Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You should sit and watch the breath; there are so many things about it. What you do on the Advanced Program is already very helpful and useful; the Hollow and Empty Meditations are about polishing and observing the breath.
The breath has been burnt down due to excess usage of our body externally; too much food, sex, sleep (even lack of it), too much watching; too much of anything burns down the Prana. And when the Prana is burnt, then you can’t find yourself; it is as though there is a crowd inside, and you feel you don’t exist there. The purpose of all these different meditations that you are doing is to help your Prana become healthier, stronger and tangible. How many of you feel that your Prana is more tangible? (Many in the audience raise their hands) . When you do a little bit of meditation, at least you can find it flowing in one line, otherwise it is all broken, and you can’t find it at all!
Sometimes, time can also do this. At some specific times, celestially, suddenly you feel a cloud of negative energy getting onto you. You feel a sense of heaviness, dullness, and the brain doesn’t seem to function. That heaviness, restriction, contraction, and the feelings of getting solidified and constrained are associated with such energy. Sometimes one would feel like getting it out, but you don’t know how to do it! How many of you have had such an experience? (Some raise their hands) .
A few minutes of chanting, pranayama, and I don’t think there is anything better than the Sudarshan Kriya can help you get it out. Sudarshan Kriya can quickly put you back on track. Ujjayi breathing, meditation and chanting also helps. And your connection to the Master helps; whomsoever you think of, that’s what your brain immediately catches on. You can think of a very negative person, immediately your whole psychology and brain cells start behaving like them. Hasn’t this happened to you? How many of you have experienced it? That is why enlightened masters are called pratah smarami in Sanskrit, which means they have to be remembered in the morning as soon as you wake up, so that your whole day, your whole system is tuned to them. Good or wise people are called pratah smarami, worth remembering in the morning. The reason one remembers them first thing in the morning is because the whole day goes with what you start with.
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji
