Monthly Archives: December 2015

Meditation, Concentration, Contemplation

Q: Guruji, how does meditation differ from techniques involving concentration or contemplation?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Usually, we sit and contemplate on some knowledge, on some scriptures. We are keeping our mind active. The mind is thinking and thinking and thinking. Thinking is also an activity and does not bring any rest to the mind. So contemplation should never be called meditation.
Concentration involves a lot of effort. You are trying to focus your mind to stay in one place, which is not its nature. Mind jumps from one thing to another and it goes from something which is charming to something which is even more charming. Mind always flows towards something that is even more charming. When you are having very good food then you are attentive with the food. However when something on television comes or a beautiful scenery comes, you forget about the food and watch the scenery.
Your mind goes from this to that. Your mind always goes from one thing to another and it always goes to something that is more enjoyable. At least, it perceives that something is more joyful. It may not really be the source of joy. In fact, it is not.
Concentration is – trying to focus the mind on one point against its nature. So we are forcing our mind. Children get into so much stress and tension because their mind is forced on something which is not in their natural taste. They are forced to study such topics for which they have the least inclination. Then, it causes so much strain.
Concentration again is tremendous effort. So, it can’t be meditation. Though, you will need concentration in life. Now, both concentration and contemplation are results of meditation – they are not meditation itself. Meditation is effortless! When the mind takes the deepest rest, it becomes so fresh and alive. And after that deep rest, your concentration is spontaneous. It’s natural. Concentration becomes effortless.
You are able to contemplate well without strain. Meditation unfortunately is understood to be another concentration or contemplation in many parts of the world. But it is not. Meditation is the art of doing nothing. It’s the skill by which you make your mind become quiet and do nothing and experience the vastness of space deep within. So, effortlessness is the key to meditation. And if we can do a few minutes of meditation, you will find that concentration has improved and your intellectual abilities are boosted.

Christs !!!

The word “Christ” comes from the Sanskrit word “Krishna”.

“Krishna” has traveled into different countries, and by and by, when it reached Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke, it had become “Christ”.
Even in one Indian language, Bengali, Krishna is called “Christo”. And from “Christo” to “Christ”, the word has not to travel too far. Christ simply means Krishna. Christ simply means the ultimate flowering of consciousness, the one-thousand- petaled lotus flowering.

Jesus is only one of the Christs;
there have been many before him.
Abraham was one, Moses was one,
Lao Tzu was one, Chuang Tzu was one,  Zarathustra was one, Krishna was one,
Buddha was one.
And after Christ there have been many Christs…
Nanak, Kabir, Al-Hillaj Man- soor,
St Francis, Ramakrishna, Raman…
it is a long line of enlightened people.
You can call all them Christs.

~ Osho – The Wild Geese And The Water

Seven spiritual centres and their respective holy cities

Q: Please tell us about the seven spiritual cities in India and their relationship with chakras in the body.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes. Seven cities in India correspond to seven centres or chakras in our body: ‘Ayodhya Mathura Maya Kashi Kanchi Avantika Puri Dwarakavati caiva saptaide moksha dayika’ Maya or Haridwar corresponds to the mooladhar chakra situated at the base of the spine. When the jadata or lethargy goes and enthusiasm begins, you commence your journey. Haridwar, the starting point, is the door to the house of the Divine. Kanchi corresponds to the swadhisthana chakra situated behind the genitals, as the presiding deity here is Kamakshi, the goddess of kama or desire.
Ayodhya corresponds to the third chakra, the manipura, situated in the navel region, where joy, generosity, greed and jealousy manifest. All these emotions are connected to Ayodhya. It was the jealousy and greed of Kaikeyi that made Rama take vanavas. Ayodhya is also known for the generosity of Rama. The joy of Rama’s return to Ayodhya is celebrated as Diwali. Joy, generosity, greed and jealousy meet in the nabhi pradesh, Ayodhya. Ayodhya also means where there is no fight, where it cannot hurt.
Mathura is anahata, the heart chakra. The heart is associated with three emotions: Love, fear and hatred. Mathura symbolises the love and devotion of the gopis for Krishna, as well as of the fear and hatred of Kansa, all matters of the heart.
Avantika, also called Ujjain, is related to the vishuddha or the throat chakra. Ujjain is the city of art and literature. Poet Kalidas hailed from Ujjain. It is also the city of Vikramaditya, of grief and glory. We feel gratitude in the throat region – we get choked. Kashi represents the ajna chakra situated between the eyebrows. Kashi has always been the seat of knowledge. That’s why the ajna chakra is also called gyana chakshu, the third eye. Kashi is the city of pundits and scholars.
Dwaraka represents the sahasrara, the crown chakra on top of the head. Dwarka literally means: Where is the door? The door is irrelevant if there are no walls. Infinity has no walls. Krishna left his body in Dwarka. Sahasrara also means thousand avenues. It means the pathless path. The path to liberation begins at Haridwar and culminates at Dwarka.
The soul is called Purusha. Pura means a town. Purusha means one who lives in the town. The Purusha is unbound and infinite. But the Purusha experiences bondage with all the negative emotions. Positive feelings with knowledge are liberating. Positive feelings without knowledge create negative emotions that are stifling, hence one experiences bondage. When you observe the prana moving through different centres associated with sensations, the negative feelings cease to exist and one is liberated from bondage.
The seven sacred rivers are the Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati, Godavari, Narmada, Sindhu and Kaveri. Together with the seven sacred cities, they are linked to the seven sacred spots within you.

Words …

If you manipulate words, it is a lie.
If you play on words, it is a joke.
If you rely on words, it is ignorance but
if you transcend words, it is wisdom.

~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

NothingnesS !

Nothingness  simply means you are not. And when you are not, then who
is there to suffer? Who is there to be in pain and anguish? Who is there to be depressed and sad? And who is there to be happy and blissful? Buddha says that if you feel you are blissful you will become again a victim of suffering, because you are still there. When you are not, completely not, utterly not, then there is no suffering and no bliss – and this is the real bliss. Then you cannot fall back. To attain nothingness is to attain all.The first thing to understand is that the concept of self is created by the mind – there is no self in you.

It happened: a great Buddhist, a man of enlightenment, was invited by a king named milinda to teach him. The name of the Buddhist monk was Nagasen,  the king became interested; he invited him.
The messenger who went to Nagasen came back very much puzzled, because Nagasen said, ”Yes, if he invites, Nagasen will come – but tell him there is no one like Nagasen. If he invites I will come, but tell him exactly that there is no one like ’I am.’ I am no more.” The messenger was puzzled,
because if Nagasen is no more, then who will come? And Milanda was also puzzled. He said, ”This man talks in puzzles. Milanda said, ”This man seems to be irrational, gone mad. If he is not then how can he come? But
let him come, I will see. I will prove: just by coming he is proving that he is.
Then came Nagasen. Milanda received him at the gate and the first thing he asked, he said, ”I am puzzled: you have come and still you said that you are not.”
Nagasen said, ”Still I say. So let us settle it here.”

A crowd gathered, the whole court came there, and Nagasen said, ”You ask.”
Milanda asked, ”First tell me: if something is not, how can it come? In the first place it is not, then there is no possibility of its coming – and you have come. It is simple logic that you are.”
Nagasen laughed and he said, ”Look at this RATHA” – the bullock cart on which he had come. He said, ”Look at this. You call it a ratha, a cart.”
Milanda said, ”Yes.”
Then he told his followers to remove the bullocks. The bullocks were removed and Nagasen asked,
”Are these bullocks the cart?”
Milanda said, ”Of course not.”
Then, by and by, everything from the cart was removed, every part. Wheels were removed and he asked, ”Are these wheels the cart?”
And Milanda said, ”Of course not!”
When everything was removed and there was nothing, then Nagasen asked, ”Where is the cart I had come in?… and we never removed the cart, and all that we have removed you confirmed that this is not the cart. Now where is the cart?”
Nagasen said, ”Just like this Nagasen exists. Remove parts and he will disappear.” Just crisscrossing lines of energy: remove the lines and the dot will disappear. The cart is just a
combination of parts.

You are also a combination of parts, the ”I” is a combination of parts. Remove things and the ”I” will disappear. That’s why when thoughts are removed from consciousness, you cannot say ”I,” because there is no ”I” – just a vacuum is left. When feelings are removed, the self disappears completely.

You are and yet not: just an absence, with no boundaries, emptiness…..

~ OSHO – Tantra the Supreme Understanding – Chapter 1 – The Ultimate experience.