Overcoming Obstacles; A Talk by H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Overcoming Obstacles; a talk by H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar the founder of Art of Living organization. This talk was given on January 1997 at California about the different kinds of obstacles and how to overcome obstacles in our life. Sri Sri Says: In your life you do face obstacles; both in personal and social life. We do face obstacles. First of all did you identify the obstacles? Where is it coming from? What is the source of this obstacle? You find two things, one is from your own mind – there is a seed and that seed is reflecting in our environment, in our work place, in our activities. Of course, we recognize obstacles when they are in front of us. And takes little bit more to recognize the seed of the obstacles in our mind. 

What are the obstacles? Obstacle is something that doesn’t let the life energy flow easily and allow you to be in expanded state of yourself. An obstacle is something that you want to get it up. An obstacle is always to the joy or happiness or success. Whenever say I’ve obstacles to getting sit; and it is always related with time factor. There is a time factor to every obstacle. You can’t have a single obstacle through out the life. There is a gap; the gap makes you to feel that obstacles. If someone has no joy throughout their life, there is nothing to complain about. You know when you complain, when you don’t get the worst. Suppose you’ve the worst, how can you complain? Complaining are you wanted to improve it, you don’t want the thinks it is, it’s not the worst. So, you want it to be better, right. The wanting to be better brings out the complain. 

So when you face an obstacle, first of all know it is not the worst. It’s not a hopeless; there is a hope, that’s why you say it as an obstacle. Now to overcome these obstacles, either you become hopeless. You know when we feel hopeless, that’s when a sincere prayer arises from us. The total helplessness will bring for two situations; one is either frustration or prayerfulness. 

When all doors are shut, you’ve done all that you could do to improve your situation, but it is not happening; what you do? You get frustrated; want to jump into the ocean? Jump off the cliff? When situation is boggling you like that, frustration is at the one hand; the other hand is deep prayer; prayerfulness. Giving the power over or recognizing that there is a bigger power. In fact, this was giving our power over is really doesn’t mean anything. You don’t have any power at all too give over the power.  As that infinite divine consciousness rich has the total organizing capacity; total organizing is happening through a higher force or power. Recognizing this aspect gives raised a deep prayerfulness from within. So obstacles do come you can face it with a smile or with a frank. 

Let us see, what could be different obstacles in our life. First is disease. Disease is an obstacle for our life. Any illnesses. So, we don’t have to go much into details; you know how to get off it. Disease are part of life, they do happen; get sickness and due to over eating or over sleeping, like that. Sleep heels us and sleeping too much also an obstacle. Suppose you sleep for ten hours or twelve hours a day in holidays; you wake up and feel dull. Haven’t you experienced? The laziness is the second obstacle. Something that blocks doing anything creative. The third obstacle is doubt. Doubt about yourself, doubt about other people and doubt in the happening of the existence. This moment has a mind of its own. This present moment has a mind of its own and it is responsible for all the happening in the work. This moment has a big mind, has a mind of its own and a lot is happening in this moment, all over the world. Whether you call this moment as a God, or as a Spirit or call anything doesn’t matter. But there something that is responsible for all the activities in this entire creation. Doubt in the existence of such a mind or consciousness. This is very common. If you overcome this doubt that is moment is perfect it is running and it know how to run things; there is no fear of whatsoever in life. So you move with absolute confident. Say one who knows to swim, just jumps in to the ocean; but one who not learns swimming, he tip toeing on the shores. Scare to jump into the water. Just like wanting to learn swimming; before getting into the water. 

Faith in the existence and it is running everything; and that is full of love and it cares for you – this confidence.  Now the second doubt is, doubt in the people around you. See you can’t run anything with a doubtful mind. We often doubt something that is positive. Have you thought about it? We doubt in the honesty of people; we never doubt on the dishonesty. When someone tells you I love you; you’re asking – really! When say – I hate you; never asks – really? You doubt your capabilities; you think you can’t do certain things. Like you doubt your capabilities; and you never doubt your in capabilities. So, when you look at the doubts, it’s always that is something about good in life. We never like our depression; we doubt our happiness. When we’re happy, we’re not sure, am I really happy with the job, I am not sure. Is this what I want, I am not sure. But we’re very sure, we’re depressed. Our doubt about the society and the people around us. No one loves or likes to be doubted, but yet we doubt everyone else. You see that, how do you like a doubtful eye on you. So walk into a shop on shop, and shopkeeper looks on you with doubtful eyes, how do you like it? You hate that; isn’t it? So, without trust nothing in the world can run. Now you’re sitting here with the trust that your cars will be there when you go out; right. You’ve a trust on the social structure. You know when you walk out of this hall you car will be there; when you go home your home will be there. And the doubt about the self also brings a lot of inferiority complex. Doubt in the self and self’s connection with the totality of existence will lead a short of paranoia and it come back to sickness. 

How to overcome this doubt is understanding doubt. It is always about something that is good and being alert. When the prana level or life forcedness is low that is when we get more doubts. By raising the level of prana or the mental energy or vital energy in you, the doubt vanishes. The put obstacle is disinterestedness in anything you do. Suppose you take up job and the job looses all its charm in few weeks or months; then you look for some other job. Then you go to other job; there also you lose all the charm and joy in few weeks then you look for some other job. It’s just like a rolling stone. Unable to find any satisfaction in anything is an obstacle by itself. These obstacles will help you to move ahead. Obstacles are not just impediments; they are step towards progress. When the water flows, there is a stone; it flows over the stone. When we’ve that connection within our towards us with ourselves and the confidence is the existence loves us, that the nature loves me, God loves me.  When you’ll see that no obstacle is real in obstacle, it just makes life more beautiful. 

Just turn back and see even in your own life. Fifteen years ago, twenty years ago, ten years ago; you thought this is the end of the world; that’s it I can’t handle anymore, the heaven has fallen on my head; you still exist. See those moments are passed; isn’t it. And you don’t know from where the strength came and from somewhere you got the strength too. In India, there is a proverb says – every animal has its tail measured. Nature doesn’t give elephant’s tail to a lamb, which it can’t carry. So you’re load is just like a tail, which you can definitely carry; whatever you think is loaded, you can drag it easily. It’s not a big problem. Mostly the problem is in our mind, we think it’s a big problem. 

In patanjali yoga sutra, we call it ‘abirati’; means unable to enjoy anything, inability to enjoy.  I heard someone said, they went restaurant by restaurant looking at the menus, but couldn’t make up their mind what they should eat. It’s all like that inability to enjoy anything. When you’re seating in the beach here think of Hawaii; when you go to Hawaii you think of Switzerland; when you seat in Switzerland think of somewhere else. You’re in holiday now, you’re thinking of what you’ll do next year. And next year you’ll regret, oh last year was better. It’s same with in job situations; same with in marriage partners. You think the other person would have better from me; here I am doomed. I fooled myself; I am in a daze, couldn’t judge properly. Where is joy? Is it in an object or situation? This is a big question, right. Sounds very philosophical, but in reality you see, the change brings you joy, happiness. You’re doing something, and you do something else; the change brings something else thrills, joy. What happens during this change? If you observed, mind has left one objet, it is not yet used to the second one. In between it experiences that gap and the joy wells up between in the gap; but we think it is because of that think. We associate the joy to that think; and we gone with that and after we don’t find the joy there and we jump into another thing and another thing and then on. Joy is really nothing. Joy is no thing; it is the no thing that you experienced in between thing that brings joy. And experience of this no-thing it yoga, is meditation, is spiritual practice, is nirvana or whatever, doesn’t matter. Transcending, going within - even for a few minutes; now even there are the obstacles. You sit with eyes closed; then one hundred thoughts coming, all are the pasts, all the future plans, and they bombard your mind. Feel at open your minds, searching on the TVs; at least you can see something there. Not watch the same old the repeats, inside. What to do? There you cannot into breath. Because breath is the link between the body and mind; is that the in-between things. You can’t attend to mind directly; through breath it becomes easier; deep of breaths. 

All do something that brings you burden; you know one of thing resist in our life is – burden. Burden is a secret; burden is a key to love. There is one thing common between burden and love. That is repetition. Someone is in love; they go on saying I love you, I love you; repeated so many time. When a got a card of valentine. Love is not written just once; so many times, all around the year there – I love you, I love you. Love is not satisfied by saying it once; it wants to say so many times, a million times. Repetition is something that is nature of love, part of love. That is the same thing that is a part of burden too. So, if you just be with a burden little longer and dive deep in to it – you reach the other end; that is love. That was the secret, the ancient people knew; that’s why they say rosary; whether you do hail media - Oum Namah Shivaya… Oum Namah Shivaya… keep doing, doing… get so bored… the secret of mantra is that. First and foremost say bored, saying that again and again… and then the burden brings in a flood of energy, opens a flood of energy within. And that allows the fountain of love; then you realize that you’re nothing but love; you’re made up of a substance called love. And when there is love, no obstacles in life. Love is a sustaining power within us that takes away all obstacles. 

Suppose a situation is there in your job or at home, you want to change; just look at it with patience. Don’t be shaken by the situation. The first thing door come the obstacles, not to be shaken by the situation. Because the moment we shaken by it takes longer to get back. And just stick on to that you really want and little happen; and then going deep within. So when sit for meditation and all these things come, they could be attempted through the breath, through diet, proper food, a little exercise. If you too worried, just jog on the beach and just watch the sun set and finally knowing that you’re going to say goodbye to the whole staff one day. This is final; isn’t it? That’s also gives a normal strength. And finally the repetition of the memories or the feeling of the divine, that why it’s called Mantra. Mantra, that which energizes your system, that could help; singing, that could help.