FOUR TENDENCIES

There are four tendencies in people. Four different tendencies are found in different people and only one or two is found in your body what are the four tendencies?

Knowledge, the first tendency which you call as the Brahmin. Then organising capacity, Kshatrya and Vysya tendency is business, communication, growth, economy, all these and the fourth is service, Shudra. Manual service, physical service is Shudra tendency. These are the four tendencies.

Unless you have all the four in you, you are not complete. In your life you must be a Shudra first. Shudra first means, you should be able to serve. Clean your bathroom. You cannot say, “I cannot clean my bathroom”. You should see, how many people are not able to clean their bathrooms! They wait for somebody else to clean it. It’s no good. You clean and do any menial work.

It was previously considered to be such a bad thing that a man could take a broomstick and sweep. What is wrong? We think it is below our dignity to do so. This is wrong! first be a shudra. Everybody should be a shudra and do all the menial work. Any seva. Be ready to jump in.

Then, the Vysya, business tendency in you. Then Kshtriya, organising tendency and then Brahamana. Generosity, compassion, love, knowledge, wisdom. All this is Brahmana tendency. All the four tendencies in a person makes a person complete.

You can rarely find someone who has all the four tendencies. That is why in ancient days they categorized, “this is your tendency, you do this and that”. Therefore they said “Janmanaa jaayate shudraha” “By birth everybody is a Shudra”. “Karmana dwija uchyate”. Then when they go and start studying, then their tendency, whether they are in business, or good in organising or intellectual knowledge or professional, depending on these they would divide in that sense in ancient days. All that has gone away now.

In the same way all the four ashramas are there in your life, everytime, even every day! When you are learning you are in Brahmacharya ashram. When you are enjoying what have you learnt you are in Gruhastaashram. When you are parting or sharing it with others you are in Vaanaprasthaashram and when you are in meditation you are in Sanyaasaahram, even when you ahve let gone of everything on when you are asleep, because, you have dropped everything.

All the four ashramas are there in your life all the time and the four varnas are in your life all the time. Everybody has a little tendency of all the four. This is because, when you are organising you must have some knowledge. Knowledge will defnitely help you organise. Right? Then you will exchange, you will distribute it. Exchanging, distributing, spreading it is all Vysya tendence and serving is Shudra tendency.

So all the four tendencies, all the four are there in your life everyday. Kruta Yuga when you are happy. Dwapara Yuga when you are having fun. Treta Yuga when you are committed and doing some work. In dwapara-Yuga you are having fun and more conflicts. More rajas. Kaliyuga is when you feel dull and sleepy. So all the four Yugas are in your own life.

There are certain periods when all the nice things are coming to you. We are in Kruta Yuga or satya yuga now, talking about knowledge. You go home and fight with somebody, then dwapura Yuga has begun. You are grumbling and sad and complaining and having a very rough time. At that moment you are in KaliYuga.

DSN in Shimla "A POT IS NICELY BAKED"

I know i am writing after a long time on my blog, but yes, i accept that i was really  busy and lazy both from past few weeks. Today i have a very solid reason to write and memorise the unbelieveable incident what happened last weekend. May 6th, 2010.

We have organised an "UTSAV" (A Program for the Empowerment of Youth). Saleel Pulekar Cheif Operating Officer of northern India from WAYE have come to Conduct this program. We call him Saleel Bhayia with love. This course was organised in Himachal Pradesh University by Dr. Surbhi (YES!+ Teacher) with so much effort. I really appericiate her for this wonderful achievement. As, It is really a back breaking task to get even Rs. 850/- from HPU students, That too for some spiritual course. The course went fantastic and we called Ankit Batra, Student of Jaypee University and an Awesome Singer on the last of the course in an event called "LIFE ROCKS". Everyone felt blissful, energised and lively after experiencing Sudershan Kriya. Above all Ankit actually gave them an experience of  Ecstacy with his meditation Satsang.

After the course we were planning for Saleel Bhayia's return ticket and looking for the options to reach delhi in time for the DSN course scheduled in delhi from 6th evening. In my conversation witjokeful adviceh Bhayia li just gave hima an jokefull suggetion that, " Why are going to Delhi, It is very hot there, Why don't you call DSN participant to Shimla" The weather is also pleasent here in Shimla. I don't know when bhayia also aggreed and i got this ecstastic, rapturous surprise that bhayia is really started working on shifting the DSN from Delhi to Shimla that just 20 hour before the course. After so much resistant and chaos of 8-9 hours coordination over the phone, finally DSN shifted to Shimla with this condition that, Ankush (Means me) will arrange Travel from Del-Sml-Del, Acomodation, Food etc for 45 participant in just 6 hours with a very limited budget. I just said "YES"  to Bhayia out of greed that will get more time to spend with Bhayia if he stay back. which actually did not happened after this, but i have really strecthed my potential by organising this course in just 6 hours, that too in place like shimla in the month of May (Peak tourist season) when no accomodation is available easily.

While organising i just remember Guruji's saying once he mentioned one of his talk, which actually happened to me this time," If you want to make a pot, you have to bake that pot. After the pot is baked, then nothing happens to the pot whether you put the pot in the water or water inside the pot. If you pour water into a pot, which is not baked, then there will be neither the pot, nor the water. The pot will be lost and so too the water. Therefore, you should bake the pot well first. After it is baked well, the pot remains as it, whether water is poured into it or it is thrown into the water. So too in life, a proper foundation should be laid first, then you should decide what should be placed where and who should be given what." I really felt baked this time and beceome shock absorver. Lot to write but now have to leave to meet Surbhi, She is waiting for me at the Mall Road. So, Bye bye..

Jai Gurudev!

Ankush Bansal

BORE DOM

What is boredom? When there is no interest, when you don’t like or love, that is boredom. Isn’t it? Suppose if you have to sing a song and if you don’t like it or if you have to sing it several times you get bored. Suppose you like a song, love a song , then it doesn’t bore you. You can sing the song the whole day. How many of you have had this experience?

Boredom is lack of interest and love. If you keep doing all your practices again and again, that creates boredom. Right?

What is the purpose of practice? Boredom is the repetition of the same thing. Repetition of anything to the extent that it surpasses liking is boredom; to the extent that it surpasses liking and interest is boredom. What is the purpose of practise? Practise means doing the same thing like japa or any other sadhana. Their purpose is to destroy boredom. The purpose of sadhana is to first bring up boredom and then destroy the boredom.

The self is all love. If the self is all love then how can you bored with your self? Not possible you are bored with your mind, not with yourself. Mind always wants change. It is bored without a change and practise is doing the same thing, repeating the same thing without changing so that the mind gets thoroughly bored and bored and bored. Got it?

You keep saying ‘Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya’ and you get bored and bored and the boredom becomes so much that nothing else can really bore you. So the value of sadhana is to bore you so much that you cannot get bored at all.

When you cannot get bored with yourself, you cannot get bored with anything else in the world or with anything. If you have to say the same thing over and over again you will say it with the same enthusiasm.

Have you noticed a child? A child never gets bored. It says the same thing again and again. If a child asks a question it keeps asking the same thing and it goes on non-stop. You get bored but the child does’nt get bored. Isn’t it? The child is not bored opening the same book several times. There is nothing new in the book, but it opens and closes, opens and closes. That is why mothers have time. They give some toy to the child, the beads in a string. They go on stringing the beads from this side to that side.

If you take children to an exhibition and they see the roller coaster or merry go round go round and they want to sit on it. You try to convince them, “don’t sit on it, your head will turn. Not today, we will come again tomorrow”. After listening to all that you say, at the end of it they, “daddy I want to sit on it. Mama, I want to sit on it”. Repetition is children’s nature.

You get bored listening to the same thing repeatedly, Now, all of you come for satsang once a week and listen to all that we say. If we were to say the same thing every day and you would have to listen to it everyday, none of you would have been here. All of you would have vanished.

Why? We need something new. What is the nature of the mind? It needs something new constantly, every minute. It wants something today, something else tomorrow or an entirely different thing the day after tomorrow. You get bored if you have to eat the same vegetable everyday. You want different vegetables every day. Isn’t it? You want to different varieties of food every day. Why? Mind wants something new, new and new.

But tell me how much new can exist? The wanting for new has to stop some where. Isn’t it? When nothing can be got, the mind gets bored and the cause of boredom is repetition.

There is no boredom in love. There is repetition in love and this is known as practise. The goal of practise is to root away the boredom within us. Are you getting this?

Now when we eat rice everyday, only the vegetables served are different, but the rice is the same. People who are used to eating rice everyday never get bored with it and will feel different if there is no rice for one day.

Whatever the mind gets used to something because of practise, it never gets bored with it. If you are used to your husband’s grumbling everyday, then you don’t feel that there is anything new about it. If you are used to somebody shouting at you all the time, you get so used to it that you just let them shout however long they want to and you continue with your work. When you are used to anger, the heat of anger does not affect you. So there is a close relationship between practise and love. How? There is repetition in love and there is repetition in practise.

If you write a letter to somebody, you write love, love, love, love all over. If you go to a college hostel where a boy is in love with the girl, then you can see that their names are written all over the wall. Their names are written in every page of their note book. Why? They never get bored of it. As you keep repeating and doing your practices again and again, the boredom vanishes and love rises.

So what do we feel when we do the same practices everyday? You do the same thing like say Ram, Ram, Ram or Shiva, Shiva, Shiva and bore the mind thoroughly. Only when you penetrate this boredom does love arises. Isn’t it? Is that ringing a bell? Why everyday pranayam? “We feel bored Guruji. Practise is boring”. That is the purpose of it. You see that?

Sometimes you hum a line of a movie song, bhajan or traditional music which suddenly flashes to you while bathing. You later realise that you would have hummed the whole day, the same line. How many of you have had this experience? This is because love and practise has happened. So sit for half an hour every day and say something, Ram, Ram, Shiva, Shiva, Shiva or atleast keep groaning and moaning, doesn’t matter. But so some practise for half an hour.

How to keep the ethics in the Corporate world

Why do the Corporate Sector slip away from ethics?

First of all, you want to make quick money with less effort and no loss. Business “ek sone ki chidiya hai” and unethical ways will really kill the very life of business. We are not aware of this or it goes out of our sight.

Secondly, to do something unethical it needs a lot of creativity. And to do something unethical, and to get away with it, you need much more creativity. But if the same creativity can be used, to be more creative, to come out with something more productive, the same creativity is invested in your R & D Department, then you don’t need to go into any unethical way at all.

It is intellectual bankruptcy which causes unethical ways in the business. We are not putting our efforts in that direction. If you want to really study the health of a company, you should see how enthusiastic is their R & D Department. Call and talk to them and examine their level of enthusiasm. Then you will be able to see if that company will go upwards, standstill or go down. Give them a small problem - you will know if they can tackle the problem or not. You will know whether they are fit to be in R & D or elsewhere. Most corporates do not give much importance to the R & D department in specially India.

A corporate house only looks at the academic qualification. They see a degree holder and put them in the R & D. Dept. An illiterate or a villager could turn out to be more intelligent and more creative then a Phd. We should recognize this. An intelligent person does not depend merely on the paper certificate or qualification of the individual e.g. an MBA. They see the level of enthusiasm in a person to do something creative. I feel that is a certificate.

If you see Japan, you learn a lot. They develop so much more creativity. When there is creativity, there is no need to go into unethical practice. If our creativity can be channeled into development of products, in R & D, in Marketing and Negotiating skills, we don’t need to resort to unethical ways to sustain or maintain a company. We have to think practically. The ground realities are to sustain, to develop, to maintain, to build. If you don’t have these two things, you will go to the fourth thing which is unethical means of maintaining a company. You need these skills. If you have good negotiating skills we will be able to talk to Govt. Agencies or buyers, then you will succeed.

Americans are very good negotiators, very good in marketing. Japanese and Germans are very good in technology – developing new things - invention. Indians have all the talents, all these three talents. We can be the best in marketing, we can be the best in R&D, and we can be the best in negotiating skills. Unfortunately, we are not utilizing them.

That which gives you short-term joy and long-term problems is that which is unethical. To be unethical is that which gives you short-term joy and in the longer period and makes you miserable. Example – what happened with Enron and so many other companies. Right ethics is that which though you have to hold your breath for a short period of time, would bring long- term success and enable you to enjoy the sustainable development.

Secondly, improving the big communication gap in our Industries. Today, one Manager can easily bring down a company or be responsible for the collapse of an organization due to his manipulation of people who hold the company. Many industries in this country have gone bankrupt due to ego problem. One manager can cause disharmony between the heads of an organization by creating mistrust between them, developing grudge against each other, playing between two people in the family. This is the biggest drawback for the economy of this country. Even between two departments also there is this problem because of ego leading to rift and misunderstanding.

These sort of personal animosity, grudges, have crept into our industry and business. So unfortunate. A certain level of human development, maturity and understanding has become imperative, absolutely essential for the growth of any organization, any society.

The other aspect is stress. When you are so stressed you don’t listen to anybody. There are three kinds of people who do not listen – the stressed, the unhappy, and the deaf. They don’t listen to any reason. Also, if someone is against you, even if they are talking sense because of your hatred you are biased. Even the good things they say you don’t take it. You think they are wrong. So what you do?

First of all recognize these are our problems. Once you know this half of the problem is solved. Next step is to improve communication and develop human values in our set up, in our environment, surroundings. Create a sense of belongingness and a broad vision. Then deal with stress. There are lots of programmes on stress relief. From time to time get together sing, meditate, loosen-up, celebrate now and then.

And instill self-confidence, self esteem in your subordinates. We often point out mistakes of other people and make them feel so guilty that they do not want to go ahead at all the next time. Skillfully point out their mistakes without making them lose their enthusiasm to work again. We need to look at this aspect in life.

Are you all here? Listening? What is happening? What’s happening in the mind? Take a look at your own mind from time to time. Look at yourself. What’s happening inside your mind? By simple self-examination from time to time you will sort out a lot of knots now and then. Becoming conscious of what is happening in your mind, body, in the self.

Another clue, another technique you can follow. When ever you have to do any important job, ethical or unethical, give a fifteen seconds gap. A C.E.O. once wrote a very nasty letter to his boss. He was going to sign off and send it, when suddenly he remembered what Guruji had said; to give a fifteen seconds gap. When he went through the letter again it was so nasty, he himself could not read it. That fifteen seconds gap made so much of difference.

Take home this technique. From today or tomorrow, practice this technique. The mind has a very strange tendency. Anything wrong it wants to do immediately. From now on, you postpone it. If you want to shout at somebody, postpone it to next week. We have a tendency of postponing doing something good. Anything that is good we tend to postpone it to later, to our next lifetime. So, we postpone doing something good and do immediately something that is harmful. So leave a fifteen seconds gap and relax. Be calm. Can you do it?

Look at the world around you! See all those people who have amassed wealth in a fraudulent manner. Where are they? What has happened to them? Are they happy? Are they blissful? Do they have honor? This broad vision of things the way they are can also give us a direction. You could argue that even the Mahabharat war could not have been won without a little ‘yukti’. I don’t expect all the corporate people to be Satya Harishchandras. Don’t need to be. “Yukti lagana hi padtha hai”. But not too much. Yukti should be like salt in the food, without over shadowing the ethics which is the central golden line of our conduct. Otherwise it is not going to be fruitful, yield business or improve things in any manner. Which we have seen time and again with all the examples around us. Isn’t it so? What do you say?

So, channel the creativity in the three areas of productivity, new designs – R & D, negotiating skills and marketing. Are you with me? Attend to the source of creativity. Our consciousness is the source of all creativity. Taking a little time for yourself is a great investment. Not a waste of time at all. Take a few days, spend a week in a year to relax, become calm, meditate, and expand your awareness. And then you will see that you will be able to achieve a lot with less effort. “Intelligent admi kya kartha hai?” Do less and accomplish more. That is a sign of intelligence. Do a lot and accomplish less is a sign of foolishness. This understanding needs to be developed within ourselves. As corporate members take some time off. The more responsibilities you have, the more stressed you are, the more the need for you to take some time off for yourself for 4-5 days in a year. Go some place, meditate and relax. The more responsibilities you have, more is the need to rejuvenate the body , mind and spirit.

Bring out the enormous amount of creativity that is hidden within you. The Creator is within you. There are millions of variety of flora and fauna in the creation, millions of species on this planet. That same consciousness is within us. Everybody spend a little time with yourself. It is the greatest, biggest, most yielding investment for sure.

ATTRACTION AND LOVE

Now, you look at some object, you get very attracted to it. What happens immediately after you get attracted? It has to come to your hands immediately. Your mind will not be in peace till it reaches your hand. You wait for it, you crave for it. Whatever we are attracted to, should reach our hands. Once it reaches your hands, then all the attraction you had for it goes away. Have you observed this?

School or college going children want to purchase a motor bike come what may. They feel that they have to wear a helmet and roam all round the city. It is a very big desire. The motor bike comes anyway. One month, two months. There is a saying in Kannada, “the new broom sweeps faster”. In this way, for one or two months, all the enthusiasm and keenness exists. Then what happens? The ardour cools down. They do not even think about the bike.

Similarly, when we are attracted to any object, if we obtain that object faster, then we will not develop love on it. If we do not obtain an object to which we are attracted to, then our love for that object increases. Are you getting this? When that love increases, there is a force arising in the mind due to that love, there arises longing and eagerness for that object. From that longing and eagerness, there is a rise in the consciousness. When the consciousness rises, you get the awareness, “everything is me. Whatever I was searching for, I am that”.

From attraction love increases. When you could not obtain that love, that intensity increased in you. From that intensity, there arose vibrations in the whole body. The consciousness arose. As you keep progressing forward you get the realisation that “I am that consciousness, everything is consciousness. I am the consciousness. They are all consciousness too. Everything is consciousness. There can be nothing else other than the consciousness”. Such a relevation happens inside you. Then it is said “Tattvamasi”. “You are that! That longingness, eagerness which existed in you - I want, want, want, that restlessness, that desire which you had in you, that is the consciousness itself. You are that. That is God”. The disciple is taught in this manner! Are you getting this?
When you see something big in life, be it a person or a situation, then a forceful attraction develops in you ”come what may, let whatever happen, I want that at any cost”. It is like the love of Laila and Majnu. Laila and Majnu never met each other. That is why the attraction increased. If they both would have met, if they would have been united, then nothing would have existed. In that case, where would have Laila and Majnu’s love existed? From great attraction love happens. Love increases.

What happens because of love? From love longing arose. Due to the attraction the desire was not destroyed and love increased. Two things happen. One is, the mind gets frustrated. You get angry on it. Your restlessness increases because of it. Otherwise that longing turns into prayerfulness. From that longing the prayer becomes so deep that you say, “oh God! come what may, I really need that”.

That could be anything, a house, wife, husband, child, whatever. If you develop a craving on anything, when so much longing for it develops, that longing gives rise to prayer. The prayerful longingness then awakens the consciousness from within you. Every cell of your body vibrates. Waves arise. Have you experienced this? Immersing in it completely. Day and night. Laila and Majnu are the best examples of this. There can be no better example than this. Both of them were in so much love.

The difficulty in us is that, we do not have one single desire! We have so many desires! So, not even one desire gets fulfilled. Only that desire should get converted to longing. That is all. That longing is God, divine. What is the difference between you and a stone? There is no longing in a stone. You have longing in you. The sign of consciousness is longing. Long so much inside you. Let such a longing arise in you. Then the knowledge arises “Tattvamasi”!

Then you begin to realise, “oh! I was all along searching for this love! I found that love in this wife, that husband, this child, this friend. Even though it appeared as though it existed in all of them, it is actually existing in this! I have experienced this in this very, six and a half foot body! I could have longed in this way before itself. I could have obtained this bliss before itself! I wandered so long for this and wasted so much of my time”. You will experience complete knowledge in this manner.
When such an experience happens, it is then exclaimed. “Shivoham, Shivoham“! I am Shiva! I am Shiva”! Everything in this world is love. there is nothing else other than love. there arises a knowledge that everything is love.

From longing, one is (1) you can drag yourself down to such lower level or (2) you can raise so much higher. Longing is the line in between these two. Did you understand this?

Therefore, if you like anything, do not get into the effort of getting it immediately, possessing it immediately. Stay far away from it till you begin to long for it. If you do not do it yourself, then nature will make you do it. Enjoy the bliss of longing.

Once it happened this way. We had been to Canada. There a gentleman came to us and said “Guruji, I had never longed for anything in my life until now. I only long for you. I keep waiting the whole year for your arrival. You please do not come here. This longing is so strong. You did not come here for six months. My longing increased so much. Please do not construct an ashram here and stay here itself”. We told him, “this is such a strange request. On one hand you say that you have such a strong longing. On the other hand you say that you do not want to loose that longing”.

This is a very beautiful longing. We told him, “any way we do not have any intention of staying here itself”. If such a longing arises in your life, then it is a very beautiful thing. Be aware of it, be a witness to it. That is God.

It is said that if such a longing arises in you, all the Gods will be frightened of you. That is why they fill our minds with so many thoughts, so that our mind does not mature so much, so that our desires are not fulfilled. Not everybody will allow everybody else to become the “owner”. This is a law. Therefore, be alert. Become the owner. But if you want to be the owner, you need to become the servant first. Nobody can become the owners directly. In this spiritual path, first be a servant and then the master. When you become a servant and then the master, you will never become nonchalant. Otherwise you will become nonchalant in life and live with a long, distorted face. You continue to live like this and then suddenly everything will be over one day. You will not even know. Neither you will know, nor will others know.

If you are nonchalant, understand that you have not yet become a servant. In this very moment, right now, become a servant. Sometimes the wind blows in such a manner that your mind will simply tear away. You will not even know. After sometime, after the storm has blown over, you think, “oh! what have I done? What am I doing? What is happening to me?”. All such questions begin to arise in you. Hasn’t it arisen in you? How many of you have experienced such questions arise in you? Lift your hands, let us see.

Okay, as the storm is dying down, another storm arises. The moment you think the second storm to be dying down, no sooner the third storm arises. Your providence is that, in between the storms there is little gap. That sign of happiness, you will experience in between the storms. You will know what happiness is, then. When you know what is happiness, then the experience of sadness will be magnified then. Do you understand what I am saying?

Once you become aware, “it is happening this way”, then that is enough. You become the servant. When the storm arises, simply become a servant. Simply surrender. Then see, what happens, see what magic happens! Then that wave, storm will do nothing to you. You will simply laugh looking at it. It becomes a game then. Then life will not become a war, it will be a play. This is the difference. What is the difference between a play and a war? One has bliss in it and the other has misery. If you make life a war then you will find only misery. If you make life a play, then there is only bliss, ever blissful, everyday blissful!

Some people say, “oh, let go of everything. Do not have love towards anything. Do not have craving or aversions”. We should turn every craving into love. When that love arises, what happens is that, we can develop frustration towards it, boredom towards it and push ourselves down to a lower level. Otherwise, if we develop longingness towards that something which we want and if that longing is converted to prayer, then that becomes pure consciousness, pure love. This is the mechanics of attraction and love!

The Secret of relationships

What are the secrets of a relationship?
How a relationship develops?

First comes attraction. You are attracted to someone. But what you are attracted [to], if you get very easily, the charm goes away; it dies out very fast. But what you are attracted to, if it becomes just a little bit difficult to have, then you develop love for it. Have you experienced this? Have you observed this?

Now, you fall in love; then what happens? After a while, soap opera begins. (laughter) Because you love someone, you give yourself and then you start demanding on that relationship. Now, here when you start demanding, the love diminishes. All the thrill, joy, everything seems to be fading away. So then you say, “Oh I have made a mistake.” Now there’s struggle and pain to get out of it, and after you’ve got out of it, you get into one more, another one; and the same story repeats.

What is that you want to know about relationships? It is really to see how it can be long lasting. Isn’t it? What is the secret about relationships you want to know? You want to know how it can be made long lasting, not how it can be cut off. That, of course, is no secret. (Sri Sri laughs) Everybody knows about it: Just push a button, a few more buttons very often. That’s it. That’s finished.

Three things are essential in any relationship: right perception, right observation, and right expression. Often people say that nobody understands them. Instead of saying “No one understands me,” you can say that you have not expressed properly. If you speak Russian to a Spanish, definitely they won’t understand. For that you need proper perception, right perception. Right perception can happen when you see yourself from the shoes of that person. When you stand in their shoes and look at that, at the situation.

Right perception, and right observation

OK, you have perceived right, but how do you react? How do you feel inside? What motivates you? What things are coming up from within you? Observing you own mind is essential, the second important aspect. This observation within you: observation of sensation, observation of tendencies, observation of patterns that we have... this is also essential.

Perception of the other; observation of oneself. and then, right expression. Expressing ourselves in the right manner.

And the whole life is a lesson of just these three things: perception, observation, and expression. Every mistake you make is really not a mistake; it’s a learning process of the three vital aspects of life. What do you say? Isn’t this so?

Perception needs to be expanded. Don’t just see the outer of someone. If someone is grumpy or a little finicky, we just hold them responsible for their behavior. But if we see from a wider angle lens, the many aspects will come together: OK. that person is finicky or fussy, or is stressed out for some reason, so that is reflecting in the relationship. So, widening our lens of perception… Not just looking at someone and accusing for what they are doing or what they did, but rather than accommodating them and seeing them from a larger picture. This will help in the relationship. [It’s] the first secret.
Second thing is to give (This, of course, you all know; relationship means it'’ giving.); the same time make the others give also.

Suppose you are doing all of the help, all of the service and then you don’t give the other person to do something in return. You are taking them away from their self worth. Sometimes people say, “Oh see, I did so much but still that person doesn’t love me.” Why? Because they feel uncomfortable. Love is when there is an exchange. And that can happen when you give them an opportunity also to do something to you.

This needs a little skill. You know, we have to be skillful in making the other also to contribute without demanding. The only way we know to get someone to do something for us is by demand. And then, if your partner doesn’t do something to you then also love cannot last because you will come on a self pity role saying, “See, I do everything. I’ve been used.” You say, “I’m being used.” You also make use of them if your love needs to grow. This thing—I’m being used—should be taken out of our consciousness. You should know that you are being useful; that’s why you’re used. (Laughter) If you’re useless, how can somebody use you? (Laughter)

Most of the relationships happen this way because we don’t have the skill of making the other person contribute. Don’t you think so? Isn’t it so?

You know, in ancient India, in the ancient times, they called the skillful taking as dokshina. In schools, in ancient schools, children were taken to the schools and they would study with the master, with the teacher, for 7, 8 years, 12 years. At the end of the 12th year they have to do, return something. They have to give something back: the thanks to the teacher, the fee. The fee that they would give was called dokshina: that which is given with great skill.

It’s very interesting, you know, how they would do that. Suppose a rich boy and a poor man boy both are studying in the same class. They would have a common classroom for everybody, you know; whether it’s from the prince or from the pauper. They had to study in one class. And then the master would ask the pauper—the very poor child—to bring money, and the child of the prince to do some menial job.

Now this boy who is from a poor family has to bring 10 gold coins. What he would do? He has no means. If the same would have been told to the prince, it’s very easy [to get???????] ten. He would bring 100; it’s so easy for him. But this poor boy would go around, he would write poems, he would make arts, he would do drawings, he would come up with some drama, or scriptures, or whatever. He would use all his creativity to get that money and come. So even the process of giving would expand his ability. So then he would gain so much confidence, “Yes, I have been asked to bring 10 gold coins. If I didn’t have the ability, Master wouldn’t have told me to do so. He told me I can do it, so I’ll be able to do it.” With that confidence he will move, he will go here and there, and he will get it. In this process of gaining these 10 gold coins, his abilities, his skills would all come out.

In the same way, the prince would be asked to clean the streets; would be asked to go and do some menial job. He would know, understand how a servant feels so he becomes sensitive. His sensitivity towards people will grow though he will live in a palace. That’s why this sort of exchange was called dokshina.

In a relationship, this is essential. You have to see that the other also contributes in your life so that they don’t feel completely like a worm, worthless. They also feel their self worth. For love to blossom, self worth is essential. Second important point, secret.
The third aspect of relationship is give them space. When you love someone, you’re just right on their neck. You don’t give them any breathing space and they suffocate. And suffocation destroys love. You should give them a space and you take your space. Respect each other’s space. Take some time off. The ancient people knew this. You know, they would say one month in a year…They would say this month husband and wife cannot cross the same door, so would send their wives to their mother’s home. And that is the month the postal department has maximum business. (Laughter), because then one month creates so much longing and they will write poems; all the creativity in them will come out. Love letters will flow from one city to another city.

For love to blossom, there needs to be longing, and longing needs a little space. If you destroy longing, if you don’t allow longing to come in your relationship--though it will be painful, little bit but it is inevitable—if it is not there then love does not grow. The charm is lost. So, give some space to them. Take some space for yourself.

And the fourth aspect in relationship is, relationship should be treated as a dessert, not as a main course. If your life is aimed at some goal, if there is some goal in your life, some aim in your life, then you move in the direction, relationship will move along. If all your focus is just on relationship, I tell you that is where it will not work. And it doesn’t work. You can’t have a dessert for your main course. You cannot eat it like that. See… if you have a goal in your life and then both of you have the same goal, then you will move along to that direction. Then that relationship lasts long.

Be a witness

If there is smoke in somebody’s house, the air blows and spreads it to the neighbouring houses. Isn’t it? If there is a foul smell in one house, it will not be confined only to that house. Similarly, if there is sadness in one person’s mind, then it begins to spread everywhere.

You think, “why am I sad without any reason? I do not know! I was fine a few moments ago. What happened to me now?” How many of you have felt this way? Raise your hands. Let me see. Raise your hands completely. Everyone must have experienced this sometime or the other. But we point out the reason on something else. Your mind is peaceful, pleasant, you are meditating too. But all of a sudden, you begin to feel sad and restless. How does this happen?

They are all somebody else’s vibrations, not ours. Our vibrations are not confined only to us. It spreads everywhere. So, the most important thing is that, when something like this happens to you, be a witness to your mind.

Understand whether those emotions belong to you or to somebody else. Do not try to analyse it too much. Do not make an effort to wipe them off. Look at them as a witness and offer them, “this might have happened – someone else’s anger, sadness and restlessness has come to me. I offer it to You”.

In the same way, when you come into a peaceful environment, the environment begins to influence you.

Perfect health blossoming inside out

A bud that is healthy will blossom it not heathly the bud definition of health, what is health? What is being healthly? Of couse phycally strong, mentaly calm, steady, emotionaly softer inside.When you feel rough inside, then that is not health, like when you feel rough in body, you say I am not healthy, I am rough, I am sick, so in the same way when the mind is stiff, mind is jugement, then it is not a mental health. The emotions are rough, you are not emotionally healthy. Healthy is that flow from the innermost to the outer, and vise versa, from the outer to the inside. In sanskrit the is Versesvasta, Svasta means health. It also means being in oneself. Svastswa means self. Stam, established in self, is the word for health. So it is normal to be enlightened, and to be unenlightened is not normal. And it is something more to it... Svasta the health is not just to be on mind that is happening it has come to you as a gift from the cosmic mind that is called by a word called “Indra”. Indra means if the person is there, very disturbed and stressed spends some time and he goes out of the room and someone else enters that room they for no reason start feeling the same feelings, same thoughts, same emotions. In the same way, when there is a satsang happening in this place, when there is a such harmonious vibrations, one comes in and feels good. You dont know why one feels good, one feels good. Feeling is not isolated in ones body, it is wide spread. Just like our breath is not isolated or limited in ones body, it is there in the whole room, in the whole environement. In same way, mind is in the whole environment because mind is even subtler than the 5 elements. The earth, water, fire, air, ether. Like if there is a fire somewhere the heat is not just in fire, it is also radiating thoughout the room. Subtler than that is air, is all over. Subtler than that ether is still present. Subtler than ether is mind, thougths in the mind. They are all over, and emotions even finer, they are all over. If you are unhappy, you are depressed, you are not only, not only we are feeling it, we are polluting the whole environment. In future, time may come that you may be fined for being depressed, like if you litter, you will be fined for littering, cause we are creating emotional disturbance in the whole environment. But how to get rid of this, that is the secret, that is the main thing, of meditation, of pranayam, cause prana is subtler than emotion, prana the life energy, subtler than emotion. So you handle the subtlest, and then the gross becomes alright. You handle the breath, body gains good health. So the prayer has been in the ancient days, let this collective consciouness, the Indra, the environment bring me always health, let it always put me back to myself. Let it always keep me centered and joyful, and happy, let everyone whom I meet always bring me back to myself. Let not my company drive me astray. Let not the people I meet make me more sad or unhappy. Let everyone whom I meet in this world bring me home light, and bring me some soothing, cooling influence on “this is important“, see you meet somebody, and they say something, see what do you do with that, what happens to you? With the words that you have heard from the company, your friends, has it given you peace and joy, or has it disturbed you. Just stand back and (see/say) we don’t assist this usually this is what happens we meet people, they say something that creates jealousy in us, anger in us, frustration in us, sadness in us it is not that they are responsible, we are responsible. You are responsible for assisting, because the mind is not in it´s self, it is not the center. This we discussed, how we can gain that peace, which could be unshakeable, which cannot be shaken by anything whatsoever. But now you can make a wish, the wish is, let everybody who I meet be happy, even they are not happy, they radiate happiness, they bring me home happiness. A frustrated man will create a frustration. A person who is jealous, will create jealousy, create unpleasantness. So let every whom I meet bring me back to myself. There is a prayer saying let everybody be happy.

You know, people who do not know, do not create much problems, people who know creates a lot of problems. Those who do not know, very innocent beings, they cannot create a problem for you. But those who know half and half, who know a little bit can create a lot of problems. In this world this has been the case for long ago; problems have been created by those who know a little. Those who totally, there is no question of any harm; and those who do not know absolutely anything, no question any harm, they are like a children. So we say those you know in the world something let them also put me back to myself. This prayer is not just when I am sittng here, I gain knowledge when I go out I become different person, it is not that, let me have favorable atmosphere even after I go from here and work in the world, not only when I am gaining knowledge, but also when I am working. Svasti .From every corner, everyone whom I meet, anything I do, let it all be life supporting, let it all be revolutionary. Let everything in the world be harmonious and revolutionary. That is why I want to come here and be in the satsang, what is purpose is to see tat everything is harmonious, everybody be harmonious. Every situation you can turn to your advantage have you ever thought about it.

 I will tell you a story. It is between two kingdoms, they were long rivals, long enemies. But then people advised one of the king: why why to have this rivalry and fight all the life, why dont you make you friends; he said alright, okay, see he sent one of his pictures to the other king as a token of the present and the other king took the picture and he was sarcastic, he thought you know usually people when they are rivals an enemies, they dont trust, they dont believe. Even the good will is not believed. So he did`nt believe. He said okay, where to put this picture, and he thought, okay you put this in my toilet. It became a big insult to have put a picture in a bathroom and his ambassador who took this message came back and reported to the king and the king. And he asked the advisor why did you advise me to send this picture there, see I have been insulted. But you know, advisors are very intellegent, you know what the advisor said “Oh, King it is very good, that man must be so afraid of your picture, he may be suffering from big constipation problem, so in the bathroom he looks at your picture, he may find it very easy there so he...“ This satisfied the king who was going to wage a war; this was really something to happened. It is not a story, it is a history. One advisor, one minister, adverted a whole war between 2 kingdoms in India. Because he said, this is what the fact is any situation otherwise can explode, or you can turn it into your advantage. Someone calls to you, you look like a ghost, you can go on fighting with them, how dare you call me like that, call me a ghost, and then that is the way the sprak triggers and the whole fight begins. Instead of that you could easily just say, yes I am a holy ghost. Finished, the whole argument finishes there. You know there are stories in Puranas in ancient days, that somebody with a bow and arrow, and they shoot this arrow and this weapon came and the saint just did his hand like this and turned into a flower, the weapon which was going to to hit a hurt a person just by the hand, by the look, it turned into a garland, or into a flower, this is what it is. Somebody is shooting an arrow at you, they are shooting because they are miserable. But when you have blossomed from within, any insult you can take it for your advantage. Take every insult as a compliment. Every insult can be taken as compliment. Does`nt matter, cannot be insulted, cannot be insulted at all. They are simply pouring out the stress or the tension or anguish and anxiety in them. So you recieve it, take it.

It so happened Buddhas time, another story about Buddha. In Buddha`s period, India was very prosperous Buddha made a big joke, he made monks go beg arms in front of the homes, because this is very difficult to ask for a food that those very well educated and people who think they are in a control, when they have wealth, they use to think I am in the control, I know everything, I can buy the whole world. Buddha wanted to, because he himself was a king, was an emperor so he gave a begging bowl in the hands of these people, highly educated, high intellectuals scholars, that was very crushing for the ego, so the people used to go on the begging, this was not common in those days. Nobody used he beg, there was not need to beg, cause everybody was prosprerous, it so happened, one of the, like any no movement it not very much welcomed by the people. Buddhas people were not welcomed he was going and asking for arms. So one lady, she came out the house and she got really angry at this person who comes and asks for arms. The rule is, they should go and ask in 5 houses, and what ever they get, they should eat that. So when they go, and this lady comes out of the house and takes the garbage can, and pours the garbage into his bowl. Some other people got upset, look at the lady, if she cannot give, she could have simply said no. But instead of refusing, poured the garbage into the begging bowl; but this (?? Viksho??) this munk started laughing. And he thanked her, at the least you had the tendency to give something, does`nt matter if it is garbage or food. You had the tendency of giving, and all that anger that you building in for these several days, at least you threw them all with the garbage you expressed them out so that now you could be comfortable. When the people shout or brust out, you can only thank them, well my god, thank so much was getting built in it as all come out. Okay now , fine, wonderful, I am saying we should encourage this tendency in us and always justify that. But when it happens, do not regret it. What do we do, we go on regretting with regret we commit the same error again.

A man came in the satsang of Buddha, he was so annoyed he spat in the face of Buddha, everybody else was really shaken by that, this man comes and spits on the face of Buddha in a crowded congregation. Thousands of people are there, but they could not react because Buddha was smiling, accpeted it, when he did not react, it was a shock on this man. Anyway he went home but he could not sleep that whole night, something happened, the very presence of Buddha, something shook up in him. He comes the next day running, and falls at the feet of Buddha, and says please forgive me, please pardon me, I don`t no what I did, why I did that, Buddha says I cannot forgive you. When Buddha said I cannot forgive you all the disciples were more shoked now; said what, Buddha says I cannot forgive you, and this man is pour fellow is crying, he is weeping, and Buddha says, I cannot forgive you. And then Buddha explained, see that man is not here right now, to whomever you spat, neither the man who spat is here, neither the man on whom you spat is here right now. When you have never made mistake, how can I forgive you even? He lifts him up, embraces him and teach him the Dhama of meditation and he crosses this bondage and becomes free. Simple things, when I say okay I forgive you, I make you culprit, where as you are not culprit, the stress in you has been a culprit. And when the stress is gone, whom to be forgiven? And it was the stress in one person, which thinks somebody is a mistake and some body has done a mistake, and who is the forgiver. And who is to be forgiven? Stress forgive the stress. When I am ride of stress, I see this only as a game, as a play , when there no winnig or losing or whatever in there, is just all a game, a play, it is not fight it is not war. It is fun, even play, we say I wom and I lost, but fun, there is no winning no losing; it is just a fun. ( Swastino.) Let me have that fun in life, the knowledge that I gain in life, let it always enter in me. Whith this thing Upanishad, a student comes sits near to learn more about his whole life, and then, mistery of his whole creation. This is the biggest question in the mind. What is life, why am I here, what is happening to me. What is this world, what is love, what is knowledge. All these enquiry, it is very fortunate that this inquiry comes up in your mind. And then it needs to be understood, it cannot be read in the books, but lived. Lived through so one sits, and under those, the transformation. That is health, you are transformed; and the bud becomes totally blossomed flower, sunflower, whatever. Bud it is blossoming.

(End)

BATHING WITH THE MANTRAS

All of us are singing “Om Namaha Shivaya” and “Radhe Govinda” now. Many people cannot fathom the meaning of these chants, yet they are able to experience something. Isn’t it? When we sing, there is an effect because of it. Meaning is not primary. It is not important either. It is a small thing. Whereas the waves of the words, the vibrations are very big and universal. We sing and fill ourself with the sound. As the body is nourished by food, the mind is nourished by emotions and the soul is nourished by meditation. Sound merges in meditation and ends in silence. This is very excellent.

We have this belief in India that the creation was created from the Vedas. Isn’t it? What is the source of the creation? Veda. Veda means Sound, music. The creation was supposed to have originated from the sound, from music. Space element pervades throughout the creation. The nature of space element is sound. There is 98% of space element in your body. Therefore, we use sound to create vibrations in space. Purification (Shuddhi) happens because of sound (Shabda). The words Shabda and shuddhi are closely related in Sanskrit. Shuddhi means becoming Shuddha or pure. When you meditate, if you chant ‘Om’ first and then meditate, it brings you closer to the divine.

Whatever yagna or sacrificial ceremony done, it is done in a multitude. When everybody join together and celebrate, that is yagna. What is yagna? Honouring. Wherever you honour each other, wherever you worship good qualities, wherever the divine qualities are worshipped that is yagna. “Deva pooja sangateekarana daaneshu”.

Sangateekarana means everybody moving together. Everybody having only one good emotion, love.

Daana is what you give to others. Deva pooja, sangateekarana and daana whenever all these three are done, that becomes yagna. We are doing yagna here. Isn’t it? Did you all praise each other and yourself? Everybody’s praise reaches the divine. What happens when we praise ourselves? Whoever praises us, it reaches the divine. When we are unable to praise ourself, then we have this desire of getting praised from others. Praising is a divine quality.

Sound purifies. When you chant the Veda or hear them, the meaning of what you hear, listening to, is not important. Just that sound purifies and creates harmonious vibrations. Few minutes of that is enough. There is no need to constantly read or chant them. It is like having bath. You only bathe for a few minutes. Isn’t it? Then you feel fresh for the whole day. When you bathe again in the evening, you feel fresh again. Those moments when you listen to the mantras, those moments when you sing bhajans are like having a beautiful internal bath. It is a very good thing to do.

We say that mantrasnaan should be done. i.e., we should bathe with the mantra. Many people are under the mistaken notion that they should keep chanting mantras as they are bathing. It is not that way. As we are sitting and chanting the mantras, mantrasnaan is happening internally. It feels like as though you have had a good bath. The mind becomes fresh and clearer by mantras. This is known as bathing with the mantras.

What is the first sign of a sadhak? Not indulging in self-blame. “I am not useful. I am no good”, if this sort of self blame arises then it is an obstruction to sadhana. Therefore, what is the first sign of a sadhak? Not indulging self-blame. Once we offer ourself then everything belongs to the divine. When you say that you are not alright, then whom are you saying is not alright? Then you are blaming God and saying that God is not alright. Stop self-blaming. Only then your practices will progress. When we tell you to praise yourself, we do not mean that you go to the road and begin to praise yourself! No.
Whatever happened in the past, let go of it. Whatever wrong happened, something was not right the other day, something wrong happened on some other day, leave all these and shake them off from you and go forward. There is a great need to do this.

The creative impulse

It is very important for us to probe into the source of thought. Often we are called great thinkers, but what is a thought? Where does it originate? Is there any way that we can improve the thought process?

Creativity is a hot subject today all over the world. We want to make people very creative. What are the mechanics to make people creative? Why does someone get a violent thought and why does someone get a creative thought? How can someone be a genius and someone not? What does this depend on? Is it the food, is it the exercise or does it depend on any other avenues or arenas?

But, we can create great thinkers. There is a question in front of us today and research is happening around the world about the very process of creativity. Great writers and thinkers have experienced the writer’s block. You would have sometimes experienced that. You sit with a paper and pen in a beautiful place, waiting for something to come... and many times they don’t!

What is the source of creativity? Thought is nothing but an impulse of energy and intelligence. That impulse of energy and intelligence, for it to arise and a correct thought to come, you need 16 impulses to meet at a point in the cerebral cortex at the speed of 10 to the power of minus 30 cycles per second. In that short interval of time, all the 16 impulses in the cerebral cortex, when they meet, is what we call a correct thought. What do we do about it? We need to train our brain, our mind.

Now, as you are reading this, are you fully with it? Now? 100 percent? No! As you are reading, you are having a dialogue in your own mind saying, ‘‘yes, I agree’’ or ‘‘no, that cannot be’’. Are you observing this? We all have a filter in our mind and we listen through this filter and we accept only that we already know. Something, which doesn’t already fall within our belief system, we straightaway filter them out. This tendency in the mind to take things which it already knows and reject that which it doesn’t know, is one of the main blocks of creativity.

The second aspect for creativity is imagination. You will see that every creative person has some imagination. At that moment you will not think whether that is real or not. What appears to be unreal and an imagination in that direction brings creativity. If it is only an imagination, totally disconnected with ground reality then also it falls short of that connection, that transformation, that unreal becomes real. Thomas Edison, once upon a time, dreamt of how to create light. It was purely an imagination.

Similarly, the telephone or plane — all these inventions happened through certain imagination and linking that imagination to the present creativity, present state of ground reality. If you are thinking only of the ground reality then no creativity will come and if you are only on imagination, then too there is no creativity. A balance is needed. See, life is also like that — a balance between our intellect and our heart, or feeling, or intuition. Listening to our gut feeling, developing that intuitive ability within us is another aspect of creativity.

So, when such blocks come into us, there is a way to eliminate them. How? To study our own seven layers of our existence. What are they? I call science as a study of ‘‘what is this’’ and spirituality as a study of ‘‘who am I?’’. They are not at loggerheads at all, they go hand in hand. So study about yourself, your seven layers of existence. What are they? The body, the breath — are you all breathing now? See, many times we are not even aware that we are breathing. That something, which keeps our body alive, we don’t care to look into it. Our breath has great secrets to offer.

Then comes the mind. Mind is perception, observation and expression. Then is the intellect — the judgement, the arguments, the agreement or disagreement that happens within us is all part of our intellect. The memory — if you observe the memory, it stores the memory of unpleasant things much more than the pleasant. We take the insults and preserve it in our memory much more than the pleasant events. This is the nature of memory.

Then comes the ego — the more we study, the more learned we become; we become so stiff. We lose our smile, we lose our innocence, we lose our friendliness. Learned people get a sort of an ego — that I am much better than the other, more learned, I know better than them — this ego of ‘‘I know better’’ takes away certain beautiful things from your life.

One should have a sense of belongingness with everybody, naturalness. Ego dampens one’s personality. Today, what we lack is really good examples of personality. Knowledge is there in all the libraries — but what the books cannot transmit is the personal charisma, the vibration a person emits. The friendly and warm atmosphere a person carries along with him/her.

The seventh layer is the self. Self is that something that is the reference point of all changes in life. We notice that everything is changing in our life — our body, our mind, our thought, our environment, and our behavior. If everything is changing then how do we know the change? Because there is a reference point, something that doesn’t change, we are able to notice the change. And this reference point, the non-changing something that is in every one of us, I would call the Self. The scriptures would call it atman.

A little bit of knowledge about these seven layers of existence makes a big, big difference in our lives. It brings cheer, freshness, and we become so alive and childlike. If you are cheerful, you will be creative. Otherwise you are so dull. The youth of today don’t want to study more. Why? Because they see the people who are well read, and have become great achievers in the field of literacy, science, they don’t see joy in them, they don’t see them as an example, and they don’t see a warm, friendly environment atmosphere around them. So, I see many youth turn their face away from going into higher studies. This is the situation all over the world today.

We need to bring a scientific philosophy in the youth — and practical philosophy, which is not in the books but shines out in our own personality. In our country what we have really destroyed is the self-esteem in our people. Village boys and girls have zero self-esteem. This is because we have constantly, in many ways, directly or indirectly, consciously or unconsciously, drilled into them the idea that they are no good. Wear a pant, shirt, jeans, modern dress, only then you are good, otherwise you are no good — you are much less.

This idea we have been bombarding into their life through the media, through various means. I was telling the director of Doordarshan that we have Hindi newsreaders in a tie and suit — how does a villager relate to this? They think that only if I dress like this will I get respect. We don’t have to copy everything. If you see, our news reading is a copy of BBC or CNN.

We need to bring in creative ideas. We should empower our village youth — bring them self-esteem. Without self-esteem there will be no creativity, without creativity there will be unemployment. The cause of unemployment in the country today is lack of initiative, entrepreneurship and all this is based on low self-esteem. So we need to bring self-esteem in our children.

The Gita and it's Relevance to the Present Day

“There are two types of people in the world – those who are passive and those who are aggressive. Aggressive people do not achieve much! For that matter, passive people also do not achieve much! It is easier to be aggressive or passive.

This has been happening in our country… There are people who are very passive - who don’t do anything, who don’t get involved in anything… and there are people who are very aggressive – they do anything (legal, illegal, right, wrong) to achieve whatever they want. Sooner or later, both find their hands empty… both feel failure.

What is the Gita about? Is it passive or does it instigate one to be aggressive?

– Neither of the two!

The Gita says, ‘Dynamism with calmness’!

Dynamism with calmness is worth having in our life. That serenity, which is pro-active, is what is needed – is what would be the right solution to any problem. Today’s relevance of the Gita, is like its relevance in every other day – in every time, where it has been very relevant: Bringing with serenity, that focus – that dynamism, in a person… ‘Yogastha kuru karmani… samatavam yoga uchhate…’

People often think that to do ‘yoga’, one has to go to the Himalayas or some such place! The ‘Vedas’… ‘Yoga’ (all 18 ‘yogas’) has been taught right in the middle of a war, in a war-field! ‘Yoga’ is ‘the essential union with the Self’ – it is essential to live life in the world…

You know, the term ‘yogyata’ (qualification) comes from ‘yoga’. ‘When the union with the Being happens deep inside, then you are qualified to be a human being’… To do any job, any function, you need to be integrated with it… You need to be focused… You need to be free from disease… You need to be aware of what is happening around you…

Just watch your breath… How is your breath?

– The more ambitions, the more frustrations, you have, the more hot and quivering, your breath is. There is feverishness in the breath. When the feverishness, the quiver, in the breath calms down, the breath becomes steady and cool. Then the mind also changes.

Food changes the mind. A breath changes the mind. Your thought pattern (thinking, emotion, everything) changes your behaviour, your outlook towards life. That is why Krishna dealt with – ‘ahara’, ‘ahara-shuddhi’, ‘sattvaa-shuddhi’, ‘sattvaa’, ‘rajas’, ‘tamas’ (the three ‘Gunas’) – in length, in the Gita.

One could say: ‘It is so irrelevant! In the war-field, it is okay that Krishna told Arjuna to wake up and fight, but what is the relevance of talking about ‘sattvaa’, ‘rajas’ and ‘tamas’ right there?’

It has perfect relevance!

– Often mothers complain: ‘My child is very aggressive!’

… What food have you fed him? If you give him too much ‘sweet’… or food that is fried too much – too late in the night, then his sleep is not deep enough and he will wake up in the morning, frustrated and aggressive.

Ayurveda says that when food remains in the stomach, indigestion happens and this creates ‘ama’ - which harbours bacteria.

The ‘Shastras’ say that if your burp tastes sour, as soon as you get up early in the morning, it is a ‘sin’ for this indicates indigestion – that ‘ama’ has collected in the body… and hence sooner or later, this is going to affect your brain, your thinking! You are going to see everything in a negative light. So someone comes to greet you, when they’ve got a promotion or won a lottery and you will immediately say: ‘Look! They have come to show off!’ A good gesture is interpreted wrongly!

Why?

– Because your thinking process has been affected….

… And how did it get affected?

– Bad food!

The Jain ‘dharma’ (faith) has done a lot of research on food – what to eat, how to eat, which food will create ‘ahimsa’ (non-violence), which food will create ‘himsa’ (violence)… So ‘ahara’ and ‘vyavahara’ (behaviour/ attitude) are connected! Thus do not eat too late in the night… and drink plenty of water in the morning.

So the Gita tells us about food… ‘Pranapana samayukta…’… and also about breath and ‘pranayama’. If the mind is aggressive, do some ‘pranayama’… and the mind calms down… A few ‘ujjai’ breaths… and many mental illnesses will calm down – aggressiveness calms down.

‘Yoga’ brings deep silence within and ‘karma’ yoga brings dynamism – activity. Taking responsibility, is what is needed, in society today – ‘karma’ yoga! ‘Karma’ yoga is ‘doing work with total responsibility’. A person can do the same job in either ‘karma’ yoga or ‘ayogya’ ‘style’. For e.g., a teacher can be a ‘karma yogi’ teacher when she/he takes interest in the children; but if the teacher’s interest is only in the salary that she/he is going to get on the 1st. of every month, then she/he is not a ‘karma yogi’ teacher. Similarly, you can be a ‘karma yogi’ father or mother. A ‘karma yogi’ father really takes interest; he looks at the mind of his child – in what direction his son/daughter is going, what his/her interests are… while, one who is not looking to the interests of his child is ‘akarma yogi’. He is just bothered about leaving some money to his child if he/she is not doing well… or getting his child a seat in a medical college through a bribe because he is ‘ayogya’.

Every job can be done with total responsibility. That is the relevance of the Gita today.

A ‘karma yogi’ will get ‘siddhi’… ‘Siddhir labhate…’

Are you all here? (A few people in the audience say, ‘Yes!’) Listen! Just a few are saying, ‘Yes!’ (The audience greet this with a much louder ‘YES!’ and peals of laughter!) There is, what is called, the ‘Attention Deficiency Syndrome’ – where one cannot listen for more than ten minutes! Though you are sitting with all the willingness to listen, your mind will slowly escape to the back exit!

How does one bring that mind back again and again?

Arjuna had the same problem… ‘Manodud nigrahann…’ – the mind is very difficult to control… Krishna said, ‘Skilfully bring the mind back!’ Wherever the mind goes, skilfully bring it back from there! Don’t fight with the mind! It’s just like bringing your children back to your home! You know, if you say to your student or a teenage boy or girl – ‘Don’t do this!’ – they will rebel! Your mind is a ‘teenage child’ that you are carrying around with you and it does not mature! It does not want to do anything you tell it to do! So how do you bring it back home?

– Skilfully!

If you read the Gita from beginning to end, you will see that there are so many contradictions! Krishna could not convince Arjuna, but he could definitely confuse him by putting very different logic everywhere! People have tried to bring ‘samanvaya’ – i.e. they have tried to eliminate the contradiction – BUT – I tell you, my view is different! You should not eliminate contradictions! Truth can be revealed only in contradiction! Truth is always contradictory! For e.g., to go to a particular place, you can say: ‘Go right and turn left’… or ‘Go right and turn right’. This is ‘spherical thinking’ - the greatest gift to the world of theology or philosophy. It does not exist in any other part of the world! For e.g., the whole world is in confusion, wondering, ‘If God is all-pervading, then where does Satan fit in?’ You cannot ‘keep’ Satan… for if you do, then God is not omnipresent! Isn’t it? On the other hand, if God is omnipresent and omnipotent, then how could He get angry? God is also capable of doing what he wants to do!

The biggest confusion took place with ‘Satan’ because we have not looked into ‘spherical thinking’. We always think about ‘linear thinking’ – i.e. something should begin somewhere and end somewhere!

Our ‘Vedanta’, though ancient, has thrown the new light of spherical thinking on the world – that ‘this’ could be right… and ‘that’ could also be right! ‘Go straight and turn left’ is as much correct as ‘Go straight and turn right’ is… because they both come from different points…

Similarly in the Gita, Krishna, as a friend, never said to Arjuna, ‘First you surrender to me… and then I will tell you.’ No!

He simply said, ‘You are my friend. You are so dear to me! I love you so much!’

‘Bhagavan’ (God) first said, ‘I love you so much!’ to the ‘bhakta’ (devotee). It was only when the ‘bhakta’ realized – ‘‘Bhagavan’ loves me so much!’ – that his love started blossoming!

We often think that it’s the other way around – ‘When I show so much ‘bhakti’ (devotion), maybe God will love me also!’ No! One who has, will give. God, the Divine, is the Source of Love! Only he can love you first. Unconditional Love.

So in the beginning, Arjuna was told, ‘Come on! What will people think of you? Are you not ashamed?’ … What is Krishna doing?

– He is trying to ‘poke’ Arjuna’s ego! He is trying to consolidate his ego.

There are TWO things:

The person’s ego is broken… He saw all that ‘yuddha’ (war) and ‘hridaya daurlabhya’ (weakness of heart)… and he broke down. When a person breaks down, his ego is shattered. He is not aware of the ego.

The first thing Krishna says is, ‘Are you not ashamed? You are a ‘yodha’ (warrior)!’ What is Krishna doing?

– He is trying to awaken Arjuna’s ego! It is so interesting! In the beginning, Krishna tries to poke Arjuna’s ego – to awaken his ego, strengthen his ego…

However, in the end Krishna says, ‘You surrender that ego to me!’ It had a role to play… Ego is like the covering – the membrane on a seed! It is necessary as long as the seed wants to remain a seed! The moment the seed starts sprouting, that covering has to give way for the sprout to grow. It has to let go…

The point that comes through this knowledge is that ultimately the ego is made to dissolve. In the beginning, though, Arjuna’s ego needed to be strengthened… His valour had to be awakened….”

For a man ego is very important. If you destroy the ego of a man he is destroyed. For a woman feeling is very important. If you destroy feelings -bhavana- in a woman she is destroyed; she becomes like a stone. in a family couple must remember this. A wife should never put down ego of a man; always pump his ego. All that man wants to show is: look, what I have achieved, what I
have done. Behind all achievement is a ego. So woman will have to support the ego of a man. Three Ahankaras are there: satvik, rajasik & tamasik. We are talking about satvik ahankara. Similarly, man should not criticize woman's parents or brothers or anyone close to her - her immediate close family. That's it! it will hurt her, she may just take it- she may not react, but you are doing some harm there. Because a woman, a girl is proud of her parental house, she has such a strong and deep bond to her parental house. What do you say? correct? All ladies sitting here? [applaud]. No woman tolerates her husband criticizing her brother/father/sisters. She wants them to be honored, respected. She is emotionally linked. Similarly no man would like his wife to say []..'you didn’t do better, see my brother did better'. No man would like to tolerate that. In the very beginning Arjuna's ego was worked, a shame was bought on him. Because velour wakes up when you are made aware. 'Look, aren't you ashamed?', ego gets kindled, like in the fire. When you blow & kindle the fire. Like that ego was dumped by the feelings & worked by Krishna and then to attend to knowledge. It was not just 'josh'. To do anything you need 'hosh'. To do anything destructive you only need 'josh'. When we needed to gain freedom josh was necessary.

Mahatma Gandhi traveled throughout the country, Subhash Chandra Bose traveled throughout the country to invoke josh in people. Tod-pod karo- break this & that in josh. But even today we are continuing with josh. So create the hosh also - the awareness. See, everything around you is changing. A person will stop weeping when josh is created - velour is created. Then [] will not look [how] weak or strong one is. A weakest person will fight when his velour is invoked - his ego is invoked. But that is not enough, hosh [needs] to be created. Look around -everything is changing -whole world is changing. Do you accept this: your body is changing, mind is changing, thoughts- emotions are changing, everybody around you is changing. Any fool can say this. But how do you notice the change? Because there is something that is not changing. The non-changing in you is dormant; changing in you is dominant. Observe the change -the dominant change, you get a glimpse of that something that is not changing. "...here goes another shloka..." To stay in that non-changing aspect in you is 'abhyasa'. Everyday wake up in the morning and see what is the state of your mind and observe the state of your mind before you go to bed. Is there a difference? there is truth [...?] not changing aspect throughout the day. You are sitting here, suppose time freezes. Are you ready to sit here for 100 years? if you have to sit here for a millennium - 1000 years? if you are attentive you will notice it. Time stops - Are you getting it? [He looks at everyone with those penetrating, twinkling eyes! oops!] Can you stop & be just like this? Let us say this moment the world vanishes. Can you take it? Everything freezes - we are going to be frozen for 1000 years. Are you all with me? Now....Now......Now Where are you running? Where is your mind running What is it after? [Now his voice is much deep & powerful!] Position? Money? Power? What is it after? Do you know the final goal of where you are going to
go? What is going to happen to you finally? Can you see this? Can this be your final moment? Suppose this is the last moment in your life - What is happening now?

If you listen from your heart you will understand. [he taps his fingers] this can be the last moment, Are you getting? ..Are you getting? if you listen from your head you will keep thinking - Whatever I am saying your mind is judging -oh! 'yes', 'no'..'I have heard this lecture. Listen from your heart, feel every moment. Mind is changing, thoughts are changing, everything is changing! Why we are not aware that we are going to die? The very knowledge that you are going to die will create 'hosh' in you. When all the superimposition we have put on ourselves, all that artificial role that we have taken to ourselves will all simply fall off. Are you with me ? [some say yes] Stop the time, mind stops! Stop the mind, time stops! Time & mind are synonymous, they are together.

That is why Bhagavan in Gita says : "[Kalatyoti]........krit pravartau" "I am the time in which everything dissolves & everything comes up" Practical Gita! "I am this time" Which is this time? -where something dissolves, something comes up. Which is this time? Now...Now...Now.... Don't have to write, sometimes we just dump it in the drawer, we don't absorb! When something is related to your life you don't need to refer to your dairy. I tell you. Only if you are a journalist, you will have to refer to your dairy. If an instant happened – good or bad - a journalist goes there & writes down and he does not know what he has written 2 hours ago. But you ask a surpunch- he may not know how to read & write, but even after 10 years he will tell you because it is connected with surpunch's life. Journalists can not remember. Similarly, Gita is our life! "I am the time; wherein everything dissolves and comes up". Everything, -the world dissolves, it can happen right in this moment. That is "Krishna Tatva". To know Gita, you have to know "Krishna Tatva". It is not just a figure, it is not a body. "....[another shloka..]" Krishna said it was his problem then also! ["then also"..do you get it?

HE has that problem now also?..who is HE] People think I am just a human being. They confuse me with the human body. I am not the human body; I am the principle. "Param bhavam.......mama bhoota maheshwar" Now, Now, Now...[He whispers] Where is that bhava? so beautifully everything has been said. You and the Sun are made up of the same substance. have you ever felt that you are part of the Sun? anytime? Anybody here felt you are part of the Sun? No? [someone says yes] Yes? that is it! Wake up and see - you & Sun are made up of same substance. If there is no Sun, there is no you. the basis of your existence is Sun! Similarly, 60% of your body is all fluid, water element. Ninety percent is space element, 98% let's say of your body is space element and the remaining 2%, in that 60% is water. If you look at a piece of your skin under the microscope, it is like a mosquito net. Whole body, whole structure, what we call body is changing! It is a part of earth. have you felt this earth & me are one? Do you know why people used to wear vibhooti (=ashes) on the skin, forehead? Do you know the science behind that? How many of you know? Rise your hands. Why vibhooti? Just to remind you that the skin is going to be ashes! it is only a matter of time. So whatever you see, whenever you want to do something wrong, vibhooti reminds you 'Hey! my dear, you are going to be ashes!' The memory of our end, our death brings wisdom in our life, that is Vairagya! vairagya simply means I am not going to be here for ever; this body is not going to be here forever; this body is going to perish. Abhyasa & vairagya these may come to the understanding of "I am immortal, nothing is going to touch me, come what may!" Now....Now......Now.. This moment, this moment is so alive; our body is floating in an ocean of consciousness. Take a revision of your own life; how many years since you went to school/college; you did this -you did that; all those good things you enjoyed - all those bad things you did- all that drama you did- all those worries....What has happened? Is it not a dream? All gone, finished! Now you are here. You will go away in one hour from here - then tomorrow – another day. like that another 20 years will pass & that's it, finished! Some may not even live up to 20 years; some may live another 40 years. Can you watch the flow of time? Look at those babies you were carrying in your arms- your shoulders; today they have become big & they have children. Are you seeing your own life? phenomenon around you -with this witness? Are you getting what I am saying? Can you watch the flow of time? events in your life time? that is 'Sakshi'! You don't need to leave your homes & run to Himalayas.

Just wake up one morning and look everything is changing. Time is flying. Time & mind are synonymous, as I said. When you have too much to do, you feel time is short. When you have nothing to do, you feel it is boring. The time 7 mind relationship is very interesting. Relevance of Gita is observing the flow of events in your life. This is 'Manthana'.

A few minutes everyday feel your connection with nature; tree is part of me, Sun is part of me. The most misunderstood part of Gita is when Krishna says I am this, I am among the Pandavas, I am Arjuna...This is not just intellectual knowledge; It is an experiential reality! Experience come after jnana yoga, karma yoga. Either by meditation you know that everything is changing or just wake up & see on your own that everything is changing i.e., through Viveka or vairagya. So Arjuna was led step-by-step by Krishna like a friend, and finally he does not become authoritative; Krishna never said you must do this - do that. He was an example of a Perfect Guru. What is it? "Look, I have told you whatever I need to tell; Now it is up to you if you want to do it; I am not imposing my idea on you; you are my dearest freind."So, 'I have told you whatever I know; it is up to you' That is how the ego was slowly brought up & made to mature.

You know when a junior comes and tells you what is correct often seniors don't accept it. But if the junior acts little skillfully and says ' I feel this way, but you know it better, you are the best judge', he pumps up your ego. 'Sir, aap sab jante hain...you know best'. then you will accept, 'yes I agree with you, yes, bring it'. But if someone says you are wrong, immediately you put a resistance. Why intellectual person don't see beyond this? He becomes a machine of such behavior pattern. We want ourselves to be praised or appreciated all the time. If someone doesn't praise you can you still accept them? lift them up? You will do it when you know you are much more powerful than a small event; when there is no insecurity in you. "Ishwara sarva bhooteshu....." When this is well digested in our system then there is no insecurity whatsoever can occur in our life; your dealings with your juniors will completely change. it will take him by surprise. You don't need to behave like a machine all the time. We should sometimes change our behavior. When someone praises have you ever scolded them? just do it once & see. If someone brings flowers to you have you ever scolded them -' come on, why did you bring it? get lost'! Similarly if someone gives a derogatory remark have you received them with a smile. 'oh! wonderful, thank you very much, come let's have some sweets today', have you ever done it? Coming out of pattern is essential. Only with contradiction it can happen. You have to go step-by-step, this is the 18th step & finally it says " Sarva dharme...." why do you have to announce it in 1800 shlokas? why couldn't it be said in the very first shloka? Guru's role is not ordering people to do something, but take them step-by-step, understanding where they are & help them move step-by-step; not to tell them 'everything is Brahman' on the very first day itself. You will just hear, nothing will get into the head, you don't experience anything; life remains as it is. people complain ' so many years I am doing satsang, no experience, life is not changing'. How is it possible? I don't understand. Even if a drop of knowledge he has taken in life, transformation is eminent; has to happen!

Breath of life

The world would be free from trouble if there is no love! All the problem in the world is caused by love! So also all the joy, pleasure and the very purpose in life. Do you see what I’m saying? Suppose there is no love, you can’t be jealous; jealousy is because of love. Greed is because you love objects too much. Anger is because you love perfection, that is why you are angry at imperfections. You love yourself too much and that’s why pride and arrogance comes to you. Isn’t it?

So, every distortion of love causes problems not only for ourselves, but for everybody. Even though this is the case, without love what is there in life? Just imagine there’s nobody who loves you on this planet, and you don’t love anybody. Does life have any meaning, any purpose? It appears absolutely depressing, boring, uninteresting, isn’t it so? But, how do we get to that point of love where that love is free from the distortions and we are able to be at ease with ourself?

This is where a little knowledge about ourself, about our mind, our consciousness, and the root of distortion will help. It is when you are tired and exhausted that you are not in touch with your virtues. Every individual is bestowed with all the virtues in the world. They simply get covered by lack of understanding. All that is needed is to just to uncover the virtues that are already there.

Never should we think, ‘‘Oh, deep inside me there is sorrow’’. I say it’s only skin deep, go a little deeper there is no sorrow. You cannot have hurt deep inside you, that only means you have not gone deep enough. That’s why we are unable to forgive somebody because we think that person has caused us hurt. Right? But if you look at the person from a different perspective, that person himself is also a victim of ignorance, small mindedness, lack of awareness. So, inside every culprit there is a victim crying for help. If we can recognise that we don’t need to forgive them, we will feel compassion for them.

When we are happy, something in us is expanding, have you noticed it? And when we are upset, something in us is being crushed, a sense of contraction is felt. Just knowing this brings freedom to us. Then our mind or our consciousness no more becomes a puppet of anybody’s words, opinions or their sayings. It becomes free. We are unconditionally happy.

Each of us should reach out to everyone and say, ‘‘Hey, come on, just be friendly!’’. Do you know that a child smiles 400 times a day, an adolescent only 17 times, and an adult doesn’t smile at all. And that too, if he becomes a little successful, he becomes much more stiff. I can’t understand this! To me, someone who has no fear, who feels at home with everybody and has a smile which no one can take away is a successful person.

From today, make one resolution — that you are going to be a guiding lamp for the world, for the people around you. Wherever you go, you are going to uplift the atmosphere. If someone comes to you with complaints they should go back with a lighter heart, feeling more enthusiastic. Can you all do this?

So, learning something about our breath is very important. Our breath has a great lesson to teach us, which we have forgotten, for every rhythm in the mind, there is a corresponding rhythm in the breath, for every rhythm in the breath there is a corresponding emotion. So, when you cannot handle your mind directly, through breath you can handle the mind.

Neither at school nor at home does anybody teach you what to do when you are upset or angry or depressed. Isn’t that so? The first thing we did when we came to this planet is that we took a deep breath in and then we started to cry. The last thing we’ll be doing, we’ll breathe out and make others cry! In between, the whole life, we are breathing in and out, but, we have learnt very little about our breath! No breath, no life... know breath, know life! The rhythm in breath can help us get in touch with the depth of ourself, our soul, our consciousness, our being and we feel connected with everybody, with everything in the world.

I am sure that deep within you, everyone of you feel that you have not grown, meaning you have not changed, not grown old. This indicates the soul in you, the depth in you, the spirit in you doesn’t change, doesn’t grow old, it’s not aging. The body is aging but something in you is not aging. Getting in touch with that something that doesn’t age, brings beauty in life. That is meditation.

We need to learn a little bit about our breath. We need to know a little bit about all the layers of our existence, viz body, breath, mind, intellect, memory, ego and the self. This is what I call Art of Living, learning a little bit about ourself, the seven layers of our life. And that makes you be in the present moment and it helps us to maintain the innocence that we are all born with, and feel at home with everybody, anywhere.

What I would suggest is take one week off every year for yourself, like you take your car for servicing. During that time, align yourself with nature, wake up with the sunrise, do some exercise, eat proper food, just as much food as necessary, some exercises, yoga, and some breathing exercises, a few minutes of singing, and keeping silence, enjoying the creation. Aligning ourself with nature, our whole system gets recharged, makes the whole year, we feel so vibrant, enthusiastic.