आप किस बात से दुखी हैं? ऐसा क्या है जिससे आप दुखी हैं? आप अपने आस-पास की स्थितियों और परिस्थितियों से दुखी हैं। आप अपने आस-पास के लोगों के बारे में दुखी हैं। क्या वे वहाँ स्थायी रूप से या हमेशा के लिए रहने वाले हैं?

लोग व् स्थितयाँ बदल रहे हैं। यह सब एक बहती नदी की तरह है! नित्य परिवर्तनशील ,जागो और देखो कि जिस व्यक्ति को आपने कल रात देखा था वह आज सुबह, आज शाम या कल वही व्यक्ति नहीं है। आप अन्य लोगों के बारे में दुखी क्यों हैं? पता है उनकी मनोदशा पानी की सतह पर बुलबुले की तरह हैं। गतिशील हैं; वे आगे बढ़ रहे हैं। आप स्थितियों और परिस्थितियों से दुखी हैं। वे कब तक वहां रहने वाले हैं, हमेशा के लिए नहीं? वे सभी गतिशील हैं और बदलते हैं। आपके शरीर के स्वास्थ्य के बारे में आप और क्या दुखी हैं? यदि आप बहुत स्वस्थ हैं तो भी आप अपने शरीर पर कितनी देर तक टिक सकते हैं? क्या आप इसे हमेशा के लिए पकड़ सकते हैं? एक दिन यह छूटने वाला है। यदि कोई शरीर बीमार हो जाता है, तो उसकी देखभाल करें , बस। मानसिक रूप से उत्तेजित होना इसे और भी बदतर बना देता है। बीमार और स्वस्थ होना शरीर की प्रकृति है।

अपने वास्तविक स्वरूप में, आप उस पल मुक्त होते हैं जो आप देखते हैं कि यह आपके अंदर नहीं है। यदि आपको दर्द होता है, तो शरीर में इसके होने का निरीक्षण करें। यदि आपके मन में जकड़न या खुशी है, तो देखें कि यह तंग, उदास, दुखी या खुश है। बस निरीक्षण करें कि आप आनंद नहीं ले रहे हैं, और यह कहीं और हो रहा है, जैसे कि यह कहीं और हो रहा है।

अब मेरे शब्दों पर विश्वास करें: ‘आप कर्ता नहीं हैं’। इस ग्रह पर जीवन ’हो रहा है’ सब कुछ गतिमान है। आपका मन उतार-चढ़ाव, दुख और खुशियों से गुजर रहा है। इसके अपने तरीके हैं, अपना समय है।

केवल एक ही तरीका है कि आप यह देखकर खुश हो सकते हैं कि आप कर्ता नहीं हैं; कि सब कुछ बस हो रहा है।

इसे होने दो। यह सोचते हुए कि आप कर्ता हैं और आप तनाव को बढ़ाते हैं, और आप बहुत अधिक बेचैन हो जाते हैं। इससे बाहर निकलने के लिए कुछ करने की इच्छा एक और काम कर रही है। ‘ आप यह जानते हैं, लेकिन फिर इसे और अधिक हलचल शुरू होगी । और अगर आप सरगर्मी रखते हैं, तो यह समस्या बनने के लिए बाध्य है। कोई रास्ता नहीं है कि वह बस जाए। जब आप महसूस कर सकते हैं ‘मैं कर्ता नहीं हूं,’ जब यह विश्वास, यह विश्वास आप पर हावी हो जाता है, तो यह अमृत है। इससे आप खुश हो जाएंगे।

जागरूकता की इस अग्नि से , ज्ञान की इस अग्नि से , उस सारे अज्ञान को जला दो और तुम्हारे दुख को नष्ट कर दो।
श्री श्री रविशंकर – आर्ट ऑफ़ लिविंग

What are you unhappy for? What is it that you are unhappy about? You are unhappy about the situations and circumstances around you. You are unhappy about the people around you. Are they going to be there permanently or forever?

They are moving and changing. It is all like a flowing river! Wake up and see the person you saw yesterday night is not the same person this morning, this evening or tomorrow. Why are you unhappy about other people? Know they are all like bubbles on the surface of water. They are fleeting; they are moving. You are unhappy about situations and circumstances. How long are they going to be there, not forever? They all move and change. What else are you unhappy about the health of your body? How long you can hold onto your body even if it is very healthy? Can you hold on to it, forever? One day it is going to drop. If a body gets sick, attend to it, that is all. Getting mentally agitated makes it even worse. It is the nature of the body to be sick and healthy.

 In your true nature, you are free the moment you see it’s not in you. If you have a pain, observe it’s happening in the body. If there is tightness or joy in your mind, observe that it is tight, sad, unhappy or happy. Just observe that you are not enjoying, and it is happening elsewhere, as though it is happening elsewhere.

Now trust my words: ‘you are not the doer’. Life is ‘happening’ on this planet. Everything is moving. Your mind is going through ups and downs, sorrows and joys. It has its own ways, its own time.

There’s only one way you can be happy seeing that you are not the doer; that everything is just happening.

Let it happen. Thinking you are the doer agitates you further, and you become much more restless. Not to do, to undo, is another doing. The desire to do something to get out of it is another ‘doing.’ It’s something like a pond being muddy. You know this, but then start stirring it more. And if you keep stirring, it is bound to become muddier. There is no way it can settle down. When you can feel ‘I am not the doer,’ when this confidence, this faith dawns on you, that is nectar. With that, you will become happy.

Let this fire of awareness, this fire of knowledge burn all that ignorance and destroy your sorrow. Do not be unhappy. There is no need to be unhappy or sad about your body, and the things happening in your mind, about people, situations, events and circumstances around you. Then, what can you be unhappy about? Can you be? Is there any other thing to be unhappy about? Is it? Sukhī bhava ! It is an order as well as a blessing.

—- SHRI SHRI RAVI SHANKAR – FOUNDER ART OF LIVING

Source : http://www.wisdom.srisriravishankar.org

WHAT IS ART OF LIVING – ? 

HIS HOLINESS SHRI SHRI RAVISHANKAR JI ( GURU JI ) FOUNDER OF ART OF LIVING IS EXPLAINING THE SECRET .

Q: Can the mind continue its process of evolution between lifetimes as well? Does it need a body and situations for its evolution?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, it needs a body. That is why the human body is very precious.
You know, in day to day life, when you do things, sometimes you lose energy. When the energy goes down, the mind also goes down. Sometimes you wonder, why is my mind going down? Many people ask this question.
You think, ‘I feel so depressed and down. Nothing feels interesting’. A sort of, (the mind)feeling down, happens to you.
This is because of a few reasons:
One of the reasons is Time. There is a particular time in everyone’s life cycle, where for no particular reason the energy of the mind goes down.
The second reason is, too much thinking and too many desires. When the mind is clogged with too much ambition and too many desires, it will definitely give rise to depression.
The mind goes down because it loses all its energy in just thinking and thinking, and dreaming, and wishing for this and that. So too many desires causes the mind to go down. That is why vairagya (dispassion) is essential to counter depression. If you have dispassion, you cannot be depressed. The lack of dispassion causes depression. So too much ambition and too many desires drains your mind of energy, and you feel depressed.
The third reason is when energy is low in the body; when the body is weak. When you do not have much energy, or when you are sick, then the mind goes down.
Associating with the body’s vitality, energy and fluids, the mind becomes low. It can happen through some sickness, or because of a wrong diet.
Sometimes you eat some food that does not suit your system, or you eat too much, then also you feel depressed, and this is a vicious circle. People eat more because they are depressed, and then they get depressed because they ate too much.
So, if you feel a little low on energy, or depression, for a few days stop stuffing yourself with food. Eat some light food, or fruits, and suddenly you will feel your energy go up. Don’t fast too much, again that is not good. Fasting is good to a certain limit. So, eating light food helps uplift mental energy.
The fourth reason is, total inactiveness. If you are too active, then you get depressed. Or if you are totally inactive, and don’t do anything; or do things only for yourself without a mission or a vision to do something for others (lack of a seva attitude), definitely brings depression.
That is why in the ancient days, in the ashrams, people were always pushed to do some service. Go to the slums, sweep the floor, or water the plants, and keep things neat and tidy.
Keep yourself busy. If you keep yourself engaged in some activity, that is also another way to counter depression.
So, here, either someone who is too outgoing, or someone who does not do any work physically, and sits all the time engaging in mental circus, get depressed. So the middle path is the way to come out of it.From time to time, go into deep meditation, and then come out and dynamically get involved in activity, without thinking ‘what will I get from this’. Whatever is necessary to be done in the world, do it. What the time and place requires you to do, doing that, is service. This will also help you to uplift your mental energy.
The fifth thing is, you are all singing, dancing, listening to the chanting, sitting for the Poojas, all this also uplifts your energy.
Now you cannot say, I only want to sit in the Pooja and go on chanting, and do only this. No, it is not going to work. Or, I will eat as much as I want, and then I will come and sit in the Pooja, that won’t work. You must always have that balance between activity and rest. The right amount of food, the right amount of activity, and the right amount of service (service is necessary) is essential. When you follow this, then all the sorrow runs away. When you follow these conditions, then you get united with the universal spirit (Yoga happens), and then sorrow runs away and you smile!