Enlightenment

Enlightenment

1st edition: November 2010

Copyright 2010 © All rights reserved.

Printed in India by :

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No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system without prior permission in written form from the publisher.

eISBN 978 9 351 06634 7

Sri Sri Publications Trust,

The Art of Living International Centre,

21st km, Kanakapura Road, Udayapura, Bangalore - 560 082

Phone: 080-32722473

Email: [email protected]

Website: store.artofliving.org

One of the world’s most inspirational and dynamic leaders His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, is also one of the most original thinkers of our times. Emphasizing practical wisdom, he has transformed millions of lives all over the globe. His talks are a blend of knowledge and guidance, delivered with simplicity and humour – a powerful, unbeatable combination that touches lives and hearts, wherever heard.

It is with great joy that we offer this inspiring collection of talks on enlightenment by Sri Sri given over a period of time. With effortless wisdom and grace, he shines a light for us to follow and move, all the while deepening our understanding as we move along this path.

There are three ways to address people-in the first person, second person or third person. Most are so comfortable in addressing God in the third person, as ‘He’, that then it becomes difficult to address God as ‘I’. Intellectually we can understand this, but inside, the consciousness does not let you do it because it sees imperfection. In coming from ‘He’ to ‘I’, you pass through ‘You’. This means having a direct relation or direct relativity. What happens then is that the limited knowledge about ‘Me’ opens up and dissolves.

You are not just your mind or your body complex. You are a field. You are all over. Everyone is in you. The whole world is in you. But what you think of as being ‘You’ is only your little mind, thoughts and concepts. How do you come out of that? Through a connection and that is only through love What is love?

You! You are everything and everything is love. When you love somebody, what do you say to them? “You are my life. I love you more than my life. You are part of me. You are my breath.” That ‘You’ means that the ‘I’ - the small ‘I’ or ego ‘I’ - dissolves. When the ego dissolves, all discomforts go away with the ego. Discomfort is not because of something. It is because of the ego, the separateness.

What does ego mean? Just separation, i.e. “I am different.” While sitting in satsang, you are part of everybody and you are nobody.

Enlightenment or evolution has two steps.

The first step is becoming ‘nobody’ from being ‘somebody’. I want to be somebody important.’ Many people are stuck here. Even teachers get stuck here. If you don’t give them a proper seat, it pushes their button. No matter that they might have won everything else over, but they will become attached to the seat, to their position. This is getting stuck in being ‘somebody’. What difference does it make if I sit on the sofa or if I sit there out on the carpet? It doesn’t make any difference! I remain what I am.

Someone asked me why there are so many flowers all around me. I said, “It is for you to look at so that you don’t get bored by just looking at me all the time. If it was for me then it would be in front of me so I can look at them. I don’t see any of the decorations behind me here; I only see your faces. I know so many people who feel very uncomfortable and ask; why I have the big high chair? I have it so I can see everybody.

You get stuck by being ‘somebody’. Either: I am too special or I am hopeless or I am nasty, I am useless or I am no good. This is also being ‘somebody’. Therefore being ‘nobody’ is ‘the thing’. Going from being ‘somebody’ to being ‘nobody’ is the first step. Then the second step is going from being ‘nobody’ to being ‘everybody’ - part of ‘everyone’ - and that is love.

Meditation is becoming ‘nobody’ from being ‘somebody’. Dissolving the ego is the first step i.e. from being ‘somebody’ to ‘nobody’. From ‘nobody’ to ‘everybody’ is the second step and then you really start loving everybody. And then it is love, not just as an act; but you realize that you are a part of everybody. “They are part of me, they are part of me and they are part of me”. Look at any body or any pair of eyes and you will see they are not any different than you. They are part of you, like your own limbs.

That is the reason Jesus said “If you have to go to my Father, there is no other way. You have to go through me and me alone.” And this is exactly what all the other teachers, from all over the globe, right from Buddha to Jesus to Krishna have said.