Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Be Genuine, and Life Will Be More Beautiful


March 19, 2013

Split, Croatia

2298
We exchange so many pleasantries with people saying, 'Hello', 'Hi', 'How are you', 'Welcome'; it is so superficial. It is not really coming from your heart. It is similar to the airhostess who greets you when you get off a plane, by saying, ‘Have a nice day’. She doesn’t really mean it.
So many times we say, 'Welcome', 'Goodbye', 'Have a good night', and all this, but it does not carry any feeling behind it. However, when the same words come to you from someone very close or very dear to you, it carries some vibrations, some feeling behind it. When your grandmother tells you, ‘Have a nice day’, it is not like the airhostess’ ‘Have a nice day’. It has some feelings, some vibrations, isn't it?

If we live our lives on the superficial level, life becomes so dry and uninteresting. However, when we connect with each other from our heart,  then there is some genuineness. And that genuineness makes life more beautiful and more authentic. Well, I understand you may not be able to do it all the time, but at least you must do it for some time in everyday life. When we look into this aspect that is so central to our human existence, there is a big change in ourselves, and our surroundings.
Everything happens because of vibrations. We are emitting vibrations all the time. If our vibrations are positive, then people around us are happy. If we are happy, then everything happens in accordance to our want. If our vibrations are negative, nobody wants to deal with us, and we are not happy with ourselves.
There is a way by which we can make our vibrations positive, and that is through breathing techniques, meditation, wisdom, and understanding of the layers of our existence, i.e., the body, breath, mind, intellect, etc. With a little bit of understanding and relaxing deep within ourselves, our negative vibrations turn around and become very positive.

When you are satisfied, when your heart is pure and clear, and you have no bad feelings for anybody, then you gain the power to heal and bless others. It is possible. Everyone can heal others, provided they can change their vibrations within themselves into totally positive energy.
When we find peace within ourselves, we radiate peace. What we think we know, is only a small portion of reality. There are so many secrets, there are so many levels of reality. If you take a little more time, we can go deep into knowledge. And when there is knowledge, nothing can take away your happiness.
 
 
When we find peace within
ourselves, we radiate peace.
What we think we know, is
only a small portion of reality.
There are so many secrets,
there are so many levels of
reality. If you take a little
more time, we can go deep
into knowledge. And when
there is knowledge, nothing
can take away your happiness.

 
 
Yesterday in Zagreb, I launched a program called ‘Volunteer for a Better Croatia’. There were about 2,500 people. I told every one of them to give one hour every day, or seven hours in a week to make the society a better place. Don't you think we should do the same here? These are a few areas in which all of us could make some contribution. 

First, we want a stress free and violence free society. We need to teach people how to be friendly, cooperative, and help them get rid of violent tendencies.

Second, we need to help people with different types of addictions. Regular practice of Sudarshan Kriya and meditation will help people come out of addictions.
Third, we need a society that is free from corruption. It is where the sense of belongingness ends that corruption begins.
In addition, we need to reach out to people who are in real need of help. So, if all of you can form teams of 20 to 30 people in different localities, and spend seven hours a week together, smiling and serving the society, then we can create waves of happiness.
One more thing, before you ask questions. Leave all your worries to me! I want you to worry about the country, about Croatia, about the world. All your individual, personal worries and concerns, you give them to me.
Q: Gurudev, the world is spending billions of dollars to create peace, by creating structures and systems. However, they cannot reach the heart, and they don't know the mind of human beings. To answer your call for peace in the world; my vision and idea is to bring this knowledge of the mind and the heart to reach everyone in the world. So we can go along with you to the United Nations, to all the areas where people are suffering from violence.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Good, good, good. On 3 February, in New Delhi, India, I launched a ‘Volunteer for a Better India’ program, along with 10 different UN agencies. It was a very successful launch, and we will continue working with UNICEF and many other UN agencies to create such an atmosphere.
I would like many of you here, in Split, to become teachers of the Art of Living, and spread the message in Croatia.
I would also like to invite you to come to India. When you come to India, you can go sight-seeing, do meditations, and get deeper experiences. In addition, you can also experience Ayurevda.
Do you know we have the best Ayurvedic hospital in the world, in Bangalore, which can heal things like Vericose Veins, that otherwise has no remedy in Allopathy. Also, the dental work is very good. The doctors can remove your teeth, without pain, without a drop of blood and anaesthesia; at one fifth or one tenth of regular costs. Ayurvedic treatment is very effective and low-cost. There are many things that you can learn from the ancient medical sciences.
Before you go, give me all your worries, and go with a big smile.
Q: I want to thank you for being here and the precious things that you have said. When you said ‘serving society’ did you mean a particular person, or serving like volunteering for Red Cross or something similar?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes. Whatever and wherever it is needed, and in whatever manner it is needed.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

What is Wisdom?


March 16, 2013

Delhi, India

(India Today Conclave is a signature event of India Today Group, India's leading media conglomerate. Over the last eleven years it has hosted the best minds in politics, finance, business, academia, technology, arts, etc., from across the world providing them a platform to explore and discuss unique ideas, strategies & solutions for the 21st Century World.
H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was invited as a speaker for India Today Conclave 2013. Below is a transcript of the same.)

2264
Wisdom is beyond time!
The sun is ancient, but today, the rays from the sun are fresh. It is not old or stale rays. The same is with water. The river Ganga is so ancient, but today’s water is very fresh.
In the same way, I would say, Wisdom is that something which is applicable to our life, which is ancient, yet new and fresh. That which upholds life is wisdom.

See the ignorant, or fanatically religious; the so called intelligentsia is fashionably atheistic, and it is the wise ones who know how to combine the old and new and make their lives.
Like a tree, which needs the roots that are old, and the shoots, that are new, life needs to be adaptable, and this exactly is ancient wisdom.
The very first hymn in the Rig Veda is, ‘Agnih puurvebhir rishibhir idyo nuutanair uta’. The old and the new, they exists together, and that is wisdom.
Just like technology and trade, tradition needs to be revived and reviewed again. This is essential. And the vibrancy of India, is that we were able to do this. From ancient times, certain aspects of tradition were kept intact, yet it became very much adaptable as time flew towards the modern day requirements, and life’s challenges that one has to meet.

What really is wisdom? Why should we be wise?
Nobody wants to be in suffering. Nobody wants to be upset. That something which takes us away from suffering, which gives us a vision, which makes life vibrant, and which connects the individual you to the universal you that exists in the universe, is wisdom.
Wisdom brings immense satisfaction that small gratification does not bring. And it is available to everybody. It has nothing to do with education, I tell you. You will find wise people even amongst the illiterates in the villages. Perhaps even more. They know how to manage their homes, they know how to keep harmony in their neighborhood, they know how to bring people together, and how to bring celebration in life. Wisdom is that which brings celebration in life, which brings a smile on your face. That which keeps you healthy, and gives you the intuitive ability to see what is ahead of you in life.

I would like to add one more thing, as we were talking about thought.
I find that thought is only the gate keeper of the house. Emotion is a little more powerful than thought. You may think, ‘I am happy’, or you may put all your attention towards that thought, but when emotions come, that is it, they just barge in with such force, that all the thought process that you kept with yourself, just disappears.
You know, you will find your emotions are much more powerful than thought. Situations overpower you; though you try to say, ‘I want to be happy’, or, ‘I am happy’, suddenly a bolt of emotions comes, or energy comes and then all these thoughts disappear.
So we need to work on several layers of our life. The first is the environment, then the body, the breath – breath is the link between the mind and the body. Then the mind; thoughts. Then emotions, which are subtler and more powerful that the mind. And then beyond that, the energy field, which is the positivity, the radiance, the soul or spirit that you are, that comes into play.

And all these techniques of meditation, contemplative prayer as in the Christian tradition, or Buddhist Zen meditation, all this is to transcend the thought and reach to that level from where everything runs. And that is like attending to the house owner. Once the house owner is attended to then the guard will listen to what the owner says.