Tuesday, December 20, 2011

SPIRITUAL RETREAT: CONFLICT LIVES INSIDE A CHOICE By Sri Sri Sri Ravishankar Guruji






Srimad Bhagavadgeeta is of the oldest scriptures, around 5,200 years old, with over 1000 translations. Geeta means the song divine. Song means harmony but this one has arisen in a war field. Peace has relevance when there is disharmony and conflict. As one grows up one finds in one's life there are choices you have to make, and when there is a choice, there is a conflict.


Some times what ever you choose, you are in the wrong place. In such situations, there is great need for advice and guidance. And this guidance was given by Lord Krishna to Arjuna the prince. That is the Bhagavadgeeta.


Lord Krishna says you are a yogi if you act without attachment to the fruit of action. This is such a complicated thing because every action you do you are expecting some result out of it. Now, there are two attitudes in life. One is doing action expecting joy out of it. Another is doing action as an expression of joy.


If you see a nice movie and then tell your friends to see it, in this action you expect nothing in result. You are simply sharing. A yogi or a sanyasi, a spiritual person, is one whose actions are an expression of joy. Lord Krishna says just by changing clothes or appearance no one becomes spiritual. It is when you act without expecting a result. You care but you are not depending on the result of the actions. You will move on because every action, adverse or congenial, affects you in a positive manner.


If your action brings an adverse result you have learnt something from it. It has brought out the skill from within you and made you efficient in many ways. And if it brings you good results then it brings you satisfaction. In either case you don’t sit and worry about what will happen or whether the results will be good or not. That worrying of the future, weakens you in the present.


Whenever you worry about the future, you are unable to act the way you could have acted. If you are seriously concerned about something your intuition dies off. Intuition and right ideas can come when the mind is calm serene and settled.


You can’t become a yogi, if you have not let gone this hankering for the result. It is natural for intentions and desires keep coming in our mind. But by holding on to them, you can’t relax. You don’t have to drop everything and run away to Himalayas or Alps or go somewhere and renounce everything. Mentally renouncement is the renunciation. Lord Krishna is giving this advice to the politician, the prince who is going to be king. He is telling him to be a yogi. Running away from the world is not going to make you into a spiritual person. You have to be in the world, right here and be centered mentally. Be a yogi and do your action. Your action can only be effective and fruitful, if you are centered. And being centeredness is what yoga is all about.


Some action is needed for one who is getting on to the path. And once you are on the path, you simply have to relax. Once you are on the plane, you should sit and relax. Your running in the plane is not going to reach you any faster. And this is what people do. Either they do nothing or they keep doing all their life. For the sage who desires to attain yoga, action is said to be the means. And when he has attained yoga, inaction is said to be the means.


Happiness cannot be directly earned. Love and happiness comes to you as a gift. And this gift comes to you through merit. But Merit can be earned through good work and good action. You need merit to go deep within yourself and experience, and enjoy, the peace, love and joy inside. Lord Krishna sings this song of yoga, of spirituality, amidst the war and conflict. Only one who has mastery over the mind and universe can do that. And it is then that you become qualified to be called a yogi.
Kind Courtesy Star of Mysore  Link

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