Be happy now!

Once there was a congregation of fish, who got together to discuss who among them had seen the ocean. None of them could say they had actually seen the ocean. Then one fish said, ‘‘I think my great grandfather had seen the ocean!’’ A second fish said, ‘‘Yes, yes, I have also heard about this.’’ A third fish said, ‘‘Yes, certainly, his great grandfather had seen the ocean.’’

So, they built a huge temple and made a statue of the great grandfather of that particular fish, saying, “He had seen the ocean. He had been connected with the ocean.’’ In life, our search for happiness is like that. 

You can experience happiness at three levels. One is the happiness in society, in the environment. How can you bring about happy situations? How would you feel in a place where everybody around you thinks only about himself or herself ? Would you like to be in such a group where there is no sharing, no sense of belongingness, and no happiness?

The second level is the happiness of one’s mind. When one accepts things and moves in knowledge then the happiness dawns in the mind. Sometimes everybody around you is happy and you are serving others also but you are not happy in your mind; there is no fulfilment. Dedication brings the second level of happiness.

The third level is the happiness of the soul. This level of happiness happens when the soul is united with the Divine. When there is no duality, no two, when you are in deep meditation, then you experience this innermost joy.

All the three levels of happiness are interlinked. When you are totally united with the Divine you cannot but be fulfilled on the second level and on the third level and you cannot but serve because everybody is part of you. When you start serving and stop thinking about yourself all the time, mental satisfaction will come. The mind will also feel happy and relaxed and it creates such an environment.

A wise one is happy even in bad times. And the foolish one is unhappy even in good times. Spirituality is nothing out of the world. There is no division between what is spiritual, and what is material. Attaining a spiritual level is simply recognising that there is life everywhere, that there is spirit everywhere. When you go beyond happiness, what happens? The mind expands, at the same time it is not unconscious or unaware. Usually when you are happy, you become spaced out and you lose focus. When you are unhappy you are very focused. But a beautiful combination — of being happy and alert and focused at the same time — can be experienced in spiritual life.

Don't carry guilt with you

 

Guilt is not a pleasant feeling to go through but it has a purpose. It stops you from getting into a cycle of actions that are not good for you and for others. When such action happens, the guilt in you acts like a brake for you not to continue the same act. Guilt is good in the right amount and only for that period of time. If it goes beyond a limit, it eats you up like termites eat up a cupboard.

So, you need skill to get out of guilt, but, at the same time, not totally remove it. It is only when you truly realise that you are not the doer of any action that there is no purpose left for guilt. Until that blossoming, a little bit of guilt serves you. It protects you from any wrongdoing that you might engage in.

A mistake is something that pinches you. It is the pinch that irks the consciousness and that pinch disallows the mistake to be repeated. Be with the pinch and not the guilt. It will also stop you from repeating it. Your very wish to repent has solved the purpose. This wish is an indication that your intellect is maturing. Otherwise, you would not have been aware of your actions.

That person who did a mistake has packed his suitcase and gone. Now, inside you is a new person. Start believing in the innocence of the present moment. Krishna tells Arjuna, “I will relieve you from your sins. You just surrender. Then it’s my responsibility to take care of your sins. Don’t worry. Drop all that you are holding on to — even your dharma.” All that you need to do is to let go of everything you are holding on to.

Cultivate the joy of giving

 

There is a certain joy in getting something. That’s the joy children experience when they get things like toffees and toys. Parents and grandparents feel happy when they give. The joy in giving is much more fulfilling than the joy of receiving. Have you noticed how happy we feel when we share? When we see a good movie, for instance, we tell everybody about it, even recommending that they must see it. The moviemaker is not giving us any commission to do that! We just feel that our loved ones should have the same experience. Or an elderly lady who cooks different dishes for her grandchildren derives an enormous happiness from doing so. People who give, experience more happiness than people who receive. Graduating from the mindset of taking to that of giving purifies the mind and brings immense joy.

There are three ways to purify the mind. Yagna or collective action that purifies not just our minds and bodies but the environment as well. There are different kinds of yagnas – jnana yagna, dravya, japa and dhyana yagna, for example. Among these, dhyana yagna, a group of individuals that collect to sing and meditate, is considered the highest. When we sing, chant or listen to chants, the sound vibrations penetrate every cell of our being and purifies the whole system. Likewise, when many people meditate together, the impact multiples manifold.

When we do daana, charity, or help someone who is really in need, the sigh of relief from that soul brings positive vibrations to you. These good deeds bring you merit, which in turn helps you go deep in meditation and elevate your consciousness. If we think of how we can be useful to those around us, we can never get depressed. People who get depressed do not know this. They get depressed because they keep thinking only about themselves. If they start to give or serve they will notice that their depression has vanished.

Tapas is the endurance of discomfort or restraining the senses. The practice of knowledge, wisdom, meditation, yoga, pranayama, and fasting, all come under tapas. If you are unhappy, one way to get out of your sorrow is tapas. Tapas is being in total acceptance of the present moment, pleasant or unpleasant.

All three, yagna, daana and tapas, purify our minds, consciousness and actions. They are, however, not one-time actions, but are to be done repeatedly. Make it a habit. Whenever we get an opportunity to be useful, we should embrace it. If, despite our meditation and other practices, we feel discomfort, we should do something to bring happiness and comfort to others. Giving is essential for spiritual growth. Willingness to share what we have and to help others without expecting anything in return, is called seva. Seva connects us to others. It dissolves barriers that separate our happiness from their happiness. We can serve others in endless ways. Serving in whatever possible manner we can, whether by contributing our time, donating money or just by speaking about positive things, will change our consciousness.

Let’s ask ourselves, “How can we be useful to people around us, and to the whole world?” Then our hearts start to blossom. The best seva is helping someone to understand this eternal nature of life. Life is a journey, moving from the joy of taking, to the joy of giving.

Know that you are needed, you are useful

 

People commit suicide to escape misery but they do not realise it puts them in greater misery. It is like, someone is shivering in the cold and he goes out and removes his jacket. Will the cold become any less? No! People who commit suicide find themselves there because they are so attached to life. They are so attached to some pleasure, to some joy, that they want to kill themselves. And when they kill themselves they find themselves in a bigger soup. They feel, ‘Oh my God , this restlessness, these desires which had created such intense agony inside me has not gone. My body has gone but the agony has remained.'

It is only through the body that you can dispel the agony and get rid of misery. Instead you destroy the very instrument by which you can get rid of agony. When energy goes down you get depressed and when it goes further down suicidal tendencies arise. When the prana is high, this thought will not come. You will not be violent to yourself or others when your prana is high. Through proper breathing exercises, some meditation and through good and loving company energy can go up.

Anyone with suicidal tendencies should be led to someone who can teach them meditation, who can make them do some breathing exercises and raise their energy level. Every day, for ten minutes meditate and become hollow and empty. We need to create a society free from stress and violence, and the way for it is through meditation. Many times when we sit for meditation, the mind goes all over the place. That is where Sudarshan Kriya, which is a breathing technique, and yoga, both of these help the mind to calm down and become serene. Personal development is very important for everyone. See life from a broader perspective. 80 years of life we are living, is it worth being stressed, unhappy? In this short span of life, we should spend our time being happy and making others happy.

If you get thoughts of committing suicide:

1. Know that it is just your prana which is low, so do more pranayama

2. There are millions of people who are suffering more than you, look at them. When your suffering becomes smaller you will not think of committing suicide.

3. Know that you are needed, you are useful. You have to do something in the world.

4. Forget about what people think of you: People commit suicide because they think they have lost their prestige, their status. What status? What prestige? Who has time to think about your prestige?

Everybody is entangled with their own problems, with their own mind. They can’t step out of their own mind, where do they have the time to think about you? It is worthless to worry about what the society thinks of you. Life is much more than just a few material possessions. Life is much more than blame or appreciation from someone. Life is much more than a relationship or a job.

The reason for suicide is failure in relationship, failure in job and not being able to achieve what you want to achieve. Life is much more than the small desires that pop up in your consciousness, in your mind. See life from a bigger perspective and engage yourself in some sort of social activity; service activity. Service or seva can keep people sane and keep them out of this mental depression. Mental depression is worse than an economic recession. One has to take responsibility to sail over this and help others around them. Taking every crisis as a challenge, as an opportunity is what we need to promote in the world.

Here's why you must not judge or blame

We all have this tendency – we judge ourselves too much, or we judge others. Either you start blaming yourself, or you blame somebody else. Either you find you are not right, or you find that someone else is not okay. You should wake up and stop judging.

Whomsoever you blame, do you like to be with them? Do you like to be with someone you are unhappy with? No! So, if you blame yourself, you can’t be with yourself. So, the first law on the journey or path to self-development is to stop blaming yourself.

Now, don’t say, “Oh! That means I can blame others.” No! Every time you have blamed somebody, when you see what you blamed them for from a broader perspective, you will find that it was wrong and futile.

I say “don’t blame others” because if you blame others, it is going to rebound on you. You should not blame anybody.

I have never blamed anyone or never said any bad words. It has not come out of me at all. I didn’t do anything to make it happen – it was naturally like that from the very beginning. I could never abuse anybody – verbal abuse or any other abuse.

When you pay attention to this, when you stop using bad words, your words gain the power to bless. So, stop blaming yourself and stop blaming others. Things are the way they are, just move on and that is it.

You know, sometimes people say, “Oh! This person is a fraud. He is not genuine.”
But one should have some criteria to say that. Many times, you don’t even have criteria to judge somebody, yet you simply blame them, “Oh! He is a fraud,” and that’s it, finished.

This is an unconscious tendency that has developed in society – blaming others and oneself and then feeling guilty about it. The spiritual journey is to remove this and reverse it.

It is such a delicate thing. This does not mean that you justify all the mistakes you do. When you make some mistake, they you cannot say, “Oh, I am on the spiritual path, so I cannot accept my mistake and I cannot blame myself. So, whatever I do is right.” No! It is a delicate balance. It is not to justify your mistake, but to recognize your mistake and at the same time not blame yourself.

If you don’t accept and recognize your mistakes you will never improve. That’s the end of the story. At the same time, if you recognize your mistake and you feel so guilty and you keep blaming yourself, then too it is a hopeless case. So, you need that very delicate balance – neither this side, nor that side.

Remember not to be too hard on yourself. You are part of a phenomenon that is happening. There are trees, rivers, and birds on the planet – just like that, you are also here. So many birds are born and so many birds are dying. Isn’t it? So many trees are coming up and they all vanish. Like this, so many people—so many bodies—have come and they will all vanish. This planet has been there for billions of years. See your life from this bigger context—with a sense of purpose—and then you will stop blaming or judging.

Money is illusory security

Money gives us a sense of freedom and ownership. We feel that with money, we can own anything or put a price tag on anybody’s services. Ownership of something means total control of its existence from beginning to end. When we pay for a piece of land, we feel that we own it, although the land continues to exist even after the owner is long gone. How can you own something that outlives you?

Money also gives the idea that you are powerful and independent, blinding you to the fact that we live in a world of interdependence. We depend on farmers, cooks, drivers and the services of so many other people around us. Even an expert surgeon cannot operate on himself; he depends on others. Why are most rich people arrogant? Because of the feeling of independence that money brings. The awareness of dependence, on the other hand, makes one humble. The basic human tenet of humility is taken away by this false feeling of independence.

Today, we have gone to the extent of measuring people in terms of their net worth on the money scale ‘so-and-so is worth five hundred million’. Can money reflect the worth of a person? Calling someone a millionaire or a billionaire is not a compliment. You cannot assign a monetary value to human life. When people lack faith in divinity, in their own abilities and in the goodness of society, they suffer from a deep sense of insecurity. Then, all that appears to provide security is money. Some among the wealthy feel insecure in relationships they don’t know whether their friends are truly their friends or are interested in their fortune.

For a while, money can provide an illusory sense of security. Wealth is attained through one’s skills and abilities, inheritance or through corrupt means. Each means of attaining wealth brings with it its own consequences. The very motive for corruption is peace and happiness. Yet, peace and happiness remain elusive when the means are corrupt. Due to the illusory notions of independence, ownership and security that it brings, money is considered a part of maya: miyate anaya iti maya means “that which can be measured is maya”. Hence everything in the world that can be measured is considered maya, money being one such measure. Human values are eroded when you try to put a price tag on all that cannot be measured, like love, truth, wisdom and life itself.

On the other hand, there are those who criticise money and blame it for all the ills of society. There are some others who even consider it as evil. Not only does possessing money bring arrogance, rejecting it does, too. Some people who renounce money take pride in their poverty just to draw attention and sympathy.

However, the ancient sages never denigrated money or maya. In fact, they honoured it as a part of the divine and thereby transcended the grip of its illusion. They knew the secret that when you reject or hate something you can never transcend it. They honoured wealth as Goddess Lakshmi, the consort of Narayana. She is born out of yoga (yogaje yoga sambhute). It is yoga that transforms the bad karma and brings out latent skills and talents. It also brings up ashtasiddhis the eight perfections, and nava nidhis - the nine wealths. It is this wisdom of yoga that transforms one from arrogance to self-confidence, from meekness to humility, from the burden of dependence to the realisation of interdependence, from craving for freedom to the recognition of unbounded-ness, from a limited ownership to oneness with the whole.

God is Love

God is the very core of your being. The difference between Self and God is just like the wave and the ocean. Can there be a wave without the ocean? Just like your body is made up of proteins, amino acids and carbohydrates, your mind and soul are made up of love. You are made up of love and love is God. So you are made up of God! Do not think God is sitting somewhere in heaven. God is here and now.

What is the definition of God, if at all there is one? You describe it as that which is everywhere; all-powerful; responsible for this creation, its maintenance and its dissolution. God is omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient. God is not an object of the senses, but the feeling of feelings, the presence of presence, the sound of silence, the light of life, the essence of the world and the taste of bliss. Just as love is felt in the heart, so is God’s presence. God is never an object of isolation. God is the sum totality. When you dissolve, God remains. When you are there, there is no God. Either you can be or God. When you meditate, you become one with God. God is to be felt in the depth of your heart.

God can neither be perceived through your senses nor through the mind. If you make God an  object of your sight, then it is no more God. You can live God, can be God, but you cannot consider God as an object that shows you the path. The whole existence has a mind of its own. It is just like you. You have a mind and it has such  intelligence, that’s why it keeps everything orderly. Similarly, this moment is seen by this big mind. This moment knows exactly what to do. There are so many activities happening in the whole creation. Right now enormous activity is happening in the mind, in the present. In the Now! This mind is what you can call atma or God and that is what you are. The mind is so used to looking to the concrete that it cannot appreciate something abstract. The mind does not believe what it does not know.

God is the very core of your being. When you peel the layers of an onion and reach the centre, there is nothingness. Similarly everything is made up of that space. The whole is God; everything is God and that consciousness is present everywhere. Life is incomplete without union with God. A matured mind and blossomed heart strives for this union. Religions, philosophies, practices, customs and austerities have all pointed to one thing — union with the Divine. The common man wakes up to the suffering in his life and wants to be free. He looks for the superpower of creation. The more he looks at the misery and shortcomings in his life, the farther away he feels from the Divinity, which is his very nature.

The secret to a permanent smile

One who is completely enlightened has no needs and no responsibilities. Also, one who is inert has no needs and no responsibilities. In between these two, everyone has some needs and some responsibilities.

If you sit and make a note of all your responsibilities and all your needs, and if you find that your needs are more than your responsibilities, then life will lead to misery. But if you take more responsibility and have fewer needs, then you will be happy. That is the secret.

When your needs are many and you focus only on your needs and don’t take responsibility, you remain unhappy; you keep grumbling and complaining.

When you take more responsibility and your needs are less, everything simply comes to you - enthusiasm, happiness, creativity, etc.

Now the question arises: what if one is hungry? If one is hungry, one has to eat. If one is thirsty, one has to drink. These are all physical needs. I tell you, your body belongs to this Earth and the Earth will take care of it. You belong to the Divine, and the Divine will take care of you.

In fact, the Divine is taking care of you. Make this distinction that you are separate from your body. As soon as you do this, you will see that you belong to the Divine, and then your smile becomes a permanent feature.

Power of Sankalpa

 

Strength lies in the power of your sankalpa (intention). The mind is full of sankalpa and vikalpa (imagination, fancy). Each work gets done through sankalpa. Even the act of moving one’s arm is preceded by the sankalpa in the mind. The sankalpa of a weak mind is ineffective. We can make our mind strong by sadhana (spiritual practices) and knowledge. Then the sankalpa will also be strong.

We don’t use the mind power that has been bestowed upon us by nature. It is the greatest gift we have been given. There are two schools of thought. One says you visualise your dream and work for it. The other tells you to surrender everything to God; whatever the lord gives you is the best, and He will take care of everything. They appear to be incompatible but I would say they are very much compatible. It is good to have an intention or a goal. You don’t keep on visualising your goal 24×7, but continuing to work for that, you leave it to God. Only the combination of two will work.

There is a difference between intention and desire. Desire is that which gives you anger and upsets you. Sankalpa is having an intention. It means taking your consciousness to the universe, to the infinite; then bringing the mind to the present moment, and making a wish for something that you long for in your mind. Desire means it has to happen now. In sankalpa you say, “let it happen whenever it has to.” When we have an intention and focus our attention on that, it will start manifesting. 

Suppose you want to go to Mumbai from Bangalore. You buy a ticket and travel for around three hours and go there. But you don’t keep chanting all this time that you want to go to Mumbai and you are going to Mumbai. You may even land up in a mental hospital! Desire is the feverishness that clogs an intention. An intention is a desire free from feverishness. And then working towards your intention, you have to keep the faith that whatever nature brings back is for your growth.

Obstacle to Intention

There is a limitation in the field of action (karma kshetra). But it is necessary to make a little bit of effort. This is the essence of the Bhagavad Gita: “Be involved in action and have unswerving faith in the power of intention (sankalpa).” Have the faith and know the best will happen. And even if momentarily it appears not to be the best thing for you, in the long run whatever is best will happen to you. This belief will carry you through. It can also strengthen your sankalpa. If you doubt, “Oh maybe I have this problem,” or “I don’t know if this will happen,” or “Maybe I will not succeed,” — it can act like a brake when driving the car. Your hand brake is on and you’re driving the car. So no more self-doubt. Know that the best will happen to you in your life.

What we should know that we already have what we want in life. You start with this intention, “I already have what I want”, then what you want will fructify easily. Thinking, “I have it”, is like sowing a seed. Once you sow it, you put water and manure and it will sprout and grow. So you know mentally that the seed is there. Same way, whatever you want to achieve in life, know that you are that and you have it. If you think, you don’t have it in you, then you will never grow. So, if you want to be a businessman, tell yourself, “I am a businessman”, and then work towards becoming one. It may appear absurd. Usually people think, “I don’t have it in me to achieve it”, but seldom are they able to chase goals.

Money should be in your wallet, not in your mind or head. One whose mind is feverish about money can think of nothing else. He cannot think of his relationships, his friends and family, not even his own health and well-being. Such a person ends up losing everything because he is focussed on materialistic pursuits. Your mind tells you that with more money one could have more freedom, could travel anywhere, do whatever one wanted. And when this idea takes hold of the mind, it binds you. When you feel bound, you feel stiff and there is no freedom. That is the reason why people who have money keep getting more money and those who do not, keep on regretting. So that negative consciousness should go and you should feel the abundance.

Positive intention

When sankalpa arises in your heart, then it helps expand your consciousness in the universe. In this huge universe, I want this little sankalpa to happen. Suppose you are asking a question to someone and you have a doubt whether this question will be answered or not, you will hesitate to ask it or you will make errors even in the process of asking. So the right way of asking is, first, having that confidence in the divine and knowing that “I have this request and it will be granted to me.” One should apply effort, work and also relax. Before going to bed, meditate for 10 minutes and surrender whatever you desire, and sleep happily. The main things to follow are sadhana (spiritual practices and self effort), awareness, and then abandoning of feverishness. If we change the way we look at things, we discover that everything starts from within. If they are better inside, they get better outside. You become the agent for change.

When your needs are many and you focus only on your needs, you remain unhappy. When you take responsibility and your needs are lesser, everything comes to you — enthusiasm, happiness, creativity, and so on. Meditation will generate your thought power, your intention. So if you meditate for a few minutes, your thoughts will become powerful and with little effort, the task will be accomplished.

Wisdom for a peaceful life

We are on this planet for a unique and big purpose. With that in mind, take a challenge: “Come what may, I am going to smile today and be happy.” For this, you need to follow the rules of Yamas and Niyamas — the first two steps of Yoga (inner union).

Yamas: Five rules to live peacefully:

Ahimsa (non-violence) — It unites you with the whole creation. Yoga, a practice of realising that everything is here and everything is part of you is ahimsa. When everything belongs to you, how can you harm something? 

Satyam (truthfulness): You can’t lie to yourself. If you are weaving beads, you don’t say, “I am not weaving beads.” 

Asteya: (not regretting): not missing what you don’t have at this moment, nor wishing things were different from what they are, not comparing yourself with others, and wishing for what they have.

Brahmacharya: Moving beyond small identifications like “I am a man, I am a good/bad person”. Brahma means big. Being not interested in shapes and forms of the body and seeing the infinite is brahmacharya.

Aparigraha: Not taking what people give you. What really bother us are the insults, the hurt, and all the negative words that we take from people. 

Niyamas: Five rules for inner development: 

Shaucha (Cleanliness) — keeping yourself clean and wearing clean clothes. What is more important is being clean from inside. 

Santosha (Contentment): Be happy. If you don’t take a step towards being happy, nothing in this world can make you happy.

Tapas (forbearance):The rule is that change whatever you can, but when you cannot change, accept it. 

Swadhyaya (Self-study): Observe your mind and see what is going on in your mind. If you are feeling bad, just observe and you will start feeling good again.

Ishwara Pranidhaana (Love of the Divine): Surrender to the Divine when you feel you are totally helpless. 

These rules make you strong, whole and complete. To be established in this, do some meditation, sadhana (spiritual practices), service and keep your smile!

Iccha Shakti, Jnana Shakti and Kriya Shakti

Ancient seers have expressed spiritual experience in verse and in forms and deities that represent the profound secrets of life. One such embodiment of valour, beauty, and intelligence is Karthikeya, also known as Murugan. The word Murugan is formed from the divine trinity. He is present in us and around us in both form and formless aspects. I am also made of the same energy and so are you. All living beings are manifestations of this energy and are also sustained in it.

Life has three energies: Iccha Shakti, Jnana Shakti and Kriya Shakti. Valli,  consort of Murugan, represents Iccha Shakti, desire; Devasena, also consort of Murugan, is a symbol of Kriya Shakti, that is, action, effort; and Murugan is Jnana Shakti, knowledge.

Iccha Shakti forms the very basis of our existence. We need to develop the right attitude towards desires and understand its nature. When a person says, “I don’t want anything in this world,” that is also a desire.

When desires arise, observe them. What happens to your mind when the desire is fulfilled? What is the state of your mind when the desire arises? Were you happy, in anger or in haste? This will indicate whether or not to act upon them. This observation is possible when the mind is without craving or aversion.

Beyond mundane desires of food and shelter, the greatest desire in any being is to be free from bondage. When the desire is to move towards the divine, towards highest knowledge, it is said that Valli, the power of desire, becomes one with Murugan, the power of wisdom.

“Pazham Nee Appa” – you are the fruit – sang poetess Avvaiyar to Murugan, implying that Murugan himself is the fruit of knowledge. Nowhere else do we see such an instance where the devotee reminds the Lord of who he is!

Murugan represents Jnana Shakti. He is himself the secret. It is easy to tide over challenges in life when our mind is aligned with the divine, with Murugan. His vel, spear, reminds us to be deep-rooted in knowledge, broaden our perspective and have sharp intellect. His mount is the peacock, symbol of the mind. When the mind follows wisdom and is filled with divinity, it dances and is blissful. Murugan’s flag has a rooster. The rooster crows at sunrise without fail, and is a symbol of alignment with the rhythm of nature. All these are qualities that come along with the manifestation of Jnana Shakti in our life.

When you have the right desire and knowledge, it has to be followed by action. This is represented by Devasena, Kriya Shakti. The sign of life is activity. There are no actions in a corpse. However, actions need to be properly channelised.

Often a leader is chosen to channelise the collective energy of society towards particular actions. Here, it is important to choose the right leader. Murugan is a unique leader. He is both king and recluse. Only when you act from the space of helping the other without wanting anything for yourself, you can be a good leader. Actions in the collective consciousness that are done with respect and prayerfulness for the benefit of all, are represented by Devasena.

When both our desires and our actions are directed towards the divine, life becomes a celebration.

 

Message on the commencement of Navratri

There are some things you can do, you do them. And some things you cannot do - and the things that you cannot do, by thinking about it, it doesn't make them happen, you only make yourself miserable.

We get miserable looking at others behaviours - you cannot correct everybody and everything on the planet. Whatever you can do, you do and let go, in letting go you experience samadhi. Offering all the good qualities and bad qualities you have to the Mother Divine, you get into deep meditation. So, this is the time to take that deep inner spiritual rest.

Our mind is tired with desires and cravings, with do’s and don'ts, rights and wrongs. All these things are getting into our head and we get into a mess. This is the time to just drop everything. And when we can drop everything and repose in ourselves, then samadhi, deep meditation happens. And that is the basis of all success in life.

During Navratri, we pray to the Mother Divine and say ‘whatever is right it is your job to maintain it and whatever is wrong it is your job to correct it. I'm neither here to correct anything or desire anything, you know what is best for me’.

With this feeling of offering the past, the present and the future at the feet, to the infinite power, we repose in ourselves - that is Navratri.

We give deep rest to our mind, our soul - because our soul is longing for rest - it’s tired with
all these cravings, all the rights and wrongs and concepts that we are struggling with in our life.

So, enjoy Navratri.

Flipping boredom with meditation

People often get bored too soon. These days people are tired of being inside the same four walls or being with the same people or of eating the same dish! How to break the pattern of boredom in life?

When the mind is stuck in a repetitive pattern, boredom sets in. Our intellect rejects repetitions and struggles to break the monotony. A person of active and sharp intellect gets bored faster than one with a dull intellect.

When boredom sets in life, it drags down your whole energy. It leads to inertia. When you get bored, nothing appeals to you and you get into frustration, anger and even into depression. A bored person not only feels apathy himself or herself but also spreads it to everyone around. Would you like to spend time in the company of a bored person?

How can you create enthusiasm in yourself and in others? How to shift this tendency of the mind to resist repetitions which leads to boredom?

Repetitions create boredom only at the level of the intellect or the head. At the level of the heart, they create positive vibes. When you integrate it into your life, repetition doesn’t bore you. Nobody gets bored of brushing teeth every day, or of drinking the same tea every day! You watch the news every day, and yet you don’t get bored. People who chant with rosary beads or do japa don’t get bored of repeating the same mantra or prayer. But it’s easy to get bored of certain other things even if they are good practices. Unless you make it a passion or a hobby, you can get bored of things like doing workouts or walking, etc. very soon.

Repetition with emotion is exhilaration and repetition with intellect is boredom. No song or bhajan or ghazal goes without repetition; music cannot happen without repetition. So repetition can also energize you. That’s why I say boredom is also the bridge between your head and heart. When you are bored, know that you are in your head too much. Instead of looking for something new, something exciting all the time, embrace the repetition. It will act as a bridge for you to move into another dimension.

Meditation is the technique to move from the head to the heart. If you sit for a few minutes and embrace the boredom, you will slip into deep meditation. Use the moment of boredom to go inwards and dive into deep meditation. In fact, you should get bored with everything mundane! Then, you are enlightened. When you get bored with everything in life, you will suddenly find the Spring of Life. Nothing bores you anymore. You can keep experiencing the same thing again and again. Then the mind lives in the present moment and you are not stuck in past experiences or your memory. Your emotions wake up, your feelings wake up, and then comes a state of giving, of contributing. A giver is never tired. A taker gets tired easily. If you are looking for some joy, some charm, some excitement from outside, you are bound to get bored.

When people fall in love, they never get tired of repetitions. They say ‘I love you’ over and over again. Love loves repetitions. You are born with a beautiful intellect and a great heart. And meditation is the way to sync the two and flip the boredom.

Dispassion in the time of a pandemic

 

Social distancing during a lockdown is not necessarily a punishment. Silence and solitude are potent means for personal growth and self-renewal, a great way to nurture dispassion in ourselves. The natural tendency of the senses is to go outwards, and enjoy the whole creation. Right from the moment you wake up in the morning, you want to see, smell, taste, hear and touch. However, the ability of the senses to enjoy is limited.

How long can you watch the beautiful scenery? The desire to enjoy through the senses first comes in the mind, but the capacity of the senses to enjoy is limited. Suppose you love pudding, or apple-pie; how much can you eat – one piece, two pieces, three servings? By the time you have the third serving, the same thing that was giving you pleasure, becomes painful. This is because our ability to enjoy is limited to our senses.

We can enjoy anything on the planet only when what we desire is available, there is the right attitude in the mind, and the senses are not tired. This is not often the case. Things may not be available like right now – during the lockdown that is in force to prevent spread of the coronavirus – and a lot of things that you want, may not be available in the market, or the state of mind may not be right or the senses may be tired, yet the mind is feverish about desires and the outcome of our actions. What can be done in such a situation?

This is where dispassion helps. Notice that after experiencing too much excitement, you want to be a little quiet and calm.

When you are in the grip of feverishness what do you do?

Have faith and confidence that the result will be much better than you can imagine. With faith, you can get rid of feverishness of action/ achievement. Feverishness can also be a hangover from over-activity. Then sleep, listening to flute music and cold-water baths can help.

Have dispassion and know the whole thing will be over one way or another, and it does not matter. Meditation and breathing can calm you down. Drop whatever you are doing and do something completely irrelevant, like while decorating your house, take a moment off to cut grass. When you are doing something very important, take a moment off to do something totally irrelevant and insignificant. This enhances your creativity. Relevant action keeps you bound to the action. Irrelevant action makes life a game.

Now, suppose everything is available. You are hungry, you want to have food, and you can enjoy it, but even that enjoyment is momentary. It stays for a few moments. See, a desire fulfilled causes frustration; a desire unfulfilled also causes frustration. What do we need to do? What is the answer?

The answer is to look inside. Go to the source of happiness. Then the senses are strengthened, you become content and things become available the way you want them. All three happen when the senses are turned inwards, and that inward turning of senses is called dispassion. Desirelessness, dispassion and samadhi are the deepest rest, a space where joy and beauty spring from.

Wake up the Divine in you

 

The Divine should be allowed to permeate. ‘Wake the Divine Up’ is an expression used. God is within each one, sleeping. It is said, first man wakes up and then the Divinity is awoken. For those in whom the Divinity is awoken, He is called a Saint. Wake up the God in you. He is not up in heaven somewhere, He resides within.

It is symbolised in the Hindu scriptures as Lord Narayana resting on the snake with His consort Lakshmi at his side. When Narayana is woken up, so is Lakshmi. Enlightenment is wakening the Divinity. Most important thing is to remember is that the means of being in Love is to be with someone who is in Love, being in the company of the Divine. When you are with an enlightened saint, you become like them. When grace comes, grab it! Often disgruntled people group together!

“Mahath” is what exists beyond the field of ego – in the whole creation. If ego is an atom, beyond the atom, the space is Mahath. Therefore, one who lives in this space element is called Mahatma. The company of one who is free can only give you freedom. Company of the rich will bring you riches. The company of the Divine will make you be in Divine Love. During the time of Jesus, only 12 innocent people knew Him, the others didn’t. It needs some sensitivity. Knowledge of the Divinity in Jesus also comes with grace only – even for that grace is needed. The ways of the Lord is very different.

You cannot demand the company of the saints. One gets it by grace only. It is purely the choice of the Divine to give Company. It's like the story of a nun reaching hell. The nun was sure there was a mistake and asked for clarifications with God. God confirmed her place in hell as he said, he didn’t want to be bothered by her, like she did on Earth!! But the taxi driver goes to heaven because he got his passengers to pray sincerely when he drove!! When we are in bliss, there is no separation between you and the Divine, there is no gap. Do not miss an opportunity to be in good company, satsang. This will awaken the Divinity within.

Transformation for perfect health

 

Only a healthy bud can blossom. Similarly, only a healthy person can succeed. Health is just not the absence of disease but it is also being mentally serene and emotionally soft. If the mind is stiff and unsteady, one is not mentally healthy. When the emotions are rough, one is not emotionally healthy.

The state of good health is called “swastha” in Sanskrit. It also means ‘being established in one’s Self’ and is not just confined to the body or mind. It has to come as a gift from the cosmic mind- from the innermost of one’s being to the outermost and vice versa.

Sometimes when you enter a room inhabited by a disturbed person, you start feeling disturbed for no reason even if the person is no longer in the room. You have the same feelings, same thoughts and same emotions as that person. Similarly, when there is a harmonious vibration like a place of satsang (chanting or singing), you feel good for no reason.

Feelings are not isolated to one’s body, they are all around. It is the same with the breath and the mind. They are in the whole environment. If there is a fire the heat is not just inside the fire but radiating throughout the place. If one is unhappy or depressed, the feeling spreads to the whole environment.

Other people’s words and actions create jealousy, anger, frustration or sadness in a mind that is not centered. The unstable mind contributes to the process and hence, we become responsible for our negative emotions even though it appears that someone else has triggered it.

When we meditate and do pranayama, we increase prana or the subtle life energy. When we attend to the subtle, the gross is healed. The breath is subtler than the body and when attended to, it heals the body. Similarly, prana being the subtler heals the emotions.

Being individually happy is not enough. A frustrated man will spread frustration; a jealous person will spread jealousy. Everyone we meet has to be happy and radiate happiness. This is the only way we can have that unshakeable peace and happiness.

If somebody is shooting an arrow at you, insulting you, realise that they are doing it because they are miserable. They are pouring out their stress, tension and anxiety. When you have blossomed from within, you can take any insult and turn it into your advantage.

When someone commits a mistake, he is not the culprit; the stress within is the cause. Once, the stress is got rid of, then there is no culprit- no one needs to be forgiven. We begin to realise that the whole thing is just a game in which there is no winner or loser. It’s just a play and fun.

The objective is to have joy in life and make sure that the knowledge we gain permeates within us. As we learn more about life, the mystery of the whole creation unfolds. Then the question in the mind is: What is the meaning of life? and What is its purpose? What is this world? What is love? What is knowledge?

Once these questions arise in you, know that you are very fortunate. These questions need to be  understood; you cannot find their answers in books. You have to live through them and witness the transformation. That is perfect health; you are transformed from within. And the bud becomes a totally blossomed flower.

Balance the mind with meditation

 

Have you observed what is happening in your mind every moment? It vacillates between the past and the future. It is either in the past occupied with what has happened or in the future thinking about what you have to do.

Knowledge is being aware of this phenomenon of the mind — of what is happening right now in your mind as you are reading this article. Information can be acquired by reading books or browsing the Internet. You can open a book on any subject such as how to lose weight, how to prepare for an interview, success 101 and so on. There are innumerable volumes available on a countless number of topics, but the awareness of your own mind cannot be learnt from a book.

There is another tendency of the mind – it clings onto the negative. If 10 positive events are followed by one negative event, the mind will cling to the negative. It will simply forget the 10 positive events.

With meditation, however, you can become aware of these two tendencies of the mind and bring it to the present. Happiness, joy, enthusiasm, efficiency and effectiveness are all in the present.

The human mind is very complex. It has its delicate and tough aspects. If you have had a misunderstanding with a friend or colleague at work, you can become stiff inside and this can distort your emotions leading to negativity and you carry this negativity wherever you go.

However, when you culture your mind with meditation, its tendency of holding on to negative emotions simply disappears. You gain the ability to start living in the present moment and are able to let go of the past.

Balancing the States of Mind

In your day-to-day life, you come across all kinds of situations that can be challenging and demanding a degree of alertness to be able to make good choices. These situations give rise to different states of mind and neither life nor the states of mind occur with our permission. In fact, they often occur in direct defiance to our wishes.

Meditation can bring about a balance between the different states of the mind. You can learn to switch from the tough aspect to the delicate aspect within you. You can stand up when needed and let go when needed. This ability is present within everyone, and meditation enables you to switch between these states effortlessly. The whole exercise is to develop an ability to switch back and forth between the tough and delicate aspects of the mind.

One of the biggest deterrents for people not being able to meditate is that they don’t have enough time. Yet when they start to meditate, they find they have more time, because they are able to focus and get more done. Not only that, the regular practice of meditation also leads to greater intuitiveness. It sharpens the mind through focus and expands it through relaxation.

With the integration of meditation into one’s daily life, a fifth state of consciousness, called cosmic consciousness, dawns. Cosmic consciousness means perceiving the whole cosmos as part of oneself. When we perceive the world as a part of us, love flows strongly between the world and us. This love empowers us to bear the opposing forces and the disturbances in our lives. Anger and disappointments become fleeting emotions that occur momentarily and then vanish.

Rest and activity are opposite values, but they complement each other. The deeper you are able to rest, the more dynamic you will be in activity. Planning can hold you back from diving deep into yourself. Meditation is accepting this moment and living every moment totally with depth.

Restlessness, agitation, desire and ambition stir up the mind and keep it engaged planning for the future or being regretful about the past. Real freedom is freedom from the past and future.

The confluence of knowledge, understanding and practice make life complete. When you grow into higher states of consciousness, you find that you are no longer thrown off-balance by different situations and disturbances. A regular practice can transform the quality of your life by culturing the nervous system to maintain peace, energy and expanded awareness throughout the day. You become beautiful yet strong, capable of accommodating different challenges in life without any conditions.

Let go if you want to find inner peace

 

Do not have any hatred towards anybody. Do not hate even the worst enemy, reach out to him. If you can’t reach out, never mind. At least in your heart do not hate anybody. Don’t hate any living being for that matter, not just people. What holds you back is your hatred. More than your love, your hatred holds you back. Because whomsoever you hate, you live with them, you eat with them, you bear with them mentally. 

The person whom you hate occupies your upper chamber, your middle chamber and any other chamber left, everywhere they occupy. They occupy all of your time, your life, your thoughts, your emotions your mind, everything. So, if not for their sake, for your own sake better don’t hate anybody. 

There are such people who are obnoxious, who you cannot stand, yes. But by hating them, you are destroying your beautiful mind, you are destroying your most precious brain and you are inflicting pain to your delicate heart. 

Now how to get rid of it? Friendliness and compassion. People who are ahead of you, be friendly with them. Otherwise, you will feel jealous. And people who are behind you, who are hopeless, who are trouble- makers, have compassion for them. If you don’t have compassion for them, you will be angry and upset. And anyone who you find in between, kshama, forgive them. 

Whenever you are disturbed, doesn’t matter about what, ask yourself this question “Did I let it go, or are am I holding on to it?" That determines your state of mind, that determines your peace or lack of it. By letting go you will get deep peace.

Better than the practice is knowledge or wisdom; and better than wisdom is deep meditation and letting go of the fruit of action. Because, when you let go, you renounce the whole past. What is karma? The whole past, that burden we are carrying in our mind. When you let go of that, you get eternal peace, the peace that you are craving for.

The importance of awareness

I would like to tell you a story about a saint. A thief once came to a saint and said, “See, I can’t stop stealing. I am a pathological stealer. What do I do?” The saint said, “Look, I’m not going to tell you not to steal, but I am going to advise you to steal with awareness. Whenever you try to steal something, first look at your hand and know what it is going to do, and then with that awareness, go steal something.” The man came back to meet the saint after three months, and said, “Swamiji, it was impossible! I could not steal with awareness.”

The same happens with anger. Anger comes as a sudden outburst, as we commonly say, “I lost it.” What is it that you lost? Nothing but awareness. To do something destructive, all you need is momentary passion, an impulse. You can evoke passion in a person and he can go and destroy something. But to do something creative, we need more than passion. What we need is awareness. We need a certain focus. 

How can we increase awareness? There are simple things you need to observe and practice – take some time out to do very simple things in life, sometimes seemingly insignificant things, such as star-gazing, bird-watching, watching the sunrise or sunset, taking a walk, silently observing your breath. These are a few examples of simple exercises that we can easily follow to develop our awareness. Even in an everyday act such as eating food, you can inculcate awareness by eating slowly, paying attention to the smells and colors in the food and tasting everything you eat. 

Another method adopted to create that awareness is meditation, pranayama, deep breathing. What is the first act we performed when we were born? We breathed in deeply and then we started crying. And do you know what the last act is? We breathe out and make everybody else cry. But in between these first and last breaths, we seldom address our breath, we seldom observe our breath. Our breath has great secrets to offer. It can show us how vast our mind is, how resourceful our consciousness is.

You are a vast sky of love, beauty and charm

 

Often you describe yourself by the way you look and the work you do or by your relationships with other people. But you are so much more than your body, your thoughts and feelings. All of these things are changing, but you are that which is not changing. Wake up this very moment and see who you are. You are unlimited spirit.

What is the nature of spirit? Spirit experiences and expresses value. Values are feelings and emotions that which cannot be captured totally by the words or understood by intellect. The values that enhance life are confidence, cooperation, faith and knowledge.

The values come only through spirit. We think we can find happiness or comfort through the material, yet we know from our own experience that material comfort alone is not sufficient or complete. Happiness is a quality of consciousness. It does depend on matter, but to a far greater degree it depends on attitude and understanding.

As we adopt the values of the spirit, life attains its richest form. Without them, life becomes very shallow and we are dependent and unhappy. It is the dharma of spirit to support life. It is the dharma of spirit to uphold and sustain life. Living the spiritual values makes your personality solid and strong.

What are the effects of the spiritual dimension of life on society? It brings a great sense of belongingness, responsibility, compassion and caring for the whole world, for the whole humanity. The spiritual dimension in the truest form smashes the narrow boundaries of caste, creed, religion and nationality and gives one a broader awareness of life present everywhere. Only spiritual understanding will eliminate war.

When the mind relaxes, the intellect becomes sharp. When the mind is loaded with small things such as ambition, feverishness and desire, then the intellect loses its keenness. And when intellect and observation are not sharp, life does not express itself fully. Ideas don’t flow properly and abilities diminish day by day. With this understanding, you step out of your little mind and that step will solve many of the problems in your life.

You want to be free from greed, hatred, jealousy and all such imperfections. If the mind is holding all these negative qualities, it cannot be happy or peaceful — you cannot enjoy your life. So the first step is to see that negative emotions are due to the past and not let the past affect your experience of life now. Forgive the past. If you cannot forgive the past, then your future will be miserable. Commit to dropping the past and starting a new fresh life.

To be fully in the now, you need to learn to handle your botherations. What is it that is bothering you? Whatever feelings you have, be with it totally without holding on to it. Children never worry. They experience and express emotions, but the next moment they are relieved. Whatever feelings you have in the moment, be with them 100 per cent. Share them with the Divine. Surrender them. Cultivate this practice. Then you will not worry. You will be carefree.

On the spiritual path, you will experience plenty. Maintain a balance — have confidence that what you need will be given to you and at the same time, be dynamic, not lazy. Spiritual life is marked by effective and dynamic activity. It is not an escape from hard work or from taking sincere action. Take heart. At any moment, in any place, you can just sit and let go, knowing inside you there is a sky without clouds, a sky studded with stars — stars of love, stars of beauty, stars of charm — a pure, clear space, vast and deep. That blue inner space is what you are.