Why does ego it exist?

Q. During meditation do we need to keep ourselves awake so that we know that we are meditating? If I fall into a state of not fully being awake or I fall asleep, is there any good in my meditation at all?


M. Yes, it's a good sleep. (Laughter.)


Q. I have been on a vegetarian diet for three months, but I can't cross my legs because there is a problem with my legs. So, am I qualified for initiation? And can you comment on posture in meditating?


M. Then don't cross your leg for God's sake. Do what you want with your legs. I don't want your legs. I just want your enlightenment, okay.

Q. After initiation and if Master is not with us, if I have any problems with my meditation, what should I do?

M. The Master is always with you, hm. Master is not the body. We are wisdom. We are connected with the whole universe. And the master who is worth his name is omnipresent. So, whenever you are in trouble, the Master knows. And the Master is always helping you to progress. Whether you see the Master or not, it depends on your power of samadhi. Otherwise, Master is twenty-four hours awake and taking care of you. So don't worry, okay?

Q. Master, You are very beautiful and have much to offer. I am glad to be here. My question has to do with the ego. What are we to do with it, if anything, and why does it exist?


M. I see. The ego doesn't exist actually. The ego comes from the information that we collect during our time, and during our inter-relationships with others or with all things around us, yes.
For example, when you were born, you had no ego. But when you grow up and then you know yourself to be beautiful or handsome, yes, then, the ego begins to grow yeah. And everybody praises you. Wa! you're beautiful! And then, You have a Ph.D.! You grow more in pride, and that is the ego, yeah. But, don't worry about it. It's just a good accessory sometimes. And you can throw it away anytime you don't need. But, you have to have enlightenment first in order to know when to wear it, and when to put it down. Okay?


Initiation Is The Only Way To Reach The Fifth World


Q. What kind of light and sound can I hear when I reach the fifth level? I mean what symbol will let me know if I come to the fifth level of meditation?


M. That I tell you at the time of initiation. Because I cannot just tell you like that at random. I don't know what kind of meditation you do. If you want to elaborate further, maybe it's better, um. The fifth level is meant for the initiated people only, not for other disciples. They couldn't even reach the first.

Q. Dear Master, I'm married, but I sometimes have dreams of being with other beautiful girls. How do I prevent these dreams? Am I creating heavy karma? Please tell me.

M. It's alright! Just enjoy your dreams okay?! (Laughter.) Just don't do it in the reality. Otherwise, your wife will not let you enjoy it. And keep it a secret. What can we do with dreams? Right? Forgive yourself. It's okay!

Q. When does the soul enter the body? Is it before our birth or after our birth? How can it happen if we are born as a twin?


M. No, because you like to stick together, I guess, huh! You have affinity with each other, um. And you want to go out at the same time to have companion. No problem about twins, yeah. We are twins ourselves. We have both feminine and masculine aspects inside. And we, if we reunite that, we're happy, um. Forget about the physical aspect.


Experience Is Better Than Empty Talk


Q. Dear Master, please let us know more about energy, the relationship between energy, peace and love. The only thing we know from science is that energy can not be destroyed or created. Energy can be transformed from one kind to another kind. Some say God is energy, God is love. What do you think?


M. I think these are only sayings. Before you experience that, all sayings are empty. I do not like to be a living dictionary but an example of the true knowledge. When you are enlightened, you understand this energy and all the metaphysical questions. Energy is many kinds, negative and positive. When we are enlightened, we balance both and make use of them for the purposes in life and in the right time, the right situation. I told you already. If we are enlightened, the world will be at peace. No need to change anything. Of course, that is peaceful energy that we radiate after enlightenment.


Q. How to affect our beloved, such as husband or wife, to be a more moral person. Is there a special method to help them?

M. Yes, enlightenment. Enlightenment helps you to be sharper in all feelings, yeah. And you'll be a better wife, be better husband even. Many of our initiates claim that their married life became much better after both of them practiced God's presence, yeah, the light and sound. Before that they just had a kind of very lukewarm relationship, or cold to ice cube. And after enlightenment they know how to care for each other and then feel more toward each other, um.


Q. Dear Master, I had a lot of nightmares in childhood. Now the nightmares are gone, but, I still dream frequently every night. Please tell me are these dreams involved with my karma?


M. Maybe you had a very rough life before, um. You lived in truly nightmarish life . Therefore, the influence still lingers up till now. Well I sounds like advertising manager, but enlightenment is also for everything. If you want to live a fearless life, and dreamless life, then, of course enlightenment is the answer.

Is Abortion An Offense To The Precepts?

QUESTION & ANSWER SESSION


Q. In the Bible Jesus Christ said: I and my father are one.
M. Yeah.
Q. But, how can I reach this state?
M. Get enlightenment, yeah. Get initiation. That's what we are here for, to help you.
Q. Dear Master, I have never eaten vegetarian. However, after I listened to your videos and read your magazines, I started to eat vegetarian once or twice a month.
M. Wa, big deal, big deal!
Q. Can I Meditate? If Yes, Is There Any Danger?
M. Fine, it's already a big improvement, yeah. From thirty days to twenty-eight days.
Q. Dear Master, how to live a happy life?
M. Didn't I tell you? (Master and everyone laugh.) To get enlightenment is a sure way of a happy life. Okay, I am very patient.

Is Abortion An Offense To The Precepts?

Q. Could you please explain your precepts against killing. Specifically against abortion.M. Wa! You get me into trouble. Ah, Thou shalt not kill is the precept of all religious scriptures, not only Christians. It's even in Jainism, Hinduism and other religions also. If they truly take this thou shalt not kill in a true sense of the precept, abortion, of course, should be avoided. And the doctor should be very precise in determining what is the special situation that people should undertake this. Because maybe sometimes it's dangerous for the mother, yeah, or dangerous for both. So, the doctor should be fair in determining that situation. Otherwise I think we should save life in any way we can. Whatever special circumstance with you, that you have to answer, your self-conscience, and the doctor has to determine that. Okay? I am not here to condemn anyone, because I know life is very hard, and very difficult to say which is right and which is wrong. Because we are also all under the sway of karma, of the law of cause and retribution, and sometimes it is very difficult for a person to go above that, to be saintly, and to be decisive about anything in life. But, bear in mind that if you have faith in God, and in all our wisdom and if we are enlightened, no circumstance is difficult, no situation is hard to handle. So, I just propose enlightenment, and no condemnation for anything.

Q. Is it okay to receive initiation from more than one master?


M. Yeah, it's okay. But why is it necessary? For example, if your master has already taught you the light and sound within you, and you are satisfied and you're making progress with that path, then you don't have to be initiated by another master who will teach the same method. But nevertheless, if you are not completely satisfied and you would like to have more, I mean you are more convinced in some other master, of course you may do so.


Respect The Talent And Qualities Of Other People


Q. Jesus ate fish, why do you not?


M. You always put fish in Jesus' mouth. (Laughter.) Alright, suppose he ate fish, he is Christ, he can do many other things that you cannot do. Why you look at the piece of fish only and not at his qualities and his holiness? As soon as you become holy as he is, and powerful as he is, you can eat human beings, okay?! (Laughter & applause.) If you are that desperate for meat... Oh God! We always compare the things that other people do to suit our taste. But we do not respect their qualities and their talents, yeah. We have to know what we have and other people have, hm, and then we can say what we can do or not. The president he can stay in the white house, he has a lot of bodyguards, he has power over the whole nation. So, somethings he can do, we can not. Okay, right?!

Q. Are pain and illness always the result of present karma? If so, how do we clean them out?
M. We clean it out by enduring it. Alright? Because it's already too late now to reverse the wheel of karma. But we could minimize it, we could lubricate it by being enlightened, by meditation on the perfection of the Father every day through the guidance of a teacher, through initiation. Then, we minimize a lot of things. Yeah, um.

Q. Do You Feel This Initiation Is Important? Why Can It Not Be Done On Our Own?


M. The question answers itself, um. If you have done it yourself, then it's not necessary to get an initiation. But if you couldn't do it, if you haven't seen the light of God and the sound of heaven, then, initiation is necessary. Besides there are many steps to heaven that you must know, verbally, the instruction, and so many pitfalls that you should avoid. And if you do not know that, you'd waste a lot of time, and sometimes it's dangerous, um.


Q. Who Was Your Himalaya Master And What Lineage?


M. I think I talked about that already in some of the tapes. You go and have a look, okay? Now I'm here and you keep asking about my master all the time. I am jealous. (Laugher.) I am so beautiful, and you don't care about me. (Master and everyone laugh.) You care about an old man with wrinkled eyes and cranky mood and doesn't talk to any one, doesn't accept disciples. (Laughter.)



Q. Master, specifically what is the difference between enlightenment and the power to initiate, and which one does the patriarch of the Bible have?


M. The power to initiate came first. You will have the power of initiation also if you are pointed by the master, because a master will initiate through you. And also you have the power, the true power, the perfect power, not the borrowed one, when you become a master. When you reach the fifth plane of consciousness, then you become Christ or Buddha, yeah. At that time you can initiate. But enlightenment is a part of it, part of the power. And you will expand this, and get to know more of your greatness, more and more until you realize your complete self. And that is the time you'll know God. That's the time you'll be able to initiate people.


In The State Of Samadhi


Q. Dear Master, is it right that we have to be at or beyond the second level of spiritual practice to have a samadhi experience?


M. No, no. It's not true. It's just that deeper or shallower samadhi. If you see the light or hear the sound, that means you're already in samadhi. It's just a little bit not very deep. And sometimes you're in very deep samadhi, and you sit there and only aware of the inside, and sometimes aware of both, inside and outside.


Q. If initiated, can one practice meditation an hour in the morning, half hour in the middle of the day and an hour at night? Does one have to meditate two and a half hours continuously a day?


M. No, no. You can separate it. You can do it on the bus, in the park, on airplane and the train, etc. to make up for the hours that you need.

Q. Please explain the reason for not eating or using eggs, and how do eggs represent life and death?

M. Because egg is a symbol of life and death. In it contains life, yeah. And many of the black magicians or white magicians they use eggs to withdraw some of the negative possessive spirit within some people, yeah. Therefore, if we eat eggs too much we tend to attract this negative force toward ourselves. Yeah, that's one of the reasons why we should not eat eggs, hm.

Benefit of Puja

Q: (A member of the audience asked a question and it was inaudible)
Sri Sri: Yes. In Ashram everyone is needed, you can definitely do Seva. Whoever wishes to do Seva in the Ashram, come and talk to the Seva administrator and say how many months, one month or two months or how many days you can stay and work and they will arrange it for you.

Q: Jai Gurudev this Rudra puja and Devipuja being done in the Ashram, what is the benefit of this?

Sri Sri: When the pooja is being done do you feel well and happy? Do you feel it is very nice? (Ans – Yes) That is it; that is the intention to bring out the benevolent energy that is present. What is the use of meditation? When we meditate the energy that is present inside us wakes up. Where is that energy? In the base of the body (Kunda), this Kundalini energy rises up. Where ever puja is being performed this kundalini energy spreads and takes a benevolent form when you perform puja. That is why you do the puja.

Q: (A member of the audience asked a question and it was inaudible)

Sri Sri: Good question. See in this world highest yield of cotton was in this country. In the entire world India is the highest producer of wheat. Our country is the highest producer of milk in the entire world. We are much advanced in growing vegetables. Despite this in our country the farmers are not getting the proper value for their production. What is the reason for this? There is no proper distribution of produce. One can say that the reason for this is the Minister for Agriculture and Farming in the central Government. We are importing sugar at Rs.32 per kilo and exporting sugar at Rs.12 per kilo. This type of corruption is taking place in our country and we are sitting with closed eyes. Is it right you ask yourselves? This is not right. Is it not? That is why we want the Lokpal bill to come up. Even with that they have to do it properly for it to bring results. See if you continue to fight for this it will happen. Some positive results will come. Some time we'll succeed. We will get positive results. Winning and losing are a normal process. That is not a big deal.

Q: Guruji, how should one become an ideal (not idol!) husband or wife?

Sri Sri: Idol husband and wife are Lord Ram and Sita and they are in the temple. I am inexperienced in answering this question. I can only provide an answer to a question in which I have experience. But on the basis of what I have heard from people, I can say that a wife should never hurt the ego of her husband. It may be that the husband is not using his intellect and the wife is thinking, ‘oh he is so stupid!’ Instead she should say, ‘the world might consider you stupid, but I know how intelligent you are. You are the most capable person in this world.’ This is how you should flatter your husband. This is what wives have to do. The moment the husband enters the home, shower him with praise, strengthen his ego. Now a secret for men never hurt the feelings of your wife. A wife is sentimental. It is possible that she may complain about her parents, but you should never join in. You should stay quiet. Who knows when she might switch sides, and you will be stuck in the middle. It can be very dangerous. You need to be safe. Never say anything about the in-laws. Your wife may complain, but you should never say anything. Secondly, if she needs to go for satsang, shopping or to the temple, never stop her. Don’t ask her why she goes to shop every day. Just give her your credit card. Then there will be peace at home.

Q: Guruji is there some project with us to link the rivers?

Sri Sri: Our scientists have prepared this project to link the rivers. But our Government may not have the time to implement the project. Whether they have the will to implement the project or not is another question? If people like you come forward and press this issue it might get implemented.

 Q: (A member of the audience asked a question and it was inaudible)

Sri Sri: God is present in every one. Not only in Rama. Don’t think God is present only in Rama .God is present in you and in me.

Q: Guruji, how do you find an ideal Guru in the physical form?
Sri Sri: I have no idea! Ideal disciple I can say but I don’t know what an ideal Guru is. Ideal disciple is one who does sadhana, seva and satsang, and does not dig wells in several different places and does not engage in spiritual shopping. One who honours everyone, and stays in knowledge. Guru is one who does not want anything for himself, one who shows the path to anyone he meets.

I was reading Osho. Some where he says the same thing. Very true. Guru is not idle. it is the disciple that is idle. It is totally one way traffic.

Q: Why are there so many Gods with us?

Sri Sri: God is one but the names are many, forms are many. Shiva –Shakti both are one. Ardhanarishwara, Both are one. Hari hara is not two it is just one. Half is Hara and the other half is Hari. Half woman and half man: ardhanaarishwara. Everything is one, God is one but names are many. There is only one God ‘Bhagavanta’.

http://www.artofliving.org/wisdom-qa?page=16

acceptance and forgiveness

Q: Guruji, my thoughts and dreams are mixing up, and not so good ones. What to do?
Sri Sri: Never mind! Clouds come and some are dark clouds and some are light clouds, so what! They come and they go, you carry on.

Q: Guruji, I have learnt the principle, ‘accpet people and situations the way they are’, but I am not able to apply it in all my situations.
Sri Sri: No, see! When you learn this principle you don’t have to apply everything immediately. You will see automatically this will start getting translated. Yes, impact will be there. You know, if you are getting upset, the mind will say, ‘Accept the situations’ and you will become calm. There will be a tape recorder inside you, a program inside you which will help you to become really stable and happy.

Q: Guruji, why, in this new age have relationships changed so much that to find love, people have to believe in Romeo and Juliet? Has love changed or have we changed so that we cannot understand love anymore?

Sri Sri: Listen, one thing is constant in this planet that is change! Change keeps happening in every field. So, accept the changes and know that there is something that is not changing deep inside you. Everything changes, but inside us there is an element that does not change. Just know this and accept all the changes. Okay!

personally I feel love never changes.

Q: (A member of the audience asked a question and it was audible)

Sri Sri: See love is not an emotion; it is just your state of being. So you don’t have to be wiggly, wiggly, goody, goody in order to be in love. You can be very straight-forward, strict, to-the-point and gentle and caring. So you don’t have to worry that this is not there in the corporate field. Suppose, you are a corporate person, someone treats you like a machine. Would you like it? No! After all you are a human being and you would like to be treated like a human being, right? So we think, ‘Since I am in corporate, I must treat everybody like machine. No, no, competitiveness is good. Let it be there. You see what I am saying?

Q: Guruji, which do we attend to first, the mind or the body?

Sri Sri: Okay between ears and eyes, which should be used first? When watching television, do you use both simultaneously or one after the other? It is not as though we decide, ‘I will watch first, then I will listen.’ Similarly, we will need to attend to both body and mind.

Q: (A member of the audience asked a question and it was audible)

Sri Sri: ‘Swaastika’ symbolizes the cycle. ‘Swaastha’ means established in the Self. ‘Swaastika’ means that which is healthy for humanity; that which contains all the four aspects that puts you into yourself, ‘Dharma (righteousness), Artha (desires), Kaama(means), Moksha(liberation).’ Unfortunately, ‘Swaastika’ symbol was taken by Hitler. He put it upside down. ‘Swaastika’ represents peace actually, but when he put the whole thing upside down, it became war; the reverse. That’s how it is! Time passes very fast when we are happy and it seems to be going very slow when we are unhappy and when we have to wait for somebody, right? So mind and time are connected.

Q: How to enhance the memory power in children?
Sri Sri: To increase the power of memory in children, do not allow them to watch television for a long time; not more than one hour a day. That is the first, secondly there are some special ayurvedic preparations which are prescribed for enhancing the memory this can be given to them. Then thirdly you must teach them pranayama, yogasanas and a little meditation.

Q: Guruji, should one keep on trusting the ones who have betrayed you? How many second chances does one give? What is the difference between acceptance and forgiveness?

Sri Sri: Forgiveness is from the heart, it is an emotional one. Acceptance is from the mind, from the head. So both are essential, you accept and you forgive. If you don’t forgive you will suffer with all the emotional heavy load of garbage inside you. If you don’t accept your mind gets all agitated.


Q: Jai Gurudev. Recently I visited Kolkata after 8 years and when I visited the State house (Purabhawana) according to the statement by the government, there are 32 lakhs of Bangladeshis’ in the city itself. In Kashmir, in our own country we are refugees. In the south in several districts the so called majority have become the minority. And then only one community the governments rules are applied. Until now according to my knowledge the so called majority communities have neither troubled nor thrown a stone at any other community. Despite this only one community has to follow all the rules of the Government. We are reducing in populations. What is the cure for this? How to change this?

Sri Sri: To cure this you need unity. We are not united. If everyone come together and engages in constructive work, then it is possible. Then we must take pride in our culture. We do not show respect, we do not meditate. There is nobody to study our scriptures. You just go to the temple and break a coconut as a blind ritual and get back home. One should go and sit and meditate in the temple and listen to the spiritual talks there. Ask yourselves how many children have been taught this. How many children have learnt Gita? No child knows about Bhagavad-Gita. So people like you should come in the front and start the work. To induce people to acquire knowledge and meditation should be done. This will unite people. You will see what a great energy it will bring about. Did you all see the Berlin festival? How many of you saw this festival of our 30 years celebration in Berlin. How many of you saw it? If you have not seen it see it in the Youtube . Yes I will tell them to show once again in the Kannada channel after translating the talks in Kannada. Crops are failing. The direction in which the country is going is not alright. For all this there will be a big revolution, be brave.

Q: Guruji, how to handle parents? Even after becoming a YES+ teacher, I still find it difficult. I have taken them to Seva and Rudra Pooja, but my dad tends to oppose everything. Please help!
Sri Sri: Thank him because he is increasing your patience.

http://www.artofliving.org/wisdom-qa?page=15