Pain and Suffering

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWzwgn7Ygt8

Jai Guru Dev,

Amazing

Just as I was flipping through Celebrating Silence to write the previous post, I read another post on celebration by Gurudev. The lines which struck me really hard were these :

A poor man celebrates New Year once a year. A rich man celebrates each day. But the richest man celebrates every moment.

How rich are you ? Do you celebrate once a year ? Once a month ? Every day ? If you celebrate every moment, you are the Lord of Creation.

Sri Sri Ravishankar
Weggis, Switzerland
December 27 1995

2008 has been a trying year for us. And all this year, on each festival that we celebrated with such gaiety in the past - Ganesh Chaturti, Gokul Ashtami, Diwali, Navarathri, my mind would go to my problems and dwell on how our home had lost its happiness since we were unable to celebrate as before.

And now this knowledge ! Funny - I've read it so many times before but it hits me so hard on New Years Eve. Something beautiful to ponder on : Am I poor / rich / the richest ?

Certainly I will aspire to be the richest this coming New Year. Thanks Guruji !

Jai Guru Dev,

True Celebration

Let time celebrate your presence. People usually make a wish for the New Year, but this year make no wish. Let the New Year celebrate you. If the New Year wants to bring you nicer things, just let it.

Usually you are lost in celebration. When you let time celebrate you, you are a witness amidst celebration.

The New Year is fortunate because you are living at this time. When you are living for the sake of the world, the world is fortunate. You are not living for yourself, but for the world. Whatever the world needs or wants, you are here for that.

Sri Sri Ravishankar
Lake Lucerne, Switzerland
January 1 1997

(Excerpt from Celebrating Silence) .

A Happy and Peaceful New Year to all my blog readers. May the New Year bring you joy, peace and more opportunities to move towards your Self.

Jai Guru Dev,

Happy Diwali

(Image Courtesy : http://sneha1967.sulekha.com )

A festival has different flavors - the holidays (fun time) , the shopping for clothes, gifts (fun material time) , family and friends (people time), food (yum time :) ) ,rituals (pooja and prayer time), mythology (story time) and celebrations.

At the core though is the essence of any festival - what it stands for . Diwali is all of the above and also represents the triumph of good over evil - not just in the world, but also within us .

Here is wishing you all the essence and everything else this Diwali !!

For those of you with Guruji this Diwali - well lucky you :)

Here is a beautiful article on Diwali by Guruji :

Diwali is lighting :

The lamp of love in one's heart;
The lamp of abundance in one's home;
The lamp of compassion to serve others;
The lamp of Knowledge to dispel darkness

Every lamp that you light is symbolic of a good quality. There are good qualities in every human being. Some have forbearance, some have love, strength, generosity; others have the ability to accept all as one' own, yet others have a scientific temperament that will uplift humanity; and others have the ability to unite people from all religions. A latent talent is a lamp. When latent talents awaken, that is Diwali. Don't be satisfied with simply lighting one lamp; light a thousand. Eg. If you are a good sevak, don't be satisfied only with that; light the lamp of wisdom in you. Acquire knowledge. If you are interested in acquiring knowledge, don't limit yourself only to that. Take an interest in the creative arts, in dance, music etc.

Do you know why we do aarti? It is so that light of our life always rotates around the Divine.

Do you know why we burst crackers? We suppress many emotions within ourselves; cravings, aversions, hatred or too much attachment and we reach bursting point. When there are a lot of worries, people say, "I feel my head is going to burst." If there is a lot of sorrow, people say, "My heart is going to burst." Knowing this experience, the ancient people said that when you see an explosion outside, you feel similar sensations within you as well. Along with the explosion, there is so much light. Similarly by lighting the crackers, when there is an explosion outside, you release the suppressed emotions and become hollow and empty. You become free and are able to celebrate the festival and distribute sweets.

The darkness is dispelled, light has come into the house, and joy spreads. This is a festival of joy. For the wise man, Diwali is every moment and every day.

Diwali - the Festival of Lights. The streets and buildings are lit up with colorful lights.

The four aspects of Diwali:

1. Lights: symbolizing the spreading of Knowledge.
2. Firecrackers: Watching the firecrackers gives a relief to the explosive tendencies inside. When the explosion happens outside, the explosion inside is diffused.
3. Gift exchange and distribution of sweets: Sweets dispel the bitterness and renew the friendship.
4. Feeling abundance: Feeling a sense of abundance brings awareness and gratefulness for what one has.

When this wisdom dawns, it gives rise to celebration. However, in celebration you may lose your focus or awareness. The ancient Rishis knew this, so to maintain awareness amidst the gaiety of celebration, they brought sacredness and puja to every event.

- H.H.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar


Happy Diwali , Jai Guru Dev,

Smiling Through

It was during Guru Poornima 2006 - my first and only so far - with Guruji . In a huge hall at the San Matep Expo Center, CA. We were all participants in the "Yoga and Meditation Seminar" (also called PDS in India), being led by none other than Sri Sri Ravishankar.

About 300 of us were twisted like pretzels in a difficult pose - grunting, sweating and breathing at the same time, when Guruji's soft ethereal voice wafted over the microphone "Smiling In a Difficult Pose Is Yoga" .

Boom..crash...flash of lightning...the whole town visible from a hilltop.....Aho !

Suddenly it was so clear what He was saying - If you can smile through tough times in life, you have attained that state called Yoga. This was the MOST amazing definition of Yoga I had ever heard in my life.

The essence of the Bhagavad Gita says the same thing. Krishna exorts Arjuna to fire the arrow, but from a state of calmness. In the midst of what would have been a world war in those days, when Arjuna was in the most tumultous of times in his life, Krishna asked him to be centered and do his duty - no matter how difficult.

Guruji says this very directly too - The sign of success is your SMILE.



Ah - that elusive SMILE :) :) . Every week, at Long Kriya, the teacher asks us to do the same thing again and again - S M I L E. At times I feel like...Grr...just get on with the pranayams already, but its clear that the goal of Art Of Living is not just to teach folks a few asanas and breathing techniques - it is to bring back that lost smile on people's faces.

Especially on faces like mine that look perenially like :( .

And this smile has to be from within - not the polite smile that masks the agony from within - not the "Tum Itna Jo Muskura Rahe Ho, Kya Gam Hai Jisko Chupa Rahe Ho" Smile, but the SMILE of the BEING ! The SMILE that shines through the clouds of darkness, misery, desires, failures, setbacks. The SMILE that makes others forget that they are in misery .

And after all who is not subject to miserable events ? Krishna had his uncle plotting his murder before he was even born and was hounded by him for years. Guruji's own mother Amma fell a victim to cancer when Guruji was about to address thousands at a satsang hundreds of miles away. Buddha had to leave his family and kingdom and walk away to attain nirvana. Jesus was nailed to the cross for showing people the path of love. The difference between these noble souls and us : The SMILE never went away even in these tough situations. These situations were just events to them, not problems.

When Will I really SMILE ? Well until then as they say in the Art Of Living "Fake It Till You Make It" !!

" You sell you happiness for peanuts! You sell your smile for pennies! I tell you, it's not worth it. The entire world is not worth your smile. Even if you are made the king or the emperor of the world, it's not worth giving away your smile. " - Sri Sri Ravishankar
Oh Gurudev, you have so much to give - am I ready to receive ? How much will I receive in this lifetime ? The Yoga Vasishta says "Self Effort" .


Jai Guru Dev,

Beauty Lies ...

(Image Courtesy : http://shreeguru.rkphotoworks.com)

We've been watching Guruji's video commentary on the Shiva Sutras the last few weeks just before Long Kriya. The commentary is in Hindi. Each tape is a new revelation, a new simple technique to unlock the mind . This time he talked about "Thark KuThark ViThark" .

HE started by saying "Beauty Lies in the eyes of the beholder". Suddenly a closed door in my mind got unlocked. So far I had interpreted this knowledge as meaning that each individual had their own concept of beauty and that an object or person that did not seem beautiful to person X might actually seem very beautiful to person Y.

But what Guruji was saying here was that "Beauty Lies Within". We are Beauty and what we see (behold) outside is simply a reflection of that beauty.

I mean WOW !

I've heard this in different ways before but never as an interpretation of "Beauty Lies in The Eyes Of The Beholder" .

Guruji often says that if we see something beautiful like a flower, we should then withdraw our attention from the flower to the beautiful feeling of beauty arising within . It became clear why HE was saying this after today's kriya.

On my way home, I was then wondering why I don't see everything as beautiful - the way Guruji does .

Simple Answer : I am not Guruji :)

Complicated Answer : I am seeing everything through the confused, contorted filter of my mind, my senses, my cravings and aversions, desires and biases and until these filters are removed, the REAL beauty of a person / situation WILL not shine through .

Sathyam Shivam Sundaram !

I guess thats why Guruji says Punah Punaha - More Seva - Sadhana - Satsang - Part II courses , Knowledge !

Aho...Oh Guruji Tussi Great Ho !

Jai Guru Dev,

Achaah Akinchan Aprayanthna

The Daily Sutra arrives everyday. Occasionally the mail brings in a beautiful knowledge sheet. Sometimes though the sutra / knowledge sheet are like a bolt of lightning. So clear, precise, addressing just the problem I thought I was having and could not overcome.

I restarted my regular practice of Sahaj Samadhi meditation a few weeks ago as life began to normalize a bit. Somehow though the meditations were quite disturbed...thoughts, more thoughts, resolutions ,plans, projects, title of my next blog...all kinds of stuff that didn't quite help the meditative process.

'T' forwarded this beautiful knowledge given by Guruji at the recently concluded TRM (Teacher's Refresher Meet) at the Art of Living Bangalore Ashram.

Guruji gave the secret to go into meditation/samadhi. He said just remember three things before you go into meditation.

1. Achaah
2. Akinchan
3. Aprayanthna

Only when your mind is established in these three you can effortlessly go into samadhi.

Achaah - Being desire less! I want nothing; no desires for anything worldly or spiritual else the mind is either caught up in the outside world (people-relationships, bills, payments, laundry etc.), thinking about it or looking for some spiritual experience (light, fragrance, out of body experience etc.) in meditation. This is the biggest impediment to get into your being.

Desirelessness is bliss!

Akinchan - I am nothing! Dropping the 'I' for sometime, else the mind gets irritated even on the smallest of disturbance, noise. Even a door bell, barking dog or sound of utensils in the kitchen can drive you away from the center. And the mind goes 'I am meditating and people are making so much noise! I need to teach them a lesson!'

Dropping the 'I', I am nothing!

Aprayanthna - No effort! Meditation is effortless; you don't need to put any effort. Like you go to have a massage, you just lie down and the masseur gives you the massage, you don't have to do anything! Do you?

Let the divine work for you !

- Sri Sri Ravishankar


Needless to say - the kriya and meditations have been much better since. I just hope that this knowledge stays in my awareness each time I sit down for kriya or meditation.

Jai Guru Dev,

On The Path

Just read this Sutra ..isn't is amazing how Guruji clears the fog and makes the most difficult things seem so simple !!!!!

"You see how a plane moves through clouds, fog and mist as it lands on to a landing strip. Its focus is on a narrow strip and does not mind all the obstacles in its way. You too should be untouched by the difficulties and keep on the track of your path"

Sri Sri Ravishankar

Jai Guru Dev

Science Exposes ...

Photo Credits : http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25836608


I read this recent MSNBC article stating that the mystery of the Aurora Borealis had finally been solved. Which had me thinking about a beautiful knowledge by Guruji .

Beauty has three levels: indication, expression and exposure. Spirituality indicates, art expresses, and science exposes.

Sri Sri Ravishankar

I remembered back when my dad gave me a beautiful book as a kid - don't remember the name - but it was about nature's mysteries. I vividly remember seeing a picture of the Northern Lights as the Aurora Borealis are also called and going Aah Wow ! I did not digest any more information about the lights but something within me certainly lit up.

Somehow when I recently read the above mentioned article, the same WOW did not emerge. An excerpt :

Angelopoulos and his team used the THEMIS probes to monitor the energy levels in Earth's magnetic field. In February of this year, the spacecraft spotted substorms originating in the tail of the magnetosphere that streams out away from the sun. As energy levels in the magnetic field lines built up, they drew ever closer to one another until they reconnected, setting off a storm, researchers said.

For the last three decades, researchers were undecided on whether the substorms stemmed from magnetic field lines reconnecting, or originated much closer to Earth where they were triggered by explosive instability.

"Our data show clearly and for the first time that magnetic reconnection is the trigger," said Angelopoulos.

The research is detailed in the July 24 online edition of the journal Science.

First discovered in the 19th century, magnetic substorms are recurring energy bursts stemming from the release of charged particles — collected from the sun's solar wind — in the Earth's magnetic field. The high-energy particles zoom down the Earth's magnetic field lines until they collide with the planet's upper atmosphere to create dazzling, shifting colors in the aurora borealis.

Despite being scientifically trained, somehow the above explanation left me cold and not in the same state of wonder that I experienced as a child .

I wonder - is it really necessary to rip apart every phenomenon and lay bare its inner workings ? Its the same feeling one gets when one opens the hood of a car or a computer and peeks at the inner parts. Somehow the handsome Merc / Macbook Pro do not feel the same again - at least to me !

Certainly that is the purpose of science but then what larger purpose does it really serve ? I believe something beautiful such as the borealis should serve as a way for someone to go "Wow - just look at that" , wonder about the beautiful hand that created it or simply take them to silence .

I guess it has to do with one's state of seeking at a point in life. When intensely intellectual, a scientific explanation serves the purpose. As the seeking deepens, such explanations cease to satisfy . An acknowledgment arises that all (or anything ?) cannot be explained. The more we seek to explain, the more the mystery deepens.

What the Bleep Do We Know ! :)


Jai Guru Dev,

References :

• Nasa Spacecraft Reveal Cause Of Auroras
  
• Beauty Full
  

Health and Happiness with Sri Sri Ravishankar - Santa Clara, CA - July 15th - 17th

UPDATE : A previous version of this post said the course was ending on Guru Poornima day. This is wrong, Guru Poornima is on July 18th (the course ends on 17th) and the celebrations and satsang are open to all (registration required) .

Sri Sri Ravishankar will be in Santa Clara, Bay Area, CA July 15th - 17th teaching a wonderful course titled "Health and Happiness" .

Here is why you should attend:

1. Learn some amazing yoga, praanayams, meditation and listen to some soul-stirring knowledge.

2. Taught directly by Sri Sri Ravishankar - a world renowned spiritual leader and founder of the Art Of Living Foundation.

3. Convenient timings in the evenings.

4. Meet hundreds of other folks interested in yoga, meditation and spirituality.

Only a few spots are left over as of this writing !!!

Register here : http://events.artofliving.org/hh2008/

Intensify your longing

This beautiful knowledge sheet appeared in my Inbox today. And what timing... Its been so many months since seeing Guruji and the current events don't seem like I'll see him any time soon, especially not during HIS visit to Seattle or Guru Poornima in the Bay Area ! But this knowledge sheet took all my pain away !


Jai Guru Dev,

Attaining the Divine depends upon the intensity of your longing and not on the time you spend or your qualifications. There is a proverb in India,

"It may take some time to pluck the flower, but it takes no time to meet the Divine".

Immediately intensify your longing for the Divine.Knowing that you are nothing and you know nothing brings a sense of belonging and belonging intensifies longing.

What is the difference between desire and longing?

Desire is the fever of the head and Longing is the cry of heart.

-Sri Sri Ravishankar

God Does Not ...

Today's Daily Sutra :

God does not create sadness for you. When you go away from God, you experience sadness .

-- Sri Sri Ravishankar

Something deep to ponder about .....

Jai Guru Dev,