Q: How can one experience the mind, intellect, memory and the Self as separate from each other?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When you are listening to whatever I am saying, your mind is the one that is listening through your ears. When you listen to music, you hear it through your mind. But when you ask questions about something, you do so through the intellect. So it is the mind that is responsible for listening to the music that is playing; it is the mind that experiences the hotness or coldness of touch. But the faculty, or the level of existence that tries to understand what you experience (through the mind), is the intellect. Then, when you feel, 'I want this', or, 'I don't want this', then that 'I' reflects the ego. Remembering this entire experience is the function of the memory.

These are really four different functions of one consciousness

Visus Lietuvos piliečius sveikinu Lietuvos Valstybės dienos paminėjimo proga

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV5SnJ-mjps


...Praeityje ir dabar įdedama daug pastangų menkinant ir niekinant lietuvių Tautą, jos Kelią... Tai daroma

ir savų, ir svetimų rankomis...

Jei kas jaučiasi maži ir menki, tesislepia už mūsų istorijos pavogtų faktų, nuo to ji nesikeičia....

Tačiau Tiesos nereikia patvirtinti, ji tiesiog YRA. Kitaip gi, kaip įmanoma, kad vos 3mln savy talpinanti

Tauta, išliko pati ir išlaikė archaišką savo kalbą? ...nes iš gilios gelmės semia ji savo dvasinę

stiprybę, tai ir šaknis jos saugo.... Kas turi ausis, teklauso. Kas turi akis – teskaito, kas turi

širdis – teišgirsta....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7UAWmFsm4k

Lietuviai Ukrainoje Maidane....

Galime didžiuotis....

kuom tu cia didziuojies,grupe, ar kad palaiko?

visuma

Iš pradžių mūsų nepastebi, po to ignoruoja, vėliau juokiasi iš mūsų, dar vėliau kovoja su mumis, galiausiai mes laimime....
Mahatma Gandi

....labai jau primena kažką...., nesenai įvykusį...

Norejau uzdeti pliusa, bet cia kazkokie pokyciai...

Protinga citata.

Taigi apie pliusa parasau raidemis, o ne matematiniu zenklu ( )

...Praise or insult which would throw you out of balance will no longer bother you. Someone comes and gives you all big praises and then you are sold out to them. Then you become blind to their mistakes. There is a proverb in Sanskrit which bemoans you to be watchful of friends than your enemies. Enemy is anyway an enemy. You know that they are enemies and you can be careful about them. But your friend! The way the friend will induce you mind to do negative things or to do things that may lead you to the wrong direction, you must be aware of it.....A friend can make you an alcoholic, a drug addict. An enemy cannot do all these things to you. A friend can mislead you but an enemy cannot, because you are cautious of the enemy. You are stronger in their case. You get swayed by praises easily. It is said that 99% of the people love sycophancy around them. We do not know based on what statistics psychologists have found this out. They say that 99% of the people love sycophancy. People like being praised because they cannot praise themselves, because they do not know their own worth. So they feel very sad when they come across people who are averse to praise them.....
....Your natural tendency is that - when someone insults you, you stay away from them. You cut off communication with them. You stop them at arm’s length and even run away a mile from them.
(Patanjali Sutras)


sycophancy - keliaklupsčiavimas

Q: How do I know if I am doing the right thing or not? Sometimes I get very confused.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When you are not doing the right thing, something pinches you, something irritates you; something inside tells you that you are not doing the right thing. This is how you know you are not doing the right thing.
When you are doing the right thing, sometimes doubts also come. So, if doubts come then you can think that it is the right thing. But if irritation comes then it is wrong.
Our doubt is always about something that is right. Also, when your prana is low then doubt comes. Raise your prana with more meditation. Then you will see that these doubts don’t rise up in the mind.

Q: Please elaborate upon the contradictory nature of truth.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: If you go to any temple in India, not only will you see idols of Gods and Goddesses, but you will also see the idols of many demons (representing negativity and delusion).
Gods and Goddesses acquired their position because they were able to overcome these demons. If there were no demons, then how will they acquire their position? So whatever you find contradictory in nature are actually complimentary to each other.
Take milk for example, is milk good or bad? If you drink only as much milk as is needed, then it is good for you. But if you drink too much, then the same milk can cause indigestion also. So when taken in excess, the same milk can harm you.
In the same way, is poison good or bad? All medicines and life-saving drugs have a warning label written on them that says, if taken in excess they are poisonous. So poison can help in saving life, and it can also take one’s life. That is why it is said that these aspects of Nature may appear to be contradictory, but in reality they are actually complimentary to each other. When you go deeper in knowledge then you will realize this.
A hero in a movie has some importance only when there is a villain also. If there is no villain in the movie, then the hero has no job, except to eat and sleep. When there is some mischief or some conflict that the villain creates, then all the talents and skills of the hero blossom and become evident.

Q: Everything in the world is natural - the good and the bad. Then why are we always trying to convert the bad into good?


Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Because that is also part of our nature. People are being born, and people die, then why do you need to save anybody from dying? Close down all the hospitals, shut down all the services. Anyways people die, what is the point? How does it matter if they die a little earlier or sometimes later? Sooner the better. This type of logic doesn’t hold good.

Our nature is to help. Our nature is to bring light. Our nature is to bring comfort to others, and make everyone feel happy. We can’t be in anyway different from that.

If you ask alum, 'Why do you clean the water?' It will say, 'It is in my nature'.
If you ask Sun, 'Why do give light to people?' It will say, 'That is my nature'.
If you ask a star, 'Why you twinkle in sky? It doesn’t help anybody'. It will say, 'That it is in my nature, to twinkle'.

So it is our nature to help others, and to bring comfort to life. Every individual is in search of happiness. Even people who are doing bad things, are doing it in search of happiness. It is just that they don’t know that they won’t get it. If they knew that they won't get happiness by doing bad things, they would never do it. They are doing all the wrong things simply because they do not know that they won’t be able to get happiness out of it. So it is our job to make them aware, 'See, if you keep doing all these wrong things, you are only going to get more miserable. It is better that you do good things, then you will be happy'.

Q: How to deal with a loved one being too possessive?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Only through wisdom.
You need to make people see life from a bigger perspective. When they see life with a wide angle lens, then their whole idea, or opinion will change. Otherwise the world seems so small, and we go around in little circles of fifteen, to twenty people. Within that small circle you will have cravings, aversions, anger, jealousy, and greed. All these negative emotions keep rattling you. This happens because you have not expanded your vision about your own life.

When we go to school, we complain about our teachers and our friends. When we start working, we complain about our boss or our colleagues at work. How do we get free from this habit of complaining all the time?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That’s it! Once you have realized and become aware of this tendency about yourself, then just know that you are out of it. A complaining mind usually complains about things that happened in the past. When we do not look forward to the future with a positive mind set, and when our Prana (life force energy) is low, then our mind tends to get entangled with the events of the past, and it starts to regret or complain about them. That is why the wise ones around us who have foresight encourage us by saying, 'Drop all this garbage of the past. Just smile and move forward. Your complaining does not help improve or resolve anything'.

Purity in heart, clarity in mind, sincerity in action. If you have these three things, you’re done!Then I tell you, nature will also come to your help in such amazing ways; God will come to our help.

We have 7 layers of our existence. What are they?

1. Body: We seldom know much about our body. Body needs the right amount of exercise, and right amount of food. We must not just stuff it all the time. Sometimes it needs cleansing.
In the science of Ayurveda there is a lot about how to maintain the body and keep it aligned with the nature.

2. Second dimension is the breath. Without the breath the body has no value.
The first thing we did after coming into this world is we breathed in, and the last thing we will do, is breath out.
When you came into this world, you started crying and everybody laughed, everyone was happy. When you leave this world you should go smiling and everyone else should cry. If everyone laughs when you go, then you have not lived well.
Also there is no fun in crying and going. You came crying, at least when you’re going, you should laugh. We are all going to go, this is for sure. So, how to keep smiling? How to find the inner strength? How to change the situation around you? This is the question that hunts people who have woken up.
So I say the second dimension is the breath and it has a lot of secrets to offer.
When yoy came into this world, you started crying and everybody laughed, everyone was happy. When you leave this world you should go smiling and everyone else should cry. If everyone laughs when you go, then you have not lived well.

3. The third dimension is the mind. Our body is like the wick of a candle. If there is a candle and if I put a glass on top of this, the flame will be alive only as long as there is oxygen.Similarly, if I put a glass on you, you will be alive only as long as there is oxygen.
Our mind is very similar to the flame. Our consciousness lives on oxygen. So body, breath and mind.
What is mind? Are you looking at me? Are you hearing? That through which we taste, we smell, we see, and we hear, that aspect of energy, or consciousness, is the mind.

4. Then there is the fourth aspect which is judging, discriminating, saying 'Yes', or saying, 'No'. All this is the intellect.

5. Then you have the memory. If you are given ten compliments and one insult, tell me which one will you remember? You’ll forget all the ten compliments and remember the one insult. In ten years of marriage, you would have had a good time for nine years. One year you would have had a bad time and that stands up, isn’t it?
Memory always goes around something that is negative and holds on to it. This needs to be changed. Children don’t do that. Children are crying, the tears are still on their cheek and they smile.
A baby smiles 400 times a day, an adolescent smiles 17 times, an adult does not smile every day. My mission is to put a smile on everyone’s face.

6. The next level, after memory is ego. One of the biggest problems in the world today. Ego means we create a wall between us and the other. Did we come to this world with walls?Children, see how they mix with everybody. They feel at home with everybody. As children we never had walls, then we started building walls between us and others.
Many types of prejudices have come up. Prejudice against gender, age, language, religion. All these prejudices we bring up in life. We should drop the prejudice, then real humaneness comes in us.

7. The last level, is the Self. There is something in us that doesn’t change at all. It doesn’t change but everything else changes. Our body changes, our mind changes, our emotions change, people change, but there is some reference point, something deep inside you that doesn’t change at all. That is the Self. That is the spirit. Latching on to it is what I call wisdom.


So, a disease-free body, confusion-free mind, inhibition-free intellect, trauma-free memory, and an ego that is all encompassing, is the birth right of every human being.

Our life on this planet is so short. We live say 80-90 years, half the time we spend in sleeping.
In this short span of life, I don’t understand why people kill each other, why people are sad and depressed, why are they so selfish.
It is because somewhere their spirit is sleeping. When they wake up, they see that there is not enough time to spread love on the planet, let alone hate anybody.
So let’s learn how we can start the change. Now is the time to say, ‘I am going to be different.
If someone is insulting me I am not going to be angry, today let me smile at it'.
You know when people are stuck in a traffic jam they get so upset and angry, they don’t need to do that. That’s where meditation, breathing exercises, yoga, all these are of immense help.

Q: How to find a balance? I am attracted to spirituality but also the material world.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It is okay, they are not in opposition. You should have balance in life. Work hard, earn money, save it and save some time for meditation. People who are ambitious, who work hard and make money, don’t forget to brush their teeth or eat their food, isn't it. However busy they are earning money, they take time to enjoy their food. Like that, spirituality is food for soul, so do this also.
Some people are more interested in spirituality and they go deeper. They say, 'I have seen enough wealth in life and I will keep doing my work, but I will also do more work for betterment of people', then life takes off to another level.
These are different levels in life. You can sit in any step you want. The first step, second step, third step or the ultimate step. It is your choice.

In this globalized world, we need to learn many things; I would say we are not just Indians, or Japanese, or Italians, or Americans, we are global citizens. As a global citizen, what do we need to learn?
We need to learn team work from Japan. The Japanese are the best team workers in the world. We need to learn precision from the Germans. They are so good with precision and punctuality.
We need to learn assertiveness from the Swiss, etiquette from British, marketing from Americans, and human values from Indians. From Bhutan, we need to learn happiness. It is a small country, but the happiness index is highest in Bhutan.

You know, India is the only country where spirituality was honored without having any concept of God.
In the Jain school, there is no concept of God sitting somewhere outside. And it is the same in Buddhism as well. So, it doesn’t matter if you don’t know what God is, or where God is. don’t need to believe in God, at least you believe in yourself. Then you will know who you are.
Who are you? Are you the body? Are you the mind? Are you the thought? Who are you! Know who you are, that is good enough.
On the path of wanting to know who you are, your integrity, your honesty, your compassion and love for everybody, your sensitivity – all these will come up. And this is godliness!
In India, in the Upanishads it is not said to first believe in God. The Upanishads say, 'Know Yourself”. This is what is emphasized.
If you say, I don’t believe in anything, I am an atheist, then you know, atheists have a very big problem. There is fear inside them.
There are two types of people, one who believe in God, and one who don’t believe in god and have terrible fear because they don’t know what is going to happen to them. Lack of confidence, lack of compassion, all these come up.
I would say, it is immaterial if you believe in god or not. What you need to know is who you are

Rusų oligarchas, besaikius turtus iškeitęs į paprasto valstiečio gyvenimą


Netrukus jis pardavė apartamentus Niujorke, biurus Volstrite ir Londono Sityje, vilą Ženevoje, pilį Burgundijoje ir būstinę Maskvoje.

G. Sterligovas taip pat išdalijo akcijas, kurių vertė siekė milijonus svarų. Maža to, Germanas paprašė savo žmoną Alioną parduoti papuošalus, drabužių kolekcijas ir įsigyti sijoną ir skarelę –tokią, kokias nešiojo ir ryšėjo rusų valstietės. Beveik be grašio prie dūšios pora su keturiais vaikais pasitraukė į miškus – pasistatė palapinę ir taip pradėjo gyventi visai kitokį gyvenimą. Už turėtų turtų trupinius Sterligovai nusipirko ankštą pirkelę be elektros. Praėjus dešimčiai dienų po įkurtuvių miško pirkioje, Aliona pagimdė penktąją atžalą.

Tačiau G. Sterligovas nieko nesigaili.

"Verslininku su tais kvailais, tuščiais turto atributais nebenorėčiau būti nė po milijono metų, - kategoriškai teigia buvęs verslininkas. – Velniop Rubliovkos vilas, ištaigingas jachtas, bentlius ir visą kitą. Laimingas aš tapau čia, kaime – šioje pirkioje, tarp savo avių, su savo žmona ir vaikais. Ankstesnis gyvenimas mums primena paukštelio auksiniame narvelyje likimą. Būti superturtingu – reiškia būti tam tikros rūšies vergu. Dabar, dėkui Dievui, mes iš tos vergovės išsilaisvinom."

http://www.delfi.lt/verslas/verslas/rusu-oligarchas-besaikius-turtus-iskeites-i-paprasto-valstiecio-gyvenima.d?id=65528436

....smagu skaityti apie tokius žmones...