Kindness

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple, the philosophy is kindness. - Dalai Lama

The Whole of Life is Show Business

I always have been feeling that some part of me relates to show business - entertainment, bringing fun, excitement and happiness to people. Even teaching yoga these days, I realize that this is part of my entertainment. My eyes, heart and spirit are asking for more and more when the class is finished. And I feel so satisfied and happy after exchanging the energy, seeing same faces and meeting new ones. It's just amazing!

And here is a regular Saturday portion of wisdom by Sri Gurudev, exactly about spirituality in show-biz. Enjoy!

Question: is it possible to develop spiritually while working in a highly competitive and hectic field such as show business?

Answer: We call it show business. Why? Do you think that show business is to show somebody else something? No. Show business is to show you something: yourself. it will teach you about the worth and the worthlessness of things in life. Yes. Show business means it's all just made up. It's all superficial. And when you learn that lesson, then you can use that same philosophy in your life. The whole of life is show business: what am I doing here? I'm playing my part. What are you doing there? You're acting your part. We are having a show. There is no superior and inferior cast in this. We are all needed to make the show. You have taken a part; so play it well. We are all one in spirit, but I am playing the part of the teacher today. You now are playing the part of being a little ignorant. Behave that way. Don't get up and say, "I know more than you!” The show will collapse. When the curtain falls, we are all one and the same. The whole world is superficial; it's constantly, constantly changing. Our relationships change, our situations change, our positions change, our names change. I was a baby, then I became a young boy, then an adult, then an old man. Changes, changes, changes. So what is the reality? The spiritual truth. We are all essentially one. That never changes. Where can you learn this truth faster than in show business?

~ by Sri Swami Satchidananda

Saturday Quote

"Striving to turn our dreams into reality, we end up turning reality into a nightmare."

Prabhuji

Saturday Quote

"We cannot do anything to change what happens around us; we can do a lot to change our way of interpreting it..."  - Prabhuji

Saturday Quote

The practice of patience protects us from losing our composure. In doing that it enables us to exercise discernment, even in the heat of difficult situations. It gives us inner space. And within that space we gain a degree of self-control, which allows us to respond to situations in an appropriate and compassionate manner rather than being driven by our anger and irritation. - Dalai Lama

Saturday Quote

Once two children were talking to each other. One child said, "If you show me where God is, I'll give you an apple." The other child looked around and said, "I'll give you two apples if you show me where God is not!"

Imagine a plain stone. Keep rubbing it and it will begin to shine. It will reflect light. If you just leave it crude, it won't reflect the light. By polishing it more, you make it express what always was there.
There are holy vibrations in every place, but it is in our hands to make it a holy place. Sometimes, even if it is a holy place, if we don't reinforce that sanctity, the place will slowly lose its expression of holiness.

- by Sri Swami Satchidananda

The Source of True Love is the Quality of Seeing

The source of true love is the quality of seeing.
If we want to see others, we need to see ourselves! This is not about ego; this is about grace.
If we look at ourselves and look at others through our projections and the fairy tales we concoct, there can’t be any true love or grace. How can we extend grace to something imaginary?
Grace comes in where you see Yourself! Learn to see others when you truly see ourselves. Extend grace to others when you invite and allow it for yourself.

Above said is a courtesy to Elena Brower’s Inviting Grace class, hold in Yoga Journal conference, NYC.

Rooftop Class. Mosquitoes. Unconditional Love

Theme of today's Yoga on the Roof class is legs-legs-legs. Summer is ahead, right?

• 3-legged downdog, chair, standing splits, warrior III, eagle poses, goddess, etc. -> toning of upper and low leg muscles and opening tight hips. 
• And our closure is about the Universal Love....

Universal love means to see the same Self in everything. Unlimited, unconditional love is universal. If you have universal love, there is not even a single thing you dislike. You love everything, even the mosquitoes that bite you. You don't dislike them; you simply say, "Well, mosquito, that is the purpose for which you were created. You are doing your job in biting me. I am doing my job and saying, `Please get out."' You don't stop loving the mosquito. But loving the mosquito doesn't mean allowing it to bite you. Often people think, "Because I love that mosquito, I can not chase it away." That's not so. You can love the poison, but you don't have to swallow it. Om. by Sri Swami Satchidananda ©

Topic of today's class: A Teepee On Mars

The mind is restless; it is always looking for a change. That is the nature of the mind. It can never be satisfied. It might rebel and want you to go live in a teepee in the mountains. After a while it won't be happy with your teepee on the mountaintop; it will think that only putting a teepee in the valley will make you happy. Once you are in the valley, it will want a teepee on Mars. There is no limit for the mind's restlessness.

You have to educate the mind. Ask it: "Why do you want to go to the mountain?""To find peace there.""Why do you want to come down?""I am tired of that and want to be with people."

What does it all mean? That you are trying to borrow happiness from outside. Once you realize that peace and joy are always within you, you will be happy no matter where you are. Whether you are in the valley or in the mountains, it is the same thing.

Whether you are on the earth or on Mars, it is the same thing. Wherever you are, you should have a purpose. Go to the mountain for a purpose; come down for a purpose. And don't let that purpose be a selfish one. The purpose should be for the benefit of others, for service to humanity.

Om Shanthi, Shanthi, Shanthi
Courtesy of Sri Swami Satchidananda

The human mind...

Just to follow up the previous post: 

A Beautiful Eye

Judging others is an act of the ego; it's a kind of arrogance. It means that you think you're a great person and all the others are fools. Others may have a problem, but to judge them means that you have at least one kind of problem yourself: the problem of constantly criticizing people. You are actually no different from them. Before you see a mote in their eyes, see the beam in your own eye.

The vulture flies so high, higher than many birds. It can see far and wide. But where will its eyes be? On a dead and decayed body somewhere. It soars beautifully and high; but it doesn't cast its eyes on good, holy things, only on decayed matter. An ordinary fly looks for filthy matter to sit on, while a honeybee will fly past many other things to look for even a little bit of nectar on a flower.

You see certain things in others because you have the eye to see it. If you have a beautiful eye, you will see only beauty. Know that everyone has some sort of weakness. A person who doesn't have any weakness at all won't even be on this earth.

Don't have the kind of eye that finds faults in others. Be humble and correct your own problems.

Om Shanthi, Shanthi, Shanthi
by Sri Swami Satchidananda