The finite body is wedded to the infinite Consciousness. The finite mind is wedded to the infinite self.

*Chapter 10 - Shiva, The Fourth State Of Consciousness*

*Day 52*

The 18th chapters of Srimad Bhagavatam has thousands of verses, and there is not one mention of Radha. Radha is just Krishna's power, the longing. Krishna is the fullness, so Radha is longing for the fullness. 

Radha was there to indicate that the devotee and the Lord both enjoy equal status. "Dhara" means flowing outward. "Radha" means the stream which is going back to the source - the mind that is moving outside is diving back to the source. 

Radha met Krishna, that is the self, the soul, the spirit, is what "Radha Kalyanam" is. Today what you see in many temples is an entirely distorted concept. But children enjoy because they get all different types of sweets in the celebration. 

People mainly get ready and go to eat. They think Radha and Krishna are getting married, so they make lots of stuff and eat. But there is no spiritual significance in it. You are wedded to the infinite. 

The finite body is wedded to the infinite Consciousness. The finite mind is wedded to the infinite self. This celebration is ongoing. Any moment you are aware, that moment is a wedding day. That is why the devotees have always said, "I am the bride, a new bride, today's bride." 

Everyday you are a bride. Everyday you are a virgin. Everyday the infinity is taking over you. That is the love story. Dressing the dolls and idols and arranging the marriages, well, it is okay. Tadvanam, like the forest, at that particular level it is okay. 

There are levels of existence, levels of understanding and levels of adorning. It gives lots of satisfaction to some people but not for those who want to be in Upasana, in Upanishad. Now that you have heard this, you don't go and ridicule those who are doing these things. 

Don't hurt their feelings and centers. I also go sometimes and visit them. Just know the fact and slowly move onto the higher levels of knowledge. Now, check your nostrils. How many right? Left? And both? Ah, majority. With this, we end with Kena Upanishad.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

Kena Upanishad

Studying all this and doing all this, you get established. And what is your only desire? To be in heaven, to be in the state of joy and happiness. That happiness is guaranteed to you.

*Chapter 10 - Shiva, The Fourth State Of Consciousness*

*Day 51*

Studying all this and doing all this, you get established. And what is your only desire? To be in heaven, to be in the state of joy and happiness. That happiness is guaranteed to you. 

Anything you do, you do it with only one motivation, that is happiness. You are gaining knowledge to gain happiness. Entertainment, comfort, wealth, sports are all for happiness. 

Health, why you want health? 

You want to be happy. If I am sick, I am not happy. You look at anything, your relationships, prayer, progeny, home, everything is for happiness. Why do you want to pray? 

For happiness. So, everything is geared to be happy. And the teacher says that the happiness is guaranteed to you. This is Upanishad. That is why you come, sit and go inward. 

Upanishad doesn't say "this" (is it). If someone is doing upasana, saying this (is it), that is not Upanisad. Then why we keep so many idols and pictures in the temples, specially the Hindu, Buddhist, Jain traditions, and then do all the puja and worship. 

The divinity is not in the idol. The idol is there only to create the atmosphere. On the dining table you keep your food and eat, but if you are just sitting at the dining table and there is no food, you can't eat the table. 

People forget that they have to dine, they have to look inward, they have to do the upasana but they do all this marriage between the deities. It's all foolish. Take one idol here and one idol there and getting them married. 

Nowhere in the shastras is this said, but people are used to doing it. Perhaps somewhere some people did it for entertainment, but it has become a ritual and they are not able to get out of it.

They do "Srinivas Kalyanam, Radha kalyanam". Radha was never married to Krishna. They were just lovers. In fact, to tell you thr truth Radha never existed. 

In the whole of Srimad Bhagvatam there is no character called Radha. Are you surprised?

Audience - Yes.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

Kena Upanishad

With globalization, we have globalized disease as well. With globalizing disease, we have to globalize herbs as well.

*Chapter 10 - Shiva, The Fourth State Of Consciousness*

*Day 50*

It means the light is shining for you. You don't have to do anything. The Rishi says - this to the one who has tapas, little bit of forbearance, a say over senses and who is engaged in some good action in the world, not to the lazy one.

You can realise you are not doing anything when you are doing something. Someone who doesn't do anything cannot say that everything is happening, but if you are doing then you know, "No, its not because I did something that it happened. Things are happening anyway."

Vedah sarvangini, all the Vedas, the knowledge is the body, is the limbs. What you speak become knowledge. You don't understand too many scriptures. I haven't studied much at all. 

This is the first time I am taking this Upanishad, and I have never studied this Upanishad before. I hear one or two shlokas and I go into meditation. So I'm not a good reader. I don't read books. If I don't get sleep, then I take two pages and that's it.

Vedah sarvangani, when we built our Ashram in Banglore, we didnt check vastu or anything. We just built the ashram. Then a vastu expert, a Pandit, came and saw. He said, "Everything is in the right place and there is not one mistake." 

He asked how that could happen that everything is done perfectly. So, you have the vedas inside of u. The knowledge is present in every particle of creation. Again in the Gita, Lord Krishna says, the one who knows, for him, all the Vedas are like having too much water all around when you are not thirsty. 

When there is water everywhere, what will a well mean to you? In Sanskrit, pavaka is fire, pavan means air and pavani is water, that which purifies. Water was puritying agent, but today we need to purify water. 

We got ourselves into that situation. Water was never polluted in ancient times, and if some bacteria is present in some part of the world, the antidote for that bacteria is also present there. 

Where amoebas are present in the tropical climates, the anti-amoebas, the fruit from the Bilva trees is also present in some areas. So if you are affected by amoeba, you just take one bilva fruit and eat it, and you are okay the next day. 

You don't have to swallow flagyl (a drug used to treat bacterial infection) for fifteen days and get your liver affected by it. So,nature provides these things. Whenever there is jaundice, in the same place there is a particular herb that could cure jaundice as well. 

But with globalization, we have globalized disease as well. With globalizing disease, we have to globalize herbs as well.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

Kena Upanishad

You are the Brahman, you are part of that infinity and you are that. Then why would you be cunning if everything is a part of you? You are not cunning to a part of your own body.

*Chapter 10 - Shiva, The Fourth State Of Consciousness*

*Day 49*

Now that you have heard the Upanishad, you have to dwell on it, 'manana' and make it your own. This is the home of Truth and you will realize that you are living in it. You need to lead your life with this awareness. 

Tapas, forbearance, Dama, your ability to withdraw from senses and go inward. You are not carried away by the senses, but you are behind senses, you have your mastery over them, or it's virtues, it's glory. 

This happens naturally, a glimpse of the infinity gives you enormous inner strength and a say over your senses. You dont say, "Oh, I am helpless," and go into a sort of helpless mood. 

You wake up and see, "Oh ,this is the abode of truth." A glimpse of Brahman makes you a beautiful human being. It doesn't make you cunning, narrow minded, calculating person, but one who is confident. 

Someone is cunning because they are not aware of their power. When they feel they are weak, then they become cunning. If you are confident, you know that the universe is part of you and you are Lord there. 

You are the Brahman, you are part of that infinity and you are that. Then why would you be cunning if everything is a part of you? You are not cunning to a part of your own body. 

Can you be? It is impossible. Knowing this, you live with a certain ease and you are not sacred about anything. One who knows this, is free from all sins. Experiencing the infinity, he is rid of all sins and gets established in this wisdom and in this glory effortlessly. 

Effortlessly, it's very important. Usually, whenever you hear a discourse, you go out with an idea: "I have to do this, and I have to do that," or "oh my God, I have to do that." I tell you, drop that. You have to do nothing. 

When I say you have to do nothing, yes, I mean it. Sometimes you do things that should not be done, like drinking, smoking, drugs, etc. Why do you do them? I said do nothing. Do nothing. 

We are asking you to do something because you are doing something else. It's like to remove a thorn you need a thorn, but if you don't garb any thorn, there's no need to pick another thorn. 

You need medicine only if you are sick. So, the advice to do things is only when you feel you are sick. You do nothing.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

Kena Upanishad

Like air is present in the space, all beings and all elements are present in me | Shiva, The Fourth State Of Consciousness

*Chapter 10 - Shiva, The Fourth State Of Consciousness*

*Day 48*

"Like air is present in the space, all beings and all elements are present in me." Here "me" doesn't mean the Krishna who was standing with a flute. He is talking about his true nature that is Brahman. 

Unfortunately, people limit Krishna as a personality. There is no difference between Krishna and Shiva. Shiva is Krishna without body. Krishna is Shiva embodied in a body. That's all. 

There was nobody like Shiva with jata. It is just symbolic. Shiva is the fourth state of consciousness. When Krishna was asked by Arjuna to repeat the Gita, Krishna says, "no, I cant tell you now." 

After the war is over, Arjuna asks, “At the time of war, you gave me all the knowledge, when there was so much chaos and I was not in a good mood or state of consciousness. I kept questioning you all the time and didn't believe you”.

“I was such a fool, but now we are free and relaxed. Why don't you tell me the Gita once again?” Krishna smiled, "No Arjuna. At that time, it was something else that spoke through me. At that time what I spoke, I cannot repeat. That was spoken by a consciousness."

Lord Krishna tells Arjuna, "If you want to win the war, then you have to pray to Lord Shiva. Just go and chant "Om namaha shivaya" and strengthen your spiritual body, your inner body. 

After chanting he got the pashupatastra. Arjuna chanted "Om namaha shivaya." Astras and shastras, are all weapons and called the kavach, the armour. The armour is not just putting metal around your body. 

Even the mantras are called armours because each mantra can help you. The consciousness covers you like an armour, uplifts your spirit and doesn't allow your mind to sink. That is why these chantings have a specific, very powerful effect on environment and on the consciousness, both on the individual and on the mass. 

How many of you have not been to India? If you go to India, you will see people are not so fascinated by the ocean. Nobody goes and bathes in the ocean or sun-bathes. In any other country, in Europe or America people love to be on coast line. 

Do you know why? It is because the coast line has more prana. The deva energies are in the water element in the ocean. Whereas in India, because of the mantras being chanted for 1000’s of years, the vibration is right in the island. 

So, you feel as though you are in ocean even when you are on an island. You don't need to go to the ocean to feel the special energy, because the land has that energy already. Especially when this chanting is happening, there is much more. 

Many times when people arrive in the ashram, they suddenly feel a shift all tiredness and that jet lag is gone. How many of you have experienced this after coming to Banglore Ashram? 

So, just by coming and sitting there, people feel the shot in energy, just because chanting and mediation is happening and consciousness is lifted. It is as though you went to the beach. 

That energy is built there. But those beaches where they have been using drugs or too much alcohol. That depletes this positive energy. In some beaches where lots of psychedelic drugs have been used you don't feel the same. 

But at pristine, plain, clean, pure beaches you get that feeling. So, one has connected himself with this true nature, the Brahman, every creature and everything element falls in love with him.

- Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

Kena Upanishad

Shiva, The Fourth State Of Consciousness

*Chapter 10 - Shiva, The Fourth State Of Consciousness*

*Day 47*

Upasana is a beautiful word. 'Upa' means near and 'asana' means coming close, sitting. Upasana is worship, to worship that as 'vana' as a forest , as abundance or as the store house of all gifts. 

It can give you many things, everything. One who knows it like this, every creature and everything will love him. So, the Rishi is also giving a little encouragement. What is the effect of it? So what? 

What will happen? Okay, I understand everything. So what? what do I get? It says you get something. What? Everybody will fall in love with you, every creature will love you.

Bhuta is not just a creature. It is also the element. Every element and the entire universe will fall in love with you. Ancient people begun every ritual with the sowing of seeds of many types of grains. 

Suppose a celebration is about to happen in a hall, you put decorations, you put buntings or streamers or whatever. The ancient people put different types of seeds and some sand. 

They also would sow the seeds three or four days before the ceremony. Five bright ladies are chosen to sow the seeds and they would do it chanting the mantras, singing, and wishing good and prosperity for all the people. 

With that feeling they sowed the seeds and when they sprouted, then the congregation would begin. Whether is a congregation, a wedding or naming ceremony, the first ceremony was sowing the seeds. 

How happy environmentalist would be to hear about these ancient customs. Even today it is being followed, just out of fear. People think, "Maybe if you don't follow the tradition, something will happen. God is going to punish you." 

But there is such sense in sowing the seeds. Trees are sacred. They are honoured, and if you want to cut one tree, you have to first take the permission from that tree. 

There is a whole procedure for cutting a tree, you promise the tree, "I am going to plant five of same kind as you, not another kind. So, please give me permission to cut you", and then they cut it. 

That's how this planet has been in a sustainable condition until now. Just imagine if a thousand years ago peopel cut down all the trees and ransacked this planet earth, you wouldn't be seeing the world as it is today. 

Maybe, you wouldn't be here. You wouldn't exist. People have been following certain traditions. If you go to any tribal village, whether you go into Maoris tribes in New Zealand or tribes in India, you will find they keep their villages so clean. 

There is no plastic and no garbage laying around here and there. You will be astonished to know that tribal villages are so clean. Because they are living with the nature and they are so simple. 

Their mind is simple and not complicated like ours, worrying, "What is that person thinking about me? Or what does that person think? How I will impress him or her? Or, how can I take revenge on that person?" 

My God. This mind we got is so complicated. Upasana means getting close to the universal consciousness, the simplest form of our own consciousness. So, you do not have to do too much for that. 

It's not that you have to sit in a lotus position for 10,000 years or stand on one leg for 40 days to attain something like that. No. Just let go. You are already there. You are in it. You have no ways outside of it. 

As a fish cannot be alive out of water, so we can never be outside of Brahman. We can never be outside the divinity. We are in it. We will be in it and we will die in it, though you won't die. Your body will die. Your body will separate from you and disintegrate, but you are there forever.

- Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

Kena Upanishad

So many doctors worked for centuries of research, then they compiled materia Indica. In the same way so many thousands of Rishis compiled this agama, nigama, the vedas the upanisads and the science of consciousness, without any prejudice.

*Chapter 9 - Living In Truth* 

*Day 46*

That is the forest. That is the gift. There are two meanings. One of them is a gift. The forest is a real gift. It is supposed to have everything. 

Of every single creature, from a zebra to a giraffe, to a bird to an amphibian, to a snake, to a frog, tell me, what does the forest not accommodate?

Consciousness is a forest of many dimensions. Although it is one, one Brahman, one consciousness, but that one is like a forest. It has many dimensions, one inside the other.

So many doctors worked for centuries of research, then they compiled materia Indica. In the same way so many thousands of Rishis compiled this agama, nigama, the vedas the upanisads and the science of consciousness, without any prejudice. 

They never said that you should believe because I am saying it is so. Even Lord Krishna after saying all 700 shlokas tells Arjuna, “Look now you think about it, and if you feel it is acceptable, then you accept”. 

If it comes under your purview of experience, vimarshaye, if you analyse it and feel it is right, you accept it, but I am telling you this because you are so dear to me.

- Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

Kena Upanishad

The Brahman is a forest. Consciousness is a forest, which has space for so many levels of existence.

*Chapter 9 - Living In Truth* 

*Day 45*

It is like in the forest where everything has a place. The deer has a place, the lion, the tiger, the mongoose has a place, and so also the snake. The forest does not exclude or reject anything. 

It provides for every single creature and yet it maintains itself clean. The forest never gets dirty. For ages it has not, unless man walks into it with cans, potato chips, cokes, cakes, mangoes and litters the forest. 

The forest maintains itself and provides for everybody. The Brahman is a forest. Consciousness is a forest, which has space for so many levels of existence. Also in Gita, Lord Krishna compares it to a tree which is upside down. 

The knowledge is like a tree which is upside down, which has roots above and branches below. It is a very different simile from any other. Your roots are high up somewhere. 

Whatever you are doing here is only thought branches. Your spirit is rooted in the other world. Life here is just a projection of it. Our activities here are just like branches or leaves. Leaves wither away. 

You don't cry when you know your roots are very strong. Leaves change, branches grow and they fall, but the roots remain the same. So we are all rooted there. Adi Shankara also says, "My original home is there in heaven. I've come here for holiday, just for a visit. My home is there". 

Even a flash of this experience gives this magnanimity to life. That immortality is where we came from, where nothing changes, nothing dies and you never die.

- Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

Kena Upanishad

This awareness that you are part of Whole and Whole is part of you is a gift to you

*Chapter 9 - Living In Truth*

*Day 44*

When the Devi appeared to Indra, the Lord of the mind, he asked,"who is this Yaksha"? I was telling you about Yaksha, how Yaksha can give you many miracles and do many things. There are plenty of them. 

Mother divine energy is a symbol of compassion, of submission, of sensitivity and of beauty. So when the Lord of the mind appreciated the mother divine, she told him that it is Brahman. 

The victory of Brahman is the victory of everything. So, when you are open to the unlimited, Brahman, the infinity through the finite, and do not think this finite has an existence separate from the infinity, that is when Upanishad has happened. 

With the help of the mother divine, all the devas could understand that this is Brahman and that this is my own nature. But it just came as a flash. 

This experience of the devas, comes to you only as a flash. Sometimes in one moment it just comes to you as a flash and disappears. That's why this is called the dev Loka, the world of the devas. 

The world of the devas comes for some moments, for a few moments you experience that energy, then it disappears. It is not that you are in it all the time. You are in the Brahman all the time. 

But the devas or the daivye energy or these higher levels of consciousness can be experienced like a flash of lightening. 

Like in a blink of an eye an experience comes and disappears. That is why it is called a glimpse. This is the daivye world, the world of Gods and Goddesses but that is not it.

The spiritual world is a step even further when the mind simply goes and dissolves. This very Knowledge, this very awareness itself is a gift to you. The very awareness that you are a part of the whole and the whole is part of you is a gift. 

The very fact that you are even able to hear that there is Brahman, meaning the universe is made up of only one thing, is a gift.

- Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

Kena Upanishad

Every human body is a vehicle for exhibiting knowledge. Every human being is a vehicle. The scientists are a vehicle for expressing technology and science.

*Chapter 9 - Living In Truth* 

*Day 43*

The most gross is the material world. The subtlest world we saw is the divine world, the world of the devas and devis. I want to show you a phenomenon that happened on, was it the 15 th January? 

This sort of phenomenon keeps happening but this one was taken in a photograph. A Cobra climbed a particular tree, the Bilva tree and plucked a Bilva leaf. Then it went into the temple and offered it on top of the Shiva Linga. 

You can see this thing happening in the photo. And it did it four or five times. The people were amazed because they have only heard in the scriptures that an elephant offered flowers to a Shiva Linga or a serpent offered from a Bilva tree. 

But a Cobra, nobody can train a Cobra, it is impossible. They don't even have ears to listen to your commands. But the Cobra climbed the particular tree and then it goes into the temple with the leaf in its mouth and scares everybody away. Do you see that?

How it goes and offers the Bilva leaf on the Shiva Linga. Priests have all done the puja and the performance and it drops the leaf on the Linga, opens its hood and moves away. The first time they didn't understand, but it kept on doing it again and again. 

Then somebody with a cell phone took these pictures and posted them. So nature is aligned with effort. The Cobra is associated with Shiva energy. The peacock is associated with Karthik energy. 

Mother divine energy dawns on tigers and Lions. So each of these animals brings down this unseen vibration of consciousness into the manifest universe. 

So they are the vehicles. Vehicles does not mean they are riding on them. These animals are a vehicle for bringing down the un manifest energy to the manifest world, like a musician is a vehicle to manifest harmonious musical sound into the manifest world. 

The inner music gets manifested. So every human body is a vehicle for exhibiting knowledge. Every human being is a vehicle. The scientists are a vehicle for expressing technology and science. 

Like that, animals are vehicles bringing down these vibrations from the cosmos, enhancing a particular vibration in the cosmos. There are places in India where there an elephant used to go and put flowers on the Linga or on a particular temple and there is another place where ants used to go and circumbalate the stone. 

In Tamil Nadu there is Sriperumbudur, where they found ants came and worshipped a Shiva Linga. Worship means they were honouring it, they were attracted, they would come and go around it and would go. 

So, this universe is diverse, yet United, or it is made up of only one thing, and that is Brahman, the one in many and the many in one.

- 

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

Ishavasya Upanishad 

People do all these but without Pranayama and meditation, then the effect is almost one percent where it has to be 99%.

*Chapter 9 - Living In Truth*

*Day 42*

We saw how there are many layers in the subtle world as well. Just as this material existence is diverse in nature, so is the subtle world of consciousness also. 

How, after we die they become the ancestors, the pitrs, then ghandarvas, kinnaras, yakshas, devas, and then siddhas.

Like the material medica of the world, the book in which it is all prescribed which medicine is for what. 

For example - Iodine for thyroid, milk thistle for liver, basil for your respiratory system. The entire medical science rests on the laws of materia medica, that a particular substance connects to a particular part of the body. 

Otherwise medical science will fail. Every substance has got a definite effect on a definite part of the body. A lot of research in this direction on the levels of consciousness has also been done.

A particular animal brings down a particular cosmic ethereal vibration on the planet. If one particular animal becomes extinct from the world, this world equation changes. 

If a particular number is not there, one change of number in the DNA chain, then the universe doesn't exist anymore. Have you heard about 'String Theory'? If one thing is missing in the universe, suppose all ants get extinguished, you will see the whole universe will be finished and it cannot exist. 

This universe cannot exist without an ant. Each planet has got a particular animal that has more of its vibration on the planet. Similarly, in our body, a particular planet has an influence on a particular part of the body. Do you know about it?

The microcosm and macrocosm are so connected. A plant, a planet, a part of the human body, an animal, a grain, and a flower, all are connected. A particular part of the body is connected with a particular grain then it is connected with a particular animal, a particular colour, even a shape, a particular number, a particular deva, and a particular planet of the universe. 

So we said yesterday that there are so many types of Devas and how are they all linked is an amazing science. For example the planet Saturn is connected with crow, is connected with sesame seeds, and is connected with your teeth and jaws and it is connected with the bile in you. 

The liver is connected with Mars, with chickpeas, milk thistle and sheep. There is a particular Mantra and a particular Deva for a planet and this is called Yagya. In Yagya they make a particular shape called a Mandala, keep different grains and invoke those vibrations into those grains and chant those mantras and deep meditation. 

They are supposed to do it with deep meditative awareness that is what is missing. People do all these but without Pranayama and meditation, then the effect is almost one percent where it has to be 99%. 

The effect becomes 1% because you are trying to dial without a sim card without charging a battery and in low range. Sometimes it gets through but only for emergency service. Its not full range. 

To get that full range of effect what is most important are Pranayama and Meditation on the part of those who do these yagyas and also for the one who wants it to be done.

Its like how you don't know all the law books but when there is a court case and when you want to get something then you just engage a lawyer. You engage and immigration lawyer if you want to come from Mexico. 

You can't study all that. You just engage an immigration lawyer and you relax. So there are some people who are experts in these things. Unfortunately that science is dying down. The whole knowledge is going to the background. See how a flower, the planet, the grain, and an animal all indicate a particular vibration coming down to the planet. 

It is the same way in our body and in our face different parts of the face are connected with different planets like the nose is connected with Jupiter, the forehead is connected with Mercury and the cheeks are connected with Venus. 

There is that connection. There are experts who will just see your face and will make your horoscope. They don't even need your date of birth because they know this science and are proficient in it. They can tell you exactly when you are born just by looking at you. So the macrocosm and microcosm are united.

- Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

Kena Upanishad

Nadi means the pulse and pulse is the dual action, the manifest to the unmanifest and unmanifest to the manifest, the form to formless and formless to form. This swing that's what the universe is.

*Chapter 8 - Beyond Miracles* 

*Day 41*

Question - If the infinite self wants to see itself in its true nature without form, what's the purpose of attaching itself to this body and all forms that we sense? Why not remain at all times without attachment? Also if the universe is expanding, what is it expanding into?

Gurudev - Do you know what pulsation means? It is what the heart beat is. It expands and contracts and only then it pulsates. Life is pulsation. It's an expansion, contraction, expansion and the universe is pulsating like this. 

So when it is going like this you feel it is expanding, but you don't see it coming down like this. There is a pulsation because the universe is alive and anything that is alive has pulsation and pulse.

Nadi means the pulse and pulse is the dual action, the manifest to the unmanifest and unmanifest to the manifest, the form to formless and formless to form. This swing that's what the universe is.

- Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

Kena Upanishad

Gaudapada, one of the Rishis is an exponent of alchemy and Ayurveda, about all different herbs and which herb effects which part of the body and all that, and that's a big treatise.

*Chapter 8 - Beyond Miracles*

*Day 40*

Question - Gurudev, can you say something about the people in the picture of the Holy tradition and their connection to you and the experience of enlightenment?

Gurudev - This is an artists depiction of millennia of great masters, and from ages, they've selected just a few of them who came from time to time and portrayed them in the picture. 

Not everybody is there from the millennia. The few of the Rishis who are depicted in that are Narayana, Padmabhava, Vasishtha, Shakti, Parashara, then Vyasa. That side of the stream has a little gap between them.Vyasa, Shuka, they're all different. 

They are great Rishis of the holy tradition. Some other time we will describe all the different works they have done. Parashara is an exponent of astronomy and astrology, the movement of planets. 

7000 years ago, it was written how many moons are there for Saturn, how far away they are and precisely when exactly they are going to transit into what point, what time the eclipses are going to come, when the meteor is going to hit the planet, when there will be a comet. 

Everything is described and calculated. A mathematical genius that's Parashara. Then about Vyasa, it is said that he is master of all, not jack of all. Vyasam has not left any stone unturned. He was the greatest of scholars. 

It is said that the whole world is just leftovers of what Vyasam ate. That means he has tasted every bit, everything, everywhere. Uchita means not leftovers that he has taken a bite of everything, every topic anecdotes subject : Physics and Chemistry, 

Mathematics, biology and all possible things. And Gaudapada, one of the Rishis is an exponent of alchemy and Ayurveda, about all different herbs and which herb effects which part of the body and all that, and that's a big treatise.

Unfortunately, when the Mughal invasion happened in India, at the time of Aurangzeb, he burned all these. It was almost like the Spanish Inquisition in India. It is not highlighted in the history much to keep the communal harmony in the country, because people would get angry at the Muslims and they don't want any backlash on them. 

So Jawahar Lal Nehru our prime minister kept it all aside. Already there was divide between India and Pakistan. They didn't want more problems. But these are written in the History books. 

That Aurangzeb called all the scholars, Rishis and scientists and showed them the Koran saying, “All that you had in this library in Nalanda is present in the Koran”. They said, “Yes, it could be present in the Koran”. Then why do you need all those books. Burn them all. This one book is enough". 

Then they said, "There are many things which are not there in the Koran but are there in those books". He said, “Then they have no right to exist because only this is God's word”.

“And all that is not God's word is work of the devil Shaitan. If is already there in Koran, you don't need it. If it's not there then it's not the work of God. It is the work of the devil. They have no right to exist. Burn them down”. 

3 big universities were burnt down. 10000 students from Egypt, from Constantinople, from China were studying in these universities. It is said that the libraries were burning for six months. Now the present chief minister of Bihar is going to rebuild Nalanda university. 

There are lots of requests because lots of Buddhists literature was there. In Japan Korea and China, they all want that university to be rebuilt and we will be building a second university in Magadh, Orissa in that same style, where youths from all over the world can come and study a combination of the modern and the ancient and academic excellence will be promoted.

- Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

Kena Upanishad

Whatever you are doing and before doing the work and after finishing the work for a few minutes, shift to the seer from the scenery.

*Chapter 8 - Beyond Miracles*

*Day 39*

Question - Gurudev, how is it possible to give 100% and yet, some how keep the attention connected inwards on the seer? When I give my 100% doing the task my attention is powered on the task and at this point the seer is lost in the scenery.

Gurudev - Do them at different times. Don't try to do it simultaneously. Do them at different times and when you are proficient in both, you will find the border simply diminishes. 

It fades away spontaneously and naturally. For now don't try to make a mood that you are working on being a witness - “I am getting lost in the job, no, I want to be a witness”.

Don't make such mood just be 100% in whatever you are doing and before doing the work and after finishing the work for a few minutes, shift to the seer from the scenery. 

Don't leave this and don't leave that, grow simultaneously in both of them. The Ishavasya Upanisad says, "One who goes in this alone will go in to a darker space, and one who goes into that alone will go into even dark space." 

I've already spoken on it. It's very beautiful Upanisad, one of the Marvellous pieces of the planet. There is a series of eleven, the science of consciousness, so beautifully described. 

It needs a proper explanation with proper insight. If you just read those translations that you have, it doesn't really mean anything much. The mantras are given like a code word. You have to open that.

Question - What's the difference between divine love and romantic love or the love that's needed to go into a family in a marriage? How do these two interact?

Gurudev - Love has many flavours. I have spoken about all the different flavors of love in the Narad Bhakti Sutras. Why don't you just take that up and read it.

- Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

Kena Upanishad

Love is not just an emotion. It is what you are. Sometimes you feel love. That is a blessing given to you. Even when you don't feel it is there. It is there because you are made up of it.

*Chapter 8 - Beyond Miracles*

*Day 38*

Question - Gurudev, please talk about the connection between experiencing unconditional love for others and understanding the unknown, understanding the Brahman, experiencing the Brahman.

Gurudev - Love is not just an emotion. It is what you are. Sometimes you feel love. That is a blessing given to you. Even when you don't feel it is there. It is there because you are made up of it. 

There is wind here, but when you stand close to your fan then you feel it blowing on you. It's fan that makes you feel the wind. In the same way sometimes you feel love. 

That means just remember you have come close to that fan which blows air and you are feeling it, but even otherwise there is air everywhere.

Question - What is your view about recent scandals of sexual misconduct even with so called enlightened people? Is such a thing possible?

Gurudev - Yes especially in India, there are half a dozen Swamis scandals on the television everyday. If pot is not baked neither the pot remains nor water remains. If you put an unbaked pot in water to take water, what would happen to it? 

Neither the pot stays nor the water. And as I said sometimes people have little siddhis. They may not be very well grounded in knowledge. One of these persons in the scandal came to see me also. 

I said, Look if you have done something wrong, its so fair to say “I have done a mistake, I am sorry”. Done finished. Then you are more honest. When you are more honest people will respect you. 

Rishis have fallen many times, some people have done some mistakes. You made a mistake, never mind. You should just admit it and take a punishment on your own. 

If you are a religious, spiritual leader, if you are in that position, when you make a mistake you should take a punishment of your own. You shouldn't expect someone else to give you that punishment.

You should admit your mistake. Where is the ego there? It's fair enough. But if you try to hide it, its not fair. Then you should be given double the punishment. 

I said it in the television also. Any religious leader anyone who is holding a position of faith and uplifting people's consciousness, if they make a mistake, they should be given twice the punishment than a normal person gets.

We shouldn't be paranoid about it. We should only be compassionate. We shouldn't keep on condemning them. “Oh they are not perfect. They need help”. 

They also said one thing. Some people in the garb of religion have misused religion, in the garb of medicine have misused medicine, in the garb of politics, have misused their power and position. This has happened in every field. 

The religious and spiritual field is not an exception. This has happened from ages, from the time of Ramayana. Sita was duped by Ravana by being a Saint. He came as a sadhu. 

Only then he could abduct Sita. So such people who disgrace every field have their own traditions, but we shouldn't be paranoid about it. If you happened to get onto one such train that would be derailing or that has no wheels, then you get off it and then you get onto another train. 

You don't say, "I'll never get into a train because it derails". Such things happen. Just see that there are millions of people and there are thousands of good people on the earth. 

Perfected beings have come and gone. Many times also you don't know whether these angels are true, till they are proved. The media can also create many things. So, you follow your heart.

- Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

Kena Upanishad

The infinite consciousness which is using you as an instrument and making all these things happen in the universe, see that one in all. That is your victory. That is the victory of Brahman.

*Chapter 8 - Beyond Miracles*

*Day 37*

So many miracles happen. There are so many, plenty of them we can do but we don't get trapped or entangled in it. If it happens it happens naturally. 

If someone says I am bringing out a ring or this jewellery, don't get charmed by those things. No. So many Yakshas are ready to come and do the miracles. 

A siddha, a sadguru will not utilize all those things. You hear so many of the miracles that Jesus did. They are all done by Yakshas. One loaf of bread fed to so many people, and these things happen. 

It happens all the time with us. There are people bringing food for four people and forty or fifty people eat that. There is plenty of food available. Things happen in a inexplicable manner. 

There is no logic or reasoning for it. Especially in Russia - stanislav who is here will tell you many miracle stories from Russia. I don't go there so much but people have experiences all the time. 

There are people who are diagnosed with some disease or some problems and were about to be the operation room. By chance they take another xray and find out that the whole problem has disappeared.

How many of you have heard or experienced such things? So many people have. And doctors are so confused. They say, "This report is from yesterday and this is from today. So what happened in between yesterday and today?" 

How could these miracles happen? It is all possible. And it happens all the time. So don't stop anywhere keep moving. Keep moving when you are a Yogi. When you do yoga, meditation, charity and good work and have a good heart, these sort of things keep happening in abundance. 

You have the ability to bless others but do not think it is your victory. Else, the same thing that happened to the devas will happen and you won't be able to lift a blade of grass. 

The infinite consciousness which is using you as an instrument and making all these things happen in the universe, see that one in all.

That is your victory. That is the victory of Brahman. 

That is the acceptance of Brahman. For how the Lord of mind, disarmed by the divine lady, found an answer to who this yaksha was and what truth is.

- Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

Kena Upanishad

Beyond Miracles | May everybody be happy. You all bring peace to everybody. I want nothing. What do I want? But you give everybody everything. The power of blessings works.

*Chapter 8 - Beyond Miracles*

*Day 36*

May everybody be happy. You all bring peace to everybody. I want nothing. What do I want? But you give everybody everything. The power of blessings works. 

One would think the collective consciousness of New York must be so stressed but it is not. It was a presence with very sweet nice energy.

Many psychics have a little access here and there. Psychics predict things for you. There are lower level of spirits as well. The devil which speaks to you in your ears. When someone comes, the devil will say that this person is coming here for this desire and so this man can write down that you came for this problem or this desire. 

There are people who can read the past very well but they cannot say anything about the future. Have you come accross any such people? Nadis and psychics are supported by the spirits, which give them a little more vision into the future or past.

So the Yakshas are much lower than the devas. It got into their heads of devas that "We have won and the world is in our control". A yaksha appeared in front of them and the devas could not recognize it because when somebody is below your level, you don't attend to them so well. 

The devas said, "Look there appears to be a yaksha", so they sent Agni, the deva of the fire element, the deva of energy. You can call it energy because everything is energy. 

Energy is one of the main principles on which the universe is functioning. Earth is moving because of the energy. The sun in shining because of the energy.

The wind is blowing because of the energy. So that energy, that deva who is in control of, who is the Lord of energy was asked to go and find out who this yaksha was? 

When Agni came, the yaksha asked, "Who are you?" Agni said I can burn anything. I can transform anything". So the yaksha threw a blade of grass in front of Agni and said, "Come on, you burn it, you transform this. Let's see". 

Agni could not do anything. He could not burn it and so he retreated. When he affirmed, I am Agni, I am somebody that particular divine energy limited itself to be somebody and to be some particular energy. 

Then what happened? It's power got diminished. It was not identifying itself with the Brahman, the cosmic energy, but considered itself as particular brand of energy and a particular individual, which limited its power and capacity. 

It could not burn the blade of grass. Agni deva returned and said he couldn't do it and he couldn't find out who this yaksha was. The lesson here is also on a practical level do not underestimate anybody. Even if a child speaks there maybe something in is. Don't think you are the only intelligent one.

Do not underestimate when a challenge comes from someone beneath you. Then 'vayu', the atmosphere was challenged to find out who this yaksha is, because everything is in the atmosphere and the atmosphere was asked to go find out. 

Even the atmosphere vayu could not lift this blade of grass. He could not find out who this yaksha was and he also returned. The yaksha could not be seen through the eyes, nor felt through the skin or touch. 

These two devas could not find out who this yaksha was, but then 'Indra', the Lord of the mind, the head of all the devas, he was asked to go. When he went close to the yaksha, it rose up in space and became a beautiful woman, the divine mother. 

Then the mind asked the spirit, the holy spirit, the mother divine, who this yaksha was. The Indra consciousness came to the kundalini spirit, the mother divine energy and wanted to find out who this yaksha was. 

And then the answer stay till tomorrow. Don't go away. We'll be right back. (Laughter) the third chapter ends like this.

- Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

Kena Upanishad

In heaven there is everything. There is plenty of pleasure and joy but no love. To experience love, even the devas have to come down to earth to become perfected beings.

*Chapter 8 - Beyond Miracles*

*Day 35*

So the first chapter says, the Brahman won for the devas. All the devas formed their glory from the victory of the Brahman. They started thinking, "This glory is ours". 

Any talent you have, you think it is yours? No. It is a gift. If you have money and if you think you have made a lot if money, no it's a gift. You think you have a great voice and you made an effort to earn that great voice? No it's a blessing. 

What is there, your progeny is a blessing or a curse, your money is a blessing or a curse. If you have money, you have comfort. But you have money you can have problems too. 

You don't even have a friend, you can't know who is your friend. If you don't have money at least you know who your friend is. If you have money you don't know whether they are friendly with you because of you or for your money. Money is a blessing. 

Your voice is a blessing. Progeny is a blessing. Everything is a blessing - It's all done on the subtle level. Angels, the subtle beings do the whole job and what you are doing here is only a reflection. 

And suddenly you are happy or suddenly you are miserable. You think, "Oh I did this", or "I did that". You don't have a vision of what's happening out there and who is in control. Do you think you are doing or controlling things in the short span of time you are embodied on this planet? No. 

This has been governed by a permanent council, a larger council and here you are just pawns. You are not a player at all. You think you are a player? You are just a pawn who is being moved. 

A pawn which is moving just thinks, "Oh look, I have moved in front of horses or elephants or king and queen. It is a mistake my dear. It is one hand that is moving all the pawns on one side. 

Actually it is doing from both sides. There is only one player playing on both sides. Both sides of the chess match is being played by the same person. 

So it was a victory for Brahman, but the devas thought "It is my victory" because devas, the Divine beings the Gods and Goddesses are not free. They have their desires and goals and are not totally free. 

They are not perfected beings. That's why after being a deva for sometime you have to comes back to human life to become liberated. That's why it is said that the human birth is most precious, even better than that of the devas. 

In heaven there is everything. There is plenty of pleasure and joy but no love. To experience love, even the devas have to come down to earth to become perfected beings. 

So in millions of years, one deva comes, experiences the earth then goes back. These are the transitions from one space to another space. It is a continuous process. 

In this huge process, in this magnanimous management, that's happening with such a great sketch and a map and a plan, we think we are doing something. 

It is like someone has opened the coke bottle and bubbles are coming out and the bubbles think, "Oh look. I opened the lid." Someone opened the lid and you are simply bubbling up. And for how long are you going to be bubbling there? 

When the bubbles come, in minutes they disappear and that's all this human life is. And we think we are in control of the planet. We are in control of elements or we are in control of things. 

No it appears like that because the consciousness which is underneath all this is playing the entire game. So when this happened, one Yaksha came to know this and this Yaksha came in front of the devas. Yaksha is much below devas. 

This is a phenomenon happening on the subtle. You can understand it as a story but it is a phenomenon that happens everyday. Once in New York Johnny Osborne and Bhanu were with me in a house and in the middle of the night, sometime around 2 or 3 o'clock and the Yaksha, the Spirit of New York came. 

It was the first time I interacted with the Yaksha of New York. It said : "What can I do for you?" I said : "Thank You nothing. " Whenever someone asks me what can I do for you, I say nothing. 

It looked a little disappointed and went and the next morning they all experienced that at that time suddenly, a presence coming into the hall, just being there. The next day I had a talk in the UN. 

When I was sitting in the hall where I was supposed to deliver a speech there were hardly 10-15 people in a hall meant for 500 people. I knew that this was the Job of that Yaksha. It was disappointed and didn't send any body. 

I just said, "Oh good this" I acknowledged, "Oh you have done this." And in 2 minutes the door opened and the hall was filled. I told our 8-10 organisers who were sitting, that I should have asked for something. 

For example give us some centre or do something. Then it could have been happier. I said I want nothing so it felt so disappointed. It wanted to do service, something. Later on I thought probably I should have asked for something.

- Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

Kena Upanishad

Siddha is a perfected human being who has gone deep in meditation. Siddha, Guru, Sadguru, that is the level. They are kept a step above the devas.

*Chapter 7 - The Universe Unveiled*

*Day 34*

When the creator has created such diverse fauna and flora, you think he would like to express himself in a single uniform? The spirit which loves diversity expresses itself in diverse forms. 

These diverse forms of that One Spirit are Devas. Similarly, when one white light breaks up through a prism, seven major colours emit, but then so many shades and mixtures of those seven colours gives you a multitude of colours. 

In the same way, one step higher from the yakshas are devas and devtas or devis. There are so many different types of devi devtas or types of spirits. 

You can call them angels, all only benevolent. Deva has several meanings : deva means benevolent, divine qualities, very playful, mischievous, effulgent, divine. 

The word Divine comes from the original Sanskrit root called deva. Deva has become divinity or divine in English. There led various qualities in us which are expressed. They are all a part of devas. 

Brilliance is a deva in you. Compassion is a blessing of deva in you. If you are happy, that is a blessing of a deva or the quality of the deva getting manifested in you.

Where are these devas? Are they hanging somewhere in the sky? Someone may look at the clouds thinking, ‘Oh someone will drop from the cloud’. No they are present in the consciousness and in every cell of your own body. 

In different parts of the body, different devas, or elements are present. And how are these devas managed? A mantra a particular sound invokes a particular deva and enlivens it. 

Like in the light when you want to bring out only a purple colour or only the green, you manipulate that and only that colour gets projected. If here is light, and you put a golden yellow foil here, only yellow light will come. 

In that yellow light all the other colours are also present, but you are now enlivening only that colour for a particular purpose. So these whole science got developed around this, in the ancient ages. 

For thousand of years people participated, meditated and found this, and you find it in the Mayan civilization as well. You find such a striking similarity a cord of that in the mayan civilization in Europe in the far east in China as well as in vedic Indian civilization. 

In the vedic Indian civilization, in fact they have gone very deep into it, analysed it and very scientifically, systematically organized and arranged it, and it was preserved. 

Fortunately for the planet, this knowledge has been preserved till recently, somehow though a lot of it is lost. When Nalanda University was burnt it was burning for six months and that was burnt around 1200 CE. 

A lot of those books were lost, so whatever is remaining is good enough. In the Vedas there were one thousand shakhas (branches) of Sama veda of which only three are available today. 

The rest are all gone. Similarly twenty one different branches of Rig Veda were there, but now only one is available. Twenty are gone. Out of 111 shakhas of yajur veda only 11 are available now. 

So most of these were burnt down in Middle ages by the invaders, but some people took to different corners and villages and memorized them overnight and somehow preserved them. 

Siddha is a perfected human being who has gone deep in meditation. Siddha, Guru, Sadguru, that is the level. They are kept a step above the devas. 

That's why in puja, when anything happens first Guru is honoured and then the devtas. Gurubhyoh Namah starts from that, in Hindi there is a saying Guru bina gati nahin.

Without Guru there is no further progress.This is the tradition. Guru and deva yaksha gandharva kinnara pits and human being. There are these many levels of spirits. Check your nostril, right how many?left? both? 

These angels and devas can give you many siddhis, many blessings or powers and if you get lost in them you will loose the powers also. A siddha is one who doesn't use those powers. He moves on. 

Even a Sadguru moves on. He says - "Never mind, I think it's okay" thank you. He says thank you, you came to help me. Thank you." All the devtas come and help Sadguru s work, they come and said “What can I do for you?” 

Because he wants nothing and because he knows the Brahman and doesn't arrest that I know the Brahman.

- Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

Kena Upanishad

Basmati rice is different from the long dark brown rice, then there is black rice and there is sticky rice of Japan, which is so much different. The rice in Japan and in Thailand is different from the type from Indonesia and different from India.

*Chapter 7 - The Universe Unveiled*

*Day 33*

In the Chinese culture they have ancestral worship. Also in Brazil, Argentina and in other Latin American countries they do ancestral worship. I think in the Christian tradition there is 'All souls day" where you respect the souls and ask for their blessings.

That is one of the reasons that bodies are buried behind the church - to make that place more powerful. So ancestors have got one step more power. In sanskrit, they are called pitru. 

There is one spirit which is one grade higher than the pitrs. They are kinnars. Kinnars are those souls who are behind big social work or political set ups etc. Then comes the Ghandarva spirits, who are behind every successful artist. 

A great musician is not an individual person who is singing. Through him there is a spirit called as ghandarva, and ghandarva bring you great fame. Although they bring joy and happiness to the population, they make the person very miserable. 

See, Michael Jackson brought joy to so many people but in his personal life he was so miserable. This is because ghandarva souls through the artists bring a lot of happiness to others, but for the individual they bring misery. 

There are plenty of musicians and great celebrities such a Beethoven. You take the history and look into them. In all of them you see this pattern. The only musicians that were happy were the ones who found a path, the ones who had a Guru. 

If they find a Guru, if they have a path, they are liberated. Otherwise they will be famous and will bring joy to others, but in their personal life they will be miserable.

Then from the ghandarva level is the Yaksha level, another grade of souls. A yaksha brings lots of wealth. So, very wealthy people are blessed by yakshas. Here again yakshas can bring comfort, but they don't give joy or happiness from the progeny. 

People blessed by yakshas are not satisfied with their own children, their children's behaviour or their children's career. Something to do with their progeny makes them miserable. 

They don't know happiness from their children or from their progeny. If it happens in one generation, it will definitely not be so in the next generation. Within three generations they will be miserable. 

Again, if they walk on a spiritual path, this is avoided. These are yaksha souls and every city has a yaksha. New York has a yaksha, Los Angeles has a yaksha. Yaksha is the collective spirit of a place and there are so many yakshas.

One step higher than the yakshas are Devas and then there are Siddhas or the perfected beings. So beyond the yakshas there is one more level devas or angels. Devas are there between yakshas and the perfected beings - siddhas. 

There are 33 types of devas and our body is governed by the devas. See a single cell divides itself and becomes a whole human body. Somewhere it becomes eyes, somewhere it becomes ears, somewhere it becomes nail. 

Somewhere it becomes hair and in some other place it becomes a bone. That intelligence is there and these thirty three different impulses create our human body, and these 33 different aspects are different devas. 

So the entire universe is under the control of devas. Devas are also called Gods and Goddesses - deva means gods and goddesses. It is not the God but gods and goddesses an aspect of divinity.

You may ask, “There is only one god, so how can there be so many gods and goddesses”. Yes, there is. Suppose you say rice. Rice means only one rice, but in rice there are so many varieties of rice. 

Recently we had our agriculture seminar in India. A farmer came who was saving the seeds of various regions of India, and he said he had collected 174 types of rice. They are all different. 

Basmati rice is different from the long dark brown rice, then there is black rice and there is sticky rice of Japan, which is so much different. The rice in Japan and in Thailand is different from the type from Indonesia and different from India. 

So, there are different varieties of rice. The universe is of multiplicity and variety. Somewhere people fail to understand this.

- Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

Kena Upanishad