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Life itself, is an expression of joy

20 January 2012, 12:08 pm
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Your effort to smile and laugh is making you cry and weep. You are doing the opposite. There is nothing you need to do. Just smile and laugh. Life has no purpose, no mission. It is a game. It’s a play. Life has no message. Life itself, is an expression of joy.

— Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Happiness is not something that comes after acquiring an external object, happiness is not something that should be pursued, it’s not something that can be pursued.

Happiness is your natural state of being.

It’s not that you have to do something in order to be happy, it’s the other way around. When you are naturally happy, whatever you do is an expression of happiness, and your very presence radiates happiness.

Life itself, is an expression of happiness and joy. You are happy, now in this very moment :)

Photo by Camdiluv ♥

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Meditation

19 September 2009, 10:24 am

The importance of meditation

The Lord is attained without the least effort; he is worshipped by self-realisation alone. … The self is not realised by any other means other than meditation. If one is able to meditate even for thirteen seconds, even if one is ignorant one attains the merit of giving away a cow in charity. If one does so for one hundred and one seconds, the merit is that of performing a sacred rite. If the duration is twelve minutes, the merit is a thousandfold. If the duration is of a day, one dwells in the highest realm. This is the supreme yoga, this is the supreme kriyā.

— Yoga Vāsiṣṭha (tr. by Swami Venkatesananda p. 255)

What is meditation?

Meditation is not a practice; it is not the cultivation of habit; meditation is heightened awareness. Mere practice dulls the mind. heart for habit denotes thoughtlessness and causes insensitivity. Right meditation is a liberative process, a creative self-discover which frees thought-feeling from bondage. In freedom alone is there the Real.

— J. Krishnamurti (source)

Meditation doesn’t imply merely sitting in a posture with eyes closed. Meditation, in essence, means heightened awareness, being intensely aware of the present moment. This heightened awareness comes about only when you are not making any effort. It comes about with the acceptance and awareness of the present moment as it is. If you are in such a state of pure awareness, you are in meditation irrespective of what you are doing. In Yoga Vasishta it is said that, “While doing whatever one is doing — seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, moving, sleeping, breathing, or talking — one should realise one’s essential nature as pure consciousness. Thus does one attain liberation.”

Of course, if you think that sitting in a posture with eyes closed helps you get to the state of heightened awareness, you can definitely practice that.

How to meditate?

When you sit down to meditate, tell yourself that at this time “I want nothing”. The second is to tell yourself “I do nothing”. The third sutra (principle) is “I am nothing”. Do not think that you have to meditate, just sit and be hollow and empty. You do not have to make any kind of attempt. These three sutras are very important.

— Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (source)

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Celebrating foolishness :)

1 April 2009, 8:02 am

The greatest problem for us is being a fool. We try not to be fool. All our life we resist and fear arises in us. A fool is one who acts with freedom, who has all freedom, isn’t it? That is how he could be a fool. If somebody has not experienced freedom, he cannot be a fool. Freedom is behind every fool. God loves you being a fool. He doesn’t love wise men so much. He is bored of their theses and philosophies. He is terribly bored by all the books written about him.

Make the whole life a game. A game means there is no purpose, there is nothing. Just take it lightly, easily. Play the game. That is worship, that is celebration. There is nothing that you do that will please God. There is nothing that you will do that will displease God. He is not waiting there with a staff, just waiting for you to do a mistake so He can punish you. … If He doesn’t want you to do something, you can never do it. It is impossible. He has allowed you so much freedom to do anything you like, means He says, “Don’t take anything seriously, it is all a game. It’s all like a dream.”

Whatever has happened till today, till this moment in your life, is like a dream. You cried, laughed, shouted and got angry at somebody, threw the dishes all over your floor, made all sorts of drama, haven’t you? You banged your heads against walls, or banged somebody else’s head. You yelled or made somebody yell at you. To God it is all fun. He is watching, it is all just a game.

…

A fool is one who is relaxed, who is free, who is happy. He is not bothered about what he gains, whether material or spiritual or whatever. What have you done with all that you have gained? Where has it led you? Nothing to gain, nothing to lose. By your doing, you are not pleasing or displeasing God. There is a saying in Sanskrit: “My original home is in heaven. I come here to rest.” I have come to the word to rest and play, to watch and to see what is happening here. In this world, you just be aware and alert and watch everything that is happening around you. It is great fun.

— Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, God Loves Fun

Wishing all a happy fools day. :)

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Just be happy ;)

13 February 2009, 7:35 am

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you’ll be a success.

— Albert Schweitzer

In the true order of things one does not do something in order to be happy—one is happy and, hence, does something. One does not do some things in order to be compassionate, one is compassionate and, hence, acts in a certain way.

— Conversations with God

Your effort to smile and laugh is making you cry and weep. You are doing the opposite. There is nothing you need to do. Just smile and laugh. Life has no purpose, no mission. It is a game. It’s a play. Life has no message. Life itself, is an expression of joy.

— Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, God Loves Fun

Doing is a function of the body. Being is a function of the soul. The body is always doing something. Every minute of every day it’s up to something. It never stops, it never rests, it’s constantly doing something.

The soul is forever being. It is being what it is being, regardless of what the body is doing, not because of what it’s doing. If you think your life is about doingness, you do not understand what you are about.

— Conversations with God

So, don’t try to do something to make yourself happy. Just be happy, just Be, everything else follows. :)

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Thinking is useless?!!

27 January 2009, 9:09 am

Somebody came and asked a saint, “What do you think about this particular situation?” The saint said, “Where is the time to think about anything? I have no time to think.” This statement is difficult to understand: “I have no time to think.” But how can you think when you are in the present, when you are aware, when you are in the now totally? Thinking is like a chewing gum. It doesn’t produce anything. You can think only those things which you know. And once you know, what is the need to think about it? And you can’t think something which you don’t know. How can you? It is not possible. Ultimately, thinking is useless!!!

— Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, God Loves Fun

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