You are here for others



Q: Guruji, how to maintain the purity of teaching Yoga in today’s commercial world? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: First of all we shouldn’t blame the world and we should not blame the cause. Purity of Yoga is there when your intention is clear, you are here to serve. If you count that there are twenty people and I will get this much money, if you think that then it can spoil the purity. That is why we have kept our courses in such a way that the teacher gets a very little amount to cover whatever expenses are there. You know you are doing it as a service and you are keeping a charge because without any charges people don’t value it and of course you need some finances to make arrangements like the durries and the microphone and all this stuff. So if your intention is pure, if you are financially and otherwise okay and this is only an added support or income to you then it is okay but if you are thinking only on these lines that I want to make money out of teaching yoga then your whole attitude is changed.
Just imagine a school teacher is teaching the children only to get money and not to see that the students are passing or they should get better. A teacher comes for tuition for an hour and he keeps looking at the watch then within fifteen minutes he runs away, what is the quality of such a teacher. So there is no individual, personal attention that is given, so if the commercial thing doesn’t enter your mind then you are there for the cause, you are there for others.

Q: Even after being born as a human being who is the highest among all the species on this planet why do we desire freedom? Is there anything more beautiful than this? 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See wanting happiness is natural, everyone wants happiness but happiness does not come alone. Happiness brings along his twin sorrow also with him but no one likes sorrow and everyone wants freedom from sorrow. Freedom one wants from what? Sorrow and to want freedom from sorrow also is natural. Just as much as wanting happiness is natural the same way wanting freedom from sorrow is also natural. Okay, now the faster one realizes that happiness is there but sorrow is also there then the desire for freedom becomes stronger.
The one who does not wish for happiness receives freedom and the one who does not even wish for freedom is the one who receives devotion.
One who does not crave for happiness is already free but if one craves for happiness then one will also crave for freedom. When happiness does not please you then you have achieved freedom but when freedom also does not please you then you receive DEVOTION!
Devotion brings so much happiness and pleasure to you.

Q: Guruji, you say the love is great and fearless. Then why is it that the person I am in love with is so fearful? 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The one you are in love with is fearful? Okay! That we don’t know how much you have scared him that he has become so fearful.  First see whether the person you are in love with is also in love with you.
See, sometimes we think we love someone but we don’t even know how to properly express our love to another. It is very hard to express how much love you are feeling in your heart to someone else. How are you going the express? With words you will not be able to express. Something as deep as love does not come in the realm of expression. It is very difficult to express and sometimes when you try very hard and with a lot of effort to express this love people get scared. The other person should also know how to accept and receive your love isn’t it? That’s why it is important to know to how to express and how much of our love to express to each person, yeah!
Just imagine you have someone day and night calling you again and again and telling you, ‘I love you, I love you, I love you’, then what you will say, okay, yes, you love me, fine what next, right?!
So until we do not turn towards wisdom we are not able to properly express or receive love, for that also there is some eligibility. With wisdom one is so full of love that love exudes from every action. In life when we embrace the divinity then all our relationships blossom by themselves but if you try to fix your relationships one by one it does not work. From one side things will get better and from the other side it will get worse, so you be centered in yourself, be in devotion and everything else will be taken care of.

Q: Something binds the body to the soul. What is this binding factor and what prompts it to part ways after sometime? 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Impressions in the soul binds it to the body. That is what is called Karma.

Q: Guruji, I think I am suffering from chronic boredom problem. I get bored of everything very easily. I get bored of situations, of people, of places. Is there a cure to my problem?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Boredom! What do you do when you get bored of everything?! Let me think what you can do!
This is because you are thinking only about yourself. When you don’t know what pleasure you will get you get bored because this world cannot really give you satisfaction, it can only bore you but if you come from a place of giving and not getting then you won’t be bored. You will think what can I do, how can I be of great use. If you think on those lines and dedicate your life for a cause then boredom does not arise but if you are seeking joy in action then you will get bored. Boredom is simply what?!
You are seeking joy in action which you didn’t get. You are seeking for some joy in the world which you didn’t get and then you got bored. In the beginning it gave you some happiness, a particular object or situation but when you kept repeating it you got bored. So stop seeking joy in activity know that you are joy and then you won’t look for joy and get disappointed or get bored, yeah!

Q: Dearest Guruji, Jai Gurudev! Once I am on this path is my spiritual progress your responsibility or my responsibility? If it is yours then why is my progress full of obstacles and slow, and if it is mine then why is my effort so poor. Please help me! 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:  Now that you are asking this question it is both of our responsibility. Yes, do your 100% and relax and when you feel that you can do a little better or a little more that indicates that you have been responsible. When you feel you are doing everything that you can then the responsibility shifts away from you.

Q: Dearest Guruji, you are my favorite in the whole world and my world revolves around you. How do I become your favorite? 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Walk the path!
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Some power in the creation makes everything happen!



16 March, Bangalore Ashram, India

Q: Dearest Guruji, how to keep oneself motivated all the time because sometimes the adverse conditions around try to bring the prana down and when the prana level is low in the body then I feel very frustrated and unhappy and loose all the motivation to go even a step ahead. Thank you for being in my life. Love!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : When you are losing motivation that is a sign that you are tired, you need recuperation. You have said that prana is low. So for one, two or three days go into retreat. Some silence, meditation, yoga, pranayama and a liquid diet will help.
You know sometimes when we eat too much and too much of the wrong food then also you feel so tired, isn’t it? How many of you have had this experience? Because when you are not feeling good you eat more and when you eat more you feel even more tired, so it is a catch 22 cycle, right? It’s a cycle that goes on. So, little detoxification/fresh fruit or juice diet coupled with Pranayama will work magic. 
When you have no motivation to do anything you feel so lazy to even do breathing exercises, that is why I would advise you to go on a diet and after 1 to 2 days this cleansing would help you.


Q: Even after giving 100% effort one does not succeed, what is the reason behind this?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See; don’t think that by giving your 100% alone that work gets done. For success or work to get done there are five things you require. First the intention of the person who is doing, then availability of the instruments or things needed to do the work, then the willingness or mindset to do the work. Then doing the work at the right time, there is a time to do the work, if you don’t do it at the right time then there is no use. If you sow seeds in February then there is no use, you then cannot say that I sowed the seeds but nothing has come. You have to wait till April after the rain then you sow the seeds and then you yield the results. So time is a very important factor and you could get results now or you could get it later that also you cannot say. 
When we came to this Ashram this whole land was barren, there was not one leaf or one tree on this land. Today see how many trees and plants are there and these trees did not come in one day, so many people have put lots of effort and after some time the trees grew. So this is how time is an important factor and then grace. Without grace of the divine there will be no success, that is why if you want grace then you must do Seva, sadhana, satsang and in time you will get the fruits of all your efforts. Okay! None of your efforts will go waste that you should be assured about, if not now you will see the results later.


Q: Guruji what is the use of Seva? How does it help meditation?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Listen, suppose you are stranded in some place and you need someone to give you a lift in their car or taxi and nobody stops their car to give you a lift, how would you feel? 
You are carrying two bags and you have to go to the restroom in a railway station. You can’t leave the bags unattended and you have to go to the restroom, what will you do? You will find some nice elderly person, go to them and keep the bags with them requesting them to take care while you go for five minutes to the restroom. Don’t you need other’s help? If they refuse to help you then how can you survive? You know in this world as human beings we have to help each other and that is what seva is.
Seva means what? ‘Sa’ means ‘him’ which refers to God and ‘Eva’ means ‘like him’; doing things like him. God does so many things for you but does not expect anything in return from you. Whether you pray to him, thank him or not he will still continue to do. He is not doing you a favor. When you thank God, that is for your own joy, it does not matter to God. In the same way whether people acknowledge your work or not, whether they thank you or not you still do it because you find that it is important to do!


Q: When everything that is to happen is already decided then why do we have to act and then in the name of action how are we responsible?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Why are you asking this question? See there are two levels, like the molecular level on the basis of which everything is the same. E. g. if you see this stand is wood, this door is wood, everything is made from wood, but you cannot sit on the door and neither can you make a chair a door, even though everything is wood. Just like that on one level we say that everything is happening but on another level we are also required to act. You continue to act and as you continue doing you will see that, ‘I didn’t do anything, everything happened and is happening’, that is wisdom. 
Once I went to prison to address the prisoners. I was called to speak to them after they had completed the course. So I asked them how many of you have committed any crime. No one raised their hand. Then I asked how many of you are innocent and have been put into prison, and everyone raised their hand. ‘We are innocent, we have not done anything and we have just been put into prison. We have not done anything but it just happened’. So even a thief is saying that he did not do anything but it just happened. A man has murdered another person but when I asked him he said I did not do it, I don’t know at that time what went into to me that the murder just happened. So a person who has committed some of the worst crimes also says that he did not do it. Just like that people who do wonderful work, if you ask them did you do this, they will say no I didn’t do anything, it all just happened, fell into place, I didn’t do anything.
This is a state of consciousness where you realize things are not happening because of your effort, it is happening due to some law, due to some power in the creation which is making everything happen.


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Devotion brings happiness and pleasure to you

14 March 2011, Bangalore 
 
Q: Dearest Guruji, in the Part 1 course one of the knowledge points is living in the present moment but my present is so painful that I rather live in the past that was beautiful. Now how do I apply this sutra?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
See even if the present is painful it is better to just be with it and finish it otherwise you are just sweeping it under the carpet. Living in an imaginary world and not realizing the current reality, yeah. So it is better to live it and go through it.

Q: Dear Guruji even while I am watching the webcast I feel your presence. I get a feeling that you are looking at me. How do you manage a real presence in this virtual world?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
That is a trade secret!! Join the club.

Q: I did the Art of Living course to become sharp and focused but Guruji now you have become my biggest distraction but I love this distraction. I hope it is okay?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
For sometime it is okay. It is said when you put alum in water it removes all the impurities. Purifies all the water and then dissolves itself, yeah!

Q: Guruji love should be fearless yet why does one experience fear in love?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yeah because fear is love upside down. If you do the advanced course you will get all these answers. What are these three emotions, love, fear and hatred and how they are all formed by one energy and how you can turn fear and hatred into love.

Q: Dearest Guruji, Jai Gurudev! Once I am on this path is my spiritual progress your responsibility or my responsibility? If it is yours then why is my progress full of obstacles and slow, and if it is mine then why is my effort so poor. Please help me!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
  Now that you are asking this question it is both of our responsibility. Yes, do your 100% and relax and when you feel that you can do a little better or a little more that indicates that you have been responsible. When you feel you are doing everything that you can then the responsibility shifts away from you.
 

Q: Something binds the body to the soul. What is this binding factor and what prompts it to part ways after sometime?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Impressions in the soul binds it to the body. That is what is called Karma.

Q: Guruji, I think I am suffering from chronic boredom problem. I get bored of everything very easily. I get bored of situations, of people, of places. Is there a cure to my problem?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Boredom! What do you do when you get bored of everything?! Let me think what you can do!
This is because you are thinking only about yourself. When we don’t know what pleasure you will get you get bored because this world cannot really give you satisfaction, it can only bore you but if you come from a place of giving and not getting then you won’t be bored. You will think what can I do, how can I be of great use. If you think on those lines and dedicate your life for a cause then boredom does not arise but if you are seeking joy in action then you will get bored. Boredom is simply what?!
You are seeking joy in action which you didn’t get. You are seeking for some joy in the world which you didn’t get and then you got bored. In the beginning it gave you some happiness, a particular object or situation but when you kept repeating it you got bored. So stop seeking joy in activity know that you are joy and then you won’t look for joy and get disappointed or get bored, yeah!

Q: Dear Guruji, what is the meaning of being natural? Is it doing whatever comes to the mind and doing whatever one feels like.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
No it is not doing whatever that comes to your mind. Doing whatever comes to your mind without any attention, awareness or thought would be foolish. Whatever comes to your mind should pass through the test of intellect or wisdom. Being natural is feeling at home; feeling at home even in adverse situations. You know when everything is good you feel at home but when things do not go your way you don’t feel at home and you want to run away. So feeling at home in every situation, yeah!

Q: Guruji, how to maintain the purity of teaching Yoga in today’s commercial world?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
First of all we shouldn’t blame the world and we should not blame the cause. Purity of Yoga is there when your intention is clear, you are here to serve. If you count that there are twenty people and I will get this much money, if you think that then it can spoil the purity. That is why we have kept our courses in such a way that the teacher gets a very little amount to cover whatever expenses are there. You know you are doing it as a service and you are keeping a charge because without any charges people don’t value it and of course you need some finances to make arrangements like the durries and the microphone and all this stuff. So if your intention is pure, if you are financially and otherwise okay and this is only an added support or income to you then it is okay but if you are thinking only on these lines that I want to make money out of teaching yoga then your whole attitude is changed.
Just imagine a school teacher is teaching the children only to get money and not to see that the students are passing or they should get better. A teacher comes for tuition for an hour and he keeps looking at the watch then within fifteen minutes he runs away, what is the quality of such a teacher. So there is no individual, personal attention that is given, so if the commercial thing doesn’t enter your mind then you are there for the cause, you are there for others.

Q: Dearest Guruji, you are my favorite in the whole world and my world revolves around you. How do I become your favorite?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Walk the path!

Q: Dearest Guruji, looking at the events in Japan I have started to feel like mother earth and nature is very angry with us. You approach is very effective Guruji, please use some of your approach and calm it down.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, mother earth is in distress.

Q: Dearest Gurudev, just to handle one person I lose all my energy, how do you handle so many people?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
That is why I am sitting here!

Q: Even after being born as a human being who is the highest among all the species on this planet why do we desire freedom? Is there more beautiful than this?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
See wanting happiness is natural, everyone wants happiness but happiness does not come alone. Happiness brings along his twin sorrow also with him but no one likes sorrow and everyone wants freedom from sorrow. Freedom one wants from what? Sorrow and to want freedom from sorrow also is natural. Just as much as wanting happiness is natural the same way wanting freedom from sorrow is also natural. Okay, now the faster one realizes that happiness is there but sorrow is also there then the desire for freedom becomes stronger.
The one who does not wish for happiness receives freedom and the one who does not even wish for freedom is the one who receives devotion.
One who does not crave for happiness is already free but if one craves for happiness then one will also crave for freedom. When happiness does not please you then you have achieved freedom but when freedom also does not please you then you receive DEVOTION!
Devotion brings so much happiness and pleasure to you.

Q: Guruji, you say the love is great and fearless. Then why is it that the person I am in love with is so fearful?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The one you are in love with is fearful? Okay! That we don’t know how much you have scared him that he has become so fearful.  First see whether the person you are in love with is also in love with you.
See, sometimes we think we love someone but we don’t even know how to properly express our love to another. It is very hard to express how much love you are feeling in your heart to someone else. How are you going the express? With words you will not be able to express. Something as deep as love does not come in the realm of expression. It is very difficult to express and sometimes when you try very hard and with a lot of effort to express this love people get scared. The other person should also know how to accept and receive your love isn’t it? That’s why it is important to know to how to express and how much of our love to express to each person, yeah!
Just imagine you have someone day and night calling you again and again and telling you, ‘I love you, I love you, I love you’, then what you will say, okay, yes, you love me, fine what next, right?!
So until we do not turn towards wisdom we are not able to properly express or receive love, for that also there is some eligibility. With wisdom one is so full of love that love exudes from every action. In life when we embrace the divinity then all our relationships blossom by themselves but if you try to fix your relationships one by one it does not work. From one side things will get better and from the other side it will get worse, so you be centered in yourself, be in devotion and everything else will be taken care of.

Q: Guruji, one of my aunty is suffering from cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy. Now because of chemotherapy her heart muscles have become very weak. In this state can she do long kriya?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
No, it is better she do pranayam and short kriya and see how she feels.

Q: Guruji, the concept of death is bothering me a lot. If death is inevitable then what is the point in living. Please kindly enlighten me on this.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
if a bud feels anywhere I have to wither away why should I blossom what will you think. A bud has to blossom and bring joy and fragrance in this world and then it withers away, right. If a tree thinks anyways a fruit has to become a seed so why should I bear fruit? So nature is such; as long as you are here in the planet see how much guidance you can give.


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One Truth Many Paths

Bangalore Ashram, 13 March 2011

Q:  Bible claims – ‘Jesus Christ is the only living God and Thou shall not worship any idol or God except me’.  If the almighty is one, then what should it be?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, these words are said in almost all scriptures. Lord Krishna also says-
‘Maam ekam sharanam vraja.’ you take refuge in me and nobody else. So Lord Krishna’s words are exactly the same what Jesus said- ‘I am only the way.’

There is only one God and not many. One God is worshipped in different languages, in different ways, in different forms, that’s all. When people see others worshipping another form of God, they say that there is another God but there is no another God, there is just only one God! And whether it is said in Gurumukhi (Panjabi), or in Pali or in Latin- it is the same thing. You may see even some of the names are the same. There may be difference of languages, expressions but the essence is the same. It should not be misinterpreted to believe that only if you are a Christian then you will go to heaven otherwise you will go to hell or that only if you are a Muslim you will go to heaven otherwise you will go to hell.  This sort of fundamentalism comes when you don’t have understanding of others’ ways of religion and wisdom.

All the fanatics and terrorists, they quote from the scriptures that theirs is the only way. One gentle man, whom I met in USA, said that heaven is like where only one religion followers go and rest all go to hell, then heaven must be a very lonely place and not so colorful! And that too they say – if you follow our denomination then you will go to heaven and not by following the other denominations of the same religion. This is true for almost all the religions - the concepts are wrongly understood and misinterpreted. In Vaishnava sect also they say- only worship Krishna and not Shiva, for if you worship Shiva you will not find  ‘mukti’ or  liberation.

Krishna has very clearly said- ‘sarva dharmaan  parityaja maam ekam sharanam vraja’, “you drop every thing and take refuge in me alone. I will relieve you of all the sins. You can’t relieve yourself from your sins. I will relieve you. Don’t worry, don’t be upset and don’t be sad, I will relieve you of all the sins”.

Same way Lord Buddha also said- all the devas are coming and protecting you, similar things are said in Jain religion also.

So you need to have a proper understanding otherwise misinterpretation happens. Know that there is only one God, one consciousness though spoken in different words, and wisdom given by different people in many different ways. Jesus said,  “People who came before me were robbers and thieves and I am here and now you look at me only.’ This was said because when Jesus was there, people were not listening and attending to him. They were thinking about the past only. That’s why he said- “Your mind has been robbed off by the people of past, now you listen only to what I am saying.”

Lord Krishna also said the same thing- “you are stuck in the past, you are crying and worrying for what is not worth doing. Be in the present moment!”

This wisdom has to be understood and grasped properly. Otherwise fanaticism will grow.
One sect of Christianity will say- this is the only way to go to heaven, and talk to some sect of Islam, they will  say- there is no other way, our is the only way! So why different people were saying- ‘this is the only way’- was with the purpose of bringing the focus in the students at that time.art of living TV
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Nirvana - A special Knowledge Session with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar


Bangalore Ashram

Dear Guruji, please enlighten us on what is Nirvana and better still give it to us right now!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You know our senses always look outward and the mind through the senses always captures the world around us and then whatever the senses capture is stored inside. You look at scenery and the scenery gets imprinted in your mind. You taste coffee and the coffee’s taste and flavor, fragrance, everything get imprinted in your consciousness. You taste apple pie or chocolate and that gets imprinted in your mind. Similarly with sound and touch; you touch a certain part of the body and that creates a sensation and the mind starts craving for those sensations. So these impressions in the mind are like a screen between you and the world outside.

Now the more the impression the more it is stifling for the life force or life energy, the prana. Just imagine you go and sit and watch a movie in the morning, afternoon, evening; do it for three days and see what happens. You brain looses balance, you go haywire. So many impressions, three movies a day and for three days, that’s it, you are ready to get into mental hospital. Then on the fourth day if you are asked to watch a movie you will say oh no, please I want to shut my eyes. The ability for senses to enjoy is limited but the hunger of the mind could be unlimited, you know. Bulimia is one such solid example, you stomach says please no but your heart says no I want more, so you stuff in more when there is no place and then you throw-out and then again eat. So it is an imbalance between the capacity/ability to enjoy and the desire to enjoy.

Nirvana is bringing the balance and having no desire. You know desire means a lack, desire indicate lack. If it is all there then why would you desire. You desire a car because it is not there right now with you. You desire something that which you don’t have. When your consciousness is fulfilled, it says I want nothing, I am satisfies, I am fulfilled that is Nirvana. Even hankering for enlightenment is an obstruction for enlightenment.

That is the story of Lord Buddha. Lord Buddha was in search of knowledge. He did everything that everybody said. Someone said you do this japa, he did that, someone else said you fast and he did that, he fasted and fasted because at that time there was another enlightened person called Mahavir who had attained enlightenment and who never ate food so the whole Jain tradition started with control on food where they ate every other day or didn’t eat because the propounder, the prophet of the Jain philosophy Mahavir ate very little food. In several days he ate just once because he was in bliss he didn’t need it.

So Buddha tried to copy this by also fasting in the hope that by fasting he may get enlightened but then he became so weak that he could not even walk. He barely pulled himself and sat under a tree and almost collapsed when someone came and brought him a bowl milk pudding and he drank that and broke all the vows of fasting and had a good sleep that night. The morning when he woke up there was nothing left, the last star was going down the horizon, the dawn was coming up and something happened within him. Suddenly he realized that’s it, there is nothing to look for now. He had been looking for joy here and there but now there is nothing to look for anywhere and he just sat that moment, that freedom dawned on him. That freedom is called Nirvana, freedom from everything.

See in life from childhood we keep hanging on to something or another, as a child you are hanging on to little toffees and toys and then you grow a little older it is toys and friends and then you grow a little older and you are hanging on to friends and a little older then children, grandchildren. Something or another kept occupying your mind, you got lost in outer relationships. My son, my daughter-in-law, my grand children, my this, my that and it took your whole life, your whole day, your whole time or you started caring for this or that, you are worried for the world so something or another occupied your mind so your mind could never reflect on who I am; what I am; what do I want; what is life.

It never had time, even all the religious prayers we did were for the welfare of something, to get something. You sat and prayed oh let my son be okay, my daughter be okay, let my life be comfortable, let me have money, let me have fame, let me have something or thanking god for giving you this or that. Our prayers are all geared for getting something or thanking for what we have already got. That means we are still latching on to objects, people and relationships.

Nirvana is that freedom, when mind is free it says I want nothing I have everything. I have everything this is all mine, anyway I have no need for anything. That state is called Nirvana and the same is called Samadhi, you know Nirvana or Moksha in Sanskrit. Moksha means freedom, liberation, mind free from all the hang-ups.

Suppose you are taken from here and put on Mars, another planet where you know nobody and you have nobody, how would you feel? Just imagine, you are taken and thrown in a distant planet. There is nobody around, what happens? You go blank, there is nothing! All our emotions are linked with people, objects, and concepts. When you get freedom from impressions of people, impressions of different events, emotions, objects and when your mind is free from all concepts and even the concept of Nirvana. Last obstruction is hankering for Nirvana, I want to be free, I want to be free. This wanting to be free can also be bondage. That state of nothingness that is Nirvana.

In simple terms it is said freedom from sorrow. Sorrow is because of the sense of mine. Someone looses their purse or their cell phone, you don’t get affected but when you loose your own cell phone or your purse, you get affected. What is the difference? There is a story, a father gave his home in the valley to his son and asked him to take care of the home and the father left for a long pilgrimage, trekking in the mountains. After a month or so when he came back he saw his house in the Kashmir valley burned down. The house was not there, it was burned down into ashes and the father became miserable and started crying, oh my god everything is gone, everything! By the time his son returned from the field he saw the father beating his chest and yelling, crying and howling. He said dad what happened?

What happened, see my life saving, everything is gone, everything is finished, my home is burned down and the son said, dad I already sold the house and I got double the money. A very good offer came so I immediately sold it. Someone came from another town and they were willing to pay double the money and they wanted the home so I sold the home dad.
Suddenly the tears immediately changed and a smile came on the father’s face. The situation was the same, it was his house. First he felt it was my house burned down now it was somebody else’s house  and then he said anyways it is an old house, it burned down maybe it was purposefully burned down, now they can build a nice new bungalow. He started talking the other way around. It is mine, because of that I get more pain.

Me is lost in mine, Nirvana is getting back to me from mine. Instead of mine, mine, you go back to me, who am I; and when Buddha went to find who am I? He found nothing. He said I could not find an atma, I could not find a soul. It is all nothing, there is no self, no soul, there is nothing but the one who is experiencing this nothing is me. I experience nothing, I experience Moksha. Who should the nirvana happen to, it’s me. It is not the ego me but the ‘me’ as a consciousness which is ease-ness which is everywhere. So the ‘me’ is not an individual person but ‘me’ is a field of consciousness. This is exactly what Vedanta says. Atma is not an entity it is a field. The being without impression is mukti, liberation.

To say it very simply, from mine to the ‘me’ that is lost in mine and because of that it is miserable. The seer is lost in the scenery. Everything is scenery including our body is scenery and the mind derives from the scenery to the seer. First it gets onto the body and becomes aware of the body, then behind the body there is the mind, behind the mind is the intellect and then the ego; pass one layer after another and go deep. It is like peeling of an onion, you know like onion has many sheets, Nirvana is like peeling the onion, not this, not that, going deep inside to the center core. What do you find in the center core of an onion, nothing!
Now what is the use of finding this, the mind asks. Freedom from sorrow, freedom from misery, FREEDOM!

Lord Buddha said only four things, the first things he said is, there is sorrow, don’t deny it. Life is miserable; married people are miserable, unmarried people are miserable. People with children are miserable and people without children are miserable. Life is sorrow, people who have fame are miserable and people who are hankering for fame are miserable. People who have power and position are miserable and those who do not have are also miserable. People who have money are more miserable than those who do not have. There is misery everywhere. You have friends and you are miserable or you don’t have friends and you are miserable. When you don’t have any friends at least you are miserable in a different manner, your miserable because you don’t have something but when you have friends and you consider your friends as the cause of your misery, this is even worse. So there is misery and there is a cause for misery. No one is miserable for no reason; there is a reason to be miserable. If you are sad you cannot be sad for no reason, your sadness is connected to something, so there is a cause for misery; the second principle of Lord Buddha. The third principle he said is, there is a way and it is possible to eliminate misery. It is possible because it is not your nature, like you cannot eliminate sweetness from sugar right because sweetness is the nature of sugar. You cannot eliminate heat from fire because nature of fire is heat. If it is your nature there is no way you can eliminate it but it is possible to eliminate misery and there is a method for it, a way for it. So what is it, the cause of misery is the seer got stuck in the scenery. You know if you see innocent villagers they go to a movie and if the hero is crying they cry; innocent people, they don’t realize it is only in the movie that the villain is getting victorious. People get so angry and they throw tomatoes and stones on the screen, at least in the past they used to do that. Even in the plays, people got so engrossed in it that they would throw things on the screen.  The seer got engrossed in the scenery; this is the cause of misery and it is possible for the seer to retrieve back. However miserable you are you cannot be miserable for 24 hours. You take some rest, you sleep and your mind gets back from the scenery. However beautiful or ugly, pleasurable or painful the seer cannot be with the scenery all the time. In sleep you retrieve and the mind comes back to the seer but consciously when the mind leaves the scenery and gets back to the seer and sees that this is all temporary, everything is changing, everything!

Including our own body everything is impermanent and when this becomes very clear that everything is impermanent, all relationships are impermanent, people are impermanent, our body is impermanent, our feelings are impermanent, suddenly the consciousness or the mind which was logging onto things becoming miserable turns back onto oneself. Me, I am… that return from mine to ‘me’, from the scenery to the seer is the method. From the scenery get back to the seer and reposing in the seer is Nirvana. You are reposing, content, and you find that the seer is all bliss, all love, all that we have been seeking outside in many things are all what the seer is.

It is said that Buddha didn’t utter a word for seven days after he had total contentment, the experience of Nirvana, he didn’t say a word. He just moved several steps up and down and it is said that the angels came and prayed to him to speak; if you don’t speak what will happen, you should speak. Then Buddha said people who know they know it and people who don’t know they don’t know it, by speaking it is not going to help. Then the angels persuaded him that there are some people who are on the border line and if you speak to them they will immediately catch it and it will help them. You should speak, it is then said that Buddha started speaking. Brahma the creator came and told him you should speak. You know there are a lot of stories to that effect.

The main idea is freedom from misery that is Nirvana; totally free from desires; Freedom from misery, freedom from pleasures and hankering for pleasure. You see it is the hankering for pleasure which causes misery and not knowing this is all ephemeral, everything is dissolving, disappearing, everything is changing causes sorrow. However nice something is, however ugly something is both will disappear into thin air. Knowing this you get back to the self.

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Excerpts from Guruji's talk on Holi

The 'Holi' festival is a very fun-filled and popular occasion in India. 
People play holi with Chandan (sandalwood powder) and colored water. 
This festival is celebrated around early March each year. 
People believe that the bright colors represent energy, life and joy. 
Huge bonfires are also lit in the evening as part of the celebration.


Life should be full of colors! And each color is meant to be seen and enjoyed separately, for if seen all mixed together, they will appear all black. All the
colors like red, yellow, green, etc. should exist side by side and simultaneously be enjoyed together.

Similarly, in life, different roles played by the same person should exist peacefully and distinctly inside him. For example, when a father continues to play his role of a 'father' in office, things are bound to go for a toss. In our country, a politician is sometimes a father first and a leader later!

In which ever situation we are in, we should play the corresponding role to the hilt and then life is bound to become colorful! This concept was called 'Varnashram' in ancient India. This meant - everyone, be it a doctor, teacher, father, whoever or whatever, is expected to play their roles with full enthusiasm. Mixing professions will always be counter productive. If a doctor wants to do business, he should run a business separately and secondary to his profession and not make business out of medicine. Keeping these 'containers' of the mind separate and distinct is the secret of a happy life and this is what HOLI teaches.


All
colors emanate from white, and when mixed again, they become black. When your mind is white and consciousness - pure, peaceful, happy and meditative, different colors and roles emerge. We get the strength to play various roles with full sincerity against the background. We have to dip into our consciousness time and again.  If we only look inwards and play around with colors outside of us, we are bound to find blackness all over again. Between roles we have to take deep rests, in order to play each role sincerely. Now, the biggest impediment to deep rest is desire. Desire means stress. Even petty desires cause high stress - the higher goals give relatively less botheration! Desire tortures the mind at times.

So what does one do?
The only way out is to focus attention on the desire and surrender it. This act of focusing awareness or sight on the desire or Kama is called 'kamakshi'. With awareness, desire loses its grip and surrender happens and then nectar flows out from within. The goddess, Kamakshi, holds a sugarcane stem in one hand and a flower in the other. The sugar-cane stem is so hard and has to be squeezed in order to obtain sweetness, while the flower is soft and collecting nectar from it is so easy. This truly represents life, which indeed has a little of both! It is far easier to obtain this bliss from the inside than it is to try to extract pleasure from the outside world - which needs a lot more effort.
 

"Lift Your Spirit with Joy of color"
 --- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar     
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Live simple, think high and do what you can for the society

March 13, 2011 - Bangalore Ashram

You know we are entering into 30 years of the ‘Art of Living’. On one hand it is a very sweet experience but on the other hand it is very bitter to see that today there is a big crisis in the world, in Japan. You must have heard about the news from the internet and the television. On one hand we are happy we are bringing more human values in the society, we are bringing people towards spirituality, making them realize the bigger picture of life as such, and on the other hand we have to see how we can contribute as individuals to lessen the burden that natural calamities are causing.

Today it is Japan, tomorrow it could be somewhere else, so it is not about just going and giving relief or equipment to people but to see how this world can be free from animosity, free from exploitation of nature. The whole Earth is one organism, so the Earth listens. Nature has life, so we need to honor nature and I think prayer, meditation will go a long way in bringing such a transformation in the society. So we all have to think from a bigger context, from a bigger perspective about life, about this universe, about our existence and this is what spirituality is all about. We need to bring more and more spiritual knowledge to people. We all can lessen the burden of consumerism of the planet; live simple, think high and do what you can for the society.
So this prayer meeting, the International Cultural Meet that we will be having in Germany will be geared to create such an awareness. Life is short, you never know when everything comes to an end, so as long as we are here let us make the best use of our time, our energy and our life and let us bring more smiles and happiness in life to other people and nature loves this attitude. It is because people have become so hard in their hearts and minds that nature also becomes very cruel and hard. See when attitude of people, their mind changes, their stress level comes down, nature will also respond to us in a similar fashion. Of course destruction is part of creation, things get created and then they get destroyed but man-made calamities are man’s interference in nature’s design which is a matter of big concern for everyone, isn’t it?

So I would like every country to think how you would like to come forward and bring spiritual knowledge, bring peace, solace and love in your own country. In every city, in every province we should think of how we can bring the ancient wisdom, ancient knowledge to people and make them come together and realize that we are all part of one global human family.

I hope to see you all in Berlin, plan to come to Berlin and bring all your friends, family and tell everyone else. Let everyone come and we will have a great meditation for world peace.

You know we just wrote a small slogan, ‘Just let the silence speak of a peace you seek, feel the love divine because every shining star tells you who we are in the grand design’.

Now if you have some questions, requests or botheration you can send them to me by email. 120 Satsang groups were all together today, mainly from Europe. Let us all plan what you would like to present in the 30th year celebration in Berlin and what we can together do in every province to bring more awareness about meditation, about living life from the core of our heart, from the depth of our heart.

© The Art of Living Foundation

Seeing the Divine in the most fearful as well as the most beautiful form, you experience Divinity everywhere

March 10, 2011, Bangalore Ashram

Q: Dear Guruji, Most of the religions have come into being when people started following some great person or soul. How did Hinduism come into being?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: 
Hinduism is not a religion; it is just a way of life. When thousands of seers, prophets were there and they all said something based on the Vedas   - The first scripture in the world. And then people had particular norms and they followed the way of life. Our past president of India, Dr. Radha Krishna was asked who a Hindu is. He described a Hindu as 'He who does not put any sort of label on oneself, of being Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Parsi or Hindu is a Hindu, because Hinduism is just a way of life'. I think it was Dr. Radha Krishna who defined it that way.  But I would say Hinduism means liberalism. Many ways to worship one truth, one reality. Hinduism has three characteristics. First is the freedom to worship the way you want, any form, any name. Second, the whole world is one family. And third, there is one divinity which expresses Himself in many forms. Only one God but many names and many forms and acknowledge this. God and its creations are not two different things. Like body and mind are not different – One is manifest and other is not manifest. You cannot see the mind, and body does not do anything without the mind. If mind is not there, body is a corpse. So, the spirit and the matter – Prakriti and Purusha - this is what the whole concept is.  The whole world is the body of the Divinity. The Divine is in the water, in the mountain, in trees, in rivers, in you, in me, and in everybody. God is not sitting somewhere up in the heaven, but God is the substratum in which everything exists. God is like the space in which all the other elements exist. So, everything is made up of God and is God.  This is the basic concept of Hinduism. And good and bad – right and wrong are only relative, they are not absolute. Liberalism – Liberalism means freedom. Freedom, equality are the main precepts of Hinduism.

Q: If love is not an emotion but your very existence then how come love disappear one day and appear again some other day?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See, the sun appears to have disappeared but in reality, it is not. It is just hiding or we have turned to another side. That’s it!

Q: Do thoughts happen by previous Karma or impressions in the mind?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Karma is nothing but impressions in the mind and brings about similar thoughts. Ya, it is very much possible.

Q: Who is Radha?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Radha is one who is going towards the source. Dhara is flow, and read other way it becomes Radha. So, one who goes towards the Self!

Q: Are soul and spirit same?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes.

Q: I get angry often and I don’t live knowledge up to the mark. But I feel I am very close to you. Is this an illusion or really it is so?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Of course! Don’t be too harsh on yourself. Be natural. Ok? Don’t drain yourself thinking, “Oh I don’t live up to the knowledge”. If it happens sometimes it is ok. Move on. Life moves on. So many things fall into the river – leaves, flowers and the river takes everything forward. Time is carrying life forward. So, move forward.  Actually what we are doing? We have turned our head backwards and are trying to moving forward.  All that you need to do is to look ahead. You have done mistakes in the past, accept it and move on.

Q: How do I come out of the victim consciousness, esp. when past memories refuse to leave?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The fact that you have realized this itself means you have come out of it. This is where the karma comes into the picture. Something happened in the past, it was to happen and so it happened. Accept the past and don’t brood over it, move on. Suppose you have committed some mistake, you have insulted somebody and that person holds on to it for so long, even after you have asked for forgiveness from them a million times, what do you do if that person still doesn’t forgive you?  Somebody has been wrong to you and you also have been wrong to someone. Don’t you seek forgiveness and move on? You don’t want someone to hold on to your mistakes for your whole life, isn't it? If the person forgives you, moves on, understands your position, how do you feel?  See the other person in the same way.

Q: If somebody is feeling guilty for the wrong done but may be because of ego He is not able to talk, what should one do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You being in victim consciousness and having rage and anger, does it help you any way to carry on your life? Absolutely not! Waste of time, waste of your potential and life. So we must forgive, forget and move on. You hurt someone in the past and somebody hurt you, that account is closed now. Finished! There was some problem that has to come, and that has come and our own foolishness made it happen. Now it is finished and move on. This is the line of thinking that you must adopt and that makes us feel better.

Q: How come people who harm Nature have sound sleep?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Ya! That is a big concern. Not giving back to nature but taking too much from nature. Yes. Not planting trees or not preserving the planted trees, not preserving water bodies, wasting food, using plastic....! There is so much awareness since last 5-7 years than before.

Q: A baby is born in USA and the baby’s grandmother thinks that her husband has reincarnated as her grandson. My question is, is it possible for a soul to travel from Bombay to USA?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, yes! Definitely! In no time, without ticket and visa, and no immigration issues.

Q: How does memory survive when the body is dropped?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Memory is not a physical phenomenon. Of course it is physical but it has its impression on the consciousness as well. You are speaking into the mike and those words have become electricity but again it becomes the sound again. How does it happen? That is the intelligence in the consciousness. Sound becoming electricity and then becoming the same sound! So the impressions are in the brain cells and it is carried on from life time to lifetime. That is why in the consciousness so many memories are there of the past. It is very obvious. So many things happening and some have been recorded as well.

Q: I am very naughty and do a lot of mischief and got badly scolded as well. I know you were also very naughty then how come you didn’t get any scolding anytime?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Oh! I also used to be scolded, and that adulthood is not even worth which hasn’t undergone scolding in the childhood!  

Q:  Why are some forms of Devi so ferocious like that of Mahakali?
 Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Love and fear are two shores of the same consciousness. If you can love such a frightening form of Divinity, then you can love anyone. There is no fear left! When the acceptance level has increased manifold to accept both beautiful and ugly as your own forms, you come up stronger and solid. So to present beauty and ugliness as forms of the Divine is the intelligence of the ancient seers.
Fear and even ego also is all of that one Divinty. From serene to frightening, birth to death - when someone is awakened to such a level of consciousness that He sees divinity in all the forms, then only all this can be seen as maya. When the mind is calmed then the divinity is here only.
People decorate even with a cactus. So, recognizing beauty in everything – Flowers as well, and thorns as well. If you can accept such frightening aspect of divinity, it completely removes fear from the mind and the body. One who has undergone such states, their acceptance has become so strong. Beautiful and ugly both are your nature. Most beautiful and most ugly forms – everything is a part of one truth.

Q: What is Maya?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Maya means all which changes, which can be measured. Everything that comes in purview of the five senses is changing – is Maya.

Q: Does Birth and rebirth exist? If yes, then what does it mean to be a human?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Why human birth? Human Life is there to know life.
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Women's day Special!

Bangalore March 8, 2011
 
Q: As a woman how can I fully liberate myself without being angry in the so called Man’s world?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Lessen your dependency. What do you call independence? First you think you are bound, and then you try to come out of that. You find freedom when you have a say over your emotions and when you are in wisdom.
 
Nobody is completely independent. Even nations are not completely independent. The word is interdependent. Among nations and communities we are interdependent. We live in an interdependent world. Man depends on Woman and Women have to depend on man.
 
So it is paradox – independence and interdependence. Try to be independent as much as you can understanding the need for interdependency.

Q: Can you please talk on the concept of Ardhnareeshwar and the symbolism behind Goddess Durga and Saraswati?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Everyone has both female and male genes. You are made up of both your father and mother – Half father and half mother. Divinity is both male and female. This was acknowledged long ago and represented as Ardhnareeshwar. God is not just man, or just woman. He is Ardhnareeshwar – Whole creation is both male and female.
 
Goddess Durga riding on Tiger: Durga is the mother, so sweet and compassionate, and She is riding on Tiger – most ferocious. Completely opposite! Opposite values are complementary and ancient people recognized this. Scientifically, the whole creation cannot sustain even if one animal goes missing. Each of these animals brings down to the earth a bio-energy corresponding to a particular wavelength. A tiger carries the vibration of Goddess Durga.

Goddess Saraswati is with so many hands! In one hand, she carriers a rosary – rosary represents meditation, in another she carries a book – intellectual knowledge and with the others she plays a musical instrument – veena. Only when intellectual knowledge, music and mediatation come together, then wisdom dawns.This complete knowledge was there even several million years ago. Saraswati sits on rock meaning once you have acquired wisdom, it is deeply grounded in you. Goddess Laxmi sits on lotus meaning money is flowing – anytime anything can happen. Wealth moves and it should move.

Q: Is it very important for a woman to marry? Is it not ok to let God be her care taker? Can she still be complete even if she is not a mother?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You can feel you are a mother to the whole world. Being a mother is in the very nature of a woman. That compassion, that love and caring will be there.

Whether she should marry or not, that is your decision. Most important is to be happy. That is my opinion. There are many who are single and happy, and there are many who are married and not happy, and vice versa! Choice is yours, blessings are mine.

Q: What can I do as a woman if even the elderly of the family have forgotten the tradition and traditional values?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Whatever you want to learn, you can do it on the internet. Such a glorious age – one laptop and that is it. Google it and anything on earth is available! Knowledge at tips of the finger. I used to say that knowledge will be at the tips of your fingers. I didn’t understand why was I saying it and neither did those who heard me. All the information, not knowledge is there.

Q: Will there ever be Men’s day?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
(Smilingly) For that too, you would have to pray to the Devi(mother Divine). Even demons ask for boons from Her, and angels as well. Once somebody was telling this joke: Once a man was asked who the owner of the house is, and the man replied saying he would ask his wife!

Q: What are the most important 8 traits that a human should have to achieve any kind of goal?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Why to fix it to number 8?  You want me to list the 8 or stretch up to 8? Let us think.
 
First is fixing the goal itself. The mind is so wavering – so getting the goal fixed is most important. Then you have to fix the time frame.  Then weighing the consequences - adverse and favorable and then your ability to adapt to changes. Ability to adopt the means to achieve the goals is important.

How many done? (Four) Rest you can look into.

Q: Is there a different path for men and women?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
No! Spirituality is the same for men and women.  At some time in history, men put certain bans so that women should not rise in power. But there are certain norms of society and one should adhere to that.

Q: What happens between the time of death and next birth?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
What happens between the time when you are awake and asleep? Same thing happens – you are dormant. When the consciousness is back, when the time comes, it will come back.

Q: The women in our epics seem to have done so many extraordinary feats, it is difficult to believe they are true!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Let us take gandhari for eg, she produced a 100 children from pots.Test tube babies is exactly what she created. One embryo and 100 pots! We did know what the science behind is! Unless proven otherwise it is a fact. Like nobody believed that dinosaurs existed but you have the proof. Jatayu, a dinosaur bird existed and carried Sita. There are facts that Lord Krishna existed. The way it is presented is usually a little mixture of imagination and facts. Like a poem is facts and imagination mixed. If you read the biography of Abdul Kalam, Jawahar lal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, you will find they add things.

Q: What should I do to be in the present moment more effectively?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You are planning now what to do in the future to be in the present moment! Got it?

Q: Can you please talk about the common things in Spirituality and Communism?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, communism says equal opportunity for everyone. Spirituality says Divine is in every heart and so all are unique. That way both talk of the same thing.

You can have the same feeling but the expression will have to be different. You express love differently towards the elderly and with kids you are different. Love is same but the way you express it is different.
 
(Conclusion of a discussion with the audience: Ganges is a river that was made by ancient people – http://www.bharathgyan.com/ has stories with some facts of Bhagirath and how it was made by Seers and Saints and how Mansarover was directed from West, else the entire plane would have been dried.)

Q: Can you talk about how one should be with mentally retarded people?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
They have come here to take service. Simply serve them

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Celebrating the peace within is Shivaratri

Today is Maha Shivaratri and the whole Art of Living Webteam wishes you all a very Happy Shivaratri:)  

Significance of Shivaratri

Shivarathri means ‘the night of Shiva’ and is observed in honour of Lord Shiva (The meditative aspect of the Universe).  According to the legend from Shivapurana, when Shiva was asked by Parvathi what pleases him most, He is supposed to have replied thus: ‘The 14th night of the new moon, in the dark fortnight during the month of phalgun, is my most favorite day. It is known as Shivarathri'.

Shiva is the meditative aspect of the entire Universe. Shiva pervades the entire Universe. He is in every atom of the Universe. He has no form but is in every form, so full of compassion. Ling means symbol (chinha in Hindi) that is how it’s come to be used as in Striling, Pulling, (female and male gender) Chinha means that through which you can recognize the whole consciousness represented in the Ling.  In Tamil there is a saying “Anbe Shivan, Shivan Anbe” means Shiva is love and love is Shiva, the soul of the creation called Isha or Shiva.
 
The devotees, in order to bring balance in the rajas (The primordial guna which brings forth activity) and Tamas(The primordial guna which brings forth inertia), and to uplift sattva (The primordial guna which gets the tasks accomplished), observe fast on this day. They keep awake at night and Shiva Lingam is worshipped throughout the night by washing it every three hours with milk, curd, honey, rose water, etc. whilst the chanting of Om Namah Shivaya continues. Bael leaves considered sacred to Lord Shiva are offered.  Hymns in praise of Lord Shiva are sung.  The traditional ritual is done to bring auspicious energy on the Earth and enriches the space within. However, the devotion plays the utmost role. The Om Namah Chanting is done to harmonize the five elements in the environment.


Shiva Consciousness in a little detail: The whole creation is the dance of Shiva; whole creation is the dance of consciousness, one consciousness, and one seed.  The one seed, one consciousness danced and manifested into a million species in the world.  So this infinite creation is the dance of Shiva - Shiva tandav the whole world is a place of Shiva.

(Sri Sri has once spoken about the mind behind this beautiful idol - We will share in a different post)
The consciousness which is bliss, innocence, omnipresent and the bestower of dispassion is Shiva. The whole world is moving in an auspicious rhythm of innocence and intelligence, that is Shiva – the permanent and eternal source of energy, the eternal state of Being, the one and only one.

Like sponge in water, rasagulla in syrup, when mind and bodies are in Shiva tatva, small wishes get fulfilled effortlessly, one should keep big wishes.
Someone once asked why Shivratri (night of Shiva) and not Shiva din (day of Shiva),
Ratri means that which gives rest, takes you into its lap and comfort.  Night is always comforting, all activities have stopped, everything is quiet, peaceful, even the crows are not crowing, environment becomes quiet, body gets tired and goes to sleep. Shivaratri is a rest which is so deep! When the mind, intellect and ego rests in the Divine that is the real rest.
Ratri has a different meaning actually – that which gives relief from the three types of problems is Ratri.  What are the three things? Shanti, Shanti, Shanti: Peace to the body, to the mind and to the soul - adhyatmik, adhibhoutik and adidaivik.  Three types of peace are needed; one is material peace, if there is disturbance around you, you cannot sit and stay peaceful. You need peace in your environment, and you need peace in the body and mind. Third thing is peace in the soul.  You may have peace in the atmosphere, you may enjoy health in the body, to an extent peace in the mind, but if the soul is restless, nothing can comfort.  So that peace is also essential. Only in the presence of all the three types of peace can there be complete peace.  Without one, the other is incomplete.
Shivaratri is transcendental, divine consciousness which brings solace to all layers of
consciousness.  Resting in the Shiva tatva is Shivaratri. 

Watch LIVE webcast on Maha Shivaratri Celebration from Jaipur (India) 
from 6.30 pm (IST) / 2.00pm (GMT)

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