Relationships....

Osho on Relationships and Living Partners

Question: Would you talk to us about our living partners -- our Wives, husbands and lovers. When should we persevere with a partner, and when Should we abandon a relationship as hopeless -- or even Destructive?

Osho : Relationship is one of the mysteries. And because it exists between two persons, it depends on both. Whenever two persons meet, a new world is created. Just by their meeting, a new phenomenon comes into existence -- which was not before, which never existed before. And through that new phenomenon, both persons are changed and transformed. Unrelated, you are one thing; related, immediately you become something else. A new thing has happened. A woman when she becomes a lover is no longer the same woman.

A man when he becomes a father is no longer the same man. A child is born, but we miss one point completely; the moment the child is born, the mother is also born. This never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother never. And a mother is something absolutely new. Relationship is created by you, but then, in its turn, relationship creates you. Two persons meet, that means two worlds meet. It is not a simple thing but very complex, the most complex.

Each person is a world unto himself or herself, a complex mystery with a long past and an eternal future. In the beginning only peripheries meet. But if the relationship grows intimate, becomes closer, becomes deeper, then by and by centers start meeting. When centers meet, it is called love. When peripheries meet, it is acquaintance. You touch the person from the without, just from the boundary, then it is acquaintance. Many times you start calling your acquaintance your love. Then you are in a fallacy. Acquaintance is not love.

Love is very rare. To meet a person at his center is to pass through a revolution yourself, because if you want to meet a person at his center, you will have to allow that person to reach to your center also. You will have to become vulnerable, absolutely vulnerable, open. It is risky. To allow somebody to reach your center is risky, dangerous, because you never know what that person will do to you. And once all your secrets are known, once your hiddenness has become unhidden, once you are exposed completely, what that other person will do, you never know. The fear is there. That's why we never open.

Just acquaintance, and we think that love has happened. Peripheries meet, and we think we have met. You are not your periphery. Really, the periphery is the boundary where you end, just the fencing around you. It is not you! The periphery is the place where you end and the world begins. Even husbands and wives who may have lived together for many years may be just acquaintances. They may not have known each other. And the more you live with someone, the more you forget completely that the centers have remained unknown. So the first thing to be understood is: don't take acquaintance as love. You may be making love, you may be sexually related, but sex is also peripheral. Unless centers meet, sex is just a meeting of two bodies. And a meeting of two bodies is not your meeting. Sex also remains acquaintance --physical, bodily, but still acquaintance. You can allow somebody to enter to your center only when you are not afraid, when you are not fearful. So I say to you that there are two types of living. One: fear-oriented; one: love-oriented.

Fear-oriented living can never lead you into deep relationship. You remain afraid, and the other cannot be allowed, cannot be allowed to penetrate you to your very core. To an extent you allow the other and then the wall comes and everything stops. The love-oriented person is the religious person. The love-oriented person means one who is not afraid of the future, one who is not afraid of the result and the consequence, who lives here and now. Don't be bothered about the result. That is the fear-oriented mind. Don't think about what will happen out of it.

Just be here, and act totally. Don't calculate. A fear-oriented man is always calculating, planning, arranging, safeguarding. His whole life is lost in this way.

I have heard about an old Zen monk. He was on his deathbed. The last day had come, and he declared that that evening he would be no more. So followers, disciples, friends started coming. He had many lovers. They all started coming. From far and wide people gathered. One of his old disciples, when he heard that the master was going to die, ran to the market.

Somebody asked: The master is dying in his hut, why are you going to the market?The old disciple said: I know that my master loves a particular type of cake, so Iam going to purchase the cake.

It was difficult to find the cake, because now it had gone out of fashion, but by the evening somehow he managed. He came running with the cake. And everybody was worried -- it was as if the master was waiting for someone. He would open his eyes and look, and close his eyes again.

And when this disciple came, he said: Okay, so you have come. Where is the cake? The disciple produced the cake -- and he was very happy that the master asked about the cake. Dying, the master took the cake in his hand, but his hand was not trembling. He was very old, but his hand was not trembling. So somebody asked: You are so old and just on the verge of dying. The last breath is soon to leave you, but your hand is not trembling.

The master said: I never tremble, because there is no fear. My body has become old, but I am still young, and I will remain young even when the body is gone. Then he took a bite, started munching the cake. And then somebody asked: What is your last message, Master? You will be leaving us soon. What do you want us to remember?

The master smiled and said: Ah, this cake is delicious. This is a man who lives in the here and now: This cake is delicious. Even death is irrelevant. The next moment is meaningless. THIS moment this cake is delicious. If you can be in this moment, this present moment, this presentness, the plenitude, then only can you love.

Love is a rare flowering. It happens only sometimes. Millions and millions of people live in the false attitude that they are lovers. They believe that they love, but that is their belief only. Love is a rare flowering. Sometimes it happens. It is rare because it can happen only when there is no fear, never before. That means love can happen only to a very deeply spiritual, religious person. Sex is possible for all. Acquaintance is possible for all. Not love. When you are not afraid, then there is nothing to hide, then you can be open, then you can withdraw all boundaries. And then you can invite the other to penetrate you to the very core.

And remember, if you allow somebody to penetrate you deeply, the other will allow you to penetrate into himself or herself, because when you allow somebody to penetrate you, trust is created. When you are not afraid, the other becomes fearless. In your love, fear is always there. The husband is afraid of the wife, the wife is afraid of the husband. Lovers are always afraid. Then it is not love. Then it is just an arrangement of two fearful persons depending on each other, fighting, exploiting, manipulating, controlling, dominating, possessing -- but it is not love.

If you can allow love to happen, there is no need for prayer, there is no need for meditation, there is no need for any church, any temple. You can completely forget God if you can love -- because through love, everything will have happened to you: meditation, prayer, God. EVERYTHING will have happened to you. That's what Jesus means when he says: Love is God. But love is difficult. Fear has to be dropped. And this is the strange thing, that you are so afraid and you have nothing to lose.

Kabir has said somewhere: I look into people. They are so much afraid, but I can't see why -- because they have nothing to lose. Says Kabir: They are like a person who is naked, but never goes to take a bath in the river because he is afraid -- where will he dry his clothes? This is the situation you are in -- naked, with no clothes, but always afraid about the clothes. What have you got to lose? Nothing. This body will be taken by death. Before it is taken by death, give it to love. Whatsoever you have will be taken away.

Before it is taken away, why not share it? That is the Only way of possessing it. If you can share and give, you are the master. It is going to be taken away. There is nothing which you can retain forever. Death will destroy everything. So, if you follow me rightly, the struggle is between death and love. If you can give, there will be no death. Before anything can be taken away from you, you will have already given it, you will have made it a gift. There can be no death. For a lover there is no death.

For a non-lover, every moment is a death, because every moment something is being snatched away from him. The body is disappearing, he is losing every moment. And then there will be death, and everything will be annihilated. What is the fear? Why are you so afraid? Even if everything is known about you and you are an open book, why fear? How can it harm you? Just false conceptions, just conditionings given by the society, that you have to hide, that you have to protect yourself, that you have to be constantly in a fighting mood, that everybody is an enemy, that everybody is against you.

Nobody is against you! Even if you feel somebody is against you, he too is not against you -- because everybody is concerned with himself, not with you. There is nothing to fear. This has to be realized before a real relationship can happen. There is nothing to fear. Meditate on it. And then allow the other to enter you, invite the other to enter you. Don't create any barrier anywhere, become a passage always open, no locks, no doors on you, no closed doors on you. Then love is possible.

When two centers meet, there is love. And love is an alchemical phenomenon -- just like hydrogen and oxygen meet and a new thing, water, is created. You can have hydrogen, you can have oxygen, but if you are thirsty, they will be useless. You can have as much oxygen as you want, as much hydrogen as you like, but the thirst will not go. When two centers meet a new thing is created. That new thing is love. And it is just like water, the thirst of many, many lives is satisfied. Suddenly you become content. That is the visible sign of love; you become content, as if you have achieved everything. There is nothing to achieve now; You have reached the goal.

There is no further goal, destiny is fulfilled. The seed has become a flower, has come to its total flowering. Deep contentment is the visible sign of love. Whenever a person is in love, he is in deep contentment. Love cannot be seen, but contentment, the deep satisfaction around him...his every breath, his every movement, his very being -- content. You may be surprised when I say to you that love makes you desireless, but desire is with discontent. You desire because you don't have. You desire because you think if you have something it will give you contentment.

Desire is out of discontent. When there is love and two centers have met and dissolved and merged, and a new alchemical quality is born, contentment is there. It is as if the whole existence has stopped -- no movement. Then the present moment is the only moment. And then you can say: Ah, this cake is delicious. Even death doesn't mean anything to a man who is in love. So I say to you, love will make you desireless. Be fearless, drop fears, be open. Allow some center to meet the center within you. you will be reborn through it, a new quality of being will be created.

This quality of being says: This is god. God is not an argument, it is a fulfillment, a feeling of fulfillment. You may have observed that whenever you are discontent, you want to deny God. Whenever you are dissatisfied, your whole being wants to say: There is no God. Atheism is not out of logic, it is out of discontent. You may rationalize it -- that's another thing. You may not say you are an atheist because you are discontent. You may say: There is no God and I have got proofs. But that is not the true thing.

If you are satisfied, suddenly your whole being says: THERE is god. Suddenly you feel it! The whole existence becomes divine. If love is there you will be really for the first time in the feeling that existence is divine and everything is a blessing. But much has to be done before this can happen. Much has to be destroyed before this can happen. You have to destroy all that creates barriers in you.

Make love a SADHANA, an inner discipline. Don't allow it just to be a frivolous thing. Don't allow it just to be an occupation of the mind. Don't allow it just to be a bodily satisfaction. Make it an inner search, and take the other as a help, as a friend. If you have heard anything about Tantra, you will know that Tantra says: If you can find a consort, a friend, a woman or a man, who is ready to move with you towards the inner center, who is ready to move with you to the highest peak of relationship, then this relationship will become meditative.

Then through this relationship you will achieve the ultimate relationship. Then the other becomes just a door. Let me explain it: if you love a person, by and by first the periphery of the person disappears, the form of the person disappears. You come more and more in contact with the formless, the inner. The form becomes, by and by, vague and disappears. And if you go deeper, then even this formless individual starts disappearing and melting. Then the beyond opens. Then that particular individual was just a door, an opening.

And through your lover, you find the divine. Because we cannot love, we need so many religious rituals. They are substitutes, and very poor substitutes. A Meera needs no temple to go to. The whole existence is her temple. She can dance before a tree and the tree becomes Krishna. She can sing before a bird and the bird becomes Krishna. She creates her Krishna around her everywhere. Her love is such that wherever she looks the door opens and the Krishna is revealed, the beloved is revealed.

But the first glimpse will always come through an individual. It is difficult to be in contact with the universal. It is so big, so vast, so beginningless, endless. From where to start? From where to move into it? The individual is the door. Fall in love. And don't make it a struggle. Make it a deep allowance for the other, just an invitation. And allow the other to penetrate you without any conditions. And suddenly the other disappears and God is there. If your lover or beloved cannot become divine, then nothing in this world can become divine. Then all your religious talk is just nonsense. This can happen with a child. This can happen with an animal, your dog.

If you can be in deep relationship with a dog, it can happen -- the dog becomes divine! So it is not a question of man and woman only. That is one of the deepest sources of the divine and it reaches you naturally, but it can happen from anywhere. The basic key is this: you should allow the other to penetrate you to your very deepest core, to the very ground of your being. But we go on deceiving ourselves. We think we love. And if you think that you love, then there is no possibility for love to happen -- because if this is love, then everything is closed.

Make fresh efforts. Try to find in the other the real being that is hidden. Don't take anybody for granted. Every individual is such a mystery that if you go on and on into him it is endless. But we get bored with the other -- because just the periphery, and always the periphery. I was reading a story: A man was very ill and he tried all types of "pathies," but nothing would help. Then he went to a hypnotist and the hypnotist gave him a mantra, to repeat continuously: I am not ill.

For at least fifteen minutes in the morning and fifteen minutes at night: I am not ill, I am healthy. And the whole day, whenever you remember, repeat it. Within a few days he started getting better. And within weeks he was absolutely okay. Then he told his wife: This has been a miracle! Should I go to this hypnotist for another miracle also? Because lately I am feeling no sexual appetite and the sexual relationship has almost stopped. There is no desire.

The wife was happy. She said: You go -- because she was feeling very frustrated. The man went to the hypnotist. He came back, his wife asked: What mantra, what suggestion now has he given? The man wouldn't tell her. But within weeks his sexual appetite started returning. He started feeling desire again. So the wife was very much puzzled.

She continuously persisted in asking, but the man would laugh and would not say anything. So one day she tried, when he was in the bathroom in the morning doing his meditation, that fifteen-minute mantra, she tried to hear what he was saying. And he was saying: She is not my wife. She is not my wife. She is not my wife.

We take persons for granted. Somebody is your wife -- relationship is finished. Somebody is your husband -- relationship is finished. Now there is no adventure, the other has become a thing, a commodity. The other is not now a mystery to be searched the other is no longer new.

Remember, everything goes dead with age. The periphery is always old, and the center is always new. The periphery cannot remain new, because every moment it is getting old, stale. The center is always fresh and young. Your soul is neither a child, nor a young man, nor an old man. Your soul is simply eternally fresh. It has no age. You can experiment with it: you may be young, you may be old, just close your eyes and find out. Try to feel how your center is -- old? young? You will feel that the center is neither.

It is always new, it never gets old. Why? Because the center doesn't belong to time. In the process of time, everything becomes old. A man is born -- the body has started becoming old already! When we say that a child is one week old, it means one week of oldness has penetrated into the child. The child has already passed seven days towards death, he has completed seven days of dying. He is moving towards death -- sooner or later he will be dead. Whatsoever comes in time becomes old. The moment it enters time, it is already becoming old.

Your body is old, your periphery is old. You cannot be eternally in love with it. But your center is always fresh, it is eternally young. Once you are in contact with it, love is an every-moment discovery. And then the honeymoon never ends. If it ends it was not a honeymoon at all -- it was just an acquaintance. And the last thing to remember is: in the relationship of love you always blame the other if something goes wrong. If something is not happening as it should, the other is responsible. This will destroy the whole possibility of future growth.

Remember: you are always responsible, and change yourself. Drop those qualities which create trouble. Make love a self-transformation. As they say in salesmen's courses: The customer is always right. I would like to say to you: In the world of relationship and love, you are always in the wrong, the other is always right. And this is how lovers always feel. If there is love, they always feel: Something is wrong with me if things are not happening as they should. And both feel the same way! Then things grow, then centers open, then boundaries merge.

But if you think that the other is wrong, you are closing yourself and the other. And the other also thinks that you are wrong. Thoughts are infectious. If you think the other is wrong even if you have not said it, even if you are smiling and showing that you don't think the other is wrong -- the other has got the point -- through your eyes, through your gestures, through your face. Even if you are an actor, a great actor, and you can just arrange your face, your gestures as you like, then too the unconscious is continuously sending signals: You are wrong.

And when you say that the other is wrong, the other starts feeling that you are wrong. Relationship is destroyed on this rock, and then people become closed. If you say somebody is wrong, somebody starts protecting, safeguarding. Then closure happens.

Remember always: in love, you are always wrong. And then the possibility will open and the other will also feel the same. We create the feeling in the other. When lovers are close, immediately thoughts go jumping from one to the other. Even if they are not saying anything, they are silent, they communicate. Language is for non-lovers, those who are not in love. For lovers, silence is enough language. Without saying anything, they go on speaking. If you take love as sadhana, then don't say the other is wrong.

Just try to find out: somewhere, something must be wrong in you, and drop that wrongness. It is going to be difficult because it is going to be against the ego. It is going to be difficult because it will hurt your pride. It is going to be difficult because this will not be dominating, possessing. You will not be more powerful through possessing the other. This will destroy your ego -- that's why it is going to be difficult.

But destruction of the ego is the point, the goal. From wherever you like to approach the inner world -- from love, from meditation, from yoga, from prayer -- whatsoever the path you choose, the goal is the same: the destruction of the ego, throwing the ego away. Through love it can be done very easily. And it is so natural! Love is the natural religion.

Handling Stubborn People....

Q: Guruji, how do you help someone release their anger if they’re stubborn and don’t want to try the spiritual path
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You know, I would tell you, give everyone freedom. You cannot control somebody. This person is like that, what can you do with them? By our telling something to somebody, they don’t change and you should not control anybody. This is what my conclusion is, what? Don’t control anybody. Let them go the way they want. Gently guide them if they listen to you. If they don’t listen to you, well, it is their problem. What can you do?

Are you getting what I’m saying? You try to control them - your kids, spouse, and friends - without any intention; your trying to control them has no bad intention at all. But well, what can you do when they get so angry? You know, your anger is because of trying to control. The moment you stop trying to control somebody, your anger also vanishes, got it? Hmmm? You get irritable when somebody doesn’t listen, right? You tell them ten times still they don’t listen, and then what do you get? Irritated. Then your knowledge should come “Well this is the way that person is suppose to be. What can you do?  Jai Guru Dev!”  So immediately what happens? At least your brain gets relaxation, you don’t get irritated.

So, what did I say? Stop trying to control any situation, any person. You are at peace; our wanting to control is the problem. Do you get it? In any situation things will happen, this way or that way. Do your best and leave the rest. Finished. Got it?

Now, this should not be mistaken for lethargy, lack of leadership, lack of initiative, or orderliness. Are you getting what I’m saying? This is a very, very fine balance. A wise person understands to lead without control, got it? Gently lead without trying to control. And then don’t lose patience to tell not once, but ten times. You should not say it in the very first time “Oh, I said it anyway and that person didn’t listen.” No, you should have the patience to say it ten times and if they still don’t do it, then don’t get upset.

This is wisdom, having the patience to say ten times. How will you say it ten times if they don’t do it once, twice, thrice, and you say, “Well, they don’t do it, that’s how they are” then that indicates you are lethargic, you lack initiative, you lack commitment. I’m telling you something very, very, very fine, are you listening? When you have commitment, what do you do— you keep doing it... correct?

Suppose when you have to cut wood, you cut once, if the wood is soft, it breaks immediately. But if the wood is hard, what do you keep doing? Keep hitting. How many times? Until it breaks. So you keep hitting it. What we do is, we have in our mind the same benchmark for everybody. We think, “Oh see all this wood cuts once this hardwood should also cut once.” Then we get angry. No. Some are hard and some are soft. It all takes its own time to cut them. And if it doesn’t cut and it is not wood, then you call someone else.

You are at peace. This is my conclusion. What? Don’t control, let them go the way they have. But keep guiding them; if they don’t listen they are putting mud on their own head. You know, it takes four-five people to bathe an elephant. Sometimes, they make the elephant lie down and pour buckets and buckets of water, so much water is poured on the elephant. Have you seen an elephant taking a bath? No? Oh when you come to Bangalore ashram you have not one, but two elephants too. It takes two hours to scrub, they get like a spa bath! And every day they get scrubbed, and then good temperature water poured onto them. So, they stand up shiny, ten minutes you leave them and they take the mud and throw it all over. They have no sense that,‘Just now I had a bath and I’m throwing mud on myself again’. The moment they find mud and dust, they pick it up and throw it right onto their own head and look all dirty again. (laughter)What to do? Hmm.

Moksha.....Freedom

Q: Dear Guruji, I want to know why do we have to get moksha?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It is a natural tendency of every human being to be free. Freedom is not luxury, it is a necessity. Not just human being even animals want freedom.
Babies want freedom. If you tie a scarf on the neck of a baby it just wants to remove it. You put a chain on a baby’s neck and the baby wants to pull it out.
It is the adults who put jewelry around their neck but children want freedom, they don’t want any restriction that is why they throw their hands up and down; free!
 
Wanting freedom is innate to human beings as well as animals. Every life wants freedom and moksha is nothing but freedom. You take a deep breath in and you can’t hold it there, you want breathe out. Only when you breathe out there is freedom. When you breathe out you want to take a breath in and that is freedom.


Freedom is a natural desire in every human being but when the mind get so muddled up in unnecessary day to day things, it forgets that it wants freedom. It is as good as someone who wants to sleep but has forgotten how to sleep. So every life or human being craves for freedom. It is impossible to not want freedom.
 
Freedom is not running away from situations and circumstance. Sometimes the situation is stifling or unpleasant and we run away from it and think this is what is freedom, but that is not so.

Freedom means being unphased by circumstances, situations and the people around you; freedom from your own emotional garbage; freedom from the jungle of your thoughts that bother you; freedom from all the entanglement that you harbor in your head and freedom from fear and anxiety.

Anything that stifles you makes you small and you want to be free from that. 
Freedom (mukti) comes first and then bhakti. Only when you are free does love well up in you and bhakti comes. If you think you are bonded labor you cannot be grateful.
If someone has brought you freedom you feel grateful, ‘oh I am so free. I feel happy!’
 
Only one who is happy and one who is centered can have gratitude or be in the space of love.

Wisdom Of Love ...:)

"I chant the name of my beloved in every breath. The beloved is faultless - perfect. But being in love I have lost my reputation.When there is so much love, you take total responsibility for any misunderstanding. You may express dismay for a moment on the surface. But when you do not feel that in your heart, you arrive at a perfect understanding. You are in a state where all problems and differences slide away and only love shines through.

Usually we get stuck in our differences, because we have lost sight of ourselves. In the name of love we try to manipulate and control the other person. This is natural that when we love somebody, we want them to be perfect.

You can never see the pits in the ground from the top of a hill. From a plane the earth looks so smooth. So also from a state of elevated consciousness, you do not see the pitfalls in others. But if you come to the ground you always see the holes. And when you want to fill the holes, you have to see them. You cannot build a home being airborne. You cannot till the land without looking at the pits, filling them, removing the pebbles....

That is why when you love somebody you find all the faults in them. But finding faults destroys love. Instead of filling the pits we run away from them. When you love somebody and see their faults, stay with them and help them fill the pits. This is wisdom."

- Sri Sri

The Male Ego...

Osho speaks on Male Ego -  Man's insensitivity towards Woman

Question: A woman friend of mine often uses the words "male ego" about Me, which I feel is not true about me. From the very beginning i have been open and vulnerable to Feminine energy, which is teaching me to become a disciple every Day. Moreover, I have felt that when she used this word there Was some kind of hatred towards men. Osho, can you explain what the "male ego" is, and what it means When a woman uses this expression about a man?

Osho: The ego is simply the ego, it is neither male nor female. But man has been very inhuman towards women for centuries, continuously. And the strange thing is that the man has been so cruel and inhuman towards women because he feels a deep inferiority complex in comparison to them. The greatest problem has been that the woman is capable of becoming a mother; she is capable of giving birth to life, and man is not. That was the beginning of the feeling of inferiority -- that nature depends on woman, not on man.

Moreover, he has found that she is in many ways stronger than him. Women are more patient, more tolerant than men. Men are very impatient and very intolerant. Women are less violent than men. Women don't commit murders; it is the man who commits murders, who wages crusades, who is always getting ready for war, who invents all kinds of deadly weapons -- atomic bombs, nuclear weapons. The woman is completely out of this whole game of death. Hence it was no coincidence that man started feeling somehow inferior.

And nobody wants to be inferior; the only way was to force the woman in artificial ways to become inferior. For example, not to allow her education, not to allow her economic freedom, not to allow her to move out of the house, but confine her to an imprisonment. It seems almost unbelievable what man has done to woman just to get rid of his inferiority. He has made the woman artificially inferior. It is not only a question for you. When your woman is telling you that you have a male ego, she is simply representing all women, and you are nothing but a representative of all men.

Your forefathers have done so much harm that there is no way to come to a balance. So when your woman says that this is male ego, try to understand -- perhaps she is right. Most probably she is right -- because the male has accepted himself as superior for so long that he does not feel that it is his ego. It is the woman who feels it.  
Don't deny her feeling. Be grateful to her, and ask her where she feels the ego so that you can drop it. Take her help. You are simply denying it; you don't feel that you have any male ego. But it is simply a traditional heritage.

Every small boy has a male ego -- just a small boy, if he starts crying you immediately say, "Why are you crying like a girl? A girl is allowed to cry because she is subhuman. You are going to be a big male chauvinist; you are not supposed to cry or weep." And small boys start stopping their tears. It is very rare to find men who are as ready to cry and allow tears to flow as women are.

Remember, you both have the same size tear glands in your eyes, so nature does not make any difference. Listen to the woman. You have suppressed the woman and oppressed the woman so much, it is time that she should be listened to and things should be corrected. At least in your personal life do as much as you can to allow the woman as much freedom as possible -- the same freedom that you allow yourself. Help her to stand up so that she can blossom again.

We will have a more beautiful world if all women -- and women are half of the world -- are allowed to grow their talents, their genius. It is not a question at all... nobody is higher, nobody is lower. Women are women, men are men; they have differences, but differences don't make anybody higher or lower. Their differences create their attraction.

Just think of a world where there are only men.

Life is rich because there are differences, different attitudes, different opinions. Nobody is superior, nobody is inferior. People are simply different. 

 Accept this, and help your woman to be free from ten thousand years of repression. Be a friend to her. Much harm has been done; she has been wounded so much that if you can do some healing with your love, you will be contributing to the whole world, to the whole world consciousness.

Don't feel bad if your woman says "this is male ego." It is there in a subtle form, unrecognizeable because it has been there for so long; you have forgotten that this is ego. Take her help so that you can recognize it and destroy it.
Osho

Secrets Unveiled.....

Q: Guruji, sages have predicted our lives so accurately on palm leaves, Nadi Vidya. Is there really any role that I have in my life when everything already seems so predetermined? How does the path of sadhana change anything?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See life is a mixture of accepting what is and wanting to make what you feel like having. It’s a mixture of both. You have an intention in your mind and that’s how you move on. See, you had an intention to come here and you came. But if you look into the past you say it is all determined, it is all destiny. That’s why I say a simple formula just listen to it. Look at the past as destiny so you will not keep regretting the past and see the future as free will so that you don’t procrastinate or become lethargic and say whatever, ‘god willing it will happen’. So you don’t become lethargic and do nothing if you consider the future as destiny. You should not say let’s leave it to destiny, no! The future is freewill, past is destiny and live in the present. This is wise way of living. Not so wise way is seeing the past as freewill and keep regretting about it, ‘oh I shouldn’t have done that’. Even after you became a medical graduate you say, ‘oh I should have taken engineering, I made a big blunder’. So you keep blaming yourself and keep regretting the past when you think the past was freewill. And you think future is all destiny, you want to leave everything to destiny and you just do nothing about it and you’ll be miserable in the present moment. This is the unwise way of living, got it?

Q: Dear Guruji, I understand from your knowledge that we have not one but several bodies. Can you please talk about subtle bodies and casual bodies? I’ve heard about them but I don’t know how or what they are.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, physical body in the waking state. In the sleeping state physical body is at rest, the subtle is active; in the dreaming state and that is why you get dreams. In deep sleep both of these go to sleep but the casual body is still there awake, aware. And casual body becomes cleansed in deep meditation. And in enlightenment the casual body is completely free, yes. So when one dies what happens, physical body separates, the subtle body remains with all its impressions. The subtle body and casual body they both go like a balloon and remain and look for a right opportunity, a right womb to get into. So when the soul finds that the couple is having union and depends on the energy level and harmony between the couple and the energy level of the soul, at that moment it comes into that, so that type of parents. Sometimes the soul brings two people together. A soul chooses I want this lady and this man as my father and mother. So they bring those two people together and they will have terrible attraction, unbearable attraction. So the moment the child is born, you’ll find suddenly the attraction between those two people is gone totally, completely gone. This happens, and after the first child many people divorce. How many of you have seen this happening? This happens that intense feeling of separation comes and then you should know that the soul made this thing happen. It is so amazing; all these things are so interesting. On one hand it is amazing on another hand if you are not so much in the present moment you’ll go crazy, seeing how many subtle worlds we live in simultaneously.

Simultaneously how many things are happening in the universe, it’s very interesting! So you come into the physical body to cleanse the subtle body. There is no way you can cleanse the subtle body hanging in the space. So you come to human body so that you get rid of all those impressions. Once you have gotten rid of the subtle impressions in the subtle body then the casual body with the divine grace also becomes free, that is called Nirvana. No more craving or aversions, nothing, totally hallow and empty. Wanting nothing and totally satisfied. Anytime you feel that I am total, I am complete, death can come this moment I welcome it. If you say that, if you feel that rather than saying it then that completion is Nirvana. That has touched the casual body; the casual body gets relieved not by your effort but by just the Divine will and Divine grace. The universe decides that whether the casual body should be there or should be removed, should be dissolved. It’s amazing, you can work on the physical, and you can work on the subtle that’s all you can do. The rest you can only wait, but this itself is a great job, this itself is good enough.

Q: Guruji, when we die the body and breath are left behind and our mind, memory, soul are still together with the impressions. Do the intellect and ego also still stay with us? Can we use our intellect to calm our mind then?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The impressions of the intellect and the cravings and aversions of the mind go with the subtle body. So when you die what happens is for sometime the soul is in confusion, it does not know. It has just come out of the body but it does not know what to do. It doesn’t want to get into the body because the body appears like very gray matter, very dark and completely unbearable. So it doesn’t want to get into it, it feels very bad and averse to its’ own body most of the time. Sometimes they go in. So the soul is out there and very peaceful, the soul is totally at peace. They see people crying, wailing. It tries to tell them, ‘hey I am okay, don’t worry’, but they cannot communicate. There is a tradition to keep the light burning at the bedside of the body. It’s in Christian tradition as well, right? It’s in the Hindu tradition as well. Why you keep a light burning near the head so that when the soul suddenly looks at that light and knows that it is light. Let it be reminded that it is light, if it is still craving for something. Just to remind the soul that the nature of the soul or spirit is light, a lamp is kept or a candle is kept burning near the body. It’s not for us, it’s for the soul because the soul can still see, and smell. It has lost the sense of touch but smell and light are still there; smell, sight and sound all three will be there. So the ancient tradition is just before cremation the son or daughter; son usually, takes the head of the person into his lap and in the ear he says, ‘you are light, you are soul, you are not the body. Drop all your attachment to this body’, he tells them. And then the body is given a bath and then taken to cremation. These words are all in Sanskrit, and people simply repeat it in Sanskrit without knowing it because the priests tell them to say these things. To tell the departed in his ear that, ‘the five elements will go back to five elements. You are not just these five elements you are light, you are soul, you are spirit, you’re free and you move on now.’ This is what you say in the ear of the corpse, in case the soul is still hanging around and it does. It does hang around because it doesn’t know what to do. So it takes nearly ten days for the soul to get use to this other plain where it has gone. And once it reaches that plain of ancestors, one day there is one year for us. Our one year is just one day and one night for them in that realm. So there are three levels or lokas there also; one is Vasuloka, second is Rudra, and then Aditya. Three lokas are there and so they remain in this for some time. And there are three different Devas, they take them to those places. Someone who is a pious and died in a very good life they are taken direct to these lokas and three angels called Pururava, Ardrahva, and Vishvadeva. Three different Devas come and take the soul according to the level. It’s interesting! So in a yearly ceremony that is done, the day you remember the ancestors. First you invite these angels to bring them to you, for you want to honor them. These angels, they are the custodians. So you tell them ‘Visvadeva you bring my father, my mother or my grandfather or grandmother for this ceremony. Bring them for I would like to honor them.’ Ancient people knew all these so well, they had access to those realms. Even today people do this, they do the ceremonies and they do all this.

Consciousness...It is all about raising your Vibration

10 Ways to Raise your Vibration

1.Forgive yourself and others:
Life is too short to hold on to regrets, grudges, miscommunications, or disappointments. Free yourself by forgiving and letting go of any negative energy you’re holding on to about yourself or others. The process of forgiving yourself and others will result in your feeling light and free; it will raise your vibration.

2. Practice gratitude and appreciation:
Whatever you focus on grows. So, when you focus on every thing in your life you feel grateful for all and the wonderful people you appreciate, the universe hands you more to feel grateful about.

3. Live each day as though it were your last:
Then you will be living in a state of light, love and unconditional
contribution. What would you say to the people you care about ..
4.Meditate or pray:
You open up a direct link between yourself and the spiritual realm when you meditate or pray. You will come closer to your creator energy, raise your vibration experience, peace, clarity, joy and connection, as well as a perfectly balanced state between your mental, physical, emotional and spiritual realms.

5.Suspend judgment:
One judges another to feel less guilty about one’s own misgivings. Judgment energy is dense, dark and heavy. On the other hand, unconditional acceptance is light, free and accepting. Let go of judging and criticising yourself and others. Everyone is on a different path and some appear to be farther ahead on their path than others. Neither path is better nor worse than another. Raise your consciousness to one of acceptance.

6. View every experience as a gift:
If you look back at occurrences in your life, you can easily see how even the worst situations you experienced in your life ended up teaching you invaluable lessons and therefore resulted in putting you in perfect place for your continuing development. When you view every experience — the good, the bad, and the ugly — as a gift, life flows more like a gentle, inspiring breeze.

7. Stay consciously aware of all your thoughts and feelings:
It is easy to fall into negative patterns of complaining and feeling like a victim of society and your life. When you catch yourself in the negative zone, don’t feel badly about it and beat yourself up. Simply choose to switch your consciousness to one of gratitude and positive thinking.

8. Treat your physical body as your temple :
Your body is the only vehicle you’ve been given for this ride called life. The better you care for your body by eating a healthy, balanced diet, and by implementing a regular exercise routine, and by giving your body the rest it requires, the more you will experience increased energy, vitality, joy and freedom.

9. View the world through the eyes of a child:
Children are enthralled by the process of observing and experiencing the wonder and beauty in every single thing. They can’t get enough. Look at every tree, sunset, cloud and human being as a child would and you'll be in a constant state of wonder, joy, surprise, acceptance and enlightenment.

10.Give love, love, love from your heart:
It’s all about love. Love is the highest vibration. Allow yourself to receive love unconditionally from others. Give love from your heart unconditionally to yourself and others and you will experience the highest state of consciousness possible.

The Path of Surrender

"On the path of will there are methods, on the path of surrender, surrender itself is the method. All methods are nonsurrendering, because a method means depending on yourself. On the path of surrender you are no more, so you cannot do anything. You have done the ultimate, the last; you have surrendered. You surrender only when every method has become futile, when you cannot reach by any method. You have tried your best. You have knocked on every door and no door opens, and you have passed through all the routes and no route reaches. You have done whatsoever you can do and now you feel helpless. In that total helplessness surrender happens.

But what is surrender and how does it work? Methods are not difficult, you can train yourself. But for surrender you cannot train yourself. You cannot ask how to surrender; the very question is absurd. Can you ask how to love? Either there is love or there is not. Once a technique is given to you, you will cling to the technique. Love is being totally open, vulnerable. Love happens, surrender happens. Love and surrender are deeply one.

How is it that you have not surrendered yet? What is your technique of nonsurrendering? If you have not fallen in love yet, then the real problem is not how to love. The real problem is to dig deep to find out how you have lived without love, what is your trick, what is your defense structure. That can be understood and should be understood.

First thing: we live with the ego, in the ego, centered in the ego. I am, without knowing who I am. I go on announcing, ‘I am’. This ‘I-am-ness is false, because I do not know who I am. This false ‘I’ is the ego.  This is the defense. This protects your  from surrendering.

You cannot surrender, but you can become aware of this defense measure. If you have become aware of it, it dissolves. By and by, you are not strengthening it, and one day you come to feel, ‘I am not’. The moment you feel ‘I am not’, surrender happens. So try to find out whether you are. Really, is there a centre in you that you can call you call your ‘I’? Go deep down within yourself, go on trying to find out where is this ‘I’, where is the abode of this ego.

Rinzai went to his master and he said, “Give me freedom!” The master said, “Bring yourself. I you are, I will make you free. But if you are not, then how can I make you free? You are already free. And freedom is freedom from ‘you’. So go on and find out where this ‘I’ is, where you are, then come to me. This is the meditation. Go and meditate.”

So the disciple Rinzai goes and meditates for weeks, months, and then he comes. Then he says, “I am not the body. Only this much I have found out.”

So the master says, “This much you have become free. Go again. Try to find out.”

Then he tries, meditates, and he finds that “I am not my mind, because I can observe my thoughts. So the observer is different from the observed – I am not my mind.”

So his master says, “Now you are three-fourths liberated. Now go again and find out who you are.”

So he was thinking, “I am not my body. I am not my mind.” He had read, studied, he was well informed, so he was thinking, “I am not my body, not my mind, so I must be my soul, my atma.” But he meditated, and then he found that there is no atma, no soul, because his atma is nothing but your mental information – just doctrines, words, philosophies.

So he came running one day and he said, “Now I am no more!”

Then his master said, “Am I now to teach you the methods of freedom?”

Rinzai said, “I am free because I am no more. There is no one to be in bondage. I am just a wide emptiness, a nothingness.”

Only nothingness can be free. If you are something, you will be in bondage. If you are you will be in bondage. Only a void, a vacant space, can be free. Then you cannot bind it. Rinzai came running and said, “I am no more. Nowhere I am to be found.” This is freedom. And for the first time he touched his master’s feet – for the first time!

Not actually, because he had touched them many times before also. But the master said, “For the first time you have touched my feet.”

Rinzai asked, “Why do you say for the first time? I have touched your feet many times.” The master said, “But you were there, so how could you touch my feet while you were already there? While you were there how can you touch my feet?”

The ‘I’ can never touch anybody’s feet, it’s touching it’s own feet in a roundabout way. “You have touched my feet for the first time because you are no more. And this is also the last time”, the master said. “The first and the last.”

Surrender happens when you are no more, so you can not surrender. That is why surrender cannot be a technique. You cannot surrender, you are the hindrance. So you and surrender cannot coexist. So find out where you are, who you are. This inquiry creates many, many surprising results. “Who am I?” is an inquiry to dissolve. There is not going to be an answer, that “You are this.” Only the question will dissolve. There will be no one to ask even “Who am I?” And then you know.

When the ‘I’ is not, the real ‘I’ opens. When the ego is not, you are for the first time encountering your being. That being is void. Then you can surrender; then you have surrendered. You are surrender now.

When you surrender you become a valley; when you are an ego you are like a peak. Ego means you are above everyone else, you are somebody. When one surrenders, one becomes like a valley. One becomes depth, not height. Then the whole existence begins to pour into him from everywhere. He is just a vacuum, just a depth, an abyss, bottomless. The whole existence begins to pour from everywhere. You can say God runs from everywhere to him, enters him from every pore, fills him totally.

There are minor surrenders; there are major surrenders. Surrendering to a master is a minor surrender, but you begin to feel it because the master begins to flow into you immediately. If you surrender to a master, suddenly you feel his energy flowing into you. If you cannot feel energy flowing into you, then know well you have not surrendered even in a minor way. Even a look from the master into your eyes will change your total being, but it can change only if your eyes are just vacant, valleylike. If you can absorb the look of the master, immediately you will be different.

So these are the minor surrenders that happen before you surrender totally. .  Once you have known that through surrender you receive something unknown, unbelievable, unexpected, then you are ready for a major surrender.

And these minor surrenders prepare you for the total surrender. The master helps you in minor surrenders so that you can gather courage for a major surrender, total surrender.."

 From the 'Book of Secrets'

 Shared by Mrs Seema Kalia 

Finding the Right Partner

 

"This is my observation: if you are unhappy you will find somebody who is unhappy. Unhappy people are attracted towards unhappy people. And it is good, it is natural. It is good that the unhappy people are not attracted towards happy people; otherwise they would destroy their happiness. It is perfectly okay.

Only happy people are attracted towards happy people.

The same attracts the same. Intelligent people are attracted towards intelligent people; stupid people are attracted towards stupid people.

You meet people of the same plane.

So the first thing to remember is: a relationship is bound to be bitter if it has grown out of unhappiness. First be happy, be joyful, be celebrating, and then you will find some other soul celebrating and there will be a meeting of two dancing souls and a great dance will arise out of it.
The need to be loved is childish, immature. The need to love is mature.

Don’t ask for a relationship out of loneliness, no. Then you are moving in a wrong direction. Then the other will be used as a means and the other will use you as a means. And nobody wants to be used as a means! Every single individual is an end unto himself. It is immoral to use anybody as a means.

First learn how to be alone. Meditation is a way of being alone.

If you can be happy when you are alone, you have learned the secret of being happy. Now you can be happy together. If you are happy, then you have something to share, to give. And when you give you get; it is not the other way. Then a need arises to love somebody.

Ordinarily the need is to be loved by somebody. It is a wrong need. It is a childish need; you are not mature. It is a child’s attitude.

A child is born. Of course, the child cannot love the mother; he does not know what love is and he does not know who is the mother and who is the father. He is totally helpless. His being is still to be integrated; he is not one piece; he is not together yet. He is just a possibility. The mother has to love, the father has to love, the family has to shower love on the child. Now he learns one thing: that everybody has to love him. He never learns that he has to love. Now the child will grow, and if he remains stuck with this attitude that everybody has to love him, he will suffer his whole life. His body has grown, but his mind has remained immature.

A mature person is one who comes to know the other need: that now I have to love somebody.

The need to be loved is childish, immature. The need to love is mature.

And when you are ready to love somebody, a beautiful relationship will arise; otherwise not.

“Is it possible for two people in a relationship to be bad for each other?” Yes, that’s what is happening all over the world. To be good is very difficult. You are not good even to yourself. How can you be good to somebody else?

You don’t even love yourself! How can you love somebody else? Love yourself, be good to yourself.

Your so-called religious saints have been teaching you never to love yourself, never to be good to yourself. Be hard on yourself! They have been teaching you be soft towards others and hard towards yourself. This is absurd.

I teach you that the first and foremost thing is to be loving towards yourself. Don’t be hard; be soft. Care about yourself. Learn how to forgive yourself — again and again and again — seven times, seventy-seven times, seven hundred seventy-seven times. Learn how to forgive yourself. Don’t be hard; don’t be antagonistic towards yourself. Then you will flower.

In that flowering you will attract some other flower. It is natural. Stones attract stones; flowers attract flowers. Then there is a relationship which has grace, which has beauty, which has a benediction in it.

If you can find such a relationship, your relationship will grow into prayer; your love will become an ecstasy and through love you will know what the divine is."

OSHO

Parable of the snake

"Listen to a story. Some cowherd boys used to tend their cows in a meadow
where a terrible poisonous snake lived. Everyone was on the alert for fear of it. One
day a brahmachari was going along the meadow. The boys ran to him and said:
'Revered sir, please don't go that way. A venomous snake lives over there.' 'What
of it, my good children?' said the brahmachari. 'I am not afraid of the snake. I
know some mantras.' So saying, he continued on his way along the meadow. But the
cowherd boys, being afraid, did not accompany him. In the mean time the snake
moved swiftly toward him with upraised hood. As soon as it came near, he recited a
mantra, and the snake lay at his feet like an earthworm. The brahmachari said:
'Look here. Why do you go about doing harm? Come, I will give you a holy word. By
repeating it you will learn to love God. Ultimately you will realize Him and so get rid
of your violent nature.' Saying this, he taught the snake a holy word and initiated
him into spiritual life. The snake bowed before the teacher and said, 'Revered sir,
how shall I practise spiritual discipline?' 'Repeat that sacred word', said the
teacher, 'and do no harm to anybody'. As he was about to depart, the brahmachari
said, 'I shall see you again.'

"Some days passed and the cowherd boys noticed that the snake would not bite.
They threw stones at it. Still it showed no anger; it behaved as if it were an
earthworm. One day one of the boys came close to it, caught it by the tail, and,
whirling it round and round, dashed it again and again on the ground and threw it
away. The snake vomited blood and became unconscious. It was stunned. It could not
move. So, thinking it dead, the boys went their way.

"Late at night the snake regained consciousness. Slowly and with great difficulty
it dragged itself into its hole; its bones were broken and it could scarcely move.
Many days passed. The snake became a mere skeleton covered with a skin. Now and
then, at night, it would come out in search of food. For fear of the boys it would not
leave its hole during the day-time. Since receiving the sacred word from the
teacher, it had given up doing harm to others. It maintained its life on dirt, leaves, or the fruit that dropped from
the trees.

"About a year later the brahmachari came that way again and asked after the
snake. The cowherd boys told him that it was dead. But he couldn't believe them.
He knew that the snake would not die before attaining the fruit of the holy word
with which it had been initiated. He found his way to the place and, searching here
and there, called it by the name he had given it. Hearing the teacher's voice, it
came out of its hole and bowed before him with great reverence. 'How are you?'
asked the brahmachari. 'I am well, sir', replied the snake. 'But', the teacher asked,
'why are you so thin?' The snake replied: 'Revered sir, you ordered me not to harm
any body. So I have been living only on leaves and fruit. Perhaps that has made me
thinner.'

"The snake had developed the quality of sattva; it could not be angry with anyone. It had totally forgotten that the cowherd boys had almost killed it. "The brahmachari said: 'It can't be mere want of food that has reduced you to this state. There must be some other reason. Think a little.' Then the snake remembered that the boys had dashed it against the ground. It said: 'Yes, revered sir, now I remember. The boys one day dashed me violently against the ground. They are ignorant, after all. They didn't realize what a great change had come over my mind. How could they know I wouldn't bite or harm anyone?' The brahmachari exclaimed: 'What a shame! You are such a fool! You don't know how to protect yourself. I asked you not to bite, but I didn't forbid you to hiss. Why didn't you scare them by hissing?'

"So you must hiss at wicked people. You must frighten them lest they should do you harm. But never inject your venom into them. One must not injure others.

"In this creation of God there is a variety of things: men, animals, trees, plants.
Among the animals some are good, some bad. There are ferocious animals like the tiger. Some trees bear fruit sweet as nectar, and others bear fruit that is poisonous. Likewise, among human beings, there are the good and the wicked, the holy and the unholy. There are some who are devoted to God, and others who are attached to the world..

Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa..

It's all One Energy.....

When Lord Krishna sat in Samadhi that is when he recited the Gita. After the war, once Arjuna asks him that I have forgotten the beautiful knowledge that you gave me, at that time there was a lot of crowd and so much commotion on the war field and I didn’t listen to you properly. Please tell me again what you said. Then Krishna replied," No, I can’t tell you now, at that time I was in samadhi , so I made you sit and whatever came to me I told you at that time, now I cannot again tell you again".

So whatever Lord Krishna said was not a person saying this knowledge but the universe speaking. These messages came from the Shiva tattva, the atma tattva.
He said, ’I am the sun, I am the rain, truth and untruth, everything is me.’ This is very deep knowledge.

If you see everything is made from one tattva, from atoms. What is your mother made of, father made of? Everyone’s body is made from the same thing, from food grains. Food grains are consumed and the body is developed, whoever eats, they all grow and the body is made from that. So everyone is made from one substance, one power and one energy. So, he is saying the whole world is made from that one consciousness, one energy, one substance.

 Now if you see the fan, mike and light are all working with one current, with electricity, isn’t it? But it seems like the mike is different, the light is different and the fan is something else. They all look different but they are all made up of the same thing. In the same way, if the sun was not there then the earth cannot exist. If the earth was not there, how could there be plants or trees or human beings? So what is our source? First from the physical aspect our source is the earth; more subtle than that it is the sun. What is the source of the sun? The universal energy - and so Lord Krishna says that universal energy is ME.

That is the atma that is you and that is me and everything is made of this universal energy and this is what today’s scientist also say. Those who study quantum physics this is what they say - that the whole world is made up of one energy. Earlier it was said that there were different protons, electrons functioning and making things work but now they say it is all one energy, everything is a wave functions. What we consider physical things are not there in reality, it is all just energy and this is what Lord Krishna has said many years ago in the Bhagavad Gita.

‘Avajananti mam mudham manusim tanumasritam, Param bhavam ajananto mama bhuta- mahesvaram’, these people do not see my true nature as that one universal energy, consciousness and they are thinking I am a human being. I am in a human body but the consciousness inside me is that supreme consciousness. I am not a human being. I am a power.

Navratri...Another detailed perspective..

A Talk by H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The Art of Living International Centre, Bangalore (Navaratri 2004)

‘Nava’ means nine. It also means new or fresh. ‘Ratri’ – ‘Ra’ means giving solace or rest. ‘Tri’ means three. These are the three types of botherations or problems that can haunt a person: the physical, mental and the spiritual problems that come to you. That which gives you relief from these difficulties is ‘ratri.’ ‘Ratri’ literally means night. Night is called ‘ratri’, because it relieves you from misery and brings you comfort. It takes you in it arms and puts you to sleep.  Birds and animals do not worry at night they go to sleep happily. Night relaxes everybody; whether one is unhappy or miserable, everybody goes to sleep. It gives relief from any type of misery: physical, mental or emotional. ‘Navaratri’ means the new night or the nine nights that give you rest from all these three aspects of your lives.

An infant is in its mother’s womb for nine months. It is in the rest period. Similarly, these nine days are an opportunity to get back to your Self and take your mind off all the mundane things that bother you. This is the time for self referral and self inquiry, “Who am I?”,  “What is the world all about?” Then you become creative. You become victorious. When negative forces haunt you, you are disturbed, unpleasant, unhappy, uncreative, unproductive and grumbling. Craving, aversion, uncertainty and fear are negative forces. Get relief from all this, go to the source of energy within you. That is Shakti.

And, what are the ‘asuras’ (demons)?

‘Madhu and Kaitaba’ – ‘Madhu’ is craving and ‘Kaitaba’ is aversion. The second signifies hatred towards anybody. These are the first rakshasas (demons).

‘Raktabijasur’ is that which is in your genes. ‘Bija’ means seed. Sometimes your behaviour is not under your control. It is in your genes. This can be changed.  With pranayama and meditation, certain genetic changes happen inside you. That is Raktabijasur. Sometimes people have to take medication to behave properly. The medication is for killing the Raktabijasur. For example, when there is a lack of lithium in the blood it causes restlessness and valium is prescribed. The body and mind are not two separate things. They are interlinked. Sometimes the body affects the mind. When 'Raktabijasur' is transformed, the  'Shakti" (energy) is awakenend and negatitivty disappears. When this happens, all  physical ailments disappear.

‘Mahishasur’ – Mahi means dullness; like a buffalo. ‘Mahisha’ is symbolic of heaviness and jadatwa (inertia).The Divine Shakti brings energy, and inertia is lifted off.

‘Shumbh - Nishumbh’ is doubt of everything. Doubt of the self is ‘Shumbh’. Some people doubt themselves: “Am I right? Am I really devoted? Do I have my intelligence? Can I do this?” Doubt of others is ‘Nishumbh.’ Nishumbh is to doubt everybody else around you. You think that a person is not good, he / she wants to pull your leg.  That is when you always think others are after you. That is Nishumbh. Nobody is interested in pulling your leg. Everybody is busy in their own running race. But you sit and imagine, everybody is trying to pull your leg, they are thinking about you. Who is thinking about you? You know, these days people are so busy. Nobody has the time to intentionally insult anybody. Even to insult anybody you need time. You need time to think. People’s minds are clogged and preoccupied. Where do they have time to insult you? If they insult you, it has happened by chance…. it’s a by product, because they are so occupied. They are doing something and their action has insulted you. Do not think they are after you or trying to insult you. So do not sit and worry. You need clarity of mind. People don't have this. When you thus doubt everyone around you it means 'Nishumbh' has taken over you.

‘Chanda – Munda’. ‘Chanda’ means the one who has only a head. Someone with this tendency will say the very opposite of what you say. They are determined to oppose, irrespective of anything. That is Chanda - to say no, to be negative. ‘Munda’ is one who does not have a head at all. Some people whatever you say it goes above them. They cannot take in anything. Chanda and Munda - they are a big botheration.

Chanda is one who always goes against you; one who cannot agree with you at all. Chanda has taken control over such a kind of person. There is a story. There was once a married man who found out after marriage that whatever he would ask his wife to do, she would do the opposite. One day he would want raw food and on that day she would make him an elaborate cooked meal. She would do the opposite of anything he told her to do. He said “I want to sleep”. She would say, “I want to play music.” So he was frustrated. He tried to adjust. He applied all the course points: ‘Accept people as they are. Present moment is inevitable. Do not see intention behind other people’s mistakes.’ But how long could he remind himself. Nothing seemed to work and he got more tense.

So he went to see a wise man - a swami and asked him, “I have a big problem. What should I do?” The swami whispered a mantra in his ears and told him to come back in three months. After three months when he came back, his face was all bright. The Swamiji said, “You look very happy.” He replied, “Yes Swamiji, your mantra worked excellently.” There were other disciples there who were curious to know what the mantra was. The Swami said it was very easy and that he would tell everybody. He repeated out loud the instructions that he had earlier given to the man. He said whatever you want her to do, you tell her to do the opposite. If you want to sleep, you tell her to play music. If you want to eat dosa, tell her that you want idlis. Do not speak your plain heart to her.

I know there are some people here. When they want to go they will say they do not want to go. They want to sleep and they say they do not feel like sleeping. If someone says they do not feel like leaving that means they are leaving now. So, “I am fasting” means “I am going to eat well!” So you should know the minds of these people and say the opposite of what you want. That is the way to deal with Chandas. As for the Mundas, just know that they will not listen to anything. Nothing goes through.

‘Dhumralochana’ – ‘Dhumra’ means smoke and ‘Lochana’ means eyes; it means one who does not perceive things in the right way. They are neither blind nor do they have clear vision. These are more dangerous. People who think they know that which they do not know. People who think they have great logic but in fact do not have any. It’s like saying:  ‘If the door is half open then it is half closed; (hence) that means if the door is fully open, then it can also be fully closed.’ This type of argument is Kutarka (illogical arguments). That is Dhumralochana. Those under the influence of this do not see anything clearly. For them everything is hazy. That is another lack of Shakti.
 

So when you are full of enthusiasm and energy all these six rakshasas will disappear. At high prana level, you will not find any one of these. From time to time they come to you and you have to get over them. This can happen to everybody.

‘Durga Shakti’ is not limited to some time and space. It’s happening in every atom in creation, in every mind, every consciousness and in everybody’s life. All these Chanda – Munda also come not only to one person. You have all acted like that sometimes; as children you have been like that. Chandi means stubbornness - just being stubborn without any reason, without any logic, without any cause. All these are different modes of prana and they are finally all part of one divinity. They are not an entity somewhere they are all a play and display of one consciousness. That is beautiful is it not?

Some of the devas (gods) asked, why should the Goddess Durga appear? It would be sufficient for her to say, “Hmmm…” and all the rakshasas would disappear. Why did she have to fight them? But we know why she fights… to make it more playful, more colorful and to make the world more interesting. So, she comes and just plays with the trishula, chakra and gada and through these weapons even these ‘asuras’ become purified, they attain her.

It’s one light, one consciousness which plays in two roles to get back to the Self. That is why it is said that there are no two separate Shaktis (energies) but only one. It is there as deva (god) and asura (demon) that come in different forms and become one in all.  This is ‘Advait Gyan’ (knowledge of nonduality). 

It is not that Durga attacks at some particular time. It is happening everyday. Everyday creation (Shrishti) happens and destruction (Samhar) happens. Everyday a new tree is born. The sun was born, and now has set. Again the sun is going to rise. It’s all a cyclic phenomenon. That’s what makes this world diverse and so interesting.

You know the biggest contribution of India to the world is that: everything is cyclic; it is not linear. Usually people think that things are born and that’s it; it is all linear: there is a beginning and there is an end. Here everything is cyclic and spherical. Truth is spherical. Time is spherical.

Sama, Dana, Bheda and Danda

A wise person is said to have four techniques, both inwardly and outwardly —

Sama, Dana, Bheda and Danda. To deal with people and be wise, the first thing you use is Sama which means in a peaceful and understanding way. When that doesn’t work out, then you try Dana which means allowing it to happen and forgiving. When people don’t recognise your generosity in allowing them space, then the third principle called Bheda comes in, it means to intentionally create a gap or misunderstanding. If a person still doesn’t realise that they have made a mistake then it is time to use the stick, Danda, the final approach.

The same four methods apply to your inner life, your Being. Sama — maintain the equanimity. Take both the good and the bad with equanimity. Dana means giving up that which disturbs you, that which cannot put you in the royal seat of equanimity. It means to surrender the mind which is the cause of your sorrows, problems and misery. Dana includes forgiving too. When your mind wanders around, allow it to go. Follow it and bring it back. 

Now comes Bheda- differentiate, separate the imperishable from the perishable. This very body is so hollow and empty. When you are watching the body, pleasant sensations arise, unpleasant sensations arise. As you watch, they all disappear. Energy is oozing out of every pore of your body. If you watch, it flows in an even manner. It creates balance. And you realise you are not this body or these sensations. You have been always reacting to the sensations. An emotion used to give rise to some sensation; the sensation, in turn, used to create an impression, another emotion. So these circles of craving and aversion with sensation and emotion, made your life, both subtle body and gross body, and that took you from life to life. Another thing that you can do is to disassociate yourself from the sensation. 

Then comes Danda — Danda means support. Determination and commitment are the Danda. Your spiritual discipline is Danda. Mind is like a vine (creeper), it needs a support. Listening to spiritual discourses, satsangs, practice, Guru’s presence are all the support, the Danda.

It is Chetna and Chitta that is coming out of every pore of the body. The wick is the body and you are the glow. When you shift from the wick to the glow, your mind becomes stable – Sri Sri