Unable to smile

Q: When you tell me to smile, I am unable to smile when I have problems. How can you help me?

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You know what obscures your smile? It is your desire. You want something and you are holding onto that thinking, “I want this, I want this.” That is what is making you miserable. Just wake up and say, "I don’t care" for a minute. Drop the desire and say, "I don’t want this", the next second something comes up in you, and that is a smile. Just say “I don’t want this, I’ll get whatever I need. Even if I want to meet Gurudev, I don’t care, I don’t want to meet him!” If that is bothering you, kick that desire too! Then you will see that you are totally relaxed and in total peace. As I said, three things obscure our being:
1. The ego
2. Desires
3. The intellect
So freeze these things for a little while and then see how meditation happens. Even just this intention, “I want to freeze these three things”, immediately makes a difference.

One liner 25apr2016

Q: I have seen so many happy people here chasing you. I feel like I am the only one not connected to you. How do I know that I am connected to you?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You don’t have to emulate what others do, run after my car; you don’t need to do that. You just be yourself.

Jai guru dev

Q. What does  jai guru dev means?
Ans:-
The word Guru means great. Jaya means victory. Deva means one who is fun-loving, playful, light. One who is playful is often not dignified and when one is dignified, he is often not playful.
Jai Guru Dev is victory to the Big Mind in you that is both dignified and playful. That is what Jai Guru Dev means: "Victory to the Greatness in you."
You do not say victory or hail to the Master as he has won over already. You say victory to your own Self, your own Mind, which is being veiled by the small mind.

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.

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��

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.