sell it.

Do you know why we have headaches? That is because of the chemical-rich food we consume which holds all fertilisers and urea used to grow crops. If we go for chemical-free farming, then the crops that grow don’t cause pain in our body, you are happy and your memory is sharp. It is, therefore, very necessary that we do yoga and pranayama for a short while daily. Your body will then be very strong and you will be happy. My blessings are always with you. There will be no dearth.

This is the magic of yoga. Yoga has the power of fulfilling all your wishes. I have heard that a small Gyan Mandap Ashram has been built in Bodh Gaya. I have come to inaugurate it. Today, more than two hundred people have come from China, Japan and other nations. Even in China, they respect the spirituality in India a lot. Our bodily problems vanish, we become healthy, happiness spreads in the society, problems are sorted out, and people experience an enhanced brain power. This is such a beautiful and sweet knowledge but it is we who have brushed it aside, disregarding it and never paying attention to it. This is a mistake we all committed.

How many of you are feeling cold? In case you are, hold your thumb such that you keep it warm. If you keep your thumb warm, your whole body will be warm. When I go to cold countries like Switzerland, I go in this same attire and they say, ‘don’t you feel cold’? And I say no. Even you can do it. Do a little bit of pranayama, yoga and meditation, and then neither heat nor cold will affect you. You’ll grow strong!

guru punch---2-1-2012

When your eyes are steady then the mind also becomes steady. If the eyes are steady in one place, it is impossible for the mind to wander ~ Sri Sri

guru punch---3-1-2012

If you are regular in meditation, knowledge and pranayama it will purify your heart so much that your blessings to others will bear fruits ~ Sri Sri

How to Deal with Humiliation?

Know that humiliation does not weaken you - in fact it strengthens you.

When you have a sense of belongingness, you don't feel humiliated. The more egotistic you are, the more humiliation you feel. When you are childlike and have a greater sense of kinship then you don't feel humiliated.

When you are committed to truth and not to your ego then you also don't feel humiliated.

If you are afraid of humiliation, you can neither make progress in your material life nor in your spiritual life. When you stand above humiliation, you get closer to the Self - to God. When you are steeped in love, with the Existence, with the Divine, nothing whatsoever can humiliate you.

So, the way out of humiliation is:
Get humiliated!
Be childlike
Be crazy

Get steeped in love with the Divine

Total commitment to Truth-Knowledge

Patanjali Yoga Sutras Knowledge Sheet 2

Another person became curious. “What is the Master doing behind the curtain? I want to see.” He got so curious that he lifted the curtain to see the Master. Just as he did so, all 999 disciples were burnt to ashes. Now, Patanjali became very sad. There he was ready to impart knowledge to the whole world and all of his disciples were burnt.

At this moment, that one little boy returned. Patanjali asked him where he had gone. The boy explained and asked his forgiveness. Patanjali was compassionate and felt that at least one of his disciples was saved.
So he gave him the rest of the yoga sutras, the rest of the knowledge. But, the student had violated the law and Patanjali was not willing to forget that. He said, “Since you have violated the law, you will become a Brahmarakshasa, a ghost and hang on the tree.” And the only way he could liberate himself from the curse is to teach one student. Saying this, Patanjali disappeared.
Now Brahmarakshasa, hanging on a tree, would ask everyone who passed by a question and when they could not give an answer, he would eat them. He had no choice. For a few thousand years, this was the story. He could not find a single person to whom he could teach the yoga sutras. So, he remained in the tree as a Brahmarakshasa. (The lesson here is that when one who has great knowledge does something wrong, the state of Brahmarakshasa will come. An intelligent person becoming a criminal is more dangerous than an innocent person becoming a criminal. If a person, who knows all knowledge and then turns a criminal, it is much more dangerous). Brahmarakshasa was hanging there and waiting for relief.
Then out of compassion, Patanjali himself becomes a disciple and comes as a student to Brahmarakshasa who told him all the yoga sutras, which Patanjali wrote on palm leaves. The story goes that to redeem one disciple, the Master became the disciple of a disciple.
Patanjali wrote the yoga sutras sitting on the top of the tree as that was where Brahmarakshasa sat. Brahmarakshasa worked only in the night. So, he dictated the sutras at night and Patanjali wrote them on leaves. He plucked all the leaves and made a small scratch, drew blood and wrote. This went on for seven days. At the end of it, Patanjali was tired. He put everything he had written into a piece of cloth, set it down and went to bathe. When he returned, he found that a goat had eaten most of the leaves. Patanjali then took the cloth bag and the rest of the leaves and walked away.
In this story, there is a lot of depth. The puranas do not give an explanation. They just give a story and it is for us to unlock the meaning. So, what do we have to find out?

1) When the veil was lifted why did everybody burn down?
(2) Why was one boy forgiven?
(3) What is the significance of the goat?
(4) What is the significance of this story?
Think about this and share your answers here.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra #1

Shasana means rules someone imposes on you. Anushasana is the rule you impose upon yourself. Do you see the difference? Now, why is yoga called a discipline? Where is the need for discipline? When does the need for discipline arise?
Atha yoganushasanam – when translated, this means now I will enunciate the discipline of Yoga.
When you are thirsty and want to drink water, you do not say “Oh! This is a rule, I must drink water”. When you are hungry, you just eat. When it comes to the question of enjoying oneself, no discipline is necessary.

Where does discipline come into the picture?

Discipline arises when something is not very charming to begin with. Isn’t it? When you are happy, when you are in peace or happiness, then you are already in yourself. There is no discipline there. But when the mind is wagging its tail all the time, then discipline is essential to calm it down.
The fruit of it is eventually blissful, joyful. As a diabetic says, “I have the discipline not to eat sugar.”

There are three types of happiness.

• Sattvic — happiness which is not pleasurable to begin with, but ends in joy
• Rajasic — happiness that seems to begin well but ends in misery
• Tamasic — there appears to be happiness but in reality there is only misery from beginning to end

No discipline is necessary for tamasic happiness. Wrong discipline results in rajasic happiness. For sattvic happiness, discipline is essential to begin with. It need not be uncomfortable all the time. But if it is uncomfortable, then you should be able to bear with it. You need discipline. That is why Patanjali begins with the present, when things are not clear and when your heart is not in the right place.

Now let us look into the discipline of yoga

It is nobody’s imposition; it is self-imposed. There is a lot we impose on ourselves — every morning we wake up and brush our teeth, we then brush them again before going to bed. This is your discipline. However, these have been self-imposed from childhood. Haven’t they?
When you were a child, your mother had to impose the discipline on you. Then, once it became a habit, you understood it was for your own good. Then you found it was no longer your mother’s rule but your own.
In the same way, keeping yourself clean, hygienic, exercising, meditating, being kind, considerate etc. All these rules you have imposed on yourself are all discipline.. Isn’t it?
Yoga means uniting with your source. When does that happen? This happens when the mind, which is chattering all the time, suddenly becomes silent.
Coming up next week: The second yoga sutra of Patanjali deals with the modulations of the mind and how yoga can free the mind from the clutches of these modulations.

TECHNOLOGY

The purpose of technology is to harness the nature to bring information and comfort to human beings. When spiritual values - human values - are ignored and neglected, instead of bringing comfort, technology brings fear and destruction.

Technology without human values would see nature as a dead object. Science gives an insight into the life of nature and spirituality makes the nature come alive.

For example, in the eyes of children, there is nothing dead in the world - animals, trees, the sun and the moon - they all have life, they all have emotions, they all have feelings. And in the eyes of a stressed and ignorant person, even human beings are like robots - objects!

Technology without spirituality is destructive. Spirituality is the technology of consciousness, and the whole world is the play and display of consciousness.