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Q. I no longer understand the role of human beings. Are we given human
will for a purpose to will something? When do we use God's will to do
something?
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Sri Sri : This is a question about "what is free will & what is
destiny"? Right? God's will & human will, right? Now, what is a "will"? It
is a thought, right? When your thought is in alliance with what is happening-whatsoeve r is happening-you call it free will. When your
thought is in opposition with whatever is happening, you call it destiny.Big
volumes have been written on free will and destiny. Free will and destiny
-it is very simple. One is whatever is happening: another is your thought
process When they are in alliance, you call it free will. "Oh! I have this,
I willed this," The thought comes to you-free will. When your nervous system is clear, the thoughts that come are intuitive thoughts. Intuitive thoughts are those which are in alignment with whatever is happening. So you call that free will. Whether you have absolute free will or absolute destiny it is the same.
2. Are you saying that you don't create what happens? What happens
just happens, and you are just observing life? Or you still have the
opportunity or the ability to create what happens in your life?
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Sri Sri: no, when I say observe, I don't mean that you should be
inactive. Whatever is happening let it happen. If tea has come don't think, "let it go into my mouth, let the cup rise up." It is not like that-no, no-it is not being lazy this has been wrongly understood in the east, in India, and in many other countries and culture. It been wrongly understood that not doing means "your destiny", or abstaining from action. It is observation; observation is not abstaining from action. You still do, you still create.Now you want do something, create something, and a thought comes. Did you make some effort to think a new thought? Can you think something that you don't know? It is not possible. A new thought or any discovery just arises spontaneously from somewhere unknown. You don't know from where it comes.All scientific discoveries have come from some level of consciousness, and even scientist doesn't know how it has arisen. Do you see that? You simply sit and relax. You may watch the sunset, the trees, the birds, the seas or the ocean, and one creative thought pops up in the mind, and you work on that. You are ready to jump into action with that thought.
3. Are there accidental things in life?
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Sri Sri : Accidental things. Suddenly something happens without cause
or reason. If you see it from a wide angle lens then every happening has a cause. Cause and effect is a law. Something may appear to be accidental, but in the bigger picture, everything has a cause and effect.
4. And destiny?
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Sri Sri :Yes, Destiny. All cause and effect.
5. Is there a stronger law than cause and effect?
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Sri Sri : What is stronger than cause and effect is the self, which
is beyond cause and beyond effect. It is the energy, it is the self.
(Someone calls out "LOVE"). Love, exactly. Or knowledge. You call it Knowledge, you call it, and you call it Guru. It's the same.
Q: Why do elders say that we should not cut nails or hairs in the night?
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Sri Sri: In ancient times, there was no electricity. So how would you
find the nail or hair if you cut them in the night and also they wanted a
holiday for the barber. [laughter]
Q: What is the difference between the self, the mind,and thoughts?
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Sri Sri: The self is the ocean, the mind is the wave, and the
thoughtsare the sparkles on the wave.
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Effortless= Meditation
Hmmmmmm.... what else? So much is happening, has happened, will happen...and all there is is right NOW. Is it all a dream? Can't we all
just relax and be happy? Yes! We can! And you are just stuck on temporary stuff if you think otherwise. Notice that which is unchanging in yourself and be with that. That is called meditation! Or listen to something one art of living teacher, Philip, said:
"We gain so much from our efforts in life, yet there are somethings
thht effort cannot accomplish. Meditating is the delicate art of doing
nothing - letting go of everything and being who you are. It allows the conscious mind to settle deeply into itself; and when the mind settles down, it lets go of all tension and stress and centres itself in the present moment. Regular practice of meditation, once or twice a day can totally transform the quality of you life." -Sri Sri
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jai gurudev.
* Work hard or take it easy.
"Life is utterly simple and yet most complex. You have to simultaneously attend to both facets of life. When life appears most complex, turn to the simplicity. Simplicity brings peace. When you are peaceful, attend to the complexity within you. That will make you more skillful.
"If you are only with simplicity, it makes you lazy and dull. Being only with complexity makes you angry and frustrated. The intelligent ones balance them and rejoice in both. If you look only to simplicity, growth is not there. Looking only at the complexity, there is no life at all. All that you need is a skillful balance. If you recognize both simplicity and complexity of life, you’ll be skillfully peaceful!
"Colors are the complexity of life. White is the simplicity. When your heart is pure, your life becomes so colorful."
* Words -
If you manipulate words, it is a lie. If you play on words, it is a joke. If you rely on words, it is ignorance. If you transcend words, it is wisdom.
* "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 don't feel the time. Also, in sleep you don't feel the time.
"In deep meditation, you are the time and everything is happening in you. Events are happening in you like the clouds come and go in the sky.
"When you are ahead of time, it is dragging and boring. When the time is ahead of you, then you are surprised and shocked. You cannot digest the events.
"When you are with the time, you are wise and at peace."
*
When people consider the past as free will they are filled with remorse and regret.
When they consider the future as destiny, lethargy and inertia set in.
A wise person considers the past as destiny and the future as free will.
When you consider the past as destiny, no more questions are raised and the mind is at ease.
And when you consider the future as free will you are filled with enthusiasm and dynamism.
Of course there will be some uncertainty when you consider the future as free will, and some anxiety, but it can also bring alertness and creativity.
Consider the past as destiny, the future as free will and the present moment as Divinity.
* When you want to do some service, the mind goes, "Oh, its all Maya, anyway everything is an illusion. Its all just happening. Things will happen when the time comes!"
In this way Knowledge gets misused and is quoted out of context to suit ones convenience or laziness. In the name of dispassion do not lose that spark of enthusiasm and interest. Using Knowledge like this you miss out a lot.
Keep the fire of longing for the Divine and service to the society alive. Dispassion here would be detrimental.
*
One with wisdom feels at home with the disgruntled as well as the happy, foolish and intelligent. Similarly, people with all these tendencies also feel at home with the wise.
Just turn around and look at what goes on in your group - are you grateful or grumbling? Take responsibility to uplift the people around you. That is Satsang, not just singing and leaving.
The wise person is like the sky where all birds can fly.
*e alert whatever you are doing. If you are 100 percent alert that is also meditation. But that shouldn’t become an excuse not to meditate. Meditation brings deep relaxation, and that brings creativity.
Only one who is 100 percent in doing can recognize the happening.
The healthiest way to apply this knowledge is to see the whole past as happening and the present as doing. If you see the past as doing, then ego and regret come along. And when you see the present as happening, then laziness and unawareness set in. If you apply the doing for the future, it brings tension and worry. If you apply the happening for the future, it might bring some confidence and also lethargy.
Let the happening be for the past. Let the doing be for the present. And the future is a mix of both.
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Compassion and Karma
There are two types of compassion. One is the compassion of the wise, one is that of the ignorant.
An ignorant person's compassion is on the fruit of an action whereas a wise person's compassion is towards the non-availability of knowledge. Compassion for suffering shows ignorance. Suffering comes because of karma, and if you believe in karma, where is compassion? One reaps the fruit of one's actions.
If a judge has compassion for all the offenders then the jails will be empty. At the same time, are the judges cruel to the offenders? No; the judges' compassion is for the non-availability of knowledge, not for the suffering of the criminals. It is their karma.
Often people think compassion is an act, an action. Know that compassion is your very nature. Then you will see that karma and compassion are not contradictory but complement each other.
Suppose two people come to a hospital. One is suffering from starvation, the other is ill from overeating. What type of compassion should the doctor have towards each of them? This is a riddle for you to solve!
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Ask yourself this question: Do you seek harmony in every situation or do you seek to widen the differences and prove your righteousness?
When your survival is at stake, you don't complain that nobody loves you. When you are safe and secure you start demanding attention. Many people create conflict in order to get attention.
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ONLY SPEAK KNOWLEDGE
Only speak Knowledge. Don't repeat anything that someone tells you or opinions about anyone that someone states -- "That so-and-so said such-and-such about you." If someone comes to tell you such things, discourage them. Don't believe it.
If someone blames you directly, know that they are taking away your bad karma and let it go. Don't believe in it, and if you're one of the Guru's close ones, you will take all of the blame of the world with a smile.
Conflict is the nature of the world; comfort is the nature of the self. Amidst the conflict seek the comfort.
When you are bored with the comfort, get into the games of the world. When you are tired of the games of the world, get into the comforts of the Self. If you are one of the Guru's close ones, you do both simultaneously. Trying to end conflict prolongs it. Face the conflict by seeking the comfort of the Self.
God is alive in the world and has been putting up with all the ongoing conflicts throughout the ages. If God can put up with all the conflicts, you can too. The moment you agree to be with the conflict, the conflict disappears.
People who love peace do not want to fight, and those who fight do not love peace. Those who want peace want to run away. What is needed here is to be peaceful within and then fight. The whole message of the Gita is to be peaceful yourself and then fight. Krishna tells Arjuna to fight but be in peace at the same time. Does this ring a bell?
In the world, you resolve one conflict and another one comes up. For example, Russia is solved and then Bosnia arises. You make one better, and then another starts up. Your body gets a cold, then you get better; then your back hurts, then it gets better. Your body gets better, and then the mind goes. The world runs like this, isn't it?
Without any intention, misunderstandings happen. It's not up to you to try to resolve them. Ignore them and be alive.
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Vikas Prabhu : With salutes to His Holiness. I believe that God controls everything that happens in this world. Even a leaf cannot shake without HIS consent. In that case, all the hatred and aggression that is prevanlent in today's world should be a handiwork of the almighty himself. Can you please tell me why he first creates such a wonderful world and beautiful creatures and then puts flaws in them? If he wanted us to fight and kill each other, why did he create us in the first place? Did he purposely make this happen or has the world gone out of his control? If this is the way he wanted it to happen, then should we make an attempt to change it?
His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : Agreed that god controls everything that happens in this world. When you think god controls everything, then you get into theological mess. God is a field in which everything is happening. And even a question that comes into your mind, is coming from the same area. The instinct to do good is also from there. The whole universe is played and displayed on consciousness. The doctor is divine, the patient is also divine. The teacher is divine, student is also divine. They are part of the character. You need to understand quantum physics in order to understand this riddle.
A mere attempt to change the world, is also god's attempt. God is also changing thru you.
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Joseph Dominic : How would you define good and evil and what is the reference point for these?
His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : Good is that which brings goodness to you and everybody; bad is that which makes you miserable. Long-term goodness brings you long-term happiness. That which brings you short term joy and long term sorrow is not good
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You say you are responsible for your actions and inactions. But in the bowing down process you say not we but the angels are responsible for everything
Sri Sri: Both are true. Truth is complicated. It is spherical like the earth. Things can begin at every point and end in every point Divine is Anadi (beginingless) & Ananth (endless).
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