My quest for Naturalness !

One fine day, all of a sudden, I found myself teaching ‘Naturalness is the best!” and my quest begins. What is naturalness?

I see someone very playful, very spontaneous, full of smiles and laughter, being light and making others also light, I say.. Oooo this person is so natural !!! The most wanted people in your class or office or parties are actually the most natural ones. They need not be very intelligent or good looking but everyone wants to be in their company as they are very friendly and very natural. When in trouble or some decision making is involved people look to seek their advices.

Then there are other criterions of defining naturalness. One is being as you are and not pretending anything.. like a small child. The village people are perfect examples of this. They laugh when they wish to, they cry when they wish to, they walk and talk the same way whether they are talking to a child or to the president of India. They yell and get angry also when they feel like. They are so natural. When a village person sneezes, the sound goes to 21kms and the floor is decorated with a rain fall. :-)) A village woman takes a bath and changes clothes in the open without any hesitation! She is so natural.

So, is it ok to behave or express oneself as per the thoughts and emotions, in order to sound natural? I bet you have good chances to get in trouble that way.

Then what is naturalness? How to get it? First of all this is naturalness so you can not get it from anywhere, you just have to be your natural. This comes from within. Each one of us is gifted with different qualities and personalities and by honoring them, we become more natural. If you are at ease with yourself in any situation or people around you then you are natural. Guruji Sri Sri Ravishankarji is the one person I know who is completely natural. When I saw Him for the first time, I felt as if He is me only! And millions others in the world also feel oneness with Him and share their problems with Him, and love him so deeply. This because of His naturalness. Meditation and spiritual practices make one grow in naturalness very naturally! When someone asked Guruji about naturalness, His answer was so precise, complete and enlightening as always:

Q: Dear Guruji, what is the meaning of being natural? Is it doing whatever comes to the mind and doing whatever one feels like.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No it is not doing whatever that comes to your mind. Doing whatever comes to your mind without any attention, awareness or thought would be foolish. Whatever comes to your mind should pass through the test of intellect or wisdom. Being natural is feeling at home; feeling at home even in adverse situations. You know when everything is good you feel at home but when things do not go your way you don’t feel at home and you want to run away. So feeling at home in every situation, yeah!

-love

Monika