what is boredom? - Talk by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

What is boredom?...  Just a repetition, without love, repetition of anything to the extent that it surpasses liking or interest, is boredom. It is not bad, neither is it good. Only man is capable of boredom; no other animal is capable of getting bored. That’s why cows are not bored; they look perfectly happy and seem to be enjoying. Suppose if you have to sing a song and if you don’t like it or if you have to sing it several times you get bored. Suppose you love a song, then it doesn’t bore you, you can sing it the whole day.

Boredom is lack of interest and love. If you keep doing all your practices again and again, that creates boredom. Is there any permanent solution for boredom? What are the reasons behind it? What are our feelings when we are bored? The want of new

What is the nature of the mind? The mind needs something new constantly, every minute, every second... It wants something today,something else tomorrow or an entirely different thing the day after tomorrow. You get bored if you have to eat the same vegetable everyday. You want to taste different varieties of food every day. Why? Mind wants something new all the time.

But how much newness can exist? The wanting for newness has to stop somewhere.

Become Aware of the constant Repetitive Cycle

There is no boredom in love. When lovers write letters they write love, love, love, love all over. They never get bored of it. As you keep repeating and doing your practices again and again,  boredom vanishes and love arises.

Many eat rice everyday, only the vegetables served are different, but the rice is the same. People who are used to eating rice every day never get bored with it and in fact feel unhappy if there is no rice for even one day.

If you are used to somebody shouting at you all the time, you get so used to it that you just let him or her shout, however long they want to and you continue with your work. When you are used to anger, the heat of anger does not affect you.

Whatever the mind gets used to because of practice, it never gets bored with it. So there is a close relationship between practice and love. How? There is repetition in love and there is repetition in practice.

What is the purpose of practice? Practice means doing the same thing again and again like japa or sadhana. The purpose of sadhana is to first bring up boredom and then destroy the boredom. The goal of practice is to root away the boredom within us.


Where is love

The self is all love and love is always repetitive. If the self is all love, then how can you get bored with yourself? Not possible! You are bored with your mind, not with yourself. Mind always wants change. It is bored without change and practice is doing the same thing, repeating the same thing without changing so that the mind gets thoroughly bored and bored and bored.

Sometimes you hum a line of a movie song, bhajan or traditional music which suddenly flashes to you while bathing. You later realise that you would have hummed the whole day, the same line. This is because love and practice has happened. So sit for half an hour every day and say something, Ram, Ram, Shiva, Shiva, Shiva. You keep saying ‘Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya’ and you get bored and bored and the boredom becomes so much that nothing else can really bore you. Only when you penetrate this boredom does love arise.

Boredom and Enthusiasm

Have you noticed a child? A child never gets bored. It says the same thing again and again. If a child asks a question it keeps asking the same thing and it goes on non-stop. You get bored but the child doesn’t get bored. The child is not bored opening the same book several times. There is nothing new in the book, but it opens and closes, opens and closes. That is why mothers have time. They give some toy to the child, the beads in a string. They go on stringing the beads from this side to that side.

If you take children to an exhibition and they see the roller coaster or merry go round and they want to sit on it. You try to convince them, “don’t sit on it, your head will turn. Not today, we will come again tomorrow”. After listening to all that you say, at the end of it they, “daddy I want to sit on it. Mama, I want to sit on it”. Repetition is children’s nature.

When you cannot get bored with yourself, you cannot get bored with anything else in the world. Then if you have to say the same thing over and over again you will say it with the same enthusiasm. Wherever your mind goes meditate on that !

Maharshi Patanjali said, “yathābhimatadhyānādḥvā”. “Wherever your mind goes meditate on that”. If your mind drawn towards your grand child then meditate on your grand child. See God in your grand child and worship the child. Do whatever pleases you. At least let your mind get used to that half an hour of pr

actice. “yathābhimatadhyānādḥvā”. Do whatever pleases you the most. We had been to a place near kerala where we saw an idol. The idol was half Ganesha and half Hanuman. We were surprised to see this new idol. We had seen nothing like it before. We have seen Ganesha, Hanuman, Ardhanareeshwara (half man and woman) and Harihara (Shiva and Vishnu together). So we were surprised to see half Ganesha and half Hanuman, Ganesha’s trunk was cut into half and had become the face of Hanuman, Why this?

Humans have used up all that was there in the past and are bored by it, so there was this new combination of Gods. The idea was to arrest the mind in the new form. Now the mind runs towards Ganesha and also towards Hanuman. So what to do? Okay, join both of them. There is no harm in doing this. It is good if the mind stands still.

Move from Boredom to celebration

We are often bored with our own selves. To take away the boredom in us we keep doing many things and keep wandering everywhere. If the stink is arising from your mouth what is the use of applying perfume all over the house? What is the use of spraying the air-
freshener or lighting an agarbathi (incense) stick in the house? From where is the stink coming? It is coming from the stomach. Till you treat the stomach, the stink will not vanish. If you want relieve yourself from your boredom and you try to be in someone else’s company, they will be more bored than you, If you are bored with your self, they how much boring you must be for others?

Do your personal satsang everyday. Sit down everyday and assume that you have a return ticket in your hand and think that you are going to leave today. See how peaceful the mind becomes. You can see a vision. A vision which reveals that everything is a dream and
this life is only for a short time. The moment this realization dawns in you, the fault-
finding mind which keeps saying “that is not right, this is not right”, becomes calm, unless the grumbling mind is quietened, you will never get the ultimate. ‘When we are joyous with ourselves, then nothing from outside can seem boring to us’

Even if your practices are boring, then know that is doing its job. If it is giving you joy, then also know that it is doing its job. In eitherway practice, whether it is giving you joy or boredom. Don’t change your practices if you are bored with them. Be with the boredom,be with the practice and you will see a break through happening in you. If you change the practice and then you do another practice, you will just keep changing the practice and the mind remains as it is. It does not get transformed. Boredom is the boiling point of the mind, the mind bursts.

From Talks by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar talks on Liberation

What is mukti (liberation)?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When you take the last breath joyfully that is mukti (liberation). Those who experience some lack and are sad while dying, they return. Be satisfied at the time of your death. The one who is immersed in knowledge, even while dying, will be free.

Why do we want to be liberated?

 Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Wanting freedom is a natural phenomenon. What you feel after your exams are over is a little experience of liberation (moksha). In life also you burn in your own hopes and desires. These desires have only brought you misery. When you relax taking a step outside all this, there is liberation (moksha). When you sit for meditation with the feeling, I am nothing, I want nothing, and I do nothing - this feeling is the feeling of freedom. It is fun, it is freedom.

To break the cycle of birth and death we have to attain mukti/liberation, then why do enlightened masters reincarnate?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: With one goal - to help those who are in need and on the other hand just to play.

Can charity grant liberation?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Charity purifies wealth. Ghee/clarified butter purifies food. Knowledge purifies the intellect. Bhajan purifies the mind & Service purifies the action.

It is said that if someone is enlightened, his or her generations are liberated. If it is so then can one choose not to have children and devote his/her entire life to seva?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Good, no problem if you don’t choose to have children that is fine. Yet what is necessary is that you have to feel that you are the parent of the entire world, that everybody on this planet is a child and that they belong to you. At least this you can have, no one can stop you from feeling that or thinking that.

If mukti (liberation) is our nature then why are we in bondage?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : Who says mukti is our nature? Our nature is bliss. Love and enjoyment can put you in bondage, if it is devoid of knowledge. With knowledge, the same love, the same enjoyment leads you to the experience of liberation.

Liberation and bondage go together. If there is liberation, there will be bondage and vice-versa. Liberation is valued because of bondage. If there is no bondage, what is there to be liberated from?

Similarly we can be liberated, that is why we experience bondage. With the desire for liberation we come to know that we are in bondage. If the desire for liberation has not risen then you will not even come to know of bondage.

From Talks by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri talks on Desires in Life

Q: I realize how attached I am to some of my desires and dreams, such as, having a family for example. Do I have to practice detachment to make it happen? Does the spiritual path involve detachment from all of our desires?

Sri Sri: Look, if you have too many desires that is a problem. it is too scattered. Focus on one desire at a time.
Do you really want to get married? Why didn’t you do it so far? Are you being too picky and choosy? When the time comes you don’t go ahead, and later on you think you cannot find anybody.

Once a gentleman who was in his 60’s came to me and said, ‘Gurudev, I am looking for a soul mate, but I haven't found one’.
I said, 'Wait for another 15 years, you’ll find her in heaven'.
You know, don’t be too fussy about it. Look for a good person and get married. Even if they’re not good, you can change them, make them better!

I want to tell you a story about the Shakespeare of India. Have you heard about him? His name was Kalidasa and he is called the Shakespeare of India because he wrote some of the most excellent work in Sanskrit literature.
If anyone wants to learn Sanskrit, they cannot miss Kalidasa. How he became Kalidasa is very interesting.
There was a great king, a very well known emperor of India. He had a daughter and his daughter was very beautiful. She was very intelligent, very smart and knew everything with perfection. So it was very difficult for the king to find a suitable match because she had to interview him.
See, in India, in the ancient times, women had all the power! It is the women who chose men, like Sita had her own Swayamvara. A Swayamvara is a ceremony where the woman can choose the person with whom she wants to get married.

So, the story goes, all the princes from the princely states were invited. Princes from many places flocked there because they had heard about her intelligence and her beauty. Some were very scared, as she would ask them a question and nobody could answer her questions.
So she rejected everybody, and year after year this kept happening. The king was a little worried but the prime minister was quite annoyed. She probably insulted him and the story goes that he was annoyed with her. The prime minister thought, ‘I have to teach this shrew a lesson, I have to tame her'.
So once he was passing by the forest and he saw a wood cutter who was sitting on the branch of a tree and cutting the head of the branch!. Suddenly an idea struck him and he said, ‘Hey come down!'
When he came down he said, 'You come with me'.
The woodcutter agreed and the minister asked him to be silent and only answer the questions with hand gestures. So he dressed the woodcutter up a little bit, and took him to the palace. He went to the princess and said, ‘I have brought a really brilliant guy for you’.
She said, ‘Okay, I will propose three questions to him’.
So she asked him, what is the truth of the world, he answered showing his index finger.
Then she asked, how the creation was created, and he answered by gesturing the number two with his hand.
The third question also passed in a similar fashion and she was very impressed. So she got married to him. When she got married, then she realized that he did not even know to write an alphabet. He was just a wood cutter in the forest. She felt cheated, but during those days in India, once you marry, that is it. You marry with all the five elements as a witness and then you are wedded for life.
Now she felt very cheated. She went to the temple and she cried before the Mother Divine. Then she realized how arrogant she was. She rejected so many people and caused pain to so many because she was trying to choose someone better, someone who could defeat her, but look what happened. She wanted to be defeated in a different sense, but she got defeated in another sense. She does this and she goes into deep meditation.
It is said, at that time, the Mother Divine came and asked this man, who was sitting there completely bewildered, to stretch his tongue out. So he stretched his tongue and she wrote Om on it. With this experience he immediately started reciting a poem called Smalaya Tandegam, and from then on he was known as the Kalidasa.
Kalidasa wrote the most exquisite of literature and wonderful poetry; such deep description, such intelligence, and so much pun in it. It is considered very beautiful.
So if you get somebody who is not up to your mark, I tell you, you have the ability to change them! This is the reason why I said this story. Believe in it (ability) and move on. If it doesn't happen over a few years, you have your way and they have their way
From Talks by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Cravings that keep you away from truth

What is it that keeps you far and away from reality, from truth, from the divine? They are four types of fears or cravings that bind you to the world. These are called aishanas, and they are: Putraishana, Vittaishana, Lokaishana and Jeevaishana.

Number one is Putraishana — always thinking about the progeny, attachment to the children. Tomorrow, when they grow up, and don’t have time for you, you are heartbroken. In reality, whose children are they? They are God’s children. You were just the doorway for them to come through. But people say, ‘‘Oh my children, my children’’. It gets you so feverish in your mind; it clogs your thinking so much that you don’t really see what is good for them. There are so many problems and suffering because of this aishana.

Then comes Vittaishana. Money. I know one old woman who used to say, ‘‘If somebody is sick in their head, give them lots of coins, they’ll go on counting, and the sickness will go away’’. Vittaishana is hunger for money. How much can you have? What do you want to do with it? Okay, let’s say you have 30 million dollars. What will you do with it? Are you going to enjoy thirty million in your lifetime? Money is essential but the craving for money in the mind can overshadow you and your life so totally that you will be unable to see the reality, recognise love, and see something beyond.

Vittaishana binds you. It is a book that keeps your mind in the bank. It gives you a false security. Billionaires were stranded in the Sahara desert for so many days, fighting like dogs over a loaf of bread and getting into a panic for a bottle of water. Haven’t you seen this? People who had all riches, they had to abandon everything and became paupers overnight.

The very big companies who have billions, they are in debt. Don’t you know this? Why worry so much about money? Have trust and say ‘‘Let what I need be provided’’ then work putting in one hundred percent into it, and see that whatever comes, it will come. And whatever has to be spent will be spent.

Then follows Lokaishana. You may not care so much about money. But what you care now is: ‘‘Oh, what will people think about me?’’ You want to be praised by everybody in the world. Wanting to be famous, wanting to be something. Wanting to do some work so that your name should be there for all generations to come, become immortal!

See, people who are very famous, what is happening to them? Does their fame remain the same all the time? Some other person becomes a little more famous, another singer, another actor, another dancer. That puts a lot of fire in them. They become jealous, and start criticising them.

And they become very unhappy! When you are in the peak of fame, and trying to maintain your fame, there is such fear, such uneasiness in you. You become so uncomfortable. This ‘wanting’ in order to be able to show off, for other people’s sake, for what others will say, is Lokaishana. Lokaishana can create fear in you and pull you down.

Then comes Jeevaishana, the fourth aishana: wanting to live longer! Wanting to become immortal physically. But why make the physical body immortal? Nature is providing you a fresh body again and again. When there are so many fresh apples growing, why to keep one apple, make it ancient, and then eat it?

Body is a perishable item. People who have not lived their lives fully, have this craving to live for more and more years. You see, very sick people, who are absolutely sick, they are not ready to die. They say, ‘‘I want to live few more years. I should see the end of this century’’. Jeevaishana, holding on to life. People who have incurable diseases, amputated limbs, don’t want to die. Hankering for life. What is its result? It does not allow you to enjoy the moment, to be free. And it creates a tension in life.

See, a healthy man will die, and a sick person will also die. A patient dies, a doctor dies. Every ‘body’ will die. It is an inevitable phase in life; it has a beginning and an end. It is going to happen and it will happen. That does not mean you don’t have to take care of your body. You should take absolute care of this body, but without feverishness, without this aishana.

When these four types of fear disappear, then you are qualified to come and sit close to the divine. Sit in Upanishad, and walk through the gates of Gurumandala. Upanishad means being there totally in the present moment. With the willingness to hear, observe. Ready to catch, ready to grasp the moment. Like a thirsty man, waiting for water. That waiting, that longing, that readiness brings the wandering mind closer. Then something happens, a phenomenon takes place.

Then you are qualified to hear about the Brahman. What is that ‘something’ beyond this world? What is the reality? What is the truth? What is the centre of all this? Then this secret, which is very sacred, will be revealed to you through the Gurumandala.

Gurumandala literally means drawing concentric circles. One inside another, triangles, squares, corners. Charming looking circles. The centre of it is the ‘Guru’. Around the Guru there will always be many attractive things, many talented people, different types of charms. And when you are going towards the centre, it is always possible that you could get stuck with the ‘aishanas’.

Simply sitting and saying ‘‘Who am I, Who am I?’’ will not lead you anywhere! But you have to cross over all these temptations, and come to the Gurumandala!

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From Talks by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Feel the Presence

Presence 

The first one is Presence. The thirst for the Presence is called prayer. Whether there is a God to whom you should pray or not is immaterial — just your prayerfulness is sufficient. The first step is to feel the Presence; the next step is realising that you are the

Presence, that you have become one with the Presence, that you are not distant. That Presence is called ‘Bhagawan’.

Fame 

The second attribute is fame. Fame means that which is universally accepted — in many places, in many types of minds, in many types of people. That is real fame. Let us see what we normally understand as fame. Take for example any singer, say Michael Jackson, who is well known in North America, Europe and some big cities in other Eastern countries. But if you go to some remote parts of China or India and start singing that style of music, people will not appreciate it. But if you go to any corner of the world, whether in India, China, Japan or Korea, you’ll find a church there, and Jesus is known. The people appreciate His teachings and value Jesus. Who is famous: Jesus or Michael Jackson? True fame crosses the barriers of race, age groups, sex.

That’s why it is Bhagawan.

The 8 types of wealth 

The third attribute of Divinity comprises all types of wealth. One of the greatest illusions created in the world is wealth. Just look at the disparity in the world. There is no logical reasoning or explanation why someone should be born in Africa and suffer for a piece of bread, while there is so much bread elsewhere that we throw it away; why do some dogs enjoy the comfort of a home while others are strays in the streets? Wealth is something that is bestowed on you. There are eight types of wealth.

Wealth as material comfort: The first type of wealth is what we commonly understand as wealth — the material wealth. Just being born in Ford’s home, somebody acquired all that wealth without any effort. Why does this happen when somebody else had to toil all his life to make money? Why do some people inherit while others do not?

Wealth as health: Just having money is not sufficient. Some people may have a lot of money but they cannot eat well. They may have diabetes or high cholesterol. That wealth is nothing. Some people do not have money, but they have enough to eat and they are healthy. Like many farmers in India: they don’t have any money but they have plenty of food with them. Anyone who goes to them is fed; they can feed the whole town. They can sleep well.

Wealth as success (Vijaya Lakshmi): Some may be born into a very wealthy family, but any job they do becomes a failure. It may be a simple thing, but it is not a success. For example, you tell such a person to go and get some yoghurt from the shop.

They will always come back with a negative answer — ‘‘There is no yoghurt available... The shop is closed... I can’t get it.’’

To have this wealth of success, one does not start with, ‘‘What if it doesn’t work?’’ as then life just finishes without acquiring anything. This is taking life too seriously.

Wealth as courage: Make life a play or a game. Go ahead! Be adventurous! Even before playing the game, don’t think whether you will win or lose. So what if you don’t win? You’ll win again some other time. But being afraid of making mistakes, being afraid of doing anything in life, one lacks the wealth — the wealth of courage. Somebody may have a lot of money, but if they don’t have courage, there is no fun in life. Someone may not have any money, but look at the courage in them, the force in them! It shows that they are rich in something!

Wealth as friendliness: The fifth type of wealth is friendliness, having a caring attitude, having a sense of belonging. You may have the other types of wealth, but you still feel as though you are in a tight compartment, if you don’t have a sense of belonging.

That is what happens at most parties. Many rich people go to a party just to show off how rich they are, but they feel so out of place.

You find sugar-coated misery there. Everybody is so uptight. It’s like a war field actually. Parties are like a competition ground or battlefield; everyone going around with a shield. That is no wealth at all. Do you know how frustrated some people from aristocratic families are? Especially when their children see such hypocrisy, it’s so hard on the children. The whole hippie wave that happened was just a rebellion against this uptight attitude.

Wealth as skill: Another wealth is having different skills and talents. Some are good in writing, some are good in arguing, some are good in debate, some are good in music, some have wonderful voices, some cook well, some are talented in bringing up a child, in administration, and still others are talented in completely different things. There are hundreds and hundreds putting their efforts. They all should have achieved their goal. They all should have got what they wish to achieve, if it’s just by effort. But no, it is not so.

Wealth as dignity: The world is filled with lessons if only we observe it with full awareness. Be as humble as the grass. Then nothing can touch you, nothing. No one can humiliate you. In the eyes of the Divine, it is those who serve creation, who are true kings and queens. Walk like a king and be a perfect servant!

Wealth as memory of the source: We only know that we were born; we don’t even know how we were born. Somewhere from three or four years onwards, we know whatever is happening. Our memory is very short; it appears this is the only life. We are not aware of our Source. The moment you become aware of your Source, and your infinite past, your whole life changes, like somebody just suddenly becoming aware of how wealthy he or she is. Immediately your style of walking will change. This is the awareness of the Source.

Dharma 

The fourth characteristic of Divinity is dharma. It is very difficult to translate dharma. You can say ‘righteousness’, ‘nature,’ you can say ‘the totality of life’, ‘the path’, ‘the goal’. Dharma means that which upholds; that which upholds one’s life, that which upholds the whole creation, that which upholds the entire surroundings and evolutionary levels.

Wisdom 

When knowledge is well-rooted in profound experience, it is wisdom. This kind of knowing does not just come from the head, but it is from the very being, from every cell of the being, from every particle of the being. When knowledge becomes inseparable from you, it is wisdom. One kind of knowledge comes and goes; but another kind is an integral part of you. You cannot be without it. It is like the breath. When knowledge gets so deep-rooted, like the breath, that is wisdom.

Renunciation 

Renunciation is the sixth attribute. Just observe what becomes of your breath when things are unpleasant. If someone gives you a compliment, it doesn’t become so deep-rooted, like a part of your breath. But if someone insults you, every breath you breathe in and out burns. Isn’t it so?

Renunciation is the ability to drop everything and rest. What can you hold on to? Once one has total control of oneself, he does not control anything, or anybody. He brings great freedom. That is Bhagawan. There is a saying in the Gita — one can never achieve yoga unless one drops everything one wants to do, or is doing, or has done, at any moment. Living in the moment, making the mind free is what renunciation is.

From these six attributes of Bhagawan, Divinity, even if you take any one away, it will be incomplete. In fact it is quite dangerous. For example, fame without wisdom is of no use. The flower of divinity, which blossoms, has to have all the six petals.

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From Talks by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar