Celebration and the Christmas Tree

Human life is a combination of body (matter) and spirit (vibration). Isn’t it?

Joy is forgetting that you are matter and becoming an intense vibration.

Carnal instincts also make you feel intense vibrations momentarily, and that’s how they give a glimpse of joy. But the thing is, this joy is short-lived and it makes you dense later on.

Pleasure that comes from Satsang is of a higher nature. Mantras and singing create vibrations in the spirit. That’s why when you sing, the ecstasy stays for a long time.

Pleasure from the gross is short-lived, tiring and binding. Pleasure in the subtle is long lasting, energizing, refreshing, and freeing.

When you know you are electricity (vibration/energy), then craving, greed, lust, and anger disappear. Then you become a true celebration.

Message for Christmas:

You are the Christmas tree that points upwards with branches on all sides. At the time of year when other trees are barren, you are green with many gifts to offer.

You bear gifts and lights — not for yourself, but for others. Remember that all the gifts you are carrying in your life are for others. Anyone who comes to you, offer them your gifts.

There were lots of presents around Sri Sri’s couch. John asked, “Are you going to open the gifts?” Sri Sri winked, pointed at the people and replied, “I am always opening the gifts.”

Your life is a gift. And you have come to unwrap this gift. In the process of unwrapping, remember to also save the wrapping papers. Your whole environment, situations, circumstances, and body are the wrapping papers.

Often when we unwrap, we tear the wrapping papers. At times we are in such a hurry that we even destroy the gifts. With patience and endurance, open your gifts – and save the wrappers!

Secret of the Puranas

Firstly, people should know about symbols. It is said that there are millions of Gods and Goddesses in India. In the Indian culture, we talk of families of Gods. A Goddess is depicted as riding a tiger, Gods have children and there are disputes amongst Gods and Goddesses. For an argumentative mind such depictions are difficult to accept.

God is Sat Chit Ananda (Truth, Consciousness and Bliss).

He has five karmas (actions) – Srishti (Creation), Sthiti (Preservation), Samhara (Destruction), Anugraha (Blessing) and Tirodhana (Veiling).

He is everywhere yet not visible - just like air is everywhere but we feel it only when the fan is switched on or when the wind blows.

Rishis (sages) say that there are many levels of creation. Gold is one but we can make so many different things out of it. With wheat, you can make bread, sweets, puris as well as chapatti. Just like that, One Divinity displays itself in many names and forms, as Brahma (Creator), Vishnu (Operator) and Mahesh (Destroyer). When a single ray of sunlight falls on a drop of water, we see all the seven colors of a rainbow!
Before Creation, the Operator was there. Vishnu was present before Brahma. For instance, grass is present in creation and then the goat comes, a mother develops milk before she gives birth otherwise the creation won’t sustain! The Polar bear sleeps for six months and develops hunger only after the grass has sprung up.
Vishnu is depicted as resting in a lying down posture. The Master of the Creation is resting since the task of maintenance is so easy for him. This does not mean that man can afford to sleep all the time. Vishnu’s sleep is different- he is sleeping on a bed of a snake, which is symbolic of heightened awareness. When one rests in awareness it is called Yog Nidra (yogic sleep) or Samadhi (Meditation)
In a human body, the navel is the center of gravity. Brahma, the Creator, emerges from a lotus rising from Vishnu’s navel.

It was only when Newton and Einstein rested that they could make new inventions. Newton rested under a tree and he received the knowledge of gravity as an apple fell on his head. When Archimedes was in the bathtub, he got the idea that he was looking for since a long time. India knew about the Gurutvakarshan shakti (gravitational force) thousands of years before Newton discovered it.

The knowledge that the whole world is round was present in the ancient Khagoal Vigyan (orbital sciences including rotation, revolution). Our ancestors had this knowledge. That’s why they kept the Sun in the middle. In the most ancient temples, which are around 2,000 years old, you will find that the Sun God is in the middle looking towards the East and all the other planets are kept around Him. Nowadays, it is taught that Galileo discovered that the earth is round. That was just a few hundred years ago but our ancestors knew about this from thousands of years.

Today, the scientists say that in creative people the solar plexus inside the navel is bigger than usual. When the navel blossoms one becomes creative. In ancient India, they represented this as Brahma being born through Vishnu’s navel. Brahma, the Creator has four faces. This shows that he gains knowledge from all the four directions.

From just one anu (atom) different organs of the human body - nails, hair, ears etc are formed and even the texture of skin is different throughout. So that One has the intention and capability to be varied. Similarly, in one God many God and Goddesses can be formed. One human DNA has all the living beings in it right from a lizard to an elephant. This is the power in one chromosome. This itself is God. The whole creation is filled with God.

The Sanatana Dharma is very close to the modern science. When you listen to great scientists you feel as if you are listening to Vedanta. Even if one animal is missing from this universe, the balance of the creation will be disrupted. So we need all the beings. You cannot see the Devi Shakti (energy) but this devi shakti rides a tiger as its vehicle. The peacock has the vibrations of Kartikey Swami, who is depicted as having a peacock as His vehicle. Yet that does not mean that to worship Kartikey Swami, we need to get hold of a peacock. God is present in every atom of the creation, not just the outside world but within our body as well. That is why before worshipping, we start with invoking the energies within our own body.

Devo Bhuvata, Devo Bhuje – Be immersed in God and worship Him. The weapons in the Gods’ hands have a deeper meaning. It is very easy to simply say that the ancient man was a coward so he placed all the weapons in Gods’ hands. Such an interpretation is the imagination of a fearful man. This is wrong. Do some research, go deep in knowledge, then you will feel amazed at the minds of the people who created the Puranas. God-Goddesses are within us, are our very own so they showed human flaws of anger, jealousy etc in them as well so that you don’t feel guilty when such emotions arise in you.

The purpose of the Puranas was to bring you closer to God. Thus stories were created for the purpose of joy, entertainment, knowledge and science. In Hindi the word ‘Purana’ means old whereas in Sanskrit, it means completely new, modern.

Softness And Forcefulness

Certain types of people are soft and their softness comes out of lack of courage and forcefulness. There is yet another type of softness in people and this softness comes out of maturity, magnanimity, and the knowledge of the Self.

The people who are soft out of lack of courage suffer a lot. And sometime or other they become volatile.

Similarly there are two types of forcefulness in people: aggression or assertiveness. Some people are forceful in an aggressive manner out of weakness, lack of strength, or out of fear. Others are forceful out of care and love, out of compassion.

So look into yourself and become aware of what type of softness and what type of forcefulness you have.

Do You Have To Be Thankful And Feel Obliged?

When you are on a spiritual path, you are not thankful or obliged to anybody. In the Gita, Krishna says, "He is dear to Me who neither goes on thanking people nor hates anyone (Na abhinandati na dveshthi)." Thanking and feeling obliged indicates that you believe in some one else's existence rather than in the Divine who is ruling everything. When you feel obliged, then you are not honoring the principles of karma or the divine plan.

Appreciate people for what they are, do not thank them for what they do. Otherwise your thankfulness is centered around ego. You are grateful, but not for an act. You are grateful for what is. As every individual is nothing but a puppet of the ONE, thanking and being obliged is simply an exhibition of ignorance. Everything is ruled, controlled and managed by one Divinity, that consciousness has to shine forth in every act of yours; you do not have to make a mood of it.

Inside Out

Often people say, "Be the same inside as out". I ask you, how is this possible?

Inside you are a vast ocean, infinite sky; what you can show outside is only a tiny bit of it. Outside you are finite, just a small limited form, a normal stupid person!

All that you are, the love, the beauty, the compassion, the Divinity, doesn't show up fully. What shows up is the crust of behaviors. Ask yourself, "Are you really your behaviors? Are you just your behavioral patterns"? No.. Don't mistake this crust for your inside.

Neither take the limited body/mind complex as your inside nor show your Infinite Lordship outside, for Divinity is not easily understood. Let there be some mystery.

DON'T BE THE SAME INSIDE AND OUT!!

Conflict And Innocence

Fights can only happen among equals. When you fight with someone, you make them equal. But in reality there is no one at par with you. When you keep people either above or below you, then there is no fight. When they are above you, you respect them. When they are below you, you love them and you feel compassionate. Either submission or compassion can take you out of a fight in no time. This is one way to look at it when you are tired of fighting. When you are well rested, just fight and have fun.

The same is true of the mind. As long as the mind thinks it is equal to the senses, there is conflict. When it realizes that it is bigger than the senses, there is no conflict. And when the mind is smaller than the senses, like in animals, there is no conflict. When the mind is caught up in the senses, there is constant conflict. When it transcends the senses, it comes back to its true nature, which is innocence - in no sense.