Sri Sri's comments about "suicide"

"Just relax! and be dead now!

Shareer ko kyun marte ho ( why do u want to kill your body ?)
Restlessness is in your mind.

By destroying your body you are not going to get anything.
Kill the mind , that is the real death you are looking for. If your
mind dies you relax. If this does not happen you cannot relax.
By destroying your body don’t think you will be at peace.
You have come to the right place.
Killing your body, your restlessness remains.
Your body is a sacred thing. It belongs to God !
What makes u so restless is your desire.
Drop that craving of yours and your mind becomes calm.
You want to compete with someone and when you cannot, you become
restless. All ambitions make u restless.

Kill your ambition,throw your ambition out.
If you are peaceful from inside you can do anything.
Aatma hatya karoge tho 400 -500 saal ghoomte rahoge (If you commit
suicide you will keep going round and round for 400-500 years !)
It is like - when u are feeling cold do you need more blankets or your
taking off your clothes will help ???!!!

Suicide is taking off your clothes when you are already feeling
cold !!!"

 

It is you who have shown me how precious human life is on this beautiful planet...how each second counts...and there is more love on this planet than we can comprehend!

In You, I experience the playfulness of the Krishna Consciousness, the innocence of the Shiva element, the unconditional love of Jesus, the non-violence in Lord Mahavira...and the unfathomable, soothing stillness of Lord Buddha...sometimes I wonder how You really are...a friend? a confidant? a Guru? a Father? a Mother? ...but then I smile and know one thing: I have the most beautiful life on this planet because of You.

The harmony of Religion, Spirituality and Politics

The role of religion is to make one righteous and loving And politics means caring for people and their welfare. When religion and politics don't coexist then you have corrupt politicians and pseudo-religious leaders.

A religious man who is righteous and loving will definitely care for the welfare of the whole population and hence becomes a true politician. And a true politician can only be righteous and loving. He cannot be anything but religious. All the Avatars and prophets have been caring for people and so were in politics. You can find many examples to this effect.

When religions restrict the freedom to worship and restrict modes of worship they become unsuitable for creating a harmonious society. When religion becomes all encompassing and gives full freedom to pray and worship in any manner -- that religion will bring righteousness and peace in people and will be suitable for any society.

People think politics and religion have to be kept separate because many religions did not give freedom to worship and did not care for all people equally. History has shown that religion has created conflict. But irreligious societies (e.g. communism) have created chaos and corruption.

Today both religion and politics need reform. Religion has to become broader and more spiritual to allow freedom of worship and broader to encompass all the wisdom in the world. And politicians have to become more righteous and spiritual.

- Sri Sri

Brilliant Answer from the Source!

Feb, 2010, Bangalore International Centre, The Art Of Living International Foundation




Q: Guruji, I think life is miserable. What should I do?


Sri Sri: 


You think life is miserable because you are hanging onto desires of the past, impossibles of the past, you are not accepting the present, you are not moving ahead or you are hoping for something too much. Correct? Be practical. Life is a mixture of problems and pleasure. What does your mind do? It messes up the problems and blows it out of proportion and makes oneself miserable. So who is responsible for your misery? Yourself. 
So when is the program? When is the program not to be miserable? (Laughter) Now, right now have you gotten over your misery right now? (A dim ‘yes’ from the audience) The ‘Yes!’ should be louder (A strong ‘Yes’ this time). That is it. You know, if the room is dark for 20 years, it doesn’t take another 20 years to bring light in. it just needs one connection, one switch on and the whole darkness goes away. Your life may have been miserable in the past, but wake up and see, so what? Problems come and go in everybody’s life. 
Look at your past, problems came and they have all vanished. Right? We forcefully make the problem stay, just wake up and see, where is the problem? The problem is not there. You can have some physical problem in the body sometimes, some pain here and there but is there anyone who has never suffered physical illness? Everybody has some physical problem at some point in their lives and when you violate laws of nature, pain comes, suffering comes. Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

MIND MATTERS!

There are two types of mind .

One is an open mind; 

another is a closed mind. 

A closed mind is that which says, "This is how it is'', "I know it. That is it''. It gets hardened.
An open mind is, "Oh, may be! Perhaps! I do not know!'' Limited knowledge and conformity to it makes a mind very hard.

Whenever you seem to understand a situation and label it - "This is how it is'', that is the beginning of your problem.

All problems always arise from knowing, not 'not knowing'! If you do not know, your mind is open, and you say, "Oh! May be! Perhaps something I don't know.'' You do not label something you do not know. Whenever you think injustice has been done to you, whenever you think you are a victim, whenever you think something bad has happened to you, all this falls in the category of 'I know it, this is how things are'.

Suffering is a product of limited knowledge. 
A question is a sign of limited knowledge.

But when there is amazement, patience, joy, waiting, you are in a state of `I don't know, may be, something, Oh, what is it? I don't know.' Something you cannot pinpoint. The whole life is a shift from the limited 'I know', to all possibilities. You think you know the world and this is it. That is the biggest problem. This is not just one world, there are many layers in this world.

When you are upset, you are not just upset for no reason. There is some string that is being pulled. When your mind is open to all possibilities, an event happens and there could be many possibilities for that event to be that way, not just in the gross but some other reason in the subtle as well.

Suppose you enter your room and find that someone at home has made a big mess in your room. You are irritated. Now you attach that cause for your anger to just that person who is there. But there is something more happening in the subtle. At that moment something else is in the air but you could only see that person creating a mess around and you attribute all the anger to that person.

This is what limited knowledge does. Even after experiencing that you don't see something beyond. This is the most amazing thing. There is a proverb in India that says: you fell in the well in the daytime, which you could see in the night. You fell in the pit in the daytime, which you could see in the night. You saw the pit in the night, you were careful, you avoided and walked, but in the daytime you fell in the same pit. This means what? That your eyes are not open, you are not sensitive enough to see and recognise what is going on.

As we attach the events and emotions to individuals, the cycle continues. You will never be free from that. So first detach an event and emotion from that person, space and time. This is called Astrology. It is the knowledge of oneness of the universe.

If a pin is pricked into your hand, your entire body knows it, feels it. So every cell is connected with the whole of you. In the same way every body is connected to the entire creation, to everybody, as there is only one life at a very subtle level, though it appears to be many in the gross.

If you go deeper and deeper, it is one existence, one divine. So the wise person never labels individuals; infact, in a wise person, all individual existence ceases. That is why one should not see any intention behind the other's mistakes or attribute mistakes to somebody and grudge over them because one thoroughly knows and understands that it is nobody's business, nobody's mistakes.

The mind drops cravings and aversions and becomes free. This is one way of saying. Another way of saying is that the mind ceases to exist. So when the mind goes away, only the self remains.

~ Sri Sri

"Immortal Love is within Reach"

Deccan Herald, 8th February, 2010

H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Some say the purpose of life is to ensure that one doesn't come back to this planet because it is bereft of love. They feel if there is love then why is life so painful? All that one want in life is love. Every human being is longing for a love that doesn't die out, a love that doesn't cause pain, a love that grows and stands forever. By taking a multilateral view of life, one can see life in a different way and realise that the purpose of life is to achieve this kind of love and blossom in that ideal love.

Suppose you are immensely successful and have all the riches at your command but there is no love in your life, then life would not really be worthwhile; it would appear barren. But still most of the people lead a loveless life. Have you ever thought why this happens? It is your ego that prevents you from achieving that love. As long as there is ego, there cannot be love. And when there is love, there is no sign of ego. What is ego? Ego is simply being unnatural. Half knowledge brings ego but when knowledge becomes complete, ego drops and simplicity dawns.

The question arises that if the ego is so unnatural then why does every human being have an ego? We have the ego because it is necessary in some way for our growth in life. That doesn't mean it should not have been there from the very beginning. Ego is necessary, but with knowledge you can now grow out of it. In the Narada Bhakti Sutras one sutra says: "Knowledge is one of the aids to uncover the naturalness". Through observing oneself and deep into one’s self in meditation one can overcome ego.

Often, when someone shows a lot of love you do not know how to respond, you feel obliged and bound. This is because you are not natural. There is an ego coming in between. The ability to receive genuine love comes with the ability to give love. The more you are centered and natural and know that love is not an emotion it is your very existence, the more you feel at home with any amount of love expressed in any manner. A seed has a covering or shell over it, and when you soak it in water, it sprouts and then the shell peels off. Similarly, the ego is a necessary unnaturalness that develops as you grow. When you were a child of two or three years, there was no ego; you are in a state of total, innocent, blissful love. Then the ego forms a cover. Knowledge uncovers this shell and make you a child again; natural, simple and innocent. When you are natural, simple and innocent, there is no ego. The ego is not a substance; it is a non-substance, much like darkness. Darkness is only lack of light. There is nothing called an ego that has substance. Ego is just a lack of total development, a lack of total understanding. It is just a lack of maturity or lack of knowledge.

Jai Gurudev

("Maintain the innocence of the Gods and cultivate the Intelligence of the Guru")

An Important Question...A Brilliant Answer

Question: Can you please talk about restrictions during eclipse like not to eat?

Sri Sri: The mind has a deep connection with the moon and the moon is connected to water and water is connected to the body: 60 to 70 percent of the body is water. Everything is interconnected. When a celestial phenomenon happens, it impacts the body also. For example, the way you feel early in the morning is different from how you feel in the afternoon or evening. Evening goes with romantic music and melodies, morning goes with wake up calls. You can´t play romantic music in the afternoon.

The mind has an impact on the mind and body complex. Time has an impact on the mind. Planets have an impact on mind and the mind-body complex. Ancient people have written about it. When the mind says, `It´s wrong´, you try to prove it wrong and when you can´t prove it wrong, the mind accepts it. For example, turmeric. In the 70s and 80s, people dismissed it as only being a pigment with no food value but now scientists say it has the best anti oxidant value like amla (gooseberry) and tulsi (basil). They have started rediscovering the ancient sacred herbs as being very useful and a must for healthy living.

The reason we say, don´t eat during and before the time of eclipse is because the food increases metabolism in the body. Increased metabolism doesn´t let the mind be in a calm state. If you have food, you would simply fall asleep. We advise this to soothe the system and not excite it during the celestial phenomenon.

His simple-yet-profound knowledge makes us realize life is a real "...Wow!"

Jai GuruDeva
(May YOU become wise like a Guru and playful like a Deva)