The Free Press Journal

You are the vast sky

- — Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

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, see that you are spirit!

Spirit experience­s and expresses emotions that cannot be captured only by 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 on attitude.

As we adopt the values of the spirit, life attains its richest form. Without them, life becomes shallow and unhappy.

Spirituali­ty brings a sense of belongingn­ess and caring for the whole world. Spirituali­ty smashes the boundaries of caste, creed, religion and nationalit­y. Only spiritual understand­ing can eliminate disputes.

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. With this understand­ing, you step out of your little mind.

If the mind is holding to greed, hatred, jealousy, etc, 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 it is affecting your experience of life now. Forgive the past. If you cannot forgive the past, then your future will be miserable.

To be fully in the now, you need to learn to handle your botheratio­ns. Whatever feelings you have, surrender them. Cultivate this practice. Then you will not worry. 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. It is not an escape from hard work or from taking sincere action. just sit and let go, knowing that you there is a sky without clouds. That blue inner space is what you are.

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