Talks by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Monday, April 15, 2013

Flight of a simple mind : Talk by Sri Sri

When you are listening to somebody speaking, the speaker’s very first sentence triggers off some conversation within you. You are constantly agreeing or disagreeing with the speaker. Have you ever wondered whether you can listen without any thoughts or pre-conceived notions in your mind?

Students listening to an hour-long lecture in a class are able to grasp only a part of it. Increasingly, even that grasp is diluting — attention deficiency syndrome. Only if there is alertness and presence of mind in the entire society will business prosper.

Perception, observation and expression are three important aspects of life. Those who perceive things better have balanced observations and expression. Recollect how much enthusiasm and joy you had when you went to the primary school as a child. Wherever there is life, there is enthusiasm. Someone without enthusiasm is like a corpse. But as you mature, the enthusiasm curve declines. And as enthusiasm declines, we stop communicating; leave alone formal lectures, even one to one informed talks hold no interest.



Have you any enthusiasm left? See, we look at everything but we do not look at our own faculties.  

Life has many faculties — 
body, breath, etc. Are you aware of your body? You become aware of your body only when it aches. Just as a child throws tantrums when it is not given attention, your body throws tantrums when you don’t attend to it. If you attend to your body constantly, it won’t throw tantrums. And attending to the body is not just about food and exercise; it is taking your attention to each part of your body and loving it consciously. Your body is the closest thing to you, it is the first layer of existence.

The second faculty is breath. What makes the skin different from leather? It is the breath. Even shoes have some value. But your body, when it is not breathing, has no value. Our first act, when we came to the world, was to breathe in and the last act will be to breathe out. But we ignore this primordial function of our life. Know that your breath holds many secrets; every emotion has a corresponding rhythm of breath. Attending to the breath helps regulate emotional disturbances.

The third faculty that we possess is our mind. This is the faculty through which we perceive and yet this is the faculty that we know the least about.

The fourth faculty, which is our memory, functions in a very funny manner; if you receive ten compliments from someone and one criticism, it is that one criticism that will cling to your memory. Basically, memory feeds on interest. It retains only those situations and subjects in which it feels interest; if you enjoy astronomy, your memory will also treasure it.

The next faculty is intellect. Even as you are reading now, your intellect is saying something. It is passing some sort of judgment, it is accepting or rejecting what is written, questioning my words. All this comes with intellect.

Then there is ego. When you are happy, something in you expands. That something is ego. Ego brings happiness, it brings creativity, shyness, grief. If you are shy and timid, it is because of your ego; joy and pride are also due to ego; behind every fear, there is ego. We know very little about the function of ego. Knowledge of your ego can strengthen you, it will eliminate your vulnerability.

The next faculty is something that does not have tangible boundaries. Sometimes when you are relaxed or you are in love, you feel a sense of wonder, that there is something more mysterious in life than we are aware; it may happen when you are watching a sunset, when you are reading the Gita, when a baby is born, when you are taking a cold shower or when you are sick with fever. That something is the self, the consciousness, the atma. You may hardly notice it, but those few seconds give you so much peace and tranquillity. Preserving those moments will enrich your life.

A talk by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar 

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