Guruji satsang - crossing the ocean of Maya

Crossing The Ocean Of Maya

That company which gets you lost, which doesn't let you learn from your own experience, is bad company. You can gallop on such a horse forever without being aware of anything in your life. That is how people commit the same mistake over and over again and get totally dejected and depressed their whole life - and they do not even know that they are miserable. 

They are no doubt miserable and they make everyone around them miserable, isn’t that so? That is bad company. They forget all about themselves. There is no memory of them left, of who they are, what they are, what they want, where they are heading. They have no idea who they were, how they were. 

All adults forget that they were teenagers once, and that they, too, had problems as teenagers. When they have teenage children, they think the children are not doing well. Every adult feels that the children don't listen - they forget that they, also, did not listen to their parents at a particular time. 

When the delusion comes, the memory loss happens. You lose your memory, you lose the knowledge of who you are. The intellect becomes clouded. When the intellect is hazy, not clear, not sharp, everything appears wrong. It is the intellect, the buddhi, that says, “This is good, this is not good; this is right, this is not right.” That which is, that which brings short-term joy and longterm misery is bad. 

That which brings longterm joy and short-term misery is good. This is the definition of good and bad. Good brings long-term joy and short-term challenges, problems, and bad is something that brings long-term problems and short-term joy. It is the intellect which decides whether this is good or not good, and when the intellect, itself, is gone, everything is lost. 

When the discrimination power in you is lost, then you are totally lost. This is what you will find if you go and talk to prisoners in jail. At the spur of the moment they lost their intellect and they lost everything. All crimes can only happen when the intellect or the discrimination is lost, and most of them lose it through bad company. That is why mobs create more violence. 

The individual person cannot do so much harm-in a mob they throw stones, put fire to buses and trucks and break things. The mob becomes more violent than a single individual person. It is the mob psychology-a mob is more violent because they lose their intellect, they lose their discrimination. That is why bad company is to be shunned. 

Good company is that which cheers you up, which elevates you, which brings a pleasant attitude and feeling within you. In the beginning it may be just like a small wave, a ripple, but when you are associating yourself with bad company continuously, it will become like an ocean. Don't think, “Oh, it is just one party there, just one little thing that I’m doing.” 

No, that one little thing can just rip you. That is how alcoholics who have recovered from being an alcoholic get sucked back into it. It is just one party, one peg-these sort of justification they give,  they go for one little party once in a while and then that’s it, finished. And they end up again entering the rehabilitation centre.

Kriya Mantra

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌹💐🌹🌹🌹💐💐🌹💐

*लम्बी सुदर्शन क्रिया के बाद जिस श्लोक का मंत्रोच्चारण होता है ; उसका अर्थ :-*

*वंदे गुरु पद पदम परागा*

मैं गुरु के पद कमलों के पराग कणों ( धूल के कणों ) को नमन करता हूँ । ( नतमस्तक होता हूँ।) 

*सुरुचि सुवास सरस अनुरागी*

उनमें सुंगध, अनुराग का आकर्षण; रस का अनुभव हैं ।

*अमिय मुरी मय चूरन चारु*

वह संजीवनी बूटी की तरह जीवनदायी शक्ति के समान है ।

*सकल सुमन भव रुज़ परिवारा*

वह जन्म- मरण चक्र नामक रोग का नाश करती है ।

*सुकृति शंभु तनु विमल विभूति*

वह कल्याणकारी शिवजी के शरीर पर घिसी गई शुद्ध भस्म के समान है ।

*मंजुल मंगल मोद प्रसुति*

वह मधुर, कल्याणकारी तथा आनंद को जन्म देने वाली है ।

*जन-मन मंजु मुकुर मल हरिणी*

वह मन रूपी आईने को स्वच्छ करने वाली है ।

*की तिलक गुन गन बस करनी*

इन धूल-रूपी पराग कणों का मस्तक के मध्य पर तिलक लगाने से सभी सद् गुणों की वृद्धि होती है ।

जय गुरु देव ।

Guruji satsang - obsession

Obsession with sex, food, clothes or music, television or sightseeing, or anything, will only drain you of your precious energy. Are you getting what I am saying? Thinking about it constantly obsession is not letting go, is coming back to the source. This is one method. 

See, the objects of senses create an attraction in you, and if you immediately gallop on your attractions, that attraction does not bring fulfillment, it dies out and leaves you in a state of inertia. Any one sense, if you use it too much, will only cause inertia, dullness. 

If you are listening to music from morning to night, your brain will become one sided-only your left brain will function, the right brain will not function. You cannot think, logic dies out. You cannot perceive things properly. Your observation, your expression, everything suffers. 

And it is the same way with all other senses. If you are using any one sense too much, that particular sense becomes dull and ineffective. Moderation is required. And moderation can come when you retire back to the self. Get back to the source that you are. 

The word bhajan means sharing. Sharing what? Sharing that which the Divine is. The Divine is peace and you are peace, you share that peace with the Divine. What is it that we can all share together? That is one sound. See, when we sing the same song or same sound, it resonates in the mind, but when we are thinking, each one will think differently. 

That is why singing is called Bhajan, because you can very easily share that with everybody. That same sound, Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya everyone is singing. That is in every mind, in every consciousness. So if everyone is laughing, that is also Bhajan. Don't think that just singing is Bhajan. 

Everyone together just laugh, laugh your head off-really laughing, rolling on the floor. That is Bhajan, too. Avyavrat bhajanat constantly share all that you have, not that one day you do bhajans, one day you share, other days you don't. 

Have a sense of one-ness with everything-share yourself with the trees, the mountains, the sky , with people, with animals. Sharing your life is bhajan. Uninterrupted sharing of all that you are. Also, in the world, praise the divine. 

Sing the glory of the divine in your day to day activity. In your daily activity, in your normal life, in your social life. Talking about the qualities of the divine, the glory of the Divine, shravana - listening about it, hearing about it.

Guruji satsang - Importance of Guru

IMPORTANCE OF THE GURU

You should not see any difference between God, Guru and your soul. Despite knowing this, in our country, whenever we start any good work or do any Puja, the first thing that we chant is “Sri Gurubhyo Namaha, Hari Om!” 

One cannot truly worship God without first honouring and worshipping the Guru. This is how the tradition has been since the ages. 

Do you know how the Vedic mantras are chanted? Even before we start the chanting, we first recite, “Sri Gurubhyo Namaha, Hari Om!” Only after properly honouring the Guru and Lord Ganesha can one proceed to start anything. The Guru comes even before Lord Ganapati. Lord Ganapati is worshipped before all the other deities at the start of any ritual. But even before one can worship Lord Ganapati, one has to remember the Guru with honour and devotion. This is how the tradition has been woven in our culture since time immemorial. After this comes Atma Puja, which is honouring the divinity within. It means to deeply remember that the divine dwells within oneself. Remembering that all the divine gods and goddesses reside within you is to be in a truly meditative state. Meditation is the pinnacle or the ultimate state of any Puja. After honouring the Guru and the various deities, you should sit in a meditative state. And after that, take your attention to different parts of the body and remember that all gods and goddesses reside in different parts of the body. Then you can go deep into meditation and experience the joy within. 

~ Sri Sri

Guruji satsang - laughter

Gurudev, there is a proverb that says that laughter is the best medicine.  Can you explain the importance of laughter in our life?

 Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : 

When you start your day with laughter and love, your life is divinely animated.  The true prayer is to laugh in the morning from outside and from the depths.

  Laughter comes from the center of our Being, from the center of our heart.  Our stomach is so full of laughter that laughter permeates every cell in our body.  True laughter is true prayer.  When things are going well, everyone can laugh, but when everything falls apart and yet you laugh, that is evolution and growth.  Nothing in life is more worthy than your laugh.  Never lose it.  Events come and go.  Some are nice and some are unpleasant.  There is an area deep within you that is not touched.  Hold on to what is intact.  Then you can keep laughing.

  Sometimes you laugh just to not think or to not look at you.  But when you see and feel inside that life is present and intense in every moment, nothing can disturb or touch you.  That laugh is real.  You may have observed six-month-old or one-year-old babies.  When they laugh, their whole body jumps and bounces.  Every cell in the body laughs.  That is enlightenment.  That laugh is innocent, pure, uninhibited.

  Opinions are the impressions we make on our mind.  If we have an experience repeated four or five times, then for the rest of our lives, we tend to see life through those same experiences.  We need to be able to see things as they are.  When the essence of life blooms from within, there is true laughter akin to pity.  Laughter opens us, opens the heart.

Guruji satsang - fasting

Gurudev, does God get pleased if we fast? Is there any specific reason why fasting is suggested during different festivals across religions around the world?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar  :

We fast not to please the Divine, but to cleanse our body. You overwork your liver, stomach and pancreas so much. If there was a labor court for the body, all these organs would have complained against you in that court. We don’t allow them to rest at all. We drink and eat the whole day until night, and we overwork our system. They do need some rest and for that you need to fast.

God is not going to be pleased by your fasting. It is more to detox your own body.

And why fasting is combined with prayer all over the world and in all religions, is because when you are fasting, you are detoxified and your prayer becomes authentic and deep. Your meditation happens best when your stomach is empty. Isn’t that your experience?

If you meditate on a full stomach, you will fall asleep. That is why it is said, you can say your prayers when you are fasting as your body is detoxified and your mind is rested and alert.

Just think of your own classrooms. In which period do you feel very alert? First few sessions, or just before lunch. If you have had a heavy breakfast the first session can be boring. And when do you feel heavy and dull? Right after lunch!

When I was in college, I also used to sit and sleep because I had had some nice food, and that too with yogurt. At that time, classes are like a burden. Nobody taught us in those days that food has an impact on our mind. Nobody taught us not to eat these particular things during the day.

Our fasting has an impact on our alertness, and our mind that is why in all the religions of the world, be it Islam, Christianity, Hinduism or Jainism, fasting has been followed. But it is only for the body and not to please God.

Guruji satsang - purpose of Guru or Master

"The Master is a doorway. When you are out in the street in hot sun or stuck in rain and thunder, you feel the need for a shelter. Once you enter the door, the world looks so much more beautiful; it is a place filled with love, joy, cooperation, compassion and all virtues. Looking through the doorway there is no fear. From inside your home, you can look at the thunder, at the storm and yet be relaxed as you are in the shelter. Such a sense of security, fullness and joy comes. That is the purpose of having a Master."

- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Guruji satsang - Gita - stuck in feverish

Q:  Gurudev, in the Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna says, “Sarva-sankalpa parityagi”. What does it mean?

 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

When you are about to go to sleep, and if you keep thinking “I have to do this, I have to do that”, then will you be able to get restful sleep? What do you do when you sleep? You keep everything aside. Only then will you are able to get sleep. There is a deeper meaning in this verse. Yoga will not happen until the mind is stuck in feverish thoughts like 'I want this' or 'I have to do this' or 'I need to do that'.

How can you find deep rest when your mind is running behind acquiring 20 different things? Can you get any comfort in such a state? So for some time, you need to set everything aside. This is what is meant by the term “Sarva-sankalpa Sanyasi”.

'Yada hi nendriyartheshu na karmasv-anusajjate. Sarva-sankalpa-sanyasi yogarudastadochyate' (Bhagavad Gita, 6.4)

When one reaches a stage where he desires nothing for himself, then he becomes a Yogi, a Sanyasi. Such a wise and selfless person becomes useful to everyone around him. Whom do you really call a saint, a prophet, or an apostle? One who does not desire anything for himself, and one who only prays and works for the welfare and wellbeing of everyone else. Often one desires fame, or money, etc. It is desire that destroys a person and makes his vision and perspective in life very narrow and limited. So Lord Krishna says that until and unless a person drops all this (feverishness of desire) and becomes hollow and empty, he does not find peace. Once the mind becomes hollow and empty, one experiences such deep rest, and at the same time such deep joy arises from within. In such a state, one realizes the light of the Divine within and all around. This is what is meant here.

~Sri Sri

Guruji satsang - uncertainty

Gurudev, How can one remain calm and natural when things are not going the way we wish for them to happen?

Gurudev Sri Sri - 

Being natural means accepting yourself, others and everything around you as it is. Not as a burden but with a sense of understanding that this is how it is. When you think or feel that this shouldn’t be like this or this should have been like that then you come in touch with your boundaries – The boundaries of not being natural and comfortable.

Every time you are unhappy or miserable, you are just coming in touch with your own boundaries! Boundary is the real cause of your disturbance as it brings limitation. Have you observed that you are peaceful, happy and calm as long as you have not come in contact with your boundaries? The moment you come in contact with it, then the mind goes on a trip and you move out of your centre. At that moment you can just be grateful and pray for peace. Just turn the whole situation into a prayer. Pray that there be peace, not just in you but in everybody. That very moment you will start smiling. However hopeless the situation is, you will walk through it, sing through it, dance through it!

Whenever a boundary is broken, it creates some fear. The fear creates dislike. This dislike puts you back in the boundary. And to keep yourselves in the boundary you put forth defenses. When you try to defend your position, it is such a stress. Every time you try to defend your position, it makes you more and weaker. Drop all your defenses. When you are totally defenseless, that’s when you’ll be strong.

Guruji satsang - wisdom

ROLE OF WISDOM IN LIFE !

It is wisdom that blows the Events out of your Mind, and helps you flow with Time.

Imagine there is a river in which there are boulders and little puddles. Water gets stuck in those little puddles, and then what happens? It starts having fungus, algae, and the water is not clean, pure, or fresh anymore. This is because it is stagnating in one place.When the river is flowing (when you let go of the past), the water (Mind) is clean and pure; the water moves over all those boulders and runs to the ocean.The Mind is also like that – it gets stuck in a few events. It cannot get stuck for too long; somewhere, it has to move on, right? Be it pleasant or unpleasant. And wisdom helps you to move with Time and through Time.

~~Gurudev Sri Sri

Guruji satsang - sacrifice

Gurudev, what is the meaning of sacrifice? When can we consider that we have sacrificed something?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Let us understand what sacrifice means. You like something and you want to have it, but for something better to happen for everyone else, you give that up. That is called sacrifice.

You wanted to go for a picnic or a movie, but then you were needed to do some work somewhere else, which would benefit others. So you give up your pleasure trip, and do what is good for the people. That is what sacrifice is.

Where there is love, there is no sacrifice needed. You don’t say, mother sacrificed going on a trip because the child was not well. The child’s well being is of utmost importance for the mother, so she did not sacrifice anything. Do you see what I’m saying?

It is when you strongly desire something and give it up because it can bring a lot of good to others, then it is considered as a sacrifice.

You cannot think, ‘I am doing good work, but why are people criticizing me?’ It is their nature.

If a flower asks a thorn ‘Why do you prick?’. The thorn will answer ‘It’s my nature!’

The world has both thorns and flowers. The nature of the thorn is to prick and the nature of the flower is to spread fragrance.

~ Sri Sri

"Spirituality brings luck and strength, and so through meditation, you will become much more successful in the world."

- Sri Sri

Jai Gurudev!!

"Spirituality brings luck and strength, and so through meditation, you will become much more successful in the world."

- Sri Sri 

Jai Gurudev!

I was already teaching meditation and yoga .But I felt there was something that was lacking. Though people do their spiritualpractices ,their life is in a sort of a compartment. They do their prayer ,meditation and spiritual practices but when they come out in life, they are very different people. 

So, I was thinking how we can bridge this gap - between inner silence and outer expression of life. During a period of silence ,the Sudarshan kriya came like an inspiration .After I came out of the silence, I started teaching whatever i knew and people had great experiences.

After kriya ,many people feel so pure and so clear, so complete because the consciousness ,which was stuck in the matter ,material, which is foreign to itself, got released from that and came back to its home. That is the sense of purity , feeling of purity .

~ Sri Sri

Guruji satsang - success mantra

Guruji, What success mantraa must any person follow to become the best in his/her profession?

Gurudev Sri Sri - 

To excel in your profession balance your life. Meditate every day, sleep well, and in the morning do pranayam and meditation and go to work with a fresh mind. Don’t watch too many movies and not more than one hour of television per day. A movie a week should be enough. This is because when our mind is bombarded with so many impressions, it loses its creative abilities and becomes uncreative. Spend one hour with people. Spend time with somebody whom you do not know.

Waking up from the dream of maya: Suppose the past has gone - right now - can you wake up from the dream? This is all ‘maya’, all that happens, nothing stays, this is all maya. The clouds come in the sky and then go away, bubbles in the water and waves in the ocean stay a little while and then vanish. You are just the blue sky. Wake up. Can you wake up from the dream of maya? Can you tag all of this as maya, including me sitting here? When you can, then an awareness dawns inside you and wakes you up - ‘I’m ever pure’ - that’s the calling. It only takes seconds for you to wake up. Discard everything - just shake your head and discard everything.

~ Sri Sri