Present Moment The Doorway To Wisdom

03/02/2016 Bangalore, India

Gurudev, are you happy?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

How do I look? Do I look happy? I’m very happy that you are all here. You have traveled from so far away; took so much trouble to come here, how can I not be happy? You have all come from all over the world, spending so many hours on the flight. I only want you to be really comfortable and happy.

It is said in the Vedas, knowledge came from Hayagriva, the man with a face of a horse. What is the significance of horse in the scriptures?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Horse is called Ashwa. Shwa means yesterday or tomorrow. Ashwa means now. So the word 'now' in Sanskrit, is the same as horse. That one word, Ashwa has two meanings:

1. Now or the present moment
2. Horse
So instead of saying - all the knowledge came in the moment, they said it came through the horse!
In Hayagriva, haya means head.
When your head is in the present moment then knowledge just comes up from within.

I know all The Art of Living teachers have experienced this. Haven’t you? You don’t know the answer to the questions that your students ask, but you are able to answer them! So where did the knowledge come from? You were in the moment, you were connected to the ocean of knowledge, the tradition of knowledge and so you were able to just download it instantaneously. That’s what it is.

During the Sandhya Vandanam, we say, ‘I am the Brahman’. But after it, we bow down to the directions. What is the meaning of this?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

See, it is all an exercise to keep the mind free, that’s all. We bow down to all the directions, that is the way we get our mind free from all that bugs that bother our mind. So if you like it, do it, if you don’t like it, then don’t do it! It’s only an exercise to free ourselves. That’s all I can say, I can’t speak for people from the past who made it, or who didn’t make it. All I can say is, look into your own mind and see how you can save your mind.

One very beautiful thing that we can remind ourselves again and again is kshama(functioning in the now). Kshama means utter peace from inside and mental centeredness. It is saying, "Come what may, this wealth of mine (peace) will never go, this is part of me".
This you must carry -- that you have the wealth inside you called kshama. The moment you remember this, the restlessness and all the chattering of the mind starts easing out.

Kshama is the original clear glass that is transparent. If it’s not transparent today it is because of the dust, but it is going to settle down. All the buzz and activity is like the dust on the glass. Remembering the glass is very transparent and very clean, the dust will start giving way, clarity will dawn. In meditation, that’s what you should do. When you sit in meditation, just let go, then you will find that deep inside, the peace that you are, which is unblemished, untouched, unspoiled and intact.