Spirritual path of Life.

[Guest guest]

Dear friends and devotees,

 

Bhakti is eternal.

 

Share the wisdom of His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji.

 

The Changing World.

 

1. What is vivek? Vivek mans knowing that everything is changing.

Time and again you have to awaken to this †" the world, the

people, our body, our emotions, are constantly changing. When you

experience sorrow, understand that vivek has been overshadowed.

 

2. You can be at ease with the uncertainty of the world when you realize

the certainty of consciousness. Often people do just the opposite.

They are certain about the world and uncertain about God. They rely on

something that is not reliable and get upset. Uncertainty causes

craving for stability, yet the most stable thing in the universe is our

Self.

 

3. The world is of change; the Self is of non-change. You have to rely

on the non-change and accept the change. If you are certain that

everything is uncertain, then you are liberated. When you are uncertain

in ignorance, then you become worried and tense. Uncertainty with

awareness brings higher states of consciousness and a smile.

 

4. Often people think that certainty is freedom. If you feel freedom

when you are not certain, that is real freedom. Often your certainty or

uncertainty is based on the relative world. Being certain about the

uncertainty of the relative makes you certain about the existence of the

absolute and brings a certain faith in the absolute.

 

5. Can we still be enthusiastic when we are uncertain?

 

Yes. In knowledge you can be enthusiastic in uncertainty. Often people

who are uncertain do not act; they simply sit and wait. Acting in

uncertainty makes life a game, a challenge. Being in uncertainty is

letting go. Certainty about the relative world creates dullness.

Uncertainty about the Self creates fear. Uncertainty about matter

brings certainty about consciousness.

 

6. When you feel time is too short, you are either restless or in

expanded awareness. When you feel time is too long, you are miserable

or keen-minded. When you are happy and love what you are doing, you

simply do not feel the time. Similarly, in sleep you do not feel time.

 

When you are ahead of time, it drags and is boring. When time is ahead

of you, then you are surprised and shocked. You cannot digest events.

 

In deep meditation, you are time and everything is happening in you.

Events are happening in you like the clouds that come and go in the sky.

 

When you are with time, you are wise and at peace.

 

7. When the mind is happy, it expands; then time feels too short. When

the mind is unhappy, it contracts; then time feels too long. When the

mind is in equanimity, it transcends time.

 

To escape from the two extremes, many resort to alcohol or sleep but

when the mind is dull or unconscious, it is unable to experience itself.

Samadhi †" no-mindedness or timelessness †" is peace, the

real peace. That is the greatest healer.

 

Just as the mind experiences time, this moment has a mind of its own, a

Big Mind with enormous and infinite organizing power. Thought is

nothing but a ripple in this moment, and a few moments of Samadhi infuse

the mind with energy.

 

Before you fall into slumber or as soon as you wake up from sleep, in

the moments of twilight of consciousness, experience the timelessness.

 

8. Life is a combination of form and formless. Feelings have no form

but their expressions have form. The Self has no form but its abode has

form.

 

Similarly, wisdom and grace have no form but are expressed through form.

Discarding the formless, you become inert, materialistic and paranoid.

Discarding the form, you become a dreamer, a lost ascetic, or

emotionally unbalanced.

 

To be continued. . . .

 

With lovable regards,

 

Sastry.