MASTER IS A DOORWAY

Master is a doorway. And the doorway needs to be more charming than the
world so that you will come to the doorway. Someone is in the street and
there is rain, thunder, hot sun; they need shelter. They look around, they
find a doorway. They come to the doorway. The doorway is more inviting,
more charming, more celebrative, more joyful than anything else in the
world.

Nothing could give that much peace, joy, pleasure in the world. Once you
come to the doorway, you enter the door and see the world from there. See
the world from the eyes of the Master. This is a sign that you have come to
the Master. Otherwise you may still be standing in the street and looking
at the door.

But once you have entered the door, then you will see the whole world from
the eyes of the Master. This means what? In every situation that you face,
you will think, "If this situation comes in front of the Master, how would
he handle it?" or "How would she handle it?" "If this complication comes in
front of the Master, how would he take it?" "If someone blames the Master
like this, how would he handle it?" See the world from the eyes of the
Master all the time.

The world looks much more beautiful; not a nasty place. But a place filled
with love, filled with joy, cooperation, compassion, and all virtues. The
world is much more fun. Looking through the doorway, there is no fear. You
will look at the world without any fear. You will be in all relationships
with everybody without any fear. Because there is shelter.

From inside home, you will look at the thunder, you will look at the storm,
you will look at the rain, you will look at the bright sun. Inside you have
air conditioning. Very cool, pleasant. Outside it's hot. You don't mind
because there is nothing that can really distract you, disturb you, or take
the fullness away from you. Such a sense of security, such a sense of
fullness and joy comes. That is the purpose of having a Master.

All relationships in the world go topsy-turvy. You make relationships and
you break relationships. All relationships can get broken or made up and
again broken. And there is craving and aversion. This is the world. This is
samsara.

But the Master is not a relationship. The Master is the Presence. What is
necessary is to feel the Presence of the Master, not to make a
relationship. Don't make the Master a part of your world. Then the same,
"Oh, he looked at me." "He didn't look at me." "Oh, he said this." "He
didn't say that." "Oh, somebody is close. I am not close." All this garbage
comes into it. You feel the Presence of the Master, that is eternal. That
has been there with you before, now, and will be there in the future, too.

Master is the Presence. World is relativity. And relativity has
limitations. Presence is unlimited. Presence is vast, infinite, and all
comprehensive, all inclusive. And the presence of the Master in one's life
will bring fulfillment to all relations. Every relationship will become
complete with the presence of the Infinity if the Master is in your life.

|| Jai Guru Dev ||

What is Rudra Pooja

Rudrapooja is an ancient practice that has been followed in India since
time immemorial. Rudra means Shiva – The Benevolent, The Destroyer of evil. Pooja means that which is born of fullness. Through this pooja one can aim  for inner peace and fulfillment.

 Why Rudra Pooja?
 The world is a play of energy, negative and positive. When we pray to
 Shiva – the Lord of transformation; the entire negative energy around us in
 the form of disease, depression, and unhappiness gets transformed into
 peace, prosperity and joy. Peace around us, in the mind, body and soul.

Experience

Each experience completes. Completion means leading to void or nothing. In the progression of life, you will leave behind every experience saying, "This is nothing." Anything that is completed loses its importance. That is to say it leads you to void - this is nothing. A sign of intelligence is how soon you arrive at this understanding. Examine everything in life and say "This is nothing" and what remains after all that, is Love, and that is everything. When "This is nothing" does not come out of knowledge, it comes out of misery. Either through knowledge or through misery, you come to the point of "This is nothing, this is nothing". The choice is yours. If you got this, it is really NOTHING, If you didn't get this, never mind - this is nothing. (laughter)

Q: Guruji, I have been told that a human soul can often take one to two
million years to find liberation. Is it true that by doing Kriya and
meditation every day, this liberation can be obtained even in one lifetime?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Everything works with some strange karma. You must
lift your eyes and look into this realm. There is a beautiful couplet that
says, ‘This world has all the wealth, all that is needed, but one who has
no karma, cannot get it.’ So, whether you get something or you don’t, it
all works with some strange karma. Recognition, money, power, relationship,
health; everything depends on some law in creation. When good times come,
your worst enemy starts helping you, and when bad times come, even your
best friend behaves like an enemy. All these things happen due to some very
strange karma. An intelligent person doesn’t get caught up in all this. He
still keeps putting in his effort, and keeps moving on. You do whatever is
needed to put in an effort, and then you leave it. Do you know Lord Krishna
went three times to stop the Mahabharata (narrative of the Kurukshetra War)
war?

When someone asked Lord Krishna, ‘If you knew that the war was going to
happen anyway, why did you go three times for peace negotiations? All three
times your peace negotiations failed, then why did you go?’ That is a very
valid question. Lord Krishna said, ‘If I had not gone, then the question
would have come that you could have done peace negotiation, why didn’t you
do it?’ You have your duty towards your karma, whatever you need to do, you
do it! Suppose the peace negotiation would have succeeded, then the whole
Mahabharata would have finished, and the Gita would never have come! The
immortal song of the Divine (Bhagavad Gita) would never have come into
existence! So, very well knowing that the Gita had to come, and the war had
to happen, still Lord Krishna went for peace negotiations. This is because
it is in our dharma, our nature. We should keep putting in our efforts and
not get attached to the consequences or the results.

Do you get what I am saying? This is very subtle because the mind gets
sucked into maya in some form or the other. Yesterday, some of you painted
some designs on the wall. After five or six years, this wall will need
painting again. So another painting will come on all the designs that you
did. Similarly, when you grow something in your garden, weeds also grow
along. You go and weed it out. Again, when the weeds grow, you cannot say,
‘Oh, I just cleaned the garden, and weeds have come again!’ This is nature.
The nature of the body is to get dirty. After you take a shower, you can’t
say, ‘I have taken a shower for the whole year!’ You have to keep taking
showers, again and again. Similarly, the mind needs to be hammered into
knowledge. It can easily slip out of these four pillars of knowledge,
Viveka (discrimination), Vairagya(detachment), self-control, and honoring
what you have (not grieving about what is not). And then, wanting
liberation! So keep on hammering the knowledge back, again and again!
Suddenly, you will find it is all there, anyway. Now, when you slip, then
also remember that is another level.

Knowing all this, suppose you still get caught up (in maya), then don’t
feel bad that you got caught up; even that is part of nature. Don’t say,
‘Oh, I did not apply knowledge!’ or ‘Either someone else is wrong, or I am
wrong!’ This tendency has been in our society, in our life, for a long
time. We need to snap out of it. Many times you snap out of it, and
sometimes you get caught in it, right? Snap out of it and see things as
they are! In this moment, that is how it is, because this moment is all
that is! In this moment, whether unpleasant things are happening or
pleasant things are happening, I am a witness to it. And my mind is getting
caught up in it, even that is a part of the happening; I am witness to that
also.

This is how you rise above the situation! Maharishi Patanjali, who founded
the yoga sutras, said, ‘You have to practice pranayama, meditation and
knowledge for a long time’. The whole life itself is a practice, and when
you practice with honor, then this knowledge becomes well-founded in you.

When a mistake is not a mistake

Blessed are those who don't see a mistake as a mistake....!!!

But it is hard not to see your own mistake. Outwardly you may justify
yourself or prove your innocence to someone else, but a mistake pricks a
conscience. Do not justify yourself. Instead, feel the prick of the
mistake. That very pinch will take you out of the mistake.

A mistake means something that brings misery to you in the long run. So why
would someone knowingly commit a mistake?

While pointing out a mistake to someone, do you consider him as separate
from you and go on pointing out his error or do you make him feel a part of
you? When you point out a mistake to someone, does it make him more
stressed, or does it create more awareness in that person? Often you do not
point out someone's mistake when it is required. Not pointing out a mistake
-- with due consideration to time and place -- is also a mistake.

When you make a new mistake, it is not a mistake; you have learned a
valuable lesson. But when you keep doing the same mistake over and over, it
is a BIG mistake. A mistake simply means you have missed taking a lesson
that has come your way.

Do not lament over your mistake. Just take the lesson from it. You will not
be judged by your mistakes, but by your virtues. Mistakes are of the earth.
Virtues are of the Divine.

Wise is the one who learns from other's mistakes. Less wise is the one who
learns from his own mistakes. The fool keeps making the same mistakes again
and again and never learns from them.

|| Jai Guru Dev ||

Welcoming and resisting:

Do you welcome all that comes to you or do you resist it? If you cannot resist anything, you cannot welcome anything! You cannot resist everything and you cannot welcome everything! You don't welcome all thoughts that come to your mind. When you welcome a thought, it means you find it good and act on it. If you act on all thoughts that come to your mind, you will end up in a mental hospital or in prison. So, you resist or ignore some thoughts and welcome other thoughts. You need discrimination in life. Welcoming and resisting is a swing in life. Welcoming is essential for expansion and growth, and resistance is essential for maintenance.

Audience: But what you resist persists!
Guruji: If you resist a cold it does not persist! If there is no resistance in your body you cannot survive. Your body resists something and welcomes something.

Where the resistance is weak, the persistence happens. A weak resistance makes the opposition persist. A strong resistance erases the opposition. Strong resistance leads to valour, power and samadhi (equanimity). It brings in you the strength of a warrior. Nothing can tempt you, nothing can obstruct you. Then the victory is gained without fighting. Where there is strong resistance or total welcome, the victory is gained without any fighting.

|| Jai Guru Dev ||

Worship a Sign of Maturity:

For a flame to go up, you need space above. In the same way, for a man to rise up in his life, he needs an ideal, he needs something to adore and worship. Worship is the culmination of love and appreciation. Worship prevents love from turning into hatred or jealousy, and appreciation into low self-esteem. In life, if you do not adore or appreciate anything, you will be filled with negativity. And a person who has nothing to worship or adore is sure to fall into depression.

Lack of adoration has led to many emotional, psychological and social problems in the society. If you have nothing to hold up high in life, selfishness, arrogance and violence are sure to follow. Adoring and honoring each other in society eliminates stress and fosters compassion and love.

In the previous century, it was thought that worshipping was an uncivilized and unintelligent thing to do. Worship was thought to rise from a slavish mentality. In fact it is just the contrary. Worship can only happen through gratefulness and not through slavish mentality.

In worship, a sense of belongingness, love, honor and respect all come together. Without a sense of belongingness, worship or idealism can bring low self-esteem. The ancient people knew this so they insisted that people should feel part of what they worship. They encouraged people to worship the sun, moon, mountains, rivers, plants, animals and people.

WORSHIP IN A TRUE SENSE IS A SIGN OF MATURITY AND NOT WEAKNESS.

Question: You said worship is the culmination of love. Does worship also have a culmination?
Answer: Culmination of worship is Self knowledge, Samadhi.

|| Jai Guru Dev ||