Little Buddha in Everybody


There is a little Buddha in everybody, and that Buddha is in the form of Siddhartha.
Do you know who Siddhartha is? Before Buddha became Buddha he was Siddhartha. He was wandering, lost. He had tried everything but he couldn’t find; but he had that spirit of enquiry.
He said, ‘The world is all sorrow and I want to get rid of sorrow.’ Siddhartha understood everything is sorrow, but he did not know the way.
So everybody has a little Buddha inside of them, only he has to wake up.
Buddha tried this and that and that and this. He ran from pillar to post, he did technique after technique after technique, but nothing worked. Because while doing all this, his mind was outward, and when he got sick and tired of everything and dropped everything, that moment he got enlightened. This is the story as it goes.
So, when he got tired of trying hard and trying hard and trying hard, then he said, ‘Okay, let me just relax. I give up.’ So he gave up and sat, and the mind turned inward and then he became Buddha.
So turn the mind inward.
Unfortunately Buddha never got a Guru. He couldn’t get a Guru at that time. But Adi Shankaracharaya had a Guru. So he met the Guru and the path became much easier, smoother. He could just sit and go into Samadhi. But for Buddha to go into Samadhi and meditation was not possible. It was hard for him. So he fasted. Somebody told him to fast and he fasted, because he was a King from the royal family and he did not know about surrender, or about devotion, or about letting go. Doing, doing and doing, that is what he heard, and what he knew as he was trained. So the big ego, and that big doing, made him run around for several years.
Finally he gave up and then he got enlightened; that is how the story goes.
So that little mind inside of you doesn’t want to let go and to just give up, it goes on the trip of I want to do, and I want to do, and I want to do. I will achieve this and I will achieve that.
When you see, what is there to achieve? Then everything drops, you surrender, you let go and meditation happens. You know, it is like getting onto an Ayurvedic massage table. You just get onto the table and that is it, you don’t do anything. Everything is done for you; so even meditation will be done for you. You just sit and meditation will happen.

The Truth about Depression


Do you know, depression is the biggest challenge for The World Health Organization (WHO) and possibly the world, in the next 5 years?
Nearly 40% of the school teachers in Europe are depressed, and if teachers are depressed, what are they passing on to the kids? It is scary, right; they can only pass on what they have! When we were children, our teachers were so enthusiastic; they pumped enthusiasm in to the kids. They gave us ideas, ideals, more values, and they showed us how to excel in our field. Today when you see teachers who are supposed to be the guiding light of society being depressed, it is very depressing. We cannot feed half the population with prosaic. After a while even that stops working. Here is where you have to teach them life skills, the skill to handle their mind and their negative emotions. And the secret is right under their nose. Using their own breath, they can calm the mind and change how they feel. 
You do not have to be a victim of your feelings; you can be the master of your feelings. It is just a matter of education. Yoga is one way; of course, many think yoga is just doing a few exercises, standing on the shoulders or standing on the head, it is not so. Yoga is the rhythm of the breath, and the sensation in the body, and how you feel about yourself. All this comes under the purview of yoga, meditation, life skills and living well programs, and this can help people.
A few centuries ago, not everyone used toothpaste. Dental hygiene was not a common thing. Today, in every corner of the world, people brush their teeth first thing in the morning and the last thing in the night. Similarly, I would say mental hygiene is essential. Learning how to be in the present, keeping your mind fresh and free of all the impressions of the past, anger, jealousy, greed, and seeing life from a broader perspective.
Turn back and see, all the events - pleasant and unpleasant are all gone; there are only traces of memories left in our brain, that’s all. If you to have an awakened mind or there is wakefulness in the mind, it will make a lot of difference.

God is the Strongest Currency

God is the strongest currency. If you have God with you, you have everything else.
Some people think money is God, money is everything for them. We are made up of both - matter and spirit. While our body requires amino acid, carbohydrates, proteins and all that; our consciousness, our mind is made up of happiness, love, caring, awareness, intelligence etc. You cannot ask, do you want this or that, you need both, right? When you watch TV, do you see or hear first? It has to be simultaneous. Similarly, you need some wealth to live in this world, to maintain yourself in the world, but money is not everything. If you have ideals, goals, you will see that money comes by itself -- that is pursuing God. Suppose you want to do some big service activity, when you move in that direction, you will find that you get help from every corner. Help will come from the most unexpected corners.

Benefits of having a Guru

Every human being comes to this planet with subconscious, unconscious and conscious mind. As the conscious mind starts becoming more active, learning begins. The presence of a Guru is essential for any learning to happen. The Guru’s presence continues throughout the life because the learning continues throughout the life.
What are the benefits of having the Guru in life?  When you consciously acknowledge the Guru, that is when you learn more. You also might have experienced, that in life sometimes you feel stuck and the Guru’s presence moves you through, so that you don’t get stuck. Events, situations, concepts can all make one feel stuck. Firstly, one does not even know that one is stuck. Guru’s presence makes you realize that you are stuck, and helps you move.
First step in learning is knowledge. Of all the different types of knowledge that you learn, from whomsoever you may learn, that “who” is part of the Guru. Mother is the first Guru. From the mother you learn first level of learning – alphabets or this is a cat, this is a banana etc. 
This also applies to the various other disciplines that we learn.
Moving from where we are stuck to having the flow in life towards its ultimate goal is the second benefit of having a Guru.
Third benefit of having a GURU is when you have a desire for something. In order to get it you need guidance. You need someone to give you what you want. But then there is no end to desires and sometimes you are not even sure of your own desire. That is where the Guru comes into play. The Guru principle or Guru-tattva will give you that which is good for you and not everything that you want.
The fourth benefit is liberation or inner freedom.  Guru does not let you remain in an illusory world but helps you wake up and look at what is the ultimate reality of the universe. That is freedom or liberation.
Knowledge, movement, achievement and freedom : these are the 4 aspects that one gains by having a Guru.
Self-effort is only in the conscious mind. For the subconscious mind you cannot put an effort. You need someone else or some other higher power to influence that. In fact to turn the unconscious mind into the super-conscious mind one definitely needs help and therefore nature has provided tradition of masters. Time and again the human society has been guided by holding hands towards oneself, towards the light that one is. In fact if you see from the context of mind and intellect, or emotion and intellect they go in completely opposite direction. 
Moon is associated with the mind. Someone who goes crazy is called a lunatic. Moon is associated with feelings, emotions, craziness whereas Guru is associated with wisdom, knowledge and rational thinking. Guru Purnima is the strange combination of the rational and emotional. Guru stands for rationality or wisdom and moon stands for emotions. This combination is an oxymoron – fullness of the emptiness or emptiness of the fullness. Life has place for both and the Guru does both. Guru brings the fullness in emotions or strength in the emotions and sharpness in the intellect.
Rational thinking appears to be in opposition to emotional ecstasy or emotional elevation but with spiritual wisdom it doesn’t. It unites them very well. In fact it brings us to the first point in Art of Living – Opposite values are complimentary. It makes you realize that you can be sensitive and sensible in life. This is the skill and the art in life. It’s easy to be sensitive and it’s easy to be sensible. There are some who are very sensible but not sensitive and there are some who are very sensitive but not sensible. That wisdom which brings the balance in life is the Guru principle.
Everyone is a student and everyone is a teacher as well. By default you are teaching something. Whether you want to or not, whether you acknowledge it or not, either by showing people what you should do or by showing what you should not do. Someone learns from you even though you may not deliberately want to teach. From just the way you walk your life, someone can learn from you.
The smallness in human psyche or human attitude and tendency can only be gotten rid of through wisdom. Wisdom comes from Guru and so is the celebration of Guru Purnima. The wisdom does not find its fulfillment unless and until there is gratitude and recognition of progress, achievement, freedom and wisdom in life. It is there, but it needs recognition. It is called Pratyabhijna in Sanskrit.
The principle by which the internet is working today was there even hundred of years ago, but no one recognized it. They did not know how cellphone could work without wires. Science is a recognition of that which is and spirituality is also a recognition of that which is. So they go together very well. That’s why fulfillment in life comes when you have both science and spirituality. Contentment comes when knowledge of who am I (the subjective knowledge and the knowledge of what-is-this-all-about) is present. In both realms Guru is essential. Leading from darkness to light, from known to unknown, the manifest appearance to the un-manifest reality, the journey can only happen with a Guru.
From darkness to light, from the seen world around us to the unseen world within us, from the conscious mind to the super-conscious mind, the journey is possible only with a Guru and Guru’s energy or grace.
So everyone is playing the role of The Guru in a small way or big way in some field or the other. When it comes to the totality or the ultimate then you say Jai Gurudev. That is very sacred and so Guru Purnima is one of the sacred moments where one feels how blessed one is, how enlightened one is and how fortunate one is. It is a moment where we realize what a big blessing or possibility has been opened up for us on this planet.
Two things that manifests in Guru’s presence – Emotional fullness and Intellectual sharpness.

Your world is only in your head


This world originates in your mind. If you are unhappy or have had an unpleasant life, it is due to the world in your mind. Only you have created it, and only you can drop it.

When you direct your attention to your energy centres, the world that you have created disappears, the world gets annihilated. The solution is in your own body!

There are different types of energy centers in your body. Bring your attention to these centers, observe them and the world of worries and thoughts will disappear! There will be Peace!

The whole world is a Shakti Chakra, an energy center. This body is energy. Every atom in the body is energy. All elements are energy. The energy cycle keeps going on. After the body dies, everything
is recycled, including the breath, mind, and the soul!

We apply sacred ash as a symbol of Shiva, indicating that this skin or body will return to ash.

Let us not search for permanence in impermanent objects.
You have created this world and only you can come out of it!

Angels, Shiva and Krishna


Angels are a part of the Big Self. The infinity has diverse qualities, and specific qualities assume names. They are called Angels. 

Angels are nothing but a ray of your Big Self. They are there to serve you when you are centered. Like roots and stems and leaves come out of a seed when it is sprouted, all the Angels in your life manifest when you are centered. Angels rejoice in your company, but you have nothing to gain from them. They only come around those who have nothing to gain from them. Angels are like your extended arms. 

Like all the colors are present in the white sunlight, all the Angels are present in your higher self. Bliss is their breath, dispassion their abode. The consciousness which is bliss, innocence, omnipresent, and the bestower of dispassion is Shiva. Krishna is the outer manifestation of Shiva. And Shiva is the inner silence of Krishna.

You manage time. Time doesn't manage you.


Don't let the time manage you. First of all, you must see to it that you go with the feeling that you have time. When you put this thought in your mind that you don’t have time, then that itself becomes a block.
Everybody has only 24 hours, whether it is the Prime Minister or a clerk working in the bank. You have to hold on to this aphorism 'I can do it' because the pressure of time is more when you do not feel confident of accomplishing your work. Even when it appears to be impossible, even then you should have confidence; probably give miracles a chance. This very confidence in yourself that 'I will be able to manage' will take you through. And once something sets into your routine, then you have no problem.
Everyone takes out time to brush their teeth. This is dental hygiene, isn't it? However busy you are, you don’t say, "I have to rush to the office" and jump out of your bed, wear your shoes and run. No! You take the time to brush your teeth, that’s dental hygiene. Similarly, I would say, take a few minutes of mental hygiene (meditation). When it fits into your routine, you’ll not find it as something you have to do extra. For 10-20 minutes, relax and do some yoga asanas, and then you go with the fresh mind.

How To Be Fully In The Present Moment


If there no peace, there is no prosperity, then I don’t think you will have any job to do (laughter). Accountancy has no job if there is no prosperity, and the basis of prosperity is peace. Actually, this is a Catch 22 situation -- if there is prosperity there is peace, and if there is peace there is prosperity. It’s sort of the chicken and egg situation. Peace is such an ingredient in everyone’s life, without which no creativity is possible, no intuition is possible, and without which you don’t have energy either. So how do we find inner peace? The journey begins here!
Do we ever take out a little time to reflect on ourselves? As I am speaking, we are all speaking together. I am not speaking alone. Each one of us is having a dialogue with our self. Are we aware of the dialogue that is going on within us? As I am saying something, you are saying 'Yes' or 'No', am I right? You have to say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. So you are also talking. That aspect of our mind or consciousness which agrees or disagrees is our intellect, and it is very important that we throw some light on our own intellect. Now, how do we do this? Self reflection! Reflecting on our self removes a lot of confusion and cobwebs from the mind.
Whether one agrees or not is a different question, but do we know that we are agreeing or disagreeing? Are we conscious of our agreement and our disagreement? This is vital for the development of our intellect – the sharpness of the intellect, clarity and perception. Are we all 100% here? Most of the time our memories haunt us. As we are listening to a talk, 101 things that we are concerned about plays in the background. Psychologist say that when you are listening to someone speaking for about 10 minutes, you’ve mentally gone out for a tea or coffee break three times in those 10 minutes! So, presence of mind is inversely proportional to the impressions in the mind – lesser the impressions in the mind, more the presence.
Now, in this stimulant world, when we are bombarded with so much stimulation, is it possible to have good presence of mind? I would say – yes, we can! The human mind is capable of handling both.
Are we here? We have to come back. We take little trips here and there, every now and then. Coming back to the moment brings that alertness.
Usually, our mind is very sharp and alert in four situations :
1. When there is fear. Sometimes fear becomes a motivating factor. When there is fear, mind does not go anywhere, it is 100% in the present.
2. When there is 'wow' factor, a wonderment, then the mind does not go anywhere.
3. When is an opportunity; it could be a big business opportunity, then you are right there. Greed can also put our mind in the present moment. Then there is love and commitment for whatever mission you have taken – that can keep you right there on the spot.
4. When you are doing yoga, breathing exercises and meditation, then you are in the present moment. And this presence of mind brings clarity in our perception and makes our expression satisfactory.
When our expression is not satisfactory, we find that what we convey is not really what we want to convey. A lot of people find it very difficult to convey what they feel. Usually people end us saying, "Nobody understands me, I am misunderstood". Haven’t you heard this many times? This is due to lack in our expression. So, attending to that which is the central point, the core of our existence, around which our professional and personal life is revolving, can bring these abilities to us which we may not have or we may aspire to have.
We can do multiple things at the same time – be centered, happy and not allow anyone to steal our smile. So, I have come up with number of small techniques, some ancient and some modern and that has seemed to have helped people.

Seeing the Divine in the Form and Formless


Divinity is unmanifest, but man has an innate desire to perceive the divine in the manifest creation around him. He creates idols, breathes faith into it and requests divinity to be present in that idol for a while, so that he can worship, express his love and play with it. At the end of his worship he requests divinity to go back into his heart from where divinity manifested. This is in all puja practices.
They are not actually worshipping the idols but worshipping the unmanifest divinity which has all the divine qualities. So, the idol worshippers of the East are not the same as the ones in the Middle East as described in the Bible, because they are not just worshipping different gods and different idols, they are worshipping the ONE divinity in many different forms.
Paganism, Satan and animal worship, without the knowledge of the one divinity is very different from seeing the divine in every form of the manifest universe. In the eastern tradition, gods and goddesses are part of the one divinity like the different colors of white sunlight, whereas in the Greek tradition, gods and goddesses are in themselves different entities.
Worshipping Satan and different entities is totally different from worshipping divinity in its various forms. Every form belongs to the divine. When you adore the form, you are adoring the divine behind the form. With this knowledge, the very act of worship, which is more an inner phenomenon, assumes a more colorful and vibrant expression, indicating that both the form and the formless are all divine.

Instrument of the Divine


When you are neither clear nor confused, only then can you be a perfect instrument of the Divine! How would an instrument know what is going to be, and when? How can an instrument be confused, and how can an instrument be clear!
This state is called Nimit - just being an instrument of the Divine. Being very clear means not opening to new possibilities and can lead to limitations. Unlimited possibilities are open to one who is not clear and not confused. Your mind swings from clarity to confusion and confusion to clarity but the state in which there is no doership nor inertia is the most creative and progressive state.
Confusion arises when new information flows in and clarity is lost. Then confusion again seeks clarity. Clarity constricts the possibility of new information. A confused consciousness seeks clarity and every confusion is breaking away from clarity. If there is only confusion, there is frustration. If there is only clarity, there is rigidity. After giving contradictory knowledge, Krishna tells Arjuna, "Just be a Nimit!" And to be an instrument, the prerequisite is to be madly in love! That's why in love there is neither confusion nor clarity; or there is both - confusion and clarity! If you ask me, if truth is more important than love, I'd say, "I'm confused"!