Enlightenment
Page 31
Chapter 10
*YourQuestionsAnswered*
*Question :-*
Guruji, how can you learn to make clear and honest judgments? Why do enlightened
beings still retain a personality after enlightenment?
*Sri Sri Ravishankar:-*
Personality is what people perceive. The whole journey of life is from being
somebody to nobody and from being nobody to be a part of everybody.
*If someone is stuck
with the idea of personality, there is less scope for him to grow.
Everything is changing. People change, their ideas change. Let us acknowledge this basic fact. So, if you have judged, then even your judgment can change.*
*Question :-*
Guruji, when one achieves higher level of consciousness, what is the effect on the body
and how does the use of the body change?
*Sri Sri Ravishankar:-*
There's this proverb. "You chop wood and carry water before enlightenment and you
chop wood and carry water after enlightenment. "
*Our consciousness impacts our body and
our body impacts our consciousness. It is a very dear relationship.*
*Question: -*
Guruji, inspite of the fact that ten thousand people became enlightened in the time of
Buddha, why is it that Buddhist meditation techniques are not so popular?
*Sri Sri Ravishankar:-*
Who said they are not popular? They are very popular. What Buddha said not just
stayed in India only, it reached far and wide - to Vietnam, Korea, Japan and Indonesia.
*It
spread all over the East - from Afghanistan to China. People had carved huge statues of
Bahamian Buddha on a mountain, it must have been very popular there.*
It is very popular in
West. In America so many people are appreciating Buddhism. In India, Hinduism absorbed
Buddhism because it is the same thing.
*So, Buddha became the ninth avatar or aspect of the
same philosophy. Buddhist teaching is the same as Upanishads.*
*Question :-*
Guruji, in the Bhagwad Gita, there are two ways described for liberation. Bhakti Marg -
the way of devotion and Gyan Marg- the way of knowledge. Which one is better?
*Sri Sri Ravishankar:-*
They are not two different paths. Suppose, you like rice pudding. How can you like
rice pudding without knowing what it is?
*The knowledge of it will kindle a liking for it.
Love and knowledge go hand in hand. Once you know about something, you go and buy it.*
Bhakti, Gyan and Karma are the three legs of the same table.
*Krishna told Arjuna all the steps and finally told him to drop all and just relax, as everything
is already decided.*
*Question :-*
Guruji, I would like to attain self realisation. I have come to the advanced meditation
course. At what stage and which course will my desire get fulfilled?
*Sri Sri Ravishankar:-*
It's good. This is highest desire, the only one worth pursuing.
*Whether you
acknowledge it or not, everyone has come to this planet with this desire. If you have
recognized it, it's very good.*
*Question: -*
Guruji, what is jeewan mukta awastha, the state of liberation from life?
*Sri Sri Ravishankar:-*
A state where the four desires - jeeveshna, lokeshna, स्वाभाविकस्वाभाविक and putreshna end or
dissolve.
*That is jeewan mukta awastha.*
*Question :-*
Guruji, what is enlightenment? When is one said to be enlightened?
*Sri Sri Ravishankar:-*
I would say
enlightenment is a connection with the universal spirit, realizing that you are part of it.
*Living
in unconditional love without any effort. Being like an open book, being natural. All these
qualities are there in every individual, it only needs a little nurturing and it starts blossoming.*
So when you walk, walk like you are enlightened, you are open, you are like child, and you
are free emotionally, mentally and intellectually.
*Enjoy the freedom. When you don't have
any cravings and aversions of your own, then you can give yourself a certificate that you are
enlightened. Clear heart, clear mind and clarity in action are all part of enlightenment.*
If you
look at a child of two - three years or a baby of six months there is unconditional love in his
eyes. Every baby has all these qualities but minus wisdom.
*When you grow old keep all these
qualities in you like innocence and have the depth of wisdom along with it. That is what 'it is'.*
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