What is Love

Q:what is love?

A:Love is not an action. it is our very nature.However it is love that brings all the problems in the world!
Greed , anger and jeolousy are all distortions of love. When love comes with knowledge, there are no distortions.

Q:What is the difference between unconditional and conditional love?

A:Conditional love is like business!
"If you do things the way i like them, then i will love you!"- this is conditional love. However your likes and dislikes change.
Unconditional love is accepting that "everything is changing".Inspite of these changes, unconditional love remains intact.

Q:Doesn't love and the expectation which comes with it cause stress?

A:There can be many causes of stress , but self knowledge and meditation can eliminate them.

Q:Why is it that people we love the most hurt us the most?

A:Hurt is a part of love. when u accept this, love takes on a new dimension,and you go beyond hurt ,pain and other negative emotions.

Q:How do you deal with the situation where you love someone and you are not loved back?

A:Its a challenge!
Your love is not dependent on their love.Love is not a business!Ilove you because i have no choice but to love!Love is not an action. it is a state!Either you
express love in its natural form, or its opposites(like jeolusy, greed and hatred)get formed.

Q:What are the signs of love?

A:When you love someone, you dont see anything wrong in him or her.
even if you see fault in them, you justify the fault and say," Well everyone does it!its normal." You think you have not done enough for them.The more you do the more you want to do for them. They are always in your mind.
Ordinary things become extraordinary!(for eg, a baby winking at its grand mother)
You want them to be yours exclusively, When you love someone , you want to see them happy,and you want them to have the best.

Five Types of Dreams

There are five types of dreams.

1. One is that which comes up in the form of cravings or your unfulfilled desires. They appear in dreams as fulfillment. Have you experienced this? Your latent desires always show up in your dreams.

2. The second type of dream is stress release from the past. All you have experienced in life comes up as dreams.

3. The third type of dream is an intuitive dream — where you think of what might happen in the future.

4. The fourth type of dream has nothing to do with any of these. It is to do with the place where you are sleeping. For instance, if you are sleeping in a hotel in Italy, in your dream, you may experience Italian sounds and feelings.

5. The fifth type of dream is a mixture of the four. You never know one from the other. So you cannot really distinguish a dream and say, "this is my intuitive dream". It could be, it need not be. A wise person would simply brush them aside.

******

Q. Should we follow the advice we get in dreams?

Sri Sri: There are five sources for dreams:

1. Your dreams may come from your desires

2. Your dreams may come from your fears

3. Your dreams may be delusions

4. Your dreams may be premonitions of future events

5. Your dreams may be a result of the place you are sleeping in

We experience different things in our dreams. Usually, our dreams are a mixture of the above. Our dreams are of things from the past, future, and of various types.

Don't analyze your dreams too much. If a dream comes, let it come, and just go ahead with your life.

Three Point formula - Observe, Filter, Surrender (OFS) and CIC

Knowledge by Rishiji ..

This whole consciousness is made up of 5 elements ( earth, water, fire, air and ether) and it has 3 Gunas ( satva, rajas and tamas) and 3 Doshas ( vata, pitta and kafa). In this universal consciousness we are all small jeevas which has taken this present form after having a continuous journey from thousands of years. This life consists of all events and these events have two parts, one is the outer world which includes people, situation and objects and second is the inner world which consists of mind, intellect, memory and ego. What we perceive in the outer world is the reflection of the inner world into the outer world. The quality of our life completely depends upon the state of the inner world.

The inner world has two types of tendencies, clishta ( which pulls oneself down) and aclishta( which uplifts one self). To maintain the blissful inner world its necessary to get rid of the clishta tendencies (Rishiji had asked us to make list of our own clishta and aclishta tendencies). There is a three point formula to do this. Observe, Filter and Surrender(OFS). Observe the inner world, with the help of intelligence filter the clista and aclishta tendencies, and finally take a deep breath in, remember Guruji and with an outgoing breath surrender the clishta tendencies. This requires a practice. ( Rishiji advised to practice it regularly, may be at the start we may take help of alarms to remember ourself to do so!)

There are 6 enemies which distorts the love within the inner world, they are Kama, Krodha, Moha( attachment to the people), Lobha( attachment to the objects), Mada( feeling of me, mine),Matsar( jealousy or feeling good if someone is suffering). These are all the negative or clishta tendencies of the inner world. If you are Prem may ( nature of the inner world) then these enemies are not there and if you want to get rid of these enemies you need to be Prem may! Use OFS to maintain or to return to your Prem may state of the inner world! To use OFS you need to have CIC!! You need to have a Commitment to be Prem may, sharp Intelligence to filter the tendencies and Connection with Guruji! ( Connection becomes more strong with Shraddha and Shraddha can be increased only by praying to have it more!!)

Source: knowledgesheet.blogspot.com

Guru Pooja

In Guru Pooja ..we sing the names of the all the Gurus in the lineage ..

Guru Parampara starts from

Lord NARAYANA ..who passed it on to PADMA BHAVA (One who is born out of Lotus)
PADMABHAVA(Brahma) gave the knowledge first to Sage VASISHTA
VASISHTA to SHAKTI
SHAKTI to PARASHARA
PARASHARA to his son VYASA
VYASA to his son SHUKA DEVA
then comes GAUDA PADACHARYA
next to GOVINDA PADACHARYA
and then to his disciple SHANKARACHARYA
SHANKARACHARYA had 4 disciples
PADMA PADA
HASTA MALAKA
TROTAKACHARYA
VARTIKA KARA..

they also mention in that Shankaracharya belongs to the lineage of Guru Parampara of Keshava and Badarayana ..

Guru Pooja

nArAyaNam padmabhavam vasishTam shaktim cha tat putram parAsharam cha vyAsam
shukam gowDapadam mahAntam gOvinda pAda yOgIndram atha asya shishyam sri
shankarAchAryam atha asya shishyAm padmapAdam cha hastAmalakam cha shishyam
tam tOTakam vArtikakAram anyAn asmad gurUn santatam AnatOsmi

Salutations to the guru paramparA - narAyaNa to brahma to vasishta, Sri ShankarachArya..., his disciples padmapAda, hastAmalaka, tOtaka and the followers of this lineage of gurus.

shruti smriti purANAnAm Alayam karuNAlayam
namAmi bhagavat pAda shankaram lOkashankaram

shankaram shankarAchAryam kEshavam bAdarAyaNam
sUtrabhAshya kritou vandE bhagavantau punah punah

Prostrations again and again at the feet of bhagavAn Shankara, the storehouse of scriptures - shruti, smriti and purANAs - and who is also a storehouse of compassion, who confers happiness and prosperity, who has written commentary on the sUtras and belongs in the lineage of the guru parampara of kEshava, bAdarAyanA ..

First, having offered the traditional salutations to the Guru Parampara (lineage of teachers), let us chant the following shAnti mantra;

Om saha nA-vavatu, saha nou-bhunaktu, saha-vIryam karavAvahai
tEjasvi nA-vadhItam astu mA vid-vishAvahai; Om shAntih shAntih shAntih

Let us be protected together; let us be cultivated together; let us gain strength and power together; let our study be successful; let us not hate each other; Om peace, Peace and Peace (for all).

Guru Poornima

Celebration happens when the Mind Unites with the Spirit

The magic in Chicago is unfolding. People from far and close, all over the world are coming to participate in the upcoming Advanced course with Sri Sri.

Guru Poornima is one of the biggest full moon days of the year. A very auspicious time.......

Click on this link to know more about Significance of this day



We have personally experienced exponential growth within ourselves and many miracles over the years doing the course during this time of the year. Miracles happen when the intellect is at Rest.

http://us.artofliving.org/gp2009/

Advanced Course with Sri Sri, July 2-7

Hope to see you all there ..

Jai Gurudev :-)

Fear is Love standing upside down

Emotions play an important part in our daily lives. Fear is one such emotion that is pre-programmed into all animals and people as an instinctual response to potential danger.

Whenever a boundary is broken, it creates some fear. The fear creates dislike. This dislike puts us back in the boundary. And to keep yourself in the boundary you put forth defenses. When you try to defend your position, it is such a stress, isn't it? And every time you try to defend your position it makes you more and more weak.

The Usefulness of Fear

Nature has put an amount of inbuilt fear in all living beings. This fear makes life defend itself, protect itself. Like salt in the food, a little bit of fear is essential for people to be righteous.

Fear of Death preserves Life.

Fear of Wrong keeps the Right.

Fear of Sickness brings Hygiene.

Fear of Misery keeps you Righteous.

Fear of hurting someone makes you more conscious.

Fear of failure makes you more keen and dynamic.

Fear moves you from carelessness to taking care.

Fear moves you from being insensitive to being sensitive.

Fear moves you from dullness to alertness.

When you are in love, when you are surrendered, there is no fear. Ego, too, knows no fear. But there is a difference, like that of heaven and earth, between these two types of fearless states.

Fear makes you righteous; fear brings you close to surrender; fear keeps you on the path; keeps you from being destructive. Peace and law are maintained on the planet because of fear.

How to Overcome it?
1. Sing, dance and celebrate. The very intention to celebrate will pull you away from anxiety to a more harmonious state.

2. Think about what you can do for others rather than just about yourself. Energize yourself with some service activity.

3. Combined practice of yoga, breathing and meditation.

4. Know the impermanence of the world.

5. Having faith and surrendering to the Divine and knowing that there is a supreme power who loves you. The supreme power is behind you and accepts you totally. The sense of security comes with the sense of belongingness.

6. Valour/courage: Invoking the lion within you and having an attitude of sacrifice will rescue you from fear.

7. Reminding yourself that you are committed to a greater goal will keep the fear away.

8. Being unpredictable for a while. Fear is always related to some anticipated action. Do something completely irrelevant and unpredictable.

9. Readiness to face the worst will leave you with stability in the mind.

10. Remembering a similar situation in the past when you were able to overcome your fear.

Chanakya : If none of theses work just come and be in the presence of the Master.

You are Love !

1- MEDITATE UPON LOVE! Any problem in your life would simply disappear
if only you would love more. Loving more is not about a clingy, needy or
controlling love. Big Love is more about loving for the sake of loving. It's free.
It's a "I don't need anything from you" loving. Remember who you are
and who you came here to be ... and that's Love.

2.Love that you are. To attract love, you must simply "be" love. One
way to do this, is to reach out and do something for someone else.
If you are too self-absorbed with feeling that you aren't appreciated
or loved enough by the people in your life, then it's because your focus
is on"lack": I'm not enough, I'm a victim, nobody loves me, etc. Certainly
it is most important to love yourself, and please do so, for when you love
yourself you are coming from your innate wholeness. There is nothing
lacking in you that making a decision to just be an expression of love
won't give you a "love rich" life.

3 - YOU CAN'T HAVE AN ATTITUDE & KEEP IT A SECRET!
Behavioral Modification's #1 Rule is simple:
Before you can change anyone else,
you must first change yourself.
What's getting in "love's way" in any unharmonious
relationship, is: fear, judgment and labeling.
To experience the Love that you want to radiate,
what you must change is your attitude.
What you must change to get a different result
are the limitations you've put on others.
What you must change is you!

LOVE'S WISDOM

I chant the name of my beloved in every breath. The beloved is faultless - perfect. But being in love I have lost my reputation.When there is so much love, you take total responsibility for any misunderstanding. You may express dismay for a moment on the surface. But when you do not feel that in your heart, you arrive at a perfect understanding. You are in a state where all problems and differences slide away and only love shines through.

Usually we get stuck in our differences, because we have lost sight of ourselves. In the name of love we try to manipulate and control the other person. This is natural that when we love somebody, we want them to be perfect.

You can never see the pits in the ground from the top of a hill. From a plane the earth looks so smooth. So also from a state of elevated consciousness, you do not see the pitfalls in others. But if you come to the ground you always see the holes. And when you want to fill the holes, you have to see them. You cannot build a home being airborne. You cannot till the land without looking at the pits, filling them, removing the pebbles....

That is why when you love somebody you find all the faults in them. But finding faults destroys love. Instead of filling the pits we run away from them. When you love somebody and see their faults, stay with them and help them fill the pits. This is wisdom.

WHISPERS FROM ETERNITY - God! God! God!

From the depths of slumber,
As I ascend the spiral stairway of wakefulness,
I whisper:
God! God! God!

Thou art the food, and when I break my fast
Of nightly separation from Thee,
I taste Thee, and mentally say:
God! God! God!

No matter where I go, the spotlight of my mind
Ever keeps turning on Thee;
And in the battle din of activity
My silent war cry is ever: God! God! God!

When boisterous storms of trials shriek,
And when worries howl at me,
I drown their clamor, loudly chanting:
God! God! God!

When my mind weaves dreams
With threads of memories,
Then on that magic cloth I find embossed:
God! God! God!

Every night, in time of deepest sleep,
My peace dreams and calls, Joy! Joy! Joy!
And my joy comes singing evermore:
God! God! God!

In waking, eating, working, dreaming, sleeping,
Serving, meditating, chanting, divinely loving,
My soul constantly hums, unheard by any:
God! God! God!

Source: Autobiography of a Yogi

Gyan Yagya by Rishi Nityapragyaji:OFS! Prem may Bane Raho

I just attended a week long Gyan Yagya by Rishij Nityapragyaji which was indeed a journey from the material outer world to the deepest core of our self!! I will be sharing some of the knowledge which he gave us in the Yagya.

This whole consciousness is made up of 5 elements ( earth, water, fire, air and ether) and it has 3 Gunas ( satva, rajas and tamas) and 3 Doshas ( vata, pitta and kafa). In this universal consciousness we are all small jeevas which has taken this present form after having a continuous journey from thousands of years. This life consists of all events and these events have two parts, one is the outer world which includes people, situation and objects and second is the inner world which consists of mind, intellect, memory and ego. What we perceive in the outer world is the reflection of the inner world into the outer world. The quality of our life completely depends upon the state of the inner world.

The inner world has two types of tendencies, clishta ( which pulls oneself down) and aclishta( which uplifts one self). To maintain the blissful inner world its necessary to get rid of the clishta tendencies (Rishiji had asked us to make list of our own clishta and aclishta tendencies). There is a three point formula to do this. Observe, Filter and Surrender(OFS). Observe the inner world, with the help of intelligence filter the clista and aclishta tendencies, and finally take a deep breath in, remember Guruji and with an outgoing breath surrender the clishta tendencies. This requires a practice. ( Rishiji advised to practice it regularly, may be at the start we may take help of alarms to remember ourself to do so!)

There are 6 enemies which distorts the love within the inner world, they are Kama, Krodha, Moha( attachment to the people), Lobha( attachment to the objects), Mada( feeling of me, mine),Matsar( jealousy or feeling good if someone is suffering). These are all the negative or clishta tendencies of the inner world. If you are Prem may ( nature of the inner world) then these enemies are not there and if you want to get rid of these enemies you need to be Prem may! Use OFS to maintain or to return to your Prem may state of the inner world! To use OFS you need to have CIC!! You need to have a Commitment to be Prem may, sharp Intelligence to filter the tendencies and Connection with Guruji! ( Connection becomes more strong with Shraddha and Shraddha can be increased only by praying to have it more!!)

Source: knowledgesheet.blogspot.com

Divine Love and Longing ..

Today Morning read a Q & A by Gurudev ..and it triggered longing ..tears rolled down non-stop .. was observing how longing grows intense even though one knows that HE is always with us..that physical presence makes such a lot of difference at times. Countdown has started for Guru Poornima..eagerly waiting to see Gurudev finally after a gap of 380 days ..

here's the Q & A:

I feel like I want to be close to you and I don't know how. I love you Guruji.....

Sri Sri: It is good, heart breaks and love flows. In the world out there heart breaks and misery comes, but here when heart breaks, love flows and life blossoms. Good. Just assume you are already close to me and when you are smiling, when you do service, when you are in knowledge - you are so much close to me. And see more and more people get the benefit of this knowledge what you are having. Just turn back and see your life, how much it has changed as you did the practices, the meditations, your Kriya and relate to yourself the person who was there before doing the Kriya. What a big difference. Isn't it? How many of you feel you are not the same person. Almost everybody isn't it, so that benefit, that opening, we need to bring in others life as well, we need to do that.

Q: Comment about attraction, desire and entanglement. How can we avoid entanglement?

Sri Sri: You are the source of energy. Attraction happens when the energy on you wakes up. It is just electro-magnetic energy. One energy manifests at various points in the body (the seven chakras) as different flavours, different colours. When attraction gets satisfied very quickly, then love does not blossom in life. When attraction is difficult to attain, it turns into love; and when that love matures, it becomes unconditional, it turns into dedication or devotion, the ultimate.

Love and longing go together. If there is no longing, if u kill the longing, then love also slowly dies way. How can you keep the longing alive? By being centered, by being in yourself. Do not get completely lost in the other person, this becomes too much for the other person as well. Getting lost in the other person is called entanglement. If two lines run parallel, with some goal ahead, they will always be parallel, but if they focus only on one another, they will meet, cross and go in opposite directions! So, with attraction, you come together, meet and then separate; but if there is a goal, then the attraction remains forever. That’s why, in life, your charm is never lost when are well-founded and centered, when your attention is on the knowledge.

Love has no completion… because it is infinity. Something which has no boundary also has no completion. Radha is the longing, and Krishna is the love. Sometimes, the longing brings pain. To avoid the pain, you try to fill your space with something, but that pain makes you deep.

Am blessed to be in longing ... but at the sametime feel that some devotees are more blessed to have HIS darshan so frequently ..

Jai Gurudev :-)

Lord Ramachandra about building the Bridge

(This story is so similar to Silver Jubilee celebration - 2006 in Bangalore)



Lord Ramachandra was building the bridge to reach Lanka and kill Ravana. The monkeys were carrying huge stone to build this bridge. The strongest of all monkeys was Hanuman Ji and He was carrying the biggest boulders and throwing them in the sea to make the bridge.

There was a small spider who was also assisting Lord Rama to build the bridge by pushing very small sand particles.

When Haumana Ji saw the spider struggling to push small sand particles, he started laughing and asked spider -

Hanuman Ji - "What is the use of your effort?”

Lord Ramachandra called Hanuman Ji over and asked him

Lord Ramachandra - "Tell me why I am building that Bridge?”

Hanuman Ji - "Because you want to cross the ocean".

Lord Ramachandra - "This is not true. I don't have to cross the ocean.
Just a few minutes ago i dried the ocean simple by getting angry.
That's not the reason I could be there in one moment if I wanted.
Simply by writing my name the stones are floating in the ocean."

Lord Ramachandra - "How much more potent is it if I am there?”

Hanuman Ji - "Because you want to kill Ravana."

Lord Ramachandra - “If i want to kill Ravana all I have to do is leave his heart and he will die. Only because of my presence in his heart he is living."

Hanuman Ji - "Then why you are building this bridge?”

Lord Ramachandra - "To engage all of you in the devotional service and thus get purified. Like you the spider is also struggling and trying his best to engage in devotional service."



See Lord’s mercy - He is absolute, he can do anything and he don't need our help at all. He is complete - But His Causeless mercy is he love us so much and like a loving father wants us to be on right path But somehow don't understand his mercy.

Feel fortunate whenever his service come to you. He never ever forgets any service which you render to him.

We should feel so fortunate that he is showing his mercy to us. When he gives us any Job - It means we are blessed that he has shown his causeless mercy. Understand Him - Love Him - Serve him and then purify ourselves.

Leaking Pipe @ Ashram

An Experience Shared by Bawa

This is a story from about 12 years ago...

A few of us were sitting with Guruji and He suddenly said, oh… I need to go to the city, Raghu, go and see if the car is there or has it already left(This was the time when there was exactly one car in the Ashram and almost everyone used it, if they needed to go anywhere

As Raghu got up to check, Guruji motioned him to sit down, and said don’t bother, I will check from here… He closed His eyes for a few seconds (this was even before we had an intercom or even a telephone line on the Ashram), and said hmmm… the car has left about 15 minutes ago, never mind, I will go to the city tomorrow… We were all quite impressed with this, but i was very much in the “test the Guru” phase at the time and when we left the Kutir for lunch, quickly inquired from the reception if the car was there and what time did it leave… and it matched perfectly with what Guruji had mentioned!

A day or so later, i went to His Kutir at about 9 am. No one was there yet and He welcomed me in with a warm smile… but He looked a bit tired and i told Him so… He explained saying that, last night there had been a pipe which was broken on the Ashram and if it did not get fixed, no one would have had water in the morning…

So along with some other people Guruji had stayed awake for the better part of the night looking for the leaking pipe and then just a few hours ago, they had found it and gotten it fixed… and so He had slept only an hour or so So i asked Him, Guruji if You can sit on this chair and find out if the car had left or not, why did You just simply tell people where the leak was, and they could have got it fixed and everyone could have slept?!

He stood up… took my hand and looked deep into my eyes and said:
Enlightenment is not simply knowing everything. Enlightenment is knowing everything and then forgetting it!

Then He smiled mischievously and said, besides all of them (the people who stayed awake searching for the leak with Guruji) wanted to spend time with me

To overcome FEAR

How to overcome FEAR..

1. Sing, dance and celebrate. The very intention to celebrate will pull you away from anxiety to a more harmonious state.

2. Think about what you can do for others rather than just about yourself. Energize yourself with some service activity.

3. Combined practice of yoga, breathing and meditation.

4. Know the impermanence of the world.

5. Having faith and surrendering to the Divine and knowing that there is a supreme power who loves you. The supreme power is behind you and accepts you totally. The sense of security comes with the sense of belongingness.

6. Valour/courage: Invoking the lion within you and having an attitude of sacrifice will rescue you from fear.

7. Reminding yourself that you are committed to a greater goal will keep the fear away.

8. Being unpredictable for a while. Fear is always related to some anticipated action. Do something completely irrelevant and unpredictable.

9. Readiness to face the worst will leave you with stability in the mind.

10. Remembering a similar situation in the past when you were able to overcome you.

Fear is Love standing upside down

Emotions play an important part in our daily lives. Fear is one such emotion that is pre-programmed into all animals and people as an instinctual response to potential danger.

Whenever a boundary is broken, it creates some fear. The fear creates dislike. This dislike puts us back in the boundary. And to keep yourself in the boundary you put forth defenses. When you try to defend your position, it is such a stress, isn't it? And every time you try to defend your position it makes you more and more weak.

The Usefulness of Fear

Nature has put an amount of inbuilt fear in all living beings. This fear makes life defend itself, protect itself. Like salt in the food, a little bit of fear is essential for people to be righteous.

FEAR OF DEATH PRESERVES LIFE.

FEAR OF WRONG KEEPS THE RIGHT.

FEAR OF SICKNESS BRINGS HYGIENE.

FEAR OF MISERY KEEPS YOU RIGHTEOUS.

Fear of hurting someone makes you more conscious.

Fear of failure makes you more keen and dynamic.

Fear moves you from carelessness to taking care.

Fear moves you from being insensitive to being sensitive.

Fear moves you from dullness to alertness.

When you are in love, when you are surrendered, there is no fear. Ego, too, knows no fear. But there is a difference, like that of heaven and earth, between these two types of fearless states.

Fear makes you righteous; fear brings you close to surrender; fear keeps you on the path; keeps you from being destructive. Peace and law are maintained on the planet because of fear.