knowledge sheets on devotion - by sri sri ravi shankar

7/29/2019 Knowledge Sheets on Devotion - By Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

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Source: Art of Living Page 1


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Three Kinds of Devotees

The first kind is a devotee who keeps asking, God give me this, God give me that.

The second kind is a devotee who is always grateful, Thank you God, you gave me this and yougave me that; a devotee who is emotional, prayerful and keeps crying out of gratitude.

The third kind is a devotee who always remains joyful, keeps smiling, dancing and singing; ajoyful devotee.

All three are different kinds of devotees, and yet all three are supreme. It is not that one is greaterthan anotherthat is not so. So there is, a crying devotee, a laughing devotee, and a devoteewho keeps askingwhich category are you in, you can see that for yourself.

It is possible that a little of all three may be there in you. That also is okay. Then that would bethe fourth kind of devoteeone who has a little bit of all the three present.

Now, one who gets lost in fun only, somewhere or the other, he is not able to attain depth, anddepth is also needed. That is why saintKabirdas has said, Kabira hasana door kar, rone se karpreet, bin roye kit paaiye, prem piyara meet.

The crying which Kabirdas is talking about is a different kind of crying. It is the crying thatcomes out of praise, out of gratitude and longing. It is not the kind of crying where one feels thatthis is lacking, that is lacking, this did not happen, that did not happen. He is not referring to thattype of crying which is for the worldly matters ormaya. He is referring to those who cry out of

bliss and devotion. So that is also needed.

But the devotees who are joyful are said to be the knowledgeable ones, because they know thatGod is right herehe is within me, and he is present this very moment.

Often people think that God is elsewhere; he existed sometime in the past, or will comesometime in the future. They forget that God is right here, right now, present within everyone,present within methis conviction should be there.

It is for this only that you are doing all these gymnastics, all these exercises. Otherwise what isthe point of doing these exercises all daydoingpranayama, asana, kirtan, bhajan, sevawhat

is the essence of all these? To know that God is inside me, right here and right now.

This much for today! Listening to too much knowledge will cause indigestion. It becomesdifficult to digest. Just digest this much, today Gurudev spoke only one line God is right here,right now, within me and within everyone.


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Devotee Becomes God

When a river meets the ocean, the river no longer remains a river. It becomes the ocean. A drop

of the ocean is part of the ocean. In the same way, the moment a devotee meets (surrenders to)the Divine, the devotee becomes GOD. When the river meets the ocean, it recognizes that it isthe ocean from the beginning to the end. Similarly, the individual "IU IU" dissolves in ONEDivinity.

Question: What about backwaters?

Sri Sri: Sometimes the ocean goes into the river to greet it. Sometimes it seems that the ocean ispushing back the river. Similarly, the Divine puts many questions and doubts in the mind orgives an amazing experience to bring one back home.

Steeped in Mystery Is Devotion

One who is not amazed by the magnificence of this Creation, his eyes are not yet opened. Onceyour eyes are open, they close and this is called meditation. (Laughter)

Tell me, what in this Creation? Is not a mystery? Birth is a mystery; death is a mystery. If bothbirth and death are mysterious, then life is certainly a greater mystery. Isn't it?

Being completely immersed in the mystery of Life and this Creation is Samadhi. Your knowingor believing doesn't really matter to what Is. This Creation is an unfathomable secret, and its

mysteries only deepen. Getting steeped in mystery is Devotion. The "Scene" is a mystery; the"Seer" is a mystery. Deepening the mystery of Creation is science. Deepening the mystery of theSelf is spirituality. They are the two sides of the same coin. If neither Science nor Spirituality cancreate wonder and devotion in you, then you are in deep slumber.

Intention

Intentions keep the tension in. Being hollow and empty means dropping all intentions. Withintension, rest does not become deep. Devotion dissolves intentions. Intention pushes you to thefuture. Bliss is always present. The one who wakes up to this truth is wise. In a state of bliss,

once in a while, if an intention comes up, it manifests effortlessly. The more intentions you have,the more in tension you will be. To minimize your intentions could be your last intention.


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Intensify your longing

Attainment Of The Divine Depends On The Intensity Of Longing And Not On The Time And

Qualification. There is a proverb among the villagers in India, which says that it may take sometime to pluck a flower but it takes no time to meet the Divine ! Abilities, qualifications are notthe criteria. It is simply the intensity of your longing.

Intensify your longing for the Divine right away. This you can do when you know that you wantnothing and you are nothing.

Suneeta: If we are nothing and we want nothing, how can longing come?

Sidappa: Knowing you are nothing and you want nothing brings belongingness:

....and belongingness intensifies longing.

Bill: What is the difference between desire and longing?

Sri Sri: Desire is the fever of the head. Longing is the cry of the heart.

The heat of knowledge

For your prayer to be answered, the desire has to be intense. The greater the intensity of desireand the later it gets fulfilled, then greater will be the gratitude. lntense desire leads you to

devotion. For desire to get intense, time and the need for the desire are required. The feeling ofgratitude is so overwhelming after the fulfillment of desire that it's achievement loses its charmand significance.

The son of a farmer in India had a life-long desire to go to England and he prayed deeply for it.Even the news of his trip to England materializing filled him with immense gratitude -- he didnot even care whether he went or not.

Often people think that they are unfortunate if their desires don't get fulfilled quickly. lntensedesire can frustrate you or make you prayerful. In prayerfulness, there is gratitude and devotion.Any intense experience makes you whole.

Your consciousness is like corn. With the heat of Knowledge, consciousness pops ups andbecomes white and fluffy.


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Doubt And Closeness

Doubt cannot come where there is a sense of closeness. Doubt needs a distance to appear. Younever doubt something that is dear to you, close to you.

The moment you doubt, it is no longer dear to you; a distance has come.

You may doubt yourself, but you do not doubt that which is yours.

Self-doubt is a lack of closeness to oneself, a sense of belongingness, closeness, initmacy are allthe antidotes for doubt.

DoubtA doubt is a gray area. Gray is something which is neither white nor black. Now, how to solvethe doubt? An event, knowledge, convention cannot help. Then what can help? Accepting iteither as black or white. Put it either as black and accept it or as white and accept it -- whether ornot it is black or white. And see the gray as a shade of black or white. Either way you accept it.Honest or dishonest -- accept it. Then the mind is quiet. You are not in the gray area.

See, the eyes are dark, eyebrows are dark, and the thymus -- the most powerful organ of the body-- is black. Haemoglobin -- the main force of the body -- is black. You cannot survive withoutblack. It is part of you.Or see it as white. Eye is also white. Bones are white; the structure on

which the whole body stands is white.

Put your doubt in a category of black -- no problem -- accept. Put it in a category of white -- noproblem -- doubt is not there. Have conviction, "I accept. They are dishonest and still part of me.That's it. Finished.


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Balance and discipline

People who are free, regret that they don't have discipline. They keep promising that they will

become disciplined. People who are disciplined look for the end. (Discipline is not an end initself, it is a means.)

Look at the people who have no discipline; they are miserable. Freedom without discipline isabsolute misery. Discipline without freedom is suffocating.

Orderliness is monotonous and chaos is stressful.

We have to make the discipline free and the freedom disciplined.

People who are in company all the time, they look for the comforts of solitude. People who are in

solitude, feel so lonely and want to be in company.

People who are in a cold place want to be in a warm place. People who are in a warm place lovesomething cool.

This is the dilemma of life: Everyone is looking for perfect balance. Perfect balance is like arazor's edge. It can only be found in the self.

There is no road to this town and there are no steps to this house.

How do you get in? Figure it all out.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Freedom And Discipline

Freedom and discipline are opposites and complementary. The purpose of defense is to protectfreedom. But is there freedom in defense? Do soldiers have freedom? No, they are totally bound,not even allowed to put the right foot down when told the left foot. Their steps are measured andthey are unable even to walk with a natural rhythm. There is total lack of freedom in defense.That which has absolutely no freedom is protecting the freedom of the country! So it is with the

police; they protect the freedom of the individual. But are they free?

Discipline protects freedom. They both go hand in hand. Understand this and go ahead in life.You have some restrictions and it is this that allows you freedom. You can choose to focus eitheron freedom or discipline, and this makes you happy or unhappy. Freedom without discipline islike a country without a defense.


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Fences should be fences; a fence cannot be built all over the property. If your fence is all over,how can you build on the property? That state of high absolute freedom is too difficult; we needto be very practical. Yes, there is a state of unlimited bliss, the freedom Advaita talks about. TheAdvaita Knowledge has been totally misused or used according to one's own fancies and

conveniences.

There must be awareness in the mind, love in the heart, and righteousness in action.

Love and fear are two possibilities that put you on track. The Jewish religion put fear as the mainthing so that life could improve. Nature induces fear at a certain age in a child. When a child isvery young, it gets 100 percent time and love of the mother. The child has no fear. As the childgrows more independent it becomes cautious. Nature brings in an iota of fear. With freedom, thechild starts walking carefully. Fear of losing freedom also brings defense. The purpose ofdefense is to eliminate fear.

On this path Knowledge is your Freedom and also your Defense.

Diksha

Initiation is called "Diksha". In Sanskrit "Di" means intellect. "Ksha" means the horizon r theend. "Diksha" means transcending the intellect. Education is called "Shiksha", the horizon ofdiscipline - total discipline. Discipline is needed for education. "Diksha" is needed formeditation. A Teacher gives "Shiksha". A Guru gives "Diksha". A Guru takes you beyondintellect to the Realm of Being. It is a journey from the Head to the Heart.

Blossoming beyond the intellect is "Diksha". If you do not go beyond the intellect, you will notsmile, you will not laugh. Once "Diksha" happens, you are happy, blissful and contented; andthirst for knowledge is quenched. Totality of Discipline is "Shiksha"; Totality of Intelligence is"Diksha"

Devotee Becomes God

When a river meets the ocean, the river no longer remains a river. It becomes the ocean. A dropof the ocean is part of the ocean. In the same way, the moment a devotee meets (surrenders to)the Divine, the devotee becomes GOD. When the river meets the ocean, it recognizes that it is

the ocean from the beginning to the end. Similarly, the individual "IU IU" dissolves in ONEDivinity.

Question: What about backwaters?

Sri Sri: Sometimes the ocean goes into the river to greet it. Sometimes it seems that the ocean ispushing back the river. Similarly, the Divine puts many questions and doubts in the mind orgives an amazing experience to bring one back home.


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Divine in the Form and Formless

Divinity is unmanifest, but man has an innate desire to perceive the divine in the manifest

creation around him. He creates idols, breathes faith into it and requests divinity to be present inthat idol for a while, so that he can worship, express his love and play with it. At the end of hisworship he requests divinity to go back into his heart from where divinity manifested. This is inall puja practices.

They are not actually worshipping the idols but worshipping the unmanifest divinity which hasall the divine qualities. So, the idol worshippers of the East are not the same as the ones in theMiddle East as described in the Bible, because they are not just worshipping different gods anddifferent idols, they are worshipping the ONE divinity in many different forms.

Paganism, Satan and animal worship, without the knowledge of the one divinity is very different

from seeing the divine in every form of the manifest universe. In the eastern tradition, gods andgoddesses are part of the one divinity like the different colors of white sunlight, whereas in theGreek tradition, gods and goddesses are in themselves different entities.

Worshipping Satan and different entities is totally different from worshipping divinity in itsvarious forms. Every form belongs to the divine. When you adore the form, you are adoring thedivine behind the form. With this knowledge, the very act of worship, which is more an innerphenomenon, assumes a more colorful and vibrant expression, indicating that both the form andthe formless are all divine.

Honey Let the wind that blows be sweet Let the oceans flow honey Let all the herbs and plant kingdom be favourable to us Let the nights be sweet and let the days be sweet Let the dust of this planet be sweet to us Let the heavens and our forefathers be sweet to us Let all the trees be laden with honey Let the Sun be sweet to us (Let all the radiations be favourable to us) Let all the animals be sweet to us Let our food be favourable to us Let all our thoughts and our speech be sweet like honey Let our life be pure and divine, Let it be sweet like honey.

Nimit - instrument of the divine


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When you are neither clear nor confused, only then can you be a perfect instrument of theDivine! How would an instrument know what is going to be, and when? How can an instrumentbe confused, and how can an instrument be clear!

This state is called Nimit - just being an instrument of the Divine. Being very clear means notopening to new possibilities and can lead to limitations. Unlimited possibilities are open to onewho is not clear and not confused. Your mind swings from clarity to confusion and confusion toclarity but the state in which there is no doership nor inertia is the most creative and progressivestate.

Sharmila: Will this not lead to lethargy?

Sri Sri: No. A sharp instrument does its job perfectly, effortlessly.

Sharmila: What about focus?

Sri Sri: Focus is natural to a dynamic consciousness.

Confusion arises when new information flows in and clarity is lost. Then confusion again seeksclarity. Clarity constricts the possibility of new information. A confused consciousness seeksclarity and every confusion is breaking away from clarity. If there is only confusion, there isfrustration. If there is only clarity, there is rigidity. After giving contradictory knowledge,Krishna tells Arjuna, "Just be Nimit!" And to be an instrument, the prerequisite is to be madly inlove! That's why in love there is neither confusion nor clarity; or there is both - confusion andclarity!

Nazreen: Is truth more important than love?

Sri Sri: I'm confused! Is it clear? (laughter)

Love! The Question Of An Answer

In a congregation, Sri Sri asked, " How many of you are feeling strong?" Many people raisedtheir hands.

Sri Sri : "Why?"

Because YOU are with us!!!

Sri Sri : "Only those who feel weak can surrender".

All those who were feeling strong were taken aback!


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If you are in love, you feel weak because love makes you weak. Yet there is no power strongerthan love. Love is strength. (All those who had raised their hands for strong suddenly felt weak!).Yet love is the greatest power on earth. You feel absolutely powerful when you are with theDivine.

Someone asked: "But why do we keep alternating between the two?"

Sri Sri: "That is the fluctuation in life."

Wise Are The One Who Make You Cry For

The DivineUnfortunate are those who cry for the world. Fortunate are those who cry for the Divine. Unwiseare those who make you cry for the world. Wise are those who make you cry for the Divine. Thesource of conflict is the division of "mine" and "yours." Knowledge eases the sense of limitedbelongingness and resolves this conflict. It is amazing when knowledge dawns in you that thereis no stranger in the whole world! At the same time, the nearest one remains unknown to you.

Shirish Suchak: Why do our nearest ones often remain strangers?

Sri Sri: Because no one can understand anyone totally. Life is a mystery!

Marcy: But Guruji, you understand us totally! (laughter)

Sri Sri: Wake up and see. All these distinctions "me, mine, others" simply dissolve.

Homage To Amma

Guruji's mother, our beloved AMMA, left her physical body in a peaceful and meditative state at1p.m. on Nov. 9th, 1999, in Bangalore, just as Guruji set foot in the holy city of Varanasi,precisely as HE had predicted a few days ago. For those present around GURUJI, it was an

amazing experience to feel the depth of love and not an iota of grief ! It was a celebration ofknowledge, never before experienced! Even as the news came, Guruji kept meeting people andaddressed the big Satsang with the same smile as always.

All her life AMMA served with love, humour and dynamism, extending her motherly love to oneand all. She had an unparalleled love for GURUJI and shared a unique relationship with HIM -not only as a son but also as a Mentor. Hundreds of people bid a moving farewell to AMMA,singing JAI JAI RADHA RAMAN. AMMA'S mortal ashes were brought to Delhi and GURUJI


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accompanied them to HARDWAR and immersed them in the Holy Ganges there. A portion ofher ashes were also immersed in the river Cauvery, on whose banks AMMA grew up.

On the 9th of Nov., itself, GURUJI was the chief guest at the consecration of the

VISHALAKSHI temple at Varanasi, an invitation that had come two months ago. At this verytemple, GURUJI'S grandfather had prayed 70 years ago and was blessed with AMMA. Creationreturned to it's source as GURUJI reinstalled the very same ancient deity from whom AMMAgot her name, on the very same day that she left for her Heavenly abode.

The Art of Living family is greatly indebted to AMMA and seek her blessings. The MemorialService will be on the 21st of November and all Chapters are requested to have Satsangs thatday. Through this event the Art of Living has shown to the world that not only Life, but Deathalso can be a celebration !

An example inspires and brings confidence in the application of Knowledge. And the visible sign

of it is an undying smile. The Self knows neither sorrow nor death. Yet, in it, flow all the relativeevents. It's easy to be detached when you are not in love. Being in utter love, and yetundisturbed; caring yet not worried; persistent yet not perturbed, are all the obvious signs of theSelf shining through !

Death and Spirituality

Death brings you in touch with the reality of life. Death creates a vacuum, a void. Void is thefertile ground for the spirit to manifest. All talents, invention, creativity springs forth from thevoid, and creation has a tendency to return to the void.

Bharat says, "All the problems come when you avoid the void." (Laughter)

All the places of worship in all religions are connected with places of burial/cremation, as theawareness of death alone can bring dispassion and make you well grounded in knowledge.According to the Indian mythology, the abode of Shiva is in Mount Kailasa as well as inSmashana (the cremation ground).

Kailasa means "where there is only celebration", and Smashana is where there is only void. Thusthe Divinity dwells in the void as well as in celebration. And in you there is void, in you there iscelebration.

Life is too short life is eternal

The realization that life is very short brings dynamism in your life. Unwanted things will fall offas well as distractions. When you have to be acting or putting out effort, know that life is short.When you are expecting a result, then you are often frustrated. The ignorant person does it theother way: He hurries for the result and is impatient. Impatience goes away when you know that


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life is eternal. When you are looking for a return of a favor from someone or a result from yourgood deed, you want it quickly. When you realize life is short, procrastination falls away. Butwhen you know that there are many lifetimes, you realize that if you don't get it sooner, you getit later. Wake up and see your life is too short. Time is running so what are you doing with your

life? Is it being useful to you and the world around you? Realize life is too short. WAKE UP!LIFE IS ETERNAL!

When you want to enjoy the fruit of action know that life is eternal. When it comes to hope, youshould know that there are many lifetimes. When you are looking for results, know that time iseternal. If someone doesn't thank you or takes advantage of you, thank them because they willpay you back later with interest. So no one needs to feel sorry that they have been takenadvantage of or unappreciated. Know that they will have to be paying you back in the future withinterest! When it comes to enjoying the fruit of your actions, good deeds or even blessings, knowthat life is eternal. Anytime that you are in a hurry, you cannot enjoy. So know that life is eternal.

knowledge sheets on devotion - by sri sri ravi shankar

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