Beginning today, we bring you weekly notes of spiritual wisdom to get you through the week’s highs and lows with an unshakable smile and steadiness of spirit! Expect each post to be filled with practical, essential, simple yet deeply transcendental commentary by globally revered spiritual master, humanitarian and a voice for peace and diversity,Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who founded the International Association For Human Values. Relationships, health, enlightenment, meditation, self exploration, self inquiry, inter personal equations, work problems-spiritual wisdom has a way of empowering you to steer through these hurdles and riddles with ease, enabling you to drop your worries and instill faith.
In a moment of introspection, if you have wondered about whether you are just a complex physical form combined with a neuro-psychological framework or if you are an end result of your training and skill sets or if there is more to you, then this is the post for you. Get ready to take a deep dive into an understanding of your real nature beyond the perceptible version of you, with this phenomenally healing and eye opening commentary by Gurudev titled ‘You Are The Sky Without Clouds’.
You Are The Sky Without Clouds
“Often you describe yourself by the way you look and the work you do or by your relationships with other people. But you are so much more than your body, your thoughts and feelings. All of these things are changing, but you are that which is not changing. Wake up this very moment and see who you are. You are unlimited spirit.
What is the nature of spirit? Spirit experiences and expresses value. Values are feelings and emotions that which cannot be captured totally by the words or understood by intellect. The values that enhance life are confidence, cooperation, faith and knowledge.
The values come only through spirit. We think we can find happiness or comfort through the material, yet we know from our own experience that material comfort alone is not sufficient or complete. Happiness is a quality of consciousness. It does depend on matter, but to a far greater degree it depends on attitude and understanding.
As we live the values of the spirit, life attains its richest form. Without them, life becomes very shallow and we are dependent and unhappy. It is the dharma of spirit to support life. It is the dharma of spirit to uphold and sustain life. Living the spiritual values makes your personality solid and strong.
What are the effects of the spiritual dimension of life on society? It brings a great sense of belongingness, responsibility, compassion and caring for the whole world, for the whole humanity. The spiritual dimension in the truest form smashes the narrow boundaries of caste, creed, religion and nationality and gives one a broader awareness of life present everywhere. Only spiritual understanding will eliminate war.
When the mind relaxes, the intellect becomes sharp. When the mind is loaded with small things such as ambition, feverishness and desire, then the intellect loses its keenness. And when intellect and observation are not sharp, life does not express itself fully. Ideas don’t flow properly and abilities diminish day by day. With this understanding, you step out of your little mind and that step will solve many of the problems in your life.
You want to be free from greed, hatred, jealousy and all such imperfections. If the mind is holding all these negative qualities, it cannot be happy or peaceful – you cannot enjoy your life. So the first step is to see that negative emotions are due to the past and not let the past affect your experience of life now. Forgive the past. If you cannot forgive the past, then your future will be miserable. Commit to dropping the past and starting a new fresh life.
To be fully in the now, you need to learn to handle your botherations. What is it that is bothering you? Whatever feelings you have, be with it totally without holding on to it. Children never worry. They experience and emotion, they express it fully, and the next moment they are relieved. Whatever feelings you have in the moment, be with them 100 per cent. Share them with the Divine. Surrender them. Cultivate this practice. Then you will not worry. You will be carefree.
On the spiritual path, you will experience plenty. Maintain a balance – have confidence that what you need will be given to you and at the same time, be dynamic, not lazy. Spiritual life is marked by effective and dynamic activity. It is not an escape from hard work or from taking sincere action. Take heart. At any moment, in any place, you can just sit and let go, knowing inside you there is a sky without clouds, a sky studded with stars – stars of love, stars of beauty, stars of charm – a pure, clear space, vast and deep. That blue inner space is what you are.
About The Author
His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is an international humanitarian leader and a spiritual master who is the global rallying voice of this generation’s collective call for peace.
Named one of the “Seven Most Powerful People in India,” by Forbes, his world-renowned meditation techniques helped end the 60-year conflict in Colombia. He has been credited with bringing opposing parties together to facilitate meditation and peace talks in Iraq, Cote d’Ivoire and India.
Founder of The Art of Living and International Association for Human Values, Sri Sri is leading the way toward peace and tolerance through meditation and humanitarian efforts. Over 35 years, his programs and initiatives have touched the lives of over 370 million people in over 150 countries.
“Sudarshan Kriya,” the meditation technique introduced by Sri Sri is backed by research and implemented in schools, corporations, prisons, refugee camps and retreat centers around the world. As a spiritual teacher, Sri Sri has rekindled traditions of yoga and meditation that have helped millions of people achieve personal and social transformation by relieving stress and discovering inner peace in daily life.
