Meditation Can Change Your Destiny
If we sit and spend some time being with ourselves, reposing in ourselves for just a short while every day, then that is what meditation is.
There is so much to do, why should we meditate?
Meditation helps increase energy in the body. The life force increases, the intellect sharpens, our interaction with others becomes more pleasant, we gain more control of how we speak, sankalpa Shakti of the mind becomes stronger. So why shouldn’t one do something when there are so many benefits?
Meditation is something that changes your very destiny! This is very important.
There are some people who work very hard but are still not successful. This happens, have you seen it? This is because there is some element which is missing, there is a vibration within us that is weak; a negative vibration. Meditation is necessary to remove this negative vibration.
If we meditate for a few minutes every day, then we will be able to experience Divine Love showering upon us.
Knowledge, realization and love, these three elements are essential in life. Nobody likes a dull and boring life. Everyone wants a life filled with some juice, and that is love. But until there are no positive vibrations within us, or till the time we are filled with negative vibrations, we cannot experience love in its original form. We can only experience love in its distorted forms, i.e., anger, hatred, restlessness. Love manifests in these distorted forms until then.
So we should learn the method of cleansing the mind of these distortions. Once the mind is free of these distortions, everything in life starts to fall into place.
This is on an individual level. When one individual changes only then can the society change. The society is made up of individuals, right?
So we have to go deep within, just for a few minutes daily. After waking up in the morning, before starting work just sit for 10 minutes; in the evening after completing all work and coming back to home we all eat food, but before eating, if we just sit for a short while and go deep within and repose in the self, things start to change.
Even if you look at it on a physical level, there are several benefits.
You will say, ‘Gurudev, this is a materialistic world we live in, everyone is running to and fro after something or the other, where is the time for meditation and knowledge?’ But I say that even in today’s circumstances and lifestyle, what is most useful is meditation.
If there is anything that can give us contentment even in today’s circumstances, that can help us in our work, it is meditation and faith.
We have heard that God is everywhere. You have heard it, yes? That which is in some places but not in others cannot be God.
See, what are the qualities of God, or what is Divinity? That which is there, which is omnipresent. It is present everywhere. If it is not present in you, will it be God?
What is the first characteristic of God? Omnipresence! So can God be present in some places, and not be present in some places? No! Omnipresent means, present everywhere. And so it is present inside you; in you, yes! One thing is settled, God is present in you.
The next quality is, He is eternal. He was there, he is there, and he will always be there.
So, if God is present in the present moment, is He present now? Yes! He is present in you, and He is present now.
Then, He belongs to everyone. So does He belong to you? Yes, He belongs to you!
If he belongs only to the Hindu and not to the Muslim, or to the Muslim and not to the Sikh, or to the Sikh and not to the Jain, then He is not God. The One who belongs to everyone is God. And He is capable.
Just by taking your attention to these four sutras, you will easily slip into a deep meditation, into Samadhi.
What are the four sutras—that the Divine is sarvatra (omnipresent), sarvada (eternal), belongs to everyone and is all-powerful. The Divine is for me.
If we get into the habit of relaxing and meditating just for a few minutes in the morning as well as in the evening with this feeling, then we find that miracles begin to happen, and keep happening. This is what I wanted to tell you. This is what I call faith.
That which is but cannot be seen is faith.
Just today someone asked me, ‘Gurudev, God cannot be seen so how can we say that God exists?’
I said, ‘Have you ever seen your mind? Is it green, yellow, red; which color is it? When have you seen your mind?’
We have never seen our mind itself, yet we know we have a mind.
Have we ever seen the air? No, but we can feel it, yes? The air surrounds us, but if you really want to experience it, just go and sit under a fan and you will feel it. Similarly, God is present everywhere, but is not evident immediately.
We love the Divine, but not our country, this cannot be. Those who love the Divine will remain devoted to the nation as well. So whatever work or service we can do, we should keep doing. We just sit and keep worrying all day long, and what happens is we spoil both our mind and body as well. So we should not do this. We should be full of happiness, joy, and enthusiasm.
A heart that is free of trouble and sadness is what we should aim to have.
In life, so many things that we want keep happening, and so many things that we do not want keep happening too. There are pleasant moments and there are unpleasant moments. Is there anyone this does not happen to? Tell me?
Look into your own life, how many difficulties have come and gone, and you have come out of them. All those moments have gone. Those circumstances and events have passed, but you go on dragging those events in your mind. Remove them from your mind and see how calm and relaxed you feel.
If somebody says something bad, you keep thinking about it over and over again in your mind, and become restless – He did this, and that person betrayed me. But see, they only acted in accordance with their nature! One whose nature is to betray, will betray. What else will they do?
Now by thinking about, why he did this, and why he did that to you, will only spoil your own mind. This is not a sign of intelligence.
Do you know what a sign of wisdom and intelligence is? A true sign of wisdom is realizing that good events come and go, bad events come and go, and as we move on, we come out even more beautiful from these happenings. We blossom even more.
We need to stay in touch with this consciousness and keep it alive within us. Never lose your smile for anything, never let your enthusiasm come down, just keep moving ahead.
Move ahead in life with the sankalpa or intention that let everyone in society be blessed, let all be happy and comfortable. Let everyone in the country be blessed. All these crimes that are happening in the country, let this all stop.
We will fight against injustice, corruption, violence, and all these problems that India is facing today. This violent tendency should be uprooted from our society. We should take responsibility for this and work towards achieving this. We need to work together, then you will see that things will start to change. What do you say?
Okay, tell me, how many of you feel that whatever small desires you have, they are coming true? (Many raise their hands). Now we need to take a larger sankalpa; make a bigger wish. Your little wishes will happen for sure, but now think about the country.
This wisdom and knowledge has been in our country for thousands of years. Do you know, when India was at its peak of spirituality, we were also financially very prosperous? Today we are neither spiritually nor financially at our best. We have to again bring this nation to its original greatness of being The Golden Bird. This is my dream.
The wisdom and knowledge of India should reach people in every corner of the world and free them from their suffering and pain. And this is happening already. How can I contribute, this is what we should all start thinking about.
If we can give one hour a day to the nation, or if we can set aside seven hours in a week for our country, we can bring a lot of change and awareness in the people of our country.
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
