Who is God?

Dear Friends, wish you all Happy Ram Navami! The following is H H Sri Sri Ravishankar's message on Ram Navami.

RAM NAVAMI

"Ra" in Sanskrit means "That which is Radiant" and "Ma" stands for "Myself".
That which shines forth within me, is Rama.
That which is radiant in every particle of the Being is Rama.
Rama is born to Dasharatha and Kaushalya. Dasharatha (In Sanskrit this means "the ten charioted one") signifies the five organs of sense and the five organs of action. Kaushalya (Sanskrit for "skilled") stands for skill. The skillful reiner of the ten chariots can give birth to Ram. When the ten are used skillfully, radiance is born within.
Rama was born in Ayodhya (Sanskrit for "the place where no war can happen"). When there is no conflict in our mind, then the radiance can dawn.
Lakshmana, the brother of Rama, was born of Sumitra Ö the good friend. When the ten are cooperating with you then Awareness is born.
Often we try to look for radiance within. Just realize that you are radiant. Once when Guruji was 5 or 6 years old, he closed his eyes and asked a visiting saint, "Swamiji, I do not see any light". The saint replied, "You are the light! How can you see the light?"

-- His Holiness Sri Sri Ravishankar

Sri Sri means that your Self, the Consciousness, or the Divinity or the Life in you is the pure light devoid of any distortions. Your mind is just one shade of this one consciousness. (This shade keeps changing with time! and with individuals!)
Here is a profound secret: God is nothing but your innermost Self in its purity and clarity!
This is what Patanjali says in his famous treatise "Patanjali Yoga Sutras".
But we don't really know what we are. It requires a certain amount of inner silence to know ourselves.. the Divinity within. The more You calm down Your mind, the more You will get closer to the Truth, the Self. This is where meditation, spiritual practices and guidance of an Enlightend Master will help you.

Well, Achieving no-mind - clear and thoughtless mind, at least for a few minutes or seconds, is a great experience! Believe me its a wonderful state.. Whole life is worth it if You are fortunate enough to taste the Self, the Divinity even for a few moments :) Its a glimpse of the highest possiblity in life - Enlightenment, the purpose of life!

- Krishna Reddy