Skip to main content

I am happy and calm now. What can I do to maintain this state throughout life?

Question: I am happy and calm now. What can I do to maintain this state throughout life?
 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

             Share it with more and more people. Joy or wisdom if not shared with others starts dwindling. Now this does not mean you go to others and start teaching them Bhastrika Pranayama, or the Sudarshan Kriya. Unless you get properly trained, you should not go about teaching meditation and these practices to others. This is why we had to put a quality control for Yoga in the country today. There is a QCI (Quality Control for India) body and the government has asked it to do something for Yoga also. It is because it is observed that people learn something from somewhere and then go around teaching it to others without proper training. Then when some unwanted or unexpected things happen it becomes a problem. There is a proverb in Sanskrit – “Yasya kasya tarur-mulam yena kenapi churnitam; yasmai kasmai pradaatavyam yatvaa-tatvaa bhavishyati” (From the Subhashita). It means that someone may bring the root of any tree, grind it into a fine powder and give it off as medicine to others. And something or the other may happen to the other person by taking that (untested) medicine. The same is what is happening with Yoga also these days. People practice Yoga for just a week and proclaim themselves to be Yoga instructors and teachers. There needs to be a proper quality system in place for Yoga also, and there should be levels or stages of training and certification. Until then, do not just go and train others. But you should always talk to other people about Yoga and bring more awareness about it. You should definitely inspire and encourage others for this.

Popular posts from this blog

Human Values: The Common Ground Of All Religions

Human Values: The Common Ground Of All Religions I see a crisis facing the world today. It is fundamentally one of identification. People identify themselves with limited charac­teristics such as gender, race, religion and nationality, forget­ting their basic identity as part of the universal spirit. These limited identifications lead to conflict on a personal level and globally. Every individual is much more than the sum of these limited identifications. The highest identification we can make is that we are part of Divinity, and only secondly are we human beings and members of the human family. In divine creation, the whole of the human race is united. Along with the proper identification of our true nature, we need to return to the values that are the essence of all major traditions. Religion has three aspects: values, rituals and symbols. The moral and spiritual values are common to all traditions, and the symbols and practices--those rituals and customs that form a way ...

What is the significance of a Christmas tree?

Question: What is the significance of a Christmas tree? Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:          Be like the Christmas tree; evergreen, shining, full of lights and full of gifts. So everyone here is a Christmas tree. A Christmas tree only gives, it doesn’t take anything for itself. It just gives. So go with that thought, I’m a Christmas tree!      Come summer or winter or fall, it never falls, never springs. All through the year it’s green and in winter it gives presents.       I want to see everyone smiling and happy. Just create waves of happiness, everything else is irrelevant. In the world things happen, some pleasant, some unpleasant. Some things happen the way you want it, some things don’t happen the way you want. Bundle it all and put it aside. Nothing can really take away your happiness.      When you have had a good meditation, and when the prana is high, what do you feel? Nothing matters! Right? Noth...

Gurudev, what is the purpose of fear?

Question - Gurudev, what is the purpose of fear? Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar-            Nature has built a little fear into all living beings. This fear makes life defend itself, protect itself. Like salt in food, a little fear is essential for people to be righteous.  Fear of hurting someone makes you more conscious. Fear of failure makes you more keen and dynamic. Fear moves you from carelessness to taking care. Fear moves you from being insensitive to being sensitive. Fear moves you from dullness to alertness.  Total lack of fear may lead to destructive tendencies – a distorted ego knows no fear. Nor does one with expanded consciousness. While the ego dismisses fear and acts in a destructive manner, the wise one acknowledges fear and takes refuge in the Divine. When you are in love, when you are surrendered, there is no fear.  Ego, too, knows no fear. But there is a difference – like the difference between heaven and earth –...