Why we should review our lives in the time gone past

 

As we flip the calendar, we need to keep flipping our mind as well. Often, our diaries are filled with memories. See that you don't fill your future dates with past events. Allow the space for creativity to unlearn from the past and move on.

In the past year (and many of us rang in a new year just a few weeks back), how many days were you in sanyas? How many days were you struggling, being caught in maya? Turn back and remember the whole year.

Do not run away from anything. Do not reject anything. Do not go away from anything. At the same time, let your attention be on the self. This is a delicate balance. That balance is yoga.  

A poor man celebrates New Year once a year. A rich man celebrates each day. But the richest man celebrates every moment. How rich are you? If you celebrate every moment, you are the Lord of Creation.

Review the year while you celebrate. This is your homework. Compare your performance in the year before last and smile. This year is fortunate because you are living at this time. When you are living for the sake of the world, the world is fortunate.  

Let time celebrate your presence. You keep smiling as ever. When you let time celebrate you, you are witness amid celebration.  

The heart always longs for the old, the mind for the new. Life is a combination of both. Let the New Year bring into our life ancient wisdom and modernity, as life is incomplete without either of them.  

Don't feel shy to speak about human and spiritual values. The time has come now to call the whole world. Be ever new, happy you.

Believing in time

 

An ignorant person either disbelieves or believes what an individual says, but the wise one does neither. His faith rests on kaal, or time. 

When the time is good, a foe will behave like a friend. When the time is not good, even a friend will behave like a foe. 

An ignorant person disbelieves in both time and the Divine beyond time, while the wise one believes in Mahakaal – the Grand Time, or Shiva. 

In the world and in time there is always room for improvement. You can improve your time and your nature. Only Being is perfect all the time. Take refuge in Being and become immutable. Know that I am immutable.

The art of creative silence

 

Creativity brings a new beginning to “time.” When you are creative, you break the monotony of time. Everything becomes fresh and alive. Creativity brings along with it a new round of enthusiasm. 

Both creative and procreative impulses in nature are associated with enthusiasm. When you are enthusiastic, you are closer to the creative principle of existence. 

Deep silence is the mother of creativity. No creativity can come out of one who is too busy, worried, over-ambitious or lethargic. Balanced activity, rest and yoga can kindle skills and creativity in you.

Whether your time is good or bad, is in your hands

 

People who are willing to do seva, service, will have good times even in the bad times. When there are problems, such as famine or war, Red Cross people are fine as they are serving. The more relief they bring, the happier they feel. And people who are selfish and who just want to enjoy themselves will be miserable even in good times.

Often the organizers of a party do not enjoy the party because some little thing is missing, they forgot to invite somebody, somebody did not come, or some little thing went wrong. 

A wise one is happy even in bad times. And the ignorant one is unhappy even in good times. You make time good or bad. People usually blame bad time and just wait for good time.

Even if an astrologer says that you are in a hopeless time, you can still make it a good time! Like weather, time has its impact on you. Your satsang and sadhana are your shield, your protection. 

So realize that you are more than time and that you can change the time by your connection to the Divine.

Learning the path to yourself

 

Become God to each other. Do not look for God somewhere in the sky, but see God in every pair of eyes, in the mountains, in water, in trees and in animals. How? Only when you see God in yourself will this happen. Only God can worship God. 

To recognize Divinity, there are three dimensions – time, space and mind. For seekers, it is necessary to honor time and space so they can experience sacredness in their minds. When you honor time and space, your mind becomes alert. But for the one who has transcended the mind, either sacredness has no meaning or all times, every place and every mood is sacred. 

Precious moments are few in life. Catch them and treasure them. Place, time and the mood of your mind are factors that influence celebration. Snatch every opportunity to celebrate. Then you will feel great and full. Then celebration infiltrates your mind in all moods and space, and celebration is inevitable. 

Celebration reminds you of the fullness of the moment. The moments spent in the company of knowledge – the master – are the most precious moments in your life. Treasure them. Treasuring them, you transcend the mind, time and space. That is true celebration.

Experiencing infinity

 

Time and space are infinite. Grains of sand are countless. Atoms in the universe are innumerable, as are the stars and the galaxies. The same is true with life on this planet. 

There is neither a beginning nor an end because everything is spherical. A sphere has no beginning and no end, no goal or direction. Truth has no direction, no goal. Truth itself is the goal, and truth is infinite. 

Feeling and experiencing infinity within this finite body, living in timelessness within the time span of life, uncovering bliss within misery, this is what you are here for. When wisdom dawns, it gives rise to celebration. But in celebration you may lose your focus or awareness. The ancient rishis knew this, so to maintain awareness amidst the gaiety of celebration, they brought sacredness and puja to every event. 

New Year Wishes

 

A poor man celebrates New Year once a year. A rich man celebrates each day. But the richest man celebrates every moment. How rich are you? Do you celebrate once a year? Once a month? Every day? 

If you celebrate every moment, you are the Lord of Creation. Review the year while you celebrate. This is your homework. What did you do? What did you achieve? How useful were you this past year? Sit for an hour and think about every week, one minute per week, and see the year’s growth in less than an hour. With a flower, on New Year's Day, offer the whole year to the Divine.

Celebrate the knowledge and feel the abundance. Those who have will be given more. Human life is a combination of body (or matter), and spirit (or vibration). Joy is becoming intense vibration and forgetting that you are matter. Carnal instincts can make you momentarily feel intense vibrations. That is how they give you a glimpse of joy. But such 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 is why when you sing, ecstasy continues for along time. Pleasure in the subtle is long -lasting, energizing, refreshing and freeing. Pleasure from the gross is short-lived, tiring and binding.

When you know you are electricity - vibration or energy - then craving, greed, lust and anger disappear and you become true celebration. You are the Christmas tree that points upwards with branches on all sides. At the time of the 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. Let time celebrate your presence. People usually make a wish for the New Year, but this year, make no wish. Let the New Year celebrate you.

If the New Year wants to bring you nicer things, just let it. Usually you are lost in celebration. When you let time celebrate you, you are a witness amidst celebration. The New Year is fortunate because you are living at this time. You are not living for yourself, but for the world. Whatever the world needs or wants, you are here for that.

Don't mind the time

 

When you are ahead of time, it drags and is boring. When time is ahead of you, then you are surprised and shocked. You cannot digest events. In deep meditation, you are time and everything is happening in you. Events are happening in you like the clouds that come and go in the sky. When you are with time, you are wise and at peace.

When you are happy, the mind expands, then time appears too short. When you are unhappy, the mind contracts, then time appears too long. When the mind has equanimity, you transcend time. To escape from time, many resort to alcohol or sleep but when the mind is dull or unconscious, it is unable to experience itself. 

Samadhi, no mindedness or timelessness, is the real peace. That is the greatest healer. A thought is nothing but a ripple in this moment of time. This moment also has a mind of its own, a big mind which has infinite organizing power. Before you fall into slumber or as soon as you wake up from sleep, in the moments of twilight of consciousness, experience the timelessness beyond mind. 

Life is a combination of form and formless. Feelings have no form but their expressions have form. The self has no form but its abode has form. Similarly, wisdom and grace have no form but are expressed through form. Discarding the formless, you become inert, materialistic and paranoid. Discarding the form, you become a dreamer, a lost ascetic, or an emotional wreck. 

Meditation and its many meanings

Meditation is not an act; it is the art of doing nothing. The rest in meditation is deeper than the deepest sleep that you can ever have. When the mind becomes free from agitation, becomes calm and serene and is at peace, meditation happens. When the mind is engaged in some activity, it gets tired.

So any type of concentration, contemplation or any activity in the mind can drain your system. Meditation is that which doesn’t drain you, but just gives you deep rest and we withdraw from all sensory activities like seeing, listening, smelling, tasting. It is almost like sleep, but not exactly sleep.

Meditation is not concentration; it is de-concentration, letting go. When can you rest? Rest is possible when you have stopped all activities. When you stop moving around, stop working, talking, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, thinking—then you get rest or sleep. In sleep you are left with only involuntary activities like breathing, heartbeat, food digestion, blood-circulation, etc. 

But this is not total rest. When the mind settles down, only then total rest or meditation happens. There are three modes to our consciousness: waking, dreaming and sleeping; and a fourth mode is the meditative state. That is, you are aware from within and yet fully in a deep state of rest. Meditation calms the mind and gives it deep rest.

What happens in your mind when you have to wait for something? Do you notice the time passing by? In waiting, you observe every moment that is passing by and this very waiting can take you into meditation. When you have to wait, you can either be frustrated or meditative. Feeling time is meditation.

Meditation is that journey from sound to silence, from movement to stillness. It complements activity, though it appears to be completely opposite. For a layman, we can categorize the whole thing in seven layers of existence: body, breath, mind, intellect, memory, ego and the reference point of change which we call the “self.”

You know in life, we notice everything is changing. And how do we know the change, if there is no reference in the mind? There is something in us that is not changing. That something that has been with us, we call it the Self or the non-changing aspect of our consciousness. So, meditation is a journey to the non-changing reference of our Self, the consciousness.

Now, many people ask how to quiet the mind in meditation or how to get into a deeper meditation? So I would say, first accept the noise and not fight it. You fight with it and feel that you should not have this noise. The more you want to get rid of it, the more it will stick to you. The principle of consciousness or mind is such that resistance does not eliminate it but makes it grow. So first you have to let go and not resist it.

Second focus on the five different ways of getting into meditation. Breathing will help you get rid of the noise. Proper food can also make an impact on meditation. Exercise, posture and refined emotions, good understanding, all of these will aid meditation. 

Certainties of the changing world

 

Uncertainty causes craving for stability. The most stable thing in the world is the Self. The world is of change and the self is of non-change. You have to rely on the non-changing and accept the change. Uncertainty with awareness brings higher state of consciousness with a smile.

Often people think that certainty is freedom. If you feel that freedom when you are not certain, then that is the real freedom. Being certain about the uncertainty of the relative makes you certain about the existence of the absolute and also brings a certain faith in the absolute.

When you feel time is too short, you are either restless or in a state of expanded awareness. When you feel time is too long you are either miserable or keen-minded. When you are happy and love what you are doing you lose the track of time. When you are ahead of time, it is dragging and boring. When time is ahead of you, then you are surprised and shocked. You are unable to understand the play of events.

In deep meditation, you are time and everything is happening in you. When you are time, you are wise and at peace. Just as the mind experiences time, this moment has a mind of its own, a big Mind, which has an enormous and infinite organizing power. Thought is nothing but a ripple in this moment, and thus a few moments of samadhi infuses the mind with energy. Just before you fall asleep, or as soon as you wake up, the consciousness experiences timelessness.

Life is a combination of form and formless. Feelings have no form, but their expressions have form. The Self has no form, but its abode has form. Similarly, wisdom and grace have no form but are expressed through form. Discarding the formless, you become inert, materialistic and paranoid. Discarding the form, you become a dreamer, a lost ascetic, or emotionally unbalanced.

Events come and go, they perish like flowers. But every event and every person contains some honey. Like a bee, just take the honey out of every event and every moment and move on. Be like a busy bee and be in the being.

Relationship between mind and time

 

You have a mind and the mind passes through time. Why don’t you observe it! You have different moods in the morning, different moods in the afternoon, and different moods in the evening and night. Isn’t it so?

There is alertness and wakefulness at sunrise. I don’t think anybody likes to listen to romantic songs at dawn, dusk or afternoon. Unless you are newly married or just fallen in love! 

In the morning, the mind is in a state of knowledge, alertness and wakefulness.
It is action-oriented in the afternoon and in the evening, the mind is in a state of relaxation.

One who wants to be unhappy can be unhappy the whole time, and one who wants to be happy can be happy throughout the day. A fool will be unhappy all the time and the intelligent one will be happy in spite of changing moods. In the same way, seasons also affect the mind. 

Definitely, the mind and time have a very unique relationship. If you have transcended the mind, there is happiness throughout. An eternal calmness and serenity dawns. 

Time is the gift of life

 

Time is the gift of life, to you. When you consider time as a gift, your entire outlook towards life shifts. In the cycle of time, every event in life has something wonderful in it and something not so favourable. The good or favourable part makes you joyful, bringing peace and tranquility. When unfavourable things happen, you need to have strength and courage for they bring a depth to life. Every challenge brings an opportunity to improve your skills and helps you to realise your potential.

It is good to reflect how time swept you through different events and has now brought you to a New Year. Look at the year that has passed and the experiences it has brought you. Like every year, 2021, too, offered you gifts, while the challenging times made you more resilient. 

While the lockdowns and social distancing kept people apart, technology brought nations together – millions across the globe came together, virtually, to meditate twice each day. With the help of technology, we reached out to hundreds and thousands of distressed and anxious minds, and helped them regain the strength to carry on! Across all nations, the year 2021 brought home the most important lesson that human values cannot be compromised. Love, compassion, a sense of belongingness, gratefulness for what you have, and a vision for the whole world has to dawn in every life! 

The pandemic forced millions of people globally to face the reality of illness and death, experience anxiety and fear. Now at this time of the New Year, many wonder, “So many people lost their lives, how can we celebrate?”. If you arrange a party just to satisfy yourself, when your celebration is aimed merely to gratify yourself, to draw pleasure from it, then you will definitely feel guilty. But if your intention is to uplift those around you – your friends, family, loved ones, neighbours, then don’t delay it! In such a scenario, the celebration itself, even if it is virtual, becomes an act of service. When your celebration becomes your service, you will find there is no guilt. 

From the ashes of 2021, and the ushering of 2022, we have a great responsibility to uplift the collective consciousness of the world. A new creation has come in and, with it, a new hope for everyone on the planet. And I am certain that all of us here have the capacity to not only uplift ourselves, but also those around us. So in the coming year, let us celebrate with the intention of bringing knowledge and happiness to everyone – to awaken everyone to the fact that everything is impermanent. What is eternal? It is the spirit of our consciousness – it does not change, it has no life nor death. Remind everyone that life on a higher plane is eternal. Let us celebrate every moment and be grateful, for time is a gift to us.

Be one of those who change time

 

A New Year is the time when a lot of people stumble upon the realisation, “Oh! Another year has gone by!” For a few seconds or minutes, we wonder about the current of time that flows by and then again get busy or lost in the world outside. The funny thing is that this happens nearly every year. If we go deeper into these moments of wonder, we realise that there is an aspect of us that is a witness to all the events of time. This witness inside us is unchanging and it is from here that we observe all the change that time brings.

All the events in life until this moment appear like a dream. Wisdom is becoming aware of this dream-like nature of life even as it is unfolding now. Knowing this brings tremendous strength from within and you do not get shaken by events and circumstances. At the same time, events have their own place in life. We need to learn from them and keep moving.

In the past year, how many days were you in sanyas? How many days were you struggling, being caught in maya? Turn back and remember the entire year. Do not run away from anything. Do not reject anything. At the same time, let your attention be on the self. This is a delicate balance. This balance is yoga. This balance is spirituality. Some people think it is about being silent. Some people think it is only celebration. However, spirituality is a harmonious blend of outer silence and inner celebration, and also inner silence and outer celebration.

This year has been very challenging for the entire world. But we need to keep making efforts to make it better for everyone around. This is possible when we are established within ourselves. In you, there is an actor and there is a witness. As you go inwards, the witness aspect grows in you and you remain untouched by events. And as you go outwards, the actor in you becomes more skilful in responding to situations. These two entirely opposite aspects of our being are nurtured by meditation. When you come closer to the Self, your action becomes powerful in the world and right action in the world brings you closer to the Self.

The year that is going by has taught us many lessons; what we should be doing and what we should not be doing. Every pain that we went through brought us some depth, and all the joy and pleasure gave us a new vision of life and hope for the future.

The year gone by saw plenty of rainy days. This New Year let there be sunshine – both in our lives and in society. Let us all have a determination to create a violence-free, stress-free society. Let us resolve to be unshakable within and move towards a better world. Time changes people but there are people who change the time. May you be one of them. Happy New Year!

Time management

 

Don't let the time manage you. First of all, 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.

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.

On Mahashivaratri 2021

Shivaratri is when you repose in your being. You know night gives you comfort however frustrated you are. When you sleep you are not touched by frustration; sleep relieves you of pain, suffering, frustration, desires, fear, everything. There is no fear in sleep, there are none of these emotions in sleep because it relieves you from all these and it comforts you.

When we are awake we are so busy, we are caught up in so many things and when we are tired we fall asleep, we get into inertia but there is something in between. When you consciously repose in your being you encounter that which is magnificent, that which is universal, that which has no boundaries, that which has no time.

Shiva is beyond time and yet he is called Maha (grand) in time. You know you feel the timelessness, isn’t it? When you meditate what do you feel? When you take a dip into that emptiness that you are, that emptiness is full of all glory, all bliss.

We get so fried by our desires and our fears and our anxiety and wants and dislikes we need rest and that rest is what meditation is and meditation is that, which leads to Shiva tattva, the Shiva principle.

For a moment you will see all the activities and the entire phenomenal world as ephemeral, as temporary, it’s like a dream and the dream nature of everything lifts you to the reality that you are. You are that vast consciousness which has no limit and the way to realise that is devotion.

You know the divine accepts everything from you, you know whatever you have, offer it. You have guilt, offer it to the divine. Thoughts are flowers because it all belongs to the divine. So anything that is bothering you, anything that you hold on to within you, which is bothering you, anything you have in you, you have to simply let go, know that it is not yours, it belongs to Shiva. Shiva is very personal, yet he is universal, Shiva is beauty yet he is unseen, Shiva is in every particle of the being, everything that we see is Shiva.

Yet, what we don’t see is also Shiva. It’s the night that gives you the vision of infinity, in the day time you can not see infinity. In the night you see how many universes are there, how many stars? The glory of existence is visible in the night and in the night you don’t see many things right? In the same way, night takes you in its lap and comforts you and soothes you of every other emotion, good or bad and it’s the same in meditation.

When you go into meditation it brings relief to you, it uplifts you and that is what Shivaratri is about. Be awake inside and repose in yourself. Many devotees from time immemorial who have sung (Om Namah Shivaya), have seen that all their sins vanished. Just say “Om Namah Shivaya”, all the lack will disappear from you, with “Om Namah Shivaya” fears will fly away, just say “Om Namah Shivaya”, what more do you want?

When lack disappears, fear disappears, tiredness goes away you are left with bliss and pure bliss and that is Shiva. Shiva is: sat i.e. the truth, chit i.e. consciousness and anand i.e. bliss. The yogi finds it so obvious and the one who is not a yogi finds it just a hearsay or a story and it just goes above him. But a yogi knows it all and will say yes, that is correct. Right? So you are all yogis.

“Shivoham, Shivoham”, “I am Shiva”, “I am Shiva”, this “I” is nothing but Shiva and then “Sarvam Shivamayam Jagat” means everything here is filled with Shiva, is soaked with Shiva, is manifestation of Shiva”. These two feelings “Everything is Shiva” and “I am Shiva”, that’s it, done.

So for you to go deep in meditation, know that you are loved, Shiva loves you so dearly. You are loved and you are lovely because you are made by Shiva. So you have to be lovely, there is no choice. However you have been created, the creator is responsible, so however you are and that role that you have been given is given by Shiva and so it has got to be lovely, it has got to be beautiful! "You are loved" and "you are lovely"; see how the mind becomes free with these two understandings. Putting yourself in this positive, beautiful vibration, universal vibration of the mantras, of the chants, uplifts our consciousness in more than one way, in many many ways.

Remedy the effects of planets by going beyond time!

 

It’s not just the planets that affect you. You can also affect them. It’s not just that the stones you wear that will affect you. You can also affect them. In fact, your effect on them is much more powerful than their effect on you. You can touch a stone or crystal, and they can absorb your vibration for quite a while. 

In India, there are crystal Shiv-lingams, the idols that are kept in temples. Whenever a saint makes an offering or worship or consecrates it, the place becomes holy. And the energy there is sustained for a long period of time. When people visit these places, they feel calm, quiet and happy. When our mind is really centered and connected to the source of energy within us, then we affect the planets. 

In astrology, there is a chapter called Upaya, which means remedies. Suppose there is a bad effect of a planet on a person at some time, it is possible to correct it. A person can meditate during bad times. He goes beyond time and space when he meditates – beyond the intellect. The effect of the rays or the planet is only up to the intellect. It cannot go beyond the intellect. It stops at the body, breath, mind and intellect. We are the source of energy and cannot be touched or affected by the outer configuration of planets. 

There is a story in the Puranas. There was a couple who did not have any children. So they prayed and it is said that God came to them in a dream and asked them what kind of son did they want – a stupid son with one hundred years of life or an intelligent one with only sixteen years of life? They opted for an intelligent boy with only sixteen years of life. Of course, they got a son and they believed that when he was fifteen years old he would die in one year. Only one year. He was extraordinary, brilliant, a genius, and naturally, the parents didn’t like the idea of losing such a wonderful son. So they prayed and it is said when the death call came, the boy sat in deep meditation and prayed and recited some mantras. He was granted another sixteen years. Today, people still recite the mantra made by this boy when there is some danger to life. It is well known in India. 

One can remedy the effects of the planets by going beyond time, going beyond body consciousness and the breath consciousness, like in sleep. When you sleep, you are not aware of the body, you are not aware of the breath and you are not aware of the world around you. You transcend these. You make a shift. It gives you rest and refreshes you. It brings back more life energy into your life. Most of our illnesses are healed just by sleep. This is because in sleep we go beyond time and space, but we do it unconsciously. If we do it consciously, it is mediation. It is much more powerful than sleep.

11 insights for 2021

New Year is the time when a lot of people stumble on the realization, “Another year has gone by!” We wonder for a few moments at the current of time that flows on, and then again we get busy. The funny thing is that this happens nearly every year. 2020 will be remembered for so many things. The challenges that it brought with it and the opportunities too. As we move ahead in 2021, let’s gracefully carry ahead the wisdom this year brought us. Here are some insights for doing so.

1. Some celebrate the new year regretting the past, some pray for a better future. Rare are the ones who wake up to reality and move time. As the new year approaches, let us resolve to be unshakeable within and move towards a better world. Time changes people, but some people change time. May you be one of them!

2. No year passes without joy or challenges. Use every moment of joy to serve and see every challenge as an opportunity for growth. Whatever events happened in 2020 are all gone. There were some pleasant days, some unpleasant ones; some happy days, some worthwhile days, and some days when you did nothing. The days you did nothing have not left any impression on your mind because nothing worthwhile happened. The impressions of the other days are on your mind because you think something worthwhile happened. Wisdom makes you realize that nothing is worthwhile, or rather everything is nothing.

3. Commit to dropping the past and starting a fresh new life. Be natural and loving. Serve and celebrate. Review the past and revive the spirit inside of you. Our spirit is covered by dust or ashes. The fire of the spirit is buried beneath the ashes. All that you need to do is to blow a little bit, and it will be rekindled again. Revive the spirit inside of you. 

4. If you keep your gifts to yourself, life drags. If you share them, life flows smoothly. The year has left many different experiences. Some people felt it flew by so fast, while others felt it was dragging. What makes time lighter and what makes time heavier? What makes time longer and what makes it so short? It’s the mind. When the mind is united in wisdom, time flies. When the mind is away from wisdom, time moves slowly. It’s good to be committed to wisdom at the beginning of the new year.

5. This new year go to a place where everything is beautiful; that place is within you. Wherever you go after that you will add beauty. There is a place you can come where everything is beautiful. Tourists go from place to place looking for beauty. They try to take beauty from that place. Yet the most beautiful spot anywhere is right here. When you come here, you find that wherever you are, everything is so beautiful. Where is this place? Don’t look here and there. Where do you go? Within.

When you come here, then any place is beautiful. Then wherever you go, you add beauty there. Book yourself on a trip to this most beautiful place in the universe. Then you find that every day is a vacation and a celebration.

6. Resolve to do something good in society. Let us have the confidence that whatever we need will come to us. Don’t think only about yourself, but do some service activity. Do some good work in society, bring smiles to the faces of people, and gain some merit. If you bring smiles to the faces of others then you have a right to demand something for yourself. This is the real currency.

You need to have some bank balance first to shop, isn’t it? Seva makes your bank balance go up. Then when you ask for whatever you want, you will get it.

You can buy the whole supermarket if you have enough points. Let us resolve to do something good in society, and let us have the confidence that whatever we need will come to us; will be given to us.

7. With greater enthusiasm, have bigger goals for society and yourself. As you are coming to the end of this year, think of all those challenges you had, and how they have contributed to your growth. Think of how you handled these challenges, the mistakes you made, and the lessons you inferred. This is the first step. Next, think of the gifts that the past year has given to you, and how you will utilize them for the betterment of life on the planet.

8. It's not just the year that is changing. Your appearance, thoughts, feelings have all been changing. In fact, there isn’t a single cell left in you that you were born with. So what makes you ‘you’? If you find this out, your life becomes an eternal celebration.

9. When the mind moves with time, there is happiness; when it moves with events, there is misery. 

10. This new year, learn from the previous year and move on, knowing that you are timeless. Imagine you are sitting on the bank of a river and watching the water flow. You are watching all the different things flowing by in the river. A ship is going in the river, logs are floating, leaves are flowing, some ducks are going by, and unfortunately, some garbage is also flowing in the river. You are watching everything moving, completely unperturbed. In the same way, when you sit on the bank of time and watch as time carries the events, you will be amazed as you notice that there is something in you that is not changing. You notice that you are not changing, and you are unaffected by anything.

11. Some wait for good times to come, others make time, good. A clear heart and sharp mind can make time better. Keep the cheer, joy, and smile throughout the journey of life. Everybody is on a conveyor belt and the belt is moving. Some are crying and walking while others are laughing and walking. But the conveyor belt is moving anyway. How do you want to move on this conveyor belt of time? It is your choice.

Message for the New Year 2021

2020 has made us wiser; it was a challenging year - all those who were on the run or never sat at home were forced to sit at home. Those into service like frontline health workers put their heart & soul, put their lives at risk. Places of worship like temples, mosques, even ashrams were shut down. Hotel industry and tourism almost disappeared. 

But there’s 1 thing - the zeal/enthusiasm didn’t stop, the flame was alive. Our experience in caring /sharing for people has only grown.

Human mind has enormous capacity to adjust, accommodate and acclimatise to any eventuality. Many have discovered another dimension in their life - the spiritual dimension, that you don’t need to go to any place of worship to be spiritual and can sit and meditate wherever you are to find peace amid the chaos. These dimensions have made our lives richer. 

Innovative spirit has been coming up in many parts of the world. Innovation comes when the mind is calm, serene and relaxed. This time gave us an opportunity to do things that we were either postponing or complaining about that we didn’t have the time to do. Now we say goodbye to 2020 and get ready to welcome 2021.

The coming year will definitely give us the much-needed spirit of enthusiasm and willingness to care & share for each other and move towards more progress in our personal and social life. 

There are people who get stuck in time, then those who flow with time, then those who change time and there are others who surpass/go beyond time. As meditators / people in conscious living, you all have the ability to beyond time. That is spiritual wisdom. Know that you are beyond the body and events. This glimpse will make the foundation of love, thought and compassion unstoppable, irrespective of situations, with a smile & sense of celebration.

There are people who could not see through the year and exited the planet earlier and the families could not even say goodbye to them due to COVID-19. I tell them - there is a strength within you, of deep inner silence, through which you can bring peace, not just to everyone around you, but to realms that are unfathomable, which are beyond our apparent reach. Continue to meditate; your deep connection with with the silence within you will bring peace and solace to those who have crossed over as well.

Let’s welcome 2021 to bring more happiness and remove any traces of fear or uncertainty that we may have harboured or carried on with us. Let’s use wisdom to uplift our spirits in these times.

Art of Living is a global family and in the new year, we celebrate our 40th year. We will spend this year in reflecting on the path this movement has walked through. All those who have spent decades, many years, in AOL should recollect, write and compile their stories/ experiences for posterity. This is the icing on the cake, the real thing is the profound inner silence. In this 40th year, let’s spread the fragrance to all those in need so that people can feel the transformation in their lives and lead a happy, healthy life.

All those who are sincere, intense seekers - this would be a year in which you’ll go deeper in wisdom and be the lighthouse for the whole world. 

We’ll do some celebrations in the year-end, after the pandemic and uncertainties looming over the entire planet are over. In this, ayurveda will help, yagnas (ancient ceremonies), they will all help.

And, this year will have many surprises for us all! Yes, pleasant surprises!

Mysteries are to be lived, not understood

We all came into this world gifted with innocence, but gradually, as we became more intelligent, we lost our innocence. We were born with silence, but as we grew up, we lost the silence and were filled with words. We lived in our hearts, but as time passed, we moved into our heads. The reversal of this journey is enlightenment. 

It is the journey from the head back to the heart – from words, back to silence; it is getting back to our innocence in spite of our intelligence. Knowledge should lead you to that beautiful point of “I don’t know!” The purpose of knowledge is wonder. The completion of knowledge leads you to amazement and wonder. It makes you aware of this existence. Mysteries are to be lived, not understood. They move you from an ugly “I don’t know” to a beautiful “I don’t know!” 

As our intelligence grows, we tend to lose our innocence. The crookedness of the intelligent, or the innocence of the ignorant, has no value, but the innocence of one, who is in knowledge, has value. If one can maintain a gap between “doing,” the “happening,” and one’s self, then it is very precious and it is also very simple. 

It is not that one has to strive hard to do something to maintain innocence. An ignorant person won’t say, “I don’t know!” One passes through knowledge, and then one comes to another “I don’t know!” which is the beautiful “I don’t know!” Knowledge increases your idea of not knowing. As you know more, the unknown seems to increase. It can be in any field – music, science or the arts. With this, comes the beautiful “I don’t know!” and that is what innocence is. 

Ignorance, which has passed through knowledge, gets into another state, which is the beautiful “I don’t know!” Astonishment is the basis of a spiritual opening. Creation is filled with so many amazing things, but we take things for granted, and when we take things for granted, inertia dawns, tamas arises, inactivity and ignorance come. A sense of astonishment brings wakefulness. 

A miracle shocks you; shock is wakefulness, and when we awaken, we see that the whole creation is full of miracles. The entire creation is to be astounded with, astonished about, and wondered upon, because it is all the display of one consciousness. 

The same consciousness burns as oxygen in a lamp, then there is light. What is the similarity between light and life? A lamp (light) needs oxygen to burn – so does a life. If you are put in a glass cage, the life in you will be put out. In the same way, if you put a glass cage over a lamp, the lamp will only burn as long as there is oxygen, otherwise it will be put out. 

Our little brain is programmed to one or two languages, and we think that all understanding and all knowledge can be captured in this little brain of ours. From the point of view of animals, your language has no meaning. It is just like howling! If cats or dogs hear you, unless you have trained them for a long time, they will think you are mewing or barking at them – just with a different sound; it makes no sense to them! Our language, our intellect, and our mind are so limited; their perspective is limited. 

We think we can reason, find logic in, and understand all that exists, because that feeling of “I know it all!” can keep us in a little shell of dullness. But “I don’t know!” creates wakefulness, and you need to be awakened! What is this “I don’t know!”? This “I don’t know!” is the key to spiritual progress.

Nature provides you with opportunities to be amazed, again and again; so wonder about: “What is life?” “What is consciousness?” “What is the universe?” “Who am I?” You are so fortunate if you come to this point. This is the beginning of spirituality, of yoga – union with the one Divinity. 

Let us get astonished at the union. Wonder is the preface of the union and when you are united, you wonder at everything! You walk around, look at a flower, and wonder, “Wow! This flower is so intelligent!” Recognize the intelligence in every petal, in every leaf, in every human being that walks around you. Look at every human being. Consciousness has its own mind, it looks through the eyes, it speaks through the mouth, it responds to you (or doesn’t respond to you) many times. The prana – the life force – is present in every stone, in every object. There is nothing inanimate on this planet. We are all floating in the ocean of life. 

From the microcosm, to the macrocosm, everybody is just a shell in the ocean of life – it is such good fortune, and this is one such phenomenon. The time scale of the present, past and future, is within the purview of the consciousness. Consciousness is beyond time and space; it is all just vibrations. So if you are amazed, astonished, wonderstruck, just close your eyes with a smile, and be in union with the self. 

Does karma affect the body and mind?

Influence of karma affects body and mind. But, what was said in the Ashtavakra Gita, in reality these are all external things. The effect of karma does not touch you at all.

This matter is one step ahead; so both are true. See, do you ever feel that, ‘I never grew old, or aged, I am the same?’ Isn’t that true? Ask any elderly person, no matter how old, he will tell you that he doesn’t feel he is going to die and poor fellow dies. And he looks at someone else and says, ‘Poor fellow died, I am not going to die’. Doesn’t it feel that way? It does! There is something within us which never dies. That is why we feel that we are permanent. All others will come and go.

And then there is another thing that is true, that according to our karma and time, old age creeps into the body. Hairs fall off. In the past it used to take me one hour to comb my hair, then half an hour, and now, not even one minute; Maharajji doesn’t have to do anything! 

So some changes occur with time, we should observe that. On one level, if we observe, everything is changing, our thoughts are changing, and we are no longer the person we were yesterday. Isn’t that so? The person you were five years ago, and the person standing here today, are they different or not? Is that true or not? Yes! Yet it is not the same person who used to be; this is on one level. 

On another level, the same person is standing here who was here ten, twenty or twenty-five years ago. Isn’t it? So both are true, this is true and that is also true. Everything changes, this is true, and some things never change, that is also true. Ashtavakra Gita emphasises on that which never changes. Bhagwad Gita emphasises on that which is changing, such as karma, how to manage it etc. 

Everything changes, but inside us, there is an element that does not change. Know this and accept all the changes.