GURU KRIPA .............

[ShAivI]

OM SAI RAM!!!

Never cheat anyone for you will be cheated in due course.
Some people have a bad thought in the mind
but put on a pleasant appearance. The real thought however will
eventually resurface and hurt others. This attitude of deceiving
others to achieve one’s end is wrong and sinful.
Hence align your thought, word and deed, and attain Shreyas.

Sri Sri Bharati Tirtha Mahaswamigal

[ShAivI]

OM SAI RAM!!!

See, no one is in an angry mood all the time!
People do have good moods.
When they are in a good mood then you can communicate.
When they are not in a good mood,
you can ask them,
what is it that you can do for them.
If they are in the worst mood,
just move away from the scene.
So you have three options to win over people with love and skilful communication; Yes!  |

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

[ShAivI]

OM SAI RAM!!!

The quality of our actions and reactions depends upon our vision of life.
A narrow vision is divisive. A broad vision is expansive.
But the Supreme Vision is all-inclusive.

Swami Chinmayananda

[ShAivI]

OM SAI RAM!!!

There can be no love, no wisdom and no true joy without sacrifice.

Sacrifice makes you sacred. Become sacred.




Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

[ShAivI]

OM SAI RAM!!!

Keeping a noble and divine ideal constantly in our mind's eye is to inspire us to action.




Swami Chinmayananda

[ShAivI]

OM SAI RAM!!!

How is the ego to be destroyed?

A: Hold the ego first and then ask how it is to be destroyed.
Who asks the question? It is the ego.
This question is a sure way to cherish the ego and not to kill it.
If you seek the ego you will find that it does not exist.
That is the way to destroy it.




Sri Ramana Maharshi

[ShAivI]

OM SAI RAM!!!


You never know
How and when
The existence will start
Using you for its purpose

You never know
How and when
You will be filled with abundance
And you will start raining
Quenching the thirst of many

You never know
How and when
You will be full of
Fruits and shade
And travellers will take
Shelter and food from you

You never know
How and when
You will be full with
Love and light
And you will start spreading
The fragrance of beauty to everyone

You never know
How and when.... Really !.




Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

[ShAivI]

OM SAI RAM!!!

Q: Can you pull me out of depression that I am facing?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There is no way you are in satsang and you are depressed.
See sometimes this is what happens when you go to psychologists.
They give you an idea that you are depressed.
And then you put this idea into your mind,
 ‘oh! I am depressed!’
So you are reaffirming something which is not a permanent thing.

No mental state is a permanent state.
So you are trying to reinforce and reaffirm, ‘I am depressed’
even when you are not. You start saying ‘yes, I am depressed’.

This is the danger when people who do not know anything about the mind,
about the psyche and about meditation or consciousness,
give advice in the name of psychology. It is such a miserable thing.

I have seen relationships between parents and children get spoiled
by psychologists and psychiatrists. A child had such a good relationship
with his parents but after some consultation or counseling with the
psychologists, something happened, and he started hating his
own parents.

There was a businessman here at the ashram for the past one and
a half months. He came all the way from Paris. This person had a
sleeping disorder. He was given so many medications. Usually for
sleep doctors give a dose of ten milligrams; this man was taking
a hundred and fifty milligrams. Ten times the normal dose of the
medicine. He looked like a zombie and kept having panic attacks
and his whole system was bad.

I told him, ‘now, I want to take away all your medications.’

We took away his medications and he said, ‘but, I don’t sleep’.
Our doctors attended to him, all our teachers attended to him.
He was snoring loudly and when you snore loudly, it means
you are sleeping.

After snoring for four hours he wakes up and says, ‘I did not sleep.
I have a sleeping problem.’ The doctors who attended to him said,
 ‘Guruji, he snored so loud!’ But this gentleman had this idea,
I have sleeping disorder so I have to take this medication.
 Without this medication I cannot sleep.

Sometimes, you have this idea, whatever doctors say is absolute truth.
Like the placebo effect. Doctor says, ‘take this tablet and you’ll be fine’,
and you take a sugar pill and say, ‘ah! This is very effective’.
A sugar pill can take away your headache.

If the doctor tells you, ‘you suffer from deep depression’, you take it in
your mind and in your heart. You say, ‘I suffer from depression’.
Your mind is like a river, it is changing all the time.

That is what Lord Buddha said, ‘your mind is like a river’.

All the ancient people who studied consciousness have said,
‘you can’t take a dip in the same river twice’. So, don’t believe you are
the same person. Your mind is changing all the time.

Be in the present moment, now! Now! Now!

Bury the past and move on. Where is the depression?
Your depression is because you are hanging onto the past or
you are over-ambitious. You have the capability to manage a
school but you want to become the Prime Minister of the country.
Then depression comes when you feel you cannot achieve it.

Don’t hang on to the past or don’t be too feverish or over-ambitious about the future.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

OM SAI RAM, SRI SAI RAM, JAI JAI SAI RAM !!!

[ShAivI]

OM SAI RAM!!!

Q: How do people who do wrong things rise up in life?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You know, when you see people who do wrong things rising up, you lose your courage,
your conviction, your morality; you lose your ground and you feel broken.

That’s when you need to remind yourself that they are only rising up to fall back down.
Bad elements need a fall, that’s their final destination.

But even to fall you need to rise a little higher, only then do you really get broken.
So they raise to get a big fall. If you are convinced of this reality, then nothing
whatsoever can touch you; no event can pull you down, no event can demoralize you,
no nervous breakdown can happen, nor will you ever have heart breaks.
Your morale becomes very strong with this conviction.

See, every event creates some knowledge and some emotions.
Often events have some lessons to teach you, and also create along with it
some emotion. But what do we normally do? We don’t learn from the events at all,
but we carry forward the emotion. And the emotion keeps haunting us,
like a scar or a craving.

When knowledge is not learnt, you are left with a bag of emotions.
Be it positive or negative, it is going to bother you in the present and in the future.

The stronger the craving for a pleasurable experience, the more painful
it will be in the present. This is because the pleasurable experience has created
an intense craving in you which carries over to the present and keeps you in a
bigger mess. Am I making the point clear? For example, if you have gone through a
break-up which was intensely painful, that is because the pleasure in the relationship
had been equally intense, which is why it was so painful. It is the craving
(for that pleasurable experience) that made it so painful, leaving you in the
present moment with only a bag of emotions.

Now what does a wise one do? He takes forward the lessons from the past and
leaves behind the emotions in the past. If someone has cheated you, then learn
the lesson from the experience. What did you do that someone could cheat you.
How unintelligent were you that you allowed someone to cheat you. Just learn the
lesson instead of carrying anger, frustration and hatred towards the other.

Most of us, instead of learning the lesson, we carry the emotions of the past.
It is not an intelligent thing to do. The intelligent thing to do is to carry the lesson
and drop the emotion so that you can keep your smile genuine, unblemished and
untouched by the event. What do you say? You can keep your spirits high, come what may.
Now!! Now!! (Snapping his fingers indicating ‘Be in the present moment’).

Life is always a mixture of pleasant and unpleasant things; things which you like
and things which you don’t like. Life is a mixture of this.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

OM SAI RAM, SRI SAI RAM, JAI JAI SAI RAM !!!

[ShAivI]

OM SAI RAM!!!

Q: We often hear you say: "think of God." But surely God is unthinkable and formless.
What can be thought of must have name and form and therefore cannot be God?

Anandamayi Ma:

Yes, without doubt, He is beyond thought, form and description,
and yet I say: "think of Him!"

Why ?

Since you are identified with the ego, since you think you are the doer,
since you say: "I can do this and that," and since you get angry, greedy,
and so forth, you therefore have to apply your "I-ness" to the thought of Him.

True, He is formless, nameless, immutable, unfathomable.

All the same He has come to you in the form of the Eternal Sound or the
descent of God in the form of the Word, or in the form of an Avatar.
These also are only He Himself and consequently, if you abide by His name
and contemplate His form, the veil which is your "I" will wear out and then He,
who is beyond form and thought, will shine forth.

- Anandamayi Ma

OM SAI RAM, SRI SAI RAM, JAI JAI SAI RAM !!!

[ShAivI]

OM SAI RAM!!!

Q:  In Shiva Purana it is said that anyone who worships Lord Shiva is freed from all sins.
Does this mean that corruption begins at the top?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

No! Do you know what corruption is?

Corruption is doing that which you don’t wish to be done to you or to your kith and kin.
You cannot link pooja (here meaning worshipping Lord Shiva) and corruption.

Pooja is a feeling that comes to you out of fullness. Like when a guest comes
to your house, you come to the door and receive them. If someone very dear
to you is coming to see you, don’t you rush to the train station or the airport
to receive them?

Does it come out of a feeling of compulsion?

You can tell them to call a taxi, but instead you take your vehicle to go and receive them.

Why do you do that?

What is that feeling?

It cannot be called corruption.
So pooja means that which comes out of fullness.

In Puranas, many things are written. I’m not an advocate of all the Puranas.
Many of them are a means of expression. In fact, the word Purana means
a new way of expressing. The Hindi Purana and Sanskrit Purana have totally
opposite meanings. In Hindi, Purana means old, and in Sanskrit Purana means
very new or modern; it means a different way of expression. Don’t call that
as a corruption.

God is not so stupid that He waits for you to break a coconut to give you a boon!

All the poojas you do are to express your fullness, not to please God.
I think this is a very wrong concept in the world.

We think we do things to please God; this is wrong understanding.
People fast for many days so that they can please God.
You fast to purify your body; you don’t have to fast to please God.
This is a wrong understanding.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

OM SAI RAM, SRI SAI RAM, JAI JAI SAI RAM !!!

[ShAivI]

OM SAI RAM!!!

How To Effectively `Kill' Your Enemy?

Sri Avadoot Baba :

Are you stressed at work?
Are you tired after a day's work?
Is your work mediocre?

Krishna's doctrine of action converts mediocrity to excellence,
drudgery to revelry , indignation to inspiration. Bhagwad Gita
chapter 3 prescribes the method by which the mind remains
serene while the body acts intensely .

Action is a given. The quality of action is determined by the intention,
the motive. Perform niyatam karma, obligatory action, the highest quality
of action. Reduce kamya karma, desire driven action, which can take
you away from your goal.

Keep away from nishiddha karma, actions prohibited by your conscience.
As long as you remain focussed on duty the mind is calm, intellect sharp
and action brilliant. As desires mount the mind gets agitated and action
becomes flawed. When desires outstrip your resources you perform dangerous
actions that your conscience revolts against.

Krishna underscores the importance of yajna (sacrifice), actions dedicated
to a higher ideal. He says, when the Creator made the human being
He gave him the unique capacity of sacrifice and said,
“With sacrifice may you prosper. Let it be the fulfiller of all your desires.“

It is impossible to succeed if you do not act in a spirit of service and sacrifice.
Yet we are all trying to prosper through selfish pursuits!

He then details three distinct types of people.

The lowest, the tamasika helps himself to the benefits endowed by society
without repaying; he is a thief.

The rajasika acts for selfish ends but the result is stress and mental agitation.
He cooks, says Krishna, but eats sin.

The sattvika works in a spirit of sacrifice for a higher ideal.
He enjoys the fruit of sacrifice and evolves to the
highest goal of Enlightenment.

Identify your svadharma, inner calling, core interest.

In the area of your svadharma fix a goal that is beyond your selfish interests.
Thought of self is the greatest barrier to excellence. There is perfection in
everyone. All you have to do is get yourself out of the way ­ your ego, desire,
selfishness!

The higher ideal helps you tap into sources of energy you never
thought you had. You get creative. And you are exhilarated at work.

Krishna then gives the ingredients of perfect action.

The intellect directs all thoughts to the chosen ideal, the mind feels for the
goal and the body acts dynamically .This creates energy which tends to
dissipate into the unproductive avenues of past worry , future anxiety and
present frenzy .

The intellect plugs this wasteful dissipation. Follow this formula
to achieve success, happiness and spiritual evolution.

Arjuna asks What takes me away from my path and makes me do things
I ought not to do?

Krishna answers ­ - It is desire, it is anger, born of the quality of rajas,
passion. Desire comes in three shades ­ sattva purity , rajas passion
and tamas ignorance.

Desire is your greatest enemy . It devours you and causes a great deal of
mental agitation and stress. It is unquenchable, like fire.

Trying to satisfy desire by fulfilling it is like trying to extinguish fire with fuel!

Moreover, it mutates into other far more destructive forms like greed, delusion,
envy and arrogance.

Yet everyone is fanning desire -­ individuals, organisations as well as nations.

Rise to a higher desire, the lower will lose its hold over you. And the object of
desire will come to you unsought.

Krishna concludes with a highly inspiring message:
 ­
“Kill the formidable enemy in the form of desire by rising to the highest desire,
that of Self-realisation.

Sri Avadoot Baba

OM SAI RAM, SRI SAI RAM, JAI JAI SAI RAM !!!

[ShAivI]

OM SAI RAM!!!

Q:  I am centered on the Divine, yet there is restlessness,
though on the outside everything seems perfect.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

In every seeker’s life there comes a time when the heart
is at unease, and there is restlessness.

In the West, it is known as the “dark day of the soul”.

There comes a time when satvik shakti (positive energy)
is less and rajogun and tamogun are high, that leads to the
restlessness. There are three kinds of taap (penance)
and one such taap is known as adhyatmic taap (spiritual misery).
Yet it is for a short while.

Therefore satsang is very important, especially when you
don’t feel like doing it.

Once in twelve years a lack in spirituality comes up. There will
arise a doubt on the self, the path and the Guru. This is what
the Scriptures say.

Therefore the Kumbh festival takes place once in twelve years
and all the saints get together to clear all their sins.
This tradition is very old. A place where seekers
do satsang and where Vedas are recited – kalyuga never
comes there.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

OM SAI RAM, SRI SAI RAM, JAI JAI SAI RAM !!!

[ShAivI]

OM SAI RAM!!!

Q:  Gurudev, if one is on the path for several years,
and then suddenly a doubt comes about something after a long time,
and the path does not appear very charming anymore,
what should one do then?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

That is the time when you need to hold on to your faith.
Moments of doubt are like clouds.
The clouds do come, but they come and disappear.
If you do not cooperate or engage with them, they will simply come and go.

If you shake hands with them and flow with them,
then it will take a longer time to overcome them.
Truth will always stand out and win in the end.

Doubts may come, and this is quite possible because of the
company that we keep.

Someone may tell you, 'Oh, you know, so-and-so person does so
much meditation,still he became sick', etc.

What do they mean?
They think that if someone who is doing Yoga and meditation
fell sick, then what is the point of you doing all that?

It is not because of meditation that the person became sick.
He must have done some other things which would have brought him
this sickness. It could also be because of his Karma.

The theory of Karma is so deep and unfathomable that you cannot think of
understanding it all in a linear manner. Someone may have lived a very good life
but may face a lot of difficulties towards the end of their life.

Good action will always give only good results. A mango tree will only give
mango fruits. It will not give you bitter neem fruits. It is the law of Nature.

So when doubts come, let them step in and go away by themselves.
You keep moving forward.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

OM SAI RAM, SRI SAI RAM, JAI JAI SAI RAM !!!

[ShAivI]

OM SAI RAM!!!

A member of a well known Indian family, who had distinguished herself
by devoting her life to social service, came for SRI MA’s darsana and asked:
"Does the capacity to meditate come by practice in this life,
or is it an aptitude acquired in former births ?"

Anandamayi Ma:

 It may be the result of either of the two, or of both combined.
Meditation should be practiced every day of one’s life.

Look, what is there in this world? Absolutely nothing that is lasting;
therefore direct your longing towards the Eternal. Pray that the work
done through you, His instrument, may be pure. In every action
remember Him. The purer your thinking, the finer will be your work.
In this world you get a thing, and by tomorrow it may be gone.
This is why your life should be spent in a spirit of service; feel that
the Lord is accepting services from you in whatever you do. If you
desire peace you must cherish the thought of Him.

- Anandamayi Ma

Source: Ramana Hridayam

OM SAI RAM, SRI SAI RAM, JAI JAI SAI RAM !!!