Thursday, November 5
Still looking inward -- an update
In the past few weeks, I have been busy teaching not only a Part 1 course, but also several thought-provoking sessions with AOL teachers and volunteers. At each step, we were overwhelmed by the depth and magnitude of the knowledge which Guruji has been transmitting to us so simply and effortlessly all these years, and which seems impossible to absorb. It's like the salt doll exploring the nature of the ocean -- in knowing the ocean, it loses its own identity, and then its last grain ceases to exist, it is nothing but ocean.
On more terrestrial terms, I have been re-evaluating my life in terms of changing paradigms of technology (shall write more on this later -- TED has some interesting views on it) and relearning my entire way of organising my life -- work, sports, family -- everything operates
on different rules these days, and often it is just the abject refusal to adapt to these changes that insulates and eventually isolates us from a teeming ocean of life and activity around us.
I'm particularly impressed with the new iPhone, which has taken the whole concept of user interfacing to an otherworldly level -- now this is often the only thing I carry with me, replacing a notebook/planner, camera, ipod, laptop, novels and magazines! Increasing amounts of my work are stored in a virtual "cloud" that I can freely access and share from anywhere at anytime.
Basically this frees me up to "be creative" at all times -- not just when I am with paper and pen or guitar and recorder and so on. At the same time, it also pains me that most of India lives in such poverty and deprivation while a very select few of us enjoy cutting-edge technology and its apparent attendant benefits. Our goal must be to reconcile these conflicting areas of our countrymen's lives before we can truly call ourselves "developed".
I also finally joined Facebook, almost exclusively for my schoolfriends and family; and it has been rewarding having all of them in such a close virtual loop. Sorry, but I have closed off FB access to most people, as I still feel that my public interaction is best served through this blog, and through your questions and responses.
My band's sound continues to evolve, and an uncanny energy has pervaded recent concerts, even corporate audiences have been stunned into reverie, as a palpable Grace floods the hall and elevates each soul.
What next, I ask, along with all of you?
And the answer is still a wonder -- I don't know :)
Jai Gurudev
Monday, November 2
God for the disbelievers soul by Sri Sri
You have always thought of God as a father, up in the heavens somewhere. But can you see God as a child? When you see God as a father, you will want to demand and take from Him. But when you see God as a child, you have no demands. God is the very core of your existence. You are pregnant with God. You have to take care of your pregnancy and deliver this Child into the worl d. God is your child who clings onto you like a baby till you grow old and die. This child clings on to you crying for nourishment. Sadhana, Satsang and Seva are the nourishment.
It is difficult to see God as formless and it is difficult to see God as form. The formless is so abstract and God in a form appears to be too limited. So some people prefer to be atheists. But atheism is not a reality, it is just a matter of convenience.
When you have a spirit of inquiry, or are in search of truth, atheism falls apart. With a spirit of inquiry, you cannot deny something which you have not disproved. An atheist denies God without first disproving it. In order to disprove God, you must have enormous knowledge. And when you have enormous knowledge, you cannot disprove God For one to say that something does not exist, one should know about the whole universe. So you can never be 100 percent atheist. An atheist is only a believer who is sleeping In fact an atheist is someone who has a concept of God For a person to say, I dont believe in anything, means he must believe in himself so he believes in himself about whom he
does not even know
An atheist can never be sincere because sincerity needs depth and an atheist refuses to go to the depths. Because the deeper he goes, he finds a void, a field of all possibilities he has
to accept that there are many secrets he does not know. He would then need to acknowledge his ignorance, which he refuses to do, because the moment he is sincere, he seriously starts doubting his atheism.
A doubt-free atheist is next to impossible So you can never be a sincere and doubt-free atheist. When the atheist realises his ignorance, what does he do? Where does he go? Does he go to a Guru? What does a guru do to him? Atheism is when one does not believe either in values or in the abstract. When an atheist comes to the guru, what happens? You
start experiencing your own form and discover that you are indeed formless, hollow and empty. And this abstract non-form in you becomes more and more concrete
The guru makes the abstract more real and what you thought as solid appears to be more unreal. Sensitivity and subtlety dawns. Perception of love, not as an emotion, but as the
substratum of existence becomes evident. The formless spirit shines through every form in creation and the mystery of life deepens, shattering the atheism. Then the journey begins and it has four stages.
The first stage is Saarupya (to see the formless in the form) ie, seeing God in all the forms. Often, one feels more comfortable seeing God as formless rather than with a form, because with a form, one feels a distance, a duality, a fear of rejection and other limitations.
In life all our interactions are with the form, other than in deep sleep and in Samadhi. And, if you do not see God in the form, then the waking part of life remains devoid of the Divine. All those who accept God to be formless use symbols, and perhaps love the
symbols more than God himself If God comes and tells a Christian to leave the cross or a Muslim to drop the crescent, perhaps he may not do it To begin with, loving the formless is possible only through forms.
The second stage is Saamipya (closeness) ie, feeling absolutely close to the form you have chosen and reaching out to the formless. This leads to a sense of intimacy with the whole of creation. In this stage, one overcomes the fear of rejection and other fears. But this
is time and space bound.
The third stage is Saanidhya feeling the presence of the Divine by which you transcend the limitations of time and space. Then the final stage is Saayujya, ie, when you are firmly
entrenched with the Divine. It is then that you realise you are one with the Divine. There is a total merging with the Beloved and all duality disappears.
Take care of your God Atheists lurk around the corner Doubts, disbelief and ignorance are the atheists in your mind so you better take care
Sent from SriSri iphone App
Sent from my iPhone
Friday, October 23
Thought for the day
Q: How can I free myself from the polarity of dependence and independence so that I will be free for real?
Sri Sri : There is nothing called total independence in life. Forget about it. If you are thinking "I want to be totally independent" -- you are not. Till the age of 15, 16 or 17years you were not independent. You were born dependant. Somebody had to lift you up. Somebody had to change your diapers. Somebody had to wash you. Somebody had to feed you. Somebody had to bathe you, put you to bed. You were born dependant and in the end will also remain dependant. When you die you are not going to cremate your body. When you are sick somebody has to attend to you. You cannot operate yourself. You cannot be your own doctor. After 50 – 60 years, it becomes so obvious that you are dependent on somebody. To some extent you can't say I am totally independent. Somebody has to do something for you. Just the fact that you pay them some bills, it doesn't mean you have become independent. You are just getting it done as an exchange. You are helping them a little bit but you are still your dependant on them. Suppose no one wants your bills, nobody wants to work for you, what will happen to you? Because you have some paper bills and people want those currency bills it gives you an illusion that you are independent. Money gives you a false notion that you are independent. You may have money, but what if nobody wants money, then what will happen to you? You are dependant. So life is a swing between independence and dependence. At the same time you are independent to think, you are independent to act, you are independent to have a say over you feelings, control your feelings, if you want to feel good, it is your choice. If you want feel bad it is your choice.
You should listen to the Ashtavakra knowledge. I have spoke about it in this. Life is a combination of both independence and dependence. If you want to be kind you are totally independent to be kind. If you want to have good manners you are totally independent to have good manners. It doesn't depend on others. If you want to speak sweetly its totally dependent on you to do that. If you want to blame somebody or be rude to others you are totally independent to do so. You have to choose what you want to be independent about and what you want to put yourself through. You may think financially you are independent, but I tell you if you cannot endure certain derogatory remarks from one of your friends or family or someone, you are not independent. If someone blames you or tells you bad things about yourself then you will come to know how independent or dependent you are. If you are really independent then nothing can bother you. You move with zeal, with vision, with a smile.
Saturday, October 17
Thursday, October 15
Pt Nityanand Haldipur's concert in Mumbai
Tuesday, October 6
Ottmar Liebert's new album
Tuesday, September 29
An Inter-Religious Dialogue: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar & Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
Thursday, September 24
Phir se Mamu!
Here are the first pics of my nephew Siddhant :)
Friday, September 11
Watch us on ETV India
Channel Name | Telecast Time (Monday to Saturday) |
ETV- Bangla | 09.30a.m |
ETV-M.P. | 10.30a.m |
ETV-U.P. | 10.30a.m |
ETV-Bihar | 10.30a.m |
ETV-Rajasthan | 09.30a.m |
ETV-2 (Telugu) | 11.30p.m |
ETV-Oriya | 10.30a.m |
ETV-Gujarati | 08.00a.m |
ETV-Marathi | 09.30a.m |
ETV-Urdu | 10.30a.m |
ETV-Kannada | 11:30p.m |
Episode-1 (telecast date 12-09-09)
Episode– 2 (telecast date 19-09-09)
Episode– 3 (telecast date 26-09-09)
Episode– 4 (telecast date 03-10-09)
Episode– 5 (telecast date 10-10-09)
Episode–6 (telecast date 17-10-09)
Episode– 07 (telecast date 24-10-09)
Episode–8 (telecast date 31-10-09)
Episode–09 (telecast date 07-11-09)
Episode– 10 (telecast date 14-11-09)
Episode– 11 (telecast date 21-11-09)
Episode– 12 (telecast date 28-11-09)
Episode– 13 (telecast date 05-12-09)
Understanding Traditions-I
Episode– 14 (telecast date 12-12-09)
Episode– 15 (telecast date 19-12-09)
Understanding Traditions-II
Episode– 16 (telecast date 26-12-09)
Episode– 17 (telecast date 02-1-10)
Episode– 18 (telecast date 09-1-10)
Episode– 19 (telecast date 16-1-10)









