Stop and see, where is life going?

September 14, 2012

Lima, South America

So what should we discuss tonight?


I am playing the role of the speaker and you are all listeners. How nice it would be for me to know what is it that you want to know tonight.

You can think of topics.

You know, to discuss something which is very dear to our hearts, we need to be in an informal atmosphere.

A formal atmosphere is not congenial for wisdom; for authenticity.

I have a habit of doing everything in an informal way.

So let us begin by turning around and greeting the person in-front of you, next to you and behind you. Become familiar with everyone around you.

We spend half of our health in earning money, and then we spend half of our wealth to get the health back. Not so smart! We need to find where life is going? We keep working and we keep on doing things without knowing - What is the Purpose! Without even enjoying all that this nature has provided us.

I want to ask you a question.

Did you really greet the person or did you do it as a formality?

You don't have to tell that to the person next to you. You don't have to tell them, 'Hey, I just greeted you as a formality.'

I want you to ask yourself, did you really greet the person?

You know when you get off the plane, the air hostesses greet you saying, 'Have a nice day', but they don't mean it.

It is just coming from the lips.

But if the same words comes to you from your mother, or sister, or a close friend, it carries some vibration with it.

So we convey more through our vibrations.

Someone can stand and give you a talk about love for two hours, but that does not convey what a baby or dog conveys to you through vibrations.

You go into a place where people are depressed, you will see that for no reason you are also depressed. Similarly, you go to a place where people are happy and you feel the joy coming up within you.

The whole world is just vibrations; waves and waves.

Our mind is vibrations, our body is all vibrations, thoughts are vibrations and our emotions are all vibrations. But we don't do anything to improve the vibrations, the positivity in us, isn't it?!

That something, doing which, your vibrations become very joyful, positive and peaceful, is Meditation.

This happens very fast through the breathing techniques and meditation.

Usually when one says Meditation, you think, one has to leave everything and go to Machu Picchu, or somewhere in the Himalayas; no, it is not like that. You can experience it in your own home.

And what are the benefits of meditation? Why should we do it? As I said, our vibrations become positive.

Sometimes, when you meet someone, you feel some repulsion and you don't want to talk to that person. Have you experienced this?

And then, there are some people that you meet, and you feel like talking to them and engaging with them. Again, this is vibrations.

Similarly, you get some thoughts, and they are absolutely right. And at other times, you get thoughts that are completely wrong. Isn't that so?

So, we are like walking in the darkness without understanding our own consciousness. If you understand consciousness, a lot of things happen and your life becomes much happier. Our health becomes better, our relationships with people improves.

You must have heard from people, how the violent tendencies in life go down. And most important, our desires get fulfilled.

There are four kinds of people.

Some people have desires, and they desire and desire but nothing gets manifested.

There are others who desire and work so hard for it, and then after a long time, it gets manifested.

And the third one are those who desire, and immediately it gets done, without much hard work.

And the fourth one are those who don't even have to desire, even before the desire arises, things are already there.

So which category do you want to be in? Fourth one?

Yes, that is the luckiest. It is just like, you have not even felt thirst and already there is water.

There is a proverb in India which says, 'When you had teeth, you didn't get peanuts, and when you got peanuts, you didn't have teeth.'

Many people are in this situation. They work so hard all their life, make all the money, put it all in the bank and they die. And then the children fight over the money of the parents.

In the world, about 70% of the court cases are about inheritance.

Now, see nobody fights over the money they have earned. So what you have done is, you have made money, put it in the bank and then made your children fight with each other for the money. Is this an intelligent thing to do?

We spend half of our health in earning money, and then we spend half of our wealth to get the health back.

Not so smart! Not so economical.

See, when the mind is bitter, you can't find happiness anywhere in the world. When the mind is sweet, then you find sweetness everywhere. So meditation is all about finding sweetness deep inside.That something, doing which, your vibrations become very joyful, positive and peaceful, is Meditation.

We need to find where life is going?

There is a story of a wise fool!

A wise fool was sitting on a donkey, and the donkey was running. It went round and round the same streets many times. So someone asked this gentleman, 'I see you going up and down several times, where are you going?'

He says, 'I don't know, ask the donkey!'

Most of the time, our lives are that way. We keep working and we keep on doing things without knowing - What is the Purpose! Without even enjoying all that this nature has provided us.

See, when the mind is bitter you can't find happiness anywhere in the world. When the mind is sweet, then you find sweetness everywhere.

So meditation is all about finding sweetness deep inside us. And when you find it, do you know what you want to do? You want to give it to everybody.

People ask me, 'What is your motivation? What do you get? Why are you running around to all these places around the world all the time?'

I asked them one question, 'Suppose you see a very nice movie, what do you do? Do you just sit quiet in your room? Or do you pick up the phone, call your friends and tell them, 'Oh, it is a great movie, you must go and see this movie.' Now what do you get by doing that? Do the movie producers give you some commission? Or the actors give your some money? What do you get for making all those phone calls? You do it because the nature of joy is to share.'

The nature of joy is sharing.

There are two types of joy, one is the joy of grabbing. As kids we were born with this tendency. If you leave a child here, it will go and grab this flower, grab this sheet, pull that chair, turn everything around upside down, and hold on to things.

It will hold on to anything, even a knife. Without knowing it is going to hurt its hand, the child with grab a knife. But mothers are very clever, they will give the child something else to loosen the child's grip from the knife. Isn't that so?

When children catch on to something that is not good, you give them something else.

So this is one type of joy, the joy of getting, having. This is a childish joy; childish happiness. There is another type of happiness, joy, that comes from giving.

Many ladies here, when guests are coming home, or children are coming home, what do you do? You make many different types of food and decorate it and put it on the table. Your joy as a mother is in giving, isn't it!

Look at grandparents, they love to give gifts to the children, isn't it?! There is a joy in giving, and this is a mature joy.

We cannot live life by just having the joy of getting without understanding the joy in giving.

Once you have a little taste of the joy that comes from giving, you will find that life is worth living, life is fulfilling.

So, smile more!

You know a baby smiles 400 times a day, a adolescent smiles only 17 times and an adult rarely smiles. And if you become an officer or a politician, then forget about it. Your smile disappears, flies away.

A smile is not something artificial, it should come from within. That can only happen when the stress is gone, when we go deep in meditation.

If someone says, 'I am meditating', that means that they smile more; there is serenity, sensitivity and sensibility, and this is spirituality.

Spirituality means sensibility, sensitivity, sweetness, smile; all these put together.

Usually when one says Meditation, you think, one has to leave everything and go to Machu Picchu, or somewhere in the Himalayas; no, it is not like that. You can experience it in your own home. And what are the benefits of meditation? As I said, our vibrations become positive.

Q: What should I do if the stress factor is coming from outside. If it is something I do not control or it is beyond me. How do I transmit peace?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That is why we need to educate people on how to handle their stress. If one person is not well in the family, does it not affect the whole family? Yes, it does affect. Similarly, if a few are mentally unwell in the society, crime increases in society.

There are people who are in prisons who say, 'Oh, now we don't want to be in violence', but there are so many more outside who are causing problems to society and that is why we need to give this spiritual education to people.

We need to educate people on how to be calm, how to handle their negative emotions and how to handle their mind, because neither at home, nor at school did anyone teach us how to handle our mind.

So then there is anger, jealousy and hatred, and when you live with these emotions then you act on them. You don't know how to get rid of it. You hold on to it and then you act from that and then you regret. This is the problem.

These practices and this knowledge here is the solution.

Burry the past and move on!

Burry the past and move on!

December 19, 2011

Q: Dear Guruji, can we organize a worldwide meditation on the stroke of New Year of 2012, as you state that this year will bring a great change to the world. Can we start the year with meditation across the globe?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes we can do, why not! We will fix a time for everyone across the globe to meditate. We will work it out!

Q: Guruji, can you please tell me, what is time with respect to the whole universe?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Time is a dimension, space is a dimension, mind is a dimension and mind is linked to time. I have spoken a lot about time. There is a small booklet on ‘time’ available at the divine shop.

Q: Guruji, I always have confusion between ‘Dvaita’ philosophy and ‘Advaita’ philosophy. Madhvacharya has spoken about ‘Dvaita’ and Adi Shankaracharya has spoken about ‘Advaita’. Please explain both.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: ‘Advaita’ is like quantum physics and ‘Dvaita’ is like chemistry. In chemistry you say there are these many isotopes or you refer a periodic table where they categorize all the different elements. But if you go to a quantum physicist, he will say, ‘it is all just wave function’.
A periodic table does not exist for a quantum physicist. He says everything is only atoms; wave functions.
Both are right. Chemistry has its utility and physics has its reality.
It is really brilliant what Adi Shankara has said and it is equally very interesting what Madhvacharya has said.
He said, ‘everything exists at their different levels and at that level it is good.’
On a practical note, Madhvacharya emphasised on love and devotion. For love you need two and in devotion you need someone to surrender to; a higher power to surrender to.
So this is a practical thing that Madhvacharya said, ‘surrender all your troubles and difficulties’.
Adi Shankara said, ‘hey! Just wake up and see it is all nothing’.
That is what Lord Buddha also said.

Q: Guruji, it is said that taking a deep breath in when we are angry reduces our anger level. Please suggest a way to remember that when we get angry.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There is a saying, ‘Yudh kale shastra abhyaas'.
If you walk into the battle field, and then you decide to learn archery, by then you will already have been shot by ten arrows. Go on doing sadhana, and your anger level will automatically decrease. There is no point in doing something after you get angry. Even if I tell you anything, it will not help.
So you must take action before.

Q: Guruji, I get deeply troubled when I look at an elderly person's body. I realize that aging is inevitable, but it bothers me all the same. What can I do about it?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When the beauty inside blossoms, the older you get, the more beautiful you look.
Sacrifice, love and service, these three things should be present in life.
Look at Mahatma Gandhi, did he not become more attractive as he grew older. His smile was so nice and he had beauty even in his old age. So beauty is reflected from within, it is not an outer phenomenon.

Q: Guruji, how to increase Vishnu Shakti?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: By increasing your patience level. Now, how to increase patience? That I will tell you next year.

Q: Guruji, all spiritual paths say that, ‘you are not alone and there is a higher power taking care of you.’ But what about those people who suffer in Africa. Why are they left alone to die from hunger?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: This is a big question, why is there suffering in the world. There are three types of suffering:
1. Suffering through natural calamities
2. Suffering through one’s own ignorance or one’s own laziness. This is man-made
3. Suffering due to karma where you don’t even know what the root cause of this kind of suffering is. It goes beyond the current framework of time. You have to go very much forward in the realm of consciousness to find out why this suffering is there now. There is no apparent cause for it. But the cause is hidden somewhere in the past. You need to dig into that cause
These are the three types. All these can be avoided, and rectified.

Q: Guruji, in the Bhagavad Gita there is a phrase, ‘sarvarambha-parityagi yo mad-bhaktah sa me priyah’ - one who renounces all beginnings and is not striving for some result is a devotee. How will such a person move forward, if he doesn't start doing anything?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: ‘I am beginning something’, leave this fact.
‘Everything is happening through me’, one who realized this is a devotee (bhakta).
A devotee understands that, ‘I am not doing anything, but through me it is being done.’
One who is in this witness consciousness is a devotee and this devotee is dear to me.

Q: Guruji, I had spoken to you several times and you said, ‘all this is maya (an illusion), leave it’. So what is maya, and why is it bothering me needlessly? I am looking at you now, is this also maya and all that is happening now, is that also maya? If it is, then what is the truth?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: This is all maya. Your desire to know what is truth is the beginning of the quest for truth. This is where the journey begins.
You want to know the truth not because someone said this is all maya but because you realize for yourself that everything is transitory. ‘All that I have been running behind lasts barely for two to three minutes and then disappears.’
When this realization comes to you then maturity dawns, and when we mature, we feel fulfilled. When there is fulfillment, then the realization dawns, ‘ah, this is what Guruji has been saying all this time.’

Q: Guruji, it is said in the Bible, ‘You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free!’ Even then there are so much lies in the world about so many issues. How can one live happily in a world like this where there are lies, injustice, violence and misery?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When we ask these questions, we are able to point towards ignorance, lack of human values, and lack of spirituality in people.
If a person is sensitive, he will not do to someone that which he would not want another to do to him.
Why does a person commit a crime? This is because he is insensitive and some where he has lost touch of his humaneness. He has become like a beast. But that beast-hood is not a permanent thing. That is why I say, inside every culprit there is a victim crying for help. If you heal the victim, the culprit in him disappears.
That is where inner awakening or spiritual elevation or lifting of the consciousness to a higher level is absolutely essential. It is not just enough to make our children computer-wizards. We need to implant in them human values.
Our youth should feel for others, they should shun violence. And when can they shun violence? When they are free from stress. If they are stressed, they become violent.
There are two reasons for violence: one is stress and the other is ignorance or wrong indoctrination.

Q: Q: There is a wrong comment regarding Bhagavad Gita in the Siberian court of Russia. So, please guide us regarding that.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It is unfortunate that there is a move to ban Bhagavad Gita in Russia. It is not correct!
Because Arjuna has been asked to fight the war against injustice by Lord Krishna, some people are trying to ban it as a book which would inspire terrorism.
There has not been a single incident of someone becoming a terrorist after having read Srimad Bhagavad Gita in the history of five thousand years.
Mahatma Gandhi was a great fan of Bhagavad Gita and he wrote one of the many commentaries on Bhagavad Gita. There may be around a thousand commentaries on Bhagavad Gita.
So, if you take some phrase or paragraphs from here and there which says, ‘yes, fight the war, fight against injustice’, and call it a terrorist scripture, then it is not right. Now, you can’t call Bible a terrorist scripture.
There are similar verses are in Quran which says, if there is an unbeliever, chop off all his fingers. There are nearly twenty five verses in Quran which talks about severe punishment to non-believers. So you cannot label these ancient scriptures as terrorist scriptures and try to ban them.

It is the attitude of people; intolerance towards others that is terrorism.
Intolerance is the seed of terrorism, whatever religion it is in. If there is intolerance in people, they are going to sprout and become terrorists of the future. We must check the intolerance in people. Banning scriptures is not going to make anything better in the world.
In fact millions of people have been inspired by Bhagavad Gita, including Einstein, the greatest scientist of this century. He said, ‘when I read the Bhagavad Gita my whole life changed.’ So it will be a loss for the population of Russia if such a ban is implemented in the country.
I am sure the Government of India will take a strong stance. Not just 1.2 billion people, but a big population of non-Hindus also admire the Bhagavad Gita. When that is the case, such steps should not be taken by the government agencies of a country which has had a long-standing good relationship with India.

Q: Guruji, can you pull me out of depression that I am facing?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There is no way you are in satsang and you are depressed.
See sometimes this is what happens when you go to psychologists. They give you an idea that you are depressed. And then you put this idea into your mind, ‘oh! I am depressed!’
So you are reaffirming something which is not a permanent thing. No mental state is a permanent state. So you are trying to reinforce and reaffirm, ‘I am depressed’ even when you are not. You start saying ‘yes, I am depressed’.
This is the danger when people who do not know anything about the mind, about the psyche and about meditation or consciousness, give advice in the name of psychology.
It is such a miserable thing.
I have seen relationships between parents and children get spoiled by psychologists and psychiatrists. A child had such a good relationship with his parents but after some consultation or counselling with the psychologists, something happened, and he started hating his own parents.

There was a businessman here at the ashram for the past one and a half months. He came all the way from Paris.
This person had a sleeping disorder. He was given so many medications.
Usually for sleep doctors give a dose of ten milligrams; this man was taking a hundred and fifty milligrams. Ten times the normal dose of the medicine. He looked like a zombie and kept having panic attacks and his whole system was bad.
I told him, ‘now, I want to take away all your medications.’
We took away his medications and he said, ‘but, I don’t sleep’. Our doctors attended to him, all our teachers attended to him. He was snoring loudly and when you snore loudly, it means you are sleeping. After snoring for four hours he wakes up and says, ‘I did not sleep. I have a sleeping problem.’
The doctors who attended to him said, ‘Guruji, he snored so loud!’
But this gentleman had this idea, I have sleeping disorder so I have to take this medication. Without this medication I cannot sleep.

Sometimes, you have this idea, whatever doctors say is absolute truth. Like the placebo effect. Doctor says, ‘take this tablet and you’ll be fine’, and you take a sugar pill and say, ‘ah! This is very effective’.
A sugar pill can take away your headache.
If the doctor tells you, ‘you suffer from deep depression’, you take it in your mind and in your heart. You say, ‘I suffer from depression’.
Your mind is like a river, it is changing all the time. That is what Lord Buddha said, ‘your mind is like a river’.
All the ancient people who studied consciousness have said, ‘you can’t take a dip in the same river twice’. So, don’t believe you are the same person. Your mind is changing all the time.
Be in the present moment, now! Now! Now!
Burry the past and move on. Where is the depression? Your depression is because you are hanging onto the past or you are over-ambitious. You have the capability to manage a school but you want to become the Prime Minister of the country. Then depression comes when you feel you cannot achieve it.
Don’t hang on to the past or don’t be too feverish or over-ambitious about the future.

Q: Guruji, I keep experiencing failure in whatever I do. How do I overcome this?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Every failure is a step towards success, keep that in mind. And be practical.
Failure happens because of two reasons:
1. You have great thoughts but your actions do not match the thoughts. Then failure comes
2. You put all the effort but you don’t think because you are obsessed with a goal or with a specific result and so you don’t think broad about the consequences of it. You are not flexible and have a rigid attitude. Then also failure comes.
Either you act too much without thinking or think too much without acting, that brings failure. Sometimes we sit and day-dream and we do not realise the ground reality. Match your vision with the ground reality. If you are aware of the ground reality and know how to match your vision with it, then failures will be reduced, otherwise failures will be there.

A disciple should be hollow and empty

December 12, 2011

Q: When I was doing meditation I could feel that my mind was dissolving. I am not sure where does this mind come from? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: This mind is my enemy and this mind is also my friend. 
If the mind listens to me it is my friend and when it goes all over the place it is my enemy. So, there is no bigger enemy in this world than your own mind. 

Q: It is said that after Mahabharata war India’s downfall started as we lost a lot of talented people and scholars during that war. What is your opinion? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Of course with every war there is a destruction of talents, resources, human beings and values. But it is incorrect to say that India did not have greater talents after that. 
Many others came much after Mahabharata, Chanakya, Shankaracharya, Gaudapadacharya, Suka Maharishi. 
So this is not absolute truth but the partial truth. 

Q: Krishna has said in the Bhagavad Gita that neither he likes anybody nor does he dislike anybody. On the other hand he says some people are very dear to me. Can you please explain this duality? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That is Krishna’s specialty, to speak all the opposites and create confusion. 
At different levels of existence and for different incidences he says these statements and both are true.
On one level he says people who are calm, compassionate, happy and loving, I like them the most. So, you are most dear to me - this is true. 
Another time he says, don’t take me for granted, I have no likes and dislikes. Everyone is dear to me and I see myself in everyone. The Bhagavad Gita is the most contradictory book you will ever read and it is the complete truth because it is so contradictory. 

Q: What is the significance of different types of meditation? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The goal of every meditation is to bring you back to your center, to that inner state of joy and peace. 
Since your mind is all over the place I have many tricks to catch it and bring it back. 

Q: Guruji, you always say that you have a lot to give us, but we should have the ability to receive it. So what are the qualities of your dream disciple? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: A disciple should be hollow and empty. 
At the same time whatever you have heard or listened, don’t take it for granted. Study the knowledge and read it again and again. Knowing but be as though you don’t know. Don’t let that arrogance of knowing come into you. Just be your natural and simple self. 

Q: The ultimate knowledge is ‘Aham Brahmasmi’, but there is so much bliss in Bhakti. Realizing that you are one with Divine will be boring as we need two to enjoy. Is being in devotion the final destination or there is much further to go? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, only as a concept ‘Aham Brahmasmi’ is boring, but as a reality it is not that way. Once you reached that state the only thing you can go for is devotion. If not then devotion automatically leads you to that. 

Q: Guruji, if my children even after doing Art Excel and practicing kriya on a daily basis steal from the house, what should I do? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It’s not that after doing kriya children will stop stealing things. It is a good thing they are doing Kriya but what you need to find out is why do they feel the need to steal.
You must sit them down and speak to them. 
Sit them down and tell them, ‘my dear, if you want anything ask me, I am there to give you whatever you want.’
What parents do is they train their children to be like this. You give them some money and you say, ‘this is your money, you keep it with you. Don’t give it to anybody.’
When they go to school with their lunch boxes we tell them, ‘see this is your food, you only eat it and don’t give it away to your friends.’ 
By saying such things we are killing the generosity that is in the child which is the nature of children. 

When I was a kid, in my house we used to have a bowl in which money use to be kept. Whenever we needed any money we used to take it from the bowl, spend what we needed and then we would put the change back into the bowl. 
We never had the feeling that this is my money; I should keep it in my pocket. 
So many people were living in the house but no one would take anything extra. Just as much as one needed they would take and put the remaining back in the bowl. The house had one common kitty.
So such values should be instilled in the house for the children. Keep one bowl and put how much ever money you want. This way the children will also bond better with each other. 

Q: Guruji, some say that married women should not chant Lalita Sahasranama. Please guide if that is true? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: In our country people just say anything.
Some say married women should not chant Lalita Sahasranama. Some say one should not keep a Shiva Ling at home. Some says women should not chant ‘Om Namah Shivaya’. 
This is all untrue, it is not mentioned anywhere in the scriptures like that. 
Good things should be read and chanted by everyone. One should not get caught up in such superstitions.
These days it is hard to get a Pandit or Priest who is authentic. Many times the Priest who comes for performing the wedding ceremony reads the mantras for a death ceremony and no one knows what he is saying and which mantra is for what. The Priest came and chanted the mantras and so the work is done. 
There is no authenticity in the ceremony or of what is being chanted.
And many times we are in such a hurry to finish the ceremony. We tell the priest, ‘Punditji, hurry up!’
We are lacking the devotion to even sit and listen to the mantras that are being chanted and know what the real meanings of these mantras are.
A Christian Priest gets so much respect but the Pundits in our country are not getting the respect that they should be getting. In our country the Pundits are not even getting the proper training anymore.
That is why we have started a school, ‘Ved Vigyan Mahavidyapeeth’, to train the Pundits to perform marriages and other ceremonies according to the Vedic Dharma Sansthan, so that people can understand the true meaning of marriage. Marriage is not just about wearing the mangal sutra but the saptpadi (the seven steps) is marriage. Until you take the 7 steps together till then the marriage is not complete and it is very important to understand the meaning of the satpadi. 
I would like to invite those of you who are interested to come for 2 month training. Then you also can become qualified to perform marriages, naming ceremonies, house warming ceremonies, thread ceremonies and the last rituals after death (antyeshti). 

The significance of the rituals performed after someone dies is so astounding. 
In the ceremony they offer sesame seeds with water to signify, all those desires that are still binding you after your departure are very small, let go of them and become free! We will fulfill these desires for you. That is why it is called tarpanam. 
A son or a daughter can perform this ceremony. That is why tarpanam is done to tell the departed, let go and become free, we will fulfill all that you have left behind. 

All of these rituals are so important, but we have forgotten all of them. But now at Art of Living we are reviving all of this and training people. 

Q: Guruji, if one is meeting failure at every step of their life and even after coming to the Guru, one experience even more failure then what should one do? What knowledge can one apply to such a situation? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: If that is happening, then every time your project fails rejoice, ‘today this project of mine has failed!’ And then surrender it.
If you are unable to let go off of your failure then how will you ever let go of success. 
When you fail at anything, why do you hold on to it? Let go of it and be free. 
Then you can say, ‘I am free!’
If you are successful, then you will get more and more projects one after another to handle. But if you are a failure then you are carefree!
Just make sure your heart doesn’t fail worrying about failure at work. 

Q: Guruji, a dear one dies and then again reincarnates but we continue to offer tarpanam in the name of that soul. In that case where does our offering go? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: In the ancient days people were very intuitive, they would know when their relative has reincarnated and then they would stop the offering. 
But we don’t know nowadays whether the soul has reincarnated or not. So continue giving tarpanam. There is no harm in remembering our ancestors, it is a good thing. 
Kabir Das has said, ‘Naam japan kyon chhod diya. Krodh na chhoda jhooth na chhoda saty bachan kyon chhod diya.’ 

Yoga is a study of life, study of your body, breath, mind, intellect, memory, and ego.

Wisdom from Sri Sri: Yoga is a study of life, study of your body, breath, mind, intellect, memory, and ego.

A One to One with Sri Sri

Dalai Lama tells students to live from their hearts

Article: Dalai Lama tells students to live from their hearts

Indians should promote ahimsa like Chinese promote their food: Dalai Lama

Monday , Apr 05, 2010 at 0315 hrs

by Suman K Jha

Rishikesh: The Dalai Lama on Sunday stressed that India “must take the lead” in promoting “secular ethics” with “Indian tradition of non-violence and harmony among various faiths”, to present a model before the rest of the world.

He was speaking in Rishikesh where spiritual gurus drawn from various faiths said that voluntary efforts must complement governmental initiatives in cleaning the Ganga and addressing other pressing environmental concerns.

“You should be proud of your nation, and you should be proud of your spiritual heritage. You (India) must continue to promote non-violence and harmony among different faiths (no matter where you are),” the Dalai Lama told The Indian Express, when asked about the challenges facing the country.

“No matter where they are, the Chinese find a way to promote their food. Similarly, Indians, wherever they are present in a group, in any part of the world, should promote the ideals of ahimsa (non-violence) and harmony,” said the Dalai Lama. He stressed that “modern-day secular ethics (like compassion and kindness)” must complement “traditional values (like non-violence in society)”.

Values: Elusive Reality

World Economic Forum (WEF) Report - Faith and the Global Agenda: Values for the Post-Crisis Economy, 18th January, 2010
H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Trust is the backbone of business, and ethics its limbs; these are both at stake today. People have little or no faith left in banks and financial institutions. In such a global scenario, it becomes difficult for business to flourish.

Understanding and re-evaluating our way of doing business is an earnest need of our times. To re-establish faith and trust in the economic system, we need a moral and ethical revival.

The system currently lacks proper checks and balances. The goings-on in Madoff ’s case in New York, the catastrophe with Lehman Brothers and other investment bankers, the burst of the dot-com bubble, the Enron debacle, the untruth perpetuated in the name of Satyam (which means Truth) - these are all cases in point, where an artificial hype was created by manipulating data and people were kept in the dark about what was really happening for a long time.

Greed in the form of unchecked corruption that has crept even into the judicial system has dimmed the hope of people. Human values have taken a back seat. Given this as the background, what could be the steps forward?

We have to ensure that honesty, integrity and compassion are encouraged and rewarded.Along the same lines as a carbon credits system, there could be a points system for corporate social responsibility (CSR) too. Often CSR is undertaken simply as a showpiece rather than a solution. Proactively promoting human values can bring them to the forefront in any transaction.

Human beings usually follow ethical and moral values out of fear rather than because they are driven by their own conscience. Although fear of losing one’s reputation is an effective force for ensuring that people do the right thing, following ethical considerations because of one’s conscience has become a rarity.

The implementation of these human values in the corporate program cannot be just a one-sided affair, just a project for businesses. It has to be developed holistically by including society’s four pillars: its economic establishments, its faith-based organizations, its political institutions and its social sector. We need to foster a coordinated effort among these stakeholders. If any one of these pillars collapses, the others also become disabled. Faith-based institutions can catalyse a huge transformation and engender much needed integrity in people.

Social entrepreneurship too needs to be encouraged to lessen the gap between the haves and the have-nots. As long as people are hungry and do not have access to basic amenities, one cannot expect honesty and integrity. The opportunity to grow should not be curbed in any part of the globe and charity should be geared towards growth rather than perpetuating dependency. The word dominance has to be replaced with the word cooperation.

History has shown us that while some parts of the world prosper, others start crumbling. While India was thriving, Europe was at a low; when Europe was on a high, Asia was down; when Europe and Asia were on the decline, the United States was on the rise; and while the rest of the world is reeling, Brazil, India and China are flourishing. This was the paradigm of the past. In the present global scenario, where international borders are porous, the inter-connectedness and inter-dependence of countries and regions is obvious.

On the health front, the United Nations has declared that depression will be the second biggest killer by 2020; this disease is already making its presence felt. An estimated 40% of the school teachers in Europe are depressed. In Europe alone, US$ 113 billion is spent every year to tackle mental illness and depression and its effects. If one-third of the population is mentally depressed, there is no way a healthy economy or better social system can be developed. Given the rising incidence of physical and mental illnesses and behavioural disorders in the society, attempts to establish a robust economy will be just like putting makeup on a corpse.

This is where faith-based organizations and their activities can play a vital role. Over-ambitiousness often boomerangs as depression, which can be countered by self-referral or spiritual values.

When a country becomes stronger, it prefers dialogue to war. Armed conflict between strong nations is a thing of the past. In the present scenario, guerrilla warfare, ethnic conflict within a nation and squeamish squabbles between small nations are widespread. If every nation is empowered to become stronger, perhaps we can put an end to these conflicts.

Terrorism is another big threat that has dearly cost the economy of every nation. The cause of terrorism is the lack of wisdom. We have done very little to globalize wisdom, to encourage multi-religious education and multi-cultural activity. Even if a small part of the population in a corner of the globe thinks that only they possess the truth or only they can go to heaven, and they want to thrust their truth on the rest of humanity, the world cannot have peace. The clashes of civilizations and religious ideologies have to be addressed; unless they are, peace cannot flourish and consequently neither can prosperity.

For example, in India, 200 odd districts - around one-third of the country - are clogged by Naxalite (Maoist) violence. No businessman ventures there to start any industry or to trade. These are the poorest regions in the country and the lack of peace translates there into zero development.

Deep-rooted prejudices among communities have to be checked. It is ironic that even in this progressive age, racial prejudice still exists. In many places, Yoga and other spiritual practices have remained a taboo for a long time. Certain countries have even banned Yoga. Gandhian principles of truth and non-violence are talked of as outdated even in their place of origin.

Racial attacks happen not only in uneducated parts of Africa or South-East Asia but also in a developed and advanced country such as Australia. The hooliganism experienced in the suburbs of France, or the conduct of people in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, clearly indicate we are sitting on a volcano of volatile human behaviour. This needs to be nipped in the bud, or, as is said in the East: “The seeds need to be roasted so that they don’t sprout.” This can be achieved through our education systems by introducing multi-religious and multi-cultural education beginning in elementary schools.

The principles of Maoism are not even followed in Russia; but the archaic books of Stalin, Lenin and Mao Tse Tung are being taught as gospel truth to innocent people in Nepal, India and other countries. Many superstitious beliefs, along with the caste system, have chained India’s progress. Similarly, there are obsolete practices of inequality between genders in Arab and African countries, which have caused great angst to women. Such out-dated practices call for reforms.

An ability to work without prejudice of any sort and a readiness to look into the new paradigms are skills sets essential for the modern era. The present generation seems to have acquired these skills by dropping the biased and conservative mindset of the past.

It is time to kick-start enlightened imaginations. The World Economic Forum’s Global Redesign Initiative is a great idea provided it includes people from every strand of the social fabric. It has to be a collaborative effort of honest politicians, businessmen with integrity, religious leaders with credibility, visionary educationalists, social workers with compassion and clarity and realistic environmentalists as well as people from entertainment and sports industry.

To implement the action plan, so that it doesn’t remain only on paper, it is essential to create catalysts and train ground-level workers.

This dream is possible to achieve when we rise above our limited mindset of my country, my religion and my people to embrace the greater perspective of my planet.

Power of Peace: Part II

Power of Peace: Part I

You have Infinite Potentialities within You!!

Sri Sri Ravishankar's talk at the Confederation of Indian Industries at IIS, Bangalore, India, 2002

It is wonderful to hear that the students are taking a lot of initiative .When the institution moves with an idea to bridge wherever it feels to have some gap - among people, among ideologies, among sciences, among cultures; it needs to be welcomed. That’s what is needed today.

Humanity as a whole is part of one divinity. When I say part, I don’t mean they are apart. Science and Spirituality or Humanity are not apart at all. It is all looking at the reality from various different angles. In the Upanishad it is said, “Avidhyayam mrutyum teerthava vidyayam mrutamashmeta”. It is two sides of the same coin. Avidhya, doesn’t mean ignorance, Avidhya means the knowledge of the relative, of THIS. The knowledge of THIS takes you away from death and knowledge of ME, of the self, gives you immortality. It’s like saying either one thing that darkness vanishes, or by saying the other thing that light comes in. It cannot happen one after the other, it is a simultaneous happening. Darkness comes when light goes ; and light comes when darkness goes. It is a simultaneous happening.

Same with Humanity and Science; The Science is there for human beings, and science is understood by humans, animals don’t understand the science. So in that sense Humanity cannot be the perceiver, the observer cannot be separated from the seen or the observed. Science is all about the observed, about the seen and Humanity is about the seer. And now let’s see what the seer consists of. The seer consists of all that is abstract. Love, Beauty, Peace, Joy, Intelligence. And the seen consists of all matter including our own physical body, physical existence. This understanding is because of ‘Vivek’, discrimination, the seen and the seer.

Then seeing that the seen and the seer are all part of one whole. “What is this?”- is Science and “Who am I?” - is Spirituality or, if you want to call it as Humanity, its the same. ( may be lighter and a softer word! ) Spirituality looks a little up in the air, Humanity looks a little down on the earth. But it matters the same. It means the same. But when we think they are separate even while trying to bridge them up also, you know, we will keep them separate. All that we need to know and notice is that there is a link or that they’re all the same. In our ancient scriptures they have “Padhartha Gyanadh Moksha” They didn’t insist you must believe in God. One of the Darshanas, Vysashika Darshanas said this – ‘ padhartha ….’ That is : even if you understand or know one tiny particle of this creation, you will be liberated. Because in that one tiny particle of creation the entire creation is reflected, is present there.

The more we know Science, the more we know that we know very little. It leads us to a place that I know very little about the creation. The mystery deepens. And the same happens when you try to ponder upon “Who am I?” The deeper you go, you find you are much vaster than what you thought you were. So this is the unending mystery in both sides, if you go within or out, the mystery of the ‘Self’ and the mystery of the creation. And it is a welcome idea to ponder more on this, bringing in the dialogue. This dialogue would help us to understand THIS and ME better. THIS meaning, which creates the world around us and ME is the depth that you are. Very nice !

It is said that Vyas, formed the Humanities. I would like to tell you a story. {Are you all here? Is everyone here? You know, usually when you keep listening to some talk there is a tendency for the attention to go away. We take several coffee breaks in between. Unofficial, mental coffee breaks !! So I want you to be here.}

Here is the story about Ved Vyas. The creator created the world and Vedas then Ved Vyas was asked to categorize them, make them into proper curriculum for the people to study and he agreed. Because Vedas are infinite.( Veda means the knowledge and it is infinite)-there is no beginning to it and there is no end to it , he was asked to categorize them. Then he was shown, where was the Vedas. They showed a huge mountain-bigger than Himalays. Ved Vyas asked how much he could take? He went and took handfuls of .. just handful of that mountain. And from that one handful of mountain he created all the Vedas. He categorized them all. The Vedas were already present, it was not created. But he took just handful from that mountain and what did he make? He made the four Vedas - The Rig Veda, ten thousand verses-written by many thousands of Rishis; ‘Yajur Veda’, ‘Sam Veda’ and ‘Athurva Veda’. And then he made four Upavedas - the Ayurveda -science of life, all about medicines, herbalogy ; Dhanurveda, Sthapasyaveda - diagrams ; and Gandharva Veda –about music, phonetics (the origin of music ).

From the four Vedas which are more like Pure Science or abstract, came four Upavedas which are more practical and applied science, for day to day life. And then the six Darshanas (even more applied science): Vaishaishika, Nyaya, Mimamsa, Sankhya, Yoga and Vedanta- these six applied sciences were derived from it. And then more humanities, more arts and science followed by the epics Ramayan and Mahabharat which have the cultural part or the heritage part .And then the Puranas. The word Purana indicates just the opposite what we think it means. In Hindi language also when we say purana we mean old. Purana in fact means “Puree Nava Ithi Purana”. That which is the new in the town is Purana. Pura means the town and nava means new. That which is new, the latest fashion is called purana. See, how over a time that has lost its whole meaning ( the meaning became different rotated by 180 degree !) So these aspects of humanity need to be brought into our awareness.

We need to be aware of our own selves, our body, our breath, our mind, how the mind works. In the gurukul as initiation ,the first thing a student was given was to make him realize Who you are and to get confidence in oneself . They called it ‘Brahmopadesh’. Brahmopadesh means what? The greatest advice, initiation. And what was said- You are not what you think you are. You are bigger than this whole universe. ‘Thou are that’ - you are that.! -That was the first knowledge imparted to a student before he could understand and study more. So increasing the capacity of a student to study more, to instill the confidence in him. the teacher would look into the eyes of the student and say, “Look, who do you think you are? You are not just somebody. You are more than that somebody you think you are. You have infinite possibilities , Potentiality in you. Wake up.

Wisdom from Sri Sri's updates

'Whatever good traits you desire will automatically get kindled in you’

“The world has witnessed so much chaos, now let’s focus on one conductor – GOD. Focus on one aspect, but play your instrument”

Wise ones celebrate diversity, fools fight over it

Sri Sri addresses parliament of world religions

http://www.indiaprwire.com/pressrelease/other/2009120538934.htm

Wisdom from Sri Sri's updates

For harmonious sustainable growth of a society, all different sections of society will have to work in rhythm, in harmony

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar addresses the 3rd World Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace in Paris

Upliftng Spirit through Education. Sri Sri at University of California, Berkley, May 14, 2003

Sri Sri's message for 2009, on December 31, 2008

Sri Sri at Scottish Parliament, June 2004

Sri Sri at World Economic Forum, 2001

Wisdom from Sri Sri's updates

What Sri Sri said today (May 24, 2009)