Rishikesh, India,
9th March, 2000
Chapter 1 - The You That You Want To Change
Day 60 - Dispassion
The Divine can come only in deep rest, not by doing. All your spiritual activities are to help you become silent. You will go further when you do not stop to enjoy the bliss or the peace, otherwise cravings may arise. If existence wants to give you peace and bliss, then fine, your true nature is bliss.
But by trying to enjoy the bliss, you step down from “am-ness’to “I am something”- “I am peaceful”, “I am blissful” this is followed by, “I am miserable.”. it takes courage to simply say “I am period” I am” is dispassion. Dispassion means welcoming everything. You can be anywhere and be dispassionate.
Dispassionate and centeredness brings energy, a spark. Indulgence in bliss brings inertia. If you are dispassionate, the bliss is still there. When the freezer is full of ice cream, you need not bother about it. Dispassion takes away the sense of scarcity. Passion is a sense of lack of abundance. Whenever everything is in abundance, dispassion happens. And when dispassion is there, everything comes in abundance.
Question - What do we do when we catch ourselves indulging in bliss?
Gurudev - Just this understanding creates a shift. There is no effort. Knowledge is better than action to make you free. Activity and rest are two vital aspects of life. To find a balance in them is a skill in itself. Wisdom is knowing when to have rest, when to have activity, and how much of each to have. Finding them in each other activity in rest and rest in activity is the ultimate freedom.
More tiring than the work itself is the memory of hard work. Thinking you have worked hard interferes with the quality of rest. Some people take pride in working hard without any results. And there are others who crave for a long rest without knowing the true rest is in non-doership.
It is the quality of rest, even if it is short, that helps you to recuperate. When rest is needed, your body will automatically take it. Resting without thinking about the need for it, is more restful. Dispassion and samadhi are the deepest rest.
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji
Celebrating Silence
