Friday, February 27, 2009

Evergreen, the Guruji Version:

Love...... as long as my Guru's HairSri Sri, you're fresh as the morning air.
One Love, that is shared by Guru,I have found in YOU!
Like a Rose, under the April snow,I was always certain Love would grow.
Love, ageless and evergreen, seldom seen by two.
Guru and I will make each night a first,and everyday a beginning.
Our Spirits Rise, and their dance is unrehearsed,YOU warm and excite us, cuz' YOU are the Brightest LOVE!
Two lights that shine as one,Morning Glory and Midnight Sun.
Love.....Straight from My Guru's HeartLove.....
that has no end or start.....ONE LOVE...AGELESS and EVER......Ever......Greeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen

Thursday, February 26, 2009

About so many religions !

Q: Why are there so many religions? Does it mean that the newest is the best?
Sri Sri: There are many religions, but one truth. Why don’t you ask me why there are so many types of vegetables & flowers? Don’t think that the latest religion is the best. Oldest is as good as new. In fact, in Vedic Hindu Sanatan, it’s a way of life. They accept all. What happened thousands of years ago, people heard & what they heard became Vedas. So, 1,000 Rishis,whatever they heard & compiled all became Vedas. Vedas have all the latest Knowlegde in it. You know, the Rishi who came to Bali, was Markandeya Rishi.
All Balinese are descendants of Markandeya Rishi. There is a beautiful story about Markandeya. His parents prayed to God to get a son for them- a good , bright, brilliant son, they got a dream that God asks them what type of son you want?Very bright, intelligent, but his like will be only 16 years. Or you want a bad, ruthless, disobedient son whose life will be 100 years- you choose.Parents, even though 16 years lifetime said we want a good son. So the parents were worried. He was such a brilliant boy. On the 16th birthday, they were nervous. The boy prayed to Lord Shiva. When he was about to be taken away by the God of Death, Shiva came & said, “No, you will live longer.”
So,devotion, prayer could change laws of Karma. So this is when the Mahamrityunjaya mantra was chanted by Markandeya which is very famous even today. There are lots of stories with Markandeya.
There is a whole Purana. So, after several years in India, he came out to Indonesia & settled in Bali. That’s the story. More than 10,000 years ago. He was even before Sri Rama who was 7,000 years ago. Sri Krishna was 5,000 years ago. Markandeya also wrote the “Durga Saptasati” In India, Chandi, Durga chanting is all written by Markandeya.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Guruji and his answers ............

Q: What do you look for in your followers? Does wearing white bring us closer to you?
G: I expect a smile in anyone who has done Art of Living. Confidence that never whithers away. Smile that never wanes. You don’t have to wear white clothes. You can wear coloured clothes or I would have ordered uniforms for everybody. It looks colourful.
Q: What is Self?
G: Self is not an object. Self is space, it is energy.
Q: If everything is God, what is your opinion about yesterday’s bomb blast.
G: These are man-made calamities. God is all goodness. When a person moves away form God, then all this happens. Everybody has something to do. If miracles could stop violence, it would have. The Mahabharata war would have stopped, but it didn’t.
Q: Guruji, what is the purpose of life?
G: To realize the highest truth. To know who you really are. When we all die, 2 questions will come in front of us. How much love you have given in the world & how much Knowledge you have taken.
Q: How to get rid of bad thoughts?
G: Proper food & pranayama.
Q: Guruji, is it okay to have more than one spiritual teacher?
G: Respect everybody but walk on one path.

Friday, February 20, 2009

FIVEFOLD SERVICE TO THE PEOPLE

Witty, Guruji does not take offence even to the most offensive questions or when somebody took him lightly.
A chit in the question box said: "Can I recommend to you a good barber?"
Spontaneously Ravishankarji pointed to his flowing tresses and beard and smiled: "I don't need a barber, because my hair is not entangled. Hair is like thoughts. Neither my hair nor my thoughts are entangled, because I have the comb of knowledge."
The audience broke out into an appreciative applause.
He has a unique combination of wit and wisdom, of seriousness and frolic.

Much later I learned that this is the Art of Living: to accept creation in its totality.
Sri Sri Ravishankar's mission for the future is the 5H Program.
This means health, hygiene, housing, harmony in diversity and human values.
The aim: to bring about a social transformation so that the complete potential of each individual is expressed. Ravishankar personally supervises this program. He is also a founder member of the International Association for Human Values, a nonprofit educational organization committed to nurturing human values in society.
For this purpose, he has a network of highly motivated, well-trained personnel. The Youth Training Program (YTP) is perhaps the most ambitious program to educate the rural community.
There are specially trained yuvacharyas (young teachers) for it. Most are volunteers, inspired by Ravishankar to do service where it is most needed. Sarvodaya Vidyalayas have already been started in some rural areas and more are being set up in tribal areas. Another charitable trust, Sri Sri Vidya Mandir, has also been founded to spread education. Besides education, other activities include distribution of clothes to the poor, setting up medical camps, formation of local cooperative groups, and even creating sanitation facilities.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Some more interesting answers by Guruji

Q: Which is better chanting or yoga?
G: Yoga gives you depth. Without that cleansing, just chanting is superficial.It’s like asking while watching T.V. should I first see or first hear?
Q: Why do you name your program Art of Living? Why not Art & Science of Living?
G: I didn’t give that name. It all just spontaneously happened. Someone said…. & someone came up with the symbol of the 2 swans & sun. Doesn’t matter. As long as you appreciate it becomes an art. As long as you understand it is science.
Q: Guruji, for the first time I have seen my mind chattering & I am really fed-up. Seeing all this, I got a headache. It is so irritating. Can I ever be peaceful? I just want to be blank.
G: If a particular thought is there, let it be there. Mind is like fire. Anything you put in fire, it just dissolves, purifies.
Q: I swear & curse a lot. Please talk about the power of words.
G: Often you are not sensitive to others. So we behave in ways & are very rude. Sometimes you hurt someone. The more you go in silence & meditation, you realise the power of words & how you can use it only in the positive sense. It just becomes your nature. Bad words simply can’t come out. At the most I have said stupid. I have never said a bad word to anybody, It would not come. Not even in school & college days. As you move on the path of Knowledge, they simply disappear from the vocabulary.
Q: Do you exist in more than one place at a time?
G: Yes.
Q: I am not able to find happiness in anything. Everything seems so pointless.I feel low.
G: Feel you are here for me. I have a lot of work to do on this planet before we all depart. Think that in your mind. Help me out.
Q: Keep me on this path forever. Last month I had a problem….
G: Once you come, there is no return from here. There is only 1-way traffic.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Some very intersesting answers from Guruji !

Q: Does the memory store more of negative? I don’t remember what I study for exams but remember the insults I get.
G: It isn’t only the mind. That is why you should meditate. It gives you a different orientation.
Q: How to become Arjuna?
G: Arjuna means seeker of Knowledge. The fact that you are asking, you have already become one.
Q: I have no desire. My only desire is to go on a world tour with you. Is it possible & if yes in this lifetime?
G: Yes, yes. You can carry my asana & black bag.
Q: Can you please talk about patience.
G: Yes, later, Can you hold on for few minutes?
Q: Somebody has been crying during meditation. That has been bothering me the whole day. There is so much worry in the world. Why doesn’t everybody join Art of Living?
G: You have to do something about it. I have to do everything? You tell your friends. Bring them to the course. Don’t explain them too much.
Q: Is there such a thing as soul mates?
G: Well, I have no idea. One thing I know, you should first meet your soul. If you haven’t met your soul, I don’t think you will even recognize your soul mate.
Q: Can thoughts be classified as positive & negative?
G: You don’t need to classify. Even if you classify, it doesn’t matter.
Q: Dear Guruji, how to explain a teenager why they shouldn’t drink alcohol or taste once to know.
G: teenage is a very impressionable age. If one gets addicted to something,it’s very difficult to get rid of it. It’s good to have a sense of aversion. Certain aversions help you like a shield; especially teenage & early 20’s. After you’re 30 it’s a different story. Create that sense of aversion towards violence, towards killing, torturing animals, tobacco & alcohol. No need for everyone to taste tobacco or experience drugs. Certain experiences can damage the nervous system.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Role of Grace

Q: If everything in your life is as per Karma what is the role of Grace?
Guruji: Grace reduces true effect of bad Karma & raise the effect of good Karma.
Parents went to an astrologer. He told them their son will be a great leader. Many cars will move around him. The son become a traffic policeman! So the law is fulfilled, but good Karma remained very little. Atleast he got a job, he was not unemployed.
If there is a Karma that a stone hits your head, it didn’t hit, but took your cap or turban away. That which came to the head, came to the turban. Still the law gets fulfilled.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Food also plays an important role

Food also plays an important role.
Should not eat too much fried food.
Drink more water.
First thing in the morning drink half a litre- 500 ml. to 1 litre, upto 11/2 litres of water on an empty stomach.
Either warm or cold. It will keep you healthy, prevent diabetes, kidney problem, improve circulation.
Water has a lot of benefit. You must all drink. Morning bed tea- no good. No bed tea. First thing- water. It can have some lemon & ginger.
After half an hour of water then you can drink your tea.
Secondly, according to Ayurveda, hold your hand like a cup. Don’t ask me there is no upper limit! Your stomach can hold this much. Okay?
Now avoid fried food, deep fried foods- no good. Once a month is okay. Not everyday. See how much fried food you use everyday- no good.
Vegetarian food is best. Today world over people are saying we should turn to vegetarianism. That can keep you very healthy & strong.
Q: Why not to have garlic & onion?
Guruji: Garlic & onion make you little dull. Creates tamogun. For meditators it’s not very good. For gastric problem- garlic, for heart problem- onion. But as a regular diet, take everyday I would not advise. It makes consciousness dull.
This universe is filled with Prana, life energy. If you area good meditator, nothing can make you unhappy. Even if you are unhappy, it immediately gets removed.
Question: On migraine problem.
Guruji: Alternate nostril pranayama will help in migraine. Plenty of water & meditation. So many people have gotten over it.
If your stomach is clear, everything is better. Triphala cleanses your system. 3 tablets with warm water or milk at night for 1-2 months. Your system becomes very clean.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Why are we imperfect?


Q: Why are we imperfect?

Sri Sri: So that we can grow to perfection. Life is a movement from imperfection to perfection. A seed contains the tree, but to become a tree it must cease to be a seed. In life you can either see imperfection at every step, or you can see a movement from one perfection to another perfection.Wherever you put your attention, that will grow. If you put your attention on the lack of something, the lack will increase.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

If you want to get away from the daily grind and spend a few hours in absolute quietude, here comes the perfect opportunity.
Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will be in Ranchi this month to conduct meditation camps. The four-day tour will begin on February 17.
Media-in-charge of the programme Ajoy Mukherjee said Sri Sri Ravi Shankar would reach Ranchi in the evening of February 17 from Durgapur.
A stasang (prayer meeting) will be held at Morabadi grounds in the same evening.
The meditation camps will be organised at the same venue on February 18, 19, and 20. The timings of the camps will be from 6am to 8am.
The founder of Art of living will also visit the Birsa Munda Central Jail to meet the inmates.
In fact, the Jharkhand government has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Art of Living Foundation for conducting free yoga and meditation sessions at the prisons.
So far, 500 inmates from Ranchi, 212 from Dhanbad, 200 from Latehar, 110 from Daltonganj, 55 from Garhwa, 198 from Hazaribagh, 41 from Giridih, 70 from Jamshedpur and 53 from Jamtara prisoners have attended the sessions. The inmates have been immensely benefited by the course.
This apart, the Art of Living Foundation is also running schools in Gumla, Khunti and Ghatshila, where children are being given imparted free education.
The foundation has also carried out plantation work in different parts of the state and is running several other schemes for the welfare of children and youths.
“These schools are known as Sri Sri Vidya Mandir and are affiliated to Jharkhand Academic Council. The expenses incurred on running these schools are borne by our trust,” Mukherjee added.
He said the art excel course aims at bringing out hidden talents among children in the age group of 6 to 14 while the youth empowerment seminar course helps curb the use of tobacco and other intoxicants by youths.
These seminars also enable the youths get rid of psychological stress and inferiority complex.
In Ranchi, the youth empowerment seminar course has been conducted at Vikas Vidyalaya, Ursuline Convent and St Anne’s Girls’ High School.
Over 1,000 students participated in it. This course is also been run in other parts of the state, benefiting over 200 children.

Monday, February 2, 2009

In the Solitude of the Self

Buddha is not on the peak, rather the peak is beneath Buddha. One who goes up to the peak comes down, but the peak seeks the one who is stationed higher, in the inner space. Shiva is called Chandrashekhara, which means the mind that is in Shiva (transcendence) and is always above the peak. People run after parties and celebrations, but for the one who does not run after them, parties and celebrations follow him wherever he goes. If you run after parties, loneliness comes to you;If you are in the solitude of the Self, parties surround you.