In this Weekly Wisdom, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar shares beautiful insights on getting rid of sadness and how joy can bring you beauty. Find out.
Nobody on the planet can take you out of your sadness. You have to do it yourself.
There’s an ancient proverb in Sanskrit that says, “There’s nobody who can give misery to others if they don’t take it.” There’s no giver of misery or happiness. One’s own mind creates misery.
How to get rid of sadness
Your desires make you sad. Kick the desires away like a soccer ball. Come what may, know that by doing any of these four things you will be able to overcome sadness!
Invigorate and invoke the valor in you
Drop the desire
Take responsibility for your misery
Offer sadness to the divine
You have to take one of these four ways to get rid of sadness. If you say, “Oh, I’m sad, I’m sad,” nobody’s going to come and take you out of sadness.
Stand up and say, “Enough is enough. The rest of the time I’m going to be on the planet, maybe 30 or 40 years, I’m not going to be sad. If it comes for a while, okay, then let it come and pass. But I’m going to be like a warrior and fight the sadness.”
You have to invoke that.
Or, when sadness comes, the power of renunciation should come.
Say, “I renounce it all. What do I need? Some food to eat and a shelter? There’s enough humanity in the world to provide that for me. I’ll get it. Nature will provide it to me. God will give me those things.”
The birds get their food. Every animal gets its food in the forest. Nature has been designed in such a way that the food is always available.
What are you worried about? What are you sad about?
The ambition in the mind is what eats you up and makes you sad.
Joy and beauty
If you’ve seen Mahatma Gandhi’s picture when he was in his teens, you wouldn’t like to hang it in your home. He looks like a wanted person, a thief, or a criminal. But if you see his picture when he’s older, the smile on his face, the grace, you want to keep his picture.
When he lost all of his teeth, he had more beauty. Gandhi with just two teeth isn’t as nice as when he lost all of his teeth.
In Scandinavia, I saw that the advertisements in the bus stands are all of old people. There was a time when only young women were used in ads. But now, the ads show grey hair, an old man, or a wrinkle-faced old woman. As fashion changes, our idea of beauty also changes. As time changes, fashions also change.
Beauty depends on your joy and your mind. If your mind is beautiful, everything is beautiful. Your personality is beautiful. If the mind is stressed and sad, even if you have a nice face and a good body, beauty won’t exist. It is the same with every child, from whichever part of the world they come from, they look beautiful because their mind is beautiful.
As you age, become more dignified, more serene, more satisfied. Don’t crave for this or that. That serene calmness in you will enhance your beauty.
The more spiritual you are, the more beautiful you’ll become. Your beauty will never die. The more aged you become, the more beautiful you’ll remain.
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