timeless moments by sri sri

Timeless moments 

Sri Sri Ravishankar

Amongst the twenty-four principles that have formed this creation, 
time is one of the principles. Every moment, every single moment is 
important. Time is not elsewhere. It is here, now! The silent part 
of the Divine is known as maha kaala. 

Shiva is known as Mahakaal. Mahakaal means great time. We often 
say, "I had a great time". Isn't it? Great time means the moments 
present in the timeless moments. When there is peace in the mind you 
will not sense the passage of time. When there is no peace in the 
mind even the two minutes that have passed by give you the feeling 
as though two hours were spent. Lord Shiva is also known as "Kaala 
Samhaara Murthy". (It means the Lord who slays Time). How is it 
possible to slay time? It is possible by extreme bliss. When you are 
blissful you will not feel the passage of time. When you are not 
aware of the passage of time, then it is said that time has been 
slayed. 

There is a close relation between time and sadness. When we are very 
sad, we perceive time to be too long. When you are happy you do not 
feel time. So what is happiness or bliss? It is our very self. That 
self is the Shiva tattva or the principle of Shiva. 

Adi Shankara has sung in one song "Oh you foolish-minded people, do 
not search for your soul". People wander to all kinds of places in 
search of the soul, for Shiva. Shankaracharya says that foolish are 
those who do not realize that "I am Shiva". Do not see or think of 
Shiva as somewhere high up in the sky residing there all alone. Just 
peep into your self. 

Usually when the word God is mentioned everybody looks up 
immediately. What is there up above? It only rains from above! There 
is nothing above. Everything is inside, neither above nor below. 
Looking inside or being inside is meditation. 

When you look at someone close to you, your friend or somebody, what 
happens to you? Something happens inside you. You feel as though 
some new energy is passing through you. Capture that great moment. 
It is those great moments, which are timeless moments. Okay, you 
might have experienced those timeless moments by the presence of 
that person, that person might have brought forth those emotions in 
you. So what? Instead of getting immersed in that person or in the 
situation, just be with the spring of bliss rising up in you. 

From despair to fulfillment: the path to sanyas 

Maya means that which can be measured, that which draws you back 
into this world. Observe the Mayapati or the owner of Maya. Then 
that consciousness, that presence becomes predominant and your whole 
existence will be filled with that presence. 

How many times in life you have experience this, "I am nothing. I 
want nothing"? When you are depressed you say "Oh! I do not want 
anything. Just leave me alone". 

When you have no enthusiasm you say that you do not want anything. 
That is of no use. In spite of having everything, have you ever 
contentedly felt "I do not want anything"? Or have you ever had some 
few moments where you felt "I have everything with me. I am 
everything"? If, in those moments of happiness and love, if you have 
felt that way, then you have had sanyas in those moments! 

In this year, how many days were you in sanyas? How many days were 
you struggling, being caught in Maya? Turn back and remember this 
whole year. How many months, how many days, how many weeks you were 
in suffering? How many days you were in sanyas? Were you in sanyas 
at least for a few days? Even for a few moments if you live in the 
feeling that "I am nothing, I want nothing", or "I am everything, I 
have everything", you will gain good strength and peace in you. 

Do not run away from anything. Do not reject anything. Do not go 
away from anything. At the same time let your attention also be on 
the self. This is a delicate balance. That balance is yoga.

Q and A with rishi nityapragya

 Q & A Session with Rishi Nityapragyaji                           

Question) Rishiji, these days everything has become a mere ritual. For example,    when a person dies, the mantras that are chanted - its as if the pandits just    chant without understanding any meaning behind it - neither do we, the common man    know the meaning. So what is the real use of those mantras? Also, in India we do    chant the mantras - what about in other countries, where shlokas are not chanted?    What happens to those souls? 

     Answer) Do you know what happens when we chant the mantras? hmmmm...... See, each    mantra has a specific meaning. There are 7-layers to existence - Body, Breath,    Mind, Intellect, Memory, Ego and Self. Breath links the mind and the body. When we    die, that link is broken - breath disappears and the body is broken away (or    dropped) from the remaining 5 layers. That doesnt mean the remaining 5 layers    cease to exist. They do exist - we may call it soul or consciousness etc.              

All the emotions are felt in the mind. When the body is dropped, mind still feels    everything - for example, it feels the hunger, but it doesnt have any body to    satisfy its hunger. Similarly it feels everything else that it felt when it had    the body - anger, frustration, animosity towards someone etc. Infact, in most    cases, the mind doesnt even know that the body has dropped - so immediately after    someone dies, they say the soul is still around the body.             

When we chant the mantras, each mantra gives an opportunity for the soul to drop    its impressions. So for example the mantra will say "During my life, I had anger    towards my mother. But I want to drop that anger now, because the basis of our    relationship is love. During my life, I had anger towards my father. But I want to    drop that anger now, because I realize the basis of my relationship with my father    is love". And so on...... with every family member, friend etc. This clears the    soul from its current life, and it comes to peace with itself, becomes much more    lighter and is able to go to the next body without carrying any heavy burden from    the previous life.

      Question) So, what happens if mantras are not chanted, or they are not chanted    with proper devotion or feeling? 

     Answer) The soul has to pay for the world that it has created. That is the simple    law of nature. Every shloka in sanskrit is like a vibration that is felt by the    soul and it makes it easy for it to drop all its emotions. The more sadhana, seva,    satsang we do during our lifetime, the more easy it becomes for us.

Kriya verse explanation

Just wanted to share something with you ....

Kriya Verse Explanation:  (shared by Smita Desai)  
     
A Part One participant asked the meaning of the shloka
that Sri Sri sings at the ending of the long kriya tape.


 I saw this write-up on that at an AOL center recently.
 (So there may be mistakes on the part of whoever 
 researched this in terms of translation, 
 as well as my copying it down.) 
      
 Bandhau gurupad padam paraga 
 suruchi subas saras anuraga 
 Amia murimaya churan charu, 
 saman sakal bhav ruj parivaru  
     
 I worship the impression of the lotus feet of the guru,
 which is very much like nectar of all precious,
 fragranceful, mind enlightening fruit, 
 & remover of entire world's ill effects 
 & provider of calmness and blissfulness to all.       

 Sukruti sambhu tana bimal bibhuti 
 manjul mangal mod prasuti 
 Jan-man munj mukur mal harani,
 kie tilak gun gan bas karani      
  
The ashes covered on Shiva's pure body are so beautiful,
 giver of liberation & happiness 
 & like destroyer of clouds in the mind's mirror
 & controller of nature's ill power 
 & combined effects (by placing on the forehead).
  

 Q - How many times and what forms have you manifested   on earth in a human form?

 Sri Sri - I don't keep a count. Whenever it is   needed, I am right there.

for the light hearted and seniors

There is one place a lady would love to inflate her
Age  - at the Senior citizens counter.

The other day one young man who manned the counter to
serve food at the Amphi theatre
was heard saying"  uncle you are not 60 and this is
for senior citizens"
Uncle (s) replied -  do you know I am 62 and my friend
here is 61 .. though he has dark hair

I was virtually crashing waiting for food at different
places.
My wife usually scolds me for having come to the
ashram on such occasions and ashram Kitchen is NO- NO
for her.  She does not mind being labelled a senior
citizen.
IT took some convincing for a charming soul to
convince that she is actually over 60.

A wise man butted in " Why don't you facilitate
serving food, there are others to verify age and give
plates to Senior citizens, kids, sick and invalid,
lame and bone challenged "

After having braved the hot sun and stood in queue for
over an hour John was stopped at the spot where he
thought He would be getting food now. He had done
enough tapasya he felt.  The smart and bald young man
who had now taken over the service counter.. again
questioned John 's age and shooed him out. John had
reached the end of his tether. His son got food just a
few minutes before him at the senior citizen counter
and why was he being singled out for this
treatment."get me the cuppa noodles - beta" He did not
like the Ashram for the long journey to the Kitchen ,
for the ups and down  and the mounts that are a pain
for his Over sized physical self.

Cuppa noodles, stinking of some chemicals or water
inside were sold like hot cakes because of the late
arrival of the food.

One Well wishing and pro active teacher asked all the
seniors ( really senior old citizens) to sit in a line
in the amphi theatre and promised that they would be
served by young enthusiastic volunteers.
After her departure none of the others who came to
serve food later remembered her promise. The Senior
citizens had lost their place in the queue to the
young and also smart ones.

The juices and fruit salad were enough diversions for
the Senior citizens. Many would have to learn
enterprise from our ashram teams managing food
counters outside the Kitchen.

Our SJM team member was also caught in the chaos ( all
chaos leads to bliss --- Sri Sri said it differently)
" If we mess it up with just under 8K what would
happen with 800K , I am sure HE wants all of us to
have a taste of things to come and understand what
preparedness means"

Another friend who usually never eats at the kitchen
after it shifted to the beautiful venue was beckoned
back to come and eat in the campus.
He shared this " If this is the scene with just under
10 K what would happen when we have to serve or share
with 1000 K ?"

Guru ji  YOU have many ways to feed us.
You have many ways to train us
You have many counters to feed us too
Wish all of us are tuned to your divine thoughts, 24/7
and 365

All the sadhana and SK is challenged when its  3 45 pm
and late for lunch.

I have now decided to have one meal at 10 30 am and
know for sure that I may get my next meal only at or
about 5 pm , if i choose the senior citizens, grey
counter.
For the others in the Kitchen had already eaten before
the seniors and are enjoying seeing the young-
seniors,  sick and tired really slogging it out at the
counters

Bless us with the wisdom to discern and serve

And You know NO one at the AOL likes any restriction
to their freedom
even to block paths, cut queues and get the much
needed plate for the food

All in all it was a learning...when you do the sadhana
and SK you are proud to announce to all your friends,
I am young energetic and my aging process is also
reversed. I look young for a mother of 27 years young
man!!  But when I am hungry I need care and wont mind
being categorised in the Senior citizens.

I thought food is not yet .. different for the Senior
citizens

Senior now needs definition.

Or passes would be issued with your Name tags
at the Housing counter for having food at the Senior
citizens counter.!!

Ha Ha.. Please don't go to the Housing counter and
blame me!! If you  don't get  the Senior Citizen Food
coupon. DO you have ID cards, Grey hair, Ortho
certificates and Surgeon general's certificate

No NO i am just .. pulling your tired legs.. or faces.

Jai gurudev




--
True financial freedom is not only having money, but
having power over that money as well."-- Suze Orman


Love is not an emotion . It is your very Nature .. sri Sri

nobody is perfect

ART OF LIVING, DUBAI NEWS LETTER
Nobody is perfect

A man and his girlfriend were married. It was large celebration. All of their friends and family came to see the lovely ceremony and to partake of the festivities and celebrations. A wonderful time was had by all. The bride was gorgeous in her white wedding gown and the groom was very dashing in his black tuxedo. Everyone could tell that the love they had for each other was true. A few months later, the wife comes to the husband with a proposal: "I read in a magazine, a while ago, about how we can strengthen our marriage." she offered. "Each of us will write a list of the things that we find a bit annoying with the other person. Then, we can talk about how we can fix them together and make our lives happier together."

The husband agreed. So each of them went to a separate room in the house and thought of the things that annoyed them about the other. They thought about this question for the rest of the day and wrote down what they came up with. The next morning, at the breakfast table, they decided that they would go over their lists. "I'll start," offered the wife. She took out her list. It had many items on it. Enough to fill 3 pages, in fact. As she started reading the list of the little annoyances, she noticed that tears were starting to appear in her husbands eyes. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Nothing" the husband replied, "keep reading your list." The wife continued to read until she had read all three pages to her husband. She neatly placed her list on the table and folded her hands over top of it.

"Now, you read your list and then we'll talk about the things on both of our lists." She said happily. Quietly the husband stated, "I don't have anything on my list. I think that you are perfect the way that you are. I don't want you to change anything for me. You are lovely and wonderful and I wouldn't want to try and change anything about you."  The wife, touched by his honesty and the depth of his love for her and his acceptance of her, turned her head and wept.

IN LIFE, there are enough times when we are disappointed, depressed and annoyed. We don't really have to go looking for them.We have a wonderful world that is full of beauty, light and promise. Why waste time in this world looking for the bad, disappointing or annoying things when we can look around us, and see the wondrous things before us?

I believe that WE ARE HAPPIEST WHEN we see and praise the good and try our best to forego the mistakes of our loved ones. Nobody is perfect but we can find perfection in them to change the way we see them. It is necessary to understand the difficulties and be a helping hand to each other... THAT BRIGHTENS THE RELATIONSHIP.

Always Keep Smiling

you make a difference

-You make a difference!!

A teacher in New York decided to honor each of her seniors in High School by
telling them the difference each of them had made.

She called each student to the front of the class, one at a time.

First, she told each of them how they had made a difference to her, and the
class.

Then she presented each of them with a blue ribbon, imprinted with gold
letters, which read, "Who I Am Makes a Difference."

Afterwards, the teacher decided to do a class project, to see what kind of
impact recognition would have on a Community.

She gave each of the students three more blue ribbons, and instructed them
to go out and spread this acknowledgment ceremony.
Then they were to follow up on the results, see who honored whom, and
report back to the class in about a week.

One of the boys in the class went to a junior executive in a nearby company,
and honored him for helping him with his career planning.

He gave him a blue ribbon, and put it on his shirt. Then he gave him two
extra ribbons and said, "We're doing a class project on recognition, and
we'd like for you to go out, find somebody to honor, give them a blue
ribbon, then give them the extra blue ribbon so they can acknowledge a third
person, to keep this acknowledgment ceremony going. Then please report back
to me and tell me what happened."

Later that day, the junior executive went in to see his boss, who had been
noted, by the way, as being kind of a grouchy fellow. He sat his boss down,
and he told him that he deeply admired him for being a creative genius.

The boss seemed very surprised. The junior executive asked him if he would
accept the gift of the blue ribbon, and would he give him permission to put
it on him.

His surprised boss said, "Well, sure." The junior executive took the blue
ribbon and placed it right on his boss's jacket, above his heart.

As he gave him the last extra ribbon, he said, "Would you take this extra
ribbon, and pass it on by honoring somebody else. The young boy who first
gave me the ribbons is doing a project in school, and we want to keep this
recognition ceremony going and find out how it affects people."

That night, the boss came home to his 14-year-old son, and sat him
down. He said, "The most incredible thing happened to me today. I was in
my office,
and one of the junior executives came in and told me he admired me, and
gave me a blue ribbon for being a creative genius.

Imagine! He thinks I'm a creative genius! Then he put this blue ribbon
that says, "Who I Am Makes a Difference," on my jacket above my heart.

He gave me an extra ribbon and asked me to find somebody else to honor.

As I was driving home tonight, I started thinking about whom I would honor
with this ribbon, and I thought about you. I want to honor you. My days
are really hectic and when I come home, I don't pay a lot of attention to
you. Sometimes I scream at you for not getting good enough grades in
school, and for your bedroom being a mess. But somehow tonight, I just
wanted to sit here and, well, just let you know that you do make a
difference to me. Besides your mother, you are the most important person in
my life. You're a great kid, and I love you!"

The startled boy started to sob and sob, and he couldn't stop crying. His
whole body shook. He looked up at his father and said through his tears,

"Dad, earlier tonight I sat in my room and wrote a letter to you and Mom,
explaining why I had killed myself, and I asked you to forgive me. I was
going to commit suicide tonight after you were asleep.

I just didn't think that you cared at all. The letter is upstairs.
I don't think I need it after all." His father walked upstairs and found a
heartfelt letter full of anguish and pain.

The boss went back to work a changed man. He was no longer a grouch,
but made sure to let all of his employees know that they made a difference.

The junior executive helped several other young people with career planning,
and never forgot to let them know that they made a difference in his
life...one being the boss' son. And the young boy and his classmates
learned a valuable lesson, "Who you are DOES make a difference."

You are under no obligation to pass this on to anyone....... Not to
two people, or to two hundred.

As far as I am concerned, you can forget it and move on. On the other hand,
if you want, you could send it to all of the people who mean something to
you, or send it to the one, two, or three people who mean the most.

Or, just smile and know that someone thinks that you are important, or you
wouldn't have received this in the first place.

Who you are does make a difference, and I wanted you to know that.

Isn't this a wonderful story? I'm passing the blue ribbon to you. For who
YOU are does make a difference, too.

satsang of sri sri in jeddah, soudi arabia

The following is the result of the MIND BLOWING
 satsang we had in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on May
the
 13th. Take a note, its about all the 7 layers of
our
 existence. Here it goes...

 REPORTING TO THE MASTER... On the 7 Layers of
 Existence

 Does the 'body' hold me or I hold the body
 This question I went around asking everybody
 I thought I.d get the answer from somebody
 But how does it matter, I am nobody

 My 'breath' I remember, so weak & frail
 Almost like a train gone out of rail
 Now dives into me holding a pail
 To fetch the nectar of love without fail

 My dear 'mind', a useless brain
 Running around in search in vain
 Drove me crazy gave me pain
 I call it now a character insane

 Your style o Master is so superb
 You do the things so unperturbed
 As though plucking some garden herb
 And bringing my 'intellect' to a restful curb

 You had the key I had the lock
 All You did was clear the block
 Poor 'memory' ran out of stock
 Its companions in crime are still in shock

 My shameless 'ego', You churned like curd
 I find it now all so absurd
 My vision yesterday was fairly blurred
 With Your grace today, I.m a free bird

 In Thy name I lost my senses
 In Thy fame I lost the tenses
 To see You now I need no lenses
 For gone are now the good old fences

 In my ear, whispered an elf
 You are no book lying on the shelf
 Make an effort to know yourself
 I told him I know, I am the SELF!

 With the Master's blessings,
 JOY GURUDEV!