The power of Sankalpas.

Desires keep arising in us. We hardly have any control over them. Just when we start feeling a bit hungry, a desire to indulge the taste buds arises. No sooner that we have eaten a full meal, a desire to have some dessert arises. The dessert is emptied and a desire to watch some TV arises... and so on and so forth. If we observe with great attention then our life is nothing but a great flow of desires arising and our running behind fulfilling it, thinking that at the end of the fulfillment of the desire is that elusive Bliss that we are searching for. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar says "Desires fulfilled or unfulfilled, leaves us empty handed." How many times in our life, a fulfillment of a desire has given us great satisfaction ? Desire simply implies that we are looking for joy in the future and not "Right Now!".

Power of  Sankalpas

"Sankalpa" is a Sanskrit word which means "Thought, intention, or will directed toward a specific outcome". 


Someone asked Guruji : ( September 1 2010 )

Q.What is the importance of sankalpa (intention) and how to strengthen it? Does the world move on sankalpa?

A. The mind is full of sankalpa and vikalpa (imagination, fancy). Each work gets done through sankalpa. Even the act of moving our arm is preceded by the sankalpa in the mind. If twenty sankalpas arise in the mind then nothing gets done. When the mind is peaceful and restful then our sankalpa is powerful. 

The sankalpa of a weak mind is weak and that of strong mind is strong. 

We can make our mind strong by sadhana (spiritual practices) and knowledge. Then the sankalpa will also be strong. The wise makes one sankalpa in fifty days whereas the ignorant makes fifty in a day.

The more Sadhana, Seva and Satsang we do, the more fulfilled we feel. Hasn't it happened that after an Advanced course or a refreshing meditation or a meeting with Guruji we have felt "I don't need anything, I'm just so full of joy and love right now" The frequency with which this happens is a measurement of how much our mind is in the present moment. This means less Sankalpas per day and each of our Sankalpas become very powerful and greater chance of fulfillment. If more and more we feel that " All I want, I already have !" then more will come our way.

The Yogis and Rishis of Yore  lived in this state of Gratitude (in varying degrees) and fulfillment so they had the power of not only fulfilling their own wishes  but also of others by granting a boon. This is very scientific and experiential truth. We can all do our own experiments with this. Modern scientists and thinkers are realising the importance  of this and coming up with books and movies ( e.g. The Secret ). 

The one word which really will see to it whether your Sankalpa will materialise or not is " INTENSITY " .The more badly you want something, the quicker you'll get it.

A holy man was meditating by a river when a young man interrupted him.

“I have looked for God everywhere and I didn't find him. Can you show God to me ?"


The holy man jumped up, grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, dragged him into the river, and plunged his head under water. After holding him there for a minute, with him kicking and struggling to free himself, the holy man finally pulled him up out of the river. The young man coughed up water and gasped to get his breath. 
When he eventually quieted down, the holy man spoke. “Tell me, what did you want most of all when you were under water.” 
“Air!” answered the man. 
“Very well,” said the holy man. “When you want God as badly as you want the air, then you'll find him ! ”