jai gurudev!!

Guruji: Which is better, to thank deeply or superficially?
Everyone in unison: Deeply!

Guruji: No, superficially. (Everyone is baffled.) Thanking needs a separation. Thanking means there are two. If you are deeply thankful, it means you deeply feel the separation. Deep within there there is no need to thank, because there is oneness. But superficially you can thank. Thanks are like ripples on the surface of the water.

When you say "Thank you", you complete something. You are finishing a transaction, a relationship, a process. "Thank you" is like "Good bye". You can complete all transactions at a surface level, but deeper inside is only oneness.

Thankfulness always exists in relation to something else. You don't thank for nothing at all, you thank for something. But, in this case something is less than nothing!

At the deepest level, thanking has no meaning. Does one hand thank the other hand? The deeper you go, you see that there is no "other" to be thanked.

Question: So we should thank superficially and feel deeply?
Guruji: Feeling is also superficial. If you think the feeling is the depth, then you have not gone deep. Feeling is deeper than thinking. But feelings change. Whatever is the deepest doesn't change.

So thank superficially, not from the depth. Deep thanks indicate deep separation!

Someone in the crowd: Maybe we should say, "I thank you from the tip of my tongue!" (laughter)

Religion and Politics

The role of religion is to make one righteous and loving, and politics means caring for people and their welfare. When religion and politics don't coexist, then you have corrupt politicians and pseudo-religious leaders.

A religious man who is righteous and loving will definitely care for the welfare of the whole population and hence becomes a true politician. And a true politician can only be righteous and loving. he cannot be anything but religious. All the Avatars and Prophets have been caring for people and so were in politics. You can find many examples to this effect.

When religions
restrict the freedom to worship and restrict modes of worship, they become unsuitable for creating a harmonious society. When religion becomes all encompassing and gives full freedom to pray and worship in any manner - that religion will bring righteousness and peace in people and will be suitable for any society.

People think politics and religion have to be kept separate because many religions did not give freedom to worship and did not care for all people equally. History has shown that religion has created conflict. But irreligious societies (e.g. communism) have created chaos and corruption.

Today both religion and politics need reform. Religion has to become broader and more spiritual to allow freedom of worship and broader to encompass all the wisdom in the world. And politicians have to become more righteous and spiritual.

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JAIGURUDEV!!!!!

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Q: Where did we learn to be afraid of making mistakes?

Sri Sri: There are many people who have no fear of making mistakes. Many students who have no fear, drop out of school and are involved in violence. Recent statistics reveal that as many as 30% of the children in North America are resorting to some sort of violence. This is a very big number. They resort to violence because they are not afraid of making mistakes. There must also be another 30% who are afraid to make mistakes, who are not interested in taking the risk and who shy away.

Ideally we need to keep a balance. We are afraid of making mistakes because of the consequences, because we think we will be punished or the consequences will be very bad. Often those who have been punished several times are no longer afraid about the consequences.

You cannot totally eliminate fear, nor should we. Fear is like salt in the food, it keeps one on his toes. Fear keeps one's feet on the ground, but fear is essential to some degree only. Like salt in the food, if there is too much salt, the food is not consumable, but you cannot eat the food without any salt. A little bit of fear is essential in the process of growth.

Nature has built you like that. You drive on the right side of the road (in US) because of the fear you would get in to an accident. You walk on the sidewalk, you drive only when there is a green light. These actions happen out of fear. If you are totally without fear, you could do anything and violate all the laws. Laws are always followed with a pinch of fear,
and it is not a bad thing, but if there is too much fear, then it cannot be helpful. You have to keep a degree of fear like a little bit of salt in the food.

Feelings Change

There are three aspects in relationship. One is the attraction; that is on the physical level. The second aspect is love on the mental level. The third aspect is a deeper connection, or devotion, on the spiritual level. Our feelings and emotions change all the time. We feel good about something, and then a little later we feel bad about the same thing. What's the big deal about your feelings? People often say, "Oh, follow your feelings." I tell you, "Never follow your feelings!' You will be ruined if you follow your feelings, because feelings change all the time. Follow your commitments and your wisdom. You will be much better off.

Any student in a medical college, during the first year or the second year, feels very frustrated and wants to quit medicine and do something else. Often such feelings come up during a long and difficult career. If one simply followed his feelings, he would not get into any profession because nothing can maintain charm for a long time. Often for those who are very sharp, nothing stays charming. That is one of the signs of intelligence. A person who is dull can go on with anything, but for those who are more alert, everything seems to lose its charm very fast - except when the charm is coming from one's very depth, the very core of one's being. Then the mind is totally in the present moment and one has deep roots and broad vision of life. Then every moment is full of charm, everything is beautiful in the world. That's the time when one never gets bored with oneself.

The ultimate relationship is when you can relate to yourself one hundred percent. Then any face you look at, there is love, there is charm, there is beauty. Then you come from the space of contributing. "What can I do for you? How can I make your life better?" If each partner comes from this space "What can I do for you?", that becomes the ultimate relationship between two people.

We don't have to sit and wait for some soul mate to come to us. Often people ask me, "When will I meet my soul mate?" You can dial up pyschics who will say, "Oh, your soul mate is coming." Soul mate? I tell you, you can never meet your soul mate unless you first meet your soul. If you haven't met your own soul, how will you know your soul mate?

When we question as to who we are, we find that we are not our emotions, we are not our feelings, we are not our thoughts and we are not our concepts. Then who are we? This very inquiry creates an awakening within us and takes away the shackles of our conditioning. There is a great expectation in every relationship that the other person should change. We never think about how we should change instead of the other person. If we change first and develop such an awakened awareness, we create an atmosphere that brings change in the other person too more often.

Repetition

Often we think, "Oh, I am single, I am so bored being by myself, I need a companion, I need a relationship." If you are so bored by your own company how boring will you be for someone else?

Two people bored with themselves get together and bore each other. Love and boredom have something in common. Repetition. If you go on repeating something again and again, you will get bored. When you are in love, you go on repeating the same thing. Lovers insist a thousand times, "Oh, I love you so much, I love you so much, you are so beautiful." Say it once, that's enough! Lovers seem to have "lost it." When you are in love, what you speak does not mean much at all. Many do not even know what they are speaking.

Often you will see in high schools or in colleges, where someone is in love, they write their names all over the place, on walls, in their books, and everywhere, a kind of graffiti. Often their homes and colleges are not sufficient to display their love and they even go and write on trains, metros, and bus stops. This is repetition.

Spiritual practice is also a repetition. Having a rosary, chanting the name of God, doing something like this is a repetition. At first the repetition brings boredom in you. When you sustain that boredom, instead of just dropping it and running away, the spring of love gets opened. When you go on and rea;lise that you are the source of the love, you are at the giving end and not at the receiving end, only then can your relationship blossom.

Relationships Change

The nature of relationships always change. Here, I am using the word relationship in a broader sense, in its true sense, and in a relative sense. When you were a child, you had so much love for your parents, friends and toys, and as you grew older the love from the toys and candy shifted onto other friends and from friends it shifted once again. When you became a parent, see how much love you had for your children, as compared to your love for your parents. Parents care several times more for their own children than for their parents, because their attention and love are shifted from the elders to the younger ones. A similar shift often happens in the relationship between husband and wife when a child is born.

When you are looking for security, love and comfort from your partner, you become weak, you are at the receiving end. When you are weak, then all the negative emotions and demands come up in you. Demands destroy love. If we just understand this, we could save our love from getting rotten.

The common expression is "I fell in love". I say, `Don't fall in love; rise in love'. Having a limited awareness of ourselves and a limited experience of love encapsulates us in a tiny, tight compartment where we start suffocating. We want freedom in life. Love can be suffocating if there is no depth to it, and that is what we see today. Many people fall in love and then they fall apart. We can't even handle what we are asking for, what we desire, what we want, because we have never probed into the depth of our own psyche, our own mind, and our own consciousness.

In love we want to merge with the other, we cannot bear the separateness. That is why lovers often want to know everything about the one whom they love. They cannot tolerate any secrets because a secret means distance. Love cannot tolerate the distance.

Overcoming Events

All the problems that you face in life are because you attach over importance to events. The events grow bigger while you remain smaller.

Say, for example, you are riding a motorbike on a busy street and in front of you another vehicle is emitting exhaust fumes. You have 3 options:

1. You can complain, somehow bear with it, and still follow the vehicle.
2. You can slow down or wait for sometime to allow the vehicle to move far away from you.
3. You can use your skill, overtake the vehicle, and forget about it.

As in the first case, most of you stick on the events and are miserable, like inhaling fumes throughout your journey.

In the second case, you don't get permanent relief because another bigger vehicle might come in front of you. Running away from events is not the permanent solution.

Wise people use their skill to surmount the event. If the vehicle is in perfect condition, the skill is effective.

Conditioning the vehicle is sadhana - practice. And skill is the grace of the Guru.

The mistakes you have made in the past have made you humble; you need not make mistakes in the future to become humble

The Ball and The Bat

By Acharya Ratnananda (Guruji's Father)

Many people face a dilemma; whether absolute surrender to Guru will rid them of their past Karmas. If it does, why do they continue to suffer, if it does not, what is the purpose or use of surrendering to the Master? It is a law of Nature that you should receive the results of your action whether good or bad. The real Master does not normally desire to interfere with the laws of Nature though he has the power to modify them. The whole thing may be compared to a cricket match.

The bowler is your past deeds or misdeeds and the ball, is the resulting action. The bat is the corrective protection which you wield as a batsman. If you fend off the past deeds or misdeeds then you save yourself from unpleasantness; if you fail to hit, the ball hits the three wickets of disease; physical, emotional and mental. The Master is like an umpire. He watches the entire play and does not interfere, if the rules of the game are followed. But when violations take place, he steps in to correct them. But sometimes, you also have to appeal and then he gives his decision. The appeal is also two-fold, the past, in the form of the bowler, and the present, in the form of the batsman. He supports whoever is right

I tell you, even if one is good, hidden somewhere there are impressions and they come out. One has to face the consequences. Even in the so called bad man, there are deep impressions in him which bring out some nice things too. So, there are different layers within each individual. You have given a loan somewhere and have loans elsewhere. So where you have a loan, you have to repay and where you have given loans, there you will get back with interest which will be credited to you. In one hand you are recieving and on the other hand you are giving. This `give and take' is happening inside you. That is why it appears to be very complicated. It seems to be unjust sometimes. Though I have been so good, never done any wrong, but why are these wrong things happening to me or to my people? No! Just take it. Don't go into details as to why or what. It will only just simply shift further what you may call your assumptions, your guessing.

You can guess, "Maybe because of this it happened." Then you go a little deeper and you shift and shift. Instead of digging into the past, just look at whatever is right now and march forward. Meditate, go deep into some practice. You can burn down all the karma. Karma is just the impressions the mind has carried deep inside you. Those impressions attract these events which are happening. But by surrender, by meditation, you can erase all those impressions to a great extent.

See, our mind is oscillating all the time. Either it is angry about the past or anxious about the future. It is like a pendulum. If you have observed every minute, your mind says this should not have happened. It could have been better that way. Just regretting, regretting, regretting. And then when youu are regretting you get angry. You know how anger comes? It piles up. Drop by drop it collects. Morning you get up, "Oh! I should have got up half an hour early." And then you get into your car and go into the road and then, "Oh! I should not have taken this road. I should have come by the other road." You sit in your office, and one little thing happens and you burst out. Apparently, that is cause.

But then, that is not the total cause. At the back of your mind, it was building up, all the time. Then you dump your whole thing on your colleague. That poor chap, or that poor lady, or whoever it is. They take the brunt of your anger. The mind is regretting about the past, or anxious about the future as to what will happen, what will happen next hour, what will happen this evening, or what will happen tomorrow. You are too anxious about the future, so fearful. So you go from one astrologer to another card reader. Everyone says something. Read the crystal ball and say something. Are you fulfilled or satisfied with it? No! The moment you find another astrologer, you run to him. Haven't you had this experience? You are just not satisfied hearing from one astrologer. You go from one to the other and they say something and you feel happy momentarily. Then you go to another and you feel great. It is like an addiction. I call it astrology addiction. It stays for a little while, maybe one day or even a few hours and then the next day you are in the same boat, [with the] same anxiety.

Meditation and kriya will bring the mind to the moment and go deep into it. The moment is so deep, it is like an ocean. The present moment is as vast and deep as the Universe. Making the mind be there, now, now, now, now - now, now - makes you like a child. Innocent, but still with a lot of wisdom and depth. That is fulfillment. Many of you have experienced this here. You have experienced how wonderful and deep you feel after the practices.

Before becoming free, you have no freedom. You have to become free from the past and the anxieties of the future. In the moment, you become free. When you are free you have free will. The WILL. There is no other will. Nothing can oppose your will then. Or, whatever His will is your will. It is no different.

Time is the greatest mystery

Time is so obvious, yet so incomprehensible. All that exists in nature manifests in the dimension of time. In time exists every tangible experience, yet we have never really experienced time. Things perish in time but time does not perish. It is time that reveals all that is concrete yet it has remained abstract (like the mind or the life force). One of the deepest mysteries of the universe is time.

What is time? And, what is beyond time? Was there a time when there was no time? Will there be an end to time?

The fascinating nature of time has been the quest of brilliant minds for centuries and there are many deep insights regarding time in ancient literature. It is unfortunate that those who know Sanskrit, the language of the Vedas, often know very little of modern science. Similarly, few of today's scientists have any knowledge about Sanskrit.

True wisdom is timeless. Only from time to time it gets recast into different words and languages, suitable for the time. The Vedic knowledge, which arose in the East tens of thousands of years ago, provides an extraordinary rich insight into the nature of the universe. Over the centuries, many Rishis (wise men) had recognised this knowledge in the form of certain hymns whilst in a state of deep meditation. These intuitive revelations were collated by Maharishi Veda Vyasa thousands of years ago to form the Vedas. These sages and rishis, living in the forests, were engaged in intensive discussions and elaborations of the Vedas. This resulted in commentaries, called Aranyakas and Brahmanas. All this knowledge was passed on orally from the Master to the disciple. The philosophy and techniques of the Vedas were summed up in the Upanishads. This knowledge was often cast into symbolic stories, which formed the Puranas, a mixture of history and symbolic parables. For the rishis, spirituality and science were not two different subjects; they had intertwined spirituality with art, architecture and science.

It is interesting to note that many of these observations, though not exact, come quite close to modern discoveries. For example, long before Galileo, the Vedic rishis had stated that the planets revolve around the sun and that the earth was round. In fact, the science of astronomy itself was called "khagola shastra" - the knowledge of spheres of space (in Sanskrit, kha means space, gola means spheres, shastra means an organised body of Knowledge), and the science of geography was called "bhugola shastra" the knowledge of earth sphere (bhu means earth).

Vedic mathematics is one of civilisation's most profound system of calculation. The concepts of zero and decimal mathematics were first conceived by Vedic rishis. Jyotish calculations predict with extraordinary accuracy, up to the precision of seconds the time of eclipses, the cycles of the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and other planets.

Ancient man had a greater understanding of time and space than was formerly believed. The amazing Vedic vision about how vast and yet how infinitesimal time is, causes us to rethink our view of ancient man.

Significance of Celibacy

Question: Punditji, talk to us about the significance of celibacy in our life.

Sri Sri: Celibacy is a happening. When your awareness is so deeply rooted in the Being and Being is permeating everywhere, and when the thrilling joy and love is coming from every pore and cell of your body, a natural phenomenon that you call "celibacy" happens. The bliss in you is like the peak of the sex experience. When that stays with you as an electric current all the time in your body, you don't feel the body as a physical heavy body. It is light like a flower. It is like space, like air. When you get very spacey, you don't do anything. You don't feel the body because you are so immersed in joy. Then celibacy happens. It is not a practice that one does. It is a spontaneous happening, when love has flowered so much in our life.

It is one energy which, in the lowest centre of our body, manifests as sex energy as well as creative energy. See, when you are very creative, if you are going for an examination or are involved in a large business, those days, thoughts of sex don't cross your mind. You work, you go to sleep and you work, because that particular activity occupies your mind so much. When you are very creative, the sex energy is transformed. People who are obsessed with sex are less creative. The one energy comes as either procreative or creative energy.

When the energy moves further up, to the second centre of your body, beauty and the arts are enlivened. The same energy turns into arrogance and jealousy. One energy has these two aspects, either as beauty, arts and appreciation or as jealousy and arrogance. They are not two different energies.

Have you observed a tendency with beauty? We see beauty and we want to possess it. You may see a nice crystal chandelier and say "Oh, I want it." You bring it home. Do you enjoy looking at it everyday? No. Again when you go out, you see other types of chandeliers which attract your attention. Most of you have beautiful paintings at home. Do you look at them everyday and enjoy them? You seldom do that. You may say you enjoy them showing them to guests. Do you really enjoy them? No.

Your tendency is - when you see beauty, you want to possess it. In the process of possessing it, you make it ugly. When you see a beautiful boy or a beautiful girl, you want to possess, you want to love them so much that you make it hard for them to breathe. This is happening! People are suffocated by love! And people are hurt by love! You can't get hurt if there is no love. If you love somebody and they don't smile at you or are busy, you get deeply hurt. You don't get hurt by somebody whom you don't love. Hurt is a part of love. And you don't want to accept that. You just want people to love and say goody-goody things and smile. All these modulations of the mind open up and change with observation. To me, celibacy is a gift that comes to you. It is a happening.

The word celibate means `married to God'. That means God has possessed you so much, has so fully entered into each cell, that there is no space left for anything else. Celibate means to be married to the spirit. Having seen over and over again, for lifetimes, what sex is, you move a step further and become immersed into That, divinity, that love which Is.

Truth related to Reality

Kashi, a holy city on the banks of the river Ganges in India, was once the capital of a state ruled by an eminent king. His court consisted of a galaxy of great scholars, whose deliberations evolved the motto: "In search of truth" - a motto that was prominently displayed in the court, in letters of gold.

One fine morning, a young monk entered the court, and much to the surprise and amusement of the assembled cholars, suggested that the motto be changed to: "In search of Reality"."Truth need not be the same as reality. Truth is what you believe in, but reality is what is," declared the young monk to a shocked audience. To demonstrate his statement, on a full moon night, he had several barrels of oil placed in an open area so that the moon was clearly reflected on their
oily surfaces. "My dears," said the young monk, "the moons in the oil barrels are truthful reflections, and as such you may believe there to be as many moons as there are barrels, if you do not look up to see the one moon above. owever, you are also aware of the reality of their being a single moon. Similarly you may create any number of wooden articles and call them by different names, but you are aware of the basic reality of wood in each of them. When the barrels are emptied of oil, these truthful reflections disappear, but not the real moon. So also, when the different items of furniture are broken, they too lose their individual names and become scraps of wood. What we believe is normally conditioned by space and time, but reality is beyond both these. Our efforts should thus be directed towards the search for the latter and hence the motto should be "In search of reality".

The entire assembly found sense in his statements and power in his advocacy, and so the motto was modified to: "In search of reality".

A few years later, however, the galaxy of scholars was in for another shock, when a different young monk, once again, demanded a change in the motto, saying that it should be: "In search of truth and reality".

"My dears", he declared to his confused audience, "while truth may not be reality, it still has a place in the scheme of things. When you see the numerous reflections of the moon in the oil barrels, you cannot ignore their existence, though you concede the reality of one moon. Similarly you cannot ignore the varieties of furniture, with their different names, as long as they exist. All of you are in reality, men and women, but no one can ignore the fact that each one of you has an individual name. The sum total of truth may be called reality, but even reality can be broken down into individual truths." " Hence I suggest," he advised the now convinced assembly, "that the motto be redrafted to read: 'In search of truth and reality'." Everyone agreed, accepted the change and applauded... but this too was not to last for long.After a few more years, yet another young monk appeared on the horizon, to contest the current wording of the motto.

"How can you say that a truth is truthful unless it is in some way related to reality?" he challenged the astonished scholars. "All the reflections, of the moon in the oil barrels, receive their source from one reality and they are connected to this. Without the moon there can be no reflections. Similarly, all wooden furniture is related to one source - the wood.
You have to concede, that truth, in any form, is ultimately related to reality. Hence all your declarations will become meaningful, when you go in search of truth related to reality".

All the scholars realized the truth in his statements and so it came to pass that the motto was changed once again as per this young monk's wishes.

This story reveals the innate link between Indian tradition's three schools of thought - i.e. 'Advaitha' (non-duality), 'dvaitha' (duality) and 'Vishisthadvaitha' (duality reflecting non-duality).

When I say drop the desire, I don't mean that you have to be pessimistic. There is a difference. You know only these two ends, the extremes. One, you are craving, you are feverish about getting something. Another, you go to the other extreme of being pessimistic, being sad, depressed and disappointed. We know that both desire or being disappointed mean the same. 'No desires' need not necessarily mean being in depression. Either you desire, be ambitious or you are depressed. But in joy there is neither desire nor ambition. Ambition promises joy somewhere in the future. It creates a mirage of joy and leaves frustration in your hands. Is this not your experience? You observe the most successful men in any field of life. In their life, even after attaining their desired ambitions and goals, are they happy? The answer is 'No'.

The desire creates an illusion of joy in the future. When it is attained it creates a fear of losing it. You think, "when I become the mayor of this town then I will be happy or when I become a famous actress or actor I will be happy". When you become a famous actor or actress then you start worrying as to how you can maintain that position. If this goes away, then what will happen to me? There is a fear of losing it. You do not even enjoy that which is already there. And when it is gone , the memory of it brings pain.

One of the past Presidents of India had come to see me. He was frustrated inside. I told him - see, you have achieved the highest post a man can achieve in this country. Now why are you unhappy? You are much better off than before. Look at that man who sells cigarettes in the shop around the corner. How frustrated he could have been. If you are unhappy after attaining the highest position in the country how would that small business man with a shop around the corner, that man who sells small things like cigarettes, feel? The memory of the position you occupied brings more pain. You feel that nobody cares for you now. Now, you are your own servant. Is it not so? It is just an illusion. The mind says - "now I don't have any powers, so they do not respect me". Desire is living on borrowed power which never stays. It is a rainbow which you cannot catch. In Sanskrit, there is the same word for the rainbow and desire. It is Indradhanush. Desires are like the Rainbow. If desires are not created by yourself, if it rises within you, then it is a need. It is authentic. But when it comes through the company of people, then it is an illusion.

The next sutra says 'Dussangaha sarva daivadwachaha'. Such company which puts drops of poison in you, which thirsts you, which disturbs you, which brings passion, lust and desires and thrusts them up in you is bad company. What is bad company? The company which disturbs your coolness, simplicity and innocence in you; which robs the joy from you is bad company. And what happens? With the desire, there is always anger. Anger does not come by itself. It is the smoke of the pain that is desire. Behind anger, if you examine, there is always a desire.

You can never get rid of anger without looking into desire. And when you look into desire, if it is authentic, real and needed, then it is a need. The need stays as need. If it is an ambition that is infused in you by your company, it will dissolve and disappear. For e.g. you are thirsty and you want to drink something, it is a need. You want a nice place to sleep. That is also a need. You want to go somewhere and you may need a car. That is a need. But that man has 'so and so' car and I should have a better car than him - 'that' is ambition. Do you see the difference? I have nothing against you for having what you want to have. The Rishi has nothing against you for growing or for having a high standard of life. You be a king, a monarch in the world but not looking at someone and competing with him. Competition
destroys creativity. But we are told the other way around. People have always told you that you have to be competitive. You should win over the competition. Otherwise you cannot survive.

[Taken from Guruji's commentary on Narada Bhakti Sutras]

The Company One Keeps

Our life is influenced by our company. Have you noticed that? When you are in a group, in a company, whatever people talk, you quietly slip into it. Like the foot on the banana peel. You slip, and suddenly you realize. And many times one is not aware of what one is talking but is involved in deep conversation. You are not aware of what's happening. Someone is talking about cars and you get involved. And suddenly someone is talking about the weather and you get involved in the weather. And topics change. You are not aware of what's happening. And then you talk about books, then you talk about music, then you talk about this and that and finally you round it up. But you end up elsewhere.

Our company reflects our mind. And mind is influenced by company. You must have noticed in your life, someone tells you, that particular person is not good. Just one word they say about someone. Next time you meet that person, you meet him with the same idea at the back of your mind. The word of your friend is somewhere deep down below. So you look at that person from that perspective. You are not looking with a clear eye but with a coloured eye. Isn't it? If you sit in a company of people who are very ambitious, you also become ambitious. You also want to show off that you are also good, you are better off, and you have a fine taste.

People sit and talk about what excellent taste they have or what wonderful sense of art appreciation they have. And you also want to say that. Say that you also do some art. People talk about what good collection they have so it creates an ambition in you, you also want to create, make a good collection. People want to speak about how good their children are doing atschool or how excellent they are at sports. And you also want to see your children are good in school and so you force them to be the way you want them to be. Not just for your sake. or for the sake of your children, but for the sake of your company. Have you observed this? This is more so in the third world countries.

They want their children to be doctors because their friend's children are doctors. They are studying for medicine. They want them to do engineering because their friend's children are going to engineering college. We are so stuck at what people think about us, what they say about us. Many people want to do meditation but don't want anybody to know they are doing meditation because they might think that this person is crazy, he is doing all this meditation and singing and that he is not normal.

Some feel ashamed if tears roll from their eyes. To cry is nothing abnormal. If tears come out of your eyes out of emotion, you feel ashamed. You say, I am so sorry, I am so sorry, and wipe your eyes with tissue. Why should you feel so sorry about it? Tears come out due to gratefulness, out of joy, out of love, not only out of sadness. This reflects the depth of humanity in you. That you are life; you are not a computer. Still we've been given to an understanding that being emotional is not good.

Your company influences you to a great deal. Your company creates desire in you and frustration in you.

Your company makes you complicated and robs away all the innocence with which you could have been more happy. In school we tell children, you must come first, push everybody and come first. So we create that ambition in children. Ambition is poisonous to joy and love in life. One who is ambitious can never be happy and loving. That doesn't mean become pessimistic.

To be continued...

The Master's Favourite

Once upon a time, there lived a great sage named Angirasa in a forest. He had many disciples. All of them were considerably benefited by his wisdom. However, there were some pious souls, who learned everything faster than others, and followed his words more closely. They also received respect from other disciples for their pious nature.

But, some of the disciples who were dull-witted, developed jealousy towards those pious ones, forgetting the fact, that they alone were at fault for their slow rate of absorption of the master's teachings. Instead, they began doubting the master's impartiality. They felt that the master was imparting special knowledge to the pious ones secretly.

So, one day, when the master was alone, they went to him and said, "Oh, master! We feel that you are being unfair to us. We think that you are giving the full benefit of your wisdom only to a few chosen ones. Why can't you extend similar privileges to us also?"

The master was slightly taken aback by these words, but he calmly replied: "I have treated all of you alike and have never shown any special favours to anyone. If some of you progress fast, it is only due to your own feelings of closeness to my words. Who prevented you from taking more initiative?"

But the disciples were not convinced. Hence after some thought, the master said: "Alright, I will give those of you, who complain, the special attention you want, but on one condition. I will give you a small and simple test, and you must pass it. The test is that you should go to the nearby village, which you often visit, and bring me one good fellow. That's all."

The grumbling ones were overjoyed at the fact that the test was so simple, while its reward would be so immense. They selected one of them, who immediately started his search with much enthusiasm, feeling very sure of catching a good fellow. But to his misfortune, wherever he went and whomever he met, everyone seemed to have some sin or crime to his credit. After a long and fruitless search, and being completely disappointed, he returned to his group and to his master. With frustration he said: "Oh master, I am sorry to tell you that there is not a single good person in the whole village. Everyone has committed a bad deed, crime or sin. The entire village is full of bad people. "Oh, is it so?" the master said with mock sorrow. "Now let me see. We will send one of those, against whom you have a grouse."

He then called one of the pious ones and said, "Can you please go to the nearby village, visited by the other disciple, and bring with you a bad fellow". "With your blessings, I will try, sir," said the pious one and went away on his errand.

The grumbling disciples were again taken by surprise and said, "Oh master! This time also you have been unfair to us! The other fellow will certainly bring dozens of bad fellows, as the village overflows with them!"

However, the master counseled patience, and after due time, the pious one also returned empty-handed, to the shock of the grumbling ones. He made obeisance to the master and said, "Oh, master! I am sorry to disappoint you. I searched the entire village, but could not find a single bad fellow".

The grumbling ones rolled with laughter at this remark, but he continued, "Everyone seemed to have done one good thing or another. I could not get even a single person, who did not do any good deed. Pardon me for my failure." So saying, he left the place with the permission of the master. To the shocked and surprised grumbling disciples, the master said, "My dear devotees! This is where discretion moves between good and evil, right and wrong, positive and negative. Your wisdom blossoms, when you find a spark of virtue in everything, and it withers away, when you spot a vice in everything. The world is a mixture of joy and grief, and your wisdom depends on what you choose to take out of it. People, who adopt a positive attitude in life, progress fast. But those, who adopt a negative attitude, can only proceed slowly, if at all. For the master, everyone is dear and near; it is only the disciple's fault, if he feels far from him. The more you feel one with me the greater is your evolution. Let all your actions conform to this basic understanding."

This story reveals, how one should face life and its problems. It also shows, how total surrender to a master helps a person to overcome the problems of life more easily.

By Acharya Ratnananda

Achieving success is one of the major problems, facing people in this planet. All of us want to be successful and yet most of us manage to fail, that too, in spite of our best efforts. There is a mad rush to succeed and for many, only the madness results.

Thousands of books are written about the "Secret of Success" and millions of copies sold, but with a largely negative result for the reader, and positive results for the author.

The ancient seers of India considered this phenomenon and puzzle and after long thought, came out with some startling facts and factors. They found that failure generates from us and is reflected to us. They said, "Start with Success." How could that be when we aim and run after it? When the goal is success; how could it be starting point? To meet this dilemma, they prescribe five golden guidelines.

The first is VASTRA, i.e., take proper care of your dress. Be in tune with the situation. Do not go in flashy clothes to a funeral or in a mourning dress to a party. A person promotes, favourable or unfavourable impression by the dress he wears. Casual dress gets only a casual response.

The second is VAPUSHA, i.e., carry yourself with poise and presentability, with dignity and decorum, in your moves and movements. Even a well-dressed person, behaving in a comic fashion invites ridicule. Behave like a commander and not like a clown, unless you want to join a circus company. Do not forget that you are a decent human being and treat yourself so, if you want decent treatment from others. Even when faced with indecency, respond with firmness and yet with good manners.

The third is VACHA. Use the right word at the right situation. Be clear, concise and correct in expressing your thoughts and views. Do not ramble, as people have no time for your long lectures. Be a good listener and manage to say more "yes" and less "no". Do not demonstrate your debating skill with one whose favour you need and seek. Most of all, do not try to convince anyone against his will. You will certainly fail in the beginning as also in the end.

Just as you decline to eat something unpalatable, refuse to say something unpalatable to others. In the present day world, even bitter medicines, are give in sugar capsules. So, it is better to lose an argument and win a friend instead of winning an argument and losing a friend. Your words, whether spoken or written, are your ambassadors, and take good care in choosing them.

The fourth gem is VIDHYA, i.e., knowledge of subject. Get adequately prepared for the situation. Do your homework beforehand and with attention, before expressing or exposing yourself. There should be less sound and more sense in your words, and they should be result-oriented. Do not fall in love with your own words. Remember that others are equally or perhaps more wise from their own standpoint.

The fifth and the finest quality is VINAYA, i.e., Humility. The humbler you feel, the higher you will climb towards success. The realisation that "I deserve perhaps only this, even if I may desire more," leads to more joy than other paths.

MAHARISHI AGASTHYA

You Can Never Meet God

You can never meet God. When you meet God, you disappear, only God remains. Either there can be God or there can be you. In Hindi there is a couplet which says, "Prem ki gali ati sankri ja mein do na samaye." "This path of love is so narrow that two cannot be there." You and God cannot be there. Either you are there or God is there. You can never love God!!!

Can you measure water with a stick made of salt? The moment it touches the water, it dissolves. You can never measure with it. So also you and God. In your true nature, you are God. Free of guilt, full of surrender, you are God. This is the ultimate goal of all life.

As every river goes into a big lake or into the ocean, so also all life merges into the infinite life, the Big Life, the Big Mind. That is the goal, full flowering. Each one of you has a Big Mind and this big mind contains all your future and all your past, infinite future and infinite past. The Big Mind contains all your hopes, your desires, all your possibilities, all that you can achieve in life, all that you can have. The Big Mind contains everything of you. It has all the answers for all your questions. There is nothing that is outside your Big Mind. And your Big Mind contains every other mind. It is your own Big Mind.

Every thought that comes to you comes in the mind. And the thought is spontaneous, it happens. You have no control over it. All discoveries have come out of the Big Mind, your own Big Mind. See, in your own body there are so many cells, right? Each cell has got its own life. Today your body does not have the same cells which it had ten years ago. Cells have died, new cells have come up. So, a constant birth and death of cells is happening in your body. From the time you were born till today, new cells have come up, and old cells have gone. So these little cells, which have their own lives, don't know you as a whole. So also with all the different bodies. There are so many bodies here, each having its own little life. We do not know a Big Life which contains all these lives together. All our minds put together is a Big Mind, a Big Life. That life you may call God. And you are the centre of God. You are so dear to God. So there is a Big Mind and a small mind. The small mind chatters, saying something at one time, some other thing at another time, liking something now and disliking the same thing a little while later.

The Single Parent

by Acharya Ratnananda

"What is your name, my child?" asked the Master, of the pretty young boy,who had come seeking admission to His school of Vedic Studies.

"My mother did not give me a name, Sir...except for calling me , her darling," replied the young fellow, much to the laughter and amusement of other students.

The Master, who was kind and considerate, said, "Don't worry... but go ask your mother, the name of your father and then come to me".

The boy carried the Master's message to his mother, but she could not satisfy His query, for she herself did not know the boy's father's name... Hence, she had not been able to name her son, for in those long gone days, only fathers performed their children's naming ceremonies. However, being a brave and truthful women, the boy's mother, gave her son, a message to carry back to the Master.

With tearful eyes, the boy returned to the Master and said, "Sir, my mother tells me that she was a servant in a famous household that had many eminent visitors, some of whom took a fancy to her because of her good looks, her youth... and used her. She carried me in her womb and when I was born, she could only give me her love and her name, as she was not sure of that of my father's. Please pardon my mother and me for our lapses. My mother's name is Jabala". The assembly of students was shocked, both, at the revelation and at the simplicity in which the truth was revealed. They curiously awaited the Master's response, for this was a rare case of Tradition confronting Truth...

With compassion in his eyes and confidence in his words, the Master said, "My dear child, I am happy with your frankness and with your mother's honesty. In this world, Truth alone is the ultimate virtue... and those who uphold it, inspite of some other failings, belong to the virtuous group. You are the product of Love and Truth and I myself, will perform the naming ceremony for you..."

He continued, "You shall be called the 'Lover of Truth' (Satya Kama) and your mother's name shall be added to it instead of your father's. Thus, henceforth, you shall be called 'Satya Kama Jabala' (the Lover of Truth, Jabala's son). You shall be one of my students and you shall grow to be a great scholar".

This story reveals how faithful and truthful surrender to the Master always benefits us, whatever our shortcomings or failures.

The Instinct of Survival

by Acharya Ratnananda

Maharishi Kanaada was a great scholar of ancient times. He was the preceptor of one of the six systems of philosophies called `Dharshanas'. He had a large number of disciples.

One day, two disciples came from his ashram, went to a nearby riverside, to gather flowers and fruits. While doing so, they observed a big scorpion, crawling slowly along the riverbank.

One disciple cautioned the other: "Please keep away from the poisonous creature - as per the advice of our Master to stay aloof from evil people and things."

In the meanwhile, the scorpion slipped from the bank, fell into the river and was struggling for its life. Seeing this, the second disciple bent down immediately, lifted the struggling creature with his hand and placed it upon the shore. However, while doing so, he was stung by the scorpion, causing him much pain.

Seeing the saviour's suffering, the first disciple rebuked him saying, "You have ignored the teachings of our Master and hence you are in pain."

"No," said the other fellow, "I was only following the teachings of our Master and how can they be wrong?"

While they were debating about the dictums of the Master and its effects, the unfortunate scorpion slipped and fell into the water again - prompting the second disciple to lift it up, out of the water, once more. In the process, he was stung by the poisonous creature yet again! Even though he was in pain, the second disciple explained the reason for his action: "Our Master has taught us not to forsake our helping nature, but to serve everyone, even though they may not appreciate or reciprocate it. While it is the scorpion's nature to sting, it is my nature to save."

"But our Master has also taught us to stay aloof from evil people and things, to protect and preserve our own safety. You have violated this and hence you are suffering," insisted the first disciple.

Unable to solve the apparent contradictions in the teachings of the Master, both of them went back to him and explained their misgivings.

The Maharishi heard them with a smile and calmly said, "Both of you are partially right and partially wrong in understanding my words. There is no contradiction in them!"

"When I taught you to stay aloof from bad people and things," continued the Master, "it was to save you from the pollution of contact with evil. Any sensible person would do the same, unless he is strong and confident of reforming the evil-doer. When I taught you not to forsake your helping attitude, it was only to strengthen your basic human nature to serve. You should be like a true doctor, who does not distinguish between friend and foe, in relieving or reducing pain. In the present case, the second disciple should have combined both my teachings of aloofness and service. It was his duty to save a struggling creature, but he should have used a stick to lift the scorpion and not his bare hands. By such an action, he would have saved both - the poisonous creature's life and himself, from its sting."

"But what does one do, if the bad thing is big and strong?" questioned another disciple. "Then," said the Master, "your first duty is self-preservation as the instinct of survival is a basic fact of life. Later, if you can, immobilize it from creating mischief, by using your spritiual or material powers."

This interesting tale reveals how we should help others, without hurting ourselves - by carefully following the guidelines of service, as enumerated by our ancient Masters.

Narada Bhakti Sutra: Looking for God

The next sutra says there is no difference between the will of the Divine and the will of the devotee. It is not something you manipulate in the mind and try to think and see. It is a quality of your life, the awareness of the thing. Let us say somebody is mischievous. You see it as the Divine being mischievous. And if you have to take a stick, you take the stick and teach him a lesson. Worship him. You go to him with a worshipful attitude. If you do so, then you come from a very different space within you. It is not something you do after a long time of practice. It is not a five-year plan or ten-year plan. It is something you experience when you release a lot of stress and strain. And it could be very smooth, very fast. In one sitting of meditation you could see that. It is not on an instalment basis.

Sometimes on a dark night, if there is lightning, in that second you see the whole town. Everything becomes visible for a few moments. Like that, surrender happens in deep meditation. Then there is no fear of death, for there is no death to you. Death is nothing but a long sleep. Death is nothing but just changing your jacket. We are afraid because we do not know what it is. Fear comes from the unknown, something we do not know. It is nothing. You will find that the body has dropped but nothing has happened to you. You are intact. It is like taking another bath. That is good, that is fun. Why hang on to this torn cloth even after so many years?

Eighty or ninety years are over, the body is old, now it has become very stale. Nobody wants to stick on to stale things. Death is complementary to life. It is nothing opposing to life. It complements life. It makes life new and fresh. If you become aware of what you were doing 50 years ago, 100 years ago, 200 years ago, you will not be at ease. If you become aware of what all you left, all your attachments, all your longings and belongings; your losses and your gains, you will never be at peace. Life is very beautiful. It is well structured. To make it more beautiful, death is also planned.

Ulitmately, death is because of carelessness. Because, you see, the lanes are laid out. Where there is an exit, you take it and smoothly you drive through. But if you go somewhere, where there is no exit, then you will bump on to the side railing and stumble. There are people who commit suicide. Thereafter, they become aware how foolish they were. In suicide, one commits it because one is unable to handle the anguish, the tension and sorrow. After suicide, they find these have not vanished from them. It is like you are feeling cold and you go out and remove your jacket. By removing your jacket your cold is not going to disappear. That will make you only feel more cold. That is what it is. Be simple, living naturally in the moment.

Experiences. It is something very profound and deep. This is knowing yourself. It is all like a movie. A movie is happening on a screen. It happens and there are pleasant events and unpleasant events, good events and not so good events. But once the projector is switched off, there is only a blank white screen. It is like getting into that aspect of life - the inner core of your life - not getting stuck up in the mind and its impressions but going beyond the mind and being "That". You come from there. Otherwise whatever you are resisting, although you promise yourself a hundred times: "I will not do this, I will not get angry, I will not rust to pieces", you will see when the time comes, the emotions come like a storm and all your affirmations are washed away. Hurt has taken place. All your promises get blown off. So, know the self beyond the mind. Be with it. If you feel any difficulty, offer it to the Divine to take care of it. Become new and wise.

What is Meditation? A mind that is in the present moment is meditation. A mind that is without agitation, hesitation and anticipation is meditation. A mind that has become no mind and has come back to its source is meditation.

When is rest possible? When you have stopped all voluntary activities like walking, working, talking, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting etc. and when only involuntary activities like breathing, beating of the heart and digestion of food continue, rest happens. However, this is not total rest, but sleep. When the mind settles down, the meditation happens which is total rest. Sometimes you can go to bed with some restlessness, agitation or desire. The mind is busy planning for the future, these plans stay in the mind. On the surface level, they seem to have disappeared, but they go a little deeper. That is how sleep is not very deep when you have a lot of ambitions or desires. Very ambitious people cannot have deep sleep because the mind does not become hollow and empty. This is not freedom. Real freedom is freedom from the past.

When you are not happy in the present moment, you desire for a brighter future. Holding the desire in the mind disturbs the present moment and this causes tension. This tension does not allow meditation to happen though you are sitting with your eyes closed. You are only day dreaming.

What is it being focussed? Being fulfilled, centred in the moment looking up to the highest and remaining in that space of peace is being focussed. When you are at peace, you are focussed. If you are not focussed , that means your mind is hovering around, and there is no peace.

Every desire or ambition is like a sand particle in the eye, it irritates. You can neither shut nor open your eyes. Being dispassionate is like removing the particle of dust or sand from your eyes so that you can open it freely. When you are dispassionate, you can enjoy the world freely. Total freedom comes. That is liberation. You are not bothered whether something is there or not. It is unhappiness for those who have companions as well as for those who do not have companions. Same is the case with those who have money as well as those who do not have money. People who have money are always thinking about what to do with the money. Should they invest it or not? If they invest, will it result in profit or loss? What is the status of the stock market and so on. Those who do not have money are worried for the lack of the same.

Meditation is accepting the present moment as it is, living every moment totally, in depth. What can you do when desires come up? Just accept them and let go. That is meditation. Do not hold on to them and day dream. You have no control over your desires. When you say, "Oh, I should not have desire", that will become a desire. Asking, "When will I be free of the desires," is again another desire. As they come up, recognise them and let go. This process is called sanyas. Offer all as they come, as they arise in you, and be centred. When you can do that, nothing can shake you, nothing can take you away from 'That', otherwise small things can shake you, and then you are sad and upset. A few words from here and there or some insult can make you sad.

This is a test for you, how easily you could let go of all that. That is the art of letting go. Life teaches you the art of letting go in every event. The more you learn to let go, the happier you will be. When you learn to let go, you will be joyful. As you start being joyful, more will be given to you. Those who have more, more and more will be given to them. That is meditation.

As long as some desires linger in your mind, you cannot be at total rest. Now, take a good look at the desires. What are these desires? Perceiving how small they really are, perceiving that they are nothing to be bothered about, is maturity. This is called discrimination. Discrimination is perceiving all of them as nothing. Another way to alleviate the grip of desire is to extend your desire, make it so big that it can no longer bother you. It takes a tiny particle of sand to irritate your eyes. A big stone can never get into your eye and irritate you. So much unhappiness comes from the smallest of things. Bhagwad Gita says you cannot get into yoga unless you drop the desire in you. As long as you hold on to the desire to do something the mind does not settle. Do you see these mechanics? The more you are anxious about something, the more difficult it becomes to sleep; what do you do? You simply let go of everything. Only then are you able to rest.

Why not do the same thing in activity, moment by moment? Or at least during meditation. When you want to sit for meditation, let go of everything. The best way is to think, "Oh the world is disappearing, dissolved, dead and I am dead." Unless you are dead, you cannot meditate. Many times, the mind does not not even settle after death! Wise are those whose minds can settle when they are alive.

What is there in life that you can hold on to? You cannot even hold on to this body forever. Whatever care you take, one day it is going to say goodbye to you. You will be evicted out of this place, out of this body, forcibly, perhaps with no prior notice. No time even to pack your bags! Before the body leaves you, you can learn to leave everything. That is freedom.

What is that you are looking for or holding on to? Some great joy? What great joy can come to you? You are joy. Often a dog goes on biting a dry bone. Do you know why it does this? When it keeps on biting the bone, it creates a wound in its mouth and the mouth starts to bleed. The dog thinks that the bone is very tasty. After a while, the dog's whole mouth is sore. The poor dog spends all the time chewing the piece of bone and gets nothing out of it.

Any joy that you experience in life is from the depth of yourself. When you are able to let go all that you hold on to, settle down, and be centred in that space, this act is called meditation. Meditation is the art of not doing anything.

This rest is deeper than the deepest sleep you can ever have, several times deeper, because, in sleep, still somewhere the desires are lingering on. In meditation you transcend them all. This brings calmness to your brain. It is like overhauling your whole body, servicing your mind, your whole mind-body complex.

Meditation is letting go of the anger and the event of the past and letting go of all your planning for the future. Whatever you may plan, whatever you may do, your final destination is the grave. Whether you are a sinner or a saint, a rich or a poor man, an intelligent or a dull turnip-headed man, you still will go to the grave.

Whether you are loved or hated, you will be in the grave. Whether you love somebody or hate somebody, you will end up in the grave. People fought wars. The winners and the losers have gone to the grave. What does it matter? The difference is only a matter of time. The patient and the doctor both die. God laughs on two occasions; once is when the doctor tells the patients, "I am here to save you." Another time is when two persons fight for a piece of land saying, "This is my land." Both go to the grave fighting for the land.

What are all these little things popping up in the mind disallowing you to settle down in peace and be in joy and love?

Dispassion can bring so much joy in your life. Don't think dispassion is a state of apathy. There is a difference between dispassion and apathy. A state of apathy is incompleteness. Dispassion is full of joy and enthusiasm. Dispassion brings all joy to your life. It allows you to rest so well. When you rest well and go deep into your mediation, you become very dynamic and act better.

Deep rest and dynamic activity are opposite values, but very complimentary. The deeper you are able to rest, the more dynamic you become in your activity.

Do not think that if you become dispassionate, you will renounce everything and you will run to a nunnery or a monastry. People there are also day-dreaming of heaven

The Certainties of a Changing World

You can be at ease with the uncertainty of the world when you realise the certainty of the consciousness. Often people do just the opposite. They are certain about the world but uncertain about God. They rely on something that is not reliable, and they get upset. Uncertainty causes craving for stability.

The world is of change; the Self is of non-change. You have to rely on the non-change and accept the change. If you are certain that everything is uncertain, then you are liberated. When you are uncertain in ignorance then you become worried and tense. Uncertainty with awareness brings higher states of consciousness with a smile. Often people think that certainty is freedom. If you feel that freedom when you are not certain, that is "real" freedom. Often your certainty or uncertainty is based on the relative world. Being certain about the uncertainty of the relative makes you certain
about the existence of the absolute and brings a certain faith in the absolute.

Can one still be enthusiastic when one is uncertain? Yes, in knowledge you can be enthusiastic in uncertainty. Often people who are uncertain do not act; they simply sit and wait. Acting in uncertainty makes life a game, a challenge. Being in uncertainty is letting go. Certainty about the relative world creates dullness. Uncertainty about the Self creates fear. Uncertainty about matter brings certainty about consciousness.

When you feel time is too short, you are either restless or in a state of expanded awareness. When you feel time is too long, you are either miserable or keen-minded. When you are happy and love what you are doing, you lose track of time. When you are ahead of time, it is dragging and boring. When time is ahead of you, then you are surprised and shocked. You are unable to understand the play of events. In deep meditation, you are time and everything is happening in you. Events are happening in you like the clouds come and go in the sky. When you are with time, you are wise and at peace.

When the mind is happy, it expands; then time appears too short. When the mind is unhappy, it contracts; then time appears too long. When the mind is in unanimity, it transcends time. To escape from the two extremes, many resort to alcohol or sleep but when the mind is dull or unconscious, it is unable to experience itself. Samadhi - no-mindedness or timelessness - is peace, the real peace. That is the greatest healer.

Just as the mind experiences time, this moment has a mind of its own, a Big Mind which has enormous and infinite organising power. Thought is nothing but a ripple in this moment, and thus a few moments of Samadhi infuse the mind with energy. Before you fall into slumber or as soon as you wake up from sleep, in the moments of twilight in the consciousness, experience timelessness.

When something is unbelievably beautiful or joyful, you wonder if it is a dream. Often what you perceive as reality is not joyful so when misery is there, you never wonder if it is a dream. You are sure it is real. This is knowing the real as unreal and unreal as real. In fact, all miseries are unreal. A wise man knows that happiness is real, as it is your very
nature.Unhappiness is unreal because it is inflicted by memory. When you see everything as a dream, then you abide in your true nature. A nightmare is a dream mistaken for reality. There is confusion in a dream. As you keep wondering whether all this is a dream, you will wake up to the real.

Acharya Ratnananda

There is one problem we face in our lives that eludes satisfactory solution, in spite of our efforts, because it concerns us and yet does not concern us. It is none other than “Ego”.

When a child is born in a family, the parents and the priests give, as a mark of identity, a name to that perceptible and perceivable infrastructure of the infant and declare that “He shall be called so and so.”

This identity continues till the growing infant in his awareness begins to call himself as “I am so and so.” It is amusing how this “I” became attached to his name.

Our ancients declared that “I (Aham)” denotes Divinity which, in the ultimate analysis, has no name or form. That being so, how could this nameless and formless “I” be used to identify an individual who has a name and frame?

Let us view this from another angle. Those who have studied grammar, would agree that “I” is the First person, “You” is the Second person and “He or She” is the Third person. Hence this “Mr. So and so” belongs to the third grade according to his parents and priests who said “He shall be called so and so.”

By such a grading, the grammar has leaked out a great secret. The “I” being the “First person” can only mean the Divinity, as there can be only one First person. Many people may wish to or even share the first place. But there cannot be many first persons.

In such a situation, why are we stubbornly pushing the Divine “I” to indicate our gross identity? The “I” is universal and lives within and without every animate and inanimate being of creation, though in a very subtle manner. Who is forcing us into this false situation?

After deep introspection, we can only arrive at the conclusion, that there is someone behind all this confusion and the mischief-maker could be none other than the fellow called the “Ego”.

This “Ego” clouds our vision and corrupts our thoughts, words and deeds. He rules our lives and misguides us at every step. How to push him out of our way?

Many enlightened people in India have shown us a way. They do not refer to themselves as “I”. They only say, “This fellow or this lady.”

It clearly indicates that these enlightened people, recognize the residence of the Divinity within them and its subtle identity as different from their gross identification.

Wise men tell us that it is the “Ego” which places obstacles to our enlightenment. Perhaps the best way to confront the powerful effects of “Ego” seems to be to ignore his existence. Why not call ourselves as “this fellow” as the other enlightened people do? It may gradually help us to isolate our gross identification from the reality of our Divine identity.

This attitude of aloofness and being a witness to our own actions helps us to be more alert, more human and uphold the values of life which we advocate but fail to adhere to.

It is a well known fact that under a constant watchful eye, we try to present a much better personality than what we normally are.

This also naturally leads us to the knowledge that many worries that attack our mind and body cannot affect us. In other words, this is termed as “God consciousness” the Sixth State of Consciousness, which can lead us to the ultimate seventh step of: “Unity Consciousness”.

However there is some difficulty in proceeding along this route. If you suddenly go to the bazaar and pointing to ourself, say, “This fellow wants things” people maybe forced to book a place for you in the lunatic asylum on compassionate grounds.

Hence, we need the peaceful and pleasing environment of spiritual retreats or Ashrams to develop this attitude. In such an inspiring and conducive atmosphere you may seek, deliverance from the tyranny of this “Ego” and achieve the salvation of the soul. Are you ready to take the plunge?

Bliss and Prosperity

[Excerpts from the talk given by Gurudev at New York]

It is so difficult to get into bliss and it is so difficult to get out of bliss. There are so many obstacles to get into bliss. So many things get in your way - you think you've got it, and you have it in hand, and it drops. It gets that near. You get thirsty, so you get water in your hands. Just through a few loose fingers, all the water is drained out. Life is so strange! Give first priority to the self, to the self knowledge. This is so important. You need a lot of skill to be really blissful. So many repulsions, so many attractions to allure the mind. Everything tries to keep the mind from sinking into the bliss. Be steadfast, one pointed.

Some people are very nice outside in behavior but very rough inside. And some people are very rough outside but nice inside. Some may be very polite and say, "Hello! How are you?" They have a very nice behavior outside, but inside they are very stiff.

The Divine does not care about your behavior; it cares for how you feel inside. Do you feel stiff or free from within? But the world does not care how you feel inside. It just cares how you are outside. And the Divine only cares for how you are inside. Inside, if you are not stiff. If you are like a flower, it's automatic. On the outside you will become gentle, not stiff. But it's preferable to be rough outside and gentle inside rather than gentle outside and rough inside, for your own sake. So, when you are here these few days, just keep thinking in your mind, "These few days, I am going to really take care of my inside. I am going to cut off every rough edge on the inside and just be like a delicate flower inside."

What are the things that keep you rough inside?

You think nobody loves you. Know for sure that you are loved. The earth loves you. That's why it is holding you upright. The love of the earth is its gravitational force. The air loves you. That is why air gushes in through your nose, even when you are sleeping it moves through your lungs. The divine loves you very dearly, very deeply. Once you know this you will be relaxed. If you don't know you are loved by the Divine, then insecurity dawns. With that insecurity, greed comes. With greed, selfishness becomes strong. And with that comes anger. With anger comes lust, and with that comes all sorts of sadness, one behind the other, like a chain holding hands together. And they destroy that pleasant inner feeling from inside. That smile of contentment is lost. If the smile and contentment are lost, health is lost. It's only then, when health is lost - that people realize they have to do something. Till then, people don't see where they are, what they are, what is life. Isn't it so?

Just remember what your own state of mind was before you even did meditation or breathing techniques. Can you relate yourself with the mind that was there five years ago, ten years ago? This is where we need to put the attention. With the calmness, talents simply come. Intuition comes, beauty comes, peace comes. Love springs up. What more do you want? Prosperity comes. What is the sign of prosperity? The general idea is that the person who has freedom to go wherever he wants to go, whenever he wants to go, is a prosperous person.

Now let us take a prosperous businessman. Does he have enough time to do whatever he wants to do? An industrialist, do you think he is free to go wherever he wants to go, whenever he wants? He has a million dollars in the bank, but his business ties him like a rope around his neck, has to file accounts periodically. Even if he goes somewhere, his cell phone keeps ringing. It doesn't let him have his breakfast properly. Do you think he is prosperous? Do you think he has the freedom to do whatever he wants to do?

We think, "Oh, so and so is prosperous. He has a million dollars." If he is a successful businessman, do you think he will just keep the money and sit? He goes to the bank to borrow nine million more. So now, this man - with one million, has a nine million debt, so is he prosperous or poor? I usually tell this to the workers in a factory. Sometimes they think they are poor because they have a loan of $1000 or rupees. They say, "Oh, I had to borrow $1000 or rupees. If I were rich, I wouldn't have to borrow."

I say, "OK, you borrowed for your family, but your boss borrowed nine million for his company." It means the same. Who is rich? The person with a larger debt or smaller debt? What is prosperity? This is the only thing in the mind, "OK, I am not rich," "Oh, I am not poor." It is the consciousness that puts you down.

Just wake up and see, you are rich. Do you have a smile? Someone who has a lot of money cannot even smile well. They don't have any friends because you can't really know - the friends are there for themselves or for the money. That's why it is said in the Bible, "A rich man cannot go to heaven." A poor man can pass through the eye of a needle, but not a rich man. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to heaven. I am not encouraging poverty here - don't think that. I am telling you to root out that poverty thought from your mind. Root out that from your consciousness.

The sign of prosperity is a smile. The sign of prosperity is freedom. The sign of prosperity is being willing to share with people around you without fear. The sign of prosperity is the trust and confidence that you'll get what you need tomorrow. You will get whatever you need in life. If you think, "Oh, what will happen when I become old? Who will take care of me!" etc, then you have not lived your life well.

Live your life well. That means, if you have to be useful to people all your life, there will be a hundred or million people to take care of you. Mother Theresa was sick in bed for such a long time. Do you think she didn't have anyone to take care of her? Vinoba Bhave was in bed for so long. There were hundreds waiting to take care of them. All they did was share their life with everybody. All they did was to be useful to people around them. If all we do is think, "What about me!" that is a sign of lack of prosperity.

Such an attitude in the mind does not allow the Siddhis to come to you or miracles to happen to you because you are holding on. Give miracles a chance. Let your devotion flower and give your devotion a chance to work. That is for sure, it will happen. On this path I promise you, you will not suffer. If you are suffering, it is your own mental making - that's all. It's self-imposed suffering. If you are on the path, if you are in the knowledge, if you are in the devotion, there is no power on earth that can put you down. This you have to bear in mind.

So the signs of prosperity are a smile, a willingness to share and inner contentment. Someone who has lots of money but is not contented, do you think he is prosperous? Contentment is the first sign of prosperity. The New Year has begun prosperously for us all. The merit will never be lost. Any good gesture or action will always come to you. The merit of any good will never be lost.

I'll tell you an anecdote. My grandfather was thought to be a little crazy, crazy in the sense he was very liberal hearted and would give everything away. If someone said, "Oh, you have a nice watch," he would say, "take it," and give away right there and then. So many times he would come home with just a vest (undershirt) with jacket, coat, shawl everything given away. My grandfather, with his free and generous nature, gave away his wealth - everything in a few years time. He just gave very good education to his three children and didn't give them anything more.

And then he died, leaving this very delicate, aristocratic lady (my grandmother) with nothing. She didn't have any skills except feeding everybody. The three children were just teenagers. He had given away everything in the house.

He passed away very early. People thought, "What is this? He didn't leave anything to the children." My father had to walk several miles a day. He supported the family. But my grandmother never lost her serenity or smile, not even for a single day. She'd just pray and say, "everything is in plenty."

Other friends would come and say, "I saw your grandmother." She would never be upset about anything. If she cooked a meal for two persons and four came, she would feed them. She was always giving. If a neighbour came and he didn't have something, she didn't think about whether it would be there for herself or her family. She would just give. She would say, "It will come to us. God is giving us everything." Such a strong faith. Nothing ever lacked. From such a height of prosperity she went totally down and then totally up. Today we have the whole world for a family. Such a big family we have! That's what we need to feel, the whole world is my family. Everybody is part of my family. Then there is no suffering at all. When the devotion is there, not a single day will be there when something is lacking. It will come that day. It will appear. All the practices we do are aiming at making us a child.

There is strength in peace. There is strength in calmness. There is strength in love…that goes unnoticed. What you cannot win with a stick, you can win with love…What you cannot win with guns, you can win through love…and this
power of love needs to be realised. The most powerful thing in the world is love! We can win the hearts of people through love.

The victory that comes out of ego is worth nothing. Even if you win in ego, it is a loss. Even if you lose in love, it's a victory! Making people realize this innermost strength that we all have is the challenge!

You cannot talk about love when a terrorist is at your door, but is there some way in which we can transform the world? Is there any alternative method that can bring sense to people who do not listen to anything other than force? We can only start thinking along these lines when we realize that there is an enormous power in love, that there is enormous
strength in inner peace. When we are peaceful, we radiate that peace around us to the people around us…and they also become calm.

At this time when there is war and disease in the world, it's so important that we all meditate a little bit, everyday, for when we meditate, we nullify those vibrations, creating a more harmonious environment around us.

War, I would call, Worst Act of Reason: W.A.R. In every war, there is some reason. Sometimes it becomes unavoidable, like an operation. There is a wound, a scar, a cancerous cell in one's body. We operate, but after the operation, the nursing is so essential. We need to nurse that part which has been operated. It's the same in the world and the psyche of people; a lot needs to be done to bring peace, love and confidence into hearts and minds. So our being peaceful and in a meditative, prayerful state will definitely help. Don't think, "What can I do?" Or that you are insignificant when the world is in a problem. You too have a role to play. You know a tiny homeopathic pill, which has a 1/100th or 1/1000th potency makes an impact on a body which is sixty-seventy kilos! In the same way, every individual, everyone who is breathing, talking, walking, thinking, has an influence on this cosmos, on this planet. So we can all radiate peace, good thoughts, good vibrations, good wishes…and that will definitely make an impact on the planet.

I've seen this over and over again. When there is a conflict and you interact with both the groups, engaged in the conflict, they soften up! When communication breaks down, it causes turbulence, which in turn causes stiffness and rigidity, but when you reestablish communication through love, through peaceful means, through patience, it does yield.

One thing that is absolutely essential to avoid such fanaticism or religious terrorism, in the world, is a multicultural, multi-religious education for children. It is because a child grows up thinking that other religions or cultures are bad or no good, that he/she is ready to give up his/her life for that cause; but when a child grows up, knowing a little bit about
all other religions, cultures and customs, then there is a sense of belongingness with everybody. So whether a culture or a religion, is rightly or wrongly used to divide people, it is no good. We need to unite the world…unite hearts…unite minds…and where is that we can all unite? That is the meditative state that we are all born with, the simplicity that we are gifted with. So I feel that when every child in the world learns a little bit about every other religion, the child will not have inhibitions or hatred towards other religions or cultures. See, we accept food from every part of the world. We accept music from every part of the world. You don't need to be Chinese in order to eat Chinese food! You don't need to be an Italian to go to Pizzeria and eat pizzas…nor a Danish to eat Danish cookies! One doesn't have to be an Indian to listen to bhajans or sitar music! So, similarly we need to learn to accept knowledge, wisdom from every part, and this is what has been lacking in the world. We need to drive home this message for even if one part of the world is not coming into this idea, the world will not be a safe place because that little part or corner can breed terrorism. See, gone are those days when people lived in isolation. Today, in a few hours, you can go anywhere in the world, anywhere from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere or from east to west. When communication has improved on this level, we need to improve communication and the level of the heart, the level of wisdom, the level of understanding…and for that, we all need to make some effort. I would say you should take up a 2-point program doing a little service in groups and/or as individuals. Travel to different places and educate people on human values, friendliness, compassion, non-violence, non-aggression…

See how aggression has even come into the lives of children. There is a beauty in nonviolence. There is a beauty in non-aggressive behaviour which has unfortunately not been highlighted, either by our media or by our surroundings. This is happening everywhere in the world. Children take pride in being violent. If they lose their temper, they feel that it's normal, they take pride in it. One who is very aggressive in the classroom gets more attention than one who is peaceful, isn't it? So children grow up feeling, "If I am aggressive then I have my say." We need to bring back the
pride in being non-violent, the pride of Mahatma Gandhi's "I've not hurt anybody in my whole life"… If we could instill that pride in being nonviolent, in children, their whole life will take a new direction. A pride in being compassionate, a pride in being available and helpful to others around us, should be our new motto. I think we need to do something to bring back those human values in society…and smile more! You look at a teenager or a boy or girl who goes to college, do they really smile? See the heaviness in their faces, the heaviness in their hearts. A child is so happy walking, moving,
jumping around and then that same child goes through college to become so sad, upset and depressed! Is this the purpose of our education? You know, sometimes I feel like shaking everybody "Ay! Come on! Smile!" I read some
research recently that a child, a baby, smiles 400 times a day, an adolescent only 17 times and an adult doesn't smile at all! If you smile, you think something might be robbed from you! What is that you lose? When you smile, others get and you don't lose anything. We need to smile more! At least give yourself a big smile when you wake up every morning and look in the mirror! Life is so short! We'll all live another 20-30 years and then one day we'll kick the bucket! Everybody will be dead and gone! But we cry for what we have and we're upset for what we don't have, isn't it? Is it worth living life like that? So depressed…and then depressing everybody around us! I think we need to shake ourselves up! Wake up! Just do something to our lives! When we wake up from this slumber, when we have peace in our hearts, we can radiate that peace and love around us.

Only a few people in the world cause terror, not the whole population. Of the six billion people on this planet, there will be a handful who're causing problems in the world. There are hardly few thousand who cause crime and the whole world is affected. Don't you think that with the same law, reverse will also work? Just a few of us, a few thousand of us, being really peaceful and loving, caring for the whole planet, can we not bring a transformation. If we all have one habit of giving smiles to people, smiling at all the problems that we may face…

See, life is not smiles all the time. There are some problems. Some! But when those `some' problems come, you think that you always had problems! We often generalize and eternalize problems! When we face a problem, we say, "Oh! I always have that problem!" If someone is sick, "Oh! Everybody is sick!" Everybody is sick?! A few people are sick in Toronto. Of those millions, 2-3 hundred people are sick and the news around is: "Oh! Toronto! Everybody is falling sick!"

You know if we all inculcate these human values, being friendly, making one new friend everyday and understanding the laws of nature, problems come and go. I would call this strength, this knowledge, this understanding as spiritual knowledge. The spirit is enthusiasm…the spirit is joy…the spirit is love and care…and this is what we want from others, isn't it? What do you expect from your friend? A smile, friendliness, someone to say, "I am here with you if you need me. I am available." A support. We need to ask ourselves, to how many have we been a support, to how many have we
expressed such love as we expect out of others.

Suppose a guest comes to your home. What do you expect from the guest? Do you expect him/her to be at home? Comfortable? Do you expect the guest to be very formal? You expect your guest to be informal, to just mingle with you,
feel at home, feel at ease; but do you do the same? When you are a guest in someone's house, do you feel that comfortable? Do you feel at home? You need to ask yourself this question.

That naturalness, being at home with everybody, in every circumstance, not harbouring conflicts in the head, letting them pass, not holding grudges against anybody…By these principles, we can save our mind. At any cost, we have to save our mind because nobody else is going to! You have to save your mind from all the negative impressions and loads of negativity.

When you point a finger at others, three fingers are pointing towards you! So if I say, "You are beautiful!" that means I am three times more beautiful! If I say, "You are ugly!" I am three times more ugly; but when I include you into me, then there is no you and there is no me. Then there is only one that is victory

'Life is sacred. Celebrate life. Care for others and share whatever you have with those less fortunate than you. Broaden your vision, for the whole world belongs to you.'

Most anyone, who has lived through the horrors of one war, would wish that neither they nor their children live to see the day, when yet another war is fought… Since time immemorial, the hope for lasting peace has inspired many an innovative campaign for anti-war protestors, many a heart-warming speech (that would go down in history) for prominent political and social figures…and many a brilliant song (with a social message) for musicians and poets… Songs like Bob Dylan’s 1960s `Blowing in the Wind,’ (Woodstock), which was a protest against the Vietnam War…with lyrics like: `How many times must the cannon balls fly, before they’re forever banned?… How many years must one man have before he can hear people cry?… How many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?…’ Songs that make us wonder: Why we never learn…and…When we will finally learn…

At the time of writing this piece, the war in Iraq is in its 20th day…and though all the action is taking place hundreds of kilometers away, it feels like this war is everywhere…

You open any newspaper – and vivid photographs of scenes from Iraq, splashed across pages and accompanied by bold headlines scream out at you… You drive down any street – and banners, message boards and hoardings display war-related copy… You turn on your television set and tune in to any news channel and they all bring the same thing into your home – it’s just the accents, languages and focus issues that vary… You go to a party or attend a get together and the Iraq war is the number one conversation subject. Everyone has an opinion, never mind if we have all discussed it to death with friends, relatives and anyone who’s willing to listen – in short, all and sundry. We’ve shaken our heads at a world gone awry, picked our heroes and our villains and have predicted how we think this is all going to turn out. So is that all we’re going to do? Or…are we going to wake up to the harsh realities of war and post-war situations? Will we, at a time like this, seek refuge in knowledge, drawing from it, the strength to take responsibility and do our bit to ensure that our world becomes a safer, happier, more peaceful and more loving place? Will we move from talking about what has happened to what needs to be done…and act on it, ensuring that Human Values are restored and nurtured on a planet, where they seem to momentarily lost…for it is in this that a hope for lasting peace lies. As Bertrand Russell said, “War does not determine who is right…only who is left…”

So, to put to ease all the questions and doubts in our minds, who better than Gurudev to shine the light of knowledge on the subject of war, in general…and on the war in Iraq in particular!

“Logic and reason alone, without a heart, cannot transform society. Only Love can transform… ANY REASON FOR WAR IS COMPLETELY UNJUSTIFIABLE AND ABSURD. This war is a reminder of how dangerously we have fallen away from human values and how we spend billions of dollars to destroy our own brothers and sisters. Sense should prevail in those people who are engaged in war. This is the moment, when all of us should come together and PRAY for universal Peace.” – Sri Sri Ravishankar, Malayalam Manorama, 26th March 2003, Rishikesh, India.

Bad Antogast, German Ashram, April 2003
“The Panchanga predicts the world situation. Today is a new year. This year begins with war as predicted in the panchanga. The war was predicted to begin in the northwest. Once you are in the knowledge, it does not affect you. So many people are troubled… You did not know what was going on in the mind…but the moment you came in here, the mind is fine. In India also, when the war began, people’s minds were in turmoil, but when they attended satsangs, they felt better… It’s like a shield. The outside is cold, the inside is warm.

Q: What do we do? Stay here in the ashram?
A: No. We go out and create this; create satsangs. We may not be able to stop the war, but we can minimize the suffering. It’s an important time for everyone to meditate and be in satsang… And do it with the feeling of surrender – intense surrender. Then it becomes effective and powerful. Even sadhana, do your pranayama and bhastrika, etc. like your offering, as if it is an offering; it gives strength and more satisfaction.

From time to time, in every century, there will be war, but higher the level of consciousness, shorter the duration of the war. Lower the level of consciousness, longer the duration of the war. Like in the olden days, the wars were going on for 4-20 years. Our nature is to not like war, but sometimes, things we do not like, will happen. The nature of life is to
move towards life. Sometimes it has to revolutionize, rise up a disturbance.

Culture and civilization are two different aspects. Maintain the old roots and be progressive. India was open to all cultures and that’s why it was able to absorb. The philosophy and the knowledge remained. All wars are created out of stress, ignorance and frustration. The Worst Act of Reason is WAR. Anyway, we should see what we can do to bring about better relations between people and nations.

Om shaanthi, shaanthi, shaanthi. That is: Peace within one's self, peace within the environment and peace in the whole world.

At least if you start educating the youth, you will find that in the future, there will be less friction. We have not taught people to be friendly. The number of friends one makes in school is very few. If a child does not know how to be friendly with 30-40 people, how will he get on in the world? How will he learn to be compassionate and friendly? We do not trust each other. This is the biggest problem in the world. Do you like it when people do not trust you? When you do it all the time, you have to have doubts, no doubt! But you become miserable if you doubt all the time. Krishna’s advise to Arjuna was drop the doubts, because when doubts enter your mind, you are neither successful in the material world nor in the spiritual world. Here or hereafter.

Today the world is infested with terrorism. If there was a little education about all the other cultures and religions, then they would just not break all those statues of Buddha. Fanaticism, terrorism will not arise if we know a little about other cultures, religions…and if we learn to respect and honor all the religions in the world.

War is due to the clash of egos. Educate people in human values. It is due to a lack of communication, a lack of friendliness, that we do not stretch our hands out, that we do not accept people as they are

If a person identifies himself with a particular race, religion, culture or nationality, he remains in that position and he will fight for that… and die for that… and others will die with him also. Instead, give him a broader perspective - that first and foremost, we are part of the Divine. Our second identity is that we are human beings. The third identity we have is that we are male or female. The fourth identity is that we belong to a particular nation. The fifth identity is that we belong to a particular religion. If the right order of identity is understood, then human values are honored, but if I identify myself with a religion or nationality, forgetting that I am part of the Divine and that I am a human being, then I bring misery unto myself and unto others as well. We have to have proper priorities.

Everything is changing around you - your body, mind, priorities, friends, and foes… Everything is constantly changing. For this change to be recognized we need a reference point - and that is your Being! Wake up and see that you have a bigger identity than your gender! You identify yourself with the spirit. You are not just a piece of flesh and bone! You are spirit. You are life. You are much more than your gender. The trauma of gender is in middle age. It does not affect children between ten and twelve years and it does not touch people who are over seventy years of age. So it is in between these that the complex arises. That is where you really need to know the knowledge… that you are now spirit. You are the sparkling, scintillating consciousness! When you identify yourself with that, all complexes dissolve and fade away.

The ancient Rishis said that you are 'Satchitanand'. The sentence given to a child was, 'tuttvamasi' - Thou Art That'. Don't think you are just amino acids, carbohydrates and proteins moulded into either of two different forms - male or female. It is the same substance in two different moulds…something beyond that - the spirit, the consciousness, the bliss that you are…the joy that you are…look to the love that you are! Love is God; God is love, because both are the same ethereal phenomenon. When you come and sit near the Master, you cannot but catch this etherealness in you. When it happens, then the Master says, 'What do you think you are? Do you think you are a solid body? Do you think that you are a set of thoughts, a set of concepts, ideas or different emotions? No, no, no! Don't mistake it! This Love that you are feeling - that is what you are - Thou Art That!

Strength and Subordination

Many people do not want to work under someone else, be it in their profession, any company or even voluntary service. The general notion is that when you work under someone, you lose your freedom, for, you have to be answerable.

So, many people opt for business, wanting to be their own boss. But, in business, you are accountable to so many people. If you cannot be accountable to even one person, how can you be accountable to many? This is the paradox. In fact, being in business binds you more than working under a boss!

Refusing to work under someone is a sign of weakness, not strength. A strong person would not feel uncomfortable working under anyone, because he knows his strength. It is the weak and poor in spirit who do not like to work under someone else, because they are unaware of their strength. They can neither be successful in business nor in any profession.

The same is true even in the field of social service. Often volunteers do not want to work under someone else. This is merely an exhibition of their weakness. With such an attitude they achieve very little.

One who is timid and weak in spirit would be uncomfortable to work even under the Wise one; but one who knows his own strength can work effectively even under a fool.

Q: But to work under a fool is frustrating!
A: When you know your strength, with skill and intelligence, you can turn every disadvantage into an advantage. A fool can bring out the best of your communication skills!

So watch out! If you feel uncomfortable working under someone, it clearly shows you need to strengthen yourself. Desiring freedom from circumstances, situations or people, is no freedom at all. Knowing that nobody can take away your freedom, that is strength! And when you realize your strength is unshakeable, you would not mind working under anybody.

Impermanence in life

See the impermanence in this life. That is the truth. Turn back and see that all that you did is like a dream. Whatever you do in the future, you may become the mayor of the town, or you may rise to the highest position, or you may have a lot of wealth, so what? You have cried and wept, got angry and agitated, so what? All has passed, the whole thing has finished. This very moment, like this, tomorrow will pass. Whether pleasant or unpleasant, it will pass.

Now and then, a pinch of unpleasantness comes. Do you know why? It makes you aware of your pleasantness. Suppose you never had unpleasant moments in life, you would never have pleasant ones either. You wouldn't know what pleasantness is. Your life would stagnate of utter boredom. You would become like a stone. So, in order to keep you alive, now and then, here and there, nature gives you a little pinch. It makes life more lively. Accept it.

God does the same thing to you. Now and then, He gives you a pinch. Then you start weeping. But just turn back and see - tell me very honestly, every time you had difficulty, you were taken out of the difficulty or not? Any time you had some problem, you got a helping hand. You were picked up. There are stories of people who were drowning in the river where there was nobody else. They don't know how they were saved.

I don't mean that you should jump into the ocean and see whether somebody takes you out. I tell you, you don't have to be afraid in life. There is always support. So, every pinch that you are having in life, is for the best, to make your life more lively and enjoyable. You see, there is no purpose in life. Otherwise why are people born and why go through all that when they are going to die one day? Is this life? Are you born just to pay your bills? If you are born just to pay you electricity and phone bills, taxes, life is not worth living.

Day and night you work so hard. You are waiting for Friday to come. The whole week is spent madly working, coming home tired, eating, going to bed, sleeping, and the next day the same thing. And weekends also the same routine. Weekends have become another routine, a change in routine, that is all - the same gossip, the same sitting around, drinking, the same movies and the same type of conversation.

If you're awake, then you see there is so much foolishness! Just watch when four or five people get together and talk, have a gossip session. In a gossip session, you can immediately change the topic of conversation. This is the thing with a crowd. If ten people are talking about the weather and you change the topic to stock markets, everybody will immediately talk stock markets, whether they know about them or not. And then from stock markets you change to health food. They will not have completed the previous topic but they will jump on to this topic! It is great fun.

Being aware of this impermanent nature of our life, the changing nature of happenings - you find that there is something in you that has not changed. There is a reference point by which you can say things are changing. Getting onto that reference point, that is Being. That is the source of life. That is wisdom. A wise man is a fool. All wise men were called fools. Galileo was called a fool when he said the earth was moving around the sun.

jai gurudev!!

The Alliance Business Academy and the Bangalore Management Association invited Poojya Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji as the Guest of Honour to their joint two-day national seminar on "Leveraging Turbulent Times for Competitive Advantage", hosted at the JRD Tata Auditorium, Indian Indstitute of Science, Bangalore, on the 10th of July 2003. In stark contrast to the dark suits all around - attired in scintillating, immaculate white, Gurudev's even more scintillating, insightful, inaugural address, simply dazzled!

"Taking advantage of turbulent times began long time back - from the Bhagwad Gita... It was in the turbulent times that the Bhagwad Gita came up... and we are still taking advantage of it! Isn't it so? In the war-field, Krishna was the one to take advantage of the turbulent time - that's when he started teaching Arjuna. He didn't teach him when everything was all right and nor was Arjuna ready to listen to anything for he thought Krishna was just his friend; but when the turbulent time came, that's when that knowledge and wisdom were essential... that's when that calmness, steadiness and clarity of mind to perceive things the way they are and to act wisely were essential. This knowledge, this understanding was given in this turbulent time and was what came of it - for the entire continent (perhaps for the whole world). Twenty-eight Akshohini senas (armies) were annihilated at that time - HUGE - more than ten million people. The Bhagwad Gita came into existence at that turbulent time...and we are still taking advantage of it.

Now let's see... What is it that we really need to be able to take advantage of a turbulent time? First of all, we must recognnize that it is a turbulent time... and accept it. When we deny the turbulent time, we live in a utopia - a utopia that we are then unable to find a solution for. So first recognize that it is a turbulent time. The second thing is accepting it. The moment we accept that this time is turbulent or this situation is bad, then our emotions calm down. We don't question it: `Why is it turbulent? WHY is it turbulent??' This questioning the happening, which is happening, is of no use! It is like post mortem! It doesn't help the situation in the present moment. So then, accepting that this is so, will bring calmness, steadiness in the mind. When the emotions are calm, you are able to think better because the same energy, in us, either functions as an emotion or as a thought process - as creative thinking. So if we exhaust our energy in emotions, in getting upset over turbulent times, we are unable to make use of that time in creativity, in creative thinking and bringing about a solution to the problem. So, acceptance is the second point. Once you accept, it cannot be a passive acceptance, like: 'Okay....Let it happen...Let us leave it to God...'- that type of passive acceptance will not work! There you need action! Creativity! What change do you want to make and how do you want to make good use of the situation? You need clarity of mind, sharpness of mind, presence of mind. In the Bhagawat Gita, there was the same situation: First Arjuna did not accept. So he was trembling. A superhero was trembling - sitting on the floor and crying...weeping in front of Krishna! He had never wept in his life and now he was weeping saying, 'No! I cannot!' So Krishna said, 'Come on !Drop this weakness of your heart! Drop this emotional garbage you are carrying on your head! Come on! Get up!' Then he gave a boost to Arjuna's ego, saying, 'What will people talk about you?! You have the capacity to handle the situation! Come on! Get up! Get up!' When children fall down and you say,'You know you are superman! Nothing has happened to you!' - then they stop crying! Have you seen this? Teenagers, youngsters, kids... when they fall, they start crying, but the moment you give a boost to their ego - you give them that confidence that, 'You're able to handle the situation and it's nothing for you!' - then that inner strength comes up, comes out. If you keep telling them, 'Oh! You are useless! You are good for nothing!' - then that energy, that inner capacity will not find expression. So we need to give confidence, boost self-confidence, self-esteem. Today, what we lack in this country is self-confidence. We call for things from outside; we take pride in saying that 'this' is made in Japan or New York or somewhere else - though the things are made here. A basic lack of self-esteem. If you don't want someone to be creative, just take the self-esteem out of him or her. They will become like vegetables. You know, when I was in school, my father once said, 'come to a Lions Club meeting'. I told him, 'See,I will start a club here in India and I will take it around the world. I don't need to go to the Lions Club. 'I have nothing against the Lions Club, but I said, 'No!We need to start a club here and my dream is to see that that club is all over the world'! He laughed and thought I was just childish! Foolish self-confidence, self-esteem is something that brings creativty in turbulent times. Now it is easy to say that we should have self-confidence - but how does one get it? How does one bring about that self-confidence? I tell you, it's simplicity that brings you that self-confidence. Simplicity! I'd like to quote an instance: A gentleman from England had come to our ashram, here in Bangalore. He's a horticulture specialist and he said, 'Guruji, I am going to make a flower garden!'He brought various seeds and saplings.He bought many pots and all the manure required.He spend about Rs.30,000/= sowing the seeds and he worked sincerely. After 3-4 months, he saw that hardly any plant had come up. But for a villager, who had come from Kanakpura, taken the same seeds and just thrown them on the ground, wonderful flowers had come up! So in his anxiety, the man had put more fertilizer and more water, than were needed! So the seeds, the soil, the situation, the environment became such that the flowers didn't come up. But a villager, who was not even a gardener or an agriculturist, or a specialist,could bring those flowers up, making a better garden than him! So this was an eye-opener for the people who had been working on it, spending so much money! Be ready to learn from simple things, simple people - even from a child. The readiness to learn something can bring up creativity in you, can bring up self-confidence.

In turbulent times, the mind should not be turbulent. The time can be turbulent, but if the mind is turbulent, it cannot take advantage - rather it will be a big disadvantage for others! To quote the Gita again, `Anithyam asukham lokum ayevum prapam yogaham karamsu kaushalam'. This world is `anithya' - full of changes. Everything in this world is changing. Don't think that there is joy here, in the object, in the substance, in the situation, in the time. You ARE joy! ... And having attained this, go ahead, work, act. `Yogaha' means skill in action. When everything is smooth, there is no need for yoga, for skills, isn't it? Where do you need skills? When things are not the way you want them to be, when times are not so pleasant, that's when you need skills and how can you develop these skills? The way is yoga. That is yoga - the body, mind, breath are all united. See, now I'm speaking... How many of you are really getting all that I'm saying? Do you notice that when there is some little preoccupation in the mind, you hear all my words and they just go out? It doesn't really get into the mind! A simple thought... Are you all here? Everybody? Now you become more alert, right? Did you notice? When I stop speaking and (Guruji snapped His fingers) ask, `Are you all here?' - you came here, yeah? Managing our own mind is the skill and that is what is yoga. Self-management! Manage the mind. It's like driving a car. When you drive a car, you have to be alert to go the way you want to go. Are you all here? Presence of mind is what is required to take advantage of turbulent times. You know the word 'advantage' feels sometimes like there's a lack of compassion, a lack of caring, in it. It sounds like it has a little tinge of greed in it. Advantage! You are taking advantage of a bad situation. Rather it could be - making better use of the situation, the turbulent time, with compassion in your heart - the compassion and love that brings us fulfillment, that unites us with the entire workplace, the job, society, the people around us, the world. The uniting force in our life is love. When there is love, Enron sort of things will not happen! A short-term advantage is of no use. It's misery. The criterion for something good or not is: Good is something that gives long term betterment and short-term problem, while that which is unethical gives long-term problems and short-term benefits. So while you're taking advantage of a turbulent time, notice, observe if you are taking short-term benefit or a long-term benefit or what appears to be an advantage could be a disadvantage. So that clarity in our thinking, in our vision is essential. What brings that clarity? Are you all here? That is called yoga! Be in the moment! (Snap!)

Finally, intuitive awareness, the intuitive quotient is what comes to your help. If you lack intuition, you can't be really successful! Intuition is not just dry thinking. It's a combination of gut feeling... emotion and intellect. `Antarnath... Antargyan'. Intuitive awareness. Developing intuitive awareness as well as a little bit of music or logic is needed. When the balance happens in our life, then we are able to develop our intuitive awareness, the intuitive quotient. If you ask most successful people in our society, they will vouch for this: It was just an intuition, they acted on it and that brought them success - not their logical planning or thinking. Of course that's needed - logic is needed, but not just that! You need to have the support of intuitive awareness... and smile MORE! When you smile more, you see that intuitive awareness, creativity, compassion, sense of belonging... - all these virtues that you hold dear, just come along, spread out!

I wish the organisers success in conducting such seminars and bringing the awareness of human values, spiritual values into management... and something original! You know, we need to bring up something original from our ancient traditions in this country. The old and the new brought together! Something original, new, but at the same time, something that recognizes old values also... Like a tree - it has old roots and new shoots!

Thank you all!'

jai gurudev!!

[The following is an extract from Yoga Vasistha (teaching imparted to Rama by the sage Vasistha). The purpose of this extract is to make the readers realise why Guruji wants everyone to read this book. It may not be appropriate to give an extract and expect people to understand this storehouse of wisdom. But an attempt has been made. Based on the reader's feedback we will have more extracts from this wonderful book by Swami Venkatesananda]

Vasistha said: In the Creator there is neither a seer nor an object of perception. Yet, he is known as self-created. He shines in cosmic consciousness as a painting in the mind of an artist.

In the Creator there is no memory of the past since he had no previous Karma. He does not even have a physical body; the unborn is of spiritual substance. Mortal beings have two bodies, as it were, one physical and the other spiritual, but the unborn Creator has only the spiritual, since the cause that gives rise to the physical does not exist in him.

He was not created, but he is the Creator of all beings. Surely, the created (like a bracelet) is of the same substance as that of which it was created (gold). The Creator's thought being the cause of this manifold creation and the Creator himself having no physical body, the creation too is truly of the nature of thought, without materiality.

A throbbing arose in the Creator whose thought had spread out as the universe. This throb brought into being the subtle body (made of intelligence) of all beings. Made only of thought, all beings only appeared to be, though they felt that that appearance was real. However, this appearance thus imagined to be real, produced realistic results or consequences, even as sexual enjoyment in a dream does. Similarly, even the Creator though he has no body, appears to have a body.

The Creator is also of a dual nature: consciousness and thought. Consciousness is pure; thought is subject to confusion. Hence, he appears to come into being (arise), though he does not so arise. He is the intelligence that supports the entire universe, and every thought that arises in that intelligence gives rise to a form. Though all these forms are of the nature of pure intelligence, on account of self-forgetfulness of this, and of the thought of physical forms, they freeze into the physical forms even as goblins though formless are seen to have forms on account of the perceiver's delusion.

The Creator, however, is not subject to such delusions. Hence, he is always of a spiritual nature, not materialistic. The Creator is spiritual; and even so his creation, too, is in reality spiritual in essence. This creation is causeless. Hence, it is essentially spiritual even as the supreme being, Brahman, is. The materiality of the creation is like the castle in the air, an illusory projection of one's own mind - imaginary.

The Creator is the mind; mind or pure intelligence is his body. Thought is inherent in the mind. The object of perception is inherent in the perceiver. Who has ever discovered a distinction between the two?

jaigurudev!!

Guruji: Which is better, to thank deeply or superficially?
Everyone in unison: Deeply!

Guruji: No, superficially. (Everyone is baffled.) Thanking needs a separation. Thanking means there are two. If you are deeply thankful, it means you deeply feel the separation. Deep within there there is no need to thank, because there is oneness. But superficially you can thank. Thanks are like ripples on the surface of the water.

When you say "Thank you", you complete something. You are finishing a transaction, a relationship, a process. "Thank you" is like "Good bye". You can complete all transactions at a surface level, but deeper inside is only oneness.

Thankfulness always exists in relation to something else. You don't thank for nothing at all, you thank for something. But, in this case something is less than nothing!

At the deepest level, thanking has no meaning. Does one hand thank the other hand? The deeper you go, you see that there is no "other" to be thanked.

Question: So we should thank superficially and feel deeply?
Guruji: Feeling is also superficial. If you think the feeling is the depth, then you have not gone deep. Feeling is deeper than thinking. But feelings change. Whatever is the deepest doesn't change.

So thank superficially, not from the depth. Deep thanks indicate deep separation!

Someone in the crowd: Maybe we should say, "I thank you from the tip of my tongue!" (laughter)

jai gurudev!!

The role of religion is to make one righteous and loving, and politics means caring for people and their welfare. When religion and politics don't coexist, then you have corrupt politicians and pseudo-religious leaders.

A religious man who is righteous and loving will definitely care for the welfare of the whole population and hence becomes a true politician. And a true politician can only be righteous and loving. he cannot be anything but religious. All the Avatars and Prophets have been caring for people and so were in politics. You can find many examples to this effect. When religions
restrict the freedom to worship and restrict modes of worship, they become unsuitable for creating a harmonious society. When religion becomes all encompassing and gives full freedom to pray and worship in any manner - that religion will bring righteousness and peace in people and will be suitable for any society.

People think politics and religion have to be kept separate because many religions did not give freedom to worship and did not care for all people equally. History has shown that religion has created conflict. But irreligious societies (e.g. communism) have created chaos and corruption.

Today both religion and politics need reform. Religion has to become broader and more spiritual to allow freedom of worship and broader to encompass all the wisdom in the world. And politicians have to become more righteous and spiritual.

jai gurudev!!