Art Of Living

                             The Purpose Of  Life
                           

                                       

Our first and foremost commitment is to do seva (service) in the world. If there is fear in your life, it is because of a lack of commitment. If there is confusion in your life, it is because of lack of commitment.The very thought I am here in this world to do seva (service), dissolves the i and when the i dissolves, worries dissolve. Seva is not something u do out of convenience or for pleasure. The ultimate purpose of life is to be of service.

An uncommitted mind is miserable. A committed mind mayexperiencerough weather but will reap the fruits of its toil. When you make the service your sole purpose in life, it eliminates fear, brings focus in your mind anpurposefulness, action and long term joy and may be short term problems!


              Live the Life You Want to Live

Live the life you want to live, rather than the one you have to live.

 “With yoga and meditation!”


list out at least top five issues that we are struggling with at present. 

 1.  I can’t help getting anxious (and anxiety doesn’t help me either!)
        
          Anxiety happens because the mind tends to get caught up in the future. Yoga and meditation bring the mind to the present. So, you can have your goals, hopes and ambitions and yet come back to the ‘now’ and act creatively and productively so that you can reach where you want to. Then, you can act 100% in the present moment and there is no room for doubts or anxiety.

Anxiety also happens because there are doubts about our own 
capabilities - whether it’s relationships, studies, career, anything.

Yoga and meditation give you the faith and confidence in yourself.


An English proverb says, “Fortune favors the brave”.
 Indian scriptures complete the truth with “Fortune favors the brave and the hardworking”.Yoga and meditation make you both. Further, the faith that only whatever is right will happen starts developing in you. You have to practice yoga and see for yourself how all this happens


2. Parents, lover, spouse – relationships are so complicated, man!

   How you feel inside is how you feel outside. Yoga and meditation give you that high, they raise your prana shakti (life force energy). Let’s put it this way: If you have a headache or if your girlfriend shouted at you and a beggar comes to you, what would be your reaction?You would shoo him away, right?


On the contrary, if you are happy that someone has complimented you or you have scored fantastic marks in your exams or got a raise in your office and then a beggar comes, you would at least think for him, “I must do something”. So what is the difference here? Your level of energy, your state of mind determines how you react to a situation or a person, which is what inter-personal relationships are all about.

And how you keep this energy in you high is through meditation.
 Don’t you give time to everything else during the day - eating,
 sleeping, taking a shower? Same way, meditate everyday 

for a few minutes and see how your relationships transform.


3. What would my friends say if I do this?

  thinking about what would people say is the biggest disease!
 This is very effectively handled at the Art of Living The mind has this tendency. Before we start anything, we keep thinking, “What would my friends think, what would my parents think,what would the society think, what would the world think?” We live in imaginary fears and feelings.

 It’s a fact that 90% of the things we should be doing, we don’t do them because nobody else is, and 90% of the things we should not be doing, we do them because everybody else is.

Again, spiritual practices and self-knowledge give you the inner 
strength to have your own opinions, at the same time, they do not make you arrogant such that you don’t listen to anyone else.

 There is a fine line.


4. My dad has complaints because I’m utterly lazy!

 This is where yoga and meditation, knowledge about our mind and life helps. 

5. I can’t focus on studies. Too many distractions

   A decade ago, we would say, “I don’t want to do this”. Nowadays,more and more youngsters are saying, “I can’t do it”.
 Some people think that it is a waste of time to sit with your eyes closed (meditate). But, it is like you have a cell phone and you need a couple of hours to charge it. Similarly, you need to unplug yourself from time to time. Also, if you have to construct a building, you have to dig deeper,you set the foundation. The same way, with meditation, you go within, dig deeper into yourself and set the foundation for a better you

I don’t want” is more powerful than “I can’t”. And how can we shift from “I don’t want to or I can’t” to “Yes, I can?”

Meditation teaches you the knowledge of the mind and that 
you can do all those things (that distract you) and still reach where you want to. So, you don’t get distracted from your goals.

Yoga and meditation are not anti-fun, anti-money, anti-fame or anti-fashion. They simply aid you in doing all that you are required to do or want to do and yet, be an ethical person and contribute to people around, be liked and be popular, be adored and respected by all.

Meditation gives you the bigger vision to do something for yourself and for the nation. It makes us see beyond the tip of our noses to the reality around us. Once we integrate yoga and meditation in our daily lives, we will be able to handle our personal issues much better – emotional, mental and physical. Then, we automatically feel within us the energy and enthusiasm to do something for others