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Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life/spirituality/speaking-tree/So-many-roles-to-play/articleshow/5698474.cmsAmong the fundamental questions we tend to ask ourselves
at some point
in our lives is: “Who Am I?” Ramana Maharshi asked the seeker to
constantly question himself
as a way of exploring deeper truths and to
come to a better understanding of them.
Who are you? Jiddu Krishnamurti
answered thus: “When you call yourself
an Indian, a Muslim, a Christian, a European, or anything else, you
are
being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are
separating yourself from the rest. When you separate yourself
by
belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who
is seeking to understand violence does not
belong to any country,
religion, political party or partial system; he is concerned with the
total understanding of
mankind.”
While discussing what J Krishnamurti had to say on the subject of
identities, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
at a satsang held recently in
Rishikesh, offered the following insight: The process of evolution is
moving from somebody
to nobody and from nobody to everybody, realising
one’s true identity, Brahmn, the all-inclusive and all-pervasive.
Masters
all along, even after achieving the highest, have chosen to
play limited identities well. Rama was called Maryada Purushottam,
Krishna
was Yogeshwar, and Dwarkadheesh , and Buddha as a bhikshu
meticulously followed the sanyas dharma.
An individual
cares for his immediate family and as part of society
shares love and affection with neighbours. For a master, the family
is
the whole world. An avatar, a sadhguru, skillfully fulfills individual
as well as universal roles, without any conflict.
Playing a limited
role is in no way in conflict with the universal role. Though Krishna
was a Yadava, he also was Devakinandan.
Arjuna tells Krishna in
Chapter XI: “He Krishna, He Yadava, He Sakha.” Krishna fulfilled the
role of a son,
a Yadava leader, sakha to Arjuna and guru to Udhava.
A master is unattached to any identity but still presents an
expression
appropriate to desh, kal and patra or space, time and
situation. For example, a Times of India marketing person may be
reading
every newspaper in the house, but while doing his job
promoting his paper, he has to claim Times of India is the best.
If he
says every paper is the same then will he be doing justice to his job?
When Arjuna wanted to let go off his kshatriya
identity and live in
the forest, it was Krishna who insisted that he has to keep his
kshatriya identity.
Remaining
universal inside and assuming identities and roles outside
relevant to the situation is the skill of a gyani which each
one of us
has to cultivate. An incarnation or avatar is remembered by the role
played. That is also how the ten incarnations
of Vishnu, the
Dashavatar, have been beautifully portrayed. Janak performs a limited
role as a king externally but internally,
nurses a thirst for the
unlimited, which makes him a grand seeker before Ashtavakra. A
disciple like Janak is rare indeed.
A guru's job is to bring everybody
to play Janak’s role -- skillful in performing their duties and having
a yearning
for the highest knowledge. A sadhguru is totally detached,
established in Advait, universal in being, at the same time
his
expression is based on desh, kal and patra -- place, time and
situation. Universal in being, nischay, and yet effortlessly
fulfilling
different roles in the world (vyavhara) is the skill of a
Master.
John
A lady - I want an honest and humble man in my life.
Sri Sri - I am neither honest
nor humble. (Everyone shocked)
Sri Sri - I cannot tell everyone I am God, as not everyone will understand.
So I am not
honest. I am not humble - how can God be humble!
If I am humble I am not honest.
If I'm honest I can not be humble!!!
(Laughter)
Hide your dispassion and express your love. By expressing dispassion you lose enthusiasm in life. And by not
expressing love you feel stifled. Expressing dispassion may bring ego. Hide dispassion in your heart like the roots of a tree.
And express love like a ripe fruit.
|| Jai Guru Dev ||
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