Four Levels of Speech

http://www.artofliving.org/taxonomy/term/1107?page=29&mobile=1There are four levels of speech - 

1. Vaikhari is the level of speech that we are all using now to communicate.

2. Madhyama is subtler than Vaikhari, where you don’t need language to communicate, but just intentions or feelings help to communicate. 

It is like you would communicate with people who don’t understand your language or with babies who throw tantrums to tell you that they are hungry or sleepy, or communicate through different signs. 

Madhyama is subtler than speech, even animals and trees use Madhyama to communicate.

3. Pashyanti is where you simply recognize the knowledge without words or language. It is like deep intuition. Sometimes, when you go deep into meditation, you may hear some chanting or words, or you might get some ideas. When ideas come without language, it is called Pashyanti. A seer would recognize a little bit of that, from somewhere deep. All scientific discoveries happen from the Pashyanti level.

4. Para, beyond Pashyanti, is the universal language or the source of all expressions. In deep Samadhi or total stillness, you are connected with Para. No verbal communication is needed. Actually, real communication happens from Para, it is just the vibration that communicates. 

All the other talking that we do, from the Vaikhari level, is only to keep the mind engaged. The mind cannot capture communication from the level of Para, only the soul understands it. Para is the language of the soul. The mind needs some entertainment; the entertainment of the mind is Vaikhari, the language that we speak.

http://www.artofliving.org/taxonomy/term/1107?page=29&mobile=1

Transforming Emotions - Guided Meditation

Sukshma Yoga - Yoga for relaxation

Journey Within - Guided Meditation

Patanjali Yoga Sutras

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDE432D0AEA9AA8CC

Come out of cycle of birth and death?

How to come out of this cycle of birth and death?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
By continuing to do what you are doing now. You are in the right place.

When you become content then you are liberated. If you want something (including contentment) then you cannot be contented. Have the faith that you will get what you want. And if you don’t have the faith that you will get what you want, then why are you holding onto that desire? Be willing to let go of your desires.

If you want something and have the faith that you will get it, then you will surrender it and your mind becomes calm. If you don’t have the faith but still have the desire to get something, then you will need to drop it. When will you drop it?

If you have a doubt whether you will be able to drop it or not, then know it will drop by itself. Then again you will be at peace and contented.

Observe what is happening within you.
Take a deep breath in. Now you suddenly see there is nothing to hold onto, and immediately you find contentment and become peaceful (laughter in audience).

Listen, this is important. Firstly, we don’t know what we want. If we come to know what we want, then we don’t have faith that we will get what we want. This self-confidence is not there. If there is faith in the self, in the Guru, in the Divine, then just with the faith that we will get what we want, the mind becomes calm this moment. Not after getting, but before getting, the mind becomes calm. Isn’t it true?

If even this doesn’t work then think of dropping it, letting go.
And if you feel it is not getting dropped, then pray that all these desires drop off. At the time of prayer itself the mind becomes happy.

http://www.artofliving.org/in-en/wisdom-q-a-19-january-2015-qa-9

Technique:Yoga Nidra

Just as a car engine needs to be turned off and allowed to cool down after a long drive, similarly, after doing yoga postures, we need to cool our body with yoga nidra. It helps conserve and consolidate the energy from the yoga poses (active) practices. Yoga nidra relaxes the entire system, preparing it for pranayama and meditation. It is therefore important to keep aside sufficient time for yoga nidra after yoga postures.

Let’s Get Ready For Yoga Nidra
In yoga nidra, we consciously take our attention to different parts of the body, which activates the nerves in those areas and helps to integrate the impact of the asanas (yoga postures) into our system.

Here is a step-by-step guide to do yoga nidra.

Tip: It is a good idea to cover yourself with a blanket to keep yourself warm. The body becomes warm while doing postures and a sudden drop in temperature is not suitable.

1. Lie down straight on your back in Corpse Pose (Shavasana). Close your eyes and relax. Take a few deep breaths in and out. Remember to take slow and relaxed breaths, and not ujjayi breaths. (Tip: If you feel any discomfort or pain in lower back, adjust your posture or use a pillow to elevate the legs a little, for more comfort.)
2. Start by gently taking your attention to your right foot. Keep your attention there for a few seconds, while relaxing your foot. Then gently move your attention up to the right knee, right thigh and hip (again for a couple of seconds). Become aware of your whole right leg. Repeat this process for the left leg.
3. Similarly, take your attention to all parts of the body: genital area, stomach, navel region, chest, right shoulder and right arm, followed by the left shoulder and left arm, throat, face and the top of the head.
4. Take a deep breath in, observe the sensations in your body, and relax in this still state for a few minutes.
5. Now, slowly becoming aware of your body and surroundings, turn to your right side and keep lying down for a few more minutes.
6. Taking your own time, you may then slowly sit up, and whenever you feel comfortable, slowly and gradually open your eyes.

How Yoga Nidra Benefits You

• Cools down the body after yoga postures,restoring normal temperature
• Activates the nervous system to absorb the effects of yoga poses
• Flushes out body toxins

http://www.artofliving.org/in-en/yoga/health-and-wellness/restorative-sleep-relax-yourself-yoga-nidra

http://www.speakingtree.in/blog/yoga-nidra-with-sri-sri-ravi-shankar

Love

This Valentine’s Day, make the Divine your valentine. See the Divine in your valentine and make the divinity your valentine. Have the same love for everyone, with different flavours. You cannot behave the same way with everyone, but you can love all of them. Love transcends behaviour and etiquette. 

Abiding in the Self, you become the valentine for the whole world. Spirit is the valentine of matter and matter is the valentine of the spirit. They are made for each other. If you hold on to matter and do not respect the spirit, then matter is not pleased. If you honour the spirit, then you will care for the world, and when you care for the world, it will take care of you. 

Keep your heart in a safe place; it is too delicate. Events and small things make strong impressions on it. A precious stone needs a setting around it - gold or silver - to hold it; in the same way wisdom and knowledge are the settings that will hold your heart in the Divine. To keep your heart safe and your mind sane, you cannot find a better place than the Divine. Then the passing time and events will not be able to touch you; they will not create a scar. 

Often, you do not know how to respond, or feel obliged and bound, when someone shows a lot of love. The ability to receive genuine love comes with the ability to give love. The more you are centred and know by experience that love is not an emotion; it is your very existence, the more you feel at home with any amount of love expressed in any manner. 

There are three kinds of love. The love that comes out of charm, that which comes out of comfort and divine love. The love that comes out of charm does not last long. It comes out of unfamiliarity or attraction. In this, you lose the attraction fast, and boredom sets in. This love may diminish and bring along with it a fear, uncertainty, insecurity and sadness. 

The love that comes out of comfort and familiarity grows, but it has no thrill, no enthusiasm, joy, or fire to it. For example, you are more comfortable with an old friend who is a familiar person rather than with a new person. Divine love supersedes both the above. It has an ever present newness. The closer you go, more charm and depth come to it. There is never boredom and it keeps everyone on their toes. 

Worldly love can be like an ocean, yet an ocean has a bottom. Divine love is like the sky which is limitless. From the bottom of the ocean, soar into the vast sky. Ancient love transcends all these relationships and is inclusive of all the relationships. Let love be. Don’t give it a name. When you give it a name, it becomes a relationship, and relationships restrict love. 

Often, one experiences love at first sight. Then as time goes on, it decreases, decays, turns into hatred and disappears. Ancient love never decays. Although its mortality rate is high, love dies very young. After a few days, weeks, months, or years, it dies. In society, you say love is never a tree, it is a seasonal crop. 

When the same love becomes a tree with the manure of knowledge, it becomes ancient love that goes from lifetime to lifetime. That is our own consciousness. You are not limited to this present body, this present name, this present form and the present relationships around you. You may not know your past, your ancientness. But just know you are ancient, that is good enough. 

Pain goes with love. Because you love someone, even a small action can hurt you. And in hurt, you feel very delicate, very deep. Love also creates the same sensation. Separation creates the same symptom. If you don’t love somebody, you will never feel hurt by them. Understand and accept this. Then that hurt will not turn into a sore feeling. Rather, that very hurt will take you deep into dispassion and meditation. 

When love glows, it becomes bliss; when it flows, it is compassion; when it blows, it is anger; when it ferments, it is jealousy. Let love be. Don’t give it a name!
- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

http://knowledgesheet.artoflivinguniverse.org/2015/02/valentines-day.html

Story:Nothing is in your control..Just Relax

Mullah Nasruddin had a dream. In the dream he was bargaining to buy a car. "I'll give you one thousand, nine hundred and ninety eight dollars," said Mullah. "No, no," said the dealer. "Then I'll give you one thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine dollars." "No, no," said the dealer. "Two thousand dollars is the final price." While this argument was still going on, Mullah woke up. He felt so bad, he said, "Such a nice deal." He suddenly closed his eyes again, "Okay, now I'll give you two thousand dollars. I don't mind paying you one dollar more. You give me the car. Let's do the deal now." A dream world. Even in a dream there is possessiveness, because that has sunk so deep in us. Just know that it is not in your control. Nothing is in your control. Then the fear of doing something about it will just disappear. So you don't need a lot of courage to lose your control. Just relax. 

We think we are holding the roof. Things happen by themselves. This is a little revolutionary. May be it may raise many questions in your head, but thoroughly examine this statement in your life. All the events that have happened just fell into place for you to be where you are just now. You see the entire phenomenal world is happening on its own. You only have to watch. 

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=H4TVBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT7&lpg=PT7&dq=Mullah+Nasruddin+had+a+dream.+In+the+dream+he+was+bargaining+to+buy+a+car.&source=bl&ots=ODnKsy45li&sig=ypVK-eakrTBsbtaMuxJ1wftaHgc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mEO6VNu9DoWXuASG74D4BA&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Mullah%20Nasruddin%20had%20a%20dream.%20In%20the%20dream%20he%20was%20bargaining%20to%20buy%20a%20car.&f=false

Celebrating Devotion

Gurupurnima is called the day of the Master, but it is actually the day of the devotee.

There are three types of people who come to the Master - the student, the disciple and the devotee. 

Student: A student goes to a teacher and learns something, gets some information and walks out of the school. The student is the one, who collects information, but the information is not knowledge, it is not wisdom. 

Disciple: Then, there is the disciple; the disciple follows the example of the Master. But a disciple is with the Master for the sake of learning wisdom, for the sake of improving his life, for attaining enlightenment. He is trying to bring a transformation in his life.

Devotee: And then there is a devotee. A devotee is not there even for wisdom. He is simply rejoicing in love. He has fallen in deep love with the Master, with Infinity, with God. Students are in abundance, disciples are a few, but the devotees are rare. 

One of Buddha’s disciples named Sariputra achieved enlightenment. Soon thereafter, Buddha told him, “Now you go ahead, go into the world and preach, teach, and do the same work I do. Carry on my work.” As instructed, Sariputra left Buddha, but he was crying. People asked him, “Why are you crying when you are enlightened?” He replied, “Who cares about this enlightenment? It could have waited. I would have waited. I didn’t even bother about it or ask for it because the joy of being at the feet of Buddha was so great. Being a devotee was so great. I cry now because I miss it. I would have preferred that to this enlightenment.” He said.


Who is a Guru? 
A Guru is just like a window. Guru simply means one who brings more joy, more alertness, and more awareness into your life. A Guru is not one who holds any authority over you. A Guru is not one who dictates terms to you. Rather, a Guru encourages you to be in touch with yourself. A Guru reminds you to live in the present moment, and a Guru takes away the guilt, agitation, sorrow, and anguish, which allows you to be yourself. That in the true sense is the meaning of Guru. A Guru does not simply fill you with knowledge, but he kindles the life force in you. In the presence of the Guru, you become more alive. The Guru invokes not only intelligence but also the intellect in you. Knowledge may not invoke intelligence, but in a state of intelligence, knowledge is inherent.

In the Upanishads, five signs of sadguru are mentioned. In the presence of a sadguru knowledge flourishes (Gyana raksha), sorrow diminishes (dukha kshaya), joy wells up without any reason (sukha aavirbhava), abundance dawns (samriddhi) and all talent manifest (sarva samvardhan).

Once you have found a sadguru, remember that he or she is always there with you, watching and giving you wisdom.  Spiritual path is not only a path of learning more; it is also a path of unlearning. Learning has no end; unlearning has an end.  The true path is one that takes you home and kindles that deep love in you. 

Love is not just an act. It is our very nature.  It is what we are made up of.  Love is something that even the Divine rejoices in. The infinity longs for you as much as you long for it. It is waiting to receive you. It is as anxious as you are to be near. So when a devotee flowers in this planet, infinity is very happy. 

Understand that you are the number one devotee, and feel grateful for the great knowledge you have received from your Master.  Turn back and see how they changed and developed in the last one year. Assess what you have learnt and how have you grown in knowledge. This Guru Purnima rise in devotion.

- His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/83804/celebrating-devotion.html

Control Everything ?

Q: How to get rid of my tendency to control everything everywhere and every time? 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You can control small things, that is why you have this illusion (that you are in control). Just try to control the big things: stop the war in Iraq, or stop the war in Syria.

A couple came to meet me and they were talking. The husband said, 'My wife decides all the small things and I decide all the big things. Like my wife decides what car to buy, what color the house must be painted, where we should go for holiday, how we should spend our money and all these small things. I don’t interfere in her work and I do the big things. I think about how to stop the war in Iraq, who should be the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and how the nations should interact with each other, etc, and she never interferes in these matters, so we have peace at home'.

Like that if you want to have control, think about the bigger things. How you can control the weather or bring rain. If you are a control freak, you should control those things. Think about something like that.

http://www.artofliving.org/lu-en/wisdom-q-a-23-july-2014-qa-2

Silence

Silence is the goal of all answers. Space and silence are synonymous. Desire brings noise. Look at the noise in your mind. What is it about? More money, more fame, more recognition, fulfillment, relationships- the noise is about something. Silence is about nothing. Silence is the basis; the source of life, and is the cure for diseases. A thousand hours of speech cannot equal one glance of fullness and a hundred glances cannot equal a minute of silence. Prayer within breath is silence. Love within infinity is silence. Wisdom without words is silence. Compassion without aim is silence. Action without doer is silence. Smiling with all Existence is silence. And God is nothing but solidified silence.

http://www.artofliving.org/serenity-silence

The Great Pleasure of Rest

There is a pleasure in rest and there is a pleasure in activity. The pleasure in activity is momentary and causes fatigue. The pleasure in rest is magnanimous and energizing. So, to the one who has tasted pleasure in rest (Samadhi), the pleasure in activity is insignificant. All activities that you do, you do so that you can have deep rest. Activity is part of the system. However, the real pleasure is in Samadhi. In order to have deep rest, one must be active. The proper balance of both is essential. Many seek pleasure in this or that but the wise man just smiles. The real rest is only in knowledge.

http://www.artofliving.org/great-pleasure-rest

Injustice in the world

Q: How to deal with so much injustice in the world?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: If you only think about all the injustice, you will keep boiling. When you keep boiling, you cannot think clearly. When you cannot think clearly, your action will also not be right. And at another level, your action will also contribute to the injustice.

When you see injustice, there are three things to do:
• Take it piece by piece, bit by bit
• Know that there are good people in the world in every field. This world has a hundred good people, and only five bad people. If the world is bad today, it is not because of the five bad elements, it is because of the hundred good people who are sleeping. So wake them up
• Know that there is a universal power that loves you. This power or law will always take care; have that faith.You are not going to protect this planet forever. You are here only for 80-100 years. You have no control over what will happen after 200 years. Nor did you have any control over the 19 billion years that the planet has existed. Know that you don’t have control. All that you can do is pray and wish that the best happens.

Do you know our scientists say that the whole solar system is moving in between many black holes? It is just escaping the black holes. At any time the black hole can just suck the solar system, and everything will be finished.
Not just the Earth, the Sun, Moon, Jupiter, everything will be gone, it will disappear into nothing. So when you get so worried, or get so angry about injustice, go to a planetarium and watch! That is the last option!
Before that, wake up people. Create awareness in people, create activism.

http://qnawithsrisri.artoflivinguniverse.org/2014/07/qna-with-sri-sri.html

Action and Relaxation

There are two things, Pravritti and Nivritti (action and relaxation). 
When you are in action, effort is needed and when you are in relaxation effortlessness is needed. They go hand in hand. But we do it the other way around. When we are relaxed, we keep thinking, wanting to act, and when we are in action we say, 'It’ll happen if God is willing'. 
This is not what one should do.

When you are acting then give it your 100%, put self-effort. Once you have done that, then sit and let go. You make an effort to go to a clinic and lie down at the massage table. But once you’re on the table, then the masseur does the rest. In the same way, make an effort to come and sit for meditation, but once you sit for meditation, then no effort is required. Know that you’re being taken care of.

If you have a train to catch you need to make an effort, you cannot sit at home and keep saying that you have to catch the train. But once you are in the train, there is no point in running up and down the aisle, it is not going to take you any faster. Once you are in the train, you have to sit down and relax. So, both effort and effortlessness are required.

http://knowledgesheet.artoflivinguniverse.org/2014/01/action-and-relaxation.html

18 Principles of a Spiritual Life

Spirit upholds and sustains life. It makes you strong and solid. It breaks own the narrow boundaries of cast, creed, religion and nationality and gives you an awareness of life present everywhere.

1. Confidence
Without confidence, achievement does not come. Doubt is what opposes confidence. Once you eliminate the negative, you will see that the positive has already happened.

I am not telling you to drop your doubt. Doubt as much as you can! Give it your 100%. That will help you through it. Once you cross this barrier of doubt, then further progress comes.

2. Stop Blaming Others and Yourself
Without this movement toward the Self, toward spirit, you have a journey toward matter. The joy you get from matter is tiring. The joy you get from spirit is uplifting.

You will find negative qualities within yourself, but you don't need to blame yourself for them. Whenever you blame yourself, you are bound to blame the other, because self-blame cannot stand for too long. You will find reason to escape from it by hooking it onto someone else. This causes hatred to arise. And whenever you blame someone else, you are preparing again to blame yourself. There is so much blame being given today that it is dampening the consciousness of the whole world.

3. Praise Other and Yourself
Praising others goes a step beyond not blaming others. Praising kindles spirit and the presence of spirit is uplifting to yourself, to the other, and the entire environment. In praising yourself or another, a space is created within you that is filled with joy.

If you can praise yourself, you won't need praise from others. Often we think that praising ourselves is ego, but, in fact, ego cannot praise itself. Rather it hopes for praise from others. And understand that all praise goes to the Divine anyway. If you say you have beautiful eyes, who made them? Every praise goes to the Divine, the Maker.

The act of offering praise expands consciousness. Something inside you opens up. Blaming shrinks consciousness. Since the spiritual dimension is an expansion of consciousness, of the mind, we do not want to counter that by blaming. Sincerely offer praise to someone and see how you feel.

4. Sincerity
In all things, be sincere. Do not fool yourself and do not try to fool anyone else. You are not on the spiritual path for anyone else's sake. Spiritual  seeking without sincerity is empty. It brings no benefits. With sincerity, it brings peace, happiness and joy you can find in no other way on this planet.

5. Responsibility
The spiritual path is not escape from responsibility, but taking responsibility. However much responsibility you have taken for your life, by that much you are on the path. If you think it is difficult to manage what has been given to you to do, more will be given! People mistakenly think that being spiritual is an escape from hard work. No. The spiritual path is marked by effective and dynamic activity.

6. Let Go of the Past
See the entire past as a dream. Then you come to the present moment. You will find it is not necessary to make an effort to be in the present. The moment you let go of the past, your mind comes to the present on its own.

In the present moment, spirit is kindled even a little spark is made into a glow. When you cling to the past, the spark is covered with ashes. Be in the present and blow away the ashes of the past.

7. Acceptance
You need to know how to create a harmonious environment around you. You may think that your environment creates you, but in truth, you create your environment. See that what is, is. The acceptance of what is has two aspects. The first is the acceptance of the present moment as inevitable. It has happened as it happened. If you want it to be different, it can only become different in the next moment. Only when you accept what is and become calm, can you effectively change anything.

The second aspect is to accept other people as they are. Whatever behavior they are exhibiting, see that it is the best that they have to offer in that moment. Be analytical. Look for possible explanations for their actions. And simultaneously take responsibility for your own. In this way, acceptance becomes dynamic and your environment becomes harmonious. 

8. Confirmation of Your Own Death
the understanding that you are going to die one day. Because there is something deep within us that does not die, we may not fully comprehend the fact of our own death. The confirmation of death can bring you to the present moment. It can take you out of all the small temptations that keep you away from the present. Once you know that you are going to die, then the future will not haunt you.

9. Impermanence of Life
The impermanence of all that exists right now,the impermanence of situations, circumstances, emotions and people around you. Knowing that all this is impermanent raises the level of spirit. You can act with more energy, enthusiasm and vigor. We think that if we recognize that everything is impermanent, it will bring down our enthusiasm and lead us to a state of apathy. No. The correct understanding of impermanence kindles spirit.  Whenever spirit is kindled, you feel uplifted. Enthusiasm and dynamism are present.

10. Trust
Trust the supreme and infinite Intelligence which has formed this entire creation, from the cosmic display to the interplay of genes and atoms and molecules. Just in the arrangement of electrons, something becomes a flower and something else becomes a stone, something is gold and something else is charcoal. 

See that there is a basic substratum, an underlying intelligence, a unity, in this entire creation. And see that it is lively. We don't see the universe as a living thing. We see only matter everywhere; in our eyes only objects appear. We know there is a magnetic field in creation, but we often see it as a dead field. Pure consciousness, that which is the basis of mind, that of which you are a part and everyone else is a part, is such a field and it is alive. Understanding, accepting and trusting the Intelligence which creates and sustains all things is the tenth principle of spiritual life.

11. Unity in Creation
When the human mind is stressed and tense, it judges, discriminates, loves this, doesn't love that, makes boundaries. And in so doing, it removes itself from existence. This removal of
existence from the flow of existence is called separation, but it is only apparent. Separation from existence is not possible. If a portion of a circle is removed, there is no longer a circle. See that you are part of existence, a fragment of the expression of the supreme Intelligence, the unifying force which underlies all of creation, all that is.

12. Your Nature is Love and Peace
When you understand the unity in creation, you don't have to make an effort to love others. Love is your nature. Love is what there is. Nothing other than love exists. See that love is not an action that you do, not a moral obligation that you must carry out. See that you exist in love and everything else exists in love.

And know that peace is also your nature. At any moment, in any place, you can just sit and let go, knowing inside you there is a pure clear space, vast and deep. That inner space is what you are. When you feel this, you are in touch with your spiritual dimension. 

I have come from peace, I am in peace, I'll go back to peace. Peace is my origin and my goal. I am peace, I am space, I am love. This inner affirmation or experience makes you a seeker. Knowing that your nature is love and peace is the twelfth principle.

13. Balance
The thirteenth principle of spiritual life is finding a balance between activity and rest between enjoying your world and coming back to your self, and finding a balance between silence and speech. If you kept silent all your life, never uttering a word, you would not necessarily be living the spiritual life. You have been given speech. You have been given talents and abilities. Make right use of these things you have been given and balance that with meditation, the self-referral aspect of your consciousness.

14. Self Enquiry
Self-enquiry is the next principle of spiritual life. Start with awareness of the feeling of your own body your own skin, the feeling of your skin under your garments, and under the skin your muscles and nerves and then bones. Do not be insensitive to life, like an animal who only eats, drinks and sleeps. Observe every sensation. Have the keenest awareness. In knowing your own body, you will come to know spirit that which is different from the body.

15. Dispassion and Maturity
Keen awareness comes with maturity, or you could say, with dispassion. Maturity and dispassion come together. You cannot be mature and not be dispassionate also. Dispassion is often wrongly understood to be a flat, dull state of mind or a negative mood. It has the connotation of being aloof and disinterested. This is not true. In dispassion, you are aware; you are intimate with yourself. In maturity there is no fevershness. In maturity here is royalty, there is freedom, there is understanding, there is mystery. This is the fifteenth principle of spiritual life, gaining dispassion and living maturely.

16. Appreciation of Beauty
The sixteenth principle of spiritual life is to acknowledge the beauty in creation, the beauty in every person, the beauty within you, and to know this beauty in the nature of spirit. The mind runs after beauty, appreciates beauty, but there is a difference between appreciating beauty and wanting to possess it. In wanting to possess beauty, we lose our dispassion.

Know it is spirit that is beautiful. Wherever you perceive beauty, spirit is there. If someone is beautiful, it is because of the spirit in them. A dead body is never beautiful. Attributing beauty to spirit and differentiating that from matter takes you a long way on the spiritual path.

17. Worshipfulness and Honor
The appreciation of beauty brings worshipfulness. You worship beauty, you adore it. Adoring and worshiping everything in creation as a reflection of the Creator is the next principle of spiritual life. 

And honor everything. Honoring is more than an emotional response. It is an attitude. It indicates a balanced understanding of life. When respect and love are both present, that brings honor. When there is honor, the mind is one hundred percent present and a sense of sacredness comes. Love and respect bring honor and honor brings sacredness. You cannot feel for something and not feel its sacredness. Sacredness brings alertness in the consciousness. Awareness comes.

18. Life is Imperishable
The final principle of spiritual life is knowing that life is imperishable. This is totally contradictory to the principle of knowing that life is impermanent, that everything is perishable. Now we say that life is imperishable; nothing can happen to it. Truth is always contradictory.

http://officialsrisri.blogspot.in/2011/01/18-principles-of-spiritual-life-by-h-h.html

Evolution: Not part of the self

Are you evolving? 
If you are evolving, you are not in the Self. And you are not out of the Self, because nothing can exist out of the Self. (Laughter)

Broadly they can be put in these 5 catagories. There are six distortions that do not exist in the Self.

Expansion -- Prasarana. Expansion indicates there is already something into which something expands. That which expands cannot be the basis for expansion.

Contraction -- Akunchana. Contraction means something shrinks from something else. Self does not withdraw or shrink from anything, so contraction does not exist in the Self.

Evolution -- Vriddhi. Evolution is becoming something which it is not already. Self is the same, so it cannot evolve.

Decay -- Kshaya. There is no devolution or decay in the Self. It doesn't get old or stale. That's why, when you are close to your Self, you don't feel that you are aging.

Beginning -- Anaadi. Self has no beginning. If God has a beginning, then He is no God.

Lack -- Abhava. Self has no lack. Whatever lacks something is not complete. Self does not lack anything, it is complete. Lack indicates existence of something outside itself. That doesn't exist for the Self. So if you feel you have not grown at all, don't worry, you are close to the Self. (Laughter)

When your mind is with the Self, then you don't worry about evolution. If you are thinking about evolving, then you are stuck in the mind. And mind is part of the matter, and matter evolves and decays.
And that is how the experience of contraction and expansion is all play and display of the mind. Mind expands and contracts. When it expands, it comes close to the truth, which has no expansion.

Are you still evolving? Good luck!!

-Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

http://www.artofliving.org/wisdom/knowledge-sheets/evolution-not-part-self?mobile=1

Significance of Celibacy

Question: Punditji, talk to us about the significance of celibacy in our life. 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Celibacy is a happening. When your awareness is so deeply rooted in the Being and Being is permeating everywhere, and when the thrilling joy and love is coming from every pore and cell of your body, a natural phenomenon that you call "celibacy" happens. The bliss in you is like the peak of the sex experience. When that stays with you as an electric current all the time in your body, you don't feel the body as a physical heavy body. It is light like a flower. It is like space, like air. When you get very spacey, you don't do anything. You don't feel the body because you are so immersed in joy. Then celibacy happens. It is not a practice that one does. It is a spontaneous happening, when love has flowered so much in our life. 

It is one energy which, in the lowest centre of our body, manifests as sex energy as well as creative energy. See, when you are very creative, if you are going for an examination or are involved in a large business, those days, thoughts of sex don't cross your mind. You work, you go to sleep and you work, because that particular activity occupies your mind so much. When you are very creative, the sex energy is transformed. People who are obsessed with sex are less creative. The one energy comes as either procreative or creative energy.

When the energy moves further up, to the second centre of your body, beauty and the arts are enlivened. The same energy turns into arrogance and jealousy. One energy has these two aspects, either as beauty, arts and appreciation or as jealousy and arrogance. They are not two different energies. Have you observed a tendency with beauty? We see beauty and we want to possess it. You may see a nice crystal chandelier and say "Oh, I want it." You bring it home. Do you enjoy looking at it every day? No. Again when you go out, you see other types of chandeliers which attract your attention. Most of you have beautiful paintings at home. Do you look at them every day and enjoy them? You seldom do that. You may say you enjoy them showing them to guests. Do you really enjoy them? No.

Your tendency is - when you see beauty, you want to possess it. In the process of possessing it, you make it ugly. When you see a beautiful boy or a beautiful girl, you want to possess, you want to love them somuch that you make it hard for them to breathe. This is happening! People are suffocated by love! And people are hurt by love! You can't get hurt if there is no love. If you love somebody and they don't smile at you or are busy, you get deeply hurt. You don't get hurt by somebody whom you don't love. Hurt is a part of love. And you don't want to accept that. You just want people to love and say goody-goody things and smile. All these modulations of the mind open up and change with observation. To me, celibacy is a gift that comes to you. It is a happening. The word celibate means 'married to God'. That means God has possessed you so much, has so fully entered into each cell, that there is no space left for anything else. Celibate means to be married to the spirit. Having seen over and over again, for lifetimes, what sex is, you move a step further and become immersed into That, divinity, that love which Is. 

http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/14779846/1936976212/name/LH

Five experiences can blossom your life

One day you should spend with the farmers. Morning to night, spend the day with the farmers and see how they sow the seeds, how they water the plants and how they care for the plants. Witnessing this enriches life. When you understand how food is grown and how much toiling has been done by the farmer, you will respect food, you will respect plants and you will respect the environment. So it is necessary to spend one day with the farmers.

One day you should spend in jail. You will understand how somebody has become a culprit, and you will understand that every culprit is a victim in some way. They had no knowledge, they were trapped in a situation, and so they committed a crime. You feel a lot of compassion and forgiveness for them.

One day you should spend in a hospital. You will see how people are suffering, then you will appreciate your own life. You will appreciate how fortunate you are. You will have compassion and you will see that you should put your life into better use, and you will become more health conscious. So one day in hospital gives you that.

One day you should spend in a mental hospital. If you spend a day in a mental hospital you will see how they scold you and how they speak to you. When you get scolded for no fault of yours, then you understand that this is how the whole world is. Then you do not get angry. That ego which says, 'I', 'Me', 'I know it', will simply dissolve. If you act like a mad person for just one day, you will become very natural. All the walls of ego that you have built around you, that ‘I am somebody’, will simply fall off. You are then able to understand people better, and you mingle with everybody. And nobody can upset you because you know the world is like a mental hospital. Everybody lives in their own world and they think only they are right.

If you go to Israel, you will find, in the Israel mental hospital there is a ward called Jerusalem Syndrome. Sometimes when people come as pilgrims, they walk into Jerusalem and suddenly they feel they are Jesus, or they are Mary Magdalene, or one of those characters and start behaving like that. So these people are put into this ward called Jerusalem Syndrome. They go crazy.

So when you go to the mental hospital, you will understand more about your own mind. This experience enriches your life. You will become immune to criticism. If someone criticizes you, you will not breakdown. Often people cannot withstand criticism. They do not understand that people in the world are crazy. So you get the ability to smile at every criticism that you face with just one day in a mental hospital. And then, you have to spend one day in a school. One day in a school and you will understand from where to where you have gone. You will reassess your own growth. You will learn patience. You will see how patiently you have to deal with the kids, and you will start taking responsibility. How you deal with kids, that is how you have to deal with all the people in the world.
-Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
http://www.artofliving.org/five-experiences-you-must-have

Big Secret - Relationships

If you find their love for you is reducing, you know how you should ask!!
WHY DO YOU LOVE ME SO MUCH.
Then even if they stop loving you, they start loving you badly.
This is the big secret. Ask
WHY DO YOU LOVE ME SO MUCH... 
I AM NOT WORTH. YOU GIVE MORE THAN I AM WORTH...
This humility is the glue, that keeps our family, our society, our world together. Demand always destroys love. Right!!
- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar