Share the Wisdom of Sri Sri Ravishankarji - 6

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Dear friends and devotees,

 

Bhakti is eternal.

 

Share the wisdom of His holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

 

6. MISTAKES

 

Wanting to correct a mistake brings doer ship and doer ship is the foundation

for mistakes. Those who try to correct mistakes get caught up in more mistakes,

but those who recognize them are freed.

 

When you acknowledge a mistake, you try to justify it without taking

responsibility for it. And sometimes you accept that you made a mistake but for

you feel guilty about it. Mistakes are dropped when you are troubled by your

consciences – viveka – or when you experience grief.

 

There may be flaws in any action, any situation or any person. Treat a flaw as

you would treat a flower. Just as a flower has to wither away with time, so does

a flaw.

 

A devotee asked, “Please forgive me if I have committed a mistake.” Why should

you be forgiven? You ask for forgiveness because you feel a pinch and you want

to be free from it, isn’t it? Let the pinch remain. The pinch will not let the

mistake happen again. Forgiveness removes the pinch and then you keep repeating

it.

 

But how do you know a mistake is a mistake? A mistake is something that gives

you a pinch. It is the pinch that pricks the consciousness and that pinch will

not allow the mistake to be repeated. Live with the pinch and not with the

guilt. It is a very fine balance. Guilt is about a specific action but a pinch

is about a specific result or happening. You can only feel guilty about what you

did – not about what happened outside of you. But whatever happened, whether

because of you or someone else, it can cause a pinch in you.

 

You can get beyond guilt through wisdom – by knowing the nature of mind, the

nature of consciousness and by having a broader perspective of the phenomenon.

You can learn from your mistakes. But learning is at an intellectual level while

you feel the pinch at an emotional level. The drive of your emotions is much

stronger than your intellect, so a pinch will not let the mistake recur. But you

cannot be driven by your emotions alone. Your intellect acts as a break for your

emotions.

 

Feel the pinch. The pinch will create awareness that what happened was beyond

your capacity. This awareness will bring you to surrender and surrender will

free you from guilt. So the steps of evolution are from pinch to awareness,

surrender to freedom.

 

Blessed are those who do not see a mistake as a mistake. It is hard not to see

your own mistake. Outwardly you may justify yourself or try to prove your

innocence to someone else, but a mistake pricks a conscience. Do not justify

yourself. Instead, feel the prick of the mistake. That very pinch will take you

out of the mistake.

 

A mistake is something that brings misery to you in the long run. So, why

would someone knowingly commit a mistake? When you point out someone else’s

mistake, do you consider him separate from you? Do you go on pointing out his

error or do you make him feel a part of you? When you point out a mistake to

someone, does it make him more stressed? Or does it create more awareness in

him? Often you do not point out someone’s mistake when it is required but not

pointing out a mistake – with due consideration to time and place – is also a

mistake.

 

When you make a new mistake, it is not a mistake. Instead, you have learned a

valuable lesson. But when you keep doing it over and over again, that is a

mistake. A mistake simply means you have missed understanding a lesson that has

come your way. Do not lament over your mistake. Just learn a lesson from it. You

will not be judged by your mistakes but by your virtues. Mistakes are of the

earth. Virtues are of the Divine.

 

Wise is the one who learns only from another’s mistakes. Less wise the one who

learns only from his own mistakes. The fool keeps making the same mistake again

and again and never learns from them.

 

Once somebody made a mistake and Sri Sri asked him, “What punishment can I

give you?”

 

The person replied, “Do not punish me, Guruji; I won’t make the mistake

again.”

 

After some time, Sri Sri asked another person who had made a mistake, “And

what punishment can I give you?”

 

With a smile he replied, “Any punishment Guruji.”

 

At this Sri Sri turned to the rest of us with a smile and said, “See, he is so

confident of my love for him that he is not afraid of any punishment.”

 

Where there is love, there is no fear. Do not be afraid of being punished by

God. Trust in the love that He has for you.

 

To be contd. . . . 7.

 

With love and regards,

 

Sastry.

 

 

 

 

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