Longing is the sign of the ripening of consciousness

22 2012 May

Bangalore, India

Q: Dear Guruji, in the Yogasara Upanishad you have said that the Divine is impersonal. Guru is both, personal and Divine. Can you tell us more about this? How is God impersonal? Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, it is both. Like you are form yet you are formless. Your body has a form but does your mind have a form? No. Similarly this manifests universe is a form of God and the unmanifest consciousness, space, is also a formless form. Q: Guruji, you have said in the Upanishads that only when the soul chooses to reveal itself does one get enlightened. So where does longing come in the whole picture. Something in me longs to know itself but will not reveal itself. Why? Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, you know when the fruit ripens its color also changes. An apple when it becomes ripe its color changes. Like papaya, it becomes yellow color when it is ripe. Like that longing is the sign of the ripening of consciousness. Q: Guruji the soul is one, then what carries individual karma and takes it from one body to another? Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, there are two levels of atma, one is Sarvatma and the other is Jivatma. Like inside a balloon also there is air but the air is encapsulated, right? That is Jiva. So the impressions form the Jiva, but the air is the same that is outside or inside the balloon. Read more on What Sri Sri Said Today