SRI SRI AT SATSANG

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Satsang today

Ques: Who is a Yogi and what is the Yogic way of life?
‪#‎SriSri‬: A Yogi is a child. Becoming a baby again is a Yogi. If you look at a baby, from about 3 months to 3 years he does almost all asanas. You don’t need a Yoga teachers if you observe a baby! And similarly all animals also do some asanas, some exercise. So then nature teaches you, nature is the best teacher. Everything in nature gives you something. A baby is a Yogi and Yogi is child like. Yogi means one who is connected with the infinity, connected with everyone. Doesn’t feel isolated at all, with anyone. A Yogi is one who is skilfull, yogi is onewho is flexible. You know some people are very flexible in the body, but in their mind they are very rigid. A rigid person is not very palatable. He cannot communicate with someone, he is not open to ideas.. So a Yogi is one who has no rigidity, at the same Yogi is not one who is wishy-washy.. He is very straight forward. There is a strength, yet there is softness. Childlike innocence yet has a depth in wisdom. Childlike not childish! Childlike simplicity and wisdom. This is the best combination.. Yogi is a perfect combination of sensibility and sensitivity. Love and Centeredness. Often people who fall in love, lose their centerdness and people who are very centered they don’t seem to be radiating love. A Yogi is that perfect combination of head and heart. Being centered at the same time being very loving, both.. Yogi is one who is connected. Connected to the Self, connected to the universal self, connected to everybody, because everybody is connected.

Ques: How does one get over attachment?
#SriSri: why do you want to get over attachment, tell me? Because it is painful? If it doesn’t give you pain, you would never think of getting rid of attachment. An attachment gives pain because there is ignorance in it, possessiveness. Don’t try to get out of attachment, but learn to be centered. Just expand your understanding about the world, about life, about how things are. Then you will see, you don’t have to make an effort to get rid of attachment. It will automatically go away. Like children are so attached to the cotton candy, sweets. You put out some sweets, kids want to go out and grab and eat everything. But when you grow older, that craving for the sweet or toys, those things have dropped out of you. You didn’t have to make an effort to get detached from that. That detachment is a very natural phenomenon. As you mature, then the small things just fall away. Otherwise you keep holding on to what someone said against you, or abused you and you become so miserable for months together! And you even promise yourself that you will never forget it! Don’t forget if you but then who will be the one to suffer? .. This is foolishness. See that different people have different ways of talking, behaving, expressing themselves. Don’t believe that somebody does not have love in their heart. Don’t think that. Everyone does but somewhere it is hidden, some are not able to express it. If you see from this point of view then all the arguments between in-laws will come to an end!... Someone says something to you, it is ok. They say something wrong because of their own stress, some wound inside them. That’s why they behave the way they do. Just because they have a wound in them, why do you want to create a wound inside you? Bring about bigness in your mindset, see things from a larger perspective. With love you can win over anyone. There is no situation that cannot be overcome by love. .. So it is very important to do some sadhana, practices, for few minutes in a day, expand our perspective. Then we will be happy and keep others also happy. It is foolish to hold on to small things and be miserable and make other’s also miserable. For that you don’t need to be a scholar and read great scriptures. That is not required. Just meditate a little and listen to some knowledge.

Ques: What to do about the attachment to the Guru? It causes a lot of pain too!
#SriSri: Well, if you try to possess the Guru then of course it will be difficult. Guru belongs to everyone, not just to one person! Saint Meera has sung that wherever there is love there will be some pain. But this pain is a different kind. It is a sweet pain. If there is attachment to God, Guru or the whole world, it is the same.. There is an improvement in your life, that is when you worship the Guru. People think that when we worship the Guru then the improvement happens. That is not so. Now how will you thank the Guru? How your life has transformed, bring about a transformation in others’ lives too. Let ten more people get benefitted by you, do that work. And you should respect your parents. No matter how their state of mind is, or how they behave. Whether they share your point of view or not, it doesn’t matter. Respect them the way they are. So this pain is longing. Longing and love are the two sides of the same coin. It happens, and because of this all the creativity comes in our life. And other things cause the dryness in our life.. the longing brings the juice in our life.

Ques: Pashupatinath is worshipped in Nepal. What is the meaning of Pashupati?
#SriSri: ‘Pashu’ means the one who is bound, programmed. There are eight things that bind you. The one bound by these eight things is ‘pashu’. Man is a social animal and this society, this world is bound by these eights ‘paash’ like anger, attachments etc. Pashupati is the one who is the Lord of this world which is bound by ‘paash’. Everything living and non-living thing is bound, so the Lord of all things living or non-living is Pashupatinath. And there you should not sacrifice any animals. He does not like it at all. It is very wrong to sacrifice animals in the name of God. This is prohibited in the scriptures. Never do it. It is ignorance. In Nepal I have heard they make sacrifices of five animals, but this time there has a lot of work that has been done to stop this and educate to people. Keep working like this and make sure it is completely eliminated. Spread the knowledge in every village and every house. If you do not have the power to give life to an animal, you don’t have the right to take it’s life. Every animal has the right to live.

Ques: The segregation in society of Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra is by birth or by our action?
#SriSri: By our action. This segregation is across the world. In every place there are groups of intellectuals, chamber of commerce (Vaishyas), military personnel (Kshatriyas) and everywhere there are labour unions (Shudra). So it’s by our work, actions not by birth.

Ques: It is said the Devi defeated Mahishasur by ‘Hunkaar’. What is that?
#SriSri: Yes. You take a deep breath in and make the “Huun” sound and see what happens. All the inertia in you disappears! The inertia in you is only Mahishasur.

Ques: How can I be a better meditator?
#SriSri: See there is no better or worse meditator. Just be in the present, be happy. And instead of thinking what I can get, see how I can contribute, how I can be useful for the society. Change this one thing. There is a joy in getting. Everyone praises me, respects me, gives me this and that, this thing that is in the mind needs to be gotten rid of. Come out of this and think what can I do for everyone? If this shift happens, then meditation also becomes good and life also becomes sweet. There is a joy, that is infant joy, the joy in getting things. We are born with the joy of getting. But have you seen the grandmothers and grandfathers? Their joy is in sharing. A mother cooks so many dishes when children come home and her joy is in feeding everybody, in giving. This is a mature joy. So somewhere in life we have to grow from the joy of grabbing and getting to the joy of sharing and giving the motherly joy. That means you have matured.