Tag Archives: Sri Sri

Navratri !!

Posted on 5th October 2016 | Comments Off on Navratri !!

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on the meaning of #Navratri: 
“Navratri means the nine nights and the new night. Creation happens in the darkness. In the womb of the mother and underneath the soil. Nine months in the womb are like nine long nights where the spirit takes human form.
Night provides rest and rejuvenation. At night the entire creation goes to sleep including the ashram night watchman. (Laughter) People working come home at night and they really celebrate, rejoice and pray. Nine nights are precious as they have subtle energy. The subtle is enriched.
There are 64 divine mother impulses which govern the subtle creation. These are responsible for restoring all earthly and spiritual benefits. They are simply part of one’s awakened consciousness. These nine nights are celebrated to rekindle those divine impulses and celebrate the innermost depth of our lives.
Cleanse your body and cleanse your soul. Cleanse your body with water and your soul with knowledge and your spirit with pranayam and kriya. There is no penance higher than Pranayam. It is the greatest penance.”

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Pravriti – Nivriti

Posted on 5th October 2016 | Comments Off on Pravriti – Nivriti

Q: Guruji, I want something to happen so that I don’t even get a desire to ask questions?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Your desire to have no desire to ask questions is a desire in itself. This is a problem. Jo jaisa hai theek hai – this is sanmati. (Whatever is there, however it is, it is alright. This is called sanmati or right mindedness.) Whether or not you have a question, it’s alright. Whether you get an answer or you don’t, it’s alright. ‘Everything is alright’ is the path of nivriti. Often we say, ‘This is not ok, that is not ok’ and then we retreat in ourselves. In that state you can’t rest. Because when you find something is not ok, your whole tendency is to act towards it. And you are trying to rest while restraining from action with an attitude of action. This causes tension and lack of deep rest.

We need to have two attitudes in life – pravriti and nivriti. It is important to go within when you are tired of working in the world. Nature has made it that way: 12-hour day and 12-hour night. At some places like in the North and South Poles, the night is of around four hours and the day is around 18 to 20 hours. But then in winters, it gets reversed and day is only of four to five hours. So nature maintains that balance. 12 hours day and 12 hours night is the law of nature. Night itself means retiring from any kind of effort. Day symbolizes pravriti and night symbolizes nivriti.

Viveka (discrimination) is to understand what pravriti is and what nivriti is. We think nivriti is getting retired from your job at the age of 60 and being on a holiday. No, the Vedas say, ‘Again and again, adopt the path of nivriti.’ To go within and rest after getting tired of doing work is nivriti.

There are two types of rest. One is inert rest that we get in sleep. It does give some rest but the mind doesn’t get complete rest. Another is conscious rest: you are resting but inside you are aware and alert, that is meditation. Resting with awareness and conscious sleep is meditation.

Meditative rest is far superior for that alone brings real rest to the system. When we want to go into meditation, then the attitude that needs to be adopted is ‘everything is ok’. There is no lack and ‘I don’t want anything at this moment’. When you think ‘everything is ok’, your mind calms down and you go within.

Now when you go within, you get lot of happiness, satisfaction, joy and peace, then you have to come to the path of pravriti. So pravriti is when you find things are not ok or perfect and nivriti is when you repose in the Self and find all is well and perfect. This knowledge comes to you with spiritual practices.

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Mantra Chanting !!

Posted on 10th September 2016 | Comments Off on Mantra Chanting !!

When a thought arises in the mind, it is not easy to get rid of it. The thought keeps coming back over and over again, and if you decide to do something else, you will feel uneasy until you finish with that thought. It becomes irritating like a grain of sand in the eye.3

Similarly, if you are unhappy about something, that sadness does not easily leave you, whatever you do to get rid of it. Even by listening to inspiring discourses that sadness does not go away. Many times you tell your mind that something is trivial and not to worry about it. But the mind or intellect does not pay any attention. So we can chant a mantra. Our mind takes the form of the mantra that we repeat.

“Manah trayate iti mantrah21” – means a mantra is that which is brought to mind again and again. And to practice this mind and the mantra should not be separate. The mind should become the mantra. If the mind thinks of something else while chanting the mantra, the mantra will not be effective. The mind should be filled with the mantra. The moment that happens, the mind is free from worry.

A worry is something that is not in place. It is neither here nor there. A mantra is necessary to drive out worries. A mantra has strength and spirit. When these are present, the mind becomes the power of the mantra. The power of the mind and the power of a mantra are the same.

“Chittam mantrah” – Mind should become the mantra. The power of every mantra can be felt in the form of vibrations. When an atom explodes, its impact spreads not only for many kilometers, but the effects remain for many years – all this from the explosion of an atom! The mind is a thousand times subtler than an atom. Imagine the power of the mind when it becomes quiet. When the mind becomes quiet again and again, this is called mantra. Mantra is the cure for the mind.

Whether the mantra is “Om namah shivaya” or “Rama, Rama,” the effect of the mantra depends on how it is pronounced and invoked.

You can control the mind by using a mantra. With the help of a mantra, the mind loses its smallness and becomes vast; the mind that is dissatisfied becomes content; and the mind that is constantly disturbed by desires is released from them and finds fulfillment.

Although a mantra may be the same, its value is different when given by a Guru. Then you feel the power of the mantra

~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

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Worshiping Ancestors !!

Posted on 10th September 2016 | Comments Off on Worshiping Ancestors !!

The subtle Brahman is only one, yet it is not one. The subtle consciousness has many layers to it.The spirit is one, yet it is many.The whole universe is permeated by the spirit, by Brahman, yet to different degrees.

For example, stones have life and gender. As anthropologists and biologists know that plants and trees can be male or female, so too can be stones. The ancient people of every culture knew this. The Shilpis (stone masons) in India know how to identify which stone is male and which is female. The Native Americans choose certain stones for their worship and prayer program. They do the same in Kauai, Hawaii.

Stones have one unit of life.

Water has got two units of life.

Fire has three units of life.

Air has four units of life.

Space has five units of life.

Trees have six units of life.

Animals have seven units of life.

Human beings have eight units of life, and are known as, ashtavasu.

Superhuman blossomed beings, who do extraordinary work, whether it be very good or very bad, have in nine units of life.

Furthermore, humans can develop up to sixteen units of life. When we die we become more powerful in some way. We go between nine and ten units of life.This is strange, but true.That is why ancestors are worshiped. The moment this body drops, the spirit has become free, without boundaries, and nothing can stop it. The spirit moves around freely. If it is bound in the body, you have only eight units of life, you can only reach out to some.When you have nine units, you have a little more power, but if you die, then you have access to the ninth and tenth units, so you gain much more access to the planet. That is why ancestors have the capacity to bless you. They have more ‘life’ than you, because their spirit, freed from the limited body, can know; can cognize; can bless you. You can feel their presence. So when you pray to them, they can grant you certain boons. They are able to bestow unto you to whatever extent they are powerful. Ancestral worship can be found from China to Latin American countries.

In the Christian tradition, there is All Soul’s day, where you respect the souls and ask for their blessings. This is one of the reasons why bodies are buried behind a church; to make that place more powerful. Ancestors have got one more unit of power, and are called Pitras.

~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

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Music & Chakras !!

Posted on 30th August 2016 | Comments Off on Music & Chakras !!

The first chakra is at the base of the spine, at beginning of the anus and is called MULADHARA. Just above that is the next chakra called SVADHISTHANA. The third chakra is just above the navel called MANIPURA. Above that is the ANAHATA chakra which is in the center of the chest. Then is the throat chakra called VISSHUDHA. Above that is the chakra in-between the eyebrows called AJNA. The last chakra is on top of the head called SAHASRARA.

The drums affect the Mooladhara (the base chakra or the first chakra). The big and small drums, their effect is from the Mooladhara to Swadishtana(second chakra). The big wind instruments like trumpets affect the second to third chakra (Swadhisthana to the Manipura). Metallic sounds affect the Manipura to Anahata(the fourth chakra). When you hear a metallic screech, something happens in your belly. How many people have noticed this? The string instrument has its affects from the naval to the heart. Veena and Sitar – stringed instruments affects the Anahata (the heart chakra).

Flute music, wind instruments and sometimes the piano sounds affect the Anahata to Vishudhi (the throat chakra). Bells, sounds of water, bird songs, very soft and subtle sounds have its effects from throat to the Agna Chakra (in between the eyebrows). Then finally the Sahasrara the (top of the head) is affected by meditation and all other instruments put together at once.

If you watch any Indian rituals, you will understand that they knew this. In the temples, they placed the drums on the periphery, then there are the big wind instruments, and on the very inside of the sanctum sanctorum are bells and conch. So, sound vibes are balanced from the drums to the wind instruments, then stringed instruments, then again wind instruments and then bells and finally, it all ends in silence. The purpose of sound is silence. Did you all know this? Sound originates from silence and its goal is silence. Silence simply means total harmony. When there is total harmony deep within you, then even sound seems like an object, it seems heavy. But the way is through sound, through music. Music is that which connects the individual to the universal. The limited mind expands through music and realizes it is already part of the big consciousness or the big mind.

~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

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