Self Reflect And Find The Nectar Of Life

03/20/2016 Bangalore, India

Today Iranians are celebrating their New Year! It’s New Year in Iran, Afghanistan, Kurdistan, and what they have kept here is very interesting. It is the same tradition that is followed in Kerala since centuries. On a New Year day they keep a mirror, some sweets, fruits, a lamp, a clock and a book. So New Year begins with seeing all those auspicious things. The custom is to see seven auspicious things.
Do you know, showing a mirror to yourself is a very ancient tradition? You look in the mirror and see how time has gone by and you are smiling, and happy! Here, in Karnataka also, behind a kalash (pot filling with water indicating fullness) there is a mirror, and that is how you are welcomed into homes. In weddings and everything, a lady carries this pot of nectar and a mirror, symbolizing, when you reflect on your Self, there is nectar in life. You are filled with nectar, you are a pot of nectar, you only have to look at yourself. It is so beautiful! Small little rituals convey such deep philosophy. Now we are hearing of such rituals, but at some point in time, people must have practiced these all over the world. Anyway, we are already doing that, reflecting on our Self and feeling the richness and abundance.

As you sow, so shall you reap. If you think, "Oh I lack this, I lack this", that is what grows. If you think, "Nobody loves me", then nobody loves you! But if you put positive affirmations, that is what comes to you. That doesn’t mean that every day you have to go on putting positive affirmations, no. It’s a very delicate balance between having an affirmation once and going on repeating it all the time. Creating awareness is different from repeated affirmations.

Why do people do what they do?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Why does anyone do what they do? It is because they can, they do. If you are happy you want to spread happiness. If you are agitated you want to be violent. If you are angry then you want to express that. If you are jealous you want to express that, and if you are happy and in love, you want to spread that.

Recently we have seen the turbulence in the youth, can’t we setup cells that address this misconception about Hinduism, etc.?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Yes, you know some people have made up their mind to fight with everybody, they can make a demon out of an angel. And you would wonder, why they would say things that dont make any sense? This is because they are not in their senses themselves. They have so much stress and tension that they just want to fight, that’s all. They have no particular purpose.

How to raise my 9 year old daughter to be a harmonious person and have a sense of belongingness with other people. (The speaker also asks about raising her child to be a vegetarian which is a rare thing in her country).

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

We have to quickly teach more and more people because when it becomes a fashion then it is easy. See, all good habits, either it is a tradition or it is a fashion. If you take it as tradition, it is already there. You just have to nurture the tradition. When that is not available in places then you can make it a fashion. When you make it a fashion it gains its respectability and more and more people will take it. So that’s a challenge you have.
In India, it is a tradition and so it's easy. Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, in all these eastern countries it’s a tradition. In Japan and China, it becomes a tradition, but in the west you have to make it a fashion. How to do that? You think about it!

Children play too many video games, what can we do? Thank you for introducing a spiritual video game!

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Substitute a nice game for a violent game, and slowly you have to take that also away. The very purpose of creating our own game is to make it inspiring and not violent. It is the same thing with knowledge.

People from many countries are very inspired by what happened at The World Cultural Festival and want to move that spirit forward in their own country, and in their own communities. What can we do to not just make it a onetime event, but really move it forward, all around the world.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Yes, first of all, create a buzz, tell everybody what it was, how it was and how it is possible. The very concept of so many different people from so many different cultures coming together on one stage itself is a great thing, and not having one incident, but just a smooth flow of events is another miracle. So you can talk about it!

One of our teachers has written an article on how everything was so baffling at The World Culture Festival. We will post that for everyone to read. Everything was baffling, the stage was baffling. How 30 dance forms were combined into one cosmic dance without any practice was so baffling. If you talk to any big artist, they think it is an impossible task. It is a miracle how it was all done virtually with just one day's practice.
Also, all the Indian classical traditional dancers getting into the rhythm and performing with perfection is again another miracle. There are many such things. People can get astonished by this and every astonishment leads to yoga; it leads you one step further.

There is not one method or just one way, you can all think about the many ways of creating a buzz. Write articles, put it in mails with pictures and all that. It was one place where people forgot their political identity. We had democrats, republicans, labour party, conservative party come on to one stage. BJP and AAP came onto one stage.

How can we recognize our mission in life?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

First thing is to get rid of your laziness. When laziness disappears and you hold on to your commitment, then you will see that what you are doing is what you have come here for. If you keep thinking, "What about my comfort and my need", then your goal is to fulfill your need. But when you hold on to your commitment, then you will have a sense that what is needed to be done is being done; you are an instrument for that which has to happen.