April 11, 2013
Montreal, Canada
Gurudev, how does a
spiritually oriented scientist survive in an ego filled discipline?
Sri Sri: Happily! If you are a scientist, be happy. Just say, ‘Hey, come
on! This is all just wave functions.’
If someone is getting annoyed, just say, ‘Hey! Wave function! The frequency has
changed.’ That is all.
Someone is happy, different frequency. If there is jealously, ‘Oh, they have
changed to third frequency.’ Someone is upset, or depressed, ‘Frequency has
changed again.’ It is all just frequencies, that’s it.
Would anyone be upset about the changing frequencies? No. So see everybody as
nothing but frequencies. Then nothing will touch you, okay!
Enjoy the variety, enjoy the diversity. It is not worth losing your smile for
anything out there.
If someone has ego, so
what? They need compassion. They are ignorant.
What do you have for people who are in ignorance? Compassion, isn’t it? If
someone is in ego, you must think, ‘Poor chap, he thinks he is somebody. Sooner
or later he is going to go under the ground. He doesn’t know this. He does not
know that he is just a rag doll of a huge wave of energy.’
So have compassion for egoistical people.
See, when you want
recognition from others, it is then that you recognize the ego, and this is the
problem.
If somebody has ego, how does it bother you? You should walk happily. They
should feel ashamed looking at you. Look at this man, he is so happy!
Egoistical people should feel jealous seeing you being happy. It depends on
you.
If you recognize the ego of others, it will get into you, and you will walk
like a mouse. Walk like a lion, and be happy. Don’t frown, or roar like a lion,
just smile and feel like a lion inside.
Dear Gurudev, this world
is so selfish. People only value money. How to find true love?
Sri Sri: Come on, don’t say that. In the world there are all kinds of
people. Don’t blame or label the whole world as selfish. That is not fair.
You know, there are good people on the planet. In fact, in big numbers. The
cheats are only a small number.
Suppose if you are also branded as one of those unkind, ruthless, and selfish
persons, would you like to accept that label?
Ask yourself; ask your heart, your mind. No! You find that you are very good,
you are very kind, but everybody else is bad? That is not correct. Got it?
In this world, there are
good people and there are people who do not express goodness. That is all. But
even they are good. There is no bad creature on this planet. Everyone,
intrinsically is good.
If you go talk to the worst criminals in the prison, you will see in their eyes
that they are also good human beings. Somewhere they erred, somewhere they made
a mistake. Even the worst terrorist, if you go and meet them, you will see,
inside of them, a good human being is hiding.
If you see through my
eyes, there are no bad people on the planet. There are people who express
goodness and there are people whose goodness is covered, and is not being
expressed. That is all. You can help them uncover their goodness. You can help
them express their goodness. That is how you should see the world.
Never label the world as bad people. Then your attitude towards the world will
also be very bad.
Since I joined The Art
of Living, you have taken care of all my worries. My only question is, why is
it that whenever I see you, my eyes are always full of tears?
Sri Sri: That is correct. That is how it is.
In one of the Upanishads, they have spoken about, what happens when you have a
sight of the beloved.
When you come in touch with wisdom, your heart opens, and when the heart opens,
all the doubts in the mind disappear, tears come rolling down, and all karma
vanish.
'Bidhyanti hridaya granthi’, the knots in the heart gets opened.
‘Chidyanthe sarva samshayaha’, all the doubts in the mind
disappear.
‘Ksheenatechaasya karmani’, all the karmas get thinned down, and
they vanish.
That is the sign of wisdom, knowledge, and enlightenment. When you have a
glimpse of enlightenment, these all will happen.
I remember, once I was
here, at the Montreal ashram, (it was not yet built then. We had just bought
the land and I was staying in Florrabell) a journalist came and she wanted to
interview me. As soon as she sat down with me, she said, ‘Oh my God! What is
happening to me? I am forgetting everything! I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.’
Tears were rolling down her eyes and she said, ‘This has never happened to me
before. I’m so sorry.’ She was so apologetic. She kept crying.
I said, ‘Never mind, don’t worry, this happens.’
She forgot all the questions she had wanted to ask, and this happens many
times.
Dear Gurudev, I am in a
comfortable job that pays me well. But these days, I get strong thoughts at
times like, ‘What am I doing here? Am I supposed to be doing something more
worthwhile?’ What do I do?
Sri Sri: Yes, devote your free time to doing some good service, sadhana (spiritual
practices) and satsang. All these are very precious to one’s life. Don’t
keep sitting and watching movies every day, or TV serials every day.
This is what we do. Come
back home, put on the television and keep watching day after day after day.
This is all we do, and it is such a waste!
I am not against you watching TV, watch it, but once in a while; once a week or
twice a week is good enough, but not every day. It is wasting time. Or keep one
or two hours a day for service to the society. If not that, then keep one hour
aside and write some knowledge; or go onto Facebook, or the social media and do
that seva; spread the knowledge. What do you say? Good idea? It is creative and
you will feel satisfied doing it.
Instead of just being a
spectator, be a participant in this phenomenon called the universe. You should
be a participant, or agent of change in society, rather than just watching
television every day and looking at what is happening. Got it?
You can watch television, but not for two-three hours. Instead, dedicate one
hour to doing some creative work.
Why is it that when one
becomes closer to the spiritual master, he is faced with more difficulties in
life, and why does he not give up?
Sri Sri: Yes, there are some who like challenges, they love challenges.
Otherwise why would people go on a sailboat around the world? Why would they go
and start climbing Mount Everest? Because people like challenges.
It is the ego which wants some big challenges. So, some people may want to do
that, and they’ve chosen those difficult routes.
Never mind, when you are on this path, you will do everything with a smile.
That is the strength of the path.
It often feels and
appears that yoga and Hinduism exclude women, and this makes me think that we
are not yet ready for a spiritual revolution. What can you tell us about this,
and the role women play? Why are mostly men around you, while women cook and
clean?
Sri Sri: Listen, there is no such thing. In Yoga, Hinduism, and Vedic
wisdom, they don’t exclude women at all. Men and women are given equal status.
In India, the tradition is, mother comes first and then comes father. They say,
‘Matri Devo Bhava’ (Mother is God).
Also, if you see in writing, they don’t write Mr. and Mrs. in India, it is
Shreemati (Mrs.) and then Shree (Mr.).
The Hindu religion says Radhey Shyam, not Shyam and
then Radhey.
The name is Sita Ram, first Sita and then Ram.
Similarly, Lakshmi and then Narayan.
So always women are first.
Have you seen Ardhnarishwar? Do you know the story?
There was this one sage who was averse to women. Usually many people who become
recluse, run away from women. Some woman must have ditched him, or something must
have happened. I don’t know. But he was so averse to women. He would not look
towards women. Even toward deities. He would say, ‘Shiva, Shiva,
Shiva’, only and not worship Shakti. So then Shiva appeared
in front of him as half woman and half man. And that is calledArdhnarishwar.
This is to indicate,
inside everyone, half of you is man and half of you is woman. Whatever you are
physically, man or woman, inside you are both, because you are made up of both,
the egg and sperm. You are made up of both, mother’s and father’s DNA. Both are
inside you and both are equal.
So, when Shiva appeared as half man, half woman, his prejudice against women
dropped, and he attained liberation. That is the story. It is a long story but
to make it short, he finally attained liberation when he dropped his prejudice
against women. Now, this is the case.
Sometimes, in the Middle
Ages, when India was under the influence of Islam, that is when it changed.
Women priest were abolished.
If you go to Bali, in Indonesia, today there are women priests there. That is
original Hinduism. But in India, after some time, in the middle ages, Islam had
women in the parda (covering), and this influence had come on to India. The
women were asked to stay indoors, at that time. In the Vedic times, the women
would have all rights. You would see them being priests and all that. So these
are changes that have happened, and once a change happens it stays for quite
long time. But do not think women are underestimated.
See, there are these
nine days only for the worship of Mother Divine. And women do a lot of work for
me here. We have many women teachers and male teachers. They are all in our
trust. So there is nothing like that.
In fact, our president of the Canadian Ashram is a woman (Debra). For the
longest time, we had women ruling in the Canadian Ashram. It is a queen’s
territory, maybe.
Jai Gurudev, can you
talk about Chaitra Navratri and its significance?
Sri Sri: Navratri means the nine nights. In the nine nights you turn
inwards. It is a time for meditation, for you turn inwards, and then come out
with creativity. That is the significance.
Chaitra means the beginning of a New Year. So the New Year beings with nine
days of turning inwards; prayer, meditation, and chanting. Recognizing the
Divinity in the whole creation, and enlivening that aspect.
How do we get rid of the
caste system? I am not been able to get married because my parents and his
parents think they will be out casted from society. We just belong to two
separate castes. What has to be done Gurudev?
Sri Sri: Patience, and education.
I think it is much, much, much less now. People, are much more open. Only thing
that bothers people sometimes is food habits; vegetarian and non-vegetarian.
That becomes a big barrier you see? But, don’t worry.
You should have the convincing power, to convince them, to make your parents
agree.
First make them do Art of Living. That is a better thing to do first.
No comments:
Post a Comment