Shiva Sutras

139 Pages·2010·0.78 MB·English

by  Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

SHIVA SUTRAS

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
SHIVA SUTRAS
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar 1st Edition, September 2010
3rd Reprint, July 2013

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ISBN: 978-938059232-9
CONTENTS

The Mind Facing Inwards Is Always Happy The Energy Centers
Bubbles on the Water Honor Desire
Rest Within
Guru Is the Way
From Darkness to Light Play of the Divine
Liberation from Lust Life Is a Play
Complete Happiness
The Body Is a Temple Embers Covered in Ash Offering to Shiva
PREFACE

In this edition, below the sutras is a paraphrase of each sutra in English.
This addition will be useful for readers wishing to review the sutras and their
meaning without having to re-read the whole book.
True to the meaning of a sutra, the translations capture the essence of
each sutra in few words full of meaning. The paraphrase in most cases has been
taken directly from Guruji’s commentary and, where necessary, slightly edited
for conciseness.
Sanskrit words have been written in italics and spelled in a regular
fashion. This will help those who may be unfamiliar with the sutras but still
wish to read them with correct pronunciation. Proper names have been made an
exception to this system and have been written according to common
conventions.
It is our great pleasure to present to the English-speaking public a
translation of Guruji's Kannada talks on the Shiva Sutras. We hope it faithfully
delivers the timeless, yet ever new, message of the original commentary by Sri
Sri Ravi Shankar to all seekers on the path.
Jai Guru Dev
THE MIND FACING INWARDS IS ALWAYS HAPPY

Yasya niscasita veda yo vedebhyo akhila jagat Nirmama tamaha vande
vidyatirtha mahesvara In order to fly a kite and guide it from the ground, we
need a thin thread. While this thread stays on the ground, the kite soars in the air.
That thread is a sutra. Likewise, for our life to soar higher and expand into the
vastness of infinity, what is needed? We need a sutra that acts as a link between
earth and sky, between humanity and Divinity.
Panini describes a sutra as: Alpak aramasa digdha saravat visvato mukha
Astobhamanavadya ca sutra sutravido vidu "Alpak ara asa digdha saravat
visvato mukha" - A sutra is described as that which contains the essence and
expresses the full meaning in a few words. The nature of the sutra we hold on to
decides the direction and the quality of our life. In everyone's life there is some
spark of goodness or auspiciousness. We should reflect whether we are holding
on to the good and positive, or misfortune and negativity. Regardless of which
part we tend to focus on, if we search, we can definitely find happiness, pleasure
and fortune in some measure. Yet, if you look now, this is not the case. Actually,
there is so much that is positive. Life is made up of eighty percent positivity and
only twenty percent negativity, the part that causes problems. Yet we make this
twenty percent into two thousand percent; usually, we cling to the negative.
In every life some good must have happened, but the nature of mind is
that it ignores everything positive and clings only to the negative. Suppose
someone approaches you and gives you ten compliments and one insult. What
will you remember? The mind's nature is to cling to the negative. In order to
change this mindset, we should hold on to the Shiva Sutras.
We should hold on to truth, beauty and sivatattva, auspiciousness or
innocence, wherever they appear in our life. That is the reason for listening to
the Shiva Sutras. If life does not have a sutra to guide it, it is not possible to find
happiness, and the kite will fall to the ground. A kite may have everything,
including a tail, but without a thread, how can it take off? The Shiva Sutras run
through everybody's life. That is why it is said: Namah sri sambhave
svatmananda prakasa vapuse I bow down to the wealth that brings peace and
fills the body with joy.
How does auspiciousness begin? It happens when the mind turns
inwards. When the mind goes more and more outside, it gets caught up in
problems and confusion. Do you know what misery is? Misery comes when the
mind gets caught up in the world and forgets itself. Happiness can be described
as remembering yourself.
Suppose a close relative or friend visits after a long time. You prepare
sweets, arrange everything nicely to welcome them and go to the railway station
with a bouquet of flowers to greet them. You eagerly look for them, checking
whether or not the train is running on time and whether they have arrived. How
do you feel when you finally meet them? Thrilled! The mind instantly blossoms.
Where there is no eagerness and anticipation, there is less love.
The mind naturally flows towards that which you love. When you are
with a dear friend, your mind stays with you and does not wander elsewhere.
Observe that when you are joyful, you become one with your self. Your nature is
joy, and this is the reason you experience joy.
If you read the word “mana,” meaning mind, in reverse, it becomes
"nama." When people visit various temples and pray, they say, "Namah." What
does it mean? When the mind turns inward it is namah, but when the mind goes
outward, it is manah.
What attracts the mind outward? It is prosperity, wealth, success and
beauty. The sight of anything beautiful draws the mind towards it. Whether
money or fame, the mind gravitates towards it. The whole world revolves around
only one thing, and that is “sri,” or prosperity. Yearn for knowledge, yearn for
happiness, yearn for beauty, wealth, success, advancement - whatever you long
for, it is only for one desire, and that is sri. However, the more intensely people
long for it, the more difficult it is to attain. That is why everybody wears such
long faces, as if everything were shrouded in misery. This is why Buddha
concisely said, "Desire is the root cause of misery." Go anywhere and look at
what the people talk about, and you will find that it is all about sri. Go to any
chamber of commerce or film industry meeting, and what do they discuss, but
ways to become rich and famous. That is sri. Or go to any legislative body, and
they talk about political power. Even that is sri.
The whole world revolves around sri, but how do we acquire it? Even if
we do get it, it will turn out not to be satisfying. If one is to find sri, one's mind
must turn inwards. When we are in a state of namah, when we are introspective,
we find sri and true wealth is born. Real wealth is within us, and when we turn
inwards, we can access real happiness and pleasure. Although the richest of the
rich may smile outwardly, peep into their minds, and you will not find any
cheerfulness or contentment. Without satisfaction, what is the use of such a life
and such wealth? It is nothing but worry, worry, and to die with worries. What
kind of sri is that?
Sometimes, people do gain wealth and fame, but even that is followed by
problems. Once, when one of our ex-prime ministers met me, he confessed,
"Before, in summer, I used to sleep outside the house on a cot. Now, you can see
fifty people around me and security all over. Now I am a prisoner, more so than
the actual prisoners in Tihar Jail."
"Shambhave" - Wealth and prosperity should bring peace. However,
many times one acquires wealth and many problems follow it. Quarrels start
between parents and children and between husband and wife. If you examine the
pending court cases, you will find that 75 to 80 percent of the cases arise out of
disputes over money! Most of the conflicts between people happen over money,
is it not? Even if we were to gain so much wealth, what is the point? While we
do need money, along with wealth we also get diseases like stomach pains,
ulcers, diabetes, heart attack, etc.
Once, a man won ten lakhs in a lottery. His wife worried how she should
break the news to her husband because it might give him a shock or he might
even suffer a heart attack due to sheer excitement. So she went to a priest. He
said, "Don't worry. I will come with you, and together we'll give him the news."
So the next Sunday, he went to their house and asked him, "My child, suppose,
by the grace of God, you were to win ten lakh, what would you do with it?" The
man answered, "I'd give half of it to the church, Father." No sooner the priest
heard this, he had a heart attack.
Wealth should bring peace. Being wealthy should not bring arrogance,
hostility, jealousy, disgust or boredom. Many times, when you receive a gift
from someone, your state of mind changes as soon as you receive it. Have you
observed this? When you receive certain things, you receive not only the gift but
the intention along with the gift. That is the reason why, in the past, people
accepted things from others only after careful observation. If they did accept,
then they would immediately give a gift in return. An old saying says, "Why
should we take others' things that we do not want?" It is because such wealth
might bring peace or disturbance. Nobody wants a disturbed mind.
Today we have completely forgotten this tradition. However, there is one
thing we did in the past and continue to do today: when we celebrate weddings,
religious ceremonies and other rituals, whether on happy or sad occasions, we
invite guests for food and after food give them each one rupee as daksina, or
offering. This practice is more prevalent in villages. Do you know the reason
behind this? This is to express gratitude to the guests for attending the ceremony
and eating the food. The belief is that the guests have given them peace, and in
this way, certain negative karma leaves and positive karma is restored.
"Sri sambhave" - wealth should be peaceful. "Svatmananda" - filled with
bliss, having a cheerful state of mind. There are some people who do very good
acts, but do not have peace and joy. Instead, they are very serious and have long
faces. If the world is serious, it cannot be enjoyable, it will be dry and dull. Look
at children. They are not very serious. They are happy. What kind of happiness
do they have? "Svatmananda prakasa vapuse" - happiness overflows from their
bodies. They send out vibrations full of joy.
In life, happiness is the only attraction. You may have noticed that some
people who are beautiful and have nice, fair skin are not attractive, while others
who are not so pleasant to look at are still attractive. This is because of the
vibrations they spread around them - "Svatmananda prakasa." Wherever a child
comes from, whether from China, Africa or North America, it is attractive. Joy
overflows from each and every cell of its body. A child's mind is innocent and
calm, with a blossomed awareness. This is life's goal. One characteristic of life is
that it should end where it began, and life is a cycle that starts with happiness.
"Anandena jatani jivanti" - this is a quotation from the Upanishads: "Life
happens in joy and finds completion in joy." The soul should be filled with
happiness - that is the goal of the Shiva Sutras: Svatmananda prakasa vapuse.
That happiness is not limited to us, but spreads to all who come near us.
Such happiness is the sign of real success. Some people who do sadhana, though
they sit from morning till evening with their fingers on their nose doing
pranayama, shout at anyone who comes close and disturbs them, even children.
It means that there has been no reduction in anger. What are you doing?
Sadhana? Is this a sign of sadhana? If this is what sadhana means, then it's
better to stay away from it.
Many youth have left sadhana because of this. In their homes they see
their older siblings, parents, grandparents and relatives praying and applying
chandan to their forehead and to others too. Yet their anger has not lessened,
even a bit. Seeing this, young people lose faith. They say, "If this is religious
life, we don't need it." It is natural. Many swamis who are in charge of mathas
are like this. They show such uncontrollable anger! People come with devotion,
but are revolted by the way they see some swamis treating people. They think,
"How arrogant!" and become angry and afraid. There is a saying that people
should have fear and devotion. This is not correct. Where there is fear, it is
impossible to have devotion, and with devotion, fear cannot exist. Both cannot
be together. Someone must have compiled that saying sarcastically, but the
sarcasm in it has not been properly understood. Instead, people worry that a
swami will curse them. Devotion vanishes, and only fear is left.
"Vapuse" - the body should radiate happiness. Life is complete when that
happens. Then, we realize that the aim of life has been reached. "Svatmananda
prakasa vapuse." This is the goal of the Shiva Sutras. We should read the sutras
so that this happens. What can we do if this does not happen?
Atha shiva sutrah Then hold on to the Shiva Sutras.
After we are asked to hold on to the Shiva Sutras, they are explained one
by one. Each sutra is complete in itself.