THE MIND

You know there is a Big Mind and a small mind?
Sometimes the Big Mind wins over the small mind and sometimes it is the other way around.

When the small mind wins over, it is misery and
when the Big Mind wins, it is joy.

Small mind promises joy and leaves your hand empty.
Big Mind may bring resistance in the beginning but fills you with joy.


The word Guru means great.
Jaya means victory.
Deva means one who is fun-loving, playful, light.
One who is playful is often not dignified and when one is dignified, he is often not playful.



Jai Guru Dev is victory to the Big Mind in you that is both dignified and playful. That is what Jai Guru Dev means: "Victory to the Greatness in you."

You do not say victory or hail to the Master as he has won over already. You say victory to your own Self, your own Mind, which is being veiled by the small mind.




Loads of Love,
Ravi

Unpleasant Memories

How does one get rid of unpleasant memories and limitations?

1. Know the impermanent nature of the world and events.

2. Know the non-existence of past events right now and accept them.

3. be dispassionate and centered. Memories of Self are gained by service to the noble.

4. Increase prana - So Ham! So what!!

5. Have Divine Company / presence.


And here is a very good quote I read somewhere:

"Thinking does not empty yesterday of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength."




Loads of Love,
Ravi

A True Seeker

In any organization, there are 12 people:
4 Lucheche(Hindi: not very good)
4 Kacheche(Hindi: Un-ripe)
4 Sacheche(Hindi: Truthful or Good).

So anyone to reach the center has to pass through these sets of people, no other shortcuts. The Lucheches will behave badly and make you retreat. It is up to you to overcome them and proceed. Then the Kacheches who are themselves not very strong in their faith will try to influence you with their ideas and weaken you. Here too it is your faith which will help you go further. Now you are almost at the center but there are the Sacheche lots who shine like stars around the shining sun. All of them mostly good looking and have great qualities. You are sure to fall for them. If you get stuck with them yet you won’t reach the center. Hence you have to overcome them all and reach the center that you can do only when you are a Sadhak, a true Seeker.



Loads of Love,
Ravi

Guru Poornima 2009

Guru(Gu=Ignorance, Ru= Remover), is one who removes ignorance and delusion from the heart and illuminates it with higher wisdom. Poornima signifies the mind filled with delight. That is what Guru Poornima is all about.

It was an amazing Guru poornima celebrated on the 7^th July at Kamla Vihar. Among the icons were, Krish, Alka Didi, Virat Bhaiyya and over 250 devotees!

The hall was jam-packed and everyone were squeezing to sit. It began with Satsang by the amazing Krish and Anagha. Later was the Guru pooja done by Alka Didi. You know, Alka Didi has this very beautiful way of giving knowledge, and I really don’t know how she does it, but she always gives deep knowledge in a very simple way, and the kind of knowledge that you feel is really meant for you.

Do you know, what is Pooja?

Pooja is when you pray to the divine with heart completely contended and full of gratitude. (Poorna ho ke jab pray karte ho toh who Pooja hota hai)

Today is the day of The Guru. And you are allowed to ask for one wish, and that will be fulfilled today. Today is the day, you ask something and it will be done. Today is Valentine’s Day for all the devotees. And so, we sing with all enthusiasm, joy and gratitude.

This day is so great that if you were not regular in Sadhna and Satsang in the past, this Satsang has the power to compensate for all that. Now that doesn’t mean that you stop doing kriya and Satsang and do them only on Guru poornima day, it is just a way to begin with a clean slate.

We have all experienced the Sudarshan Kriya in our life and found it to be amazing. It is now our duty to take this knowledge to others. If so many people take sankalp today, it can give effects of a big yagna.

All that Guruji wants on this day is that each and every one of us must be Guru to someone in this life. Just like Guruji, we must love, guide people and help them solve their problems. We must be a guru to someone.

The significance of the index finger: It is used to show directions. No other finger can be used to show directions, but the index finger. The index finger represents Jupiter, i.e. Guru. Guru guides you throughout your life, just like the index finger shows directions.

Take a look at yourself a year or months back. You have changed. You are not the same person anymore. In the spiritual path, change is inevitable and it is towards the good. If you have noticed it, good. But if you have not noticed it yet, don’t worry, you have definitely changed. In The Art of Living, changes take place at rocket-speed.

And it ended with more Satsang from Krish and Anagha.

If you’ve missed it, then you’ve missed a lot. Today is the day for our beloved Guru. He is always there for you; can you not be there for him on just this one day?

Loads of Love,

Ravi.

KRISH DOES IT AGAIN…

This pic is not from Guru Poornima 2009.

Well, it was Guru poornima and it was one of the best I’ve ever been in. One of the reason is Krish. She was there and, man she rocked!

It was an amazing experience altogether to have Krish do the Satsang. Man, she is AWESOME!!! I am not getting any other way to describe her. She is simply AWESOME!!!

She is like Asha Bhonsle or Hannah Montana of The Art of Living. She is damn good! She definitely rocked everyone at Kamla Vihar today.

This is my experience with Krish. She is beautiful, charming, and cute, has an amazing voice, and plays the guitar very good, she is humble. She is divine.

You are great Krish and YOU ROCK!

Thank you and Jai Gurudev!

Loads of Love,

Ravi.

Promise

This is Guruji's promise to all of us:


If I had to promise you something, what would it be ?

I can’t promise that you’d always be comfortable……
Because comfort brings boredom & discomfort.

I can’t promise that all your desires will be fulfilled…
Because desires whether fulfilled or unfulfilled bring frustration.

I can’t promise that there will always be good times…
Because it is the tough times that make us appreciate joy.

I can’t promise that you will be rich or famous or powerful…..
Because they can all be a pathway to misery.

I can’t promise that we will always be together…
Because it is separation that makes togetherness so wonderful.


Yet, if you are willing to walk with me,
If you are willing to value love over everything else
I promise that this will be the richest & most fulfilling life possible.
I promise your life will be an eternal celebration,
I promise I will cherish you more than a king cherishes his crown.
And I shall love you more than a mother loves her newborn.
If you are willing to walk into my arms,
If you are willing to live in my heart,
You will find the one you have waited for, forever…
You will meet yourself in my arms….
I promise….



By His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar





Loads of Love,
Ravi

Antidote to Corruption

The big C of corruption can be countered by five more Cs!

The first is the sense of ‘connectedness’. A lack of connectedness or sense of belonging breeds corruption in society. That is why, often you see people looking for connections in order
to avoid corruption! A sense of belonging among people can root out corruption.
That is why corruption is lowest at the village level. Corruption is much more in urban
areas because there is no community sense there — no belonging.


The second C is ‘courage’. A lack of self-esteem or confidence in one’s own ability
is one of the causes of corruption. It is fear, or insecurity in a person that makes him
become more corrupt. He then tries to find his security only through money, which
doesn’t really happen. The more money he acquires, the insecurity doesn’t disappear.
In fact, he becomes more afraid and more fearful because the money is not earned in
a right manner.


The third is an understanding of ‘cosmology’ - looking at one’s own life in the context
of extended space and time. Just take a look at our own life. How long is it? Only 80-
100 years! See life in the context of the huge dimension of time. Billions of years
have passed since the creation. Our creation, as scientists say, is 50 billion years old.
And everything in this creation is recycled. The air we breathe is old, every cell in
our body, every atom is old, the oxygen and hydrogen is old! And this will continue.
Seeing life from a different perspective of space and time is what will deepen one’s
vision about one’s life.


The fourth C is ‘care’ and ‘compassion’. Care and compassion in society can bring
dedication. It is the lack of dedication that causes corruption. The sense of care and
feeling that it doesn’t matter even if I don’t have; somebody needs this more. That
care and compassion can root out corruption.


The last one I would like to emphasise is a sense of ‘commitment’ — commitment to
contribution. When a person has a goal, a commitment to a higher cause in life, it
brings a shift from gaining to giving. In society, if everyone keeps thinking, ‘What
can I gain?’ rather than ‘What can I contribute’, then corruption cannot be rooted out.
In society, we need to have this shift in our attitude, from ‘What can I gain?’ to ‘What
can I contribute?’


But all this is not possible without spiritual upliftment and a sense of belonging
with the whole world. Today the globe has become a village. We have globalized
everything other than wisdom. And that is one of the causes of terrorism and unrest
in the world today. We accept food from every part of the world, we accept music
from every part of the world, but when it comes to wisdom, people seem to shy away.
A sense of belonging with the whole world is what we are talking about today.
Even if one pocket in the world remains ignorant of these shared values, the world
will not be a safe place. So we need to address these issues with a lot of patience. It
is not a job that can be done overnight, but through education and creating that sense
of community, through inspiration and example.




This Article was written by Guruji HIS HOLINESS SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
and is entitled "Antidote to Corruption"




Loads of Love,
Ravi