Everything is impermanent

 

See the impermanence of everything. Everything is changing around you so fast. Even if you want, you can’t hold on to anything. Things come and things go. People come and people go. Their moods change, emotions change. Their way of behaving with you changes. Everything changes. The whole world is changing. See the impermanence of all things, everything around you. Then also you gain strength and fear disappears.

Fear is clinging on, holding on, not letting go. And there is nothing that you can hold on to in this life. Is there anything that you can hold on to? One day you have to bid goodbye to everything. Absolutely everything, including your own body, you will have to say goodbye. This awareness also brings enormous strength from within you and you’ll be able to laugh.

Understanding Shiva

 

Shiva is vishwaroopa which means that the entire universe is his form and yet he is formless or niraakar. You can know Him by going deep into Om, the primordial sound of the Universe. How can you understand Shiva? Only through meditation.

There is a beautiful story. Once Brahma, the creator and Vishnu, the preserver of the Universe wanted to know the expanse of Shiva. Brahma said, “I will go and look for his head and you find his feet.” So for thousands of years Vishnu travelled downwards to find Shiva’s feet and Brahma went upwards to find his head but they couldn’t find it. Finally they both met at the middle and said that they couldn’t find either. There is no beginning and no end to Shiva.

Shiva comprises of the entire creation and the creation is full of opposites. On one hand he is considered shweth vastra dhaar (wearing white clothes) and on the other hand, he is krishna varna meaning he is dark. He is the Lord of the Universe and yet he doesn’t have even a piece of cloth or jewellery. He is Rudra or the fierce on one side and Bholenaath or the most innocent on the other. He is Sundaresha, the lord of beauty and he is also Aghora – dreadfully intense. Shiva tattva binds the dynamism of the beautiful dance and stillness of meditation, darkness and light, innocence and intelligence, ferocity and compassion.

World Yoga Day

 

On 5th December 2011 at a conference on ‘Yoga: A Science for World Peace’, several yoga institutes came together and signed a proclamation to have 21st June celebrated as International Yoga Day.

Today, Yoga has reached 170+ countries, and billions of people. But we must remember that 2/3rd of the world population is yet to reap the benefits of yoga!

Yoga, though born in India belongs to the whole world. Though yoga was conceived in the ancient Sanatan Dharma, it opens its avenues to the whole world. Yoga is a technology that allows you to be more compassionate, more loving, more friendly and happy! It’s a technology that can remove stress, greed and all these negative emotions!

Yoga is not just a set of stretches but an attitude - how you care for nature, how you connect with people of all races, cultures & religions. That oneness with Divinity, with nature & people is the real essence of yoga.

Look within, meditate

 

Work and rest and rest and then work. That is why God created day and night, for rest and work; we need to do both.

You will not be able to accomplish anything if you are tired. That is why when you are tired you need to go inward. ‘Antarmukhi sada sukhi’ - one who looks within, meditates for a while, is always peaceful. We get so energized, so much Shakti (energy) comes in us and our skills are greatly enhanced!

It is extremely important for an unskilled person to meditate so that he becomes skillful. A skilled person also needs to meditate in order to maintain his skills. The abilities within us must not diminish. That is why a skilled person must also meditate every day.

Letting go of the sense of control

 

Many have a problem with letting go of control. This causes anxiety, restlessness and soured relationships.

Wake up and see, are you really in control? What are you in control of? Perhaps a tiny part of your waking state! Isn’t that so?

You are not in control when you are sleeping or dreaming. You are not in control of the thoughts and emotions coming up in you. You may choose to express it or not, but they come to you without your prior permission! Most of the functions of your body are not in your control.

If you think you are in control of all the events in your life, in the world or in the universe, that is a joke! When you look at things from this angle you need not be afraid of losing control, because you have none!

Whether you realise it or not, when you let go of your sense of control, that is when you truly relax. Your identification of being somebody does not let you totally relax and keeps your domain limited.

Correcting others' mistakes

 

Mistakes keep happening all the time. Often you get irritated by them and want to correct them. How much can you correct? There are two situations when you correct other’s mistakes:

1. You correct someone’s mistake because it bothers you. But even if you correct it, this does not work.

2. You correct someone’s mistake, not because it bothers you, but for their sake so that they can grow.

To correct mistakes, you need authority and love. Authority and love seem to be contradictory, but in reality, they are not. Authority without love is stifling and does not work. Love without authority is shallow. A friend needs to have both authority and love but they need to be in the right combination. This can happen if you are totally dispassionate and centered.

When you allow room for mistakes, you can be both authoritative and sweet. That is how the Divine is, the right balance of both. Krishna, Jesus and all enlightened masters had both. People in love also exercise authority with those they love. Authority and love exist in all relationships.

One cannot feel grateful and lack at the same time

 

You cannot be grateful and feel lack. The two cannot exist at the same time. When you feel grateful, you feel full. When you feel lack, grumbling begins from some corner. If you feel grateful, gratitude will increase in you and you will be given more. If you keep on grumbling, the negativity in you will increase.

Jesus said, “For those who don't have, whatever little they have will be taken away from them. And to those who have, more will be given.” This is the law of nature. For those who do not have this knowledge, there is no way to get out of their grumbling. It becomes a habit.

This applies to relationships too. If you love someone, know that nothing is lacking. Trust that they also love you very much. If you doubt someone’s love, your doubt grows no matter what you receive from them. If you want to be close to someone, first begin to feel that person is already close to you. When you ask people, “Do you trust me?” you are doubting their trust. When you are in doubt, you grow in doubt — and there is no limit to it.

If you sow a seed, that seed will grow. If the seed itself is lack, then lack is what grows. Today you feel a lack, and tomorrow you will feel some other lack, and then in a year, even if all these things are provided, still you will feel some lack. Observe carefully and see what you have been given. Then you become grateful. In gratefulness, everything that supports life grows.

One who is dispassionate always remains joyful

 

There is a very beautiful poem that goes:

“What do you say to a person who is scared of noise but has built his house in the market?

What do say to a person who has built a home on the seashore and hates waves?

What do you say to a person who has built a home in the forest and is scared of animals?”

In the same way, what do you tell a person who lives in society and is scared of accusations, blames and praises?

People blame and they say things, what can you do? Educate and ignore. Even when you have done nothing wrong still people become your enemies. How many of you have experienced this? You did not do any harm to them but they have become your enemies. Similarly, you have not done any big favors for some people but they have become your friends, isn’t it?!

Becoming a friend or an enemy works on some other special law and that is karma. With karma you cannot have a reasoning or explanation for certain happenings. That is just how it is. So don’t worry if people blame you for things that you have not done. Don’t get disturbed.

It is easy to say don’t get disturbed. You do get disturbed, but at that time this wisdom will help you – ’It is some strange karma, let it be there. So what, what can we do? That is the nature of the world.’

In this way you should make yourself dispassionate. ’Kasya sukham na karoti viragah’ – There is no pleasure greater than a state of mind that does not seek pleasure.

Shifting from the experience to the experiencer

 

Shift your awareness from the experience to the experiencer. All the experiences are on the circumference; they keep on changing. The unchanging experiencer is at the centre. Again and again, come back to the experiencer.

If you are frustrated, instead of spending all the time on the experience of frustration, ask, 'Who is frustrated?'

Similarly, if you are unhappy, ask, 'Who is unhappy?'

If you think you know something, ask, 'Who knows?'

If you think you are enlightened, ask, 'Who is it that is enlightened?'

If you think you are ignorant, ask, 'Who is ignorant?'

If you think poor me, ask, 'Who is poor me?'

If you think you are highly devoted, ask, 'Who is it that is devoted?'

Shed all your faces and face the I. Then you have truly come to Me!

True prayer happens with devotion and faith

 

Prayer is a vital tool to improve your life. When you feel the obstacle is too much to handle, deep prayer can work miracles. Whatever you do, know that the higher power has the final say and you can tap that power through your prayers because prayer is the cry of a soul. It happens when you feel utterly helpless or when you feel totally grateful. Both are authentic and always get fulfilled.

Praying doesn’t mean just sitting and chanting some words. It is about being in that serene, calm, meditative state. Whereas religion puts words to prayer, and adds symbols and rituals to it, prayer itself transcends them. It happens in the subtle level of feelings and the feelings transcend words and religion. This silence is one step beyond the barriers of language. It is that which the whole universe can understand. That is why, in the Vedic tradition, before and after prayers, there is meditation.

When the mind is focused, prayer becomes far more powerful. You have to connect to yourself because all powers are hidden within the Self. Then everything will manifest. It is like using the cell phone. If you keep on pressing numbers but there is no SIM card inside, will it work? Similarly, some of our prayers are not getting connected. You haven’t put in the SIM card. Now if you have the SIM card and no range, will it work? Or, if the range and SIM card are there, but battery is not charged, will it work? You need a SIM card, charge and range and only then you can call anyone, anywhere.

So, sadhana is the SIM card, satsang is the charge and your faith is the range, because true prayer can’t happen without devotion and faith. The act of praying itself has the power to bring transformation. Realise that God’s protection is there for you. And if at all you have to pray for something, pray for the happiness of all the people in the world.

Teach kids the importance of non-violence

 

The troubling pattern of school violence in America has different causes at its core for the perpetrators. We must be aware that aggression is part of our nature and we all possess the potential for it. The challenge is to teach one another how to handle the aggressive tendency that comes within each of us.

We need to teach our kids how to handle their own negative emotions. We cannot avoid stress in life yet we need to teach our young how to manage the stress each of them encounter. It is our responsibility to institute in each other respect for life and adopting non-violence as our means of conduct.

Young minds must be educated in non-aggression programs and learn how to handle the negative emotions of rage, grief, guilt, and frustration. We must also recognize the hurt and wounded in our society. If someone is behaving badly and is troubled, they are pained and require a healing touch, a sense that someone is listening to them and cares.

If we do this, we can impact their lives. We can help them go from darkness to light and make headway against the scourge of violence. This is our role as fellow citizens and human beings. Beyond this, it’s important to develop skills to control our emotions. Meditation can help. This inward journey can help us go deep within to summon the ability to meet our challenges and ultimately triumph. The power is within each of us.

It is time to work together towards creating a violence-free society. This is the birthright of every child in our schools. America has always stood as an example of pluralism and harmony, serving as a guiding light in the world. Currently, the beautiful fabric of America is being damaged by school violence. We can turn this around by joining together in the spirit of America and reapplying our universal values, binding our wounds.

Let’s work on sharing healthy ways for people to manage their stress, frustration, and anger at their core and commit to building human values back into our schools and communities. Together, let’s create a violence-free, stress-free world.

Be happy or be difficult

How would you like to see yourself? Happy and bubbling with enthusiasm or dull and difficult to please?

Often you like to be pleased, appeased and cajoled. So you put up a tough, upset face and act difficult to please. If a person has to appease and please ten people all the time, it will be so tiring. People who keep a long face and expect others to cajole and appease them make others run away. Lovers often do this. They expend a lot of energy in cajoling and this brings down the joy and celebration of the moment.

It is okay for you to show your upset mood or tendency once in a while, but doing it over and over again is taxing for you and people you love.

If you feel down, appease and please yourself. Your need to be appeased by someone else is the sign of grossness. This is the root of ignorance. If you want attention, all you get is tension.

Become one whose enthusiasm never dies, come what may!