June 10, 2012
Our country is a land of Rishi (Saints) and Krishi (Agriculture). Irrespective of the pooja (worship), we first perform ‘Beeja Vaapana’ (sowing seeds in small clay pots) and ‘Ankurarpana’ (spraying water and milk over the seedlings). Life and pooja are not different. Our life is a pooja. Wherever we walk, it becomes a ,em>Pradakshina (circumambulation). We should have this attitude towards life. There should be purity in life.
When there is purity, the mind will be strong, the intellect will be sharp and there will be enthusiasm in life. So, even to sow a seed into the earth, they used to look for the right time. They used to sow the seed with devotion.
Also, our elders used to fold their hands and pray ‘Annadata Sukhibhava’ before eating food. This means - Let the one who has provided me food be happy. We must all do this. Will you all do this daily? The first person responsible for providing us food is the farmer. The merchants come next. The third are the women of the house.
Farmers grow the grains. The merchants ensure that these grains are supplied to us and the women of the house, the mothers, cook the food and serve it to us. We pray that all these three should be happy. Even if one of them is sad, our lives will also be affected.
The farmers produce a good crop, but if the merchants and distributors do not give the right price to the farmers or plan the distribution well, they are doing a big mistake. The farmers should ensure that they do not poison the land and water with chemicals. We must never go for Genetically Modified (G.M) crops. We must do organic farming. A lot of people are now doing Zero Budget farming. (http://www.artofliving.org/chemical-free-farming).
Farmers pay money to buy the seeds and then poison them with pesticides. If we stop doing that, and instead follow the ancient methods of agriculture, the farmers will be happy. If the merchants do their business without being greedy, they will also be happy. And, if the women in the house are happy and serve us food, our digestion will be good. If they shed tears and cook the food, we will have to shed tears to digest it. We will get body aches, headaches, stomach pains and various diseases.
So, to ensure that all the three are happy, we have to pray ‘Annadata Sukhibhava’. Chant this daily before eating food.
You don’t have to choose a Guru. The Guru Tattva is present in every good thing you learn in life, and wherever you learn it from. In each phase of life, the presence of a Guru will be there.
Now, what is the sign of an intelligent person?
The sign of intelligent people is that they bring out good qualities even in the worst of people. Good qualities are hidden in every person. Intelligent people bring out good qualities from criminals too. They tell him, ‘Forget everything that you did in the past. From now on, see the goodness in yourself. There is goodness in you.’
They attempt to pull him up.
The sign of foolish people is that they pull people down. They search for bad qualities even in good people. They find faults in everyone.
How do you distinguish between good friends and bad friends? A good friend is the one with whom you share your botherations and they will make you feel that your botherations are very small. If they fill you with cheerfulness and enthusiasm after you speak to them then they are your true friends. However, if someone makes you feel that your troubles have increased after speaking to them, they are not good friends. We must examine if we fill people with enthusiasm or pull them down. We do this without knowing. We must focus on these aspects.
I have good news for you. One thousand militants in Assam did the Art of Living course and have surrendered. They will come here (to the Bangalore ashram) for training. The Home ministry is sending them here.
Q: How do we come out of bad habits? These impressions keep coming to us again and again.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: To come out of bad habits, do more pranayama. It also depends on the people we spend time with. If you have too much free time, bad habits come to your mind. If you engage yourself in serving the society, these bad habits will go by themselves.
Q: Is taking ‘Guru Diksha’ compulsory before choosing a Guru?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You don’t have to choose a Guru. The Guru Tattva is present in every good thing you learn in life, and wherever you learn it from. Mother is your first Guru. As you grow older, there will be teachers who provide you education. Similarly, in each phase of life, the presence of a Guru will be there. The Guru Tattva is always present. So whenever our mind feels that something would help us grow in life, it means that the Guru Tattva is present.
Q: It is said that we should not do any pooja during ‘Rahu kaal’. However, why does Sunday’s satsang always happen during Rahu kaal at the ashram?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It is not said that we should not do pooja during Rahu kaal. In fact, it is good to do pooja during Rahu kaala. However, marriages and house-warming ceremonies must not be done during this time. It has only been said that one should not do any materialistic work during this time; not that one should not remember God or do satsang. Doing satsang is good during Rahu kaal. It is good to do satsang during an eclipse and during Rahu kaal. To do satsang, all times are auspicious. To help others and to remember God, we need not look for any auspicious time. All the twenty-four hours are good for this.
Q: Is the protection of good people the duty of police or the citizens?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It is the duty of every human being. You should really appreciate policemen. When I was in Jharkhand, the Inspector General (I.G) of Jharkhand had come to see me. There were tears in his eyes. He said, ‘Guruji, I lost two hundred of my men in the past year. When I recruit more policemen, I cannot face their families since I do not know what will happen to my men tomorrow due to the Naxalite problem.’ Policemen are good people. They are sacrificing their life and time. They cannot celebrate festivals. They have to be on duty; night or day. Their personal lives are very troubled. They are doing their duty, but it is a thankless job. People as well as politicians scold the policemen. They are caught in between, but I tell you, you should also see that they are protecting the law and order. However, usually, when someone says ‘policeman’, it means they are bad. We should not think like that. We should be grateful to them for the thankless job that they are doing. I have been hearing the problems of policemen from the last fifteen years. They have to do good work as well as they get scolded by everyone. So, we must not think of policemen as someone separate from us. They are one of us. Though they experience so many hardships in life, they still work to protect us. We must be thankful for that and not criticize them.
A good friend is the one with whom you share your botherations and they will make you feel that your botherations are very small. If someone makes you feel that your troubles have increased after speaking to them, they are not good friends.
Q: What is the distance between the feet of a mother and the feet of a Guru?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There could be some selfishness in a mother, but not in a Guru.
Q: There are twelve Jyotirlingas in our country. Please tell us their significance.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: To unite our country, Jyotirlingas have been established in different places. This way people will go to all these different places and when they travel through the country then they realize that our country is one.
Q: Guruji, you say that meditation brightens our destiny. How is it possible?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Meditation makes your vibrations positive. The more positive your vibrations are the more luck there is in your life. It is natural.
Q: There is a lot of confusion in life.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Give it some time. Confusion will go away automatically. When our mind is confused, we will feel that all our decisions are wrong. We feel that we should have done some this else.
Q: How do we overcome the ego?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Be natural. Be friendly with everyone. If we are natural, ego disappears automatically. Ego is building an artificial wall between others and ourselves and thinking that whatever we say is right. This harms us as well as others. If we are natural and feel that everyone belongs to us and have openness in our attitude, there will not be any kind of pressure on our mind. The mind feels light. That is why we have to be natural like a child. This brings ‘Karya siddhi’ (perfection in action). Whatever we desire gets fulfilled automatically.
Q: I have done my M.Tech (Master of Technology) in Biotechnology. I am interested in the business of Organic farming. How do I take up Organic farming as an occupation?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There is a lot of demand for this nowadays. If there is proper distribution of the organic farming produce, it will help. That is why we have opened ‘Sri Sri Institute of Agricultural Sciences’. Speak to them. We can definitely do something about it.
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