Everything in this creation is a sign of celebration. Every day should be a celebration and when there is a celebration, there is no violence. For example, everyone celebrates the New Year. Celebration of the New Year is to honour time. Honouring time means honouring the mind, and honouring the mind means honouring yourself. The way to honour yourself is to know that you are neither a culprit nor a victim. A poor man celebrates once a year. A rich man celebrates each day, but the richest man celebrates every moment.
How rich are you? Do you celebrate once a year? Once a month? Every day? If you celebrate every moment, you are the Lord of Creation. There are two types of celebration. One is as thanksgiving, an expression of gratitude for the Divine. The second comes from dropping the past and moving forward, knowing that life is eternal. Any excuse to celebrate is good.
Life is a celebration. You must grab and use every opportunity, every day, to celebrate and be grateful. When you know you are ever pure, celebration will never stop in your life. Intrinsically we all are pure by nature, but the moment you feel this; that you are pure, your heart is pure, you do not wish anything bad for anybody on this planet or any other planet, and then you are love.
How can a celebration happen? A celebration cannot happen by just putting flowers and balloons; it has to happen from within. What are the qualifications and conditions needed for a celebration to happen?
It’s a catch; if you celebrate, you are happy; if you are happy, you celebrate. Silence is the scent of purity and it makes life a celebration. Human life is a combination of matter, i.e., body and spirit or vibration. Isn’t it? Pleasure or joy is an intense vibration. Joy is forgetting that you are matter and you become this intense vibration. All the carnal instincts will also make you feel intense vibrations momentarily and that’s how they give a glimpse of joy. But it is short-lived and it makes you dense later on.
The pleasure that comes from Satsang (the company of the truth) is of a higher nature. Mantra and singing create vibrations in the spirit. That’s why when you sing; the ecstasy stays for a long time. Pleasure in the subtle is long-lasting, energising, refreshing and freeing. The pleasure from the gross is short-lived, tiring, and binding.
When you know, you are electricity (vibration/energy), then craving, greed, lust and anger disappear and you become a true celebration. In true celebration, you are not just having a party. When sanctity is attached to it, the celebration becomes complete. The body, mind, and spirit rejoice. If celebration uplifts and unites everyone around you, if it frees them of the traumatic past and holds out hope for the future, then there is no guilt or vacuity. That type of celebration is service. It is sacred. Turn your celebration into a sacred offering for society rather than a self-centred, pleasure-seeking one. When a celebration has a tinge of sanctity and prayer, it gains depth and dignity. It is not just entertainment for the mind or excitement for the body but nourishment for the soul as well. Instead of beginning a celebration with intoxicants, begin afresh with an act of kindness, a moment of reflection.
Celebration is an attitude. To celebrate life, you don’t have to spend a lot of money. The celebration comes from enthusiasm and joy. When there is depression in a society that is when a celebration is needed the most, to uplift the state of mind of everyone.
Life will always move in the direction of the best. On the way, you may find some rough roads, but they will lead you to a better life. Difficulties give you depth and joy gives you a sense of expansion. The wise see their past as destiny, the future as free will and are happy in the present. The unwise regret the past, think the future is predestined and are miserable in present. The choice is yours. The past has taught us many lessons; what we should be doing and what we should not. Every pain that we went through brought us some depth, and all the joys and pleasures gave us a new vision of life and hope for the future.
Welcome the future with a genuine smile. That smile comes when you know for sure that you are loved. If you don’t know the Divine loves you, you will not be able to celebrate life. You will live in insecurity. With insecurity comes greed, with greed, comes selfishness and with that comes anger, with anger, comes lust and with that, comes sadness and misery one behind the other, like a chain.
Look back and try to remember how many days in the past you were entangled in such a pattern. When you do this, do not reject anything. Let your attention be on the Self. This is a delicate balance. That balance is yoga. That balance is spirituality.
Again, some people think being silent is spirituality e.g. many meditators feel that laughing, singing and dancing are not spiritual. Some people think the only celebration is spirituality. For example, in some parts of the world, such as in rural India or Africa, celebration means loud music; there is no silence at all. Spirituality is a harmonious blend of outer silence and inner celebration; and also inner silence and other celebration!
Often people who are celebrating cannot appreciate silence and those who enjoy silence don’t celebrate. They do not look that joyful and celebrative. People who are in silence are very morose and melancholic, but our speciality is, we are in silence and we are celebrating. This is so beautiful. A celebration that comes out of silence is a real celebration. The celebration that comes out of silence is very authentic because it is coming from depth. Celebrate the silence and celebrate the noise. Celebrate life and death. This is the Eleventh Commandment!
Celebrate while you are alone and when you are with people. Some know to celebrate when they are in a crowd. Some can only rejoice alone in silence. I tell you to do both.
Precious moments are few in life. Catch them and treasure them. Place, time, and the mood of mind are factors that influence celebration. Snatch every opportunity to celebrate, and then you feel great and full and then celebration infiltrates your mind in all moods and space, and celebration is inevitable. Celebration reminds you of the fullness of the moment. The moments you are in the company of knowledge—the Master—are the most precious moments in your life. Treasure them. Treasuring them, you transcend the mind, time and space and that is a true celebration. The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a humanitarian leader, spiritual teacher and an ambassador of peace.
Life is a celebration. You must grab and use every opportunity, every day, to celebrate and be grateful. When you know you are ever pure, celebration will never stop in your life. Intrinsically we all are pure by nature; but the moment you feel this, that you are pure, your heart is pure, you do not wish anything bad for anybody on this planet or any other planet, and then you are love.