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Janamashtami: A new perspective‏ (with Audio) by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

 

Click here for audio… Krishna by Gurudev Audio

Janamashtami: A new perspective‏ (with Audio) by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Janamashtami celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna. Ashtami is significant as it indicates a perfect balance between the seen and the unseen aspects of reality; the visible material world and the invisible spiritual realm.

Krishna’s birth on Ashtami signifies his mastery of both the spiritual and material worlds. He is a great teacher and a spiritual inspiration as well as the consummate politician. On one hand, he is Yogeshwara (the Lord of Yogas — the state to which every yogi aspires) while on the other, he is a thief.

The unique quality of Krishna is that he is at once more pious than the saints and yet a thorough mischief-monger! His behaviour is a perfect balance of the extremes — perhaps this is why the personality of Krishna is so difficult to fathom. The avdhoot is oblivious to the world outside and a materialistic person, a politician or a king is oblivious to the spiritual world. But Krishna is both Dwarkadheesh and Yogeshwar.

Krishna’s teachings are most relevant to our times in the sense that they neither let you get lost in material pursuits nor make you completely withdrawn. They rekindle your life, from being a burnt-out and stressed personality to a more centred and dynamic one. Krishna teaches us devotion with skill. To celebrate Gokulashtami is to imbibe extremely opposite yet compatible qualities and manifest them in your own life.

Hence the most authentic way of celebrating Janamashtami is knowing that you have to play a dual role — of being a responsible citizen of the nation and at the same time to realise that you are above all events, the untouched Brahman. Imbibing a bit of avadhoot and a bit of activism in your life is the real significance of

celebrating Janamashtami.

- H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji.

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Beauty by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar … from Drijen

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

Beauty by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar … from Drijen

Adi Shankara, after he spoke a lot about dispassion, detachment, and renunciation, found that people should not stop appreciating beauty. So he sang a hundred verses on beauty. He foresaw that if he just talked about renunciation, people could become sadists. They start liking and encouraging the sadness. So he immediately sang on beauty.

Beauty has three levels: indication, expression and exposure. Spirituality indicates, art expresses, and science exposes.

The Divine is beauty, and beauty is divine. Deva means one who loves to play, one who is effulgent, glorious, and one who plays. Demons fight, men live in peace, and gods play. Playfulness cannot happen if there is no beauty; they go together. Enthusiasm, the same force that is beauty, creates playfulness. Beauty is associated with shyness, and shyness enhances beauty. For example, a small child sometimes makes a very shy face. When everyone notices and appreciates it, it just hides its face. Likewise, shame is a part of ugliness. Shyness softens you; ugliness or shame hardens you. When a person feels ashamed, he becomes hard inside and becomes violent.

The way of gods, the way of the wise has always been indirect. There is a saying in Sanskrit, ‘Paroksha priya hi vai devaha?’ which means, ‘Gods love indirect methods’. Poetry is indirect; it’s exaggeration. The heart always exaggerates, while the mind puts the fact forward. Fact is intellectual. But when it comes from the heart, the fact is decorated. Then it becomes doubly beautiful.

Direct expression is necessary when one is not awake. But with the awakened, hints and the indirect expression make it all the more charming. But it doesn’t mean that something is good or something is bad. Everything has its place and its time. Total exposure is not the language of the heart. Total exposure provokes; concealed beauty invokes. That is why this nature conceals the whole creation during the night inside itself, and reveals it the next day, in the morning.

Love is at its peak when no effort is made to express it. It is not that you should not express it sometimes; otherwise you may burst! It is just that there is a beauty in not expressing it completely. And in that secretiveness and the unveiling of it, there is knowledge, there is opening, there is joy, there is beauty. That is a divine quality. Intellect has its place and poetry has its place. Both make life fuller. That is the beauty.

See people beyond their expressions. What a person expresses is not what he’s all about. There is a lot of unexpressed love in each life. Just recognising this fact, you expand; your heart expands. Then you’ll never be stuck with what someone says or someone does. What someone says is very small, and what someone does is just ribbon on the package. If you don’t like the ribbon, just take it off and look at what’s inside.

Everybody is a packed gift. Don’t just choose to look at the wrapper. Inside each one is a very precious gift. Some packages have firecrackers! Some packages have sweet candies. No box is empty. There is place for everybody in the heart of the Divine. That is what Jesus meant when he said, ”There are many rooms in the house of my father”.

So do not worry that there are so many people. Do not ask how you can be close to God. Do not worry about how you can belong there. There are many rooms, and each one of you will have your own private room! And Jesus promises, ”If there are not many rooms, I’ll make something for you and then come and take you there”. The mind cannot appreciate something abstract, it’s so used to looking at concrete stuff and promises. The mind needs promises. When you love somebody, you want a promise from him or her. You ask, ”Do you promise me? Do you really love me? Tell me for sure!”

The second aspect of beauty is gratefulness. When you don’t feel that you lack something, then you feel grateful. You cannot be grateful and feel that you lack something. The two cannot go together. Perhaps, you experience both, but only at different times. When you feel you lack something, the grumbling begins. With the knowledge you have, you become grateful. When you are grateful, by natural law you will be given more. As Jesus has said, ”Those who have will be given more. Those who have not, even what little they have, will be taken away from them.”

Whomsoever you want to love, first of all, know they love you very much. If you doubt in somebody’s love, your doubt grows no matter however, or whatever, you receive from him or her. If you want to be close to someone, first begin to feel they are already close to you. When you ask people whether they trust you, you already doubt their trust. You grow in doubt. There is no limit to it; there is no end to convincing people of one’s love, one’s trust, one’s goodness. That is why it is said that those who have not, whatever little they have will also be taken away from them. And those who have will be given more, and more, and more. This is the very law of nature.

Not having is just an attitude in you. It is the direction you are moving in. Whatever is, that grows. The seeds are already there. You sow the seeds and the seeds will grow. They become plenty. If the seed itself lacks something, how can anything grow? Open your eyes and see what you have been given! When you recognise what you have been given, then you become grateful. In that gratefulness, life grows.

Why did Communism flop? It was a great policy — those who do not have, give to them all. So it gave to them, and what happened? They became poorer and poorer, even on the very material plane, because consciousness was lacking. Without knowledge, without the wisdom, there is no progress.

This power, this energy, this beauty, this wealth has been given. It is permeating the whole creation, without which not a blade of grass can move. However clever even the devas, the angels are, they cannot move, cannot do anything without the power of consciousness, without this life. Without life there is no beauty. A body is beautiful because there is life in it. The entire creation, the trees, the birds, animals, stones, rivers, is full of life. Life is not just the biological life. Life includes the consciousness that permeates much beyond.

In creation there is beauty, in the operation of creation there is beauty, and in the destruction of creation there is beauty. You can see it in nature all the time. Spring has its own beauty; in mid-summer everything is green; in Fall all the leaves fall and it looks spectacular! The Niagara Falls are so beautiful. To maintain those Niagara Falls year after year, and for ages, a certain process is required. The clouds have to go up, and they have to rain on the Great Lakes; and the Great Lakes have to flow. Only then the Niagara Falls can remain forever. Otherwise, if the water just flows down once, and there is no more water to flow, or it doesn’t rain, the whole beauty is gone!

What has been created with so much beauty, underneath there is also a maintenance principle that maintains it time after time, for centuries. Even a dead log of wood has its record embedded in it; in its genes, in its particles, is recorded its beauty, how it was, and how it is now. Even in transformation there is beauty. Even in anger, there is beauty. Just look at somebody who is very upset. The best awards in the film festivals go to the actors who show intense emotions like anger and frustration. All the emotion that gets exhibited is appreciated.

Just imagine somebody yelling at the top of their voice, grinding their teeth, with red eyes, holding their fists and all the nerves in their throat popping out. Just looking at them is such fun! Otherwise the whole world would be very dull. Imagine everybody going around with an airhostess smile all the time. It is no fun! It is the same thing when children cry. There is some beauty even in crying. When they laugh or smile, there is a beauty in it. If they are angry, there is beauty in it. Beauty is all pervasive. You only have to open your eyes and see the reality that is there.

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The Scientific Meaning of the Gayatri Mantra … from Vishal

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

The Scientific Meaning of the Gayatri Manta … from Vishal

From Gatatri Mantra Meaning

Gayatri mantra has been bestowed the greatest importance in Vedic dharma. This mantra has also been termed as Savitri and Ved-Mata, the mother of the Vedas.

Ombhur bhuvah swah
Tat savitur varenyam
Bhargo devasya dheemahi
Dhiyo yo nah prachodayat

The literal meaning of the mantra is:
O God! You are Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Almighty. You are all Light. You are all Knowledge and Bliss. You are Destroyer of fear, You are Creator of this Universe, You are the Greatest of all. We bow and meditate upon Your light. You guide our intellect in the right direction.

The mantra, however, has a great scientific import too, which somehow got lost in the literary tradition. The modern astrophysics and astronomy tell us that our Galaxy called Milky Way or Akash-Ganga contains approximately 100,000 million of stars. Each star is like our sun having its own planet system.

We know that the moon moves round the earth and the earth moves round the sun along with the moon. All planets round the sun. Each of the above bodies revolves round at its own axis as well. Our sun along with its family takes one round of the galactic center in 22.5 crore years. All galaxies including ours are moving away at a terrific velocity of 20,000 miles per second.

From Gatatri Mantra Meaning
From Gatatri Mantra Meaning

And now the alternative scientific meaning of the mantra step by step:

(A) OM BHUR BHUVAH SWAH:
Bhur the earth, bhuvah the planets (solar family), swah the Galaxy. We observe that when an ordinary fan with a speed of 900 RPM (rotations Per minute) moves, it makes noise. Then, one can imagine, what great noise would be created when the galaxies move with a speed of 20,000 miles per second. This is what this portion of the mantra explains that the sound produced due to the fast-moving earth, planets and galaxies is Om.

The sound was heard during meditation by Rishi Vishvamitra, who mentioned it to other colleagues. All of them, then unanimously decided to call this sound Om the name of God, because this sound is available in all the three periods of time, hence it is set (permanent). Therefore, it was the first ever revolutionary idea to identify formless God with a specific title (form) called upadhi. Until that time, everybody recognized God as formless and nobody was prepared to accept this new idea. In the Gita also, it is said, “Omiti ekaksharam brahma”, meaning that the name of the Supreme is Om, which contains only one syllable (8/12).

This sound Om heard during samadhi was called by all the seers nada-brahma (a very great noise), but not a noise that is normally heard beyond a specific amplitude and limits of decibels suited to human hearing. Hence the rishis called this sound Udgith (musical sound of the above, i.e., heaven). They also noticed that the infinite mass of galaxies moving with a velocity of 20,000 miles/second was generating a kinetic energy = 1/2 MV2 and this was balancing the total energy consumption of the cosmos. Hence they named it Pranavah, which means the body (vapu) or store house of energy (prana).

From Gatatri Mantra Meaning

B. TAT SAVITUR VARENYAM: Tat – that (God), savitur – the sun (star), varenyam – worthy of bowing or respect. Once the form of a person along with the name is known to us, we may locate the specific person.mHence the two titles (upadhi) provide the solid ground to identify the formless God, Vishvamitra suggested. He told us that we could know (realise) the unknowable formless God through the known factors, viz., sound Om and light of suns (stars).

A mathematician can solve an equation x2+y2=4; if x=2; then y can be known and so on. An engineer can measure the width of a river even by standing at the riverbank just by drawing a triangle. So was the scientific method suggested by Vishvamitra in the mantra in the next portion as under:-

C) BHARGO DEVASYA DHEEMAHI:
Bhargo – the light, devasya – of the deity, dheemahi – we should meditate. The rishi instructs us to meditate upon the available form (light of suns) to discover the formless Creator (God). Also he wants us to do japa of the word Om (this is understood in the Mantra). This is how the sage wants us to proceed, but there is a great problem to realize it, as the human mind is so shaky and restless that without the grace of the Supreme (Brahma) it cannot be controlled.

Hence Vishvamitra suggests the way to pray Him as under:

D) DHIYO YO NAH PRACHODAYAT:
Dhiyo (intellect), yo (who), nah (we all), prachodayat (guide to right Direction). O God! Deploy our intellect on the right path. Full scientific interpretation of the Mantra: The earth (bhur), the planets (bhuvah), and the galaxies (swah) are moving at a very great velocity, the sound produced is Om, (the name of formless God.) That God (tat), who manifests Himself in the form of light of suns (savitur) is worthy of bowing/respect (varenyam). We all, therefore, should meditate (dheemahi) upon the light (bhargo) of that deity (devasya) and also do chanting of Om. May He (yo) guide in right direction (prachodayat) our (nah) intellect (dhiyo). So we notice that the important points hinted in the mantra are:-

From Gatatri Mantra Meaning

1) The total kinetic energy generated by the movement of galaxies acts as an umbrella and balances the total energy consumption of the cosmos. Hence it was named as the Pranavah (body of energy). This is equal to 1/2 mv2 (Mass of galaxies x velocity2).

2) Realizing the great importance of the syllable OM, the other later date religions adopted this word with a slight change in accent, viz., amen and Ameen.

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Compassion & Trust by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

Compassion & Trust by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
1993 Santa Barbara California

Ok observe what is happening in the mind right now. What is happening? Whatever I say is secondary, but you being aware of what is happening right now with you is primary. See a question arises and you’re waiting for an answer. Are you aware of this? Or in your mind you say yes or no, you agree or disagree. Are you aware of this? This is a quality of consciousness which does not come unless we develop it, unless we call for it. See what I’m saying? There are few qualities in human beings which makes us different from an animal. Can you tell me what they are? How come human being are different from other animals. There are very few qualities, you can count them on one hand. One of them is laughing. You are bestowed with laughing. Understanding, though animals do have a degree of understanding, humans have it much different and much more. Though there is intelligence, even a bird or whatever, there is a small about of intelligence. Do you see that? They make their nest, they know how to pick up their food, they know, all their needs they take care. But they do not how to be aware of themselves. What is happening in them every moment. And this does not come in us unless we tap the source. For example we have been breathing all the time, aren’t we? Unless we put our attention, we will not be aware of the breath. You know the first act of life is you took a deep breath in and the last act is breathing out. First act was breathing and second is crying, and your last act you breathe out and make others cry. When you cried everybody else laughed, and when you laugh in the end, you will laugh ‘that is death’. Nobody asked about death. Total relief. When you laugh then everybody else cries. Just that shift, change of duties.

Between this first act of life and the last, all through life we are breathing. Not a single moment we suspend our breath. Whether eating, sleeping, walking, talking, etc the breath has been with us but we are not aware of it. Breath is the link between the body, your spirit and your mind. And there are rhythms in the breath, have you noticed your breathing is different in different state of your mind, emotions, thoughts. When you have a sigh of relief you breath out, exhalation is more prominent. And when you’re enjoying something, your inhalation is prominent. Your exhalation is in the background. So every mode/mood of mind, every wave of emotion in us has a corresponding rhythm in the breath and this rhythm in the breath has a corresponding sensation in different parts of the body. So they’re all linked, when we look at them, observe them, life becomes more integrated. Mind becomes more integrated, and we are able to do things more clearly and with more joy. If you observe your mind it’s either in the past or future. We regret the past and anxious about the future. Just imagine every exit you miss… ‘oh I should have taken that exit’. It should have happened that way, I made a mistake… every moment you think I made a mistake. In a very unconscious or subconscious manner you’re piling up some dust inside you. And that regret piles up and becomes so big… and you blow up. Have you seen this happening to you?

When you let go, your mind can be in the present moment. More and more and more, you’re able to smile from the depth of your heart. Life becomes more light and easy. You know what we do, when something wrong happens we either blame ourselves or somebody else. We don’t take things as they are. We want to find out a reason, label it and put the blame on somebody else or ourselves. So we constantly get into this trip of blaming someone or ourselves. Which leads into one another. You blame others because you blame yourself. And because you blame yourself you start blaming others. Do you see this pendulum that happens. Life has much more to offer to us. Don’t you think so? Someone asked forgiveness. First you think somebody has intentionally done something wrong to you. Then you try to forgive them. It becomes hard to. I’ll tell you compassion is better than forgiveness. The very word implies there is an intention in somebodies mistake. Somebody is bad so you’re going to forgive them. Peep into their hearts, go beyond their words, beyond their behaviour. You will see, they need compassion. They need help. They’re not happy. One who is happy will not make a mistake, will not harm anybody, will not be selfish. Cannot be selfish. Do not see intention behind somebody elses mistakes. See the inevitability behind others mistakes. Then you don’t need to forgive, you’ll simply smile at it. And you jump forward to help them. Does that make sense?

When there is a wound somewhere deep inside a person he will try to share that with other people, what else can he do? You just recognise, oh he needs compassion. Compassion is the only treatment, unconditional love is the only medicine. Letting go is the medicine for that. You know we try to hold on to people, even when we love we love with a condition. See I love you so in return you must love me or do something else. Better you prove your love to me.

See you doubt in the positivity of people, goodness of people. You don’t doubt in the negativity or badness in the people do you? Have you ever doubted in someones anger towards you? Have you ever said, are you really angry at me, I don’t believe it! (laughter) But if someone says I love you dear, you say ‘really’. Sure? Truly? Then prove it! Just examine what do you doubt always what is good. Whether it is in you or in someone else. When you’re depressed you never doubt your depression but when you’re happy you doubt… am I really happy, is this really what I want. And then mind says I’m not sure. You get the best job, what you desire and then ‘is this the best job, I’m not sure’. (laughter) But when you’re in a tight position, you don’t want to be there, do you doubt it? No, you don’t doubt that.

In order to trust you first understand your doubt. You doubt yourself and you doubt people around you, and then you doubt in the existence of god. Which is very abstract. The world lives on trust. Every aspect in life moves with trust. And even your life, if there is no trust at all, it cannot move an inch. I like a disease you know, when you doubt yourself, will I be able to do this. You doubt in your capabilities, you never doubt in your incapabilities. And because of this you start doubting in people around you. You start with an assumption ‘everybody is hopeless and a cheat, let me try to find who is the right person’. And it becomes so hard to find somebody right. Because you start with an assumption everybody is a cheat. You see what I’m saying? And the same, with the presence of something which is beyond comprehension of a small intellect, of our mind. Awareness of the divine, the divine presence. Now the question comes, how do you remember it all the time?

I tell you there is no need to remember it all the time. Forget about it. Your effort to remember god or divine all the time, is of no use. Now I ask you, do you remember your name all the time. Do you have to remember every morning, I am so and so? (laughter) Do you have to remember you live in Santa Barbara every morning? Do you have to remember that you have to eat, sleep, brush everyday? Or do you have to sit and memorise the names of all your relatives and friends. Or do you feel disconnected if you don’t remember your family anytime? NO! It’s not like remembering a poem or saying my god, my god. Of course you say often OH MY GOD! But when a different tone, you don’t remember god anyway. (laughter) All you remember is how bad the situation is. Remembrance is just experiencing the presence in the sense it was said then… being present, alert, awake. It’s not again and again thinking.

Do you make an effort to be joyful, to be loving. I tell you then you’re going the other way. The moment you make an effort to love somebody or to be happy. You cannot be! It’s a part of you. Same with the divine, divine is part of you. You cannot even if you want. Just being aware of it. Like being aware you are in Santa Barbara. It’s not a constant effortful thinking. You see what I’m saying? Often people were told remember god, immediately we come to the conclusion… it is an awful effortful thinking. Or doing. Those who do not know the truth will say those. When you experience joy, whenever you are happy, loving. All those moments you have been in touch with the divine nature that is deep inside you. When you are natural, when you don’t pretend, then you are very close to the divine. I’m not saying, you should not pretend.

If you are an air hostess in a plane you have to pretend with a smile on your face. Goodbye goodbye, welcome, nice having you on the flight, whatever. (laughter) All those words. Hope you enjoyed. You can do that. As long as you are aware that your real life is not just this, there is a real depth to it. There is another dimension to it. Now another thing is we keep looking whether people love us or like us or not. And we make efforts to love people and like them. Tell you… don’t worry. Even if they don’t like you or love you. From your side consider they do love you. So that your love at least gets protected. Otherwise when you think someone does not love you, then you will also stop loving them. Hasn’t this happened to you. Say even if somebody doesn’t love you, you just go and tell them ‘oh I know you love me so much’. Tell them 5-6 times and see the change in them. Even if they don’t love you they’ll start loving you. They can’t but. It just gets kindled, instead you keep challenging, asking do you really love me? If you really love me you wont do like this. You should be doing this way. When we put it like that, when we keep such measuring rods, then we are draining love. You see what I’m saying? What do you say?

Abundance. Abundance again is a state of mind within you. If you just look at lack, the lack increases in life. You may think you lack hundred thousand dollars, ok tomorrow you have hundred thousand dollars. Then you feel you lack 200 thousand dollars. A gentleman, a homeless prayed to god. Give me just 1 million and that’s it, I wont ask anything more. I can live all my life and half of it I will donate to other people. So god said ok, you have it. So he got a lottery. He got one million, but he had never spend so much, what should I do now. So he went looking in Sunset Boulevard, LA. And he found a home there, nice. A million and a quarter. (laughter) Said ohhhh I’m so unlucky, if only I had a quarter more. I’d have had this house of my dreams. I had always dreamt of this house all my life.

The lack continues. Don’t look at the lack. See what you have. You know, then abundance increases. You talk to any big movie producer or a big industrialist. You know they have big credit. You may have a 100,000 credit and they have 4 million credit. And you talk to the treasury of this country, they’ll say oh this country is in debt. We are in recession. It’s a huge debt. Isn’t it? You talk to the California state, whoever it is, what do you say treasury? Are they not in some debt? (audience – big debt) More money a person has, he invests in an industry, he wants to expand it so he gets a bigger loan and a bigger loan is again a? Debt! If he just looks at it he’s find and say oh its a big lack. Nobody can ever feel abundance if they just look at that. Focus, because where you put your energy, that increases in life. Your attention increases whatever, wherever it goes. If you think nobody loves me, everybody hates me, then I tell you that is what is going to happen. Coz you’re looking that way. I’m sure you’ll find that… say a nice person will not give you big smile, or they might not welcome you. A lot is because you are directing your attention that way. Take it for granted even if nobody loves you, say everyone loves me. The air loves me, that’s why it’s going inside me. The day the sun stops loving you, earth stops loving you, you can never be here. God loves you, that is enough.

And you are love! That is enough! There is no way, no action, you can ever convince anybody that you really love them. The more we try to do, we are doing the contrary. Have you observed that. It’s happening in every relationship. Nobody wants to get hurt. They love each other, yet they are unable to convince each other. Isn’t this the problem in the world today? All the broken marriages, they do not really want to break. But they cannot live with them. Why? They are tired of convincing the other person that they really love them. And all that they do to convince that they really care for them, turns the other way around. Only way, is to be in this space. Only this is fairness. Otherwise all looks unfair. You can say God is really unfair. Either think that way, mercilessly takes everything away and floods the places. Everything falls, irrespective.

Whenever you want to see fairness, you are setting a standard in your mind and you want a feat to happen. I tell you it cannot happen all the time. I’m not saying it’s wrong to have a standard, it’s only fair to be i time. What I’m saying is this thought of fairness should not ferment inside you coz this raises a big question. And when this question stays fermented for a longer time, becomes violence. Behind every criminal the question of fairness comes. What is fair? This is not fair. That’s how it starts. This is not fair becomes ‘really unfair’. They start acting that way isn’t it. Don’t worry about what is fair and unfair. Relax and do whatever you can. You have to live in a world which is so diverse, so many different type of people are here. Their ideas are completely contradictory/opposite. Some are interested in rebirth, some are interested in death, some in happiness, some sorrow. There is variety in this world. You have to live amidst that. In this world there are many thieves/robbers and so is the police department. Just imagine there are not thieves/robbers… why should there be a police department. There is suffering so there is kindness and compassion and help. Completely opposite and they do exist… they co-exist. Just re understand this and we becomes fair to our self. And our mind comes in tune.

So our daily life we can live with a smile form inside. Why do we live, what we want. You’ll see all that we want is happiness. And the whole life we prepare to be happy and we are never happy. It’s like making bed all night and having no time to sleep. If you just take statistics. One third we spend in our beds, 10 years in the dining table, in the bathroom say 3 hours that adds to another 10 years. On the freeway/road… how much? Working/earning money 25-30. So how many have we lived with a smile, with love, with joy. You’ll maybe calculate 3 years? (laughter) But if you are aware, if your heart is open, you can see every moment you can live in that moment/in the knowledge. No matter what you’re doing, you don’t have to get away from all this and sit in some mountain, some monastery… no no. You can be doing your work, do all you want to do and maintain that inner awareness.

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The Four Pillars of Knowledge by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

The Four Pillars of Knowledge by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Knowledge is very simple. Its the simplest. And so it’s not too easy. (giggles) Potentially it’s available, but dynamically it’s not available. Though you are that, yet to know that you are that, needs some preparation. God is the cheapest commodity available because outside Got there can be nothing. There is no outside at all. But then why is it not as an experiential reality in everyone? This is a fundamental question in everyone. If I am God why is it that I don’t know I am God? Why do have to go through all this? Why is it not my experience. And just listening to that does not do anything, does not ring a bell, just makes a concept.

So there are all these practices. Which are like sign boards. It’s just like saying look at the star above the sky. Which star? That star about the branch of the tree. So you show the branch in order to show the star and the star has nothing to do with the branch of a tree. So you find many enlightened people who simply discard the branch of the tree and say useless to do any practice, it’s not necessary. But they’ve missed a very important factor. Simply enunciating the truth does not help. You have to see from where the seeker is and take them from there to move onwards. Simply describing the destination, the house… is not sufficient. You have to be given the road map, the route, which exit to take. Otherwise you’d be in the freeway all the time, not knowing which way you have to exit. It could be ongoing never ending journey. Directions are essential. And there are 4 major qualification/points that one has to have in order to reach the self. These are called the 4 pillars or the 4 implements, the 4 tools.

1 – Viveka (Grossly translated as discrimination)
It’s not just discrimination. Viveka is the understanding or observation that everything is changing. Whatever you consider as stationery or solid is neither stationery nor solid… they are changing. Every changing nature, ever changing reality. And a thorough understanding of this is called viveka. Everything is changing. Our body is changing, every cell, every minute new cells are being generated and old cells are dying. Every time you breath out old energy goes out, new energy comes into the body when you breathe in. Our body is a bundle of atoms. And atoms are always disintegrating, changing. As body starts growing. Same with the whole world, Universe. The Earth is changing. Our thoughts are changing, emotions are changing. You’re not the same person you were yesterday and you will not be tomorrow. You’re changing. You cannot maintain the same degree of sadness everyday. (laughter) You will see it fluctuates. Higher or does down. Or you maybe unhappy for different reasons on different days. You can never be unhappy for the same reason all through, there will be variation in degree. Same way for joy also. Your moods, feelings, emotions… everything is changing. (Paras note: So what he’s trying to say is Everything is changing)

But there is something different from us that is not changing. This discrimination between something that is not changing and everything else is changing is Viveka. You do not know what is not changing, but you can feel and recognize what is changing. The moment you see things changing, simultaneously you start seeing that the one who is observing the change is not changing. Otherwise how can they say one is changing. The reference of change is non-change. Otherwise changes cannot be perceived at all. Viveka, recognizing the changes. Changing characteristics of our sounding, changing nature of our body, of our emotion, of life in general. This very thing would reduce 99% of the misery that you face. You have a fixed thought about your future and this will be like this and you foresee… all the fears, anxiety, unhappiness comes up in you. Because you’re foreseeing all that negativity come up in you. Who knows, how do you know that things are going to be bad. And in order to avoid that you try to affirm yourself… oh no no everything will be good. But deep inside you feel something is going to be bad. Or vice versa. You know all this positive thinking… it’s very… (laughter). It’s not a very intelligent thing to do you know, positive thinking is pulling you somewhere negative. Just see everything is changing. And changes happen. This is the nature of world, it is such. A great relief comes, unconditioning of the mind. This condition to fix things. Viveka.. the first pillar.

2 – Vairaghya (Grossly translated as dispassion)
Behind every misery there is a hope. The fuel for miserable people is hope. (giggles). There is a deep desire of some joy. Perhaps if I change my job, go to another town, change my partnership… then I’ll be happier. People who are single thing they’ll be happier if they get married, people who are married think I was better off all by myself. Or they think if I have a kid I’ll be happy, people who have children think if the children grow up and be on their on then I’ll be happy. Forseeing happiness sometime in the future makes one miserable right now. Desire for some pleasure in the future, either worldly or in the heaven. One misses the boat. If you cannot row one boat you cannot row any other boat. Changing the boat does not help you. But this hope in the mind, if I change the boat then I can row another boat. This is the very cause of misery. Do you see this in the world? Look in the life of an individual or look in a society. Various status… its the same story. A child thinks if he grows older then he has more power, control, freedom. He thinks the joy is in getting older and becoming a college student. Look at the college student, if I get a job and I do my own business, then I’ll be more indipendent, then I’ll be more happy. And see those who are on their own, I should get right partner for me. Somebody who matter, my soulmate. If i meet my soulmate then I’ll be happy. You have met your soulmate are you happy now? (laughter). If the soulmate is happy then only I can be happy. Then your eyes are all the time on the soulmate wether he/she is happy. (laughter) And small things they do hurt you. Small things, not intentionally, they were preoccupied they didn’t give a big smile to you. Fun finished! (laughter) They want an explanation that why didn’t you smile at me. And the whole soap opera begins. (mad laughter) One wants the baby, other doesn’t. What to do… ok compromise. (mad laughter) One way or another yo uhave to compromise. Both desires cannot be fulfilled at the same time.

And the children, then you have to make sure they go to a good school, right environment, are they behaving properly, are they alright, not sick, getting well. All your mind energies. Then you keep thinking when they grow older how will they settle, then you’ll be happy. You’ll have your own time. Same thing in society. Someone says I become a manager of a company, I’ll be happy. Managers think I should be a director. Directors thing I should be the international head. Ok you have an international chain of companies, what you have got? Blood pressure, heart ache, kidney failure, liver problems, travel sickness, insomnia. It is too big I cannot manage this. They are jealous about their employees. Employees just come and have their salary go home happily to sleep. And there are people who are ready to suffer here. You know why? They know they will get some better comfort up there in the heaven when they die. Let me suffer here so that when I die and go to heaven I’ll get all joy, pleasure will come to me. I can be in a royal suite there. So what? Every pleasure just leaves you where you are, it doesn’t carry you anywhere. Pleasure only tires you. Something very beautiful, how long can you go on looking at it. Your eyelids will fall, you will tire. A beautiful perfume, you want to put your nose in the bottle? People working in perfume factories are sick of perfumes. A great smell, what can you do? How long can you smell? You like doughnuts, how much can you stuff through you mouth. Icecream you like, how much can you swallow? How many have you had? How many chocolate fudge has gone through this hole called mouth? (laughter) So what? Do you see, how much food has gone through this hole called mouth? Just calculate? If one day you consume one kilo, in a whole year? 365 kilo. If you’re 45 years how many tons? Several tons of food grain stuffed through this hole. (laughter) Music, beautiful music, talk, everything you’ve heard. How long can you hear? How much can you hear? Sense of touch, how long can you go on touching? It drains you. You become like a wreck. Tried, exhausted. And the whole world is full of pleasure for these 5 senses. Objects of these 5 senses. It doesn’t take you any further, it doensn’t elevate you to great heights of bliss.

An attitude of so what, let it be. Takes away the feverishness in you. Takes away the passion in you. Takes you to that pillar of dispassion. Remember that dispassion is not apathy. Often we think dispassion is being totally unenthusiastic, depressed, not interested in anything. This is not dispassion. Dispassion is lack of feverishness. Same thing, ok if I do so many techniques, I’ll achieve some merit somewhere in the heaven. This feverishness is also not vairaghya. Dispassion towards enjoyments of this world or the other, the seen or unseen, external or inner. Is the second pillar that makes you very solid on your path. See what I’m saying?

3 – 6 Wealths (Shama, damha, uparati, titiksha, shraddha and samadhana.)
These are called wealth, it’s not something that you do to get you have them. Like wealth… your capital.
a) Shama
When the mind wants to do too many things it’s completely scattered. When there is vairaghya, the 3rd pillar automatically becomes stronger… you automatically start to have a focus. Your mind is more alert.

b) Damha
Having a say on our own senses. You know many times you don’t want to say and you say things. May times you don’t want to see but you see. Suppose you’re travelling on the plane and there is a movie going on. You see it and you say oh rubbish, let me go to sleep. And then after a little while you open your eyes and see again. And you become curious, you put your headphones also and see more. You have decided 3 times not to see but you kept on seeing the movie. Has this happened to you? Coz there’s some curiosity that comes to you, what has happened let me see. Same with food, ok I will not eat anything today and some nice food is served and it comes to your nose and you say ok let me have a bite. One bite and then one more bite and then one more… to your surprise you see you have stuffed more than your tummy can take. Damha, where you have a say on your senses. They don’t drag you and you’re not carried away by them but you’ll say yes or no. Most of the time it’s not you who says yes or no, it’s the senses that say yes or no to you.

c) Titiksha
Endurance. Forbearance. When opposite things come you are able to forebear it without being shaken and shattered. In life some pleasant some unpleasant events happen. So what? None of them stays forever. Health, sickness, moods, loss, gains, people, friends, foes come and go. Do you see even small children you can find that, small thing happens they cry for hours. Other children will cry for one minute and they change their mind. Even in adults you find the same thing. Relationship break and they’re broken for a long period of time. They are still chewing on the … chewing gum. There’s nothing in it, the flavor is gone. To all things… see what was unpleasant before became pleasant, what was pleasant became unpleasant. They all the time change. What one thought was to be very bad later on it did something good to you… it made you strong somewhere. Just understanding this, not holding on to what all good, bad, right, wrong. Choices in the mind. Not getting carried away by them is called titiksha. See a game is where you lose and win, where both is part of it. Isn’t it? Where there is more chance of losing the game it’s more charming. The game has value when it is tough. Isn’t it? So all little problems that come is life is part of the whole game and seeing that this is not going to shake me at all. Just turn back and look and see through all those different situations you’ve gone in life. In-spite of it all you’re still total and complete today. They cannot destroy you, you’re much more powerful than them, and significant than them. This very understanding, whatever events come in my life. All these events, pleasant, unpleasant, happy, unhappy… cannot do anything to me, with this forbearance that rises in you. Is the third wealth.

d) Uparati
Rejoicing in your nature. Being in your nature. Often you’re not in your nature you’re doing things because somebody else says or does. Often people do things, buy big homes so people can look and say something to them. For approval of others. If we do something like that then we are not in touch with our nature. Be in your nature. Being in the present moment, in the joy that you are. Rejoicing in anything that you do. That is uparati. Letting go of everything. And then taking everything focused and seriously is also uparati. Totally opposite values is but making together. Living them together. That is uparati. Being playful.

e) Shraddha
Faith. Faith is needed when you’re knowing has found it’s limit. When you have found the limit of your knowing. You know this far and you don’t know anything beyond that. Your willingness to know is faith. If your mind says this is it, nothing beyond. That fixation is fanaticism. That is ego, I know it all. But when you know the whole thing, there is beyond, and this entire creation is from beyond, the unknowable, recognition of the unknowable. Guruvedant vakyeshav (spelling). Vishvas itishraddha (spelling). Faith in the self, the master, the divine… in the infinite. Infinite order of things. Faith in that love of infinity. This is shraddha. We can understand this in a simpler manner. Your doubt has 3 divisions. 1 – Doubt the self, 2 – doubt the other, 3 – doubt the whole. 99.99999% of the people doubt the whole because they do not even believe that the whole that is functioning. People talk about god a lot. But go deep and you find that the faith is shaken. There is no faith. There exists an infinite organizing intelligent power which is in total control of everything. This faith is absent. If it is there, its just an outside decoration, like a badge on you. Your badges do not indicate you, so if your badges are gone nothing in you is gone. And then the doubt in people. When someone says I love you, you doubt them. Do you really love me? Prove it. But if somebody is angry you don’t doubt… are you really angry with me? Just notice your doubt is always about the positivity about other people. You take it for granted that other people are hopeless. Then you try to find the trust in this and that person. And you’re are unable to do it. Most of you suffer from this disease because from the basic understanding you take it for granted that everybody is a cheat. You cannot trust anybody then. And this pains you because it is connected to yourself, faith in your own self. Self doubt is the third doubt. You never doubt your anger, depression, sadness, sorrow, misery. But you doubt all the positive qualities you have. You doubt in your capabilities, you don’t doubt in your in-capabilities. You see what I’m saying? Doubt the incapability in you, doubt in your limitations! Who knows that you will become next moment. Who knows that molecules and atoms are inside you. What great personalities, beautiful noble characters are in you… and when it will blossom. How many Budhas, tathagaths, bhodhi satva, apostles, vivek ananandas. Doubt in your in-capabilities, in-capacities… then your capabilities grow. Then you will doubt in the negative of people and attribute it to their stress. Then the trust in everyone grows. And you (couldn’t hear) find that divine existence… there is only one mind, intelligence, one being… there are no two people, there is only one life. And a master is there to practically demonstrate to you, I am you , you are me. And when a master says this, seeing the master as he is, not through blocked vision. Suspicious eyes… that is shraddha. A master does not have to get anything from you, but if you see with the same suspicious eyes, what is he up to. Then you will go on reeling around in your own small little mind, you will be unable to peep to the divine existence. You’ll miss the whole joy, the essence which you’re longing for. Knowingly or unknowingly. See when we say, ok we’ll sing this and it will bring some soothing influence. And you start singing and you start feeling it… you do feel it. Isn’t it? After meditation, ok listen to some chanting, listen to some veda it brings some influence. Its this faith in it. Ok yes, let me do it, without faith you will not do it at all. It’s like someone saying, first let me learn swimming then let me get into the water. You have to get in the water in order to learn. To much preparedness, this is what it is. Being too cautious, I tell you these people miss the joy in life. Faith. You believe you have a coach then you get into the water and you learn swimming. Isn’t it? No activity can happen in this world without the element of faith. You have faith in your banks so you put your money there. You have faith in the law and order so you park your car. You wont be sitting here. Do you see that? You have faith in the airlines so you know you can go home after 4-5 days, the house will be there, electricity, what, what. Telephone company believes in you so they give you the line. That’s why you are given credit cards and all that. Take any system! Medicine, doctors have faith this medicine will have this effect. Thought they cannot guarantee. This very probability factor introduces the faith. If there is 0% probability then there is no faith. But if there is even 1% probability, that means it’s not knowledge, it is faith. And the faith is a beautiful quality of your consciousness, blossoming of your being. It’s one of the wealth.

f) Samadhana
Being at ease. Do you see how you feel when you’re at ease. Do you remember? How does it feel when you’re totally at east, serene, calm. Being at ease with yourself, with your environment, with people around you, with everything. The whole. This is samadhana. This is a wealth by itself. These 6 wealth together form the 3rd pillar.

4 Mumukshatva
The desire for the highest. A desire for freedom. Enlightenment. First of all you can desire it only when you feel it is possible for you. When you think it is not possible, you cannot even desire it. If you feel all the good qualities cannot come in you, and slowly when you eliminate, until you think you cannot do anything… a deep desire, a longing in your for the divine. A longing for infinity, bigger life. A longing to be a devotee, servant, beloved, to be part and parcel of the whole. These potentialities in you cannot be uncovered or woken up. If you don’t desire it. Unless someone wants to learn meditation you cannot force someone, it should come from within, the desire to learn. This is the fourth pillar. Mumukshatva. Which you already have, don’t think you have to attain this, that is why you are already here. To some extent you have all these 4 essential pillars for sadhana. You put some more attention on it, they become stronger and more solid. Build it a little higher. Hmmmm? That much for today.

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