QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

POSTED ON: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 2019

Q: Gurudev, how to keep the spine erect during meditation?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Make a start with the spine being erect, then if the head comes down, the back bends, don’t bother about it. You cannot start meditation in a sleeping posture, because then you will be snoring very soon. So sit down, and start with the spine erect when you meditate, and then let go, let it happen.

There is a song in Kannada which has a very profound meaning. When you are in a garden, in the midst of flowers, then the state of your mind is completely different. If you are in the midst of people, your state of mind is very different - sometimes the emotions of passion, anger, hatred come up. But when you are in the garden, amongst flowers, such emotions will not come up; there will be no feelings of jealousy, no emotional upheaval, nothing of the sort. But if you are in the midst of people, then definitely all this will happen. However good your friends are, when you spend time with people, something or the other comes up. You cannot always live in the midst of people, nor can you live alone in a garden.

Sometimes you have to spend time dreaming, and sometimes you have to listen to music, you cannot be in one state. There are people who work all the time, doing accounts or something or the other. The radio may be playing in the background but they do not pay attention to it; they keep thinking of something else. This is being in an imbalanced state. Who is a balanced person? A person who is sometimes in music, sometimes working; such a person thinks like a scientist, and looks at the world in a scientific manner; sometimes enjoys music, sometimes science and art. You must spend your life in both these streams.

Sometimes you must live in the world, and sometimes in silence. Go with these two and you will experience Brahman. You cannot run away from your responsibilities and go to the Himalayas, or stay in the worldly aspects all the time; you must strike a balance between both and experience the Brahman within you.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

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