Mumbai, January 15, 2011
Anand Tandav – Meditating while being merged in the dance of creation! Shiva consciousness means that which is pure and complete. When both the shores of sound and silence, music and meditation are inculcated in life then only perfection dawns! We will meditate for some time now! There are three rules to meditation: For some time, I do nothing, I want nothing and I am nothing. Whatever you need, think of that afterwards. I am neither intelligent nor stupid, I am neither rich nor poor, I am neither sinful nor a noble soul. For next few minutes, Akinchan, Achah and Aprayatan!
(As usual, 20 – 25 minutes of meditation flies away in less than a tangible minute)
Yoga is the art of doing nothing. Being in a total calm and serene state of mind is yoga, and yoga enables one reach such a state of mind. Physical yoga is to reduce tamoguna*. A little practice of being peaceful before and after doing work gives such strength and erases so many distortions from the mind. More are the distortions, more sorrow one experiences.
Dhyan, Pranayama, Service and intelligence!
Q: How intelligent is it to be angry on the past?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Is there any profit of being angry at the past? A business minded person would never do that!
There is a story of Mullah Nassurudin. His son was about to hold an expensive electronic equipment and he slapped his son. When asked, he said what the fun would be to slap after it has broken! It is a sign of foolishness to be angry at something that had happened in the past. People ask me if I don’t get angry. But at what should I be angry at? Past that has already gone!
You get angry at something which is happening in the present. But reacting to anger with anger! What foolishness! If somebody does mistake again and again, you can show anger but don’t get swayed away with that. Arogya vardhak gussa – Healthy anger is that which stays only for that much time as a line drawn on water stays.
It doesn’t mean not to show anger when someone is wrong but it is unintelligent to flow away with that. Sadhana is to protect mind from any vikara (Distortion that takes one away from the self).
Q: Sometimes it seems nature putting obstacles on the path while doing something. Is it so? If yes, how to go about that?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Nature may put many vikalpa on the way to shake your faith. Satsang, the right company would help. Which is the right company? That which makes you feel light, which makes you feel the problem is very trivial as compared to what you thought. That is no satsang which makes you perceive an exaggerated view of the problem.
Nature may put 1000 hurdles on the way but you come out smilingly with a much strong personality. This is just another way of Nature to strengthen the faith. An enormous strength rises in you. Your faith in God is no favor to God! One who has tasted the devotion, He knows. Sankalpa gets manifested with devotion. When your devotion is strongly rooted, Nature listens to you!
Q: Can you talk about grace of the Divine and gratitude for the Divine in life?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Happiness comes by grace, Joy comes by grace, and even devotion comes by grace. Whatever one gets in life, that comes with grace. Every instant one is grateful to the God being beneficial for one self and for others also!
Live your life which radiates a fragrance which makes you and also others happy.
Q: How do we get our sankalpas accomplished?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: These cell phones are so powerful that you can reach anybody in the world through it. So, the mind which has made these cell phones, won’t that be more powerful than this? If these radiations can produce such effect, what effect would human radiations produce?
The Sankalpa that one takes for the goodness of society, that definitely gets accomplished. Drop your worries and the Divine will care of you. Be in the innocent state of surrender.
Q: We get inspired so soon but then that inspiration doesn’t stay for long. What can one do to have persistent inspiration?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Don’t make an effort. It takes its natural course. Never try to hold on to joy, happiness and inspiration. When you try to, it runs even more quickly.
Sri Sri invites all professionals to volunteer for the running projects in Mumbai. Doctors to take three free medical camps in Dharavi, Engineers to take up some project and teachers to take three tuition for free!
Q: How to deal with people who think ‘I know it all’?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: With a big smile! You can tell, ‘you have your right for ignorance’.
Q: sometimes lots of visions come in meditation. What should one do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Take it as a thought and leave it. Sometimes hallucinations may come as imaginations.
Q: Can you talk about Darwin’s theory of evolution?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Did you forget about Dashavatara? Darwin’s theory came much later and there are many loopholes in it. It is being questioned now. He was a linear thinker. Before quantum physics come into picture and ancient Vedic knowledge was revived, lot many were into linear thinking. According to linear thinking there is beginning to everything and everything comes to an end. But we were of spherical thinking – No beginning and no end. The Adwait (Non – dual) existence!
Everything here radiates vibrations, and those vibrations make things happen around you.
Q: Sometimes I stuck up in some identity and I find myself stuck in that limited sphere of role. What should I do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The first and foremost identity is that you are a part of Divine. You are beautiful human being. Then you can be Hindu, Muslim, Christian, engineer, teacher or whatever. All identities come later.
Q: What is the line of demarcation between parents’ guiding the children and interference?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Don’t think it as interference. Elders should be guiding and later you only will be happy. They are telling something because of some reason. We have these workshops called ‘Know your child’ and ‘know your teen’. You can attend that if you wish to.
Q: How intelligent is it to identify oneself with a particular culture?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You are a global person, but at the same time one should not forget one’s cultural roots.
*Tamoguna: is one of the primordial three gunas, the gunas that regulate the nature. However, a little is required to relax but if imbalanced, causes lethargy, heaviness and downward flow in evolution.
© The Art of Living Foundation
Anand Tandav – Meditating while being merged in the dance of creation! Shiva consciousness means that which is pure and complete. When both the shores of sound and silence, music and meditation are inculcated in life then only perfection dawns! We will meditate for some time now! There are three rules to meditation: For some time, I do nothing, I want nothing and I am nothing. Whatever you need, think of that afterwards. I am neither intelligent nor stupid, I am neither rich nor poor, I am neither sinful nor a noble soul. For next few minutes, Akinchan, Achah and Aprayatan!
(As usual, 20 – 25 minutes of meditation flies away in less than a tangible minute)
Yoga is the art of doing nothing. Being in a total calm and serene state of mind is yoga, and yoga enables one reach such a state of mind. Physical yoga is to reduce tamoguna*. A little practice of being peaceful before and after doing work gives such strength and erases so many distortions from the mind. More are the distortions, more sorrow one experiences.
Dhyan, Pranayama, Service and intelligence!
Q: How intelligent is it to be angry on the past?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Is there any profit of being angry at the past? A business minded person would never do that!
There is a story of Mullah Nassurudin. His son was about to hold an expensive electronic equipment and he slapped his son. When asked, he said what the fun would be to slap after it has broken! It is a sign of foolishness to be angry at something that had happened in the past. People ask me if I don’t get angry. But at what should I be angry at? Past that has already gone!
You get angry at something which is happening in the present. But reacting to anger with anger! What foolishness! If somebody does mistake again and again, you can show anger but don’t get swayed away with that. Arogya vardhak gussa – Healthy anger is that which stays only for that much time as a line drawn on water stays.
It doesn’t mean not to show anger when someone is wrong but it is unintelligent to flow away with that. Sadhana is to protect mind from any vikara (Distortion that takes one away from the self).
Q: Sometimes it seems nature putting obstacles on the path while doing something. Is it so? If yes, how to go about that?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Nature may put many vikalpa on the way to shake your faith. Satsang, the right company would help. Which is the right company? That which makes you feel light, which makes you feel the problem is very trivial as compared to what you thought. That is no satsang which makes you perceive an exaggerated view of the problem.
Nature may put 1000 hurdles on the way but you come out smilingly with a much strong personality. This is just another way of Nature to strengthen the faith. An enormous strength rises in you. Your faith in God is no favor to God! One who has tasted the devotion, He knows. Sankalpa gets manifested with devotion. When your devotion is strongly rooted, Nature listens to you!
Q: Can you talk about grace of the Divine and gratitude for the Divine in life?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Happiness comes by grace, Joy comes by grace, and even devotion comes by grace. Whatever one gets in life, that comes with grace. Every instant one is grateful to the God being beneficial for one self and for others also!
Live your life which radiates a fragrance which makes you and also others happy.
Q: How do we get our sankalpas accomplished?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: These cell phones are so powerful that you can reach anybody in the world through it. So, the mind which has made these cell phones, won’t that be more powerful than this? If these radiations can produce such effect, what effect would human radiations produce?
The Sankalpa that one takes for the goodness of society, that definitely gets accomplished. Drop your worries and the Divine will care of you. Be in the innocent state of surrender.
Q: We get inspired so soon but then that inspiration doesn’t stay for long. What can one do to have persistent inspiration?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Don’t make an effort. It takes its natural course. Never try to hold on to joy, happiness and inspiration. When you try to, it runs even more quickly.
Sri Sri invites all professionals to volunteer for the running projects in Mumbai. Doctors to take three free medical camps in Dharavi, Engineers to take up some project and teachers to take three tuition for free!
Q: How to deal with people who think ‘I know it all’?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: With a big smile! You can tell, ‘you have your right for ignorance’.
Q: sometimes lots of visions come in meditation. What should one do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Take it as a thought and leave it. Sometimes hallucinations may come as imaginations.
Q: Can you talk about Darwin’s theory of evolution?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Did you forget about Dashavatara? Darwin’s theory came much later and there are many loopholes in it. It is being questioned now. He was a linear thinker. Before quantum physics come into picture and ancient Vedic knowledge was revived, lot many were into linear thinking. According to linear thinking there is beginning to everything and everything comes to an end. But we were of spherical thinking – No beginning and no end. The Adwait (Non – dual) existence!
Everything here radiates vibrations, and those vibrations make things happen around you.
Q: Sometimes I stuck up in some identity and I find myself stuck in that limited sphere of role. What should I do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The first and foremost identity is that you are a part of Divine. You are beautiful human being. Then you can be Hindu, Muslim, Christian, engineer, teacher or whatever. All identities come later.
Q: What is the line of demarcation between parents’ guiding the children and interference?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Don’t think it as interference. Elders should be guiding and later you only will be happy. They are telling something because of some reason. We have these workshops called ‘Know your child’ and ‘know your teen’. You can attend that if you wish to.
Q: How intelligent is it to identify oneself with a particular culture?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You are a global person, but at the same time one should not forget one’s cultural roots.
*Tamoguna: is one of the primordial three gunas, the gunas that regulate the nature. However, a little is required to relax but if imbalanced, causes lethargy, heaviness and downward flow in evolution.
© The Art of Living Foundation