A birthday is a time for the wave to remember its magnanimity

The Sanskrit word for birthdays is Jayanti. Jayanti means the pinnacle of victory. Victory is always associated with duality, war, conflict, but birth is beyond conflict because it is celebration. This is when the ocean became the wave and will become ocean again after some years. A birthday is a time to remember that the Atman (Soul/Self) was free at one time, then took name and form and became an individual being. After so many years once again the wave will go back to the ocean.

Therefore a birthday is a time for the wave to remember its magnanimity; it's true nature that it is part of the universal spirit, divinity. Then the atman gets the strength of the ocean.

On Birthdays here we don't blow out candles but light lamps. We move from light to light. We rejoice in the memory of our true nature and pray for more and more victory in all aspects of our life so that we can do more service. Knowledge is when we remain happy in our true nature, which is love.

No celebration is complete without meditation. Meditation helps to seep the celebration/ happiness deeper into our being. So meditate 5-7 minutes whenever you celebrate.
(From the Office of His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar)
© The Art of Living Foundation

Walk in life knowing that knowledge is life, and life is knowledge...

Posted: 05 Oct 2009 12:17 AM PDT

Q. What is Adhyatma (Spirituality)?
Sri Sri. Adhyatama/Spirituality is that which you know yourself, that which uplifts your Atman/Self.

Q. I can't meditate, please advise.
Sri Sri. When you watch TV, you get into meditation – There is no such thing that mind cannot meditate. Wherever your mind goes, whatever it likes, there meditation occurs. You need to move from "word' (shabdha) meditation to "wordless"(nishabhda) meditation. We separate life and knowledge, but walk in life knowing that knowledge is life, life is knowledge. Just as our relationships are manmade, join that relationship/connection with knowledge.

Q My nature is happiness but am overcome with periods of sadness – how do I overcome these periods?
Sri Sri. Offer them to the Divine. Do your practices and meditate. Sometimes waves of worry/sadness take over. Just know that it's a temporary phase, it's a passing cloud and it'll disappear.

Q. How do we overcome constant aimless feelings even though you're focused?
Sri Sri. Check to see how aimless your life was before knowledge. When you do so, you'll realize that knowledge has transformed your life. Superfluous interest in knowledge will make your life aimless. With deeper interest in knowledge you'll find life is so purposeful. If you think "what about me, what about me", life is useless, you may as well put it in garbage. Knowledge gives life direction – then you find life is so purposeful.

Q. People seek roles and positions and seek temporary power. Can you talk a little bit about this power?
Sri Sri. If you work, if you take responsibility, power comes along with it. If you don't work and don't take responsibility you are powerless. Responsibility is taken and you don't wait for someone to give you that power and we acknowledge that. It's the position not the person who has that power.

Q.How do you know when to be in activity (Pravrati) and when to be in non-activity/rest (Nivrati)?
Sri Sri. How do you know when to sleep, and when to eat? When you get tired, you know you need sleep, when you get hungry, you know its time to eat. Like that everyday take a break to be in meditation then you become recharged and can work better.

Q. What is the difference between ego and self-respect?
Sri Sri. In ego you need someone else. In self-respect, others are not needed, and no one can take it away from you.
(From the Office of His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar)
© The Art of Living Foundation

YOU ARE NOTHING

Each experience completes. Completion means being led to void or nothing. In the progression of life, you will leave behind every experience saying, "This is nothing." Anything that is completed loses its importance. That is to say, it leads you to void - this is nothing.

A sign of intelligence is how soon you arrive at this understanding. Examine everything in life and say "This is nothing" and what remains in love, and that is everything.

When "This is nothing" does not come out of knowledge, it comes out of misery. Either through knowledge or through misery, you come to the point of "This is nothing, this is nothing." The choice is yours.

If you got this, it is really NOTHING. If you did not get this, never mind - this is nothing (laughter)

|| SUTRA ||

Krishna is inside you. God, the Divine is inside you. Have a inner connection with the Divine."-Sri Sri

Desire for Truth

DESIRE FOR TRUTH

Buddha said that desire is the cause of all misery. If your desire does not get fulfilled,  it leads to frustration and causes misery. Even if it does get fulfilled, it leaves you empty.

Vasishta said that desire is the cause of pleasure. You get pleasure from an object or a person only when you desire them. When you do not desire an object, you do not get pleasure from it. For example, when a person is hot and thirsty, a sip of cold water gives him pleasure; but there is no pleasure if he is not thirsty. Whatever gives you pleasure binds you and bondage is misery.

Sri Sri says when you desire truth, all other desires drop off. You always desire something that is not there. But truth is always there! Desire for truth removes all other desires; it dissolves and what remains is bliss.

|| SUTRA ||

"Love is very delicate, it makes you very vulnerable deep inside. In love you bcome so weak. Yet,its the greatest strength on this planet."-Sri Sri

Is the Guru responsible?

Is the Guru responsible for your enlightenment?

If yes, and you do not get awakened, then the Guru is to be blamed. If you get freedom, then the Guru is also to be blamed because ha has been partial to you. If the Guru could set you free, he could have done it to the whole world.

So the Guru is not responsible for your awakening. And yet freedom is next to impossible without the Guru. So the Guru is responsible and yet not responsible. This is a mystery.

|| SUTRA ||

"Company that gives you contentment and silence is a good company. Company which gives you feverishness, greed, jealousy, lust and anger is a bad."-Sri Sri

Education

Education has five aspects:

1. Information - Often we think information is education, but it is only one aspect of education.

2. Concepts - Concepts are the basis for all research. You need to conceive in order to create.

3. Attitude - An integral aspect of education is cultivating the right attitude. Proper attitude at the right time and place determines your actions and behavior.

4. Imagination - Imagination is essential for creativity, for the arts. But if you get stuck in imagination, you can become psychotic.

5. Freedom - Freedom is your very nature. Only with freedom do joy, generosity and other human values blossom. Without freedom, attitudes become stifling, concepts become a burden, information is of no value and imagination becomes stagnant.

|| SUTRA ||

" Prayer is not asking for something, Prayer is gratefulness, a recognition of the huge tidal waves of Love that God is pouring on you every moment.."-Sri Sri

Truth

Truth is that which does not change.

Examine your life and identify all that changes as not truth. With this outlook, you will find that you are surrounded by only untruth.

When you identify that which appears to you as untruth, then you will become free from it. When you do not identify the untruth, you cannot become free from it. Your own experiences in life make you identify your own untruth.

As you mature in life, you find everything is untruth - events, situations, people, emotions, thoughts, opinions, concepts, your body - everything is untruth. It is only then that satsang (the company of truth) happens in the real sense. For example, a mother cannot see the child as untruth until the child becomes an adult. For a baby, sweet is not untruth, and for a teenager, sex is not untruth.

Question: Is knowledge also untruth?

Sri Sri : Yes, if it is words, it is untruth. But as existence, it is truth. Love as an emotion is not truth; as existence, it is truth.


|| SUTRA ||

"The Path of Love is not a tedious path. It's a path of Joy, singing and dancing. It's not desert. It is a valley of flowers."-Sri Sri

Seekers Beware

You can only seek that which you know and when you really do know, you already have it.
You cannot seek something you do not know.

Whatever you are seeking and wherever you seek, it is always only One; and the One is what you already are.

So, you cannot seek something you do not know and when you know what you are seeking, you already have it. When you seek the world, you get misery and when you want to find the way out of misery, you find the Divine.

A man lost a penny and was seeking it in a bush when he found a huge treasure. He was not seeking treasure but only for his lost penny. In the same way, when you seek something, you may get something else.

The truth, or Self, cannot be sought directly.
Dean: Many people come to the Art of Living seeking some mundane thing and find something else.

SUTRA
"A good leader should be multidimensional and should see from the other's point of view."-Sri Sri

Freedom not only for Indians

Celeberate freedom Now.
in this minute!!!
Wish you all independence day

Ram Navami

Ra in Sanskrit means "that which is radiant" and ma means "myself."

That which shines forth within me is Rama. That which is radiant in every particle of the being is Rama.Rama was born to Dasharatha and Kaushalya.

Dasharatha means "the ten-charioted one" in Sanskrit.
It signifies the five sense organs and the five organs of action.

Kaushalya is Sanskrit for "skilled." The skillful driver of the ten chariot can give birth to Ram.

When the five sense organs and the five organs of action are used skillfully, radiance is born within.
Rama was born in Ayodhya, which in Sanskrit means "the place where no war can happen." When there is no conflict in our mind, then radiance can dawn.Lakshmana, the brother of Rama, was born of Sumitra - the good friend.
When the ten are cooperating with you, awareness is born.Often we try to look for radiance within. Just realize that you are radiant.

Once when Sri Sri was 5 or 6 years old, he closed his eyes and said to a visiting saint, "Swamiji, I do not see any light." The saint replied, "You are the light! How can you see the light?"

SUTRA
“We need to educate people in human values like friendliness, compassion, cooperation, a sense of belonging and spirituality.” -Sri Sri

Form and formless, aggression and intuition

Form and formlessLife is a combination of form and formless.

Feelings have no form but their expressions have form.

The Self has no form but its abode has form.Similarly, wisdom and grace have no form but are expressed through form.

Desicarding the formless, you become inert, materialistic and paranoid.

Discarding the form, you become a lost ascetic, a space cadet or an emotional wreck!Aggression and intuitionAggression and assertiveness overshadow intuition.

Often, people who are sensitive tend to become aggressive in order to avoid being hurt.

In this process, they lose sight of their fine intuition.Fine intuition needs sensitivity, but sensitivity is often painful.

In order to avoid pain one becomes aggresive and assertive, and in turn loses one's intuition ability.Intuition is close to the truth.

Often, aggression and assertiveness thrive on the idea of truthfulness - an aggressive person is convinced of the rightness of his position.

To be truthful, you do not need to be aggressive and assertive.

SUTRA
In everything in this creation there is Divine Love. Love is the highest force, the greatest force, and the simplest."-Sri Sri