by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Opposite values are complementary…
In life you need both effort and effortlessness. When you want to work, put in all your effort and then the work is done – but, when you want to sleep, can you put in effort and get sleep?There are certain things you can do through effort and certain things that you do effortlessly, e.g. sleep – the less effort you put, the better sleep you get. Otherwise, your effort itself becomes an obstacle to sleeping!
The same, with memory – if you forget something and you struggle to remember it, you will not remember! Your very effort becomes an obstacle for memory. So you just drop it, and when you drop the effort to remember, memory comes! Memory is something that happens effortlessly.
The third thing is appreciation and love. If you want to appreciate beauty, you cannot do it through effort. Simply and suddenly, the appreciation of beauty happens in you! And love? – You cannot try to love. The more you try to love, the more difficult it is. Love is effortless. The next effortless thing is meditation. If you put effort into meditation, meditation does not happen! Meditation happens effortlessly.
All other things need effort – memorizing anything requires effort, learning new skills need effort. If you want to learn some sport, you have to give 100% effort. If you want to play the sitar, you have to put in effort.
Life is a combination of effort and effortlessness and they are complementary!
If you work dynamically, you sleep well. If you have memorized well, you remember automatically. If you are doing service, you are able to love more, because there is satisfaction and your heart is opening up. If you can see beauty everywhere, you can appreciate beauty! When you can do this, things become effortless. Even jobs requiring effort will not be strenuous.
