What Sri Sri said today:
‘Comfort is not just a nice bed and room, its inner comfort’
Bali, April 8, 2009 (Wednesday): The beach, open skies, gentle breeze and meditation: the biannual advanced meditation program in Bali began on April 7. Thousands have flocked from different parts of the world to listen to Sri Sri’s knowledge and experience the program in his presence. Sri Sri’s talks and programs appeal to people from diverse backgrounds, bridging together diverse communities and ideologies.
An excerpt of Sri Sri’s talks during the satsang this evening:
****
Prakriti & Purusha
Our consciousness has three qualities, the whole universe has got five qualities.
1. Asti: Existance
2. Bhati: There is consciousness, it feels
3. Preeti: love
4. Nama: Name
5. Rupa: form
For every name, there is a form. In the material world, there is name and form. The body is a matter, mind is energy. The whole universe is made up of body and mind, matter and energy.
Energy exists, it is conscious and is love. Matter is just the name and the form.
The ancient people called this whole universe as prakriti and purusha, matter and consciousness. What do you think you are? Are you the body or mind? Most of the time we think we are the body. Our body is like the wick of a candle, the mind is like the glow all around it. Our mind or consciousness exists and it is called love.
Prakriti or matter changes. Everything is changing in the world, right? Purusha, the reference point, doesn’t change.
So, think for a moment. Just wake up and think, “I am not the body, I am not the mind, not the matter.” It brings such a shift, in your behaviour and in your interaction.
When you interact with somebody, who are you interacting with? That somebody is the body or mind, body or spirit. You don’t know the spirit. You are simply caught up in the outer behaviour.
Obviously, you cannot communicate with a dead body. That is because the mind has gone from that body. Suddenly, you find your communication has got cut off. This is because you’ve been communicating with the complex called the mind.
A change in our attention is required. When you see the whole universe as the wick of a candle and the unseen consciousness as the glow, it makes a lot of difference in our lives.
It is important to understand that there is a distinction between the body and mind. Everyday, our body is changing. Many cells are dying and new cells are being born. This body is changing all the time and the spirit is unchanging. It’s alive, it’s love, it’s consciousness.
It is the breath that connects the body and mind. It is the breath that brings you deep relaxation and good rest.
Astrology
The science of astrology is called jyotish which means the knowledge of light. Now, suppose all these are the bulbs, glowing bulbs. Astrology is the science of knowing the color of this bulb. It recognises that the bulb is glowing and understanding its light. Not that light (points to a tube light), but the light above called human light. Astrology will recognise whether this light is Capricorn, whether this glow has come from Capricorn or a Sagitarian. The science of astrology will explain the glow, how big or small it is, when it’s going to blink. You see what I am saying?
Save the Mind
Events in our lives come and go. Right now, wake up and see. All that happened till now, is it not like a dream? Or is it, in anyway, more than a dream?
Yesterday you came here on an airplane. Those who came 20 days ago, you were packing your suitcases to come here, then boarded the plane. This moment when you wake up and see - it’s like a dream, isn’t it ?
The fact that a doubt never arises shows that it’s a dream. When you dream, there is no logic. You are on a horse, suddenly you are in an ocean, you are driving into the ocean. There is no logic, nor doubts in a dream. I tell you, the same thing is happening in this world. We don’t doubt what we need to doubt. This happening, is it real? All the conversations that you have in your own mind, or about the people around, are they real? All these years, we have blamed so many people. It has made you and others miserable. Is this what we need to do in our lives? We are miserable and make others miserable too.
Wake up and see, another 40 years. Doesn’t it seem like a dream? We always want some perfection, we want the way it should be. So what? You will be here for a few years and the world will continue. There will be imperfections the way that are now. Your children and their children will do things that you don’t like. So what? Is it going to change? Our hanging on to perfection, brings stiffness to our own minds? We are spoiling our health and causing misery around. Is this the way you want to live?
Wake up and see that all that has happened is a dream - some pleasant, some unpleasant. Will you get angry about the past? Is there any reason for getting angry about the past? Can you justify it? You can’t be angry about the future, right?
You can be angry, but it shouldn’t stay longer than the time you need to draw a line on water.
You should drop it and move on. Can you do that? That’s it! Then you have won the race. Save that consciousness. Save this mind. When you meditate, how do you feel? Like a delicate flower within you. This mind needs protection. What can protect it? With knowledge, we raise to a higher level of awareness. That makes us so strong to deal with any situation, right now. And we will be able to do that with a smile.
Skill through silence
Suppose your mother is nagging or complaining all the time and you don’t know how to handle her. It could be your niece or spouse too. You need skill to handle that. Right?
You get that skill by inner silence of the mind. Silence enhances our skill. In life, you need both. Comfort is not just a nice bed and room, its inner comfort.
Spiritual knowledge gives depth and comfort. Comfort to the soul and mind. Silence enhances our skill. Skill in dealing, working and in doing everything. Skill in speech, skill in action.
Divine Love
You know, when we think, I have nothing to do, just remember when you were a child, you couldn’t even eat your own food. A baby needs to be fed by the mother, right? Somebody needs to feed a baby or an old person. Nature has made arrangements in such a way that you are taken care of, in the beginning and at the end.
If you see reality, divinity is taking care of you throughout your life. You were taken care of when we couldn’t walk. Someone fed you, someone comforted you, someone put you to sleep. Somebody will take care of you towards the end of your life. That’s not a person, who is taking total responsibility for everything.
That consciousness gave you love as a father, a mother, a teacher, a sister. It is the big mind that has been comforting you as a friend, a partner. One consciousness has played all those roles.
If you cannot understand this right away, just have some patience. You can go deep in meditation or study physics.
A physicist will call different substances or particulars as one wave. It’s one electricity that is becoming the fan and the light bulb. The mind can argue: what does the fan have to do with light? This mind is not intelligent or informed enough. Almost everything - the television, fan, air conditioner, light bulb, water system - is run by electricity. In the same way, the whole universe is run by consciousness.
What we have always wanted, the deepest desire of every living being is to attain this higher level - right here, right now.
Q. Guruji, will divine love take care of my worries? Will divine love cure the illness of my loved ones?
A.: Divine love is not a currency that you can use for whatever you want. You cannot even use the same currency everywhere.
Definitely, divine love will take care of you but don’t keep thinking about it as though that is the main problem. You know, love means letting go, not trying to grab. If you think god loves you, then god knows what is best for you. He doesn’t need your recommendation. You see what I am saying? Nature knows. It will take care of things. We do our best, leave rest to nature.
© The Art of Living Foundation