Monday, April 18, 2016

Conversions

What is needed today is conversion from the head to the heart and not from one religion to another. When you convert from one religion to another, you start comparing this is good, that is not good. If you are a spiritual person, you take wisdom from everywhere and honor everybody and walk your path. That is what the ancient tradition is all about -- let knowledge flow to us from every side. That is open mindedness.

This is the cause of terrorism in the world today. People think only their God is true God and every other God is false. They are creating so much havoc.

Saturday, April 16, 2016

SENSITIVITY AND STRENGTH

Weekly Knowledge #106 Montreal Ashram 18 Jun 1997 Canada

Those who are sensitive often feel weak. Those who feel strong are often insensitive.

Some people are sensitive to themselves but insensitive to others . They often feel the others are "bad guys."

Those who are sensitive to others but not to themselves often end up feeling Poor me.

Some conclude it's better not to be sensitive ,because sensitivity brings pain. They shut off .But mind you , if you are not sensitive, you will lose all the finer things in life, too--intuition, beauty and ecstasy of love.

Insensitive people usually do not recognize their weakness .And those who are sensitive do not recognize that their sensitivity is their strength .

This path and this Knowledge make you strong and sensitive .

Sensitivity is intuition .Sensitivity is compassion . Sensitivity is love .Sensitivity is real strength: calmness , endurance ,silence ,non-reactiveness ,confidence ,faith --and a smile.

Be both sensitive and strong.

��Jai Guru Dev��

Friday, April 15, 2016

1 liner. What is growth in spiritual part

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Being more aware in life and laughing every moment, we pass through this world. That is growth, that is blossoming in our personality.

Great saints shown with cobra behind their heads

Q: Great saints in pictures are shown with cobra behind their head. What is the significance?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, you will find Mahavir sitting with a five headed cobra behind him. Or Lord Vishnu is sitting in meditation and there is a cobra behind him. Even in the pictures of Rishis, you will find a cobra with its hood open at the back. It is a very subtle thing!
See, when you are sitting in meditation, what is happening? Your consciousness is getting alert, opened and awakened, as though in your back ground there is a thousand headed cobra. Cobra signifies alertness.
How many of you feel a lot of alertness in the back of your head during meditation? A sort of wakefulness!
So the cobra is a symbol of the energy that raises and opens up; energy which is alert and at the same time restful. It is not that there was really a cobra at the back of their head, it is a symbol of wakefulness in the deep state of rest, and that is meditation – totally restful, wanting nothing, doing nothing, being nothing and being open, like the hood of a cobra; alert without any effort.
There are two types of descriptions for this. In one they talk about a Cobra, and in another they talk about a flower; it is like a thousand-petaled lotus, blossoming on the top of the head; on the crown chakra.
So some describe it as a flower, very delicate, and some describe it as a cobra which means alert. Both fit very well.

Take the first step boldly

family dominated by a woman is much happier than a family dominated by a man! Do you know why? When men dominate, women become unhappy, and when women are unhappy, they make everyone around them unhappy! Then nothing can make them happy! So, it is better that women dominate; in her dominance, the family becomes happier. And men don’t mind being dominated!
Women should dominate in five areas:
1. In the family or the emotional sphere
2. Economy
3. Politics
4. Religion
5. The intellectual sphere
In politics, wherever women are dominating, the country is prospering. Ibu Johan is one such example, and our honorable mayor of Surabaya is another example. When women dominate, corruption comes down. I have heard several stories of how Surabaya has prospered in the last few months; there has been a lot of improvement in the living conditions.
When women will dominate in politics, there will be less war in the world. There may be different types of wars, but this big war that is happening all over the world, which is male-dominated, has created several conflicts.
Women should also dominate in the economic field. There are very few women taking lead in the economy. Of course, there are many here on stage and in the audience. Ivan is one such lady who is an entrepreneur, and there are many other here, who I am glad are setting an example.
When women dominate the religious and spiritual fields, perhaps, there will be less conflicts, violence and terrorism in the world.
One more thing that women have to note is the need for intellectual dominance, in the field of science, architecture and literature. Women have to come forward in these areas. Though there are pockets of excellence here and there, generally, women are emotional and,more into arts; not so much in the literary field, which I think should be promoted in a big manner.
So women should dominate in all these five areas, and don’t ask men or anyone else to empower you. You should simply assume and walk with it, do what is needed!
See, the old concept that men are from Mars, and women are from Venus, no longer stands today. Today, it has become a unisexual world. Men have the qualities of women, and women also have the qualities of men. It is a shared world today, and values are also almost shared.
The reason I say dominance is required is because on a practical level, when we see that a woman is the boss of the family, generally, family members are happier. Women have the skill to bind everyone together. If the basic unit of the world, i.e., the family becomes stronger, then the value-system is well founded, and the happiness factor is on a rise. Today, it is not just GDP (Gross Domestic Product), but GDH (Gross Domestic Happiness) that matters more.
All this hooliganism and problems that we find in society are often because of broken families; mothers have been unable to pay enough attention to children. When children from such families grow older, they create havoc in society, making themselves and everyone around them also miserable. I feel women have a big influence in building the character of a man.
Another aspect of leadership is the ability to listen; it is a natural gift for women to be good listeners, and to see things from another’s perspective. I am not saying that everyone has these tendencies or qualities, but women have far more potential as compared to men. Thus, emotional nurturing and intellectual exaltation, both, are possible when the right training and guidance are made available at the right age.
If opportunities are available, women can be very good entrepreneurs. Here again, I would say, don’t sit and wait for someone to give you the opportunity. You take the first step, and look for entrepreneurship.
Thus, be prepared to dominate at home, at your workplace, in politics, and take a dominating position in religious and spiritual fields. These are the four different pillars of society; if any one pillar is not strong enough, then society cannot be a happy.

What quality should an ideal disciple have? Do you differentiate between disciples?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Don’t worry so much, just be like a child, and take life with ease. Yes, I differentiate between disciples and you are very special. Each one of you is unique and each one is special, so everyone is different.

Instruments and their effects on the chakras

The drums affect the Mooladhara (the base chakra or the first chakra).

The big and small drums, their effect is from the Mooladhara to Swadishtana (second chakra).

The big wind instruments like trumpets affect the second to third chakra (Swadhisthana to the Manipura).

Metallic sounds affect the Manipura to Anahata (the fourth chakra). When you hear a metallic screech, something happens in your belly. How many people have noticed this?

The string instrument has its affects from the naval to the heart. Veena and Sitar – stringed instruments affects the Anahata (the heart chakra).

Flute music, wind instruments and sometimes the piano sounds affect the Anahata to Vishudhi (the throat chakra).

Bells, sounds of water, bird songs, very soft and subtle sounds have its effects from throat to the Agna Chakra (in between the eyebrows).

Then finally the Sahasrara the (top of the head) is affected by meditation and all other instruments put together at once.

If you watch any Indian rituals, you will understand that they knew this. In the temples, they placed the drums on the periphery, then there are the big wind instruments, and on the very inside of the sanctum sanctorum are bells and conch.

So, sound vibes are balanced from the drums to the wind instruments, then stringed instruments, then again wind instruments and then bells and finally, it all ends in silence. The purpose of sound is silence. Did you all know this? Sound originates from silence and its goal is silence. Silence simply means total harmony. When there is total harmony deep within you, then even sound seems like an object, it seems heavy. But the way is through sound, through music. Music is that which connects the individual to the universal. The limited mind expands through music and realizes it is already part of the big consciousness or the big mind.